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[-Stef-]

I just played a game with this set:

Baron, Counting House, Fool's Gold, Grand Market, Haven, Jester, Loan, Noble Brigand, Spy, and Trading Post.

I opened 5/2 and my opponent 4/3, which is really really unfair here. The game was sort of immediately over, so that's not what this post is about.
I can play Trading Post into Grand Market, and WW just can not. Dominion isn't always fair, especially if you look at a single game. But oh well, I was on the short end of a 5/2 opening a game later and losing to that.

However, in this game, the play I'm proud of is on turn 6, where I get to $6 for the first time (unfortunately with coppers).
In my opinion, the best buy is now a Spy. Second best buy would be nothing.

I don't want to buy a Jester, because if I flip a fool's gold (not unlikely) I have no clue who to give it to. But I guess it would be an option after a few spies, because inserting a few curses/extra coppers into his deck is also quite good.
I don't want to buy a gold, because all that I'm interested in is increasing the frequency of my Trading Post. And once I start drawing Grand Markets, I want to draw them all, not some silly gold that's in the way.
I don't want a second Trading Post, because they would only clash and annoy each other by taking the spot of a copper/estate that wants to be trashed.

[philosophyguy]

Can you explain why you didn't find Fool's Gold compelling in this setup? There's both early +Buy (Baron) as well as late (Grand Market), FG enables GM buys (especially with Baron), and there are options to sustain FG density either with Haven or with Trading Post trashing of Coppers.

[Polk5440]

Knowing when and how much to underbuy (or not buy) is definitely a skill the top players have that I do not.

Thanks for sharing this example.

[-Stef-]

Can you explain why you didn't find Fool's Gold compelling in this setup? There's both early +Buy (Baron) as well as late (Grand Market), FG enables GM buys (especially with Baron), and there are options to sustain FG density either with Haven or with Trading Post trashing of Coppers.

I actually did think about opening Fool's Gold for quite a while. But in the end I decided that this line should be stronger. And as I don't think WW made any serious errors or had a lot of bad luck (Baron with an estate on t4 and t5), I guess the game proved me right.

Fool's Gold without cursers is strong. With some nice enablers it's really strong. But Trading Post/Haven into Grand Markets is a special kind of strong
Compare this game where my opponent opens 5/2 on a board with Trading Post and Grand Market, also without a village or other forms of trashing. I get completely destroyed.
 
It does need a cheaper card you can spam, or you really need the discipline not to buy anything. Caravan or Scheme would be good, Wishing Well or Spy reasonable, and even Pearl Diver could maybe fill the spot. You need something you can buy that helps at least a little bit, and Spy is definitely good enough.

Opening Trading Post/Fools Gold is a strong option too of course. I will probably get a stronger deck, and if I can split them 5-5 due to being player 1 I'm in good shape. But I also may very well lose the FG split 4-6 against a Baron/Fools Gold opening, and then I'm not so sure. The problem with Trading Post/Fool's Gold is that the first couple of turns I'm trying to do two very opposing things (play Trading Post often, so don't put too many cards in there that don't draw, and at the same time win the FG split).

[WanderingWinder]

I don't think it's a slam dunk - my fool's golds didn't come up as well as they could have, you spy stuff decently well, silver was the worst thing I could hit with my jester, and I didn't lose THAT badly - but of course you're going to win this a pretty good majority of the time. Like you say, this one and the one after (where I won), a combination of first turn and shuffle disparity make it just tough to do anything. And that happens sometimes.

As for improvements on my play, I think the only big thing probably is getting a province on the turn I bought Grand Market, which didn't really do a ton for me.

[GendoIkari]

Did you consider Haven instead of Spy?