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[GendoIkari]

The pin discussion got me thinking... What if you started with 0 cards instead of the usual 10? Obviously the beginning would be boring and tedious... But after the first turn Copper buy, there could be some interesting decisions. If  Poor House is available, that's almost definitely your turn 2 buy. Otherwise, you have to decide how much treasure to get. Reaching $5 would be much less luck-driven. Trashing becomes bad. The Engine vs Big money question would be different. But I'm not sure in which way.

[LastFootnote]

To me, one of the most brilliant things about Dominion is that your deck starts with three $2 garbage cards. A lot of remodel and trash-for-benefit cards are only worthwhile because of those Estates. I think you lose a lot without them. Shelters games lose that fun but gain other Shelters fun. Cutting that fun altogether feels sad.

[GendoIkari]

To me, one of the most brilliant things about Dominion is that your deck starts with three $2 garbage cards. A lot of remodel and trash-for-benefit cards are only worthwhile because of those Estates. I think you lose a lot without them. Shelters games lose that fun but gain other Shelters fun. Cutting that fun altogether feels sad.

I definitely think my variant would be a worse game; so I'm not suggesting it as a fun thing to play. Just interesting to think about the differences and the strategies.

[Seprix]

Feast gets a buff!

[GendoIkari]

Feast gets a buff!

How so? I'm pretty sure it gets a nerf. In the absence of other various things, your first 4 turns will be Copper, Copper, Copper, Silver. You'll hit $5 before you hit $4.

[GendoIkari]

Fool's Gold gets a pretty huge boost.

[ConMan]

Alms is the obvious insta-buy most of the time.

Similarly, what if you started with just the 3 Estates? Or one of the odd starting decks that exists in the Goko campaigns?

[trivialknot]

Could be interesting to go through a few kingdoms and imagine the strategies.  Here's my analysis of the kingdoms in the top three threads of the Game Reports forum:

Battle of the trashers

Events: Expedition, Plan
Kingdom: Raze, Develop, Forager, Shanty Town, Alchemist, Duplicate, Apprentice, Highway, Grand Market, Hoard

Strategy: Copper, Copper, Copper, Silver, Duplicate, and then duplicate Highways until I can duplicate Grand Markets, followed by duplicated Provinces.

King's Court, Poor House, Trade Route

Events: Plan
Kingdom: Poor House, Chapel, Oracle, Shanty Town, Trade Route, Armory, Caravan, Cartographer, Outpost, King's Court

Strategy: Copper, Poor House, Poor House, Shanty Town, King's Court, King's Court, hammer Provinces
Or maybe I'd stop for an Armory or Trade Route hoping to build for double provinces.

Ironworks, Great Hall, Scout

Kingdom: Lighthouse, Great Hall, Loan, Lookout, Feast, Ironworks, Scout, Contraband, Tactician, Torturer

Strategy: Copper, Copper, Lighthouse, Lighthouse, Ironworks, then play Big Money, using Ironworks to gain Silver, Lighthouse, or Great Hall as seems necessary.

So, are the strategies just obvious, or could any of you spot superior strategies in these kingdoms?

[tristan]

I think this neatly illustrates the problem of a 0 card starting deck: the first moves become scripted.

[Deadlock39]

It might be interesting to play this way every once in a while, but Donate probably hits this design space in a more interesting way.

[GendoIkari]

I think this neatly illustrates the problem of a 0 card starting deck: the first moves become scripted.

Indeed. Of course the base cards could have been designed differently around this; having 2 or more options than cost $0. Of course you're starting to get into a completely different game at some point.