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[michaeljb]

michaeljb vs Julle

Had a lot of fun with this match.

Game 1: Three by three, hands of Green
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140220/log.50a6c1abe4b03214bb7822e9.1392955947668.txt

Code: [Select]

Cellar, Crossroads, Moat, Workshop, Caravan, Spice Merchant, Worker's Village, Hunting Party, Library, Adventurer
I figure the key cards here will be Hunting Party, Crossroads, Spice Merchant or Worker's Village for +Buy, and Caravan's fine for $4 hands. I took a while deciding to open with Spice Merchant, thinking it's trashing would be unimportant in an HP game, but I ended up opening SM/Silver. Julle went SM/Workshop, looking to pick up more Caravans and Silvers along the way. I thought Workshop would get in the way of buying HPs as quickly as possible, but Julle drew well early and after turn 6 we each had 2 Hunting Parties. As the game went on, the Spice Merchants ate all our Coppers, I eventually grabbed my own Workshop and we took turns wading through green hands. I stubbornly refused to resign, always hoping my opponent would draw one more bad hand, but the extra Caravans and Gold were enough to finish me.

I'm still not sure about the right opening, and I'm even questioning Spice Merchant--Silver might be better if Hunting Parties are the focus, but maybe the trashing is important enough?


Game: 17 turns for P1, Julle 49 - michaeljb 35
Match: Julle 1 - michaeljb 0



Game 2: The Fool and the Madman
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140220/log.50a6c1abe4b03214bb7822e9.1392956450499.txt

Code: [Select]

Fool's Gold, Pawn, Chancellor, Hermit, Woodcutter, Noble Brigand, Catacombs, Outpost, Tribute, Altar
Fool's Gold seems pretty strong to me here, with Hermit to clear out Estates and gain more FG. And, once I connect 2 Fool's Golds, I can buy a Catacombs that will let me draw past all of my Coppers (since Hermit will take care of my Estates) and I'll be in Province town in no time! The astute reader will note I apparently thought I was playing with Journeyman, not Catacombs. Since I first learned Dominion (about the time Alchemy came out), I've never had much trouble with mixing up different cards, but mistaking Catacombs for Journeyman (and never the other way around) has got me on multiple occasions, somehow. Anyway, it's still a filtering Smithy, so I figure I should still be solid anyway. Julle opened Hermit/Silver to my Hermit/Fool's Gold, and did end up picking 3 FGs so I wouldn't have them all. On the first reshuffle, I gained 3 more FGs, while Julle picked up an Altar and a Madman. Then followed that up with an Outpost, which really had me scratching my head; I was not struck by the engine potential here. Despite having only 3 FGs, Julle connected 2 of them for Province buys as quickly as I did, and managed to Brigand away a real Gold I had reacted with (a +$4 from a Tribute also helped out). My FG+Draw wasn't quite good enough, and in the end I broke PPR and paid the price. I'm still a little baffled at how quickly Julle's deck worked out.


Game: 13 turns each, michaeljb 24 - Julle 28
Match: Julle 2 - michaeljb 0



Game 3: It should have been Mint!
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140220/log.50a6c1abe4b03214bb7822e9.1392956963849.txt

Code: [Select]

Crossroads, Great Hall, Remodel, Cartographer, Catacombs, Graverobber, Mint, Rebuild, Tribute, Farmland
Shelters replace starting Estates
Ugh, Rebuild. Oh, yay! Shelters! We end up transitioning into Rebuild-centric play, but still more interesting than most Estate/Rebuild games in my experience. We both open Silver/Great Hall (trashing Hovel). From here, I want to get rid of my Overgrown Estate before transitioning to Rebuilds, and I luckily get a turn 4 Gold and get to play it turn 5, trading in my Overgrown Estate for a Farmland and a Silver. By turn 5, Julle has a Remodel, Cartographer, and Rebuild, and I feel like I have the lead thanks to my Treasure advantage. I grab a couple Rebuilds, and after turn 7 we each have 2 Rebuilds, and 3 Silvers; in addition to this, I have a Gold and Farmland to Julle's Cartographer, and Remodel (which had also turned his Necropolis into a second Great Hall). The next couple turns go as you might expect, each of us adding green to our decks, Rebuilding as we can. On my 15th turn, with all the Duchies gone, the only move is to buy Farmland. I casually press the 'Play Treasures' button, select the Farmland, then suddenly realize my fatal mistake: I played 3 Coppers and 2 Silvers when I could have played 2 of each to trash a Copper for an Estate. My next turn I can only afford a Great Hall, and on my opponent's following turn, a Great Hall is Rebuilt into a Farmland, a Duchy improved to the final Province, and a Silver in hand is all that's needed to buy an Estate to give Jlle the come-from-behind tie. I stave off elimination, barely.


Game: 16 turns each, michaeljb 36 - Julle 36
Match: Julle 2.5 - michaeljb 0.5



Game 4: Separation of Church and State
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140220/log.50a6c1abe4b03214bb7822e9.1392957624598.txt

Code: [Select]

Chapel, Crossroads, Ambassador, Fortune Teller, Sage, Moneylender, Scavenger, Walled Village, Hunting Party, Pillage
No +Buy here, but it's got everything else you need for an engine and I just can't say no to Ambassador in a do-or-die situation like this. Scavenger should help kickstart everything, Hunting Parties and (later) Crossroads is plenty of draw, and the occasional Pillage might be fun. Julle believes in the power of the Church over the State, opening Scavenger/Chapel to my Scavenger/Ambassador. With an early $5, he picks up a Pillage, but I get lucky enough to have a Hunting Party and Scavenger in hand when he plays it, so I still get a fine turn out of it. After turn 7, my deck is smaller by 1 card, but Julle has 3 Estates to my 0, and no Hunting Parties to my 1. I pick up a few more Hunting Parties, and Julle gets into the Ambassador game a little late. I start on the Provinces on turn 12, feeling good with a small deck, a few Hunting Parties, and 1 Copper and 1 Estate to Julle's 5 Coppers. Julle's first Province comes turn 14, and I feel like I've got the game under control now. A couple turns later, he buys the third to last Province, and I generously gift him the penultimate Province as a thank-you for giving me his last Estate earlier, buying the last one to win by a nose.

I think Ambassador over Chapel for the opening was key here; Chapel slows down your economy more and HPs were crucial.


Game: 16 turns, Julle 24 - michaeljb 25
Match: Julle 2.5 - michaeljb 1.5



Game 5: Won't Get Fooled Again
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140220/log.50a6c1abe4b03214bb7822e9.1392957992586.txt

Code: [Select]

Courtyard, Crossroads, Fool's Gold, Baron, Horse Traders, Mining Village, Spice Merchant, Jester, Mint, Upgrade
I believe this was the right board for me to get the only 5/2 draw of the match on. I open Mint/Fool's Gold against Spice Merchant/Fool's Gold, picking up an early Crossroads and Baron (along with the obvious Fool's Golds). Julle goes for Horse Traders over Baron. Despite my advantageous start, we split the Fool's Golds evenly (I should have been more aggressive with them; probably would have been better off waiting for things like Crossroads and Baron until they were gone). We both start on the Provinces turn 8, and it's neck-and-neck the rest of the way until my 2 Crossroads line up and I can just buy the last Province.


Game: 15 turns, Julle 34 - michaeljb 36
Match: Julle 2.5 - michaeljb 2.5



Game 6: Finishing the Climb?
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140220/log.50a6c1abe4b03214bb7822e9.1392958696902.txt

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Courtyard, Squire, Fishing Village, Watchtower, Tournament, Butcher, Contraband, Highway, Bank, Peddler
Platinum and Colony in the Supply
It seems fitting that final game would be the Colony game, but Tournament's there to keep Provinces relevant. There are a few different things that excite me on this board: Squire can help buy lots of Peddlers, Butcher for Peddler -> Province + bonus tokens, Squire/FV + Watchtower for draw, Highway. Knowing I want to do something with all of that, I open Tournament/Squire against Tournament/Fishing Village. Julle grabs an early Bank, which wasn't really something I expected. With Squire, I spend a few turns buying multiple engine pieces, but never quite get the big Peddler turn I want. Julle gets the first Province by Butchering a Gold, and I get mine a couple turns later. After 10 turns, we each have a Province and I have more engine pieces while Julle has a Platinum, Bank, and Contraband. We both add some more engine pieces but I don't think Julle ever got himself enough draw. On turn 14, I win the first Tourney, claiming a Trusty Steed, mainly for the purposes of keeping my current turn going. Ignoring Followers turns out to be awesome for me, as Julle gains them the following turn, but both times he plays them, my Watchtower is there to defend me. As the game goes on longer (thanks Colonies!) my engine comes together more and more and I pull away in the final turns, coming from a 2.5 - .5 match deficit to declare victory.


Game: 18 turns for P1, michaeljb 61 - Julle 44
Match: Julle 2.5 - michaeljb 3.5


I didn't notice until writing this up that none of the games ended on piles. Interesting.

Thanks to Julle for an awesome set of games and just being an awesome opponent! Thanks to TheMirrorMan for doing a cool write-up and inspring me to procrastinate on my homework to make this! (I probably won't do this again for this tournament, it took way too long. )

[PitrPicko]

PitrPicko vs. matste - 3:0

matste - PitrPicko
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140220/log.517265f6e4b054fd071e3c90.1392925981900.txt

Code: [Select]

Vineyard, Scrying Pool, Masquerade, Death Cart, Horse Traders, Marauder, Plaza, Laboratory, Mine, PillageThis doesn't look very enginey, but with SP one can never be sure and it is always a nice counter to maureder. And with vineyard it can be a thing. But when I saw, that matste is opening Potion I decided to go simple BM-Masq. I don't want to feed him with ruins via maureder, he will draw them anyway with SP and I would just increse his action density, which is crucial on board w/ weak trashing. Also masq is nice since I can feed his deck with non-actions all the time. But I was still bit scared about vineyards. Those can bring lot of points, when ruins are up. However lack of cheap actions killed this one. Crucial thing for this SP deck is of course HT, because how can you flood your deck with actions w/o buy. You really have to at least buy vineyard and deathcart in the endgame. But my BM-Masq was doing the job. It was pretty easy way, passing, trashing, buying silvers, golds, provinces. And to ensure my lead, T11 I've played Masq which hit matste really hard, having in hand Plaza, Gold, SP, SP, HT.

So question for you, what would you pass?

PitrPicko - matste
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140220/log.517265f6e4b054fd071e3c90.1392926725082.txt

Code: [Select]

Poor House, Oracle, Wishing Well, Caravan, Marauder, Baker, Cache, Count, Counting House, Harem
OK, baker here, so we are in 5/3 waters. I think Count is pretty natural thing to open with as I have in mind some Baker chain. Question goes with $3. Silver or WW? Silver improves your economy where WW can increase your hand size for Count trashing. I went silver and matste tried WW. But his WW never colided with court and that was very unpleasent for him, while I was having almost perfect shuffle luck, trashing cards, getting bakers, all good. matste correctly tried to slow me down with Maureder but it was too late probably. I could trash those ruins if I wanted. But at that time I had so trimmed deck and so many coin tokens that it didn't bothered me much. Also I was waiting for ruined market just to finish this off and it really helped me as I was able to buy Prov/estate and break PPR. That gave me 10 points lead and matste even with perfect Count for duchy, buy prov can't catch me. And at that point I had still enough tokens to buy province in one of next two turns (one where I hit my silver or few bakers).

PitrPicko - matste
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140220/log.517265f6e4b054fd071e3c90.1392927312344.txt

Code: [Select]

Pawn, Shanty Town, Swindler, Bishop, Conspirator, Farming Village, Fortress, Procession, Remodel, Forge
Finally something!
Only question is whether bishop/fortress or forge/fortress or maybe golden deck. However you still need that bishop so I settled for bishop/fortress.
We both opened double terminal (with swindler just to mess up with our decks), but matste tried remodel, probably hoping that I'll give him enough trashing with my bishop and he can remodel few estates into bishops, fortresses, whatever and then maybe fortresses into golds(?). But I didn't colide my terminals, while matste did. And that was pretty unlucky for him. And he chose to play swindler (hitting my estate) but I'd definetly remodel one of those estates into something useful.
T12 I'm already fully trimmed and getting 9+VP/turn and there is no stopping me. It is just question of time when I finish 3-pile, so matste resigns.
Most interesting thing here is probably swindling fortress into procession, as we don't have any $5 actions so procession is really for nothing


Thank you matste for good games. It is always sad when BMs are dominant strategies, but that is part of a game. At least we had that bishop thing And baker one had at least some hard decision about when to start greening but otherwise it was just wierd BM-Chapel . So thanks again and good luck in next rounds

[TheMirrorMan]

Thanks to TheMirrorMan for doing a cool write-up and inspring me to procrastinate on my homework to make this! (I probably won't do this again for this tournament, it took way too long. )

Good to see I have an impact, michaeljb - don't know if it is all that good an influence though :p

[AdamH]

Round 1 match: AdamH 3, Jdaki 1

Link to entire recorded stream (Twitch)
Video Playlist link (YouTube)


Game 1: Jdaki 4, AdamH 6
Game log: http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140220/log.5085f5130cf270038ff92212.1392939255122.txt
Video link

Code: [Select]

Market Square, Urchin (Bane), Village, Island, Smithy, Young Witch, Count, Merchant Ship, Mountebank, Tactician, Fairgrounds
Cursing attacks abound here and there are lots of different ways to trash your cards, but there are also multiple options for an engine to be built. He goes for Mountebank and Count and transitions into a double-Tactician deck with Merchant Ship and Count for money. I go for Urchin/Mercenary and Young Witch, then into Village/Draw and Market Squares to get Golds, with Tactician for support. I felt like the discard attack was going to be more important especially with Urchin being the bane card; I feel like my early-game luck was pretty abyssmal but I eventually get some traction with my strategy and I find a way to end the game on a 3-pile.


Game 2: AdamH 27, Jdaki 17
Game log: http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140220/log.5085f5130cf270038ff92212.1392940964236.txt
Video link

Code: [Select]

Haven, Masquerade, Steward, Bishop, Ironmonger, Wandering Minstrel, Merchant Ship, Torturer, Hoard, Expand
A decent engine to be built, once again with a lot of possibilities, but there's no +Buy. Only Expand and Hoard for extra gains. Masquerade sort of counters a Golden deck and also semi-counters the Village+Torturer available. This board was very interactive. He opted for stronger trashing earlier with Steward so I got running a little quicker, but it didn't matter all that much because we were both able to keep thin as the Curse pile ran out. We go for a similar payload (Hoard and Expand) and there are tons of interesting endgame decisions (which I apparently misplayed) but I'm able to run the clock out with a lead.


Game 3: AdamH 39, Jdaki 43
Game log: http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140220/log.5085f5130cf270038ff92212.1392942083781.txt
Video link

Code: [Select]

Duchess, Hamlet, Mining Village, Salvager, Trader, Baker, Horn of Plenty, Mountebank, Border Village, Nobles
I never felt comfortable with this kingdom. Mountebank but also Trader as good defense. I try and walk the line between defense and offense and I don't do enough of either and I'm in a terrible position when the endgame rolls around. Jdaki played better all around and won this won easily (though the score doesn't reflect that).


Game 4: Jdaki 18, AdamH 45
Game log: http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140220/log.5085f5130cf270038ff92212.1392943241074.txt
Video link

Code: [Select]

Lighthouse, Develop, Village, Talisman, Thief, Worker's Village, Golem, Embassy, Laboratory, Market
Well maybe you can build an engine here, but I think Embassy+BM is too fast so that's what I go for. He gets the idea to build a deck that plays a million Theives per turn, and it succeeds in trashing my entire economy after I get 3 Provinces, but I just get a bunch of Lighthouses and scratch my way up to 50% VP for the win. Some scary moments here, and maybe his strategy would have worked if he played it a little differently, who knows?


So the last match of the last GokoDom was against Jdaki, and though we had two interesting games, the other two ended up being Jack+support. I'm glad every kingdom in this match was interesting and very interactive, I'm glad I got to play it with a high-level player like Jdaki, and I'm also really happy with the way streaming the match turned out. I'm really pumped about this tournament!

[AdamH]

So as many people know, I streamed my match live. It was my first time doing this and I thought I might be able to interact with the chat in between games. Turns out I didn't want to break my focus, so what I did was copy the relevant part of the chat log and now I'll offer my comments. I'd like to thank everybody who watched and especially those who offered some commentary, it was really great to see such high-level players commenting on my games and I got to see some people in the stream this time who I haven't seen before

Let me know if this is something that's interesting, I can continue to do this.


GAME 1

WanderingWinder: open urchin on 3, then YW if he doesn't get an urchin
It makes me so happy when WW says I should do something and that's what I ended up doing

Davqvist: Does YW even matter here?

WanderingWinder: Definitely YW is better than urchin turn 2 - Urchin just doesn't do basically anything for you; silver is better than village turn 3, you will need economy
» So on the turn you get 3 mercenaries (I'm going to assume there won't be a second such turn) - you can consider market square, though village is also worth a look; you know, though, that you can't have more than $1, because you'd actually had 6 coppers in your last hand, and that was all your economy
» the second time you have 5, I think I would be buying market square - you need the buys, the golds, etc. Three mercenaries are going to thin for you pretty well...
» I think the second tactician is just a mistake...
The second Tactician was a close call for me, I was still worried my deck was too big and he was starting to play Mountebanks more often which is why I got it, but I don't remember any time where the second one was particularly useful.

Sirdagen: Why so, WW? Cause he can't use his money then?

Lespeutere: he's able to draw his deck now even w/o tac

WanderingWinder: because the deck you want to build draws itself w/o tactician, and you want to be using gold; the only way double-tac works is off virtual coin which means like... a lot of merchant ships? Which doesn't set up well; this also works with the mercenary all the time plan
» and with the deck stacks up, he probably should be trashing the second tactician, since he's never playing it (turn 16 as I make this comment)

Sirdagen: Yeah, thanks. Now he doesnt want to play the tac.

WanderingWinder: Adam is still in good shape though, because he has MUCH more endgame control; I would probably be looking at more smithies if I were him, because he will need to be drawing a lot more
Yeah I totally should have been doing this instead of a second Tactician, there are just so many things I want at this point like Villages, Market Squares, etc. I should have thought of this.

» turn 17, I think you play tactician, buy estate

Lespeutere: maybe trash 2 golds, play tac, buy MS

Sirdagen: This is so interesting. I should go to bed (0:33), but...
How many times has this happened to me? Go to bed because it's way too late, or play MOAR Dominion? Guess which one I always chose?

Lespeutere: (t17)
» nah, play mercenary on YW/tac



GAME 2

Lespeutere: heya
» I didn't know they named a card after you, WW

WanderingWinder: You make your own "the-right-player-goes-first" luck
» ^^he is referring to Wandering Minstrel

Sirdagen: Haha

Lespeutere: obviously

WanderingWinder: Golden deck is weak to Masquerade
I've made that mistake before
» I think you actually just make a masquerade-based engine here, with hoard and money
» masquerade is PLENTY trashing
Sometimes it can be difficult for me to turn down Steward, but this time it was easy for me. I always hesitate to have a super-thin deck with Masq around, and I always hesitate to not open Masquerade with Masq around.

Sirdagen: Oh, torture him, then masquerade.
There were several interesting situations where playing Torturer/Masquerade in the right order was a non-trivial decision, I don't think I got all of them correct.

Lespeutere: he'll take curses as well
» yeah, mistake not to play haven

WanderingWinder: expanding torturer into province is a big mistake - you need your draw, really
» Though you're basically winning anyway
I did this because I was really worried about what his deck could do and I wanted a mad rush for green (I think this was right after he bought his Expand). Looking back I shouldn't have been so worried, but that's why I did this.

WanderingWinder: T15 You're really mis-playing this endgame - 4 provinces isn't that great if he can likely double province AND have bishop points; milling a province is good though


GAME 3

WanderingWinder: I don't think the HoP mega-turn will happen very easily through mountebank - Trader as a defense doesn't really help, you still get stop cards. I think I would actually go trader-trader, maybe move into salvager later, definitely look to use Border Village with T4B at some point, and then adjust to what they're doing; Probably get 2ish mountebanks before switching to baker, lots of treasure, go from there
» Turn 4 - I definitely would get a second mountebank; why do you not get a second mountebank? He hasn't gotten trader, you want to pound him; I definitely get Mounte
Outlining the first of many misplays this game. I looked at this kingdom and I was pretty sure I would lose, this was a tough board for me.


GAME 4

WanderingWinder: I'm pretty sure I'd go Embassy/BM; Lab-based engines without trashing, no great payload, are SO slow
Once again, very nice to see that I made the same decision as WW

Sirdagen: He did it
This is likely a response to some chat message that Twitch dropped? Thanks, Twitch, you're the best.

WanderingWinder: If you engine, it would be with embassy in mind for the draw... or maybe actually, Develop/Talisman, turn 4-costs into village/lab or something? That can't be good
» "I can just... GET lighthouses over silvers from now on" - naw, Jimmy don't fear the Thief - keeping treasures is much better for your deck, just power through
» (also more cowbell)
lol

» And for what he is doing (t11 as I say this), he really needs more labs
Yeah I think more draw/trashing would have helped him quite a bit, it might have enabled him to make use of some of the treasures he was stealing from me, but maybe not.

» He's right to leave the treasures in the trash - they clog up the engine he wants to build
» Actually at this point his copper-trashing is not helping you so much...
» (t14-15)

Sirdagen: Even ignore lighthouses with 6 thiefs in play, WW?
» I would be scard too

WanderingWinder: there were 2 thieves when I said that, but you know, I really would be getting some villages if I were Adam now I think

Sirdagen: but now he has too many

WanderingWinder: Who has too many what?
» I think the opponent getting 6 thieves must be a mistake

Sirdagen: adam lighthousese?
» sure
Glad to see you didn't go to bed But yeah at this point my entire economy was coming from Lighthouses.

WanderingWinder: mm, if you're going for lighthouses, you almost just want to go whole-hog
» T22 - he didn't want WV because he's worried about piles; regular village would be good, but I think develop to turn thieves into useful things, get duchies
So yeah I think the turn he bought nothing with $4 was a misclick, then

[Qvist]

Game 1

http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140220/log.505f5ec4a2e6714a97eee844.1392924654410.txt

Code: [Select]

Woodcutter, Feast, Ironworks, Island, Mining Village, Monument, Rats, Wandering Minstrel, Cartographer, Wharf
We both go for a Wharf engine. But I open Ironworks to gain the villages and Islands, while he opened Island (trashing Hovel) right away and gets the Ironworks later. He gets a good turn 4 Wharf and can shuffle it in while I get my first Wharf turn 5. We split the Wharves 5/5, but somehow he had his Wharves more regularly and earlier in play, so he started picking up Islands with his Ironworks (and eventually with a second Ironworks later) while I had one Monument over him. My engine was better but slower. I could double Province, but he still had 4 Islands and an Estate over me and the piles were running. Then he could only buy a Duchy with no Wharves in play. I had $10 and a Monument and an Ironworks in hand. I hoped that he can't draw a good amount of his deck and gained Island and bought Province/Duchy (I drew a Silver), but he was able to pile the Islands and WMs for the win.


Game 2

http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140220/log.505f5ec4a2e6714a97eee844.1392927069692.txt

Code: [Select]

Oasis, Bishop, Mining Village, Nomad Camp, Mountebank, Rabble, Royal Seal, Vault, Fairgrounds, Goons

A sloggy Mountebank/Goons game. We had a similar deck, but he opted for triple Goons/single Mountebank while I got double Mountebank/single Goons. He had therefore more VP chips and went for Fairgrounds pretty early. But I was able to get 2 Platina and tried to get Colonies. I had a lot of $10 turns, but bought a single Colony. He had later a lucky turn and got a Colony too, so with piles running out, I was in a bad shape. But he stalled pretty hard, while I got more than $6 regularly. I thought I was in worse condition and didn't bought the last Fairgrounds and got a Province instead, but he ended it on Fairgrounds for a win. If I would have bought the Fairgrounds though, I would have won.


Game 3

http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140220/log.505f5ec4a2e6714a97eee844.1392928759209.txt

Code: [Select]

Crossroads, Forager, Farming Village, Treasure Map, Apprentice, Catacombs, Market, Merchant Ship, Nobles, Possession
We both build the engine here, but he trashes harder with double Forager while I only have a single Forager. I hit $6 more regularly, grabbing Nobles over Catacombs, winning the Nobles split 6/4, was is a big deal with Crossroads being around. Then was decision time if to go for Posession or not. I saw that it is strong here, but he had not much economy, so I tried to rush the Provinces. He had a worse deck and had to go for Possession. He trashed a Catacombs for a Potion and drew it right away and bought a Possession what was a pretty wise choice and strong move on his part. His first Possession was a bad hand and was able to buy my second Province and a Duchy for a solid lead, but bought a second Possession and later a third one. I could later buy Province/Duchy again, still for a solid lead. But unfortunately he could double-possess me and I only buy a Duchy and then he triple-possessed me for the win.

[Watno]

Watno - Teproc 3.5:0.5
Game 1: Watno wins: http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140221/log.516db980e4b082c74d7c7329.1392991813587.txt
Game 2: Tie: http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140221/log.516db980e4b082c74d7c7329.1392992606442.txt
Game 3: Watno wins: http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140221/log.516db980e4b082c74d7c7329.1392993662052.txt
Game 4: Watno wins: http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140221/log.516db980e4b082c74d7c7329.1392994329159.txt

None of these were particularly interesting sets.

[A Drowned Kernel]

Harry Peteur beats ADK 3-0. Video is being uploaded to Youtube. Edit: Youtube apparently hates me, I livestreamed the match and Adam and JSH showed up to watch, hope you guys enjoyed it. I'll see if I can do anything with the recording.

Game One

Silk Roads/Islands. I lose the SR split and the game.

Game Two

Everyone loves Rebuild! I try to beat it with a half-baked Hermit engine and Familiar. It doesn't fly.

Game Three

We both skip Rebuild this time for a Wharf/Bishop/Rats engine. It's close for a bit but then he kills me with VP chips.

Well played Harry, thanks for the match, and good luck in the rest of the tournament!

[SCSN]

So as many people know, I streamed my match live. It was my first time doing this and I thought I might be able to interact with the chat in between games. Turns out I didn't want to break my focus, so what I did was copy the relevant part of the chat log and now I'll offer my comments. I'd like to thank everybody who watched and especially those who offered some commentary, it was really great to see such high-level players commenting on my games and I got to see some people in the stream this time who I haven't seen before

Let me know if this is something that's interesting, I can continue to do this.

Yeah, keep doing this. Too bad I closed the stream after that game with shark_bait as I thought you weren't going to play your match and was about to stop streaming.

I haven't yet watched the videos but looked at the first game log and commentary, which I strongly disagree with. There's a very strong double Tactician engine here with an insane amount of game state control so you definitely want to go for that. For double Tactician you want virtual coin, so don't buy any yellow card ever. The obvious open here is Urchin/Urchin/Urchin/Village. You want 2 Mercenaries as soon as possible and YW is a distraction that hurts in getting them. First trash down, then go for the Cursers. Mercenaries also should give you the economy to get to $5, so there's no need to bother with Silver. You want to discard Market Squares after playing Mercenary if and only if you need the Golds as fodder for future Merc plays (Count can help here too with its Copper gaining).

Here's a quick example game where SCSN I plays the strategy I advocate whereas SCSN II plays a simple Mountebank-BM: http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140221/log.505d732a51c359e6597efeb8.1393003221689.txt

[matste]

Thank you matste for good games. It is always sad when BMs are dominant strategies, but that is part of a game. At least we had that bishop thing And baker one had at least some hard decision about when to start greening but otherwise it was just wierd BM-Chapel . So thanks again and good luck in next rounds

Thanks for the summary of our games. You sound like I was very unlucky. That's not true. In the first two games I made horrible mistakes and deserved to lose. However, in the third game, I feel like I made the better opening decision. My idea was to win the Bishop/Fortress split with extra gains and to benefit from the trashing of your Bishop. Your early Bishop VPs shouldn't matter in a Bishop+Fortress madness. But after seeing the horrible collision in turn 3, emotions took over and I lost the rest of rational thinking. Loosing the Remodel to your Swindler didn't help either.
Good games.

[Alexmf]

Alexmf(SDAlexmf) - Liopoil 3-1


http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140221/log.516d4258e4b082c74d7b660a.1393014013812.txt
Forager-Minion vs. Remake-Minion, he wins the Minion split 6-4 and goes on to win the game.
0-1
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140221/log.516d4258e4b082c74d7b660a.1393016820405.txt
Straightforward Minion game. I draw better and win.
1-1
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140221/log.516d4258e4b082c74d7b660a.1393017494427.txt
Pretty interesting board. I like my approach of not going overboard on action cards here due to no +buy/trashing. Got lucky again too.
2-1
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140221/log.516d4258e4b082c74d7b660a.1393018889936.txt
He wins the curse split by far, but then his swindlers hit terribly. He makes a mistake in getting throne rooms and that seals the deal.
3-1


Thank you for the games!

[Temron]

Game 1:

Code: [Select]

Transmute, Beggar, Fool's Gold, Squire, Oasis, Sage, Silk Road, Apprentice, Bazaar, Wharf
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140221/log.506333f0a2e62dfc41a45a88.1393027883529.txt

The first game was a mirror: Fool's Gold, Squire, Wharf
I think the key to the game was winning the Silk Road split. He got an early Wharf which had me concerned as I was unable to get my first Wharf until right before the 3rd shuffle.

Temron: 54
nnn: 46


Game 2:

Code: [Select]

Embargo, Pearl Diver, Swindler, Monument, Nomad Camp, Cache, Count, Embassy, Merchant Ship, Vault
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140221/log.506333f0a2e62dfc41a45a88.1393028341917.txt

Second game: no actions, big money Colony game with Embassy and Vault

We both started with 4/3. I opened with Monument/Silver and nnn opened with Swindler/Silver. I think this was the big difference in the game since in the first few shuffles I was able to get additional points with Monument and he was only able to give me one curse. On my first 5, I opted for Vault as I did not want to give him the early silver. After that I switched to Gold and Embassy.

Temon: 65
nnn: 48


Game 3:

Code: [Select]

Crossroads, Herbalist, Secret Chamber, Stonemason, Tunnel, Pirate Ship, Thief, Tournament, Hunting Party, Vault
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140221/log.506333f0a2e62dfc41a45a88.1393028993137.txt

Third game: Tournaments, Hunting Party, Stone Mason

Again we both started with 4/3 and opened Tournament/Silver. Got lucky with 6 on turn 3 and picked up my first Gold. Then on turn 5 picked up first Hunting Party and on turn 6 was able to Stonemason into 2 more Hunting Parties. Picked up my first Province on turn 8 and was able to connect on turn 10 picking up Followers. At this point I had 4 Hunting Parties. By turn 12 I got a mega turn and was able to pick up Trusty Steed and Princess and from there the game was pretty much over.

Temron: 48
nnn: 22

edit: forgot to include 3rd game log

[Titandrake]

Titandrake 3-0 crablar. Not the most interesting boards.

http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140221/log.5143ebede4b0f496b6dd69dd.1393041989513.txt
Despite Sea Hag, Bishop + Colonies makes an engine much more appealing. Procession/Catacombs/Hamlet is the core, with Bishop for fun shenanigans and deck thinning.

http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140221/log.5143ebede4b0f496b6dd69dd.1393043345086.txt
Hey, so I heard you like Knight pins...overpaying for Stonemason by $2 so early was a big mistake on my part, I get my first KC way later because of it. However, I got the trash 2 knight, so I could trash my Estates much more easily. I start up a lot slower, but manage to get a Knight advantage, and KC + knights is completely brutal.

http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140221/log.5143ebede4b0f496b6dd69dd.1393044271057.txt
Tournament+Cultist, aka first player advantage the board. I actually end up losing the Ruins split 4-6, since Smugglers got an extra Cultist for crablar on turn 3, but I still get first prize. I bet the right move here is actually to gun for Princess, then attempt a long drawn-out engine with Fairgrounds as VP. The issue is that you can't skip Cultists early, and there's no way to trash Ruins, and passing up Followers feels suicidal, so it's not really an option for both players.

[WanderingWinder]

So as many people know, I streamed my match live. It was my first time doing this and I thought I might be able to interact with the chat in between games. Turns out I didn't want to break my focus, so what I did was copy the relevant part of the chat log and now I'll offer my comments. I'd like to thank everybody who watched and especially those who offered some commentary, it was really great to see such high-level players commenting on my games and I got to see some people in the stream this time who I haven't seen before

Let me know if this is something that's interesting, I can continue to do this.

Yeah, keep doing this. Too bad I closed the stream after that game with shark_bait as I thought you weren't going to play your match and was about to stop streaming.

I haven't yet watched the videos but looked at the first game log and commentary, which I strongly disagree with. There's a very strong double Tactician engine here with an insane amount of game state control so you definitely want to go for that. For double Tactician you want virtual coin, so don't buy any yellow card ever. The obvious open here is Urchin/Urchin/Urchin/Village. You want 2 Mercenaries as soon as possible and YW is a distraction that hurts in getting them. First trash down, then go for the Cursers. Mercenaries also should give you the economy to get to $5, so there's no need to bother with Silver. You want to discard Market Squares after playing Mercenary if and only if you need the Golds as fodder for future Merc plays (Count can help here too with its Copper gaining).

Here's a quick example game where SCSN I plays the strategy I advocate whereas SCSN II plays a simple Mountebank-BM: http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140221/log.505d732a51c359e6597efeb8.1393003221689.txt

Well, I'm entirely unsurprised that it stomps Mountebank BM - that's really a straw man here. This deck is going to be very highly reliant on villages - I guess the other is a bit too. Anyway, while it might be right that Double Tac is the way to go here, this log does nothing to show that - it crushes MB BM, but that's really not the comparison.

Also it's definitely worth noting that the YW advice is specifically predicated on the opponent NOT getting urchin.

In any case I suspect the biggest thing is going to be early Mercenary luck.

[SCSN]

So as many people know, I streamed my match live. It was my first time doing this and I thought I might be able to interact with the chat in between games. Turns out I didn't want to break my focus, so what I did was copy the relevant part of the chat log and now I'll offer my comments. I'd like to thank everybody who watched and especially those who offered some commentary, it was really great to see such high-level players commenting on my games and I got to see some people in the stream this time who I haven't seen before

Let me know if this is something that's interesting, I can continue to do this.

Yeah, keep doing this. Too bad I closed the stream after that game with shark_bait as I thought you weren't going to play your match and was about to stop streaming.

I haven't yet watched the videos but looked at the first game log and commentary, which I strongly disagree with. There's a very strong double Tactician engine here with an insane amount of game state control so you definitely want to go for that. For double Tactician you want virtual coin, so don't buy any yellow card ever. The obvious open here is Urchin/Urchin/Urchin/Village. You want 2 Mercenaries as soon as possible and YW is a distraction that hurts in getting them. First trash down, then go for the Cursers. Mercenaries also should give you the economy to get to $5, so there's no need to bother with Silver. You want to discard Market Squares after playing Mercenary if and only if you need the Golds as fodder for future Merc plays (Count can help here too with its Copper gaining).

Here's a quick example game where SCSN I plays the strategy I advocate whereas SCSN II plays a simple Mountebank-BM: http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140221/log.505d732a51c359e6597efeb8.1393003221689.txt

Well, I'm entirely unsurprised that it stomps Mountebank BM - that's really a straw man here. This deck is going to be very highly reliant on villages - I guess the other is a bit too. Anyway, while it might be right that Double Tac is the way to go here, this log does nothing to show that - it crushes MB BM, but that's really not the comparison.

Also it's definitely worth noting that the YW advice is specifically predicated on the opponent NOT getting urchin.

In any case I suspect the biggest thing is going to be early Mercenary luck.

It's not a strawman because the log was meant to illustrate the strategy rather than to prove its superiority. I chose to play against a Mountebank-BM instead of solitaire because receiving Curses would make the building process far more realistic, and I did not pick a better strategy than Mountebank-BM both to keep things simple for myself and to not muddle the log too much, which would reduce its educative value.

I do think that YW is a mistake regardless of your opponent going Urchin or not as it delays you getting 2 Mercenaries, which you really need to get your deck going, and the early Curses aren't really important, you want to get to a deck that plays 2 Mountebanks each turn as fast as possible, everything else is a distraction.

[WanderingWinder]

So as many people know, I streamed my match live. It was my first time doing this and I thought I might be able to interact with the chat in between games. Turns out I didn't want to break my focus, so what I did was copy the relevant part of the chat log and now I'll offer my comments. I'd like to thank everybody who watched and especially those who offered some commentary, it was really great to see such high-level players commenting on my games and I got to see some people in the stream this time who I haven't seen before

Let me know if this is something that's interesting, I can continue to do this.

Yeah, keep doing this. Too bad I closed the stream after that game with shark_bait as I thought you weren't going to play your match and was about to stop streaming.

I haven't yet watched the videos but looked at the first game log and commentary, which I strongly disagree with. There's a very strong double Tactician engine here with an insane amount of game state control so you definitely want to go for that. For double Tactician you want virtual coin, so don't buy any yellow card ever. The obvious open here is Urchin/Urchin/Urchin/Village. You want 2 Mercenaries as soon as possible and YW is a distraction that hurts in getting them. First trash down, then go for the Cursers. Mercenaries also should give you the economy to get to $5, so there's no need to bother with Silver. You want to discard Market Squares after playing Mercenary if and only if you need the Golds as fodder for future Merc plays (Count can help here too with its Copper gaining).

Here's a quick example game where SCSN I plays the strategy I advocate whereas SCSN II plays a simple Mountebank-BM: http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140221/log.505d732a51c359e6597efeb8.1393003221689.txt

Well, I'm entirely unsurprised that it stomps Mountebank BM - that's really a straw man here. This deck is going to be very highly reliant on villages - I guess the other is a bit too. Anyway, while it might be right that Double Tac is the way to go here, this log does nothing to show that - it crushes MB BM, but that's really not the comparison.

Also it's definitely worth noting that the YW advice is specifically predicated on the opponent NOT getting urchin.

In any case I suspect the biggest thing is going to be early Mercenary luck.

It's not a strawman because the log was meant to illustrate the strategy rather than to prove its superiority. I chose to play against a Mountebank-BM instead of solitaire because receiving Curses would make the building process far more realistic, and I did not pick a better strategy than Mountebank-BM both to keep things simple for myself and to not muddle the log too much, which would reduce its educative value.

But your point is to show that it is better than what was suggested, no? In which case, picking a very good match-up to show that it works isn't really doing much. I mean, Mountebank BM is a VERY good matchup. Of course the deck can work totally uncontested - I don't if anyone was questioning that. My point is that it's NOT a realistic situation for the deck.

I do think that YW is a mistake regardless of your opponent going Urchin or not as it delays you getting 2 Mercenaries, which you really need to get your deck going, and the early Curses aren't really important, you want to get to a deck that plays 2 Mountebanks each turn as fast as possible, everything else is a distraction.

I disagree - the only way that YW slows you down getting to 2 mercenaries is if you have YW and the top card of your deck is urchin, which can happen but is unlikely. And I really don't think the curses are unimportant against an opponent who isn't going for quick trashing (and if they're not getting urchin....)

[SCSN]

It's not a strawman because the log was meant to illustrate the strategy rather than to prove its superiority. I chose to play against a Mountebank-BM instead of solitaire because receiving Curses would make the building process far more realistic, and I did not pick a better strategy than Mountebank-BM both to keep things simple for myself and to not muddle the log too much, which would reduce its educative value.

But your point is to show that it is better than what was suggested, no?

No, my point was to illustrate for Adam (and for anyone else who might be interested) the strategy I think is best, not to prove that it actually is, which would be very hard to do in practice and would only interest me if I happened to be unsure about it myself.

I disagree - the only way that YW slows you down getting to 2 mercenaries is if you have YW and the top card of your deck is urchin, which can happen but is unlikely. And I really don't think the curses are unimportant against an opponent who isn't going for quick trashing (and if they're not getting urchin....

That's certainly not the only way: if you have 2 Urchins in your remaining deck you can draw one of them with YW, thus preventing an otherwise likely collision, and with a hand of YW/Merc/X/X/X you can't get a second Merc and the YW is a dead card, whereas with Urchin/Merc/X/X/X you can both draw a card and get the 2nd Merc. The YW can also draw your Mercs dead, which would be an absolute disaster, the risk of which should be enough to not play it, in which case you'd have much rather have the YW be an Urchin in the first place, as I indeed think it should be.

And the junking is important, that's why you want to quickly build the deck that hands out 4 junk cards/turn, relative to which the 1 Curse/shuffle from YW is irrelevant.

[Robz888]

Game 1: http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140221/log.514cd37de4b0fe3236619906.1393034980051.txt

Code: [Select]

Secret Chamber, Wishing Well, Philosopher's Stone, Baron, Ironworks, Embassy, Soothsayer, Witch, Goons, Peddler
I get first player and the 5/2 split, which is just a massive advantage in what is going to be a Cursing and Goons slog. I take Witch over Sootsayer to start with (though I want Soothsayer later)--I think that's the right call, faster early cycling and all. I do decide to pair it with Secret Chamber. In the long hall of the slog, I think it's probably better than not having it, though I could be wrong.

My opponent goes for Phil Stone fairly early, which I think might actually be a pretty smart call here, so I follow him by Ironworksing for a Potion at an opportune moment. Unfortunately, he doesn't really contest me on Curses, so that kills him. He's not as far off as I would have expected, so maybe I misplayed somewhere. Still, I take the win.

Game 2: http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140221/log.514cd37de4b0fe3236619906.1393035509330.txt

Code: [Select]

Cellar, Philosopher's Stone, Ironworks, Pirate Ship, Worker's Village, Minion, Royal Seal, Saboteur, Altar, Bank
My opponent opens Saboteur. You know, I actually think Saboteur is kind of underrated. It's a weird opening because it gives you no economy, but I mean it does have the theoretical power to really stop me dead on certain boards. Well, not this one, though. Ironworks is really a hard, hard counter to that plan here, so I immediately start diving into those heavier than I otherwise would have. I grab a very helpful early Altar and I am basically golden, just grabbing loads of stuff and cycling it in quickly with Minions and Cellars. He's actually hitting my Workers Villages into Cellars, which arguably helps me here. And then he worsens his problem by grabbing Pirate Ship. Light Treasure trashing? Just what I needed to take my deck to the next level! I three pile him remarkably fast.

Game 3: http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140221/log.514cd37de4b0fe3236619906.1393036413751.txt

Code: [Select]

Doctor, Masquerade, Workshop, Feast, Moneylender, Noble Brigand, Remake, Taxman, Young Witch, Minion, Goons
We both open Remake/Masquerade. I just want to be very trashed down get Minions. I actually forget that Goons is hanging out on the second page until he buys one, but getting an early minion advantage is arguably more important anyway. No Villages so this is always just going to be single Goons. What my opponent does wrong is take the Goons points from buying Coppers (and Estates) way, way too early. It really messes with his minion density and takes him out of Province range too quickly. I cruise to an easy win.

A special thanks to my opponent for accommodating my need to reschedule our match three times. This is his first visit to the Forums, and I am hoping we may have found a new mafia player!

[RTT]

Hi I know recording is out now and streaming is in but i nevertheless recorded my match with azadin

Game 1



Game 2



and Game 3 (still upload in progress)




enjoy watching (comments appreciated)

[Psyduck]

Hi I know recording is out now and streaming is in but i nevertheless recorded my match with azadin

[...]

enjoy watching (comments appreciated)

Just watched your games, you played each of them quite well. In game 1 you could have gotten some more VP in some turns with ambassadoring coppers and then buying them back with (multiple) Goons in play. Apart from that I liked the Lighthouse approach, maybe I just would have gained one Stables less in favor of probably Market.

In game 2 Ambassador/Spice Merchant was just a strong opening, your opponent had much trouble getting rid of the junk (also misplayed turn 4). I'm little bit disappointed to see that you did without KC. Would've loved to see what you could do with Diadem and KC/Nobles/Treasury/Tournament/Trusty Steed. A megaturn was certainly possible (Princess), but I understand your opponent just resigned.

In game 3 the early Merchant Guild was key, and I think getting the second Torturer was the right choice. There was a little combo you did not quite use, Nobles/Crossroads/Vagrant, but I guess there was enough power in your engine anyway.

Thanks for the videos!

[lespeutere]

lespeutere vs mail-mi 3-1

1-0
Fun one. mail-mi went for green pretty early despite viable big goons turns. I managed to overtake him by means of VP tokens eventually.
2-0
Rats and knights and expand as weak TFB on rats. I almost screwed it up, but mail-mi couldn't afford taking the lead and 3-pile, leaving me with 1 knight only and behind by 2 VP only.
2-1
Experiment with heralds and saboteurs vs. double vault/BM. Failed. Hilariously.
3-1
IGG with beggars and masterpiece. He pounds IGGs till the end while I have more silvers providing 1 province and a 5-3 duchy split in my favour.

Thanks for the games again, and good luck for further matches.

[azadin]

Hi I know recording is out now and streaming is in but i nevertheless recorded my match with azadin

[...]

enjoy watching (comments appreciated)

Just watched your games, you played each of them quite well. In game 1 you could have gotten some more VP in some turns with ambassadoring coppers and then buying them back with (multiple) Goons in play. Apart from that I liked the Lighthouse approach, maybe I just would have gained one Stables less in favor of probably Market.

In game 2 Ambassador/Spice Merchant was just a strong opening, your opponent had much trouble getting rid of the junk (also misplayed turn 4). I'm little bit disappointed to see that you did without KC. Would've loved to see what you could do with Diadem and KC/Nobles/Treasury/Tournament/Trusty Steed. A megaturn was certainly possible (Princess), but I understand your opponent just resigned.

In game 3 the early Merchant Guild was key, and I think getting the second Torturer was the right choice. There was a little combo you did not quite use, Nobles/Crossroads/Vagrant, but I guess there was enough power in your engine anyway.

Thanks for the videos!

So, I was RTT's opponent for these games. I'll start by saying I greatly enjoyed the match and RTT was an excellent opponent!

I'll do my own self analysis here. Psyduck, I know you already commented on RTT's play, but it'd be awesome if you could do the same for me. I'm trying to learn from my mistakes and am constantly trying to improve my play. I know I was outplayed in all three games (and the second was just...bleh), but I still feel like I did a decent job engine building.

http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140222/log.50baeedee4b07d338bca0a0a.1393092326842.txt

Code: [Select]

Lighthouse, Ambassador, Great Hall, Market, Rabble, Stables, Witch, Border Village, Goons, Hoard
I think my biggest mistake in the first game was not Ambassadoring aggressively enough (opting to reveal estate instead of copper, for instance). RTT and I talked a bit about our match afterward and this was what we both mentioned. I probably should have bought a Stables or a Rabble on turn 8 instead of another lighthouse (I feared losing the lighthouse split), and some of my silvers probably should have been Great Halls or the remaining lighthouses. Any other comments for me on this first game?

http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140222/log.50baeedee4b07d338bca0a0a.1393092853727.txt

Code: [Select]

Herbalist, Ambassador, Scavenger, Spice Merchant, Tournament, Contraband, Treasury, Adventurer, Nobles, King's Court
This game was just...bad. I honestly don't know what happened here and am embarrassed to even paste the log (we all have games like that!). Turn 4 especially, I have no idea. Just..yeah.

http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140222/log.50baeedee4b07d338bca0a0a.1393093818202.txt

Code: [Select]

Courtyard, Crossroads, Embargo, Vagrant, Fishing Village, Rats, Laboratory, Merchant Guild, Torturer, Nobles
This one was a heartbreaker for me. I actually thought I was doing quite well for most of the game. In fact, I still think I built the better deck. I think my one mistake was that I did not buy a second Torturer. RTT pointed this out to me afterward. This one oversight cost me the game. I was capable of drawing my entire deck by turn 13 (with some slight overdraw). If I had instead bought another Torturer on turn 8 (and suffered the single curse this would have inflicted), I'd have been hitting double torturer turns every turn. I could have added a silver in there (since I was over drawing anyway), and using a single coin token could have double provinced multiple times. I'd especially like comments on this game, as I feel like I had the right idea with the FV + Nobles + Crossroads engine (and it was working!), but I messed it up by not attacking my opponent strongly enough.

Once again, thanks RTT for the games and for the insightful advice you shared with me afterward.

[jsh357]

Round 1 jsh357 vs noobify



http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140222/log.505c6645a2e6c78ad2ed5ad3.1393134281449.txt
0-1
Game 1 involved Sea Hag and Rebuild.  I opened Steward hoping to do better hitting $5.  That didn't happen enough.  Blah blah rebuild blah


http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140222/log.505c6645a2e6c78ad2ed5ad3.1393135028957.txt
1-1
Game 2 was Wharf/Courtyard/Big Money.  He gets a Bank while I get 3 Gold.  It seems like he's going to win it for most of the game, but he gets some unlucky draws later on while I pull off two Farmland->Province purchases.  A nail biter.


http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140222/log.505c6645a2e6c78ad2ed5ad3.1393135871613.txt
2-1
Game 3 was Rebuild vs. ridiculous Crossroads/Worker/Envoy/Storeroom Vineyard engine.  I didn't actually think I was going to beat Rebuild with this deck, but I got a nice megaturn that sealed the deal.  BELIEVE!


http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140222/log.505c6645a2e6c78ad2ed5ad3.1393136310836.txt
3-1
Generic Hermit/Market Square game.  That's a fun combo to play, but boring to recap.

Noobify was a polite, patient opponent who played very well.  Thanks for the games.

[noobify]

Thanks for the kind words jsh357! I still have a lot to learn, and playing against an experienced player like you helped alot!

Game 1: I thought the steward might just beat me by allowing you to play more rebuilds with a thin deck, but it cost jsh a few turns in which lucky draws of $5 allowed me to gobble up duchies. Could have played better, but i got greedy in the middle and allowed jsh to almost catch up. Thankfully, he ran out of duchies.

Game 2: I really thought i would win this. The bank proved great due to the huge draws from wharf and courtyard, but like jsh said, unlucky draws towards the end allowed him to win. I probably contributed to my own downfall by overstuffing on estates with wharf's extra buys

Game 3: Congrats on pulling off that huge engine! I think i slowed myself down by overstuffing myself with silvers in the hopes of getting more rebuilds to end the game faster. Didn't work out, and slowed myself down enough for jsh's megaturn to kill me.

Game 4: Generic hermit/market square. Lost this on turn 3 and 4 when i got bad draws and couldn't get 2 hermits on either turn, while jsh claimed 2 hermits a turn. Lost the hermit split, and hence the market square split, and subsequently, the game. Don't think i could have done any better in this game, so i'll blame bad luck. Any comments on how i could have played this one differently(or any other game) would be appreciated!

Still enjoyed it greatly!

[Psyduck]

So, I was RTT's opponent for these games. I'll start by saying I greatly enjoyed the match and RTT was an excellent opponent!

I'll do my own self analysis here. Psyduck, I know you already commented on RTT's play, but it'd be awesome if you could do the same for me. I'm trying to learn from my mistakes and am constantly trying to improve my play. I know I was outplayed in all three games (and the second was just...bleh), but I still feel like I did a decent job engine building.

I'm really no expert in this, but let's give it a try nevertheless.

http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140222/log.50baeedee4b07d338bca0a0a.1393092326842.txt

Code: [Select]

Lighthouse, Ambassador, Great Hall, Market, Rabble, Stables, Witch, Border Village, Goons, Hoard
I think my biggest mistake in the first game was not Ambassadoring aggressively enough (opting to reveal estate instead of copper, for instance). RTT and I talked a bit about our match afterward and this was what we both mentioned. I probably should have bought a Stables or a Rabble on turn 8 instead of another lighthouse (I feared losing the lighthouse split), and some of my silvers probably should have been Great Halls or the remaining lighthouses. Any other comments for me on this first game?

I must agree here. Both in turns 3 and 5 you should've returned two Coppers instead of one Estate. That early Silvers don't do much for you. Concerning turn 8, yeah, I think a Stables would've helped you, at this point you had 10 treasure cards in your deck. It helps you finding your Ambassador and getting past those Coppers. The Lighthouse split is not THAT important to win. You just want to be sure to play one a turn to be protected. This can also be achieved with cycling and drawing. In fact I think 4 Lighthouses is the absolute upper limit here and should even be superior to getting 6 of them.
Later in the game your deck does a good job in picking up Border Villages with Stables and Rabbles. But the junk (Coppers, Silvers, even Lighthouses) finally prevents you from drawing your deck (turn 14 and 16) and doing awesome stuff with Goons.

http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140222/log.50baeedee4b07d338bca0a0a.1393092853727.txt

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Herbalist, Ambassador, Scavenger, Spice Merchant, Tournament, Contraband, Treasury, Adventurer, Nobles, King's Court
This game was just...bad. I honestly don't know what happened here and am embarrassed to even paste the log (we all have games like that!). Turn 4 especially, I have no idea. Just..yeah.

I noticed three things in that game:
- The opening. Ambassador is obvious, but Spice Merchant is a huge amount better here. It cycles AND trashes Coppers. And there is no risk of terminal collisions. In contrast, Scavenger may collide with your Ambassador. Normally, one goes for Scavenger to be able to play a key card more often. Here, the key card is Ambassador. But you goal is to trash down. In a thinner deck, you will see your Ambassador roughly every second turn anyway, so there is no point opening Scavenger.
- Terminal collision in turn 4. This was just bad luck, but sometimes you make your own bad luck (see above) .
- In that turn 4 you didn't play your Spice Merchant. You should've trashed one Copper, drawn Estate and Copper and then returned two Coppers. That nets you -1 Copper and also cycles your deck a bit so you get to see your Amb and Spice Merchant sooner again.

After turn 6 your deck consists of 16 cards (compared to RTT's 7). At this point the outcome is just clear.

http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140222/log.50baeedee4b07d338bca0a0a.1393093818202.txt

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Courtyard, Crossroads, Embargo, Vagrant, Fishing Village, Rats, Laboratory, Merchant Guild, Torturer, Nobles
This one was a heartbreaker for me. I actually thought I was doing quite well for most of the game. In fact, I still think I built the better deck. I think my one mistake was that I did not buy a second Torturer. RTT pointed this out to me afterward. This one oversight cost me the game. I was capable of drawing my entire deck by turn 13 (with some slight overdraw). If I had instead bought another Torturer on turn 8 (and suffered the single curse this would have inflicted), I'd have been hitting double torturer turns every turn. I could have added a silver in there (since I was over drawing anyway), and using a single coin token could have double provinced multiple times. I'd especially like comments on this game, as I feel like I had the right idea with the FV + Nobles + Crossroads engine (and it was working!), but I messed it up by not attacking my opponent strongly enough.

Yeah, that game is much less obvious. I'm unsure about the best opening here, both Courtyard and Embargo don't seem perfect to me, although Courtyard CAN help here if RTT draws it in turn 3. I guess I would have gone for Crossroads, but of course that can be drawn dead as well. Concerning the second Torturer, yeah, a second one would have slowed RTT down. If you don't go for the Torturer, I also would have liked a Merchant Guild here to be able to get cheap engine components (Vagrant, Crossroads, Fishing Village) which all go well with your Nobles. The Lab should be ignorable.
Your engines are quite similar in the end, so it could easily have ended the other way round.

Hope my ideas help you a bit and I did not get anything messed up.