Fast games are fun. Games under 10 turns are even more fun. There's just something really satisfying about winning a game this fast. Usually this is a combination of good draws, optimal play and the proper kingdom.
Haven, Squire, Hermit, Remake, Wandering Minstrel, Council Room, Explorer, Market, Soothsayer, TorturerLet's see if you can put together this storm.
Remake, Squire, Wandering Minstrel, Hermit, TorturerAlthough you wouldn't think this to be exceedingly fast at first glance there are a few things that put this over the top.
1.) Obtaining Torturer without Silver (or Silver equivalent) - So often in Torturer games you are forced to open Village/Silver or Silver/Silver to maximize your chances of hitting $5 and then aggressively switching to whatever Village is available. Those turns of Silver inhibit engine capabilities drastically. This set offers Torturer gaining via either Hermit or Remake trashing.
2.) Highly sought after piles - A fast game almost always ends in a 3-pile with the exception of some sort of Bridge/HoP megaturn with trashing that is able to pile-drive the Province pile. In this game there are a lot of piles that you want a majority in. Easiest to obtain is Squire priced at $2. Next we have Hermit which can be used to trash Estates, Squires (gaining Torturer) and to obtain Mad Man. Lastly we have the attack in Torturer. Yes, there are numerous trashing option but getting your opponent in a position to either discard their hand or accept 3-4 Curses will be game-winning. Needing to trash that many Curses will put the other player ahead.
3.) Trashing/Gaining - When a game has trashing it is often accelerated due to the removal of the starting junk. Trashing in this game comes in the form of Remake and Hermit. The defining feature of these trashers is that in addition to removing junk they are also Gainers. A remade Squire equates to a Hermit and Torturer and Hermit is capable of the same. Being able to both trash and gain with the same card is a huge boon.
4.) Megaturn potential - Although there isn't a Province depleting plan here there is huge megaturn potential. Hermit is huge. I will say it again, Hermit is essential. Hermit is one of my favorite cards in Dominion. Okay, maybe I should rephrase that, Mad Man is amazing. The exponential nature of Mad Man makes it incredible. First play is +4 Cards, then +7 Cards, then +13 Cards, etc... That king of Draw makes you capable of finishing a game on any given single turn.
5.) Optimal play - You can't finish a game this fast without a combination of some luck of the draw in addition to some optimal play. I'm specifically talking about in turn decisions about playing Action cards in the proper order.
Let's take a look at the
game-winning turn.So a quick comment on supply pile and my deck. In the supply are 3 Torturers, 0 Squires and 1 Hermit. My deck contains 2 Mad Men, 1 Remake, 2 Squires, 2 Hermits, 4 Torturers and 2 Wandering Minstrels.
To win, I need 3 Torturers, 1 Hermit and an Estate. In my turn I am able to remake my 2 Squires in to Hermit/Silver (gaining 2 Torturers) and then buy the last Torturer and gain 2 Estates. That execution was pretty simple. But what if my opponent had not gaining a Torturer his last turn so that 4 were in the supply. Can you still win with optimal draws? What if you are required to play 1 Torturer as Draw? Can you still win?
Yes!
1.) Play Mad Man followed by a 2nd Mad Man. This results in cycling all but 1 card in the deck.
2.) Assuming Remake and both WM are in hand, play Remake gaining 2 Torturers from both WMs.
3.) Play both Hermits trashing both Squires to gain the last 2 Torturers, the last Hermit and a single Estate for a 1-point victory.
The other way to win would be to use 1 Squire for +2 Buys, obtain $15, being able to gain 1 Torturer and purchase the other 3 while still gaining the last Hermit and an Estate. For the record, I can not figure out a way to do this. As a heuristic exercise get out a pen and paper and try. My solutions do not work as there is not enough village support to gain enough cash to get to $15 while still gaining an Estate and the last Hermit.
Between the MM and the WM you are at +5 Actions. 1 Actions must be spent on Torturer draw giving you 4 Actions. A squire must be played for +Buy, a Remake must be played to gain Treasure and you need both Hermits to gain the last Hermit and an Estate. Between the 5 Copper, 1 Silver and 1 Squire you need $7 to get to 15. You need some combination of 3 Treasure for this, 2 Gold is not enough. You also need to be able to draw your gained Treasure which is impossible when you need to trash in order to gain. This reduces MM's draw.
If anyone wants to take a stab at that problem, go for it. An alternative question for discussion is what to do if 4 Torturers are left and you want to put yourself in the best chance to win.
