I don't know who or when people first said these things, but they seem to resonate with the forum community to some degree. Sorry if the wording is not 100% correct, or if I've misinterpreted in any way. I can also give credit where credit is due, if people can track down original posts or whatever.
It's not about being ahead when the game ends; it's about ending the game when you're ahead.
This is, like, the single best piece of advice anyone can ever give to someone (about Dominion, of course). When I'm teaching people how to play IRL, it's basically the first thing I say after they understand the concept of VP. And then I repeat it usually 1 to 2 more times by the end of the game.
Everybody is a bad player; some are less bad than others.
I love this statement. It's humbling. Don't get too cocky because, although you may be better than some other people, you're still bad; so keep getting better.
Thinning is winning. / 1 really good thing is better than 2 pretty good things.
I lump these 2 phrases together because, although they're technically not the same thing, they both convey that you want a good deck that has a high (good cards) / (bad cards) ratio. Of course there are exceptions (Fairgrounds, Gardens, you want a lot of cheap stuff, etc.). But these phrases can be a good rule-of-thumb, especially to new players. And in addition to explaining why it is good to have a good deck, they help explain things like
- why a Lab costs more than a Caravan
- why most of us think Steward is better for trashing than Amulet
- how Tactician can be good in a deck full of Treasures
You make your own shuffle luck. / YMYOSL
This phrase actually does not resonate with me nearly as much as it does other people. But it certainly warrants praise, because I'm sure it helps people understand that we shouldn't blame bad luck every time we lose. It doesn't resonate with me because luck plays a huge part in Dominion. Period. We can argue how much luck plays a factor, or the types of Kingdoms on which luck plays less or more of a part, or if some of us feel that the MF servers' random number generators are really not random at all, etc. But we can't argue that luck exists. You make as much of your own shuffle luck as possible. YMAMOYOSLAP. But in the end, if my Chapel misses my first reshuffle, then it misses my first reshuffle. And then if the next 2 times it comes up, it does so with all my Silvers, then I just say well YMAMOYOSLAP. (Wow, just realized, that almost looks like YO MAMA SLAP if you cross your eyes).
There is no such thing as optimal play.
I'm actually making this one up right now. Feel free to disagree. There are MAAAYYBBEE some exceptions on the very most simple of boards. Like, something that simulators can show, and the logic behind those simulators can be proven beyond any doubt -- which might not even be possible. So ya, I think a starving child in Africa dies every time somebody thinks they played "optimally", or wonders how they could play a board "optimally", or mentions the term "optimal" in discussion of strategy in any way except when saying how bad of a term it is.
- Any more?
- Thoughts?
