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[Jimmmmm]

I recently played a (2-player) game with Sea Hag, Ambassador, and no actual trashing. I opened with Sea Hag, and my opponent never bought one. We both stocked up on Ambassadors, and of course an Ambassador Curse War ensued. In the end, they were split 4-4.

Cursing is considered to be the most powerful form of attack in the game, but my question is, with Ambassador (or, I suppose Masquerade) present, is there any point in buying a curser? Ambassadors will usually be bought from the start, and so even if not all players buy a curser, will they often finish up fairly evenly spread throughout the players, advantaging the player who chose to focus on things other than cursing?

Opinions?

[Superdad]

I'm pretty sure that simulations have shown Amb/Amb beats Amb/Hag. That being said, I didn't remember it being too far apart. Actually, I think Amb beats hag a lot more than Masq does, simply because it has the ability to return two curses/coppers (trashes faster).

Remember that while he can trash/pass the curses back, giving him curses very much slows him down still - since he's not trashing double copper or passing estates every time. So while it seems like a hard-counter, it's actually a lot closer than it looks on paper.

[DG]

In an ambassador game the deck size is usually key. A sea hag gives a card. An ambassador gives a card but removes cards too, so the ambassador wins. The other curse attacks are slightly different however since they provide additional benefits. The mountebank gives two extra cards and +2 coins may be important. Familiar gives curses very quickly without a terminal action. The witches draw cards and cycle the deck. This means that a combination such as familiar/ambassador may be better than ambassador/ambassador, depending upon the kingdom.

There is also typically a point in the game where players have to expand their decks with money and green cards. Curses givers may again have a role when the ambassadors lose control and become very weak end game actions.

[Jimmmmm]

Looking at the (non-Council Room) log, throughout the game I used 7 actions Sea Hagging my opponent (one was Throne Roomed), and 3 Ambassadoring him with curses, while he used only 6 actions Ambassadoring them back. So from that point of view it cost him less than it cost me, for a result of 4-4.

On the other hand, throughout the game he drew a total of 24 curses in his 32 turns, while I only drew 7 in my 31. That might go a long way towards explaining why I beat him by 33 points. I suppose this is one of those times when the journey is far more significant than the destination.

Isotropic log: http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201108/04/game-20110804-012343-1c1b9730.html