Division A: SheCantSayNo vs 2.71828.....
e twitch video. (low quality video, sorry. I will up the video quality next match)
SCSN's streamMoat, Stonemason, Black Market, Fortune Teller, Advisor, Trader, Walled Village, Cultist, Embassy, Rabble
logI debated buying Black Market at all here. With Cultist and stonemason, it was going to be a fast game. I looked in the BM deck though, saw Junk Dealer, Upgrade, goons, land decided to go for it. Looking back, I don't think I should have. Sure, I picked up upgrade on T3. But I don't think it played too much of a difference. The biggest thing here was the lack of economy, and I think an extra silver over black market could have been better. As it turns out, the difference in the game was that I spiked 8 (thank you abandoned mine) to get a province on T12. From there I was freed up to concentrate on piles to end the game.
Shanty Town, Swindler, Nomad Camp, Salvager, Silk Road, Band of Misfits, Butcher, Explorer, Mine, Fairgrounds
logClassic swindler/silver opening here. My plan is to get butchers. Butcher things. Profit. I didn't care too much about swindler because Butcher doesn't care about what card you butcher, just its money value. Anyway, I got slightly better shuffle luck and was able to pull out the win. One thing that I would note is my T15. 3 provinces remaining, I have 7 coin with 5 coin tokens to spend. We are tied at this point. I don't get the province. Because butcher. All it takes is butcher province->province, buy province + anything and win the game. So I get a fairgrounds, SCSN buys the province, and then I have a butcher in hand, go province->province, 7 coin tokens for the last province and the win.
Courtyard, Herbalist, Lighthouse, Secret Chamber, Gardens, Quarry, Silk Road, Trader, Treasure Map, Young Witch, Mine
logPower board. Not. I have a 5/2 here. Nothing special about it. I decide to go for a big money/gardens/silk road strategy. Open trader/courtyard. My plan is to get about 10 silvers in my deck then start greening. Works like a charm. Get some decent shuffles, get some provinces, and just start buying gardens, silk roads, and estates to win the game. My biggest question was why SCSN bought treasure maps. I feel like that was a real mistake. The payoff (while nice) is not going to happen in the bloated deck that was going to happen. I mean, you can get lucky, but I wouldn't count on that.
Stonemason, Shanty Town, Steward, Storeroom, Procession, Bandit Camp, Cartographer, Hunting Party, Mandarin, Mint
logSCSN opens steward/steward. I go steward/silver. The key to this game, however, was not that decision, but the decision we both faced (T2 for me, T4 for him). The decision to buy mint. I turned it down, he accepted it. I had some good trashing and bought some silvers and was able to get rolling faster. But he had mint. Which meant that he could mint a gold, stonemason a gold, and profit. Basically, I bought the first province, but then was just overpowered from there.
Scrying Pool, Steward, Armory, Feodum, Golem, Highway, Stables, Farmland, Bank, Expand
logThis was a really interesting game. Highway/armory means that you can gain provinces, which was what we both did as a primary strategy. The biggest thing to note about this game was the use of golem. It was an important card because it was really your best source of +actions. Thankfully, we had necropolis, but besides that we are stuck using golem as a village. How do you set this up on a deck with scrying pool where you draw all your actions though? We dont have a card like warehouse to force-discard 3 cards then allow you to play golem to draw and use them as actions. However, do we really need all the actions? I think you really just need to two actions provided by necropolis. 2 gains and a buy, 3 provinces. So buying extra golems is unnecessary, and I feel as though that is what SCSN did. I think first player advantage played into the final result a good bit, as the game ended going 3 provinces/3 provinces/2 provinces, but I think SCSN would have had a better shot at winning by replacing at least one of his 3 golems with a scrying pool.
Pearl Diver, Secret Chamber, Ambassador, Black Market, Warehouse, Wishing Well, Philosopher's Stone, Tournament, Tactician, Farmland, Nobles
logAmbassador. I love ambassador games. They force so many great decisions. When do I stop attacking and start improving my deck? Here, we have ambassador/tournament. We both open ambassador/tournament, but SCSN opts to get a second ambassador early, while I decide to build economy early. Compare our decks after T10. (I just played tactician on T9)
SCSN 2 Ambassador 1 Pearl Diver 1 Tactician 2 Tournament 1 Wishing Well 2 Copper 1 Silver 10 cards in deck | 2.71828..... 1 Ambassador 1 Black Market 2 Pearl Diver 2 Tactician 2 Tournament 8 Copper 1 Gold 3 Estate 20 cards in deck |
My thought process was to get the tactician/black market combo moving as fast as possible, and once you draw lots of cards you can ambassador them away. Plus, prizes. Prizes, prizes prizes. It works. T11 I buy play Black market, lay money on the table, play tactician. T12 I get trusty steed. I then go ahead and pick up ambassador #2, because I need to thin. Then what happens? The curse of self-junking (i.e. getting followers). With tacticians in play, the discard attack hurts, but not as much. I think that princess is a much better purchase. SCSN picks up followers, and I end up with princess. My deck gradually gets better and better, while his gets worse. His wishing wells (so good early) are now virtually worthless. My warehouses help consistency in a bloated deck. And at the end of T20, I finally have a thinner deck. And a much better one.
SheCantSayNo 2 Ambassador 1 Black Market 1 Followers 2 Pearl Diver 1 Secret Chamber 2 Tactician 2 Tournament 2 Wishing Well 3 Copper 1 Gold 1 Diadem 3 Estate 1 Province 3 Nobles 1 Curse 26 cards in deck | 2.71828..... 2 Ambassador 1 Black Market 1 Fishing Village 1 Mint 2 Pearl Diver 1 Princess 1 Secret Chamber 2 Tactician 2 Tournament 1 Trusty Steed 3 Warehouse 1 Silver 1 Gold 1 Estate 3 Province 1 Curse 24 cards in deck |
With a combo like tactician/black market (especially with support cards like warehouse and important things like prizes), I think that my route of getting the combo in play then worry about thinning is the way to go. At least, that is the way it turned out here.