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[jonts26]

Besides Vineyards and Apothecary, this series didn't have much of an Alchemy feel. Games were dominated by cards that I usually want to ignore, like Coppersmith, Thief, Wharf, Nobles, Cache, and Counting House. (Just kidding about one of those...)

You're talking about Counting House, right?

[dondon151]

A wacky game. I go for some scrying pool aided bridge/nobles mega turn. He tries something closer to big money. I fall behind 4-0 in the provinces but connect with my megaturn just in time. I'm pretty sure I played this somewhat poorly and know for a fact I could have been a turn or two quicker. But I guess I was quick enough.

I solitaired this kingdom and emptied the Provinces and Nobles in 15 (edit: 14) turns, so you could have been more than 2 turns quicker 

[Young Nick]

A wacky game. I go for some scrying pool aided bridge/nobles mega turn. He tries something closer to big money. I fall behind 4-0 in the provinces but connect with my megaturn just in time. I'm pretty sure I played this somewhat poorly and know for a fact I could have been a turn or two quicker. But I guess I was quick enough.

I solitaired this kingdom and emptied the Provinces and Nobles in 15 (edit: 14) turns, so you could have been more than 2 turns quicker 

Remember dondon that I flipped three major cards for him with my oracle the first three times I played it. Especially flipping the Potion and Apothecary the first or second times he could have played them has to slow him down

[WanderingWinder]

Just finished watching jonts26's videos

jonts26 over Young Nick
5 games to 2

This was a pretty wild series. Young Nick deserved better than 2 wins as parts of my play were just awful. But just as a quick recap we had a game where thief featured heavily, one where coppersmith was absolutely out of control and another where counting house picked up 20+ coppers. I did record videos for the series. Uploading them now. Though some of them are a bit embarrassing in how scatterbrained I was. First one here:

Game 1: Young Nick 51 - 23 jonts26 Video
University, Wharf with Golem and City support. Lots of power cards. I fall behind early and never manage to get back in the game.

Game 2: Young Nick 83 - 82 jonts26 Video
Vineyards, Fairgrounds, Dukes. All viable threats. Honestly I have no idea what to do, and if you watch the video you see me keep changing my mind on what to do. I'm pretty sure I played this terribly. Maybe WW can chime in. This seems right up his alley. I come very close to winning several times but ultimately just cannot close it out.

I'm pretty sure University/vineyards is the way to go here. I'm not going to offer comments on how to play the mirror there, but... in the non-mirror, there's no particularly fast strategy for provinces or fairgrounds, basically they're out. This leaves duchy/duke, but... well, if they get ALL the duchies/dukes, this takes about 32-33 turns on average with just money. And there is NOT a lot of help here, like at all. In fact, the attacks are going to hurt that quite a big. So anyway, it takes a little longer. In that amount of time, if you're playing the university/vineyards, you can see that he's not fighting you for this stuff, get LOTS of universities, LOTS of actions, and actually have 11 point vineyards pretty easily, I think. Stealing one or two duchies in a match-up like that is going to be huge, too. Each duchy nets you 3 points, costs him 11, net swing is 14 points! Also, the attacks are going to hurt duchy player way more than vineyards. Vineyards player almost never has more than three important cards in hand, and when he does, the extra ones are basically always universities. So like, even in a hand that's 2x Univ, potion, militia, cutpurse, you can keep the potion, a univ, and either the other univ or a militia, depending on your taste, the point of game, etc. etc. Also, I expect militia is by-and-large>cutpurse here, and this should not be underestimated. But nevertheless, an interesting board, where you really need to react to your opponent, and basically all cards are in play.

Game 3: Young Nick 18 - 55 jonts26 Video
Wharf, Village, Coppersmith. Coppersmith plays big when you're drawing your deck each turn. Also some wishing well and apothecary like each other.

I can't help but wonder if you can't do the same thing a little faster without the apothecaries. Someone want to simulate/solitaire this? I'm pretty sure you both played a little sub-optimally, but, of course, in the heat of the moment, this almost always happens.

Game 4: Young Nick 44 - 48 jonts26 Video

I'm pretty sure I didn't deserve this one. Colonies with Mountebank Cache and Counting House. I consider the latter two but never really pick them up going for more straight big money with a forge. One turn I miscounted and forged all my stuff into a $10 card. Young Nick has a turn picking up 20 coppers with CH.

I think your analysis in the video is spot-on. Way too many caches for him. And this is really the thing with CH, isn't it? You want lots of copper, but when you get it, you can't play CH as much. And also, it's hard to make use of a thousand copper as opposed to just 11, because it's hard to get buy with it. The last cache, for instance, that he bought, could just as easily have been a duchy. And some of the earlier ones, undoubtedly more CHs. Also, probably he should green more and sooner.

Game 5: Young Nick 32 - 33 jonts26 Video
Another game where I'm just not quite sure about Vineyards. We both end up ignoring Familiar, going Trader, big money, hoping to get some free silvers with cache. He breaks PPR and I squeak out a win.

Vineyards appear to do very little here. And familiar is weak against trader, which is actually quite good against basically every curser.

Game 6: Young Nick 19 - 40 jonts26 Video
Vineyards again. And this time it's absolutely the right play. We split the alchemists, but I win vineyards 5-3.

A little surprised by this one, and how fast it goes. I'm guessing I'm underestimating herbalist a good bit here.

Game 7: Young Nick 34 - 47 jonts26 Video
A wacky game. I go for some scrying pool aided bridge/nobles mega turn. He tries something closer to big money. I fall behind 4-0 in the provinces but connect with my megaturn just in time. I'm pretty sure I played this somewhat poorly and know for a fact I could have been a turn or two quicker. But I guess I was quick enough.

Yeah, so this game, I don't really understand Young Nick dipping into the potions, with the deck he eventually took. I see a few options here. Mega-turn, like you did; play basically BM/oracle or BM/Nobles/oracle. Or something with more apprentice-centric. So the problems I see with your strategy is that it's very dependent on the nobles. If he can block you to lots of those he's good. It's also a bit slow. If he has apprentices, he can cut down the VP left for you to buy and shorten the game. Or maybe he can out-race you. I think his two major problems were the diversion to potions, which just slowed him down, and greening too fast (which is really easy to do with apothecary, if you aren't being super-careful). Or it might just be that mega-turn is great here.

[Young Nick]

Also worth noting, jonts, that though I probably over-invested in Caches, some of the later ones I bought early in the shuffle so that an early Counting House would not be as bad as it would otherwise. I was so sure you weren't going to take that final Colony, alas...

[Young Nick]

WW: For game 7, I will admit that I wasn't sure what to do. I was dreaming of an Apothecary engine, but I do tend to overestimate the power of the cards. Coupled with Bridge, I was hoping I could get half of the VP's early enough that stalling super hard would not end up mattering, as long as I didn't take curses from Torturers. As it turns out, due to relatively weak deck tracking and underestimating the power of Scrying Pool/Oracle in slowing me down, and not realizing how well I was drawing, I stalled too early and too hard for me to prevent the megaturn. I still feel like Apothecary/Bridge with stealing Nobles could be the way to go, but it's certainly hard to tell.

Also for game two, seeing as jonts is going Duke/Duchy and thieving my Copper, the Cutpurse does seem a bit odd.

As said, Cache early in the shuffle for my Counting Houses is how I justify the late Cache buys. Probably not played so well, though.

I am sure that I played game 3 sub-optimally. I was hoping for a Wishing Well/Coppersmith/Apothecary/Wharf super-deck, but clearly that has too many parts and is relatively unnecessary (or the WW and maybe Apothecaries are, at least).

As far as game 6 goes, Herbalist certainly felt essential. It helps so very much with the Alchemist stack, and for lining up 2xP turns.

Thanks for the feedback!

[WanderingWinder]

Also worth noting, jonts, that though I probably over-invested in Caches, some of the later ones I bought early in the shuffle so that an early Counting House would not be as bad as it would otherwise. I was so sure you weren't going to take that final Colony, alas...

Oh, I got that. Well, I did anyway. But like the last one, you pick up 13 coppers from the pile. Which means you already had 11 before buying that last cache. Which means it got you nothing. And I think at some points, you have to hope for better luck than the worst-case that you'd need the caches for, and/or get more counting houses.

[jonts26]

Game 2: Young Nick 83 - 82 jonts26 Video
Vineyards, Fairgrounds, Dukes. All viable threats. Honestly I have no idea what to do, and if you watch the video you see me keep changing my mind on what to do. I'm pretty sure I played this terribly. Maybe WW can chime in. This seems right up his alley. I come very close to winning several times but ultimately just cannot close it out.

I'm pretty sure University/vineyards is the way to go here. I'm not going to offer comments on how to play the mirror there, but... in the non-mirror, there's no particularly fast strategy for provinces or fairgrounds, basically they're out. This leaves duchy/duke, but... well, if they get ALL the duchies/dukes, this takes about 32-33 turns on average with just money. And there is NOT a lot of help here, like at all. In fact, the attacks are going to hurt that quite a big. So anyway, it takes a little longer. In that amount of time, if you're playing the university/vineyards, you can see that he's not fighting you for this stuff, get LOTS of universities, LOTS of actions, and actually have 11 point vineyards pretty easily, I think. Stealing one or two duchies in a match-up like that is going to be huge, too. Each duchy nets you 3 points, costs him 11, net swing is 14 points! Also, the attacks are going to hurt duchy player way more than vineyards. Vineyards player almost never has more than three important cards in hand, and when he does, the extra ones are basically always universities. So like, even in a hand that's 2x Univ, potion, militia, cutpurse, you can keep the potion, a univ, and either the other univ or a militia, depending on your taste, the point of game, etc. etc. Also, I expect militia is by-and-large>cutpurse here, and this should not be underestimated. But nevertheless, an interesting board, where you really need to react to your opponent, and basically all cards are in play.

Game 3: Young Nick 18 - 55 jonts26 Video
Wharf, Village, Coppersmith. Coppersmith plays big when you're drawing your deck each turn. Also some wishing well and apothecary like each other.

I can't help but wonder if you can't do the same thing a little faster without the apothecaries. Someone want to simulate/solitaire this? I'm pretty sure you both played a little sub-optimally, but, of course, in the heat of the moment, this almost always happens.

For game 2, I think your analysis is good and makes a lot more sense in retrospect. I think I was just overwhelmed about all the options.

For game 3 the only reason I get a potion in the first place was because I hit exactly $4 on turn 3. I don't really care for silver here and I think it's a little early to be dipping into villages. So my only real options were potion and a second wishing well. I think potion was actually the stronger play, seeing as how buys are not a problem and apothecaries are going to be, not game warping, but at least a little helpful.

[WanderingWinder]

WW: For game 7, I will admit that I wasn't sure what to do. I was dreaming of an Apothecary engine, but I do tend to overestimate the power of the cards. Coupled with Bridge, I was hoping I could get half of the VP's early enough that stalling super hard would not end up mattering,

Just wanna say, you realize that half the VP here is 51 points, i.e. every single province plus your starting estates? This isn't likely to happen, especially if you start in with provinces so much over nobles. Though actually, that probably just makes the mega-turn strategy that much stronger, and you either need apprentices big-time or contesting nobles to effectively fight it.

[DG]

For game 7, I will admit that I wasn't sure what to do. I was dreaming of an Apothecary engine, but I do tend to overestimate the power of the cards. Coupled with Bridge, I was hoping I could get half of the VP's early enough that stalling super hard would not end up mattering

Take an apprentice instead of one of your mid game 5 coin hands and I think you're home and dry with 4 provinces in the bag. The early game wasn't a problem.

[Young Nick]

WW, I am not going to argue that you are wrong. There is a difference between what I thought would work when scanning the board initially versus what will actually win me the game. It's probably one of my greatest weaknesses as a player, the fact that sometimes I deem strategies capable of winning when in fact they are not. So yeah, Apprentice and Nobles would have been helpful, I can now see.

Also, the lazy copper counting, and thus, unnecessary Cache buys is downright inexplicable in hindsight. Alas, I did have the better strategy I believe, but, mistakes like these are part of what keeps me at level 35ish rather than anything closer to 40.

[Geronimoo]

It's been a while since I simulated stuff but jonts's game with Village-Wharf-Coppersmith is a good candidate.

I think I got the engine close to optimal opening Coppersmith/Wishing Well (the one Wishing Well is better than Silver or Village). Then focus on Wharves and Villages and get the second Coppersmith once we have 5 Wharves. We need to buy 1 Copper along the way for the 3-Province mega turn (better to build up this engine some more than going for the 2-Province mega turn). I tested this versus an Envoy Big Money deck. It has a slightly higher win rate (+2%) than any bot I make that makes a detour for Potions into Apothecary.

Code: [Select]

<player name="Wharf/Village/Coppersmith"
 author="Geronimoo"
 description="http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/18/game-20120418-173802-596ed2d3.htmlXXXXClose to optimal strategy for this board. XXXXGo for a mega turn of 3 Provinces with 2 Coppersmith + 8 Coppers and the draw engine of Village/Wharf.">
 <type name="Engine"/>
 <type name="UserCreated"/>
 <type name="Bot"/>
 <type name="Combo"/>
 <type name="Competitive"/>
 <type name="TwoPlayer"/>
 <type name="Province"/>
   <buy name="Province">
      <condition>
         <left type="countAvailableMoney"/>
         <operator type="greaterOrEqualThan" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="24.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Province">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInDeck" attribute="Province"/>
         <operator type="greaterThan" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="0.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Duchy">
      <condition>
         <left type="gainsNeededToEndGame"/>
         <operator type="smallerOrEqualThan" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="2.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Estate">
      <condition>
         <left type="gainsNeededToEndGame"/>
         <operator type="smallerOrEqualThan" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="1.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Wharf">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInDeck" attribute="Wharf"/>
         <operator type="smallerOrEqualThan" />
         <right type="countCardsInDeck" attribute="Village"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Coppersmith">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInDeck" attribute="Coppersmith"/>
         <operator type="smallerThan" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="2.0"/>
      </condition>
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInDeck" attribute="Wharf"/>
         <operator type="greaterOrEqualThan" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="5.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Coppersmith">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInDeck" attribute="Coppersmith"/>
         <operator type="equalTo" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="0.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Wishing_Well">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInDeck" attribute="Wishing_Well"/>
         <operator type="equalTo" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="0.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Village"/>
   <buy name="Copper">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInDeck" attribute="Copper"/>
         <operator type="smallerThan" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="8.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
</player>

And here's the same strategy, but with Potions and Apothecaries (played with it a little and couldn't get it better than this):

Code: [Select]

<player name="Wharf/Village/Coppersmith + Apothecary"
 author="Geronimoo"
 description="http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/18/game-20120418-173802-596ed2d3.htmlXXXXGo for a mega turn of 3 Provinces with 2 Coppersmith + 8 Coppers and the draw engine of Village/Wharf.XXXXThis strategy makes a small detour for Apothecaries if it hits $4 early game similar to jonts's strategy.">
 <type name="Engine"/>
 <type name="UserCreated"/>
 <type name="Bot"/>
 <type name="Combo"/>
 <type name="Province"/>
 <type name="TwoPlayer"/>
 <type name="Competitive"/>
   <buy name="Province">
      <condition>
         <left type="countAvailableMoney"/>
         <operator type="greaterOrEqualThan" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="24.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Province">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInDeck" attribute="Province"/>
         <operator type="greaterThan" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="0.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Duchy">
      <condition>
         <left type="gainsNeededToEndGame"/>
         <operator type="smallerOrEqualThan" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="2.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Estate">
      <condition>
         <left type="gainsNeededToEndGame"/>
         <operator type="smallerOrEqualThan" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="1.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Wharf">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInDeck" attribute="Wharf"/>
         <operator type="smallerOrEqualThan" />
         <right type="countCardsInDeck" attribute="Village"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Coppersmith">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInDeck" attribute="Coppersmith"/>
         <operator type="equalTo" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="0.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Coppersmith">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInDeck" attribute="Coppersmith"/>
         <operator type="smallerThan" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="2.0"/>
      </condition>
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInDeck" attribute="Wharf"/>
         <operator type="greaterOrEqualThan" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="5.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Potion">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInDeck" attribute="Potion"/>
         <operator type="equalTo" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="0.0"/>
      </condition>
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInDeck" attribute="Wharf"/>
         <operator type="equalTo" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="0.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Apothecary">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInDeck" attribute="Apothecary"/>
         <operator type="smallerThan" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="4.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Wishing_Well">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInDeck" attribute="Wishing_Well"/>
         <operator type="equalTo" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="0.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Village"/>
   <buy name="Copper">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInDeck" attribute="Copper"/>
         <operator type="smallerThan" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="8.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
</player>


[WanderingWinder]

Belatedly, the logs:
http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20120417-145635-754e75ac.html
http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20120417-152408-b07cce61.html
http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20120418-081756-9eb31624.html
http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20120418-082250-48b69b9a.html
http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20120418-083047-8e2a3840.html
http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20120418-083838-2bc3ee36.html
http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20120418-084310-a7034bb7.html

[zxcvbn2]

zxcvbn2 beats Voltaire 10 points to 4

So we started out our games with six alchemy cards, and from game 4 on moved back to 4.

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/20/game-20120420-195042-b38fddf3.html

Z 35 - V 39 Mostly BM, with some caravans and me diverging into potions when I shouldn't have.

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/20/game-20120420-195610-dcb5e93c.html

Z 28 - V 22 Herbalist-Philosopher's Stone! I get the last two provinces to win.

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/20/game-20120420-200544-830f37ef.html

V 52- Z 19 I have terrible luck, drawing two coppers with my potion and missing the familiar. Then the potion doesn't show up until my second reshuffle, at which point V is using two young witches to bog my deck down. I give none of the curses.

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/20/game-20120420-200930-1da68411.html

Z 39 - V 26 BM with some Haggler

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/20/game-20120420-201652-280025e7.html

V 39 - Z 49 Bazaar/ Nobles and Torturer. I get more Nobles, which ultimately ends up being the difference.

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/20/game-20120420-202152-21cd596e.html

V 26 - Z 32 He ignores potion and I possess him a couple of times to win. Winning this way just feels dirty.

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/20/game-20120420-202717-77e70cd6.html

V 32 - Z 41 He goes for duchies way early with no way to three pile.

Anyway, they were fun games, thanks for playing Voltaire!

[Geronimoo]

Geronimoo beats Mangsky 6-1

I kind of hate Alchemy and I think I suck at it most of the time, but I'm glad I don't have to play a fellow lvl40. Mangsky is currently lvl21.

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/21/game-20120421-075908-43516ee3.html
Geronimoo: 24 points
Mangsky: 7 points
Key cards: Governor, Steward, Golem, Goons, Familiar
This board has a lot of sick cards.. if Golem weren't here I don't even know if I open Potion here, but I guess there's no way around it here so we both open Potion/Steward. We both miss Familiar on the first shuffle and Mangsky is cursing in the chat. I don't mind really and eventually we both get the Familiar. Then our paths diverge a little as I get a second Steward and focus a little more on cleaning my deck. I'm buying stuff a little randomly, but in the end my cleaner deck enables me a few big Goons turns to finish the game.

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/21/game-20120421-080720-fb737113.html
Mangsky resigned
Key cards: Torturer, University, KC
The dreaded Torture engine is available and we both go for it. My Throne Rooms whiff 2 turns, but I get a little luckier getting at the first King's Court and when I KC my Torturer he resigns. Bad luck for him because our strategies were the same.

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/21/game-20120421-081938-248ad366.html
Mangsky: 33 points
Geronimoo: 18 points
Key cards: Remake, Familiar, Treasury, Golem
We both go for Familiar and I get pretty good draws later so I buy a bunch of Treasuries. Unfortunately I never get $4 for a Remake while my opponent got an early one and his cleaner deck wins him the game. I should have probably overpaid for 1 Remake instead of getting the Treasuries, but hindsight is 20/20. For some reason I bought Border Villages which is probably wrong as well.

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/21/game-20120421-083742-ec001a92.html
Mangsky resigned
Key cards: Alchemist, Possession, Governor, Vineyard
Mangsky feels he's unlucky to open $5/$2 here and goes Governor while I go Potion/Silver. I don't think he's that unlucky with that opening as he gets to Remodel his Estate in a Potion and we're off to the races towards Possession via Alchemists. I get one first and as soon as he gets his I go for green (Vineyard and Duchies). I have a massive lead in points and he can never catch up anymore so he resigns.

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/21/game-20120421-084452-bd1e14c3.html
Mangsky resigned
Key cards: Alchemist, Possession, Masquerade, Familiar
Masquerade is a bit of a risk with Possession on the board, but not getting one seems silly especially with the Curser on the board. So we both open Potion/Masquerade. Once again I'm first at the Possession and when I Possess him and Masquerade his Possession my way he concedes, slightly disgusted I bet.

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/21/game-20120421-085605-fd09b762.html
Geronimoo: 38 points
Mangsky: 30 points
Key cards: Baron, Apprentice, Vineyard
At last a game without Potion... or is it? There's Vineyard and Baron for extra buys and also Great Hall which could be nice. There's also Apprentice to speed up the game, but it's actually not a great combo with Baron (saccing Estates? ouch). We both open Baron/Silver and Mangsky goes for Vineyard pretty soon and I decide I'm going to race him with the help of Apprentice. There's a very thin balance between eating up my own deck with the Apprentices and keeping enough money to be able to empty the Provinces. I succeed in racing him, but not sure if I made the right choice. Definitely the most interesting game of our match.

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/21/game-20120421-090613-493f346a.html
Geronimoo: 24 points
Mangsky: 7 points
Key cards: University, Margrave, Fishing Village
This board is pretty obvious for both of us, but Mangsky makes two mistakes turn 5: he gains a Festival instead of his first Margrave and buys a Potion. The Festival is nice to have, but this deck wants to cycle fast and Margrave is essential. The extra actions are covered plenty with Fishing Village. The second Potion is also going to slow him down more because you only want 2 Universities here and if your deck is cycling well, you'll draw the Potion more often anyway. So my deck's set up faster and I can quickly go for the 3-pile after I get a Province as a buffer (in case he tries to 3-piles me).

Thx for playing Mangsky and gl in the next rounds.

[blueblimp]

blueblimp and angrybirds tie 3-3-1

Game 1: blueblimp 37 - angrybirds 28
Game 2: angrybirds 34 - blueblimp 34
Game 3: blueblimp 12 - angrybirds 13
Game 4: blueblimp 36 - angrybirds 30
Game 5: angrybirds 14 - blueblimp 25
Game 6: angrybirds 20 - blueblimp -100
Game 7: blueblimp 27 - angrybirds 34

We played each game with exactly 4 alchemy cards. My feeling after is that playing with so many potion cards has a very different feel from playing with just a couple potion cards. (For example, look how badly my embargo approach failed in game 7.)

[angrybirds]

My quick thoughts

Game 1: blueblimp 37 - angrybirds 28   His King Court with Black Market was key. I had one too many apprentice.
Game 2: angrybirds 34 - blueblimp 34   Got sketchy down toward the end. I was lucky to come away with a tie.
Game 3: blueblimp 12 - angrybirds 13   IGG isn't my favorite. Smart smugglers buys by both of us.
Game 4: blueblimp 36 - angrybirds 30   I hit King Court first but only bought one. He bought three and had more Alchemists.
Game 5: angrybirds 14 - blueblimp 25   I greened too early and should have obtained an apprentice.
Game 6: angrybirds 20 - blueblimp -100   Ugly game. I had 3 Possessions and at the end was only getting estates out of them.
Game 7: blueblimp 27 - angrybirds 34   Having a spice merchant helped in this game.

[Voltaire]

zxcvbn2 beats Voltaire 10 points to 4
Anyway, they were fun games, thanks for playing Voltaire!

Want to give a belated thanks for the fun games! 

[elahrairah13]

during game 5 of my series with Graystripe, he evidently lost his connection as he disappeared from the game. We were on turn 11. The decks were still taking shape.
so we eventually have to find time to finish out our series anyway...
my question is that, by isodom rules and/or tradition, do we redo game 5 or consider that like a resignation? or is it simply up to me?

[Rabid]

I don't think this is covered by the rules.
In my opinion it should be up to the remaining player.
You can claim a win / replay / or concede up to you.
If the game was nearly over you could post a log, we might be able to tell who was winning.

[jonts26]

I dont think there's a standard for what to do here. I think it's likely up to you. Likely the best thing to do is replay it unless you feel you were in a stronger position when he disconnected.

[Fabian]

I would have no problem insisting on a win if I felt I was ahead at that point, but definitely wouldn't take a win if I felt behind/even. I also think it's up to you.

[Stick In The Mud]

Guys,

Can I just say a big thank you!

I am a VASTLY inferior player to most people in this, but has been great to be whipped by such great players and then try and analyse why. What did I do soo wrong and what did they do soo right. All my opponents have been pleasent and a joy to play.

This combined with these excellent write ups are helping me no end.

Viva Isodom!

[elahrairah13]

pretty even; I will propose we redo it. here's the log:
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/24/game-20120424-121610-e8dd3142.html

[elahrairah13]

Graystripe (my week 4 opponent) has posted saying he cannot complete his games. As described above, we got to game 5 before he dropped. We attempted to finish the series but the appointment fell through, and with his announcement, I figure I should go ahead and describe the 5 we played.
I know it doesn't matter because I'm not close to the top, but for whoever is keeping track, I'd like to claim a 4-1 win in the matchup (this counts the disconnection as a win for me, because I'm selfish).
Here are my notes from that day:

game 1: Graystripe77 wins 36 - 14
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/24/game-20120424-115016-f0816bbb.html
Graystripe uses Schemes to deploy his Familiars to win the curse war 7-3. I never recover, and it's a blowout

game 2: elahrairah13 wins 39 - 32
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/24/game-20120424-115702-ea55f250.html
Minion, Scrying Pool, Apothecary look like a really awesome combo. However, Sea Hag promises to muck it all up. Possession also lurks.
I go for Minions / Sea Hags, and Graystripe tries a different strategy with 4 Philosopher's Stones. It's close, but I have a few good possession turns and come out on top.

game 3: elahrairah13 wins 41 - 27
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/24/game-20120424-120205-ad5d9692.html
I play pure Double Jack, Graystripe mixes it up a little. On turn 18, with one province left and a 9 point deficit, he plays a Possession which takes up my first <$5 hand since the first few turns. He can only get a Great Hall, and I subsequently draw an $8+ hand for my actual turn 18.

game 4: elahrairah13 wins 30 - 20
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/24/game-20120424-120907-ad5b9ea3.html
When Graystripe picks up an early Pirate Ship I focus on Bazaars for the non-treasure spending power and to enable Rabble. He also ignores Familiar, so I only buy one and dole out 7 curses over the course of the game.
(Looking over the log, I spent $5 on turn 9 replacing a trashed potion but never used the new one)

game 5:
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/24/game-20120424-121610-e8dd3142.html
Graystripe loses his connection and times out...