Here are the summaries for the matches between RisingJaguar (RJ) and quasi. All games were played using veto mode, point counter, and identical hands. I felt like writing longer summaries than usual, so...
I'll rank games from a scale of 1-10 in terms of interest to help direct you to better games. Usually the lower games will be BM and the higher games will be close and/or creative engine building
Game 1: Quasi first
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201201/02/game-20120102-120932-7f5f742d.htmlKey Cards: Nobles, Festival, Envoy, Haggler... Interest :
7He opened Envoy/silver and I considered coppersmith/silver to race for nobles as fast as possible and with drawing decks, coppersmith are a scary source of money but decided to play it safer. I get two early $6 and choose to buy gold then haggler. I thought he was aiming for a big money deck here with his purchase of gold to start as well, but he rushed for the nobles which i loss 5-3. This really hurt my early engine as it was just fluttering around for awhile. He got out to a two province lead and held it the rest of the way through even once my engine got going.
Quasi 47 - 33 RJ
Game 2: RJ first
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201201/02/game-20120102-121421-f7a10052.htmlKey Cards: Mountebank, Counting house, Cellar... Interest:
2I wish I could make this game really interesting. On turns 3-4, I got 2 mountebanks which I thought would put me ahead. But my turns 5-7 never netted me a gold and i was behind. There were not any spammable $4/$5 cards which led to the not so smart purchase of a $5 cellar in turn 6. Quasi noted the soft counter of counting house faster than I did and was rewarded with some easy provinces during the last province buys. After turn 10 or so, it was clear he was going to win.
RJ 23 -
36 QuasiGame 3: RJ first
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201201/02/game-20120102-122150-ed907391.htmlKey cards: Cartographers, Remodel, Spice Merchant, Smuggler, Caravan... Interest:
4I was shell shocked from the first two losses because they were so decisive, similar to when I faced painted cow. I was ready to try something new with Hunting Party/cache/counting house, but with the elimination of Hunting party, that was no longer an option. We both opened Spice/Smugglers with quite similar strategies of a resemblance of BM. His Turn 8 nets him Province and cartographer and puts me on the defence. So much so, that I remodel my gold to province at the end of my deck on turn 12, not smart. I fall behind 4-2 in provinces but up a duchy and decide that I need to go straight for both provinces since I cartographer-ed a remodel in my next hand. This came in handy as I remodeled gold and bought an estate for the 1 point win. This did not feel like I deserved this win, but I'll take it!
RJ 31 - Quasi 30
Game 4: Quasi first
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201201/02/game-20120102-123701-87ea8260.htmlKey cards: Familiar, Ghost ship, Cities, Scheme... Chancellors (whaaaaaaa?) Interest:
8With the curse attacks Familiar and YW, there were plenty of options but we both opted for familiars with his surprising potion/chancellor. It came into play right away with a Turn 3 Chancellor bought ghost ship. Quasi lost that advantage the next turn getting $2P which I'm sure he was disgusted. We spent the next few turns buying familiars and schemes to curse each other, never getting more than $5 my turn 12. I immediately thought city was the correct choice since a pile was gone but later regretted never picking up a ghost ship which hurt my cellar so very often. Quasi used his schemes often with his Ghost ship and later was able to sustain a lengthy engine. The score is not indicative of the blowout this game is. If I was not impressed with Quasi before this, I certainly was now with chancellor use! Things were looking bleak for me.
Quasi 6 - 3 RJ
Game 5: RJ first
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201201/02/game-20120102-124659-036f8733.htmlKey cards: Ambassador, Remake, peddler, Upgrade, Remodel, Scout. Interest:
4Tactician would have made this more interesting but I took it out because of that reason. The game changed in my mind once it became a Colony game as upgrading peddlers was a beautiful looking option despite the lack of a +buy. We both started to cut our decks down, I used Ambs and he used Remake. His allowed him to get early lead and grab a lot of upgrades to start. where as I did not get $5 until T8. The card that set my deck apart was probably the use of scout in order to lower the price down of peddler and to line up upgrades. I'm not sure if Quasi missed it or just constantly had $6, but he never went for peddlers. This became a huge problem as I got 3 platinums before his first. On T17, I made a huge mistake with 3 platinums and two upgrades at the end of my deck, I used my upgrade and my three platinums were forced to miss the reshuffle. I still managed though to get 4-2 Colonies forcing Quasi to buy the Penultimate Colony (the right move I believe) and I remodeled myself to the win.
RJ 61 - 47 Quasi
Game 6: Quasi first
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201201/02/game-20120102-125145-aeff94ae.htmlKey Cards: Wharf, Highways, Farming Villages... Talismans... Interest:
9Whenever I see Highway in the cards available, I take my time in the veto selection because of its power. I see +buys of barons and Horse traders and think if anything is possible, then realize wharf of course has +buys! So I veto horse trader in the hopes to shun him from engine building. With a 5/2 start, We go wharf/nothing. His T3/T4 buys are silver/gold (and BM) and I know its time to go for talismans and then get a Tasliman/highway T5. I baited him out!... or did I trap myself? T7/T8 he buys a province each while I'm stuck with a $2 talisman on T8. I knew this was a bad idea, Wharf BM is just too fast. T10 I get a bit lucky lining up my highways together. Then T12 my engine breaks loose buying 6 highways, 3 wharfs and stables. T13 My engine is now a big boy and gobbles up all the remaining provinces for the win. One of my favourite engines I have ever built!
Quasi 21 -
42 RJGame 7: Quasi first
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201201/02/game-20120102-130714-ef531b6b.htmlKey Cards: Remodel, Warehouse, Library, Farming Village, Conspirators, Woodcutters... Duchess... Interest:
7 (but 10 since its game 7)Our plans were very similar, shaped around warehouses and libraries. His was much more focused on Conspirators while mine was towards working more actions in (in order to lower the hand count even more). He makes the first mistake going conspirator/warehouse instead of remodel. However with my remodel and warehouse, I was left with a lot of $2 which I decided to buy Duchess with. I'm still not sure if it was the right choice or not, but the results were good. It allowed me to get early T4 library. At this point, I feel I erased the second turn disadvantage with my drawing luck. I make a couple mistakes in purchasing by avoiding woodcutter early to further build pieces and conspirators which was the whole point of this engine. Then I purchase a harem. I realize treasures slow down library set ups, but I felt it was a good tiebreaker as well as remodel to province was sneaky. I remodel that harem in T14 to put me up provinces 4-2. He replies by getting duchy/province, to force the winner of this game and this set to get the final province. The next turn, I manage to get my engine going but the lack of conspirators and previous trashed duchess make it hard for me to get money. After my second library, I have $7 with a farming village to go... 'Heart of the cards' on that click, I grab the woodcutter to get $9 and the final province (granted there was one other card in that deck and I believe it was a green card but that makes it less climatic)!
Quasi 29 -
36 RJAnother close set, and another comeback win. Thank you Quasi for the games who dominated on the BM stage easily and my engine probably got the correct draws. Love to hear feedback, good or bad. I'm now in the Final Four (play March Madness Fanfare)!