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Dekryr

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Beginner Strategy Guide Idea
« on: November 14, 2012, 06:55:51 pm »
+7

Draft number 3 of the Beginner Strategy Guide. Feel free to make suggestions, offer feedback, or just heckle me. Also, can I change the title of this post to Beginner Strategy Guide (Draft) or does a mod have to do it?

Getting to $8: A Strategy Guide for Dominion Beginners

The simplest way to win at Dominion is to buy more Provinces than your opponent. There are obviously other ways, but as a beginner this is a very good place to start. So this guide is going to talk about important concepts that will help you get to $8 quickly and consistently.
There are 4 simple ways to make your deck better at getting to $8.
1. Put more and better treasure in your deck.
2. Get more cards in your hand.
3. Get the bad/dead cards out of your deck
4. Control what you put into your deck

A few quick definitions:
Terminal (or terminal action): An action card that does not give any +action(s) and therefore will often be the last card played. You may see a card type added behind terminal to further define a group of cards. For instance, Smithy (+3 cards) is a terminal draw card.
Dead card: a card in your hand that cannot do anything. Estates and curse are examples. Dead cards take up space where useful cards could be. Usually they are bad and you want to take or keep them out of your deck.
Trashing: permanently (most always permanently) removing a card from play. This definition is in the rule book. The trash pile is there for a reason. Use it.

More common Dominion terms here:  http://dominionstrategy.com/glossary/ 

On to the 4 simple strategies:
1. Put more treasure in your deck:
l   Beginners tend to overvalue actions and undervalue silver and gold.
l   The silver test is a good rule for beginners to learn. The silver test wants you to ask yourself "Is the card I'm about to buy better than silver?" If yes, then get the action, if no grab the silver instead. (Hopefully at the end of this you will have an idea of what is better and worse than silver)
l   It is almost never a bad idea to add silver or gold to your deck. When in doubt buy those treasure cards.
l   Treasure cards are never dead. A card that gives $2 may seem like a silver equivalent, but it can still end up dead. You always have the option to play treasure.

There is a basic strategy in Dominion called Big Money (abbreviated BM). BM involves buying only treasure cards and Victory cards (usually just Provinces). BM will buy 4 Provinces in approximately 17 turns. BM has a few variations and its meaning has changed a bit over time, but the simple BM strategy shows the power of treasure in Dominion.

2. Get more cards:
·   It should be fairly obvious that 7 cards are more likely to result in more $ than 5 cards.
·   Any action that gives you more cards will help with this, but typically you are looking for something that will give at least 3 cards (this doesn't mean it has to be +3 cards).
·   Note that good drawing cards are almost always terminal. This means that it is likely the last action you can play that turn

If you combine BM with a drawing card or 2 (usually no more than 2), like Smithy (+3 cards), then you can get 4 Provinces in about 15 turns. This strategy is often called Smithy-BM (but any good drawing card can work). 15 turns is pretty good. Sometimes Smithy-BM is the dominant strategy on the board. Beginners will often benefit from playing Smithy-BM.

3. Removing bad/dead cards:
·   Many beginners fail to recognize the importance of trashing. (Chapel is considered the best card in the game for its price. You know what chapel does… it trashes…and quickly. That's it. No other fancy stuff. No +buy or +action or + anything. Trash up to 4 cards from your hand. That's Chapel. And it's great.)
·   Dead cards are bad for your deck. Removing them from your hand permanently, will allow you to play your better cards more often and get the better treasures into your hand faster.
·      Trashing is especially important if you have cards (+ actions and terminals) that you really want to pair together in your hand at the same time, for instance, Village and Smithy. The less other cards in your hand the more likely you can those 2 cards together.
·   There are very few decks that don't benefit from some type of trashing.
·   What to trash?
o   Estates: those 3 VP from the starting estates rarely decide games. (Sometimes keeping 1 can be a decider in a close game, but oftentimes trashing all of them will help you.)
o   Copper: having coppers in your hand instead of nice actions or silvers can prevent you from reaching the coveted $8 spot or from playing that great action one extra time.
o   Curses: this should be fairly obvious. Realize that curses hurt more because they are dead cards cycling through your hand, than because of the negative VP. Either way trash ‘em if you got ‘em.
o   Action cards that have become useless. This could be a 2nd trashing card or a cursing attack that isn't helping anymore with the curse pile empty.
·   A good general rule of thumb is to trash early and often, but pay attention to how much coin is in your deck (don't trash away all your coin and destroy your buying power).
·   Some cards let you remove bad/dead cards by giving them to your opponent(s). These cards are wonderful. Think of them as trashers only better.
·   Some trashers let you gain a card or give some other benefit when trashing. Make sure to read the text on these cards precisely.

4. Control what you put into your deck.
·   This topic may not have the greatest title, but it means: pay attention to what you put into your deck. 
·   You are not required to buy a card every turn.
·   You are not required to use all your buys.
·   You are not required to use all your money. Just because a card is more expensive that doesn't automatically make it better for your deck than a less expensive card.
·   Think about why you are buying a card and how it will interact with your current deck. Don't buy a card because it looks cool. Buy cards that will help your deck.
So, how do you know what cards are good for your deck. We already talked about the silver test. Here are some other important things to consider when gaining or buying cards.

Terminals
Terminals are generally strong cards. You are usually going to want some in your deck. However, having 2 terminals in your hand often means a choice between which one to play and leaves the other one dead. We call this situation collision. We hate dead cards, thus we also hate collision.
Pay attention to how many terminals you buy. Specifically, look for these 2 things:
1.   How many total cards are in your deck. The more total cards the more terminals you can get away with (1 per every 8-10 total cards is a good rule to follow, of course this depends on the kingdom).
2.   How many +action cards. The more actions you have, the more terminals you can play and therefore buy.
a.   Be wary not all +actions cards are the same. If you want to play 2 terminals you need an action card with +2 actions. This seems self-explanatory, but it is easy to buy a +1 action card and think that means you can have more terminals. This is often not the case.
New players have a tendency to buy up terminals without realizing that he/she can only play one of them per turn. Then hand after hand has dead actions that eat away at buying power. We'll talk about opening later, but if you want to buy 2 terminals with your first 2 turns, you better have a real good reason. An early game collision can hurt your buying power and put you behind in the game from the very start.

Villages
The term village does  not just specifically refer to the Dominion card Village; it is a Dominion term for any card that give +2 actions, and usually some other + as well. These cards usually (but not always) have the word village in their name (fishing village, border village, mining village, etc), hence the term. There are many different types and some are better than others, but put simply: villages help you play more terminals. 
·   There is a Dominion concept called the Village Idiot. It is a player over-buying villages without good actions to pair with them. Playing villages just to play more villages accomplishes very little. Villages work with terminals. Without terminals, villages are basically useless.
·   I recommend you start getting villages if you have or plan on having 3 or more terminals in your deck. If you know you want to buy 3 or more terminals, I would get a village after the 1st or 2nd terminal and then try to end with 1 more village than terminal. (Basically, open with the terminal, then buy villages and terminals at a 1:1 rate leaning just a bit more towards villages.)
·   Village and terminal buying is a delicate balance. Too many terminals cause dead cards, while too many villages leaves you with useless actions. We hate having action cards we can't play, but we also dislike having extra actions with no cards to play. (Think about what other card that village could have been. Wasting buys on unnecessary villages can also mean you wasted a buy or possibly a turn. When you only have 16 turns, one bad buy can really hurt.)

Attacks
Attack cards are usually powerful cards in Dominion, at times so powerful that you are more willing to risk a collision and decrease your ratio to get multiples (i.e. have 1 terminal for every 6 or 7 cards in your deck)
There are 4 major types of attack cards: card giving, hand-size reducing, card trashing, and top-deck worsening. Each of these types comes with their own style and strategy and specific counters, but that type of specific strategy is beyond the scope of this article. Here are some general guidelines about attacks.
l   $5 attack cards are usually good cards and will help you win in most kingdoms. It's usually a good idea to buy an attack card and really good with $5 attacks
l   Card giving attacks are typically the most powerful, followed by hand-size reducers
l   Curses hurt your deck because they are dead cards more than because of the negative VP
l   In a game with curses, you want to win the split. That means give more curses than you receive.
l   Attack early and often. The first goal is to get the attack card (this often means getting to $5 first). If the game is an attacking or cursing race, you probably want to pick up a 2nd terminal attack faster than normal.
l   Trashing attacks can be a gamble, because you usually don't know what's on your opponent's deck. That doesn't mean they're bad, they just require a bit more luck and sometimes buying them and using them can be a waste of your time.
l   Treasure-only trashing attacks are often useless in 2 player games. I usually love it when my opponent uses one of his/her actions to trash my coppers.

Openings:
The opening in Dominion is your first 2 turns or the first 2 cards you choose to buy. These cards are the ones you will see the most and are among the most important choices you will make in a Dominion game. You have 2 options in your first 2 buys. Either you will have $4 and $3 or $5 and $2, this is called a 4-3 or 5-2 opening. Here are some tips about opening card choices:
·   Know what you want to do before buying any cards in the opening. Do you want to trash and slim down your deck? Is there a great $5 card that you really need to have quickly? How many cards are terminal and are the cards I want terminal? Those are the basic questions to ask yourself before buying the opening cards.
·   An important note here, it seems logical to assume that as cards increase in price they get better. That is not always true in Dominion. Typically, the elite cards are priced $5 or higher, but there is not necessarily a noticeable difference between a $3 and $4 card. (Chapel is awesome and it costs $2). So don't think that just because a card is more expensive it's better or always good for your hand.

So what to buy?
·   Silver-silver gives you about a 70% chance to get $5 in turns 3 or 4. So if there is a $5 card that you really want then silver-silver is a good open
·   I recommend beginners open with a terminal and silver. Typically, the stronger $3-4 cards are terminal so you will want one of them.
      
Here are the properties to look for in opening terminals. These rules are generally for 4-3 splits.
      1. Cards that trash and attack: Card-giving attacks that also get cards out of your hand
      2. Elite trashing: cards that trash more than 1 card at a time
      3. VP chip cards: cards that give VP chips when used. The early lead can be very helpful without hurting your deck.
      4. Other attacks: The same general formula as above applies here, cursing attacks first, hand-size reducers 2nd, then the rest.
      5. Other trashers: cards that trash only 1 card at a time.

I tried to put these in order of importance, but this is not set in stone. As always good openings depend on the Kingdom.
·   Ambassador, Masquerade, and Chapel are all elite opening cards. As a beginner I would still only buy 1 of them and go silver with the 2nd card.)
With a 5-2 split these rules still apply, except attacks are much higher on the list. Most $5 attack card openings are game changers. Be happy with the luck and take that card. With the $2 feel free to pick up a non-terminal (+action) card, possibly grab a reaction card if you think it will help with the attacks, of course grab Chapel if it's there, or do nothing. There is nothing wrong with opening witch or mountebank then nothing. You are well ahead with just that 1 card. Probably try to get silver soon though.
Here is a good forum thread with more specifics about opening terminals.
[http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=628.0]

Greening
One last note before ending the article. Greening is a Dominion term for buying Victory cards, in most cases Provinces and Duchies. The concept of knowing exactly when to start greening is well beyond beginner lever. It is often the difference between a good and great Dominion player. For completeness, however, I will offer a few simple ideas that should help you know when to start buying green cards.
1. Do you have any gold? If you got a lucky $8 without gold, you should probably buy a gold instead of a Province, unless you know that the $8 wasn't a fluke and could easily happen again. It's not a bad rule to think that you should have 2 gold in the deck before buying any Provinces.
2. Another simple general rule is to start buying Duchies (with less than $8) when the Provinces are more than half gone.
3. Watch your opponent and know the score. Know if a 4-4 Province split makes you the winner or your opponent. Did you trash estates? Did the opponent? Who has lead on Duchies or other VP cards? If you buy the last Province either know your gonna win or know that you are conceding.

The End. Have fun and play well.
« Last Edit: December 06, 2012, 04:36:54 pm by Dekryr »
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greatexpectations

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Re: Beginner Strategy Guide Idea
« Reply #1 on: November 14, 2012, 07:01:37 pm »
0

i have compiled some previously written articles targeted to newer players here. while close, none of them seem to cover exactly what you seem to be aiming for. i would just say go for it and then post it here and we will help you round it out.
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Dekryr

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Re: Beginner Strategy Guide Idea
« Reply #2 on: November 14, 2012, 07:12:02 pm »
0

Thanks for the link ge. I'll go for it and try have something in the next couple days.
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ftl

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Re: Beginner Strategy Guide Idea
« Reply #3 on: November 14, 2012, 07:16:15 pm »
0

It definitely sounds like a good idea. I'm not sure where to start with something like that; theres a lot to dominion. I think a while back, someone started writing a series of articles like"making it to level X" along those lines, you can check them out for ideas or something?
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greatexpectations

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Re: Beginner Strategy Guide Idea
« Reply #4 on: November 14, 2012, 07:21:20 pm »
0

It definitely sounds like a good idea. I'm not sure where to start with something like that; theres a lot to dominion. I think a while back, someone started writing a series of articles like"making it to level X" along those lines, you can check them out for ideas or something?

wow, good call. somehow i completely missed that series in my list. excuse me as i go remedy that.
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Dekryr

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Re: Beginner Strategy Guide Idea
« Reply #5 on: November 15, 2012, 01:18:44 pm »
0

It definitely sounds like a good idea. I'm not sure where to start with something like that; theres a lot to dominion. I think a while back, someone started writing a series of articles like"making it to level X" along those lines, you can check them out for ideas or something?

Yes it is. It has gotten very long already. I did see the initial post from that series, but haven't found others yet. I will look a bit harder today. I'm still hoping to have a draft by Friday or Saturday (here in the States).
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greatexpectations

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Re: Beginner Strategy Guide Idea
« Reply #6 on: November 15, 2012, 01:39:48 pm »
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Yes it is. It has gotten very long already. I did see the initial post from that series, but haven't found others yet. I will look a bit harder today. I'm still hoping to have a draft by Friday or Saturday (here in the States).

i updated the wiki page, so every article in that series is now on the page i linked above.
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Re: Beginner Strategy Guide Idea
« Reply #7 on: November 16, 2012, 12:26:52 am »
+1

I think we should formalize a qualified level system, something like:

Newb - has no idea what they're doing
Village Idiot - has a basic grasp of the mechanics of the game, but not strategy  (yes, I realize this term already has a specific meaning)
Competent - understands Big Money and basic engine construction
Advanced - knows Dominion in and out, probably has all cards memorized, can look at a Kingdom and tell exactly what strategy would work best
Expert - can actually use Advanced strategy to win a majority of the time
Donald X - you may as well have designed the game, you're so good
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Re: Beginner Strategy Guide Idea
« Reply #8 on: November 16, 2012, 01:04:21 am »
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Or you can just, for the moment, use isotropic levels. While iso is still here.

Later if goko takes over we can transition to goko rankings.
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Re: Beginner Strategy Guide Idea
« Reply #9 on: November 16, 2012, 01:05:17 am »
+4

Don't use "newb" and "Village idiot" in an article and expect people to identify with them; insulting and/or being condescending to the readership isn't usually a way to get people to actually read.
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Re: Beginner Strategy Guide Idea
« Reply #10 on: November 16, 2012, 04:10:05 am »
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You can just use "Action junkie" or something similar.

These are people just playing the cards for the cards' sake without focusing on the big picture of getting to the Provinces/Colonies. There's nothing wrong with having fun trying out silly combos.
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Re: Beginner Strategy Guide Idea
« Reply #11 on: November 16, 2012, 09:02:48 am »
+1

I didn't intend to insult anyone - these weren't intended to be the finalized form.  And to me, these would be more useful than isotropic levels, since Dominion skill isn't really quantifiable - all the isotropic level can tell you is your relative skill - how skilled you are compared to everyone else - this doesn't tell you how skilled you are in absolute.  You could be in the 53rd percentile, but what exactly does that mean?  For this sort of thing, quantified levels can be much more useful.

Instead of Newb, we could say Virgin or Novice (in case some of you have a problem with "Virgin"), and instead of Village Idiot, we could say Beginner.  I was trying to evoke the idea that the Village Idiot has a grasp of the mechanics of the game (play Actions, buy something, discard everything), but not strategy ("whoa, you bought three Provinces?  I don't have any yet!").
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Dekryr

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Re: Beginner Strategy Guide Idea
« Reply #12 on: November 16, 2012, 10:46:27 am »
0

I am getting close to finishing this. I will post what I have here and you all can comment and make suggestions.  I think when it's actually finalized it will need a new thread because I think the article should be the first thing on the thread. It is rather long and I'm positive won't fit in 1 post and I didn't save posts at the beginning of this thread. 

As far as giving different strategies for different levels. I think that may be difficult. Putting this together and trying to keep it beginner or noob friendly was difficult enough. But we can always parcel out what I have and try to fit it into different categories if everyone thinks that will be better.

I'll post the first part of what I have shortly.
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Dekryr

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Re: Beginner Strategy Guide Idea
« Reply #13 on: November 16, 2012, 11:33:06 am »
+2

Draft 2 is posted. Is it too long? I think the openings and attacks section could be removed if necessary.
« Last Edit: November 18, 2012, 10:30:55 pm by Dekryr »
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Re: Beginner Strategy Guide Idea
« Reply #14 on: November 16, 2012, 11:37:41 am »
0

Quote
[Is it legal to count your deck?]
You may count your draw deck, but not your discard.
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Dekryr

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Re: Beginner Strategy Guide Idea
« Reply #15 on: November 16, 2012, 11:44:21 am »
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Quote
[Is it legal to count your deck?]
You may count your draw deck, but not your discard.

Thanks meant to look that up before posting.
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Dekryr

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Re: Beginner Strategy Guide Idea
« Reply #16 on: November 20, 2012, 01:32:32 pm »
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Shamelessly bumping my own thread. Didn't realize that editing wouldn't bump. A draft of the guide is now the opening post of the thread. Please leave feedback.
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Re: Beginner Strategy Guide Idea
« Reply #17 on: November 20, 2012, 02:04:19 pm »
+2

Oh hey! Looking pretty nice! How to get from level 0 to level 10 in one post.

Minor nitpicks - Big Money is a little faster than you give it credit for. Pure BM gets 4 provinces in ~17 turns, not 20, and Smithy-BM is more like 15.

Under the trashing section you might want to have a bullet point about how trashing helps you draw cards together that work together, like a +Actions card and terminals. That's a pretty major reason why you don't care much about trashing in BM games, because there's no particular reason to want to draw cards together - three silvers is just as good as two golds or one gold one silver one copper, whereas with Village/Smithy chains, you definitely want the village in the same 5 cards as the Smithy.
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Re: Beginner Strategy Guide Idea
« Reply #18 on: November 20, 2012, 10:33:18 pm »
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Some thoughts, going top to bottom through the first part.

   The silver test is a good rule for beginners to learn. The silver test wants you to ask yourself “Is the card I’m about to buy better than silver?” If yes, then get the action, if no grab the silver instead.

Issue: this leaves the student with no basis for evaluating whether the card will be better than silver or not.

Quote
   It is almost never a bad idea to add treasure to your deck. When in doubt buy treasure.

Issue: this does not warn against buying Copper on $0-$2 hands without a special reason, or against buying, say, Talisman or Cache without some kind of plan.

Quote
There is a simple, but influential strategy in Dominion called Big Money (abbreviated BM). BM involves buying only treasure cards and Victory cards (usually just Provinces). BM will buy 4 Provinces in about 20 turns. BM has a few variations and its meaning has changed a bit over time, but the simple BM strategy shows the power of treasure in Dominion.

As noted by others, BM is faster than this. It's also worth at least briefly discussing when to buy Duchy or Estate, even if we're not going into complex kingdoms (Colony and alt-VP).

I also really don't know what you mean by "influential" here. Strict BM should be seen as a baseline.

Quote
•   Note that good drawing cards are almost always terminal. This means that it is likely the last action you can play that turn

Lab-type cards are worth a mention. It's also worth explaining the problem with buying a lot of Villages. Some beginners probably need it pointed out to them explicitly that playing a Village doesn't actually increase your hand size.

Quote
If you combine BM with a drawing card or 2 (usually no more than 2), like Smithy (+3 cards), then you can get 4 Provinces in about 16 turns. This strategy is often called Smithy-BM (but any good drawing card can work). 16 turns is pretty good. Sometimes Smithy-BM is the dominant strategy on the board. Beginners will often benefit from playing Smithy-BM.

Again, BM-terminal draw is better than this.

Quote
3. Removing bad/dead cards:

This section is probably better done as prose than as a bullet list - at least up until you get to the 'what to trash?' part.

Quote
•   There are very few decks that don't benefit from some type of trashing.

Chapel is that good of an enabler for BM. It's worth explaining how and why trashing helps. Talk about money density more. Talk about engines (seriously).

You also need to point out that Chapel is a terminal, and as such will conflict with terminal draw cards - and will eventually itself become a dead card.

Quote
•   What to trash?

This should be re-ordered; mention Curses first since they're most obvious, and then you have a starting point for explaining the desire to trash Estate ("A straight 2VP on top of a Curse is just not worth it when it interferes with picking up 6VP cards later").

Quote
•   A good general rule of thumb is to trash early and often, but pay attention to how much coin is in your deck (don't trash away all your coin and destroy your buying power).

Okay, but not specific enough. You want something more like: "Buy one Chapel on your first or second turn (whichever will have less money; you get 7 to start out with spread across 2 hands, so this is not hard to determine); on the other turn, get either Silver or something that can be played for money and/or a powerful Attack. When you draw Chapel, play it on everything that's Copper, Estate or Curse, and buy nothing. On the other hands, try to get Silver; strongly reconsider any Actions, especially if they don't give you money when played. Once you have most or all of the starting Coppers and Estates out of your deck, pretend the Chapel is a blank card, unless you draw it with cards that were added to your deck by an opponent's attack." That's off the top of my head, but you get the idea.

Quote
•   Some trashers let you gain a card or give some other benefit when trashing. Make sure to read the text on these cards precisely.

A brief overview of the TfB cards would be good here.

----

You get the idea. Skimming the rest, I get the sense that some of these issues are addressed later, and that some things are mentioned redundantly. Overall I think this is a sign that the material needs to be re-ordered.

I'd do it something like:

1. Object of the game, and its implications. This is basically how you started out.
2. The pace of the game. This is where you talk about the speed of BM and BM+X, but also about how engines work, and how attacks work. Contrast the two approaches (seeking middle ground usually doesn't work out too well; talk about why, and about the need to make a plan with engines). Talk about what trashing accomplishes for engines. Picking up this information in bits and pieces from f.ds was one of the things that really got me started when I was learning (and not really aware of how the handful of live games I'd played hadn't really taught me anything).
3. Money density and buying power. This is where you talk about why BM+terminal draw works so well. Talk about what trashing accomplishes for BM decks.
4. Opening. Choosing what to buy for your first two turns. Point out how there are basically only two possibilities for what you draw on your first two turns, but everything gets messier right after that. Talk about terminal collision risks. Talk about how a Village can't really do anything for you until you have two terminals to play it with. Talk at least a little about *planning*; about how a deck that creates monster coin turns is no use without +Buy.
5. Middle. Talk about the actual play of common cards - especially, talk about how to actually play with Chapel. Worrying about the reshuffle is a more advanced topic, but you can still talk about the little things like keeping track of your action count, choosing what to put back with Courtyard etc. Also talk about choosing buys for each turn - this is where the "you don't have to use all your buys/coin" part goes, but also talk about maintaining village/terminal balance, etc.
5. End. Talk about when to start greening, and when to start buying Duchies and Estates. PPR isn't too advanced here IMHO.
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ehunt

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Re: Beginner Strategy Guide Idea
« Reply #19 on: November 20, 2012, 11:38:34 pm »
0

a minor criticism - I don't think I would say that you almost never want to open double-terminal - there are too many strong exceptions. I would say something like you had better have a very good reason to open double-terminal.

I agree with Donald X's criticism of the "silver test." It's true of any card! If a woodcutter is better for your deck than what you are buying right now, you should buy a woodcutter. etc. On the other hand, I do think it's important to realize how often it's a mistake to buy what you want to buy instead of buying a silver, so maybe this is just semantics.
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petrie911

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Re: Beginner Strategy Guide Idea
« Reply #20 on: November 21, 2012, 02:43:16 pm »
+1

The point of the Silver test is that newer players may simply ignore Silver as an option.  So I suppose that it's the twofold lesson of "Consider whether the card you want is really the best buy." and "Silver is often a strong choice, even if it isn't very flashy. You should consider it when buying things."
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Donald X.

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Re: Beginner Strategy Guide Idea
« Reply #21 on: November 21, 2012, 06:53:30 pm »
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The point of the Silver test is that newer players may simply ignore Silver as an option. 
That may be the point to you, but it was not the point to the person who coined the term or the people who then advocated it. Their point was, actions suck, why are you buying actions, this game is stupid.

New players often fail to buy enough money, including Silver, but that has nothing to do with "the Silver Test."
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HiveMindEmulator

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Re: Beginner Strategy Guide Idea
« Reply #22 on: November 21, 2012, 06:57:54 pm »
+2

This is a nice idea for an article, and the organization looks good. The main place I think you need improvement is where you talk about villages. There is a decent article on villages by WW here. The thing is that you can't just buy villages to go with terminals and think you've solved the terminal collision problem. Villages are only useful if you have some way of making sure you actually draw them with multiple terminals. Usually this requires either a lot of trashing, or some source of +Cards. If you have a bunch of Copper in your deck and only look at 5 cards at a time, what are the chances you draw a village and 2 terminals?
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ftl

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Re: Beginner Strategy Guide Idea
« Reply #23 on: November 21, 2012, 09:01:27 pm »
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Oh, lol, I looked up the original Silver Test article/review and yeah, it does read like "I liked Dominion but then I found Big Money and this game has no depth." I didn't even realize that's where it came from.

It needs to be reappropriated to mean "hey, money is the basics and you should know and consider it." Maybe "Money benchmark" instead of "Silver test" or something. Though that's probably covered under Big Money.
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HiveMindEmulator

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Re: Beginner Strategy Guide Idea
« Reply #24 on: November 22, 2012, 01:31:26 pm »
+3

I don't think there's a problem with the silver test or the term "silver test", just with the conclusions originally drawn from it. That guy had a poor notion of when cards actually passed the test. The notion that Witch usually fails he silver test is laughable. Still the notion of considering silver for any of your buys can be useful and can reasonably be called the "silver test".
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