http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/25/game-20121225-115828-d5c10a1c.htmlOpening 2/5 with Familiar was not that great, I started Torturer/nothing against his Potion/Scheme. Then we both went for Familiars (I got Potion turn 3 and he could not buy Familiar until turn 7, so my opening didn't hurt as much as I was afraid of) and his worked better due to Schemes.
After 12 turns I was losing Curses 3-5 and with no Familiar in hand I was quite sure I'm going to lose the split, quite likely even 3-7 (he had Scheme topdecked). The only thing I liked about my deck was that I had some economy (Vault, Goons, 3 Silvers) while he had mostly cantrips doing nothing as soon as Curses ran out (3 Familiars, 2 Schemes, 2 Pearl Divers - all he could use to buy good cards were Apothecary and Philosopher's Stone, one of each). So, seeing that once he gets some economy he should be able to buy Colonies, my plan was to end the game before he can do it. I decided to empty Pearl Divers and Schemes - two cheap cantrips, already a few taken, and they will let my pseudoengine run at least from time to time despite all Curses and Coppers getting in the way.
Next turns I was:
- buying as many cheap cards as possible when I played Goons (Scheme, Pearl Diver, Copper whenever I had buys left),
- buying big cards that sped up my plan (second Vault, 2 Grand Markets) or upped my score (a Province 3 turns before I ended the game) whenever I got Vault or some money but no Goons,
- topdecking Goons whenever possible, if not, Grand Market or Vault.
And somehow this worked - I ended the game 7 points ahead, just after he bought his first Colony and had some working economy (1 Goons, 2 Vaults, 1 Grand Market, 3 Philosopher's Stones at $5). So I'm mostly happy with how the game went, but it gave me a lot to think about and I'd appreciate an opinion of more experienced players.
I'm sure that my turn 11 Familiar buy was wrong, I should go with Scheme there - it was sure at least 6 Curses will be gone before I have any chance to play it. Was there any other place where I could speed my game up? Were Coppers for 1 extra point from Goons (turns 13, 16, 19) worth it? Do you see some other way to cope with so many Curses I overlooked?
