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Author Topic: Goons help  (Read 1273 times)

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philosophyguy

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Goons help
« on: July 28, 2011, 12:06:58 pm »
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I am apparently quite bad at playing with Goons, so I'd appreciate some feedback on how to play Goons games better. Here are two games I played yesterday that can provide a starting point for some tips.

Game 1: Colony, Feast, Festival, Goons, King's Court, Native Village, Platinum, Royal Seal, Steward, Talisman, Throne Room, and Wharf

My initial strategy was to get Native Villages and Stewards for actions and trashing, then move to Wharf with a thin deck so I could get good draws consistently. With how the shuffles played out, I ended up going modified BM (since I had lots of actions, the Stewards turned into Silvers). In retrospect, this board looks pretty good for Goons because there are NVs and Festivals for multi-Goons turns and Wharfs for drawing the Goons consistently.

Game 2: Caravan, Duke, Fortune Teller, Goons, Loan, Lookout, Nobles, Scout, Steward, and Witch

I thought this was a bad set for Goons because the only +2 actions came from Nobles. But, my opponent went Goons, and I eventually had to do likewise because my deck wasn't strong enough to compete with 3-card hands. How should I have played this set?
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ackack

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Re: Goons help
« Reply #1 on: July 28, 2011, 12:22:44 pm »
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Haven't looked at the games, just the sets you put up.

Yes, the first set is practically ideal for a Goons engine. The only thing that might contradict that is KC/Wharf making a green rush fast enough to beat it. But that's a very favorable setup for drawing tons of cards, getting tons of actions and +buys, etc. And it even features trashing!

And I'd agree the second set is bad for a Goons engine. This doesn't mean that grabbing one or maybe two Goons is a bad idea, though. I'd probably start Caravan/Steward or Witch/nothing, try to win the Curse fight, then thin out and play money and Caravans.
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play2draw

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Re: Goons help
« Reply #2 on: July 28, 2011, 12:51:40 pm »
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With King's Court and Goons on the table... I almost *always* go for a goons deck. Heck, I've had a deck composed entirely of Throne Room, Council Room, and Goons (no +action cards), and mopped the floor with my opponents. Never underestimate the capacity of your opponent to get a Goons deck going. Wharf just happens to be one of the better enablers for a Goons deck.

There exist people who ignore Goons when it's on the table. To me, skipping Goons is the same as skipping gold in a game. Only rarely should one *never* buy at least one Goons.

In your second game, your opponent made a pretty clever move of pairing up Loan with Goons, allowing him to buy those extra coppers with minimal risk. Usually buying the extra copper is a bad move; mucking up the your own deck makes you more vulnerable to a Goons attack doesn't let you play the Goons more often. Your opponent's trashing was clearly better, as he ended the game with fewer curses (even though he bought Witch second) and fewer coppers (even though he bought more coppers). Of course, the fact that he had 8 caravans probably helped him quite a bit, and the amount of time it took you to get to $6 and your clashing terminals did not help you much.
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DG

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Re: Goons help
« Reply #3 on: July 28, 2011, 01:39:56 pm »
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In my opinion, the first set is a king's court + wharf deck and the goons are the icing on the cake. You're looking to get turns starting with a kings court x wharf on the table for extra cards, then play out king's court x kings' court x wharf x wharf, .... so you can draw your whole deck and set up the following turn as well. The goons become how you to close out the game, scoring points for multiple purchases and emptying three piles when you're ahead.

For game 2, I'd still pick the witch to be stronger than the goons initially. You bought your witch on turn 4, your opponent bought one on turn 10, and yet you still took half the curses. That's what you need to look at. There were two hands where you spent 4 for a silver instead of a caravan and that slowed down your deck. After that you could have picked an end game strategy and stuck to it. Scouts and nobles and duchies might have worked. Goons and treasures might have worked. Dukes and duchies might have worked. A mix of everything was weaker.
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