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Author Topic: Dominion tournament at WBC (spoiler alert: I won!)  (Read 7237 times)

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Orange

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Dominion tournament at WBC (spoiler alert: I won!)
« on: August 10, 2012, 12:12:55 pm »
+7

Copied from my geeklist on BGG at http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/145506/my-wbc-2012-with-a-final-day-surprise

FIRST ROUND
Dominion is my favorite game. I play a fair amount on Isotropic, almost exclusively 2-player. I've had mixed results in this event in the last two years. In 2010 I made the semis but ran into a strong table that included Rob Renaud of councilroom.com and did okay (a 2nd and a 3rd) but not good enough to advance to the final. In 2011 I had the bad fortune of drawing theory of dominionstrategy.com in the first round! I lost badly but learned an important lesson about the bigger picture of the WBC Dominion tournament. In this tournament, each round consists of 4 players playing two games with two different setups. Advancement points are earned in each game for order of finish. Had I played the table with theory with second place finishes in mind, especially after his engine started humming early, I may have advanced.

In this year's first round, I had some bad luck early but recognized the time for some late Duchies and finished 2nd. Then I cruised to a win in the second game, ensuring advancement to the quarterfinals. This lesson would come in handy later on as well.

QUARTERFINALS
The quarterfinals of Dominion included 44 players I think. There was one other strong player at my table. I don't remember the setups but I believe we used quite a few Intrigue cards. I finished 2nd in the first game, so I almost certainly needed a win in the second game. It was brutal with Swindler, Saboteur, and, just for fun, Masquerade. I don't think anyone got a Province in our game. I went heavy Ironworks early and controlled the tempo, speeding the game up while buying Duchies and gaining Ironworks and Estates. I won and the good player finished last which eliminated him.

SEMIFINALS
Up next for me was the Dominion semifinal. We had 16 qualifiers, organized into four tables of four players each. The same advancement points system applied (1st=8, 2nd=5, 3rd=2, 4th=0) so each semi table wasn't guaranteed to advance someone to the 4-player final. I drew a table with three female opponents. Two of them were average players, but one was very strong. It turned out to be the 2011 2nd place finisher named Laura. Here is the first game setup:

Forge
City
Bishop
Monument
Hoard
Trade Route
Watchtower
Rabble
Royal Seal
Contraband
also Platinum & Colony

I opened Bishop/Silver and added a couple Trade Routes when it was evident my opponents were going Hoard. I mixed in a couple Cities but no one went with me on that so they were nearly useless. I had a lead in VP chips but my opponents had a couple Colonies and Provinces. I added a Forge in the mid-game which proved crucial. I was tracking the points and saw an opportunity to end the game in second place, Forging two Bishops into a Province while buying a Duchy. The winner was one of the average players, which was another positive for me.

Here's the Game 2 lineup:

Bank
Expand
King's Court
Grand Market
Venture
Mint
Mountebank
Talisman
Quarry
Loan
with Colony & Platinum

We all opened 4/3 and my strong opponent and I both went Quarry/Silver while the other two went Talisman/Silver, which looks like a big mistake to me. I went Mountebank/Mountebank on Turns 3/4 and added a King's Court shortly thereafter. My strong opponent went with a couple Banks and before long I hit KC/Mountebank, which led to me buying more KCs, which led to two more KC/Mountebanks. I hit that combo 3x, the last of which emptied Copper after Estate was already empty, and left just one Curse, which I bought for the big win. Final scores were something like 17-10-4-(-3).

With 13 advancement points I was in a good position for the final but certainly not clinched. The tiebreaker was total VP and with my low-scoring win I was in no position to advance on that. But two other tables finished with nobody earning more than 10 advancement points so I was in! That meant my first WBC plaque and our team's first-ever team points!

FINALS
For the final, the Seaside and Alchemy sets were featured. This is a good spot to shout out the GM, Thomas Browne. He did an excellent job running the event and putting together sets with multiple potential strategies, and sets that worked with both 4/3 and 5/2 splits. I was joined by Nick, who won both his semifinal games, and Derek and Cal. Here is the setup for Game 1:

Laboratory
Explorer
Island
Moneylender
Bureaucrat
Workshop
Lookout
Ambassador
Cellar
Embargo

Quite a few ways to play this one. I opened Moneylender/Silver intending to get cash for Laboratories. But on Turn 3 I had $7 with the Moneylender! So I went Gold instead. The next time I had more than $4 I had $7 again so I went Gold again. I mixed in an Island or two and with two early Golds, I got the first two Provinces. Just when I started to think I was in control, Derek's deck, neatly trimmed by Ambassadors, started humming. He wisely picked up a Curse along the way, and started spamming those out to us ("I reveal a Curse, and return zero copies to the supply," over and over!) it looked like he was going to cruise to the win and I was picking up Duchies and Islands trying to hang on to 2nd. Then Derek's deck stalled on him with one Province left! I lost track of the score and I thought 2nd was slipping away. I had a crucial last turn where I Ambassadored a Curse and bought a Duchy, IIRC, and then Cal ended the game on the last Province. Final tally was Nick 20, Cal 27, Derek 30, and I had 32! I did not expect that. Those early Provinces, an extra Island, and 7 Estates were key (I never Ambassadored any of them away).

Now I started to think about actually winning the event. I did have the disadvantage of going last in Game 2. Here's the setup:

Possession
Wharf
Golem
Alchemist
Caravan
Fishing Village
Haven
Lighthouse
Herbalist
Vineyard

That's easily the most interesting set I've ever seen. The risk of buying durations is that you will just be setting up your neighbor for a big hand when he possesses you, or that he just wont play your durations for you. Derek, Cal, and I all got the 4/3 split; they went Potion/Fishing Village and I went Potion/Silver. Nick got the 5/2 and went Wharf/Haven I think. He did come back with Potion on Turn 3 or 4. My plan was to get a couple Golems, so that if I got Possessed the Golem could hit my Possessions or duration cards. Three of us bought Possessions fairly early but I got to play mine first and I think the first one hit Derek's deck for 6P earning me a second Possession. Cal, sitting opposite me, Possessed Nick a couple times passing by Nick's Possession, slowing him down. I kept hitting Derek's strong hands, once for $14 (Province+Gold), at least one for $8P (Province+Vineyard), and one for $5P (FV+Herbalist+Vineyard). When it was all over I had 4 or 5 Provinces plus 4 four-point Vineyards plus some other VP for 50+ points and a big win! I re-counted my score several times to be sure that I had just won my first tournament! Derek finished 2nd again for 2nd overall and I think Cal was 3rd.

I'd love to hear thoughts on how these setups could have (or should have) been played differently.  And thanks for reading!
« Last Edit: January 11, 2013, 06:20:46 pm by theory »
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theory

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Re: Dominion tournament at WBC (spoiler alert: I won!)
« Reply #1 on: August 10, 2012, 12:43:41 pm »
+1

Congratulations!
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Arya Stark

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Re: Dominion tournament at WBC (spoiler alert: I won!)
« Reply #2 on: August 10, 2012, 12:53:14 pm »
+1

Congrats!
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clb

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Re: Dominion tournament at WBC (spoiler alert: I won!)
« Reply #3 on: August 10, 2012, 12:54:33 pm »
+1

Congratulations!!

What is WBC?
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rrenaud

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Re: Dominion tournament at WBC (spoiler alert: I won!)
« Reply #4 on: August 10, 2012, 12:59:41 pm »
+3

WBC is the World Boardgaming Championships.  I've attended for the last 5 years.  theory used to go, before he became an indentured servant.

It's fun.

http://boardgamers.org
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clb

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Re: Dominion tournament at WBC (spoiler alert: I won!)
« Reply #5 on: August 10, 2012, 01:12:26 pm »
0

Thanks!

By this:
theory used to go, before he became an indentured servant.
I am assuming he either got married or had a child, but I am at a loss which. If were willing to do all he did while in law school, these are the only things that I can think of, aside from working 90-hour weeks, that would take more time/prevent WBC attendance.
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WanderingWinder

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Re: Dominion tournament at WBC (spoiler alert: I won!)
« Reply #6 on: August 10, 2012, 01:13:57 pm »
+1

He got married (to rrenaud's sister, no less), but I'm guessing it has more to do with the job

Lekkit

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Re: Dominion tournament at WBC (spoiler alert: I won!)
« Reply #7 on: August 10, 2012, 01:27:45 pm »
+1

Congratulations on the win!
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Orange

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Re: Dominion tournament at WBC (spoiler alert: I won!)
« Reply #8 on: August 10, 2012, 04:32:21 pm »
0

Thanks all.  Any thoughts on how to play those sets?  One interesting consideration in the semi was the tiebreaker, total VP.  Perhaps I could've played differently to win a high-scoring game instead of a low-scoring game?  Additional Quarries and Talismen on early turns to get Grand Markets, King's Courts, and Expands?
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theory

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Re: Dominion tournament at WBC (spoiler alert: I won!)
« Reply #9 on: August 10, 2012, 05:02:38 pm »
0

He got married (to rrenaud's sister, no less), but I'm guessing it has more to do with the job

Correct.  Also, law school is a joke compared to a law firm.
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Young Nick

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Re: Dominion tournament at WBC (spoiler alert: I won!)
« Reply #10 on: August 11, 2012, 02:21:40 am »
+1

I assume this is different than Dominion World Championships? Is that the one held at GenCon in which the US only sends one rep?
Congratulations on the victory!
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rrenaud

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Re: Dominion tournament at WBC (spoiler alert: I won!)
« Reply #11 on: August 11, 2012, 10:22:01 am »
0

Yeah, this is unrelated to the official tournaments run by RGG.
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WanderingWinder

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Re: Dominion tournament at WBC (spoiler alert: I won!)
« Reply #12 on: August 13, 2012, 10:55:47 am »
+3

So, a couple of notes on the format. First of all, 4-player, boo. Okay, so it's good that it's not just one-and-done, but two games isn't a lot better, and in general, I don't like facing the same opponents over again OR having to not only win your group, but win it by enough, though I can see logistical reasons for that.
VP tiebreaks == very very bad. Leads to running up score, is hugely dependent on how good the other people at your table are, generally promotes you going for things other than 'I can end the game with a win right now, so I will', etc. etc. this has been talked about to death.

The point system is pretty stupid though. I mean, I like point systems. But this one is dumb. It rewards getting last. Yup, I said it, and I am surprised nobody else has pointed it out yet, but this system rewards last place. I mean, look at the most basic point system you can think of: something like a 3/2/1/0 or a 4/3/2/1 (whatever, they're functionally equivalent to each other, because the difference in scores from one place to the next is consistent). This system says that 1st and 3rd is no better or worse than 2nd and 2nd, etc. etc. Okay, fine. Now I personally think that you should make a system that further rewards winning, beyond this, because winning really is the name of the game, and one which penalizes last place, too. Well, I mean, you can never do better than 1st, and you can never do worse than last, so there's a bottomless pit, and an unscalable mountain there, irrespectively, and you should take account of that. Ok, fine though, just having even doesn't seem all that unreasonable to me.
But this point system, the one that got used, actually benefits last place! The drop between 1st-2nd is the same as the drop from 2nd to 3rd, but from 3rd to 4th is less. Accordingly, any group of finishes which would be equal under the vanilla system, if one includes a last, and the other doesn't, the one which has last does better here. For example, 1st and last against 2nd and 3rd. 1+4 wins here. Well, ok, that doesn't seem terrible, because winning is good. But how about this - 2nd and 4th beats 3rd and 3rd. Huh? Really? Okay whatever, I'm making too big a deal out of it, and it probably won't matter in the given format, but.... I just thought that it was very strange.


As for the sets:
Semi 1: The only engine here that I can see is city+rabble, and man that seems way too slow. Unless you are fortunate enough to spike a forge on your first reshuffle, I guess. But if you don't play that engine, what do you do? I think monument is probably better than bishop, early on at least, because of the effect of your opponents trashing. So I probably go monument+RS+big money, but watch out for what your opponents do, and pick up bishops over extra monuments later on perhaps. I guess the other thing is, you might be able to actually build the engine if all of your opponents go bishop, because that is a lot of trashing help. And the more opponents go bishop, the better your own bishop is, because the less your extra trashing helps them. I'm also not totally sure about the dynamics of city in 4-player, but I would guess you don't want to be the first or second person to go for them.

Semi game 2: So here, with 4p, it is interesting. You will probably be so flooded with junk, I am not sure that KC is worth it. You definitely want to get lots of mountebank, and then because copper and curse will run out fast, dive for green, even smaller green. Platinum should basically never be bought here, prolly not venture really, either. I expect you would end up with lots o' duchies.

Finals game 1: This set is a bit of a power vacuum, nothing terribly strong. Well, ambassador is interesting, but there's no real engine here, and you can't win an ambassador war in 4p anyway. On the other hand, if just one person goes ambassador, then he actually can, so there is this weird dynamic there. But anyway, I don't think this is a board to try to test those waters, with no engine. So then, do you want moneylender, or island, or bureaucrat, or what? I think An island, and then maybe moneylender. Pick up lab on 5, but always prefer gold. And basically play a pretty boring big money game.

Finals game 2: I'm interested to hear that you think this set is interesting, because it looks really boring to me! Just play wharf+fishing village, and if your opponent is looking at possession, like a real possibility soon, green a little early. They can't really afford to not play your durations for you so so much, because the possession turn is more of an asset for them than an attack on you, particularly in a 4p game. Possession should also be pretty slow against something like this, particularly in 4p. I mean, maybe they possess you once, I doubt twice, and that just does not seem worth it. And golem and alchemist certainly aren't enough support for me to go potion here - vineyard might be, if I wouldn't expect the game to be so short (like if it were 2 player).

rrenaud

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Re: Dominion tournament at WBC (spoiler alert: I won!)
« Reply #13 on: August 13, 2012, 02:29:55 pm »
+2

IIRC, the format also had a more wins is a tiebreaker.  So a 1-3 beats a 2-2 on that tiebreak.

WW > me.  His predictions were super accurate.

For game 1 in semis, I played the City/Rabble engine with a bishop opening, but it was way too slow.  I had to buy most of the cities myself.  Maybe If I had a partner in crime we could have locked down the big money players and got the cities emptied early enough.  Alas, I had no such partner, and I lost badly to everyone.  The winner played big money/rabble.

For game 2, I played a mountebank/KC attack spam.  I managed to hit the KC/mountebank, but the eventual winner discarded 3 curses!  I think I managed $9 or $10 on that KC/MB turn, not enough for the colony.  I lost by a few points to a guy who was buying estates at around turn 8 or 10 when the curses/estates/coppers (WTF 4p dominion?) ran out.
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Orange

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Re: Dominion tournament at WBC (spoiler alert: I won!)
« Reply #14 on: August 14, 2012, 05:31:12 pm »
0

Rob is right on the tiebreaker; 1st & 3rd beats 2nd & 2nd.  Also yes, 2nd & 4th beats 3rd & 3rd but it doesn't matter as neither is enough to advance.

Semi 1:  Agreed that Monument>Bishop for the extra early money to get to the key actions and Gold/Platinum early.  I was thinking Bishop to thin then City to get big draws with an empty pile, but when no one went with me to City I had to change course and play for second.

Final 1:  I think this may have been the first Lab game in which I bought no labs, but not by design.  I don't think I had exactly $5 in any of the first 12 turns, with Gold a better choice at $6/7.

Final 2:  WW you have an interesting take on this one.  I think I got 5 or 6 extra turns with Possession--it seemed to big an edge for somebody to make up with a couple early turns edge (those when I'm buying Possession or Alchemist and the non-potion player isn't). 
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WanderingWinder

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Re: Dominion tournament at WBC (spoiler alert: I won!)
« Reply #15 on: August 14, 2012, 05:37:35 pm »
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Rob is right on the tiebreaker; 1st & 3rd beats 2nd & 2nd.  Also yes, 2nd & 4th beats 3rd & 3rd but it doesn't matter as neither is enough to advance.

Semi 1:  Agreed that Monument>Bishop for the extra early money to get to the key actions and Gold/Platinum early.  I was thinking Bishop to thin then City to get big draws with an empty pile, but when no one went with me to City I had to change course and play for second.

Final 1:  I think this may have been the first Lab game in which I bought no labs, but not by design.  I don't think I had exactly $5 in any of the first 12 turns, with Gold a better choice at $6/7.

Final 2:  WW you have an interesting take on this one.  I think I got 5 or 6 extra turns with Possession--it seemed to big an edge for somebody to make up with a couple early turns edge (those when I'm buying Possession or Alchemist and the non-potion player isn't). 

I am dumbfounded at how the game lasted long enough for you to play possession 5+ times.....

Orange

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Re: Dominion tournament at WBC (spoiler alert: I won!)
« Reply #16 on: August 14, 2012, 10:28:06 pm »
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I got two of them early ( one on my own and one by Possessing). In a month or two when the WBC game reports are posted I should have more detail; the GM was keeping detailed play-by-play notes.
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