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[popsofctown]

I wanted to hear some opinions on an unusual play I made the other day involving Embargo.

http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20111118-145823-229fcfd7.html

The set, in categorized terms, was:

Trashers: Spice Merchant
Cursers: Ill-gotten Gains, Embargo
Terminal actions: Cutpurse, period
Cantrips: Alchemist, Lab, Pawn, Cartographer, Spice Merchant, Mining Village.


So we have trashable treasure and untrashable curses, making curses a big deal and IGG a strong buy.  Overall this is a weak board and though Alchemist is one of my worst cards, I think both of us wished we could open with a potion, but felt threatened by the Embargo.

My opponent opened Cutpurse/Silver.  I rather questionably purchased a Spice Merchant instead, since I disliked an untrashable cutpurse and wasn't thaat worried about the IGG race.

The second round, he plays a couple of weak buys.  I played first.  I come to my purchase right before my second reshuffle and draw 4$.  I realize - hey, my opponent hasn't played his cutpurse yet.  Meaning it's probably in his hand right now.  And since his other buys weren't all that impressive I bet he's about to hit five.  I reasoned, he gets one buy before the reshuffle, and it's probably 5 or 6$.  That's too much to pay for an Embargo.  I can trash potion if I need to.. I bought a Potion.

He pondered his buy and felt obligated to buy a 5$ card.  He went on to lose the game, but I didn't feel like I learned much about my gambit because it seemed like his total ignorance of the IGG stack lost him the game, not the two alchemists I sneaked in nor the 4$ he spent on an Embargo instead of a silver variant he could keep.


What do you guys think about buying Potion against Embargo?  It seems like it's a good idea in situations like this.  Maybe more often than that, and I'm just not paying attention.  Or maybe my move was foolish and he didn't exploit it right or I got lucky.  What think??

[philosophyguy]

I haven't yet figured out what boards are not conducive to an IGG race. Adding a Spice Merchant, and it seems like a no-brainer strategy to me. Even if your opponent goes for Alchemists and you don't embargo them, you will still be filling their deck with junk, which a) slows down the Alchemist purchases, because the Potion doesn't appear as often, and b) requires more Alchemists to consistently draw the deck/get back to the potion, to top-deck the Alchemists. Cartographer helps with the deck cycling, but I'd rather spend $5 on an IGG if there are still curses to give; I don't think the Alchemist deck can rev up fast enough to recover from a 7-3 or worse curse split.

I see a three pile ending with IGG, curses, and either Estates or Duchies.

[HiveMindEmulator]

I think your play was quite clever, though you'll never get to mass alchemists if he decides to buy an embargo before his next shuffle.

Another thing to think about is the interaction between IGG and embargo. Can't he just embargo the IGGs once you buy 1 or 2?

[DG]

I haven't yet figured out what boards are not conducive to an IGG race.

Well this would not be conducive to an igg race if someone embargoes them. In fact there are a number of different embargoes that could be applied that would shape the game, including gold, IGG, and alchemists, so you can't really say there is a definitive way to play this kingdom at all.

[popsofctown]

The IGGs were embargoed with six left.  Embargo was hard to buy, Spice Merchant was the only +buy.  Not sure that leaves the kingdom as flexible as you say.

[Maxwell]

I played this game. I deeply regret not enbargoing IGG earlier. I feel your gambit was a mistake, but my bad play as you point out made it worthwhile so I understand your concern. If I managed to embargo IGG earlier you would be stuck with one or two alchemists at most, a potion and two or so IGG while I would have an easy time drawing 8 due to cartographers.

[popsofctown]

Do you think you should have bought Embargo the round you hit 5$?

[Maxwell]

Yea my turn 6, I think now I should've used spice merchant for +cash and +buy to buy an embargo and a silver/pawn. It felt natural at the moment to get +action for the cutpurse but it didn't help me much!

[danshep]

The IGGs were embargoed with six left.  Embargo was hard to buy, Spice Merchant was the only +buy.  Not sure that leaves the kingdom as flexible as you say.

Not much to say about the strategy, but Spice Merchant was NOT the only +buy. Pawn is sitting right there. I miss spotting pawn for +buy so damn often.

[popsofctown]

I thought you didn't have Spice Merchant at all, and I didn't notice Pawn.  Shows how much attention I was paying.