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AdamH

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The Final Four: interviews and matches
« on: November 13, 2015, 07:13:26 pm »
+10

The first of our two semifinal matches will be streamed live with commentary in just a couple of hours. We've taken the time to interview the players of this match.

Titandrake did his interview in audio form, which can be listened to here

Pubby's interview is here in text form:
How old are you, where are you from, what do you do for a living?
I'm 20 years old, I'm from Missouri, and I'm a student.

How did you get into Dominion? What kept you playing Dominion?
I was looking for an online boardgame to play with friends, so I went down the BGG top games list until finding one I liked. That lead me to Isotropic Dominion, and I quickly became addicted. I find game design facinating, and that's why Dominion is the perfect game for me; deckbuilding lets me play around with a whole bunch of interesting effects and game mechanics, just like game designers do. 

How much do you play Dominion IRL? Do you get to play very much with Adventures?
I've never played IRL, and honestly I don't know how. Shuffling IRL is beyond my capabilities.

How did you find F.DS? What kept you coming back?
I googled "Dominion strategies" after I played my first game and this site came up. Funnily enough, this site didn't keep me coming back, but rather the opposite. I quit Dominion for a few years after reading a few articles, as it gave me the completely wrong idea about high-level play. I thought that the pros were good because they had memorized "build orders" and counted their cards, but this is far from the truth!

What was the most memorable Dominion match you’ve ever played?
My favorite games tend to involve hilariously stupid and lucky big money strategies. One time I played Vault BM against a Herald engine and had insanely good draws. I won the game with 7 provinces on turn 13. Another favorite was when I beat Mic using Counting House, on a board with Ambassador and Knights. That was just silly.

What are your favorite and least-favorite Dominion cards, and why? What about combos? Decks? Any favorites?
I really like Quarry, Counterfeit, and HoP. Vault is pretty good, too. I hate Rebuild, as do many others. Masquerade, Minion, Scrying Pool, and Possession peeve me because they are good ideas overshadowed by their badly designed attacks.

What’s some good advice you can give for someone trying to get better at the game:
1. Watch every single video that Wandering Winder has produced.
2. Use the VP counter.
3. If you lose a game, play the kingdom again against bots until you figure out the strategies.


If you could make a Dominion card/mechanic that describes you, what would it be?
Something that has really simple card text, and doesn't involve lots of clicking. Verbosity is just not my thing. e.g.
$4 Action
+2 cards
When you buy this, gain a gold.


What are your favorite board games other than Dominion?
Yahtzee, Boggle, and Ticket to Ride.

How do you like to spend your time when you aren’t playing Dominion?
I like programming and woodworking. I like taking walks and going on hikes. Best of all, I like wasting time on internet forums.

If you could choose one person on F.DS to be with you on an desert island, who would it be and why?
If it was only for a few months then someone entertaining  like Donald or jsh. I'm not sure if their sanity would last much more than that, but if they tried to eat me then I'm pretty sure I can outrun them. If it was for several years then I'd pick someone easy to get along with; probably Mic Qsenoch or Voltaire. Definitely not anyone who participated in forum survivor!

Their match will be streamed at 0230 UTC, Saturday November 14th (just over two hours from this post!) with commentary on Mic Qsenoch's Twitch channel -- don't miss it!
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-Stef-

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Re: The Final Four: interviews and matches
« Reply #1 on: November 13, 2015, 07:44:48 pm »
+8

I just listened to the interview with Titandrake.... thanks for doing that, was fun to listen to.

There is just one point he made that I disagree with so strongly I wanted to respond. He claims we all used to be pretty bad at dominion and now we're all pretty good.
While I agree with the first part, I disagree with the second. Basically I think we all still suck at Dominion.

Seriously, if Dominion still gets played 5 years from now I think the top players from that time will look at some videos made now and have a good laugh. They are doing.... WHAT?
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jsh357

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Re: The Final Four: interviews and matches
« Reply #2 on: November 13, 2015, 07:53:16 pm »
0

Aw, I <3 you too, pubby.

Crap, he's on to my plan to force him to listen to my skeleton jokes for a year on a deserted island
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Re: The Final Four: interviews and matches
« Reply #3 on: November 13, 2015, 08:37:32 pm »
0

I just listened to the interview with Titandrake.... thanks for doing that, was fun to listen to.

There is just one point he made that I disagree with so strongly I wanted to respond. He claims we all used to be pretty bad at dominion and now we're all pretty good.
While I agree with the first part, I disagree with the second. Basically I think we all still suck at Dominion.

Seriously, if Dominion still gets played 5 years from now I think the top players from that time will look at some videos made now and have a good laugh. They are doing.... WHAT?

I mean, depends what you mean by "good".  If by "good", you mean has a winning record, or usually beats most players, then the people in these semis and yourself r pretty f*****g good.  If you mean knows certain strategies, or has some specific knowledge of the game, then yes maybe all of us are potentially not " good", which might be ur point.

Oh and grats to the final four!  (I'm secretly rooting for Mic who knocked me out :) )
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AdamH

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Re: The Final Four: interviews and matches
« Reply #4 on: November 13, 2015, 09:24:44 pm »
0

Mic's channel will be going live soon:

http://www.twitch.tv/mic_qsenoch
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funkdoc

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Re: The Final Four: interviews and matches
« Reply #5 on: November 13, 2015, 11:25:16 pm »
+1

Basically I think we all still suck at Dominion.

i love this.  see, this right here reminds me of the scene i came from - that's how a lot of players think there as well.

that's the impression i've gotten from a lot of the top-player criticism i see here...that it's meant in this kind of context.  spend an entire stream calling plays "terrible", but with the idea that they themselves are terrible as well.

until we get mass amounts of people playing 8 hours a day, i'm totally with you

Titandrake

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Re: The Final Four: interviews and matches
« Reply #6 on: November 14, 2015, 12:03:17 am »
+2

I just listened to the interview with Titandrake.... thanks for doing that, was fun to listen to.

There is just one point he made that I disagree with so strongly I wanted to respond. He claims we all used to be pretty bad at dominion and now we're all pretty good.
While I agree with the first part, I disagree with the second. Basically I think we all still suck at Dominion.

Seriously, if Dominion still gets played 5 years from now I think the top players from that time will look at some videos made now and have a good laugh. They are doing.... WHAT?

I generally agree, just wanted to clarify what I meant.

- On an absolute level, people are playing better. Better engine building, better big money play.
- On a relative level, the high level strategies people go for converge more than they used to. (Or, maybe I'm misremembering what Iso was like.) A lot more skill differentiation has moved into tactical play and execution.
- So, from the perspective of an outsider it often looks like both players are doing the same thing, but there's a lot more going on than it seems. The gaps are just as wide as they've always been. Minor mistakes a year ago are major mistakes today.
- The community definitely hasn't hit the skill ceiling yet. I think it's all a matter of perspective. I compare people based on how close their play is to the best play we know of (how people topping the leaderboard play.) When I say people are getting better, I mean it absolutely, as if there's a stick in the ground labeled "Dominion skill level". People are climbing it, but the important part is that everybody is climbing it at the same time. From that perspective, it doesn't matter that the stick reaches stratosphere and we're all only 1000 ft up.

We're all bad at Dominion. Occasionally, some of us play less bad than others, and I suppose that's how I got here. :)
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Mic Qsenoch

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Re: The Final Four: interviews and matches
« Reply #7 on: November 14, 2015, 12:18:00 am »
+1

Here is the twitch highlight:
http://www.twitch.tv/mic_qsenoch/v/25684348
and Youtube (it may not be processed just yet):


for Titandrake vs pubby. Not the greatest commentary ever unless you're interested in my household infestations. Then it probably is the greatest.
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AdamH

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Re: The Final Four: interviews and matches
« Reply #8 on: November 14, 2015, 09:08:12 am »
+5

At 1900 UTC today (about 5 hours from this post), the other semifinal match will take place between MQ and SCSN. It will be streamed from both of their perspectives.

Here's Mic's interview in in text form:

How old are you, where are you from, what do you do for a living?
I am 27, I live in the Midwest (of the USA) and I am a graduate student in chemistry.

How did you get into Dominion? What kept you playing Dominion?
I saw it near the top of the BGG ranking list and saw that the play time was short. So I bought the base set and very soon after started adding expansions. I became aware of Dominion Strategy and isotropic pretty early on but didn't start playing actively online til about a year later. I kept playing because I found that I kept improving and there was this neat leaderboard to try and climb to the top of. And of course the game is incredibly fun and does a great job of avoiding staleness.

How much do you play Dominion IRL? Do you get to play very much with Adventures?
I don't play IRL very often. People complain (or just look unhappy) about long chains of actions. The physical manipulation of the cards feels tedious to me now that I'm used to computer implementations. I have played a couple IRL Adventures games, but was very lucky to be able to playtest the set online and played quite a lot of games that way. It's a fantastic set and I hope it shows up online soonish.

How did you find F.DS? What kept you coming back?
I'm only here for the art rankings thread.

What do you think was your toughest match in the tournament so far?
I guess pops, it went to game 7.

What are your favorite and least-favorite Dominion cards, and why? What about combos? Decks? Any favorites?
Besides my usual answers which are half-truths (Swindler, IGG). I like a lot of the dominating power 5s - Governor, Wharf, Butcher, Mountebank, Haggler, Junk Dealer. It feels great to play with strong cards and have your deck kick ass. Activating Menageries remains unchallenged for best feeling in Dominion.

What card(s) do you feel you’re strongest with? Where do you think you could improve your game the most?
I am weakest at gaining and playing cards (in the same turn). If there are too many steps in the process I struggle with plotting it out. Being patient at the end of the game is sometimes a problem also. I don't think I'm especially good at anything, I try not to screw up openings too badly.

What’s some good advice you can give for someone trying to get better at the game
Just be highly critical of your's and your opponent's play. Do your best to identify mistakes, sometimes this is easier when reading logs after a game or watching a stream or recording of someone else playing.

Where have the biggest improvements in the community’s understanding of dominion strategy been in the last few years?  (This could refer to cards that we (f.ds) evaluate better now, or some idea that we understand).
I don't know. What people talk about doesn't correlate all that well with how they play the game. There's just a huge disconnect between those two activities. I don't believe there's been that much improvement in any specific area (but also have no idea how one could measure that in the real word).
The conversations have shifted to more engine focus (which is correct). But I just watched the other semifinals match and about half the games were money boards, but money boards with some nontrivial choices, so you can't ignore playing those boards well also.


Also, in your opinion what are the biggest areas we still have to improve on.
Poor Dominion play isn't usually about a lack of knowledge. The most important ideas are very simple. At all levels of play people mess up openings, buy cards in the wrong order, miss forced wins etc. But it's very difficult to say something that is both true and not obvious about these mistakes. I don't think you can usually do much better than "that's a mistake".

What is your favorite Dominion meme? Fan card?
Ban memes forever.

If you could make a Dominion card/mechanic that describes you, what would it be?
Man, I hope it would be a junker.

What are your favorite board games other than Dominion?
I just learned Keyflower recently, I like that game a lot (but haven't played it much). Tichu is a great game.

How do you like to spend your time when you aren’t playing Dominion?
My other main hobby is reading, sometimes I bake stuff.

If you could choose one person on F.DS to be with you on an desert island, who would it be and why?
Whoever has the most edible tissue but is still weaker than me.
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drsteelhammer

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Re: The Final Four: interviews and matches
« Reply #9 on: November 14, 2015, 10:23:30 am »
0

I just listened to the interview with Titandrake.... thanks for doing that, was fun to listen to.

There is just one point he made that I disagree with so strongly I wanted to respond. He claims we all used to be pretty bad at dominion and now we're all pretty good.
While I agree with the first part, I disagree with the second. Basically I think we all still suck at Dominion.

Seriously, if Dominion still gets played 5 years from now I think the top players from that time will look at some videos made now and have a good laugh. They are doing.... WHAT?

Do you think there will be any more paradigm shifts like the one Titandrake mentioned? Excluding the release of new cards, I can't imagine that happening. Of course there might be some combos or creative uses of cards left to be discovered and you can get slightly better with every card, but I don't think that someone from 5 years in the future will laugh at the top play from today. Atleast not because they play a totally different game.



How do you like to spend your time when you aren’t playing Dominion?
My other main hobby is reading, sometimes I bake stuff.


How can you tell us that you read, but not what you read :(
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jsh357

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Re: The Final Four: interviews and matches
« Reply #10 on: November 14, 2015, 10:28:29 am »
+1

He already said he reads the art thread
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Re: The Final Four: interviews and matches
« Reply #11 on: November 14, 2015, 10:33:42 am »
+2

But what does he read in a hypothetical situations where the art thread never gets continued anymore?
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Mic Qsenoch

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Re: The Final Four: interviews and matches
« Reply #12 on: November 14, 2015, 01:13:55 pm »
+4

But what does he read in a hypothetical situations where the art thread never gets continued anymore?

Reread
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Re: The Final Four: interviews and matches
« Reply #13 on: November 14, 2015, 02:17:19 pm »
+1

A blast from the past:

Games against marin on isotropic will forever be my favorite big money games. I would just always veto the card that most helped engines, and then watch him still invariably go for it. I would literally just buy three merchant ships and whatever money I could afford, and watch him play his lengthy turns in awe, half-hoping whatever he was building would come together in time because it was more fun to think that that's how dominion was supposed to be played.

As it turns out after all the expansions, that's more or less how it is. Pretty awesome.
« Last Edit: November 14, 2015, 02:22:49 pm by Eevee »
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Mic Qsenoch

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Re: The Final Four: interviews and matches
« Reply #14 on: November 14, 2015, 06:02:21 pm »
+2

Recording of me vs SCSN:

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Re: The Final Four: interviews and matches
« Reply #15 on: November 15, 2015, 11:39:29 am »
+1

All you 20-somethings are making me feel old.

Congrats to the winners!
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Re: The Final Four: interviews and matches
« Reply #16 on: November 19, 2015, 09:17:46 am »
+2

The final match between Mic Qsenoch and Titandrake is going to be delayed by approximately two weeks.

Mic is currently travelling and the only chance they had to play before that would have been on an American evening, unwatchable for Europe.
So in stead of doing that we're going to delay it. More info on the exact date / time / stream will follow later.
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Re: The Final Four: interviews and matches
« Reply #17 on: December 04, 2015, 05:21:24 am »
+4

As the final between Titandrake and Mic Qsenoch is approaching, I have some more info for you:

Date: Sunday, 6th December
Time: 19:00 UTC, which should be December 06, 2015, 02:00:00 pm for you.
Location: http://www.twitch.tv/dominionstreams



edit: sunday is the 6th, not the 7th
« Last Edit: December 04, 2015, 06:03:49 am by -Stef- »
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