Match report for Tables (24th) vs. gamesou (9th)
Match result:
Tables 1-4 gamesouBy request, we play without identical starting hands (but I think we had the same split in every game anyway, although not the same order)
Game 1: Tables 36-
86 gamesouA game with an engine I didn't think would work (which along with engines I didn't expect to work, ends up being a common theme here). Both of us manage to (almost or totally) piledrive a pile here - for me, it's Hunting Parties with Horse Traders, for him, it's Highways. He uses Tacticians with Highways, a Trade Route for trashing, and Horse Traders for +buy, and promptly puts me in my place.
Game 2:
Tables 44-32 gamesou
Mountebank game where we both open Silver/Silver, he gets $4/$4 on the second shuffle and buys his first Mountebank for $7, while I get $5 on turn 4, then $6/$5 and grab a Gold and another Mountebank. Despite this I do actually lose the curse split, but it was clear who was going to win right from those early turns. Gamesou almost managed to bring it back around with 6 point Fairgrounds, but narrowly misses them.
Game 3:
gamesou 72-38 Tables
A case of 'I didn't spot the engine'. Which is a surprise, because I'm normally dead hot on double Tac engines. He does double tac with Vault and Secret Chamber, plus Cutpurse and other components. I do big money with Menagerie, pretty much. I played this totally wrong, gamesou played it totally right.
This game got more and more hilarious as things went on, though. As if beating me with a better engine was fun enough for gamesou, he decided to rub it in by having his cutpurse kill my first Platinum hand ($9 exactly), and then as I was ready to start greening, hit my hands with exactly $11
three times. In a row. (Turns 12-14).
Game 4: Tables 29-
40 gamesouTo be honest, this one still surprises me. I had NOT expected Alchemists to work here, yet clearly they did, and extremely well. My deck started with a purpose, but quickly went awry as I tried to build some kind of hybrid Conspirator/Big Money deck (you should be shouting at your monitor by this point). I think part of my problem was I kept thinking I could do something upgrade wise with Border Villages... I think I might have been tired while playing these games... But unsurprisingly it doesn't work, and I lose.
I actually resigned in this game, when I was 11 points behind and there was 1 Province and 7 Estates to buy, as there was no way I was going to actually get 6 Estates+Province before gamesou got 3 Estates.
Anyway this is the only game where I actually tried anything resembling an engine and it's probably one of only two games where a BM approach might have worked. Brilliant.
Game 5: Tables 41-
46 gamesouI almost one this one! Governor and Ambassador were the key cards here. I only grabbed one Ambassador, thinking getting rid of junk wasn't going to be that important in the fast Governor game, and similarly passed up University on the same grounds. Well, I was... half right. I ended up grabbing an extra Ambassador or two, not because I needed a lean deck, but because I needed to throw the curses back from his wad of Ambassadors. The game ended on a turn when I could have gotten three Provinces myself, but alas, it was not to be, and gamesou took a well deserved victory.
Congrats to gamesou for his decisive victory and clever engines, and while I don't think I was at my best (far from it, actually), I doubt I'd have won even if I were. May we meet again for more games.