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[mischiefmaker]

I played this game against ScottPilgrim92 yesterday:

http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20111217-113710-6682a597.html

I basically let his choices define my strategy, as I had no idea what I was doing. Quarry to buy Market? Sure! Multiple Markets to use Quarries to buy...I dunno what? OK! A gold here, a silver there? Why not? On turn 8 I have a particularly epic buy of mishmosh parts, and comment in chat, "It's like I'm trying to build a Fairgrounds deck". It should go without saying that Fairgrounds were not in the supply.

When he goes Potion, I think, hey, I should clog up my deck with victory cards so he can't get anything good from my hand. So I grab some Duchies and some Silk Roads.

And then BANG all of sudden my deck just completely and utterly explodes. On turns 13, 14, and 15 I buy double province every turn, with money left over for a Silk Roads, Mining Village, and other stuff.

I have been trying pretty hard to reproduce my results playing solitaire to see if I can come up with a usable combo, but even specifying a 3-card combo with sifting to help (Quarry, Market, Crossroads, Warehouse), that deck stalls hard as soon as I start reaching for green. But...double provinces 3 turns in a row, that's either a really strong deck or ridiculous, ridiculous luck. (I will note that turn 14 was a 4 VP + copper draw, and I happened to have Haven'd a Crossroads, so the luck thing is likely.)

Can someone help me figure out which one it is? And if it isn't luck, is there any kind of combo that we can learn from this?

[Wingnut]

There are two lucky things for you here.

First was your opponent didn't play Masquerade, opening Quarry/Silver (possibly with Possession in mind later in the game). Even with Possession on the board, I would open with Masquerade on this board with a 4/3 open and try to end the game before Possession becomes a factor.

The second was given your opponent not playing Masquerade, you drew 2/5, giving you the all important +buy before buying Quarry. With no Cost 6 or 7 cards on this board (Possession because of its Potion cost doesn't really count), Quarry isn't very good without a +buy. Once you had the Quarry and the Markets, you were able to buy what you wanted and pick up Crossroads for free, allowing you to green earlier with lesser cards (like the turn 9 Duchy) to fuel the Crossroads engine.

So can this be replicated? Yes (any +buy, Quarry and Crossroads could probably fuel it), but it won't be as easy on most boards as usually your opponent will buy at least a few of those Crossroads in the process. Also, this seems like it could be crushed by a great many of the attacks (especially the curses and discard attacks meaning basically all of them except for Fortune Teller and the Spying attacks)

[mischiefmaker]

I guess what I'm asking here is, if you think it can be replicated with just +buy, Quarry, and Crossroads, how?

I've tried playing this solitaire (so nobody is competing for Crossroads and nobody is attacking), and I never once managed a double-province turn.

[Voltgloss]

I guess what I'm asking here is, if you think it can be replicated with just +buy, Quarry, and Crossroads, how?

I've tried playing this solitaire (so nobody is competing for Crossroads and nobody is attacking), and I never once managed a double-province turn.

You need one more piece: a Village of some type.  In each of your megaturns, you played Crossroads 4 or 5 times.  That's not happening without some source of +2 action.  In the gamelog, that came from Shanty Towns and Mining Villages.

This suggests the optimal three-card combo here is Crossroads/Quarry/Village that gives +buy.  I.e., Worker's Village or Festival.  (Not so much Hamlet, as you want to keep your green in hand to power your Crossroads.)

[Epoch]

I can not make it happen with Festival/Quarry/Crossroads, nor with Festival/Quarry/Crossroads/Silk Road.  I mean, I can't even REMOTELY make it happen.  Like, not just "no double Province back-to-back turns by turn 14," I mean, "no Provinces by turn 16."

Maybe I'm deeply misplaying it?

[biopower]

I can not make it happen with Festival/Quarry/Crossroads, nor with Festival/Quarry/Crossroads/Silk Road.  I mean, I can't even REMOTELY make it happen.  Like, not just "no double Province back-to-back turns by turn 14," I mean, "no Provinces by turn 16."

Maybe I'm deeply misplaying it?

I'm finding that the +Card of Shanty Town is actually fairy important, because when I tested it, it seemed very easy to activate, only failing when 2 shanty Towns were in hand. However, by that point Crossroads would usually draw a ridiculous amount, so only using them for Actions was all right. I can hit double province turns, but not until long after Turn 14. If the opponent distracts himself with Possession, I can see the combo being successful. Then again, it really is a 4 card combo (Shanty Town + Crossroads + Quarry + Buy) so you're probably not going to ever see it.

[WanderingWinder]

All this really hard trying and failing is telling me it's closer to 'luckiest draw ever' than 'awesome combo'

[mischiefmaker]

All this really hard trying and failing is telling me it's closer to 'luckiest draw ever' than 'awesome combo'

That was my guess, sadly. Oh well, was a fun deck to play when things fell into place. Thanks for the responses, everyone.

I tried playing some more solitaire, and Haven really helps, as you can grab a couple of them cheaply with the Market/Quarry, and they help line up Crossroads with hands full of green. Shanty Town is definitely important, as it gives the +actions you need and it's easy to trigger the +2 Cards early in the game before you load up on Crossroads. So...Haven/Shanty Town/Crossroads/Quarry/Market is the combo, maybe sometimes (and even then, some hands you draw your whole deck and double Province, then the next hand you draw half your deck and can't even afford a Duchy).

Sweet! I'll go write up an article.