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jonts26

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Best Game: Round 1 Nominations
« on: December 04, 2012, 06:24:13 pm »
+4

Not all Dominion Games are created equal. Some are going to be more interesting or fun or showcase creative play, etc. I'm not going to tell you what criteria to use for best, but I do want you to nominate games which you feel might possibly be the best ones played in the first round of play.

Then, greatexpectations and I will confer and select the top however many we feel like and put it to a community poll. The participants in the best game will win, I dunno, accolades, I guess? Who doesn't like an accolade, right?

Anyway, let's see what you got!
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Tables

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Re: Best Game: Round 1 Nominations
« Reply #1 on: December 04, 2012, 07:02:34 pm »
0

Are we talking best games in terms of interesting board, or best games in terms of the players using the board.

Because my game 6 board was pretty exciting, a difficult choice between Vineyards, Dukes and Provinces, although neither me nor my opponent played optimally.
Apothecary, Duke, Feast, Festival, Island, Oasis, Outpost, Potion, Upgrade, Vineyard, and Wishing Well
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/04/game-20121204-144823-ec347c08.html
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...spin-offs are still better for all of the previously cited reasons.
But not strictly better, because the spinoff can have a different cost than the expansion.

jonts26

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Re: Best Game: Round 1 Nominations
« Reply #2 on: December 04, 2012, 07:06:40 pm »
+1

Are we talking best games in terms of interesting board, or best games in terms of the players using the board.

I'm not going to tell you what criteria to use for best
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dudeabides

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Re: Best Game: Round 1 Nominations
« Reply #3 on: December 05, 2012, 12:12:02 am »
0

Indeed, not all games are created equal.  This game illustrates that not all Pirate Ships are created equal.  Both players open Pirate Ship in a Colony game.  By the end, one player's are worth $10, while the other's is worth $3.  An interesting game highlighting interaction between Governor and Pirate Ship.

Here's the log:
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/03/game-20121203-130911-1e050a8e.html
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Dsell

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Re: Best Game: Round 1 Nominations
« Reply #4 on: December 05, 2012, 01:44:03 am »
0

Game 3
Dsell 34 - Mergus 36
An awesome game that could've been a doublejack board if we weren't really focusing. Ended up being a highly interesting and close jack/Noble Brigand/Farmland/Silk Road game. Loved this game.

This single game has done a lot to show me that playing Jack of All Trades often has a whole lot more finesse than people give it credit for. And farmland shenanigans are always fun.
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antony

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Re: Best Game: Round 1 Nominations
« Reply #5 on: December 05, 2012, 01:08:52 pm »
0

Indeed, not all games are created equal.  This game illustrates that not all Pirate Ships are created equal.  Both players open Pirate Ship in a Colony game.  By the end, one player's are worth $10, while the other's is worth $3.  An interesting game highlighting interaction between Governor and Pirate Ship.

Here's the log:
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/03/game-20121203-130911-1e050a8e.html
It's actually Governor/Pirate ship/Loan which allow me to raise my PS level to $10 while keeping my deck lean.  Fairly happy with that game :)
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mith

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Re: Best Game: Round 1 Nominations
« Reply #6 on: December 07, 2012, 03:50:10 pm »
0

Not as interesting as a $10 Pirate Ship, but IMO the best game from my match was:

Quote
Game 5: mith 39-31 Petty Thief Lout

Game 5 - Probably the most interesting game of the lot. Amb/Remake vs. Amb/Amb opening, with me sending Coppers exclusively and turning the Estates into Silver. I picked up a single Gold and Embassy, and then started greening with some Farmlands thrown in. Meanwhile, he had a great engine with most of the Caravans and started sending Curses with his Ambassadors. Any extra actions would probably have made his build too fast (especially with Monument for catching up on VP), but I held on.
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Robz888

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Re: Best Game: Round 1 Nominations
« Reply #7 on: December 07, 2012, 03:56:18 pm »
0

Oh, I've got a great submission. Here was the full Kingdom: Apothecary, Bishop, Cache, Cellar, Crossroads, Festival, Menagerie, Potion, Tactician, Tunnel, and Vineyard

And here's what I wrote about it:

Quote
Game 4: Robz888 55 - 48 Oberown
Log: http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/06/game-20121206-114514-1838ec93.html

I wish I had recorded this game; it was definitely the most fun. Tactician, Festival, Bishop, Tunnel, Crossroads, and Cellar were the key Cards. Obviously, there's a lot you can do with that. Mass gaining of Gold with Tunnel/Cellar + mass draw with Crossroads + trashing of Gold for points = the plan. He is smart enough to head down mostly the same route; unfortunately for him, I think he's just a few too many steps behind. He smartly picks up a second Bishop before I do, but the big deciding factor is that I have two Tacticians before he does, and also I am the first to recognize the power Crossroads will have here (we each have a bajillion Tunnels). I have a shockingly bad turn where my 10 card Tactician hand has all my Tunnels but no Crossroads or Cellars, and that worries me a little. Luckily, I rebound just fine, having one turn where I gain like 7 Gold or something. I safely buy the penultimate Province, and although his next turn is really good, there just isn't enough left for him.

Now that I look back at it, it is a fairly complex set. You know, a strategy that incorporates Apothecary/Vineyard isn't so difficult to imagine. Vineyard has plenty of desirable Actions, and Apothecary has Cache. Or you could just use Apothecary as a jumping off point, and keep the Potion for late-game Vineyard. Of course the main route is probably most appealing, but I think there's plenty of finesse involved in deciding how much Bishoping to do, whether to actually get so many Festivals, when to grab the Tunnels and the Tacticians, etc. I think I played it quite well but not perfectly.
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Re: Best Game: Round 1 Nominations
« Reply #8 on: December 07, 2012, 04:25:29 pm »
+1

You could have went for a  Triple Golden Tunnel/Bishop/Crossroads Double Tactician Deck in your game Robz.  That would have been cool to see.
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mith

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Re: Best Game: Round 1 Nominations
« Reply #9 on: December 07, 2012, 04:57:17 pm »
+2

This one was a good read:

Game3: http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/06/game-20121206-100542-fa32503e.html

By far my toughest game.

Kingdom: Envoy, Pearl Diver, Pirate Ship, Possession (Potion), Scheme, Secret Chamber, Trade Route, Vineyard (Potion), Walled Village, and Wharf
#1 lipo12 opening: Pirate Ship / Scheme
#2 paddyodoors opening: Pirate Ship / Trade Route

I was afraid this would turn into a Pirate Ship affair, and my opponent started with it right off the bat.  I'm not very good with Pirate Ship, and especially when there is no other "virtual money" around -- so my choices after seeing lipo12's opening were to either a) feed his/her Pirate Ship(s) by going for Big Money-Wharf OR b) go for Pirate Ship myself.  I always dislike PS-PS matches, as both sides end up often find themselves with no real way to end the game quickly.

I choose the Pirate Ship route.  However, I didn't notice Scheme until almost too late, realizing that my opponent could get a lot of my Coppers trashed quickly and ramp up his/her Pirate Ships faster than mine, while at the same time killing my "secondary" economy.  At this point, I'm pretty much dead.  I'm regretting not opening Scheme myself (Trade Route was pretty bad here! -- definitely a big mistake on my part).

lipo12 goes for Provinces pretty quickly, amassing quite a few.  Enough so that I couldn't catch up without a total, complete stall on his/her part (which wasn't really possible with Scheme around).  I figure out that Scheming ("Schemeing"?) a Secret Chamber can make it so that lipo12's Pirate Ships never go any higher than 5, but that doesn't really stop him/her from using them as action-Platina ("Platinums"?).  And then I see it - Vineyards!  I had discounted Vineyards as soon as I saw lipo12's initial buy, as the Potion would be vulnerable to the Pirate Ships.  But once my opponent was in the greening stage, he/she was no longer using the Pirate Ships for the attack!

However, with some luck, I ended up getting my PSs to $4, being able to buy Walled Villages and "Wharfs", and drawing my whole deck every turn while lipo12 was choking on the green.  The Schemes really helped "grease the wheels" here, allowing me to put back a Wharf, Walled Village, and Secret Chamber every turn.  In a "you-learn-something-new-everyday" moment, I figured out that the top-decked Secret Chamber served as a pseudo-sifter, since my opponent was guaranteed to play an attack card every turn (the Schemed Pirate Ship(s) -- his/her only economy).  With 2 Potions, and plenty of buys, I was able to juice up my Vineyards to 11 points each (virtual "Colonys"!), and end the game on piles.

The disparity of the final score (94-42) is NOT a good indicator of how the game went.  I really thought I was toast.
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Re: Best Game: Round 1 Nominations
« Reply #10 on: December 07, 2012, 05:05:41 pm »
0

It's actually Governor/Pirate ship/Loan which allow me to raise my PS level to $10 while keeping my deck lean.  Fairly happy with that game :)
I think trashing the golds with the Loan is incorrect, and you were just enamoured with the coolness of the play.

Your opponent basically handed you the win with lol silver/hoard.
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Robz888

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Re: Best Game: Round 1 Nominations
« Reply #11 on: December 07, 2012, 05:14:00 pm »
+1

This one was a good read:

Game3: http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/06/game-20121206-100542-fa32503e.html

By far my toughest game.

Kingdom: Envoy, Pearl Diver, Pirate Ship, Possession (Potion), Scheme, Secret Chamber, Trade Route, Vineyard (Potion), Walled Village, and Wharf
#1 lipo12 opening: Pirate Ship / Scheme
#2 paddyodoors opening: Pirate Ship / Trade Route

I was afraid this would turn into a Pirate Ship affair, and my opponent started with it right off the bat.  I'm not very good with Pirate Ship, and especially when there is no other "virtual money" around -- so my choices after seeing lipo12's opening were to either a) feed his/her Pirate Ship(s) by going for Big Money-Wharf OR b) go for Pirate Ship myself.  I always dislike PS-PS matches, as both sides end up often find themselves with no real way to end the game quickly.

I choose the Pirate Ship route.  However, I didn't notice Scheme until almost too late, realizing that my opponent could get a lot of my Coppers trashed quickly and ramp up his/her Pirate Ships faster than mine, while at the same time killing my "secondary" economy.  At this point, I'm pretty much dead.  I'm regretting not opening Scheme myself (Trade Route was pretty bad here! -- definitely a big mistake on my part).

lipo12 goes for Provinces pretty quickly, amassing quite a few.  Enough so that I couldn't catch up without a total, complete stall on his/her part (which wasn't really possible with Scheme around).  I figure out that Scheming ("Schemeing"?) a Secret Chamber can make it so that lipo12's Pirate Ships never go any higher than 5, but that doesn't really stop him/her from using them as action-Platina ("Platinums"?).  And then I see it - Vineyards!  I had discounted Vineyards as soon as I saw lipo12's initial buy, as the Potion would be vulnerable to the Pirate Ships.  But once my opponent was in the greening stage, he/she was no longer using the Pirate Ships for the attack!

However, with some luck, I ended up getting my PSs to $4, being able to buy Walled Villages and "Wharfs", and drawing my whole deck every turn while lipo12 was choking on the green.  The Schemes really helped "grease the wheels" here, allowing me to put back a Wharf, Walled Village, and Secret Chamber every turn.  In a "you-learn-something-new-everyday" moment, I figured out that the top-decked Secret Chamber served as a pseudo-sifter, since my opponent was guaranteed to play an attack card every turn (the Schemed Pirate Ship(s) -- his/her only economy).  With 2 Potions, and plenty of buys, I was able to juice up my Vineyards to 11 points each (virtual "Colonys"!), and end the game on piles.

The disparity of the final score (94-42) is NOT a good indicator of how the game went.  I really thought I was toast.

I think I would totally ignore Pirate Ship here. Setup a Wharf engine, supplement with Scheme, grab a Potion and to Possess your opponent for fun and maybe even get Vineyards (you can amass Wharfs, Schemes, and Walled Villages after all).
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mith

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Re: Best Game: Round 1 Nominations
« Reply #12 on: December 07, 2012, 05:49:22 pm »
+1

Yeah:

There is virtual +$ on the board, i.e. secret chamber. Only thing you need is a wharf and a secret chamber. Once you have them both it's no problem to acquire more villages, schemes, wharvfesss' and secret chambers. That should make a province route for you easier to walk. But vineyards obviously were more promising.

Still, what makes the game interesting to me is that he was able to turn it around after losing the initial Pirate Ship battle, even if PS should have been ignored to begin with.
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Wingnut

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Re: Best Game: Round 1 Nominations
« Reply #13 on: December 09, 2012, 12:44:00 am »
+3

Game 2 from my series with WHARF 2 THA BRIDGE - Interesting because of the completely different openings and well-played by both I feel

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/08/game-20121208-202114-e4c560e3.html

Goons game. I opened Chancellor/Potion aiming for Apothecary while WHARF opened Silver/Silver. I used a Mint to trash 3 Coppers allowing me to use some spare buys on copper, especially with Apothecary around to suck them up too. Also, Royal Seal ended up being key allowing me to play topdeck Goons on turns 10-12 and then topdeck Crossroads and Apothecary on turn 13. Ultimately, the game was decided by me reaching the double Goons threshold earlier, forcing a tactical change from WHARF to Silk Road. When the slog continued, I was able to reach Province twice at the end while he was not.
Wingnut wins 70-58
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liopoil

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Re: Best Game: Round 1 Nominations
« Reply #14 on: December 09, 2012, 11:31:58 am »
+4

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/09/game-20121209-070946-26590166.html

Game One in our match

liopoil 34, Marin 39.

I'm not sure exactly what makes a game "the best" but I think it was really close. I was ahead the whole game untill the last turn, at time by at least 19 points. In the last two turns Marin bought 3 provinces and two duchies to win. I know people have emptied out the provinces fast, but this seemed particularly remarkable because he primarily did it with highways and nobles. While I had 5 grand markets to his two, I was suprised by how powerful nobles-ambassador was. He opened 5/2 and I 4/3, which I though would give me a great shot at winning the ambassador battle. Yet eventually he was playing 2-3 ambassadors a turn. I ended the game with 16 copper and 4 estates to his 0. It didn't really slow down my deck that much though I don't think, It just prevented me to really get my grandmarkets going. It sped his up hugely, and in the last two turns I think he played all his actions. I was confused at first when he bought a feast and a bridge when niegther of us had bought any the whole game, only to find out next turn when he turned the feast into a province and played the bridge with his highways to great affect. It may not have been the best game ever, but i definatly learned a lot from it, such as how to make an engine with no +2actions except nobles...

Our other four games weren't nearly as close an exciting as this one.
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jonts26

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Re: Best Game: Round 1 Nominations
« Reply #15 on: December 10, 2012, 09:30:56 am »
0

Last call for round 1 nominations. Round 2 thread will be up shortly.
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