Here are the results for the Round 2 battle between Dorestu (forum name Tejayes) and utsamagoots (forum name oldgold123), the 16th and 48th seeds, respectively, in the Witch Division, agreeing to identical starting hands. You might think that a player with nearly three years of playing experience and a mid-30s level on isotropic would have an easy time against a mid-teens-leveled player who admits to playing for only a few months and boasting limited Hinterlands experience. As jready learned in Round 1, you'd be so wrong. Most, if not all, of the games I won were nailbiters that could have gone either way with the correct fortunes. Anyway, here are the results...
Game 1:
Dorestu 39-37 utsamagoots
Game 2:
utsamagoots 51-36 Dorestu
Game 3: Dorestu 37-
44 utsamagootsGame 4:
Dorestu 22-15 utsamagoots
Game 5: utsamagoots 48-
55 DorestuGame 6: utsamagoots 23-
43 DorestuGAME 1:
This game could have, and perhaps should have, gone the way of utsamagoots had I not had some fortunate plays. Basically, this was a money game augmented with Militia and Scheme. Without Scheme, my Militia
hated me, getting yogurted so often that I wanted to bite my own hand off. With Scheme, it was my best friend -- and utsamagoots', too. As the Provinces dwindled, utsamagoots got first blood on the Duchies, and ended up with quite a few more than me. I thank two half-strategic, half-desperate moves for my victory -- grabbing a Gardens when I only had $4 one turns, and getting a Mandarin simply to put a Gold and Silver back on top, hoping for Province power. That, plus a good draw on my last turn, stole victory away from my opponent. Still, I am an advocate of equal-turns gameplay, which would have allowed utsamagoots to buy another Duchy and win by a point.
GAME 2:
While we both opened Treasury, our gameplay differed quite a bit afterward. I purchased a Mint early on in order to clear some Coppers, then used a Remodel strategy to cleanse myself of Estates and secure some Grand Markets, Highways, and whatnot. utsamagoots opted to build up more monetary power before trying the same. For most of the game, we were pretty even. In my last turn, I Remodeled a Border Village into a Province before buying a Colony. Although I did fear that utsamagoots had the power to take two Colonies at once, I felt that it was worth the risk. Yeah, no. utsamagoots drew just enough cash to Remodel a Platinum into a Colony, then buy the last one.
GAME 3:
Hmm, Familiar and no true trashing (just Island). Obvious strategy here. I went for a Moat along with my Potion, while utsamagoots took a Silver. The Moat protected me a few times, thanks to Scheme, but a triple Familiar one turn on my foe's behalf did not help one bit. Scheme assisted there, too. utsamagoots used this, plus his reliable money-grabbing, to secure enough Provinces for a win. I tried to compete with Duchy and Duke, but rarely had enough cash power to make it work.
GAME 4:
Goons game! Quarry proved to be a very useful card on this board -- I stuck with just one, while utsamagoots took 3 overall. He also got more Goons in the end, but it didn't matter. Thanks to an Apprenticed Quarry, Festival, and two Goons, I bought enough Warehouses to ensure a quick end on my next turn and, without reliable power to grab a Province, enough VP chips to win.
GAME 5:
I was so sure that utsamagoots was going to win this that I gave a preemptive "gg" and seriously considered resigning just to end the Torturer. Good thing I didn't. Anyway, it looked like a decent enough board for Torturing, thanks to Bazaar. I opted to get a Chancellor, hoping to build my deck quickly. It did help, but neither utsamagoots or I expected him(?) to get lucky with his(?) Bazaar and two Torturers. This got utsamagoots to an early lead with Provinces that I feared I could not overcome. However, that early Province-buying included no Golds, or really much of any Treasure. This provided the slow down I needed to purchase Gardens, Harems, Duchies, and even a few Provinces of my own. Also, it helped that my Upgrades said sayonara to most of my Curses. It was a close game, but perseverance saved my day.
GAME 6:
A 5/2 opening on a board with Ill-Gotten Gains. Of course we both took IGG right away. Our second buys, however, were quite different -- utsamagoots chose Crossroads, while I decided to put the kibosh on IGG-rushing ASAP with Embargo. While utsa managed a second IGG before I could Embargo it, that's just what I did. That allowed me to build up for super-turns thanks to Nobles, Crossroads, Wharf, Upgrade, Inn, Bank, etc. It also didn't hurt that utsamagoots gained perhaps a few too many Coppers with IGG. utsamagoots did get two Provinces before I touched them, but when I did, I took three at a crack. utsamagoots took the next-to-penultimate Province next, which allowed me to use the same trash-to-gain-then-buy trick used to deny me Game 2. This was an excellent match, and I can tell that utsamagoots will become even stronger with more experience.
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Topic: Schedule and Results: 2011 DominionStrategy.com Championships (Read 142487 times)