Dominion > Game Reports

2017 Championships - Round of 16 - Dingan vs. Dan Brooks

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Dingan:
Guess I'll write this up while it's still fresh on my mind, and why not?



Game 1
Just about getting the Torturer-chain going. It was all but over when he won the Squire split 6-3 (or 7-2 or something, not sure). But I was able to Sacrifice Patricians and other fodder as pseudo-village, to play multiple Torturer / Overlord per turn mid game. Several turns I'd buy Sacrifices or an Oasis or whatever just to trash them later.

I had a rules question mid-game involving bidding 40 on Mountain Pass. I had to consider this because there was a very likely end game scenario in which the first Province is bought on the turn the game ends (piles: curse, Squire, Patrician). Then basically whoever does not buy the Province can bid 40 and automatically get the +8VP -- and need not worry about being in debt because the game is over. So I was sort of tempted to leave him the last Emporium for the pile-out, considering if he bought either a Duchy or Province with it, it wouldn't have been enough. Or maybe I was overthinking this one, haha. But an interesting mechanic with Mountain Pass nonetheless.

Game 2
Knights battle (kinda). I think the biggest difference here was Dame Natalie with Caravan Guards. That and I didn't realize how powerful Sir Michael was mid and late game - which he took from me via Graverobber (I underestimated Graverobber here). I basically felt I had no chance of winning about a third of the way through the game, and tried to desperation-Graverobber the Provinces .. and that just doesn't work against DB.

Maybe the Silver-CG opening was that much better than Silver-Silver? Not sure.

Game 3
4/3 >> 5/2. Not sure what else to say. Maybe my second bridge was wrong -- had I not gotten it I think I could have won the Lab split 6-4. Not sure.

I almost wonder if Tournament was skippable here? There are plenty of actions, draw, +Buys without it. The attack part of Followers is pretty much the only thing that any of the Prizes give you that isn't already on the board.

Game 4
I actually think I had this game. But on T7 I dudded because my deck was my 3 Coppers, which I couldn't draw all of. Had 1 of the bottom 2 been a unique, I would have gotten to Gold/HP and remained a half turn behind on the building; Ok, because of my Estate I kept.

Game 5
Straight Rebuild (with help from Scavenger) vs. an attempted engine that leads to Dominate. I'm just not convinced Dominate is plausible here. Someone prove me wrong.

Game 6
Capital / Mandarin game. I like opening Vassal over Silver because of the early sifting. And T-mo to turn Estates -> Silvers. Maybe the T-mo was wrong. But I still like it's situational flexibility -- maybe it can turn a Mandarin into a Capital late? Not sure but it very well could have not been the best opening.

This game came down to shuffles. DB had a terrible first shuffle. And my T10 draw was just oh so perfect - drawing 3 Capitals and being able to T-Mo a Mandarin into a fourth.

Game 7
Envoy BM vs. a Pearl Diver / Nomad Camp / Vineyards thing. I certainly considered both routes at the start of the game. I just didn't think Vineyards would get that high. If anything, I didn't consider Obelisk (not that that was the point difference in the end, but it did affect the game). My second-to-last shuffle was just so so bad -- in a thick deck, I draw my 4 terminals together. I really do wonder how the game would have gone had that shuffle been even slightly better. That one is gonna sting.

I did consider buying a Pearl Diver when there was 1 left just so his Bandit Camps became stop cards. But I just never really felt I had the opportunity. Idk, maybe I should have just spent $5 on it. Not sure how much of a difference it would have made.

I do love seeing 2 completely different strategies in 1 Kingdom come down to the wire. Makes you think. So that was fun.

=====

Any thoughts?

Good luck quarterfinalists!

dedicateddan:

--- Quote from: Dingan on November 03, 2017, 09:36:56 pm ---Game 5
Straight Rebuild (with help from Scavenger) vs. an attempted engine that leads to Dominate. I'm just not convinced Dominate is plausible here. Someone prove me wrong.

--- End quote ---

Got you covered on this one :)

dedicateddan:
Game 1 - I think you were ahead (mostly on thinning) before I piled Squires. I think you made better plays overall with Sacrifice especially toward the second half of the game, and I missed an early opportunity to Sacrifice a Squire into a Torturer to balance my Terminal/Village count.

Edit: Didn't realize what you were getting at with the Mountain Pass question. Since it happens between turns, if you empty piles with the first Province you'll never collect the points.

Game 2 - A weird draw limited board. Mining Village and Outpost were both a little better than I gave them credit for initially.

Game 3 - Not much you can do against my draws as P2 there. Maybe Ferry on Bridge, buy Bridge, then try and go for fast multi-bridge turns and get lucky?

Game 4 - I'd be tempted to pick up a Mint on turn 3 here.

Game 5 - I do think Dominate is competitive here, but on 3/4 as player 2, Scavenger/Palace money with light Rebuilding is probably the way to go.

Game 6 - I think I underrated Transmogrify and Summon + Transmogrify a little bit here - getting Capitals into hand is a big deal. I do like Silver in general in Mandarin decks as it's not a bad card to topdeck.

Game 7 - I didn't see the Band of Misfits as Envoy thing and got a little nervous going into the midgame. As the game gets later, I do think that Torturer starts to outshine Envoy as the decks get filled with junk.

Thanks for the games!

Mic Qsenoch:
I can't tell if you figured this out from your post, but Mountain Pass doesn't work like that. The bidding takes place after the turn so if you end the game by 3 pile on your turn the auction never happens.

Dingan:

--- Quote from: Mic Qsenoch on November 04, 2017, 09:43:49 am ---I can't tell if you figured this out from your post, but Mountain Pass doesn't work like that. The bidding takes place after the turn so if you end the game by 3 pile on your turn the auction never happens.

--- End quote ---
Oh, really? So, like Donate? Well, nevermind everything I said about it then, haha.

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