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Author Topic: Strange strategy in weak kingdom  (Read 2134 times)

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liopoil

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Strange strategy in weak kingdom
« on: September 10, 2014, 08:45:15 pm »
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http://www.gokosalvager.com/static/logprettifier.html?/20140910/log.514f5abbe4b0b79c883bafb8.1410395039297.txt

In this game the board was very very weak. Only source of +actions was golem into spy. No draw except for moat and golem. Colony board though, so building is encouraged. For trashing there is forge and trading post, but with no draw forge is weak. There is sea hag which makes it sloggy. Goons are there but hardly any support. The other cards in the kingdom were pirate ship, outpost, and contraband. I think I am finding very weak kingdoms to be some of the most interesting, unless it's just a simple smithy BM or something like that.

My opponent goes the big money route with sea hag and trading post as the most useful cards. He threw in some spies, a goons, and a forge. I'm not sure the forge was a good choice. I wasn't paying too much attention to his play so I'm not sure if he really made any mistakes with his strategy.

I went for something crazy with golem. By the end (well, when he resigned) my deck was made mostly of cards that are generally weak, including golem, contraband, outpost, spy, and trading post. Oh and there were 11 silver, 4 copper, 3 curses, and an estate. The only "good" cards were the two goons, which were really key.

I think that this strategy probably wasn't the best one here though. I think I got relatively lucky draws. Yes, it was a colony board with curses and no strong strategy, but after 27 turns I had 44 total points on a goons and colony board, which seems very low. I guess maybe the goons discard attack is really strong?

I feel like sea hag and goons BM would probably beat this on average, but I'm not sure. A simulator would probably play the golem strategy poorly, so that's no good.

Another thought is that pirate ship could be viable somehow. Anyway, thoughts on how to scrape a half-decent deck out of this very weak kingdom?
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Venescas

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Re: Strange strategy in weak kingdom
« Reply #1 on: September 11, 2014, 04:12:02 am »
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The opening is definitely right, no doubt about that. Trading Post as first $5, sure, although it could lead to awkward turns with Golem if you're not careful. I think this is one of the few boards where Pirate Ship can work; the only other strategy here is Big Money, and most of the treasures you're going to hit are Silvers. I'd say spam Pirate Ship attacks once the Curses are nearly gone; with no threat of a three-pile and with both of your decks still recovering, there should be plenty of time to rack up tokens on the mat. You can even add Spies to increase the chance of a treasure hit.

The opponent's Forge I feel is pretty terrible. Without draw and +actions, you're just not going to do anything significant with it here as opposed to Gold or Goons. I guess he was dreaming of compressing Sea Hag + Trading Post or 3 Silvers into Platinum or something.

Golem makes a pretty good impact here; the extra plays granted are powerful enough on a weak board like this. Later, you hopefully Trading Post away the Sea Hag once you're done with her so the Golem can't hit it, but even if you can't, you'd have a lot of Pirate Ships to hit if you decided to go that route. Goons isn't bad here, as usual, and it can mess up your opponent's Forge and Trading Post turns.

I didn't really like the Contraband Buy, but he didn't do a good job of prohibiting things. Mid-game, he should be blocking treasure. Even on that turn where you bought a Colony, I'd still block Platinum, 'cause I don't want your deck to get better.

Don't think he should've resigned; he wasn't hopelessly behind, and he has the extra Platinum and less junk. Next, he really needed more Goons, more to keep you at 3-cards per turn than anything else; might make you think twice about playing your Golem with 2 Trading Posts left in the deck.
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assemble_me

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Re: Strange strategy in weak kingdom
« Reply #2 on: September 12, 2014, 07:37:03 am »
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Just my five cent:

- I think your plan was generally better than his. I would have tried to enable Goons here with Golem asap.
- I would have been very tempted to ignore Sea Hag here with Trading Post available, or maybe add the Hag once Golem is in your deck. It not only slows your opponent but yourself so much. It's pretty hard not to open with it, but it doesn't help you to hit 5$ or 6$.
- I think you bought a lot of Silvers. I think you should rather stop after two or three (you're still going to gain a lot of your Trading Post) and add a few Spies earlier. With less Silvers Outpost seems more viable to me, as well.
- You went for Potion fairly soon. I think I would have delayed going for it a little, but actually that may be a problem in my play and your decision could have been right there. But again, I think what you really want to hit soon is Goons and they're harder to pick up with that early Potion around.
« Last Edit: September 12, 2014, 07:41:08 am by assemble_me »
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DG

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Re: Strange strategy in weak kingdom
« Reply #3 on: September 12, 2014, 09:19:35 am »
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The golem is the card you want but there is risk in not getting the 4+potion hand, or not getting a 5 coin hand for a trading post because of the potion. The risk seems too big at the start and any 4+potion hand will just become a 6 coin goons hand if you take a silver instead. Your opponent didn't take the second sea hag, which is not unreasonable, but this allowed you the income for both trading post and the golem.

If you are planning to get the golem then moat is an option on turn 3 or 4. If you can get some combination of moats, spies, and golems working there will be larger hands with more possibilities. Moats will continue to be useful when the game moves onto spies, goons, and big income hands.
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ehunt

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Re: Strange strategy in weak kingdom
« Reply #4 on: September 12, 2014, 12:33:20 pm »
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all cards in this kingdom are isotropic-era, hooray!

i'm also pretty skeptical of the early potion buy. i would expect some unbearable 3P hands in a sea hag slog.

what do people think of a silver/moat opening, hoping to get a TP into the deck ASAP?
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lespeutere

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Re: Strange strategy in weak kingdom
« Reply #5 on: September 13, 2014, 02:55:39 am »
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all cards in this kingdom are isotropic-era, hooray!

i'm also pretty skeptical of the early potion buy. i would expect some unbearable 3P hands in a sea hag slog.

what do people think of a silver/moat opening, hoping to get a TP into the deck ASAP?

Same here. And also the moat/silver idea. I'm not completely convinced, yet, but I think it's playable.
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