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Author Topic: 2 Horns of Provinces. Was it the right strategy to go for?  (Read 1579 times)

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2 Horns of Provinces. Was it the right strategy to go for?
« on: January 17, 2012, 07:23:55 pm »
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Consider these cards in supply: Bazaar, Caravan, Fishing Village, Haggler, Hamlet, Horn of Plenty, Margrave, Merchant Ship, Noble Brigand, and Nomad Camp.

-Things I think I did wrong that come to mind is-
1) Noble Brigand isn't a strong attack, nor did it prove useful, more so just got it because I wanted another card for the Horns doubting whether it was worth it though.
 2) don't trash horns until the end of the game, just because u have $8 or more doesn't mean you HAVE to get a province. Get a Gold, Bazaar, another Horn, etc. instead. Something that improves your deck because the Horn will most likely get to $8 again in a mass draw deck prepared for its use.

We both opened 4/3 (him 3/4) with my opponent going first. He opted for a Fishing village/Caravan while I went for Caravan/Silver. The Nomad Camp looked shiny at first but then I realized that I wouldn't need it with all the other +buys unless I end up with 1 buy and $4 in which case it would strengthen my Horn of Province strategy I was planning on to ultimately win the game. I also didn't go for a Fishing Village because I felt like I could get them a lot when I would need them but this early a silver would be better and make my strategy faster than his.

I won the Caravan race but I think I may have been better off with skipping on 2-3 of the FV buys. I had too many actions at times and at others too many buys. More +draw is what I needed. Maybe more Hamlets? However, FV did help towards a 3 pile ending.

I got 1 more Margrave than my opponent and as such could cycle through my deck a LOT easier. Combine that with caravan and FV's +1 action +$1 and I had an awesome deck that would rarely draw dead actions.

2 Hagglers made it so that as the game went on my deck just became more and more powerful. I could mass buy duchies and estates without worrying about my deck becoming a mess of victory cards because I would have other cards to counteract them and balance out my deck. FV and copper gains here I do believe were the right choice. (Turn 18)

I ended up winning but we both made lots of mistakes, I am sure. How would you have played this set up? Would you ignore HoP entirely or gone for HoP?
Here is the game log:
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201201/17/game-20120117-155225-1cdcaeaa.html
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dondon151

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Re: 2 Horns of Provinces. Was it the right strategy to go for?
« Reply #1 on: January 17, 2012, 08:32:13 pm »
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I don't think that your choice to buy Estate, gain Copper with Haggler in play is a good one. There is already no trashing in this kingdom, and more stuff in your deck means that it's harder (or it requires more cards) to set up for the HoP mega-turn.

Also from a bit of solitaire testing, it seems that you don't want too many Fishing Villages. You want enough in case you can't draw your Margrave with a Bazaar or a Hamlet, but the lack of +Card on Fishing Village makes it harder to cycle through your deck and get the cards that you need to make HoPs worth $8.
« Last Edit: January 17, 2012, 09:07:04 pm by dondon151 »
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Re: 2 Horns of Provinces. Was it the right strategy to go for?
« Reply #2 on: January 17, 2012, 09:38:53 pm »
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I don't think that your choice to buy Estate, gain Copper with Haggler in play is a good one. There is already no trashing in this kingdom, and more stuff in your deck means that it's harder (or it requires more cards) to set up for the HoP mega-turn.

Also from a bit of solitaire testing, it seems that you don't want too many Fishing Villages. You want enough in case you can't draw your Margrave with a Bazaar or a Hamlet, but the lack of +Card on Fishing Village makes it harder to cycle through your deck and get the cards that you need to make HoPs worth $8.
Ahh then I was right that I got too many. Would it have been better to buy silvers? Or no FV at all instead of the extra 2-3?
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dondon151

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Re: 2 Horns of Provinces. Was it the right strategy to go for?
« Reply #3 on: January 17, 2012, 09:55:50 pm »
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You had a huge number of Bazaars, FVs, and Hamlets and not many terminals.

The thing with FV is that when you have 3-card hands from an opponent's Margrave, they take up a card to play and don't renew themselves. If you're going for the HoP megaturn, probably don't bother buying Silvers either (aside from an opening Silver); most of your engine components are going to come from HoP or from Hagglers.

I managed to grab all 8 Provinces in 14 turns solitaire, but this is without an opponent playing Margrave, so maybe it would be a lot slower; I dunno.
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Re: 2 Horns of Provinces. Was it the right strategy to go for?
« Reply #4 on: January 17, 2012, 10:45:39 pm »
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You had a huge number of Bazaars, FVs, and Hamlets and not many terminals.

The thing with FV is that when you have 3-card hands from an opponent's Margrave, they take up a card to play and don't renew themselves. If you're going for the HoP megaturn, probably don't bother buying Silvers either (aside from an opening Silver); most of your engine components are going to come from HoP or from Hagglers.

I managed to grab all 8 Provinces in 14 turns solitaire, but this is without an opponent playing Margrave, so maybe it would be a lot slower; I dunno.
It would, and is. Those -2 cards hurt a lot.
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dondon151

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Re: 2 Horns of Provinces. Was it the right strategy to go for?
« Reply #5 on: January 17, 2012, 11:09:50 pm »
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Well, the thing is, it's easier to match up your Margraves with your +action cards when your opponent plays Margrave (since you have 6 cards from which to keep 3), so I'd imagine that in most cases, getting attacked would only result in a net loss of some coin for the buy phase, and it would actually help mitigate shuffle luck later on when you're capable of drawing through a large portion of your deck. Losing coin isn't such a big deal when you can pick up most engine components with Haggler and HoP.

It does hurt early on when you don't have as much drawing power, though.
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