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[JW]

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Stonemason, University, Feast, Gardens, Wandering Minstrel, Butcher, Count, Soothsayer, Tactician, Bank
Provinces/Estates. This Kingdom is from one of Wandering Winder’s videos (http://www.twitch.tv/wanderingwinder/b/558726174), about 1 hour and 20 minutes in. WW’s videos seem only to be up for a week or two, so the video may not be available for long.

Log: http://gokologs.drunkensailor.org/static/logprettifier.html?20140816/log.514b5511e4b0b79c883b5e3b.1408205349081.txt

Wandering Winder plays a Soothsayer-Count-Gardens deck. His opponent is relatively unfocused but uses University, Soothsayer (on first $5), Tactician, and Count.

Is there a viable double-Tactician engine here?  I’d expect that you thin with Count, pick up at least two Tacticians, and use Butcher to turn gained cards (one or more of: Duchies from Count, Golds from Soothsayer, or $5 actions from University) into Provinces. Wandering Minstrel smooths draws, and Stonemason overpay helps pick up components faster in building the engine.

Should the engine include University? University slows down getting to Count, but one Tactician into a big Count trash could make up for that, and it seems very helpful in gaining cards to Butcher into Provinces. Presumably your first $5 should be Count whether you go for University or not.

Tactician is the only draw, so Wandering Minstrels will be useful to avoid stalling once greening, and a third Tactician is probably helpful as well. There are no engine components for <$4, which hinders early building, but you can Butcher Silvers into Wandering Minstrels later. Thoughts appreciated.

[dondon151]

I think picking up a University later rather than sooner might be a good idea. You probably need University to gain WMs for free.

There's also a synergy in using Stonemason on gained Golds for 2 Duchies

[Venescas]

The question is how soon can you get such an engine up? And what route do you take double-tact with? Tactician and Count makes for a great way to thin, and Count provides some virtual money, but I'd imagine you'd want to transition into Soothsayer and Butchers, meaning you'd probably want some Wandering Minstrels too to sift (Yeah, University is +Actions, but it doesn't draw for you). Stonemason can get multiple $5 by hitting $7 or by trashing the Golds gained from the Soothsayer, and University is a help for getting $5. Unfortunately, there's not much in the way of draw here aside from the Tactician of course, so you'd have to trash down enough to where the engine is reliable. Even more unfortunately, the only way to quickly trash down is Count+Tactician, and Count can only spare two cards so you'd have to trash first and then build, but you're getting hit with curses the whole way. Even if it does come together, that still takes time to get all 8 Provinces (especially if you're without Wandering Minstrels to sift; your double tact engine is going to get gummed up with that much green, thin or not).

Meanwhile, the slog has so many things going for it. Gardens and Count work amazingly well together, Soothsayer adds cash and cards for the Gardens player, Stonemason can quickly three-pile in a pinch, not to mention the extra gains...I mean, it's hard to argue against a strategy that won, especially if the player is WW. Of course, 5/2 is so good here for the first Soothsayer.

If it's double-tact engine vs slog and I had to play the engine, I think I'd have my work cut out for me. I'd have to contest the Gardens and the Duchies while somehow getting Provinces. Stomemason can help get my $5 components quickly of $7 (pretty easily reachable with the Golds from Soothsayer), and can later trash those Golds for Duchies...but I'd probably just Butcher them into Provinces instead and let my Count grab Duchies for me (although I suppose if I could cut off his Duchies quicker, that would give me a better chance). I probably wouldn't want to help empty the Estate pile however; I'd be choking on green as it is, and it would really only help my Gardens opponent. I think time is going to be a major issue: your engine has to be about ready by the time your opponent goes for Gardens so you can contest them, and on this board, that's not very long at all.

[Titandrake]

I'd go for the engine, but that's just because I like engines and feel I play them better than slogs.

What swings me over to engine is:
1. Count + Tactician lets you trash starting cards very fast, kind of like Forg + Tact. This does leave you with a very small deck, but...
2. On just $5, you can get Soothsayer. On just $2, Stonemason. Now, SM on the Gold gets you two $5 costs, so you can quickly get Minstrels and Butcher, start using those to get money. Butcher lets you remodel extra Stonemasons into WM (because you are for sure going to want to use overpay.

You may be facing down a large point deficit, but you have such unbelievably strong pile control if uncontested - Butcher and Stonemason give you ways to get lots of VP practically instantly, and once you get going you can decide to end the game on any turn you want.