AdamH defeats SheCantSayNo
AdamH 4, SheCantSayNo 2
Entire stream video on TwitchVideo Playlist on YouTubeSo I'm up against one of the best people in the world and my tournament life is on the line (well it's going to be that way the rest of the time). I've played several games against SCSN before, most of them on video or stream, and I can count the ones I've won on one hand. He's the kind of opponent where you remember all your wins against them because he's that good -- I'll certainly never forget any of mine.
We agreed before the match that we'd use point counter and disallow the use of Black Market, Tournament, Knights, Swindler, and IGG. The Kingdom Generator was very useful for making this happen seamlessly and making it so I didn't have to look at the kingdom before starting the game, so shout-outs to AI and everyone who worked on Salvager for making that possible. I'm glad both SCSN and I could have a customized Dominion experience that we were both relatively happy with.
In matches against people like this (AI, MQ, Robz) I've gone into them previously with the attitude that I just want to win one game and I'd be happy. I end up playing poorly and not winning any games, so I decided to not let my self-confidence take a hit at any point. Play good Dominion and good things will happen to you.
Game 1: AdamH 48,
SheCantSayNo 61Game Log Twitch Highlight YouTube VideoKingdom Cards: Lighthouse, Chancellor, Cutpurse, Monument, Wandering Minstrel, Cache, Embassy, Jester, Minion, Vault
Strong Big Money enablers here with Embassy and Vault, but I talk myself out of that in favor of a Minion engine that plays lots of Monuments, even with no +Buy or trashing. It's a mirror and in that case it's time to green before you can really start playing Monuments. I win the Minion split 6-4 but things don't seem to line up for me quite as well as they do for him (maybe because he got more Lighthouses?) and he has a good position throughout the endgame, enough to take advantage of just one bad shuffle for me and win comfortably.
I don't have the chat from this game but some people told me later that I misplayed this one pretty badly. I'm not really sure what I could have done better -- I think going for Monuments has to be better than not going for them at all, maybe I should have found more time for more Lighthouses?
Game 2: SheCantSayNo 46, AdamH 38
Game Log Twitch Highlight YouTube VideoKingdom Cards: Lighthouse, Secret Chamber, Oasis, Sage, Horse Traders, Market, Royal Seal, Harem, Hoard, King's Court
So there's King's Court but no trashing and really no draw. With Horse Traders into Harem/Hoard as a Big Money enabler, it's just a stronger and more consistent option, so we both go for it. He gets Sages to open and I get Silvers (I still like Silvers better) but he ends up winning the game anyways.
Game 3: SheCantSayNo 34,
AdamH 49Game Log Twitch Highlight YouTube VideoKingdom Cards: Cellar, Embargo, Pearl Diver, Tunnel, Militia, Mining Village, Navigator, Count, Laboratory, Nobles
My worst nightmares are starting to come true: I'm down 0-2 and Tunnel is clearly a monster. I open 2/5 which has to be pretty fortunate, thin down quickly with the help of Labs and start to mass Golds. I made one questionable decision after drawing a bunch with Labs and discarding two Tunnels to trash my hand, which contained three of my last five remaining starting cards and one Gold. I could have taken the money and got a Province instead, and it's not clear here what the right move was, but I kind of like this play (imagine that, I like building more instead of greening).
For the rest of the game, the chat became hilarious here, saying I should trash my hand (with like 3 Golds and multiple Provinces) every time I played Count. You people are weird.
Anyways, SCSN does some really weird stuff by trashing his Militia at a weird moment, Embargoing Provinces once and going for lesser VP cards that I still don't quite understand. I have to convince myself that I'm playing better and just to stick with my strategy, which I do and I'm able to win comfortably.
Game 4: AdamH 26, SheCantSayNo 17
Game Log Twitch Highlight YouTube VideoKingdom Cards: Oracle, Island, Navigator, Noble Brigand, Nomad Camp, Sea Hag, Taxman, Worker's Village, Highway, Venture
Highway+Worker's Village looks pretty sexy here, with Oracle for extra draw, but there's Sea Hag and the only thinning is Island. So the attack is very important early, but how do you go out of it? Do you go for a Highway megaturn or do you go for more money? I don't think the engine is explosive enough, and I hit a couple of $6 turns so I load up on Golds while just making an appearance on the Highway split while SCSN goes fully for the engine. I get a few Provinces ahead and his deck is starting to come together, but with Curses and Highways already out he's limited in the components he can buy, and gives me an opening to pile out Oracles with a small lead.
The chat seemed to think that a second Sea Hag was good here, I think Island is just as good as a second Hag, myself. Also they didn't like me getting Ventures without getting Taxman, but by the time I was able to divert a buy to get a Taxman it was probably too late to make use out of it (maybe this is wrong?) and I think Venture was better than Highway for me by that point, particularly after the Highways were gone. My deck at that point was focused on playing Golds, which were my key cards, so they couldn't be skipped by Venture. Is this good reasoning?
If SCSN had played his second-to-last turn differently, namely buying one less Oracle, the endgame could have gone *very* differently, and a win for him would have sealed the match here.
Game 5: AdamH 89, SheCantSayNo 74
Game Log Twitch Highlight YouTube VideoKingdom Cards: Pearl Diver, Stonemason, Bishop, Fortress, Quarry, Remodel, Thief, Walled Village, Adventurer, Fairgrounds
Bishop/Fortress mirror. There's no draw so you can't do more than 12 points per turn (or can you? See below) so as first player and getting some fortunate draws I'm able to get set up to the point where I'm in a position to comfortably pile out Pearl Divers and actually win the game with enough of a lead (none of this buying-the-second-to-last-card-results-in-a-loss-for-both-players stalemate that can come up). SCSN makes a questionable (or is it? See below) play by buying a fifth Bishop, allowing for potential stall turns.
Anyways, with "mate-in-two" looming I decide to stop clicking the correct cards, which squanders my lead and puts us back into stalemate territory. Fortunately for me, with five stop cards in his deck, SCSN eventually hits a stall turn where he doesn't score enough points to stay in contention and I'm able to pile out at this point.
FEATURE REQUEST: with (or without, even) card stacking enabled, always display cards in hand in the same order (alphabetical? Doesn't really matter) so that my stupid Fortress doesn't do that stupid thing that caused the stupid misclickBut anyways, there's a really interesting interaction that I didn't notice until after the game was over with Pearl Diver. If you use your Pearl Divers to make the bottom card of your deck a Bishop, you can potentially get 13 points per turn instead of just 12 if you buy a fifth Bishop. I wonder if the risk of this is enough to justify the increased payload -- might be some interesting math behind that.
Game 6: SheCantSayNo 24,
AdamH 36Game Log Twitch Highlight YouTube VideoKingdom Cards: Native Village, Great Hall, Market Square, Workshop, Envoy, JackOfAllTrades, Band of Misfits, Festival, Merchant Ship, Forge
Jack-in-an-Engine vs. Jack+lots of money enablers. This game was amazing (for me, at least) to play and to have it be the one that gets me the big upset is gravy. This game is totally going into the article
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His deck is really good, getting three Provinces by T10, but I don't panic and manage to score 36 points in just two big turns and that's enough to take it down on T13. This game and the context of this match is probably the best moment I've ever had playing Dominion and I'm really proud of the way this happened.
I compete in tournaments so I can play matches like this. I would have been happy to just keep this close but to win is just amazing, especially coming back from 0-2. Thanks to SCSN for the games.