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[loppo]

Round 2

Loppo 4 - Emeric (Move your Body) 1

Game 1: Loppo 21 - Emeric (Move your Body) 4
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/19/game-20121219-113403-193338cd.html

a tough game with Witch, Goons, Watchtower, Hamlet, Highway. Emeric gets 2 Witches, i get 1 Witch 1Goons. We split the hamlets. I pick up more Watchtowers then a 2nd Goons. My Watchtowers work overtime trashing Curses, i still get 4 of them, but are able to pile out with a double Goons turn.

Game 2: Move your Body 20 - Loppo 15
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/19/game-20121219-113911-aa1060e0.html

An Ill-Gotten-gains rush. I have a 5/2 start and feel quite secure, so i take a detour to pick up an Embassy and a Salvager. Meanwhile i lose the curse split 7-3, and it all goes downhill from there on.

Game 3: Loppo 59 - Emeric (Move your Body) 32
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/19/game-20121219-115605-aeceb71a.html

Move your body has the 5/2 start and gets turn 2 witch. I go fishing in the black market. Bishop helps getting the curses in check, and we race for Farming Villages. My Black market gives me a horn of plenty, a Market, a throne room, a minion. Move your Body gets a goons, which gives me some headache, because meanwhile he is drawing his deck. Fortunately he has killed his economy, and i can pick up 6 Provinces in turns 14-20.

Game 4: Move your body 53 - Loppo 56
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/19/game-20121219-120344-41c2906d.html

I try Duchy/Duke. I'm not sure Remake was the right choice for me. I pick up a bureaucrat later. Move your body goes for provinces, and steals some duchies too. I win the duchy split 5/3, dukes are 4/4. Meanwhile Move your Body has also 3 Provinces, and i have to catch up. I have plenty of silvers, Move your body chokes, so i can take the last Province for a 3 point victory.

Game 4: Move your body 31 - Loppo 32
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/19/game-20121219-121106-6ac8ce2b.html

Another curse game. This time there is Mountebank, Ghostship, Tournament, Kingscourt and City in the kingdom. I open Tournamnet/Silver and get a turn 3 Mountebank. Move your Body opens Tournament/Trade route and gets his first Mountebank afte i have my 2nd. The game goes long, and his light trashing gives him a better deck. On the last turn i pick up the last duchy as a price from tournament, and buy an estate for an 1point vitory.

Thanks to Emeric (Move your Body) for the good games

[PitzerMike]

I would like to share the results of my Round 2 match against Powerman.
I didn't really care about veto mode, starting hands etc. so I let Powerman decide and we played with Veto Mode on, Point Tracker on and Random Starting Hands.
It was a very close series that went the whole distance with an interesting twist in game 6.

Match result: Powerman (seed 71) 3-4 PitzerMike (seed 173)

Game 1: Powerman 53-43 PitzerMike
The first game most notably featured Baron, Border Village, Bishop and Tactician. I have to admit I was a bit lost on this board and didn't immediately see the potential of double Baron turns. We both got an early Baron and Tactician and then added a Bishop and Border Villages. While I kept trashing the BVs for VP, Powerman mostly got rid of his coppers and then was able to play double Tactician with two Barons effectively buying a Province every turn at the end. The VP from the Border Villages was not enough.

Game 2: Powerman 61-73 PitzerMike
A Colony game with Pawn, Watchtower, Walled Village, Mountebank, Goons, Fairgrounds. Here I got the more lucky draws in the early game blocking Powerman's Mountebank(s) several times with my Watchtower while his Watchtower didn't do too much for him. The early lead eventually won me the Walled Village split and got me a quick first Platinum. From there Powerman could only hope to empty the Provinces or three-pile but I didn't overbuild and quickly bought 3 Colonies and then closed it out by emptying Fairgrounds.

Game 3: Powerman 39-60 PitzerMike
This one had Cache, Counting House, Crossroads, Harem, Merchant Ship, Native Village, Thief, Silk Road. Powerman went for Cache + Counting House while I picked up 2 Merchant Ships with early 5s and a Crossroads and then only bought Harems and Provinces for the rest of the game. I think with the Crossroads + Harem synergy Counting House just wasn't ever going to be fast enough.

Game 4: Powerman 42-24 PitzerMike
An interesting board with the following cards: Chapel, Develop, Embargo, Explorer, Hoard, Militia, Remake, Scheme, Trading Post, and Vault. Initially I wasn't really sure if I wanted to open Chapel and was considering a BM + Vault strategy. Then Powerman opened Chapel / Vault and I wasn't really sure what to do with my 3 / 4 opening so I followed him with Chapel / Militia hoping to slow him down with Militia. Well it turns out, in a trimmed down deck Hoard is much stronger than normally, as Powerman kickstarted his economy with early Duchy buys with Hoard in play. With double Vault he didn't have any trouble closing it out on Provinces. I myself just got stuck with too many terminals and a Chapel that didn't do what I wanted.

Game 5: Powerman 36-14 PitzerMike
Adventurer, Ambassador, Border Village, Cartographer, Courtyard, Duke, Mint, Mountebank, Philosopher's Stone and Smugglers. Mountebank wasn't really an option, so I opened Cartographer / Courtyard into double Ambassador as a response to Powerman's double Ambassador opening. After adding another Cartographer I felt like I was in good shape to win the Ambassador war but somehow I never could hit 6$ for the important Border Village + Cartographer buy. Powerman did, so was able to get ahead and start to reliably draw his deck and play 2 or 3 Ambassadors per turn. As usual there was no coming back at this point. To add insult to injury Powerman added a Mountebank later on to completely flood my deck with crap. I just sat it out to the end - thinking about my mistakes in the past games.

Game 6: Powerman 14-18 PitzerMike
Game 6 had a very interesting setup with Alchemist, Ambassador, Counting House, Fishing Village, Golem, Horn of Plenty, Ill-Gotten Gains, Nobles, Venture, and Village. Although there were Ambassadors I thought I could do well with an IGG opening if I just added an Ambassador on turn 3 or 4. Also I thought with the economy from IGG I could grab early Nobles and paired with the cheap villages it would allow me to draw large portions of my deck and Ambassador my opponent to death - figuratively. It turned out quite differently. The IGGs did indeed help me gain Nobles, but the additional Coppers just clogged me up too much. So while I was sitting ducks AGAIN Powerman cleared out his deck with Ambassadors and added Alchemists in the process. At the point where he passed me Curses and Estates in threes per turn I was all but dead and Powerman clearly felt like he had the upper hand too. He overlooked the Nobles, Estates and Curses running out. At the end I was able to empty the last Estates and Curses by Ambassadoring Estates without returning any and buying Curses. Powerman had a really good deck but too little economy to react in time. Puh, I got away with a black eye there - so the last game would decide.

Game 7: Powerman 26-33 PitzerMike
The final game had Baron, Council Room, Forge, Fortune Teller, Harvest, Margrave, Monument, Tribute, Watchtower, Young Witch and Wishing Well as the bane. I don't know why, but I felt that Monument / Wishing Well was a good opening here. I did get really lucky with my shuffle on turn 4 where I wished for a 5th copper and together with Monument that made 7$ for a very early Forge against Powerman's Young Witch opening. At this point I was already smelling victory. After misclicking two Forge plays (one minor) it got closer than it should have been but I was able to pull through.

Overall I think we both had our bright moments and then again some horrible blunders - I hope Powerman doesn't mind my saying that. I think we were about equally skilled and I was the luckier player this time around. I did really enjoy our series and I hope we will play again someday.

Lekkit, I'm coming for you!

[Lekkit]

Lekkit, I'm coming for you!

Probably the first time I didn't read the spoilers before reading the rest of the post. Even if you're coming for me, there's no way you can beat me.

[Dubdubdubdub]

Huh. The weirdest thing happened. Like some other players did lately (http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=5432.0), my opponent Gandi and me decided more or less at the same moment that we need to cool it with online Dominion. He sent me a personal message explaining that he's dropping out of the tournament, after we already played six games (3-3). His words described exactly what I was thinking these last weeks, so I've decided to drop out as well. Is this a big problem for the organization?

However, we did play some really cool games. The best one being this: http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/18/game-20121218-123255-e5ff958a.html

It's a very typical example of the Ambassador/Possession conundrum (Ambassador is super dangerous late-game, but just so strong early game. What to do what to do), fueled by Tournaments and Minions. I happened to get and play my Possession first, so I completely wiped Gandi out, but it could have just as easily gone the other way.

I did have fun with these games have fun in the rest of the tournament, everybody!

[mith]

Is this a big problem for the organization?

It's not the end of the world, but it kinda sucks for the guy Gandi knocked out I guess? Don't suppose we can talk either of you into finishing out the losers bracket?

[Qvist]

Like some other players did lately (http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=5432.0), my opponent Gandi and me decided more or less at the same moment that we need to cool it with online Dominion.

What is currently going on? What's the reason?

[() | (_) ^/]

Like some other players did lately (http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=5432.0), my opponent Gandi and me decided more or less at the same moment that we need to cool it with online Dominion.

What is currently going on? What's the reason?

Winter solstice.  Makes everybody crazy.  Dark days, at least in the northern hemisphere right now.

[Qvist]

I played against Tonks77 in a series with 2 Familar slogs and few games with villages.
We played without identical starting hands, with Official Point Counter and without veto.
You can watch the series here: and let you spoil below.


Link: http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/20/game-20121220-031247-8e5822ed.html
Qvist 40 - 27 Tonks77 -- This was a BM game with Militia, Lighthouse and Merchant Ship. Tonks77 tried something with Apothecary, but with no village and no +Buy, this was too slow. I soon had a 3 Province lead which she never could catch up.
Link: http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/20/game-20121220-033144-62de676c.html
Tonks77 resigned -- This was a Colony game with Familiar and Ghost Ship. I got a horrible 5/2 split, but then I saw Trading Post which was great. We both cycled through our decks with Warehouse to either play the Familiar more often (she) or trash more often (me). I picked also a Familiar up on the way to slow her down and we both picked Ghost Ship up soon. I managed to play Ghost Ship nearly every turn and got Golds and Platina later. She stalled very badly, picked up two Trading Posts, but had a lot of collisions. After I bought 4 Colonies, she resigned.
Link: http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/20/game-20121220-034801-8818dd44.html
Tonks 43 - 36 Qvist -- The third game with no village. The question was if it was worth it to go for Grand Market or not. I decided for a straight Big Money approach with Militia. She decided to go for Grand Markets with trashing with Loan and Salvager. She bought Horse Traders after she saw my Militia buy and a second one later. They got activated nearly everytime I attacked. We both picked up 3 Provinces and had to Duchy dance. Her deck was better in the long run because of the Grand Markets and I stalled really fast. She also got 2 Salvagers to my 1 Salvager which was important in the end game.
Link: http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/20/game-20121220-040003-8b3f8310.html
Qvist 23 -7 Tonks77 -- The only engine in this series with Throne Room, Bridge, Jester, Tactician, Village and Mining Village. But there were no draw, so Tactician was really important for good Bridge turns. We had the same strategy and similar decks. While the piles were running low, she had a big turn 11 and picked up a lot more engine components. I bought then a Province in turn 12 and 2 Villages to run the piles low. But one big turn could still give her the win. But in the next reshuffle we couldn't find one of our 2 Tacticians, both of them were at the end of our both decks. We got them in the same turn, but with me being first player, I could end the game by three-piling.
Link: http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/20/game-20121220-042553-d0c3443f.html
Tonks77 43 - 46 Qvist -- Another Familiar game, another one with a strong trasher: Remake. So she opened Potion/Silver, but I opened Remake/Scheme with the same strategy as in game 2 to trash heavily and outrace the Familiar. I opted for Remake because there was Native Village on the board which I could pick up on my 2$ hands. Then I remade a Silver into a Potion on the way and bought a Familiar again to slow her down, similar to game 2. I bought Provinces in turns 13 and 15 and 17, but stalled heavily. She could catch up, by getting a lot of Duchies and Silk Roads and then our decks were full of green and it was a close end game finish where I could remake to Silk Roads into the last 2 Duchies and end the game on three piles.

[Axxle]

Like some other players did lately (http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=5432.0), my opponent Gandi and me decided more or less at the same moment that we need to cool it with online Dominion.

What is currently going on? What's the reason?

Winter solstice.  Makes everybody crazy.  Dark days, at least in the northern hemisphere right now.

End of the world tomorrow. That's likely to shift priorities around.

[Insomniac]

I always wanted the LHC to have its first real firing scheduled for Today at 11:59pm just to screw with people.

[ibavly]

ibavly beats Dekryr 4-3

game 1: some ugly possession game. I made a big comeback after falling way behind early playing like crap but he pulled off the win.

game 2: black market/FG beats cutpurse/FG and I win
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/20/game-20121220-180945-87e90858.html

game 3: I win again. Open with a moneylender and get some HPs before a vault, he goes silver/silver and uses his first 5 on a vault
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/20/game-20121220-181450-9b408f1c.html

game 4: He wins on a game with nothing very interesting
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/20/game-20121220-181830-a35d364d.html

game 5: scrying pool ends up being the difference
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/20/game-20121220-182953-9fe87793.html

game 6: didn't get the log, some colony/FG game where I end up being an idiot and trying to copper load

game 7: I exited to quit game 6, so I guess it doesn't make me go first. This ends up helping me since as soon as he commits to the potion I can load a ton of moats and screw up his whole game.

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/20/game-20121220-184626-d5bd37f5.html

[Dekryr]

Here are the logs for games 1, 6 & 7. And some thoughts from a lower level player.

Game 1 log: http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/20/game-20121220-180349-a6bb8326.html
Very ugly Possession slog where I buy early green to destroy my deck for the Possession shenanigans to follow. Which works just well enough.

Game 2: This one is close. I break PPR turn 16 knowing I need the last Province to win and figuring my ghost ship will keep him from buying it next turn. The ghost ship works and holds him to an estate. I know I have to province next turn or lose. I feel my deck is good enough to do this, but I draw $7 of course and game over.

Game 3: I feel like HP-vault should get to $8 more than 3 times in 15 turns. The turn 8 province should maybe be a gold, but I'm basically playing with BM rules so IDK. The turn 10 duchy is probably a mistake though, cause it could've been gold as well.

Game 4: Yeah not that interesting. BM with caravans, a rabble and a market for me.

Game 5: I'm not good with scrying pool so I hope to ignore it. Trying to get to apprentice the peddlers, but there's no +buy so that was probably a bad plan. Anyway I don't get enough apprentices or peddlers because I worry that his deck is going too fast and I probably green a bit too early. The SP was probably the better choice anyway.

Game 6: http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/20/game-20121220-183641-d8374748.html
He doesn't really contest FG in a colony game. I use the FG to get platina and prefer Nobles at 6 for the draw. Also an early Jester doesn't hurt.

Game 7: http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/20/game-20121220-184626-d5bd37f5.html
Sort of an ugly board. And I think going first did hurt me here. Ignoring familiar, the only real option I think is Rabble BM. The game took 26 turns with only 1 province bought, so that might've worked. I ended up with all 10 curses anyway even with having the first familiar, which of course I don't get until turn 5. Moat.

Thanks to ibavly for putting up with my scheduling issues and being very flexible. I was 1 coin away from the next round, but them's the breaks. Good luck to ibavly moving forward. Also, much love to insomniac and mith for organizing this and giving us losers a second chance.

[Powerman]

I would like to share the results of my Round 2 match against Powerman.
I didn't really care about veto mode, starting hands etc. so I let Powerman decide and we played with Veto Mode on, Point Tracker on and Random Starting Hands.
It was a very close series that went the whole distance with an interesting twist in game 6.

Match result: Powerman (seed 71) 3-4 PitzerMike (seed 173)

Game 1: Powerman 53-43 PitzerMike
The first game most notably featured Baron, Border Village, Bishop and Tactician. I have to admit I was a bit lost on this board and didn't immediately see the potential of double Baron turns. We both got an early Baron and Tactician and then added a Bishop and Border Villages. While I kept trashing the BVs for VP, Powerman mostly got rid of his coppers and then was able to play double Tactician with two Barons effectively buying a Province every turn at the end. The VP from the Border Villages was not enough.

An interesting board and game.  I had (somewhat) poor luck in the middle with my Tac draws, but that wasn't too unexpected, as Double-Tac sans (good) extra draw does that.  Eventually, the bishop trashing my coppers and adding a few moats / BV's lets me draw my whole deck for a province each turn.  Phew.

Game 2: Powerman 61-73 PitzerMike
A Colony game with Pawn, Watchtower, Walled Village, Mountebank, Goons, Fairgrounds. Here I got the more lucky draws in the early game blocking Powerman's Mountebank(s) several times with my Watchtower while his Watchtower didn't do too much for him. The early lead eventually won me the Walled Village split and got me a quick first Platinum. From there Powerman could only hope to empty the Provinces or three-pile but I didn't overbuild and quickly bought 3 Colonies and then closed it out by emptying Fairgrounds.

As he said, he had much better luck with the WT, and other than that we did very similarly.  He elected to get more into building for colonies, while I hoped to end it quickly as his deck had better long term prospects.  Unfortunately, I was behind and had no way to end it.  So, that plan kinda backfired.

Game 3: Powerman 39-60 PitzerMike
This one had Cache, Counting House, Crossroads, Harem, Merchant Ship, Native Village, Thief, Silk Road. Powerman went for Cache + Counting House while I picked up 2 Merchant Ships with early 5s and a Crossroads and then only bought Harems and Provinces for the rest of the game. I think with the Crossroads + Harem synergy Counting House just wasn't ever going to be fast enough.

I almost opened Thief-Silver.  But I didn't.  And I didn't see Harem until he bought one, or I probably would have gone with CR-Harem ish stuff.  But, I think CH-Cache has possibility on this board still?  I had some bad luck with my CH draws, but... it's CH, so no surprise.  As a different person I played yesterday in a Jack vs TM/WH game, "I went with TM hoping for some luck, while you went with the good strategy with good cards.  And I tried to win with bad cards."  That's kinda what I did here with CH, Cache and Thief.

Game 4: Powerman 42-24 PitzerMike
An interesting board with the following cards: Chapel, Develop, Embargo, Explorer, Hoard, Militia, Remake, Scheme, Trading Post, and Vault. Initially I wasn't really sure if I wanted to open Chapel and was considering a BM + Vault strategy. Then Powerman opened Chapel / Vault and I wasn't really sure what to do with my 3 / 4 opening so I followed him with Chapel / Militia hoping to slow him down with Militia. Well it turns out, in a trimmed down deck Hoard is much stronger than normally, as Powerman kickstarted his economy with early Duchy buys with Hoard in play. With double Vault he didn't have any trouble closing it out on Provinces. I myself just got stuck with too many terminals and a Chapel that didn't do what I wanted.

I almost went with Trading Post - Chapel, but elected for the (slightly) stronger Vault - Chapel.  They collided T4, so I used my chapel once to trash 4 coppers.  So that was kind of a let down.  But a T1 Vault was strong enough to ride it to victory.

Game 5: Powerman 36-14 PitzerMike
Adventurer, Ambassador, Border Village, Cartographer, Courtyard, Duke, Mint, Mountebank, Philosopher's Stone and Smugglers. Mountebank wasn't really an option, so I opened Cartographer / Courtyard into double Ambassador as a response to Powerman's double Ambassador opening. After adding another Cartographer I felt like I was in good shape to win the Ambassador war but somehow I never could hit 6$ for the important Border Village + Cartographer buy. Powerman did, so was able to get ahead and start to reliably draw his deck and play 2 or 3 Ambassadors per turn. As usual there was no coming back at this point. To add insult to injury Powerman added a Mountebank later on to completely flood my deck with crap. I just sat it out to the end - thinking about my mistakes in the past games.

5/2 is always tough against Double Amb.  But as P1, I think I would have opened Mountebank and hoped the Amb's for me collided or something.  Idk.  I was ahead the whole time, and there wasn't much he could do to come back once I started cursing him too.

Game 6: Powerman 14-18 PitzerMike
Game 6 had a very interesting setup with Alchemist, Ambassador, Counting House, Fishing Village, Golem, Horn of Plenty, Ill-Gotten Gains, Nobles, Venture, and Village. Although there were Ambassadors I thought I could do well with an IGG opening if I just added an Ambassador on turn 3 or 4. Also I thought with the economy from IGG I could grab early Nobles and paired with the cheap villages it would allow me to draw large portions of my deck and Ambassador my opponent to death - figuratively. It turned out quite differently. The IGGs did indeed help me gain Nobles, but the additional Coppers just clogged me up too much. So while I was sitting ducks AGAIN Powerman cleared out his deck with Ambassadors and added Alchemists in the process. At the point where he passed me Curses and Estates in threes per turn I was all but dead and Powerman clearly felt like he had the upper hand too. He overlooked the Nobles, Estates and Curses running out. At the end I was able to empty the last Estates and Curses by Ambassadoring Estates without returning any and buying Curses. Powerman had a really good deck but too little economy to react in time. Puh, I got away with a black eye there - so the last game would decide.

This is one of the saddest losses of my life.  I'm not sure what I was thinking T23, as that should be "Return 1 Estate; Return 2 Ambassadors" and I win easily.  But I stupidly sent over enough trash that he could end the game out.  Bleh.

Game 7: Powerman 26-33 PitzerMike
The final game had Baron, Council Room, Forge, Fortune Teller, Harvest, Margrave, Monument, Tribute, Watchtower, Young Witch and Wishing Well as the bane. I don't know why, but I felt that Monument / Wishing Well was a good opening here. I did get really lucky with my shuffle on turn 4 where I wished for a 5th copper and together with Monument that made 7$ for a very early Forge against Powerman's Young Witch opening. At this point I was already smelling victory. After misclicking two Forge plays (one minor) it got closer than it should have been but I was able to pull through.

This was a game with a distinct P2 advantage (as many YW games are) I think.  I have to decide T1 whether to go for the bane and I do.  So then he can skip YW to begin, and I have a bad opening.  He also gets to wait for me to buy YW before having to decide whether to buy a bane, so after the opening I know I'm in big trouble.  T4 my YW triggers the reshuffle and he has the bane and I know I have not much chance to win.

Overall I think we both had our bright moments and then again some horrible blunders - I hope Powerman doesn't mind my saying that. I think we were about equally skilled and I was the luckier player this time around. I did really enjoy our series and I hope we will play again someday.

Lekkit, I'm coming for you!

Yep yep nothing more to be said.

[PitzerMike]

Lekkit, I'm coming for you!

... Even if you're coming for me, there's no way you can beat me ...

... he said not knowing that he was already on a path to obliteration. 

[Antonidas]

EgorK and I managed to get in some games today. With luck we'll be able to finish the match tomorrow.

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/21/game-20121221-021931-104da203.html
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/21/game-20121221-023103-482526e9.html
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/21/game-20121221-024126-0658020a.html
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/21/game-20121221-030420-0d72a679.html
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/21/game-20121221-031816-33391d3b.html

[Kayo]

Overall:  Kayo 4, Cuzz 2

Game 1:  Kayo 16, Cuzz 1  http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/21/game-20121221-083518-68e148c7.html
Highway, Minion, Horn of Plenty, Fishing Village, Develop, Loan, Haven, Pearl Diver … kind of crazy spread, good fodder for doing HoP.  The Highways reduced costs so you don't have to have as high deck diversity, but that didn't end up meaning much—I ended it early, because Cuzz had a lot of HoPs and might have had a lucky turn (or pair of turns), getting a Province lead that I couldn't counter.  I could also have used HoPs to get Provinces, but I saw the chance to end on a win and took it.

Game 2:  Cuzz 48, Kayo 33  http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/21/game-20121221-084342-d7eb7beb.html
Governor, Masquerade, Bishop, Familiar.  I decided to ignore Familiar and Sea Hag, and just use Bishop to clean up my deck while Cuzz wasted time buying Potions or Sea Hags.  It might have worked if I'd bought more Bishops, but Cuzz wracked up a Governor deck and I just couldn't compete.  You'd think I'd've learned from the regular round that I need to have a better plan if I want to ignore Familiar, but no ...

Game 3:  Kayo 37, Cuzz 27  http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/21/game-20121221-084831-adf7d167.html
Village was the Bane card for Young Witch, and with Embassy on the board I figured I'd try to chain them together, more or less.  Embassy doesn't really need that support, but since Village served another purpose, I went for it anyway.  It was close, but I guess my extra Embassy made the difference.

Game 4:  Cuzz 38, Kayo 23  http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/21/game-20121221-085323-f4da95ca.html
Fool's Gold.  We were both Fools, but I was the bigger one; I ended up with only four, so I trashed them for golds as soon as I could.  Didn't work out, I didn't have much of a plan.  Cuzz went straight for FG and won easily.

Game 5:  Kayo 36, Cuzz 34  http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/21/game-20121221-090330-ace57af1.html
Cuzz went for Sea Hag; I went for IGG.  Sort of.  Neither of us were hugely successful at cursing the other into oblivion, because Remake and Watchtower were on the board.  I got Hoard off of the Black Market, but otherwise didn't buy much (one Ambassador that was probably a mistake).  I accumulated Golds and eventually just had to wait until my deck lined up enough cash to buy Provinces.  Cuzz bought a Goons of the Black Market, which was the only +buy in the game.

Game 6:  Kayo 41, Cuzz 28  http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/21/game-20121221-090835-de42acd9.html
I bought a Remake, it collided several times so I changed tactics to Apprentice.  I had the advantage in Gold (though I only had 2, still not sure how it worked out), Cuzz had the advantage in Wharves … but I had a much trimmer deck from the Apprentices.  I made a somewhat risky penultimate Province purchase, but figured my advantage in Gold would be more beneficial than Cuzz's Wharf lead.  It worked out, though there were a couple of failed turns before I finally managed to buy the last Province.

Overall, a fairly fun set of games; nothing too extreme, no slog games, but always pretty close.  We had a fair number of Cursing games, but also had trashers so the Cursers weren't (usually) as big a problem as they could have been.  Thanks to Cuzz for playing!

[Antonidas]

Antonidas defeats EgorK 4-2

Game 1 (A 30 - E 17): There were some different directions to try here, but we ended up in roughly the same place. I got some great draws, and so my early tactician accelerated me into a mini-hamlet/ghost ship engine. Salvager accelerated the endgame in my favor.
Game 2 (A 21 - E 38): Hamlet and watchtower appeared again, with library added in for good measure! EgorK opened bishop/silver while I chose watchtower/silver. I stumbled badly with several bad buys, like getting a royal seal and not having any hamlets for extra buys early enough. Meanwhile my opponent built a simpler, more effective engine, and his bishop points locked me out of any possible comeback.
Game 3 (A 44 - E 66): Warehouse/tunnel was the dominant synergy here. Again I was a little too fancy, by opening with a potion that did pretty much nothing and then rushing silk roads. EgorK's spice merchant was a much better opener, and he could easily grab 7 provinces to cinch another win.
Game 4 (A 41 - E 13): IGG was present in this game but it was mitigated by remake and masquerade. I assembled a rather unwieldy engine using hunting party, shanty town, courtyard, and horse traders. It never quite got to double province territory, but it got the job done.
Game 5 (A 43 - E 31): More IGG's and remakes! We both splurged for familiars, with me going heavier on them in anticipation of buying vineyards later. Curses ran out really quickly so we settled into a lengthy deck-cleaning phase. I think the acceleration from my chancellors did some good work, but the eventual harvest-fueled endgame was still quite close.
Game 6 (A 27 - E 25): A bit of an anticlimactic finish. Some powerful cursers were nullified by the presence of masquerade as the bane card, so we both played masquerade + treasures. I supplemented with some caches and managed to luck out a quick win.

A very fun set of games. Thanks and best wishes to EgorK!

[zaubererer]

I have just defeated Tdog 4-0 after four close games.I will comment the games tomorrow.Here are the logs.

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/22/game-20121222-042514-4300a2b3.html
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/22/game-20121222-043011-539eedfc.html
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/22/game-20121222-043656-10e8c24b.html
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/22/game-20121222-044231-fb6a3a09.html

[Tdog]

Tdog was swept by zaubererer 4-0. A bad defeat for me, he played much better then me.

Game 1: Zaubererer 40 - Tdog 39
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/22/game-20121222-042514-4300a2b3.html

Not much going on here as we choose BM just with slightly different enablers, I go smithy he goes Envoy. His first turn advantage here lets him take the win one turn before I might have been able to . A turn 17 draw where I couldn't even buy an estate is killer, that estate he picks up over me is the difference.

Game 2: Zaubererer 37 - Tdog 26
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/22/game-20121222-043011-539eedfc.html

This game had literally nothing going on. We both pick up a remake on the opening then add mostly money (and banks). My remake missing the shuffle then both of my estates was killer, I also misclicked and trashed a silver instead of a copper. This was closer then the score indicated, I could have won on my next turn.

Game 3: Zaubererer 12 - Tdog 9
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/22/game-20121222-043656-10e8c24b.html

By far the most interesting of the set, a game with piles that were going to run and cities. I go for fishing villages as my complement to cities, he goes with pawns. His pawns seem to be the better choice, as he chains a ton of them together on the last turn to end it on piles. I think emptying the city pile was a mistake on my part.

Game 4: Zaubererer 29 - Tdog 27
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/22/game-20121222-044231-fb6a3a09.html

Minion game here. He won the minion split thanks to his surprisingly effective universities. A very tight game here as well. He wins it by three piling out.

Thanks for the series Zaubererer. All the games were close despite the 4-0 score. Good luck in the rest of the tournament.

[Powerman]

Tdog was swept by zaubererer 4-0. A bad defeat for me, he played much better then me.

Game 1: Zaubererer 40 - Tdog 39
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/22/game-20121222-042514-4300a2b3.html

Not much going on here as we choose BM just with slightly different enablers, I go smithy he goes Envoy. His first turn advantage here lets him take the win one turn before I might have been able to . A turn 17 draw where I couldn't even buy an estate is killer, that estate he picks up over me is the difference.

Just for my curiosity, on his last turn, why do you have him discard his gold instead of Shanty Town?  After he revealed his hand with his first ST, he showed the gold would have left him wit $7 instead of the remote chance of getting to $8 with a ST.

[Tdog]

Tdog was swept by zaubererer 4-0. A bad defeat for me, he played much better then me.

Game 1: Zaubererer 40 - Tdog 39
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/22/game-20121222-042514-4300a2b3.html

Not much going on here as we choose BM just with slightly different enablers, I go smithy he goes Envoy. His first turn advantage here lets him take the win one turn before I might have been able to . A turn 17 draw where I couldn't even buy an estate is killer, that estate he picks up over me is the difference.

Just for my curiosity, on his last turn, why do you have him discard his gold instead of Shanty Town?  After he revealed his hand with his first ST, he showed the gold would have left him wit $7 instead of the remote chance of getting to $8 with a ST.

I wasn't paying enough attention, you are right though I should've had him discard the shanty town.

[dudeabides]

Round 2 Match Results


dudeabides defeats warrior297 4-1

Rules: Identical starting hands, official point tracker, and veto mode.

Overall, the series was very close, with 3 games decided by 3 points or less.  In two games, the loser of the game had the opportunity to end the game in a tie, but in each case decided to go for the win.  I remove the "297" from my opponent's name in the descriptions so that the only numbers are the score.

Game 1:   dudeabides 81 warrior 53
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/22/game-20121222-085841-84c8cbd1.html
Kingdom: Colony, Crossroads, Duke, Haven, Lighthouse, Native Village, Oasis, Platinum, Potion, Salvager, Scrying Pool, Talisman, and Transmute

In a Colony match featuring Dukes, warrior goes for the Duchy/Dukes and a quick game, while I go for a slower Scrying Pool engine.  I get a bit nervous when warrior gets his 7th Duchy on turn 13, but his deck slows significantly from this point on.  Meanwhile, my deck speeds up and I am able to pull 3 Colonies, 2 Colonies, 2 Colonies, and 1 Colony in 4 consecutive turns. With Crossroads on the board, I feel like warrior could have gotten a couple to help his late game, but the Scrying Pool engine was likely a superior strategy in this one.
   
Game 2   warrior 50 dudeabides 48
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/22/game-20121222-091537-90a76bce.html   
Kingdom: Cartographer, City, Crossroads, Farming Village, Festival, Fishing Village, Moneylender, Nobles, Silk Road, and Wharf

An interesting set of kingdom cards.  The early game is a mirror game with both of us going for Fishing Villages and Wharves.  I plan to go Nobles and Silk Roads for a longer game, while warrior goes for Provinces.  I am a bit too slow in getting Silk Roads, and warrior capitalizes on this by buying the last 4 on turn 15, giving him a 9 point lead.  With the Silk Road pile empty, I could buy 2 Nobles, 1 Fishing Village, and an Estate to end the game in a tie (4 Silk Roads increase by a point each, 4 points from the Nobles, and 1 from the Estate).  But I buy 2 Provs instead, putting me up 7, hoping he only has enough to buy a Prov and an Estate.  He has enough for a Prov and a Duchy, and wins by 2. 

   
Game 3   dudeabides 26 warrior 25
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/22/game-20121222-093041-977934fa.html
Kingdom: Apprentice, Cache, Caravan, Conspirator, Develop, Moneylender, Philosopher's Stone, Potion, Shanty Town, Torturer, and Workshop.

We both open Caravan/Workshop, and I get a 6/4 Caravan split.  We both get our first Torturers at about the same time.  The second time I hit $5, I go for Apprentice, while warrior instead makes the right decision and buys a 2nd Torturer.  Big mistake on my part.  On my Turn 15, I empty Conspirators with a Workshop and buy a Duchy to go up by 1 point. On his Turn 15, warrior Workshops the 2nd to last Shanty Town, and I take a Curse from his 2nd Torturer to offer him a chance to tie by buying the last Shanty Town. Instead, he (probably makes a good decision and) buys a Prov to go for the win.  Down by 6 points, I, with incredible luck, draw my Apprentice and Workshop and $8.  I trash the curse I took during his Turn 15, get the last Shanty Town with the Workshop, and buy a Province to win by 1 point.  Lucky drawing helps me not have to pay for my Apprentice mistake.
   
Game 4   dudeabides 44 warrior 13
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/22/game-20121222-094443-71e2e59b.html   
Kingdom: City, Contraband, Goons, Harem, Jack of All Trades, Lighthouse, Masquerade, Moat, Royal Seal, and Throne Room

In a much closer game than the score would indicate, we both go for the Goons VP win.  My strategy is slightly different in that I buy a Contraband and a Royal Seal.  On several occasions when I come up short by not drawing a Lighthouse, I play Contraband and Royal Seal. Warrior prevents me from buying Goons, and I top-deck a City and a Moat for defense and draws.  The turning point in this game is (as with the two previous games) Turn 15, when I play Goons on a defenseless warrior and follow with Masquerade.  He passes me a Throne Room.  On turn 16, with Cities activated for +2 Cards, the Throne Room received from Warrior on turn 15 gives me enough buys with Goons to buy out the Lighthouses and Moats.  In hindsight, maybe warrior should have discarded Goons and Lighthouse, leaving a Copper to pass to me and a Throne Room/City for draws?  Given our nearly identical decks (except I had more Moats), it seems like this game could have gone either way; I just happened to be the first to hit a big hand. 
   
Game 5   dudeabides 6 warrior 3
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/22/game-20121222-095533-d83f58e8.html   
Kingdom: Contraband, Fortune Teller, Ill-Gotten Gains, Potion, Rabble, Spice Merchant, Trading Post, University, Vault, Watchtower, and Wharf

In a very fast 10-turn University game featuring Watchtower, Wharf and Vault, we follow nearly identical strategies until I grab a Trading Post, a Vault, and a 2nd Spice Merchant while he grabs 3 Rabbles.  Down by 2 points at the start of my Turn 10, there are 5 Watchtowers, 1 University, and an empty Wharf pile.  I draw a 9-card hand with 2 Unis, a Vault, and a Watchtower.  I decide to throw a hail mary and attempt to end the game either ahead or tied.  I get 2 Watchtowers with Unis, discard my entire hand except for the Watchtower, and draw 6 more cards (Uni, Wharf, Estate, 2 Silvers, Spice Merchant).  I play Uni (gaining Watchtower) and Wharf, drawing a 2nd Spice Merchant and a Copper, which I use to draw a Wharf and Uni.  Another Uni for Watchtower, and I draw Potion and Trading Post with the Wharf.  The Silver from Trading Post (trashing Estate and Spice Merchant) gives me enough $ to buy a Prov, while the Potion enables me to buy the last Uni with enough $ leftover for the last Watchtower.  In hindsight, lucky draws give me the victory on this one.  Without reshuffling, I drew my next hand: 3 Watchtowers, a Wharf, and a Copper.  If I had drawn a Watchtower instead of Trading Post, I would have likely ended this game in a tie instead of a victory.  If I hadn't drawn Potion, I wouldn't have been able to end the game at all, leaving it wide open for warrior to end it ahead.  I chalk this anti-climactic end of the series up to stupidly risky play and lucky drawing on my part.

All-in-all, this was a much closer series than 4-1 would indicate.  Warrior297 said he started the Dominionstrategy tournament with a 14 ranking, which he had improved to 30 by the time of our games this morning.  Keep up the good play, warrior297!  Thanks to warrior297 for a good set of games and thanks to Insomniac and mith for organizing the Rats division for all of us losers ;-) 

[AdamH]

AdamH over Destierro 4-2

Here's a link to the video playlist

Game 1: AdamH
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/22/game-20121222-105824-96557adf.html
Hamlet+Peddler game with Smithy, Mint, Lab, and Colonies. I get a Hamlet instead of a silver, and as a result I win the Peddler split 8-2. Both of us get 5-copper Mint buys, but I'm able to Mint Platinums and he can't get there.

Game 2: not completed (no contest)
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/22/game-20121222-111207-726398af.html
KC+draw cards with Baron and no trashing. Windows Update decided to show up for my opponent and reboot him in the middle of the game, and he couldn't get back on before Iso auto-resigned him, so we agreed to make this one no contest. Unfortunate, because it would have been fun to play. He told me he had KC+KC+draw in his hand when he got booted 

Game 3: AdamH
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/22/game-20121222-113403-373854d8.html
Ambassador game with Wharf, Worker's Village, and Crossroads. I stop for a bit to get a couple of Wharves in play each turn and that turns the Ambassador war in my favor. I see an opportunity to fill him full of curses and three-pile, so that's the route I take (sorry  ). He does spike a Platinum and gets a Province, which makes the endgame sort of interesting.

Game 4: AdamH
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/22/game-20121222-113823-da202e5e.html
Workshop+Gardens mirror. Flip a coin, and I win from second position. If you ask me, I got pretty lucky here.

Game 5: Destierro
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/22/game-20121222-114947-7795e4f2.html
Apprentice + Salvager + Border Village with Trading Post. I underestimate my opponent's deck and pay the price for it.

Game 6: Destierro
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/22/game-20121222-120100-34c08628.html
Wharf engine vs. Fool's Gold into Crossroads+Wharf. My game didn't go as planned due to (I think) some bad luck, but my opponent beat me so badly I don't think better luck would have gotten me a win. I'm curious to know what the best strategy here is.

Game 7: AdamH
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/22/game-20121222-121014-0d51416b.html
Wharf game with Chapel, Lighthouse, and tons of Alt VP cards. We open 2/5, he gets a Chapel and I get a Lighthouse. He gets to 4 Provinces lightning-quick, but that last province sits there unbought while both of our decks stall hard. We scramble with all of the Alt-VP cards for a while until I can put together a lucky hand at the right time to buy the last Province while ahead. We had a discussion about which strategy was better here, which I think was inconclusive. I don't think this game was a good barometer, unless it means the correct answer was an opening of either Wharf/nothing or Wharf/copper.

Destierro was a nice guy throughout the process. Thanks for the games and the discussion.

[zaubererer]

A comment for my games versus Tdog.Easy boards my bigger experience gave me the win and luck in some occations.4-0 is not a result reflecting our games maybe 4-2 would be more fair.In the first game i won because i bought the estate which gave me the victory immediatly after reshuffling,being sure i would reach 8 coins in my next turns.In game two,he bought an uneccesary trading post,but he also was unlucky.By turn 5 i had played remake 2 times and he only once.This was a big advantage for me and i won easily the game.I also misclicked once in turn 15 when i could have bought my 4th province,ensuring that i would win .In the third game,(with city being an important card) we both didnt want to buy the last city so city was weak.when he did buy the last city it was late because 2 more piles were also depleted and i managed to buy pawn,fishing village province and win.As for the last game,i was lucky to buy the last 2 minions.University would only be a good choice if it was bought in the first 2 rounds.Overall,i think i played better at games 2,3,4 but if i had lost game 1 everythink would be diferent in the next games(i would again be that anxious that i would play big money mostly).

[Simon (DK)]

Simon (DK) (197) beats Lekkit (36) 4-3! =D
Sorry PitzerMike. I got him first

The only difference from the official rules is that we played with random starting hands.

Game 1: Simon (DK) (23) - Lekkit (32) (0-1)
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/23/game-20121223-041021-aefdbd02.html
I open Steward/Conspirator. He opens Great Hall/Remake.
We both go double Tactician. I get started on provinces 1 turn earlier than him, but he can buy 2 provinces per turn with help from Peddlers and Highways and win. I should have done that too. I always forget to take the free Peddlers, and this game was no exception.

Game 2: Simon (DK) (34) - Lekkit (37) (0-2)
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/23/game-20121223-042731-90d85ad9.html
I have a 5/2 opening on a board without any 2's, so I buy an Inn, shuffle it into the deck, and buy a swindler. He open swindler/swindler.
We both buy some stashes. I buy 4 and he buys 2.
Swindler is an important card in this game, and we both hit eachother several times.
We each end the game with 4 provinces, 3 duchys, 3 estates and 3 curses, but he has 3 great halls more than me.

Game 3: Simon (DK) (69) - Lekkit (49) (1-2)
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/23/game-20121223-043953-ec9de639.html
A Colony board.
I open Silver/Potion. He opens nothing/Contraband
I buy another potion afterwards and get 6 Alchemists. I could have gotten more, but I didn't really need more, and they would have been too expensive.
I throw in 2 Conspirators, 1 Platinum and 1 Baron, and get 6 Colonies before my Alchemist chain is broken.
He builds an engine with Peddlers, Alchemists, Worker's Villages, Conspirators, a Baron, and big money, and buys a lot of provinces, sometimes 2 in 1 turn.
When my Alchemist chain is broken, he can still win by buying the last 2 colonys, but I manage to get the last province and end the game.

Game 4: Lekkit (29) - Simon (DK) (46) (2-2)
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/23/game-20121223-044701-4d9f52d4.html
He opens Baron/Lighthouse and I open Silver/Baron.
We both get 2 Margraves after that.
He buys 9 Lighthouses, which I think is too many. I beat him with a mix of big money and some action cards, getting 6 of the provinces.

Game 5: Lekkit (61) - Simon (DK) (37) (3-2)
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/23/game-20121223-050320-9bca00ce.html
He opens nothing/Ghost Ship. I remembered having just read at Councilroom, that Tournament/Masquerade was 1 of the top 10 openings, so I open with that, but it's a Colony board without anything good at getting Tournament/Province together (except maybe scheme, but I think you would have to devote yourself too much to that), so I don't buy a Province before my last turn.
I get a Ghost Ship myself, but his 2 Ghost Ships hit me too hard. I get more Grand Markets than him, and manage to get 3 Colonies, but that doesn't help much when he gets 5.

Game 6: Simon (DK) (35) - Lekkit (34) (3-3)
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/23/game-20121223-051617-7361b16f.html
There's no 2's and we both have a 5/2 opening. I open Stables and he opens Royal Seal.
I get a Militia and a Swindler and use Stables to draw them. He gets 2 militias, topdecking them with Royal Seal and drawing them with Stables (but I have a Stables more than him).
I think my Swindler hits pretty well going copper-->curse, copper-->curse, Militia-->Salvager and Shanty Town-->Lookout. I probably wait with greening below Provinces for too long, so I get in troubles in the end, but luckily I can end the game with buying a Farmland and turning Gold into Province for a 1 point win.

Game 7: Lekkit (37) - Simon (DK) (47) (3-4)
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/23/game-20121223-052744-98b4a77b.html
I think I'm in troubles when I get a 5/2 start on a board with Ambassador, but because of my Cartographer I can play my Ambassador (that I get on turn 3) almost every turn.
He opens Bridge/Ambassador and I open Haven/Cartographer.
This board also has the Hoard/Harem combo and an Adventure (but neither of us gets an Adventure).
A single time I buy an estate when I have hoard in play, and hand him the estate afterwards with my Ambassador.
He buys 2 Expands. I got and Ambassador to remove the bad cards and the good cards are something I don't want to Expand, so I ignore Expands completely.
I win the game with a 6/2 Province split.