Excellent article! I agree with virtually all of your points. I like the format - you have a blue "BM" in one of the spoiler-ed paragraphs, which I don't like, but other than that, it's quite good. Yes, it's different from the annotated games, and I like those as well. I might like these better. Well, there's room for variety anyway.
The big thing here is that you stress playing differently depending on what your opponent does. This is huge. This is really big, one of the biggest things I see lacking in people's play - they tend to pick something, but their heads down and just go with it. But very often you need to be adaptable. So I very much like that you talk about this, and how you talk about it.
As far as disagreements... I think, in the engine I don't think I would ever want the second mine. Maybe a second ironworks in a mirror... maybe. I want lots of farming villages, lot of courtyards, a few schemes, and really I can play mine enough to turn copper into silver without getting a second mine - it will be not-so-useful very quickly, and I need to do other things. Two ironworks, well, I think not, because in the mirror getting some points quicker is going to be more important - helps you control three pile endings. Anyway, I am not so sure here, and this is really minor - probably you want and see what your draws give you, and what your opponent does, anyway.
But the slightly more important thing is the BM. Well, I don't think this is actually a disagreement, but I REALLY don't want ironworks in a mirror, or really anything other than courtyards, green, and treasure. Like I said, I think you more or less agree here, I would just have it said more explicitly.
Now the big thing though, is playing money against the engine. Saying you don't want fairgrounds or duchies ever is an exaggeration. There are a couple options you have, and I'm not sure which is better. First, is getting some extra cards, a la a scheme (which doesn't hurt you really), a mining village, maybe an ironworks, a grand market if a good opportunity arises (actually against the engine, you probably want to try to maneuver for a GM or two in any case). If you can get up to ten uniques, definitely contest those fairgrounds after you are at maybe 5 provinces. They are 4 points to you, and your engining opponent is counting on them for 6. The other route you can take is more straight money, which I think is how I would lean. In this case, you really want to hold off until late, but there are a few cases where you buy cheaper green anyway. First and foremost, if you are going to need the points to get back the lead, or stop engine player from ending with a win, well you are in bad shape but you must get the duchy or whatever at this point. But, after 6 or maybe seven provinces, certainly if you expect this is to be your last shuffle, you can start getting cheaper ones. And maybe you go fairgrounds over duchy anyway - it is a one point difference for you, but probably much more for your opponent. And you can always try to back-door them up to more points. The engine is going to clog pretty badly. Part of the point is, there are three ways money player can win. First, and most straightforward, is piledriving the provinces. Second is running out a third pile while still in the lead - the threat of doing this can slow the engine opponent down in some cases, particularly if they've spent a lot of time building up and have kingdom piles low. Third is getting half the VP - well, ensuring that opponent can't get more than your total score, including fairgrounds bumps. This isn't so likely, with the huge amount of points that are out, BUT if you force engine guy to start in on duchies with the threat of low piles, maybe it comes in.
In general though, unless you are going for the 4 point fairgrounds via ironworks and such in the first place, you want to head for probably at LEAST 6 provinces before you look elsewhere.
Finally, everyone who thinks the engine wins easily here (which is seemingly almost everyone except -Stef-), I will gladly take challenges.
