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Author Topic: What did I do wrong here?  (Read 1571 times)

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Calyx

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What did I do wrong here?
« on: August 03, 2011, 04:26:45 pm »
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Hello! I am a new isotropic player, and also new to Dominion (of which I own the base set and seafarers - the wealth of cards on Isotropic has been somewhat overwhelming at first)

I would like to get some advice from players better than myself regarding this game: http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201108/03/game-20110803-120157-31823bda.html

I opened with Loan and Cutpurse, and was quite successful at both trashing my own coppers and discarding his - going into the middle of the game, I had a solid advantage in Caravans. I got the first gold, and then embargoed gold. After this initial success, however, I was unable to do much of anything. For several successive turns, I wound up drawing $7, while my opponent got $8 successively. After going for a couple of duchies, I decided to just end it and bought the last province (knowing that I would lose by quite a bit).

Going into the midgame, I was convinced I had the advantage - but by the end of the game I was getting absolutely crushed. My opponent did make use of Jester, though I didn't think this had too much of an effect. I am at a loss to explain my loss. Was I simply unlucky, or was there something huge I missed?

Thanks!
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rls22

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Re: What did I do wrong here?
« Reply #1 on: August 03, 2011, 04:47:10 pm »
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The biggest thing, I would say, is that you didn't have enough money.  Turn 3 = you have $10 total in your deck (7 Coppers, Loan, a +$2 from the Cutpurse), Turn 7 you have $7 total, Turn 9 = $9.  Compare that to your opponent who (if my math is right) had $15 by Turn 9.  Eventually you got to 4 Golds, but it was probably too late.  I might have bought a silver or two in the beginning (in place of a Caravan or two).  Or maybe a Jester on Turn 4 (which would have given you +$2 more and a not-insignificant attack, though, you would have had two terminals).  Caravans don't do you any good at the end of the day, unless you have money.
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rod-

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Re: What did I do wrong here?
« Reply #2 on: August 03, 2011, 05:01:05 pm »
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You didn't embargo gold, you embargoed silver.
Also, your opponent's jesters were fairly effective (2 curses in very early turns is good, and the caravan/gold later on were just gravy) and his menageries were also quite good (averaged out to draw him 2.33 cards per play - pretty good for a 3 cost!). 

I'll admit that your final deck looks like it should've performed better than 2 provinces - sometimes you just get those 7$ turns in the endgame...but the previous comment about your money ramping being too slow is quite accurate.  If you ramp a shuffle earlier, you can "build up" on your 7$ hands and buy provinces on your 8$ hands.
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livious

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Re: What did I do wrong here?
« Reply #3 on: August 03, 2011, 05:42:53 pm »
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Passing up Jester for Caravan turn four was the biggest problem.  4-0 in curses is pretty tough to deal with.  I probably would've opened with Caravan rather than Cutpurse to save actions for Jester or Merchant Ship since Loan is going to clear out coppers anyway.  Menagerie is better than Peddler and probably better than Caravan towards the end.
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DG

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Re: What did I do wrong here?
« Reply #4 on: August 03, 2011, 07:28:24 pm »
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There's an interesting situation created here by your deck composition and the jester. At first glance it seems very unlucky for you to have taken so many curses from the jester.  However by trashing the coppers with the loan and having your caravans on the table as duration cards, the chances of the jester giving you a curse are actually far higher than normal. Your strategy unwittingly strengthened the jester. Given that the jester is a strong card in these conditions and the cutpurse gets weaker as the loan does its work, you should have looked to get a jester. So how much effect did the jester have? Well you spent 6 turns buying caravans and the benefits of those caravans is mostly cancelled by those 4 curses that clog your deck, not to mention the -4 points as well.

There's also an option in this deck to buy some menageries. Caravans give you an extra card next turn. If a menagerie gives you two extra cards this turn, but only half the time it is played, then it is still giving you more benefit than a caravan. There are a number of pros and cons to this but the caravan advantage wasn't a dominant asset for you in this game.

Anyway, your opponent played a decent game so there is a fair amount to learn from that without looking at alternate strategies.
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