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Author Topic: Combo: Hermit/Madman + Market Square  (Read 66207 times)

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Herowannabe

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Combo: Hermit/Madman + Market Square
« on: February 05, 2013, 09:58:38 pm »
+70

I'm sure I'm not the first one to see this combo, but I searched and can't find it mentioned anywhere, so I thought I'd try my hand at writing an article about it. This is my first article (first post actually) so feel free to comment and offer suggestions.

I want to preface this by saying that this is probably a combo for advanced players. It requires a careful balance, a knowledge of exactly what's in your deck, as well precise timing to pull off correctly, without which your deck could easily flop.

The gist of the combo is this: grab as many hermits as you can, then grab as many Market Squares as you can while you turn most of your hermits into madmen. Then, in one explosive mega-turn, use the Madmen to draw your whole deck then use the Market Squares and remaining hermits and madmen to simultaneously gain a whole bunch of golds and draw them into your hand, then buy a bunch of victory cards and end the game. Sound far fetched? Let me explain.


STEP 1 - Grab the Hermits

Ideally you should open Hermit-Hermit, then on your next turns, use the hermits to gain more hermits in addition to buying any hermits you can afford. If you can't afford to buy a Hermit then don't buy anything that turn and let the Hermit you played change into a Madman. (Note, if you draw any of your Madmen then resist the temptation to use them! You'll need them later.) If you use the Hermits' trashing ability, make sure you leave at least 1 estate/shelter/useless card in your deck to trash later.

Ideally you should aim to grab 9 of the hermits, but if you can't grab 9 then 7 will work (5 is less useful, but maybe not completely disastrous). There isn't much use in gaining an even number of Hermits, so if you can't get the 9th or 7th Hermit, don't bother with the 8th or 6th. Move on to step 2 instead.


Step 2 - Turn Hermits into Madmen while grabbing Market Squares.

Start grabbing as many Market Squares as you can. You do not need to empty the market square pile completely- it's a good idea to leave a few behind to pick up with your hermits on your megaturn if you think your opponent will leave them there.

At the same time start turning more Hermits into Madmen. Your goal should be to have exactly 3 more Madmen then you have Hermits (ie: 6 Madmen and 3 Hermits, or 5 and 2).

Also, beware of letting your deck grow too big (ie: if your opponent is filling it with curses/ruins and you are Hermit/MSing them into golds). The ideal deck size is 29 cards or less. You'll see why in the next step.

Step 3 - Determining when to pull the trigger

I made this its own step because sometimes even when your deck is ready you will want to wait a few turns before pulling the trigger.

There are many things to consider when deciding when to pull the trigger, but here are the most crucial ones:
•Your deck: it should be 29 cards or less, and is composed of your starting 7 coppers, 1-3 Estates/Shelters, exactly 3 more Madmen than you have Hermits, as many Market Squares as possible, and maybe a gold or two.
•Your hand: it should have at least 2 Madmen in it, and you haven't been hit by any hand-size reduction attacks this turn. Pulling the trigger with only 1 Madman in hand is risky- you might miss drawing a second one.
•The kingdom: There should probably be enough nearly-empty piles that you can end the game quickly, and you want to make sure you don't wait too long and give your opponent(s) enough time to snatch up too many provinces.

Beyond this I don't know what else to tell you about deciding when to pull the trigger. At the very least I suggest that you practice this combo a few times solo or against a computer before trying it against a live opponent.

Step 4 - KaBOOM!

Pulling the Trigger should go something like this:
Play your first Madman, drawing 4 cards.
Play your second Madman, drawing 7 cards.
Play your third Madman, drawing 13 cards. Assuming you kept your deck 29 cards or smaller, you should now have your whole deck in your hand.

Play your first Hermit, and trash that useless non-treasure card you have been holding on to this whole time. If you need more junk cards for your other hermit(s) to trash, make sure to pick one up now. Or if you can pick up those market squares you left behind to use later in the turn.
As a reaction to your trashed card, discard all of those Market Squares in your hand and gain a fistful of gold.
Play your fourth Madman, drawing all those golds and Market Squares.

Repeat with each Hermit/Madman pair that you have, using the last Hermit to pick up a silver, or maybe a card from a pile you want to empty.
Now you should have a giant hand full of Gold and Market Squares, with a spattering of copper. Play all of your Market Squares to get all the +buys that you need.
Now just buy up a bunch of Provinces and any cards you need to 3-pile the game (if needed).


Strengths

This combo/engine has a lot going for it.
•It's very fast. It may not seem like it, seeing as it takes around 10+ turns to build it up, but unlike most other engines, the "mid game" and "end game" phases happen entirely on one turn. This also makes it rather surprising for your opponent if they haven't seen it before.
•It isn't really affected by most attacks, with one or two exceptions (see below). Since you really only need to be able to play one Hermit each turn, hand size reduction attacks are pretty much moot. They will still slow you down a little, but likely not enough to matter. Cursers or Junkers don't do much either, since (unless they are giving you coppers) you can use your Hermits to trash them out of your hand or discard pile.
•You only need to buy two cards (Hermit and Market Square) to pull this combo off, and both of them only cost $3. No need to build up to get the $5s or $6s or $7s.
• Both of the cards you need are from the same expansion, meaning that this combo should show up fairly often when you're playing with Dark Ages.
• Also, thematically, you have to admit this is one of the coolest/wackiest combos to play. You have droves of hermits wandering around outside of town, gradually going mad. Meanwhile you spend all your efforts building the largest grandest market square in the world, and then, on opening day, all of those insane hermits rush into town and run amok... And somehow you end up filthy rich and reigning over a massive kingdom.  ;D


Weaknesses

• While this combo resists most attacks, Trashers (such as Knights or Saboteur) can destroy it, as you need a lot of the right cards to pull it off. Also, being hit by a hand-size reducer attack on the turn when you're ready to pull the trigger will stop it dead. If your opponent has built up an engine where he is Militia-ing you every turn it can be devastating.
• While you only need two types of cards, you need a LOT of those two cards. If your opponents are snatching them up as fast as you are it will sap a lot of the strength out of your deck (However, in my experience, Hermit and Market Square don't tend to be very popular, so unless another opponent is going after the same combo you're probably fine).
• It is a high-skill combo, demanding a lot of attention to detail, and also requires a lot of buying restraint. It can be really hard to fight the temptation to buy that really awesome $5 card when you get a lucky hand of coppers, but don't do it!

Works well with:
• Scheme: which will let you turn your hermits into madmen without having to trash them, and can be used to line up your Market Squares with Hermits. Also, at $3 it's perfectly priced for this combo.
• Haven: Great for lining up Market Squares with Hermits, and for lining up Madmen for your megaturn. Also, can possibly be used to increase your hand size so that you don't need as many Madmen when you pull the trigger. And again, $2 is a great price for this combo.
• Versus Cursers/Looters: all they do is give you fuel for your hermits and market squares to turn into gold.
• Other Cheap Trashers: can be substituted for Hermits during your megaturn if you weren't able to get as many as you wanted.
• Talisman: as an opener it can help you pick up components faster.


Sample Games:

(Unfortunately I haven't played on any of the computerized versions of Dominion, so I don't have any records of games I have played to show you. Several people have posted their games in the comments though.)

In solo play I was able to set it up and was ready to pull the trigger by turn 12, but didn't have any Madmen in my hand so I had to wait until turn 13. With 9 Hermits/Madmen and 9 Market Squares I ended up with over $70 to spend and 10 buys. Of course that would be the perfect situation, and not very likely in a real game.

I finally got a chance to try this against real opponents: it was a 3 player game, and I was able to snatch 9 Hermits and 5 Market Squares, and then I pulled the trigger around turn 12 (I lost track exactly) which was actually too early- I miscounted, and only had 5 madmen to my 4 Hermits (instead of 6-3) and the Kingdom wasn't to the point where I could immediately end the game, but it still worked beautifully. I ended up with $35 and 6 buys, netting me 4 provinces and several Estates from my Hermits. Over the next several turns I was able to use all that gold to grab 2 more provinces and empty the estate pile to end the game well in the lead.)


Edit: Thanks again everyone for all your input! And Thanks to the Dominion Strategy Gods for deciding to feature this article on the main page. It makes me feel special.  :D

Added Haven to the "Works well with" section, and fixed Scheme. It turns out Scheme does NOT work for lining up Madmen.  :o

I would still love to see some sample games that show mirror matches and/or attempts to block this combo while using another strategy. If you have any, please share!
« Last Edit: February 13, 2013, 11:17:26 pm by Herowannabe »
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Morgrim7

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Re: Combo: Hermit/Madman + Market Square
« Reply #1 on: February 06, 2013, 12:35:55 am »
+3

Great article! Small note: 2-cost Villages could really help here in the Hermit into Madman phase. More than one Hermit per turn played can be really nice, with all the Market Squares you'll be wanting.
Also, Spice Merchant would excell as an opener here.
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SirPeebles

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Re: Combo: Hermit/Madman + Market Square
« Reply #2 on: February 06, 2013, 08:09:37 am »
0

http://dominionlogs.goko.com//20130206/log.505c56d8a2e6c78ad2ed5a68.1360155944310.txt

Here's my first try.  I beat Lord Bottington with a T19 megaturn (60 coins and ~9 buys).

One thing to note is that I got pummeled hard by Militias.  Three card hands mean I'm left with 1 Hermit and 2 Coppers too often, and I started buying Copper to avoid trashing the Hermit.  As I write this up, I realize I should have instead discard Hermit to the Militia and just kept a hand of 3 Copper for buying Market Square.  Still, Militia slows you down a ton buy preventing you from gaining two $3 cards per turn.
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SirPeebles

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Re: Combo: Hermit/Madman + Market Square
« Reply #3 on: February 06, 2013, 08:16:53 am »
0

Smoother, no attack game:  http://dominionlogs.goko.com//20130206/log.505c56d8a2e6c78ad2ed5a68.1360156513206.txt

Versus a curser.  There was only a single Gold left in the supply after my 94 coin megaturn: http://dominionlogs.goko.com//20130206/log.505c56d8a2e6c78ad2ed5a68.1360167918059.txt
« Last Edit: February 06, 2013, 11:27:01 am by SirPeebles »
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SirPeebles

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Re: Combo: Hermit/Madman + Market Square
« Reply #4 on: February 06, 2013, 08:23:03 am »
0

Lastly as a comment to the original post, you really don't need to empty the Market Square pile.  In the second game I posted, I only gained 6 Market Squares before pulling the trigger, and was able to pick up the last 5 Provinces plus 3 Duchies.  It seems prudent to leave a few Market Squares since you can gain them with your Hermit during the megaturn.
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SirPeebles

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Re: Combo: Hermit/Madman + Market Square
« Reply #5 on: February 06, 2013, 08:58:47 am »
+3

Great article! Small note: 2-cost Villages could really help here in the Hermit into Madman phase. More than one Hermit per turn played can be really nice, with all the Market Squares you'll be wanting.
Also, Spice Merchant would excell as an opener here.

After some further thought, Spice Merchant would not be so great.  You don't want to trash much of your initial Copper since in your megaturn, you will need a hefty hand size to pick up the pile of Market Squares and Gold.

Let's consider this idealized case.  You grab nothing but Hermits and Market Squares.  Along the way you trash 2 of the 3 initial Estates.  This leaves us with a deck of 7 Copper, 1 Estate, 3 Hermits, 6 Madmen, and some variable M Market Squares.  This keeps us under 30 cards, so 3 Madmen will draw the full deck, leaving us with a hand of 7+1+3+3+M = 14 + M cards.  Now we play a Hermit, trashing an Estate, gaining some card, and discarding all M Market Squares and gaining M Golds.  This leaves us with 12 cards in hand and 2M+1 cards in the discard.  Now we play a Madman, bringing us down to 11 cards in hand and thus drawing 11 card.  So we will draw the entire discard if we had no more than 5 Market Squares.

If we'd trashed away Coppers, we wouldn't be drawing the discard pile.  The Copper doesn't get in the way during the megaturn. The Copper is also useful during the building phase, since Hermit+3 Coppers means you'll gain two key cards rather than only one. Really the only place that the Copper hurts at all is in trying to line up Madmen to safely trigger the megaturn.  But I don't think this is such a serious issue, and certainly not worth trashing Copper over.  After all, if that Spice Merchant purchase had been a Hermit purchase, you might already be a turn ahead.
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AdamH

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Re: Combo: Hermit/Madman + Market Square
« Reply #6 on: February 06, 2013, 03:05:06 pm »
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Upon first glance, this appears much better than this thing I came up with. I should try this.
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Beyond Awesome

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Re: Combo: Hermit/Madman + Market Square
« Reply #7 on: February 07, 2013, 02:24:36 am »
0

This is crazy awesome! I will have to try it out against the bots first and see what happens. But, sounds good on paper.

EDIT: Okay, I just tried this. Works very well. I think it is easier to pull off than NV/Bridge most of the time because of Hermits ability to kill curses easily. This combo is pretty fun actually.
« Last Edit: February 07, 2013, 04:08:01 am by Beyond Awesome »
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kn1tt3r

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Re: Combo: Hermit/Madman + Market Square
« Reply #8 on: February 07, 2013, 04:52:28 am »
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Great stuff. It's always kinda awesome when new megaturn combos turn up, and this is definately a nice example.

Mirror matches are probably really interesting and tense.
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Qualdrion

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Re: Combo: Hermit/Madman + Market Square
« Reply #9 on: February 07, 2013, 07:23:46 am »
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I'm not sure about that - In a mirror match both will only get like 5 hermits which means you will only get one round of golds when you pull the trigger, so you would only get like 5-6 of them depending on the number of market squares. And you probably wouldn't have enough buys to end the game easily without getting even more buys at that point.
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SirPeebles

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Re: Combo: Hermit/Madman + Market Square
« Reply #10 on: February 07, 2013, 07:53:40 am »
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I'm not sure about that - In a mirror match both will only get like 5 hermits which means you will only get one round of golds when you pull the trigger, so you would only get like 5-6 of them depending on the number of market squares. And you probably wouldn't have enough buys to end the game easily without getting even more buys at that point.

But your opponent is in the same boat.  So as with many mirrors, you need to look for support.  You'll have time to stray since your opponent can't trigger a landslide either.  It's a mirror, so the first goal is to win that Hermit split.  Say you win it 6-4. 

Now, rather than spending 3 Madmen to draw your whole deck, let's try to make do with only 2.  This will allow you to bring 2 Hermits and 4 Madmen to the megaturn.  Now, 2 Madmen will draw you a 14 card hand usually, which is not enough.  If you can use supporting cards to get up to a 6 card hand first, then 2 Madmen will draw you an 18 card hand.  If you can manage a 7 card starting hand, say from a Wharf played the previous hand, then 2 Madmen will draw you a 22 card hand -- pretty close to the 26 card hand that 3 standard Madmen would bring in.  Even better than Wharf, triggering during a Tactician hand will net you 34 cards!

Alternatively, if there is a trasher on the board aside from Hermit, then we can dump all of our Hermits for Madmen.  This could even be an instance when you would want to buy multiple Chapels.  If you win the Hermit split 6-4, turn all 6 into Madmen, and spend a few measly $2 buys on Chapels, then you're good to go.  Other cheap trashers like Masq, Steward, and Forager could all work.  Even a self trasher like Embargo will trigger the Market Square, although Embargo often kills combos.
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Morgrim7

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Re: Combo: Hermit/Madman + Market Square
« Reply #11 on: February 07, 2013, 09:22:07 am »
+5

This combo is also nice because once you have your megaturn, your deck is full of Gold and +Buy, so if the game isn't over (which it probably will be), you still have a great position.
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Re: Combo: Hermit/Madman + Market Square
« Reply #12 on: February 07, 2013, 09:49:44 am »
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Very nice article! Its interesting that these combo pieces work well together even without the mega-turn. I imagine depending on the board, it would be good to snag an early gold to help pick up other support cards. You'd have to be cautious of course, as chaining madmen is key. In a mirror with a 5/5 split of each component, I would imagine you'd want to hit the trigger earlyish -- as in all likelyhood every turn AFTER the combo will also produce a province, due to all those gold.
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loppo

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Re: Combo: Hermit/Madman + Market Square
« Reply #13 on: February 07, 2013, 04:38:38 pm »
+1

this is very a impressive combo. the log below shows a game where i pull the trigger on turn 12 for 8 provinces. Playing with shelters helps this combo. Necropolis helps you play two Hermits for two Market square and two madmen.

For a piledrive on provinces you need 19 Golds + 7 coppers for exactly 64 coins. if you pull the trigger with 5 Market Squares, you can gain MS 6+7+8 while you go off. this gives you 5+6+7=18 golds, so you need to get at least 1 gold before that turn.

In my example i had to trash a Market Square during the megaturn, because i had only 2 extra cards in my deck, so i got only 17 golds, but i had got 2 golds on hermit trashes beforehand. So take good care of your starting estates/shelters.

http://dominionlogs.goko.com//20130207/log.50955175e4b013548a3d58f0.1360271535775.txt

Stopping this combo seems rather difficult. In the sample game there was Minion, who does usually a good job in disrupting combos, but Minion does not slow down the combo. So the only defense might actually be to deny combo pieces.
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Re: Combo: Hermit/Madman + Market Square
« Reply #14 on: February 07, 2013, 05:07:39 pm »
0

this is very a impressive combo. the log below shows a game where i pull the trigger on turn 12 for 8 provinces. Playing with shelters helps this combo. Necropolis helps you play two Hermits for two Market square and two madmen.

For a piledrive on provinces you need 19 Golds + 7 coppers for exactly 64 coins. if you pull the trigger with 5 Market Squares, you can gain MS 6+7+8 while you go off. this gives you 5+6+7=18 golds, so you need to get at least 1 gold before that turn.

In my example i had to trash a Market Square during the megaturn, because i had only 2 extra cards in my deck, so i got only 17 golds, but i had got 2 golds on hermit trashes beforehand. So take good care of your starting estates/shelters.

http://dominionlogs.goko.com//20130207/log.50955175e4b013548a3d58f0.1360271535775.txt

Stopping this combo seems rather difficult. In the sample game there was Minion, who does usually a good job in disrupting combos, but Minion does not slow down the combo. So the only defense might actually be to deny combo pieces.

Minion wasn't played as an attack before your megaturn though.  If you are forced into a 4 card hand every turn, it should hurt your madman draw a fair amount.  I don't want to number crunch it though.
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Re: Combo: Hermit/Madman + Market Square
« Reply #15 on: February 07, 2013, 05:09:52 pm »
0

An engine that can play a handsize attack consistently should be a solid counter.
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Re: Combo: Hermit/Madman + Market Square
« Reply #16 on: February 07, 2013, 05:32:39 pm »
+2

A couple of other useful card interactions:
1. A Tactician can be really helpful. Those first two Madmen barely give you a larger hand than you start with a Tac. Splitting the Hermits 5/5 isn't a killer if you can start off with a big hand. Bonus - you don't need to buy the Tac until reasonably late in the setup (of course hitting 5 can be a bit of challenge, but you do trash the starting estates for golds on occassion).
2. In like manner, Haven can be awesome at letting you start off the megaturn with a bigger hand. It also works extremely well with timing Hermit trashing thanks to its cost and stockpiling Madmen for the final turn.
3. This gets just insane with a Bank or two in play (able to wipe out colonies in a single shot).
4. Ironworks is good for stockpiling Hermits and Market Squares, but also for useful 4 coin cards - like Caravan or Feodum.
5. Saboteur is actually quite strong against this deck. You don't buy silver and the only cards in your deck worth 3 or more are Hermits and Market Squares, both of which you absolutely need in quantity to work. Every play of Sab will destroy a component card and delay your megaturn, often by a whole turn, and may kill enough Hermits to stop the deck cold. I'd far prefer Sab to most of the Knights.
6. Cutpurse and B-crat can both nerf the megaturn. Starting at 3 or 4 cards is a lot worse than 5; B-crat has the added shot of reducing the odds that you will chain draw Madmen; either can buy you a turn or two more to hit your own mega combo (e.g. Kc/Bridge).
7. Possession just destroys this and leaves you to weep.
8. Beggar is a good helper card. It costs an action, but it gives you +2 cards in hand and gives you 3 coin. At 2 coin it doesn't conflict with Hermit or Mrksqr purchasing; the silver may or may not be useful.
9. Nv is another good card for pulling this off with contest Hermits. A 2 cost card that: is a village, it lets you stockpile cards for a BIG starting block of cards (even with say Ghost ship hitting every turn), and you can "thin" your deck before the the megaturn to ensure high Madmen concentration. The only downside is that Hermits can get trapped on the mat that you really want to turn into Madmen.
10. Coppersmith is basically trades one action for one province.
11. Pirate ship/Thief can actually slow this down. This is one of the few cases where trashing your coppers is actively bad, if your total card count dips too low you may not be able to redraw all your Mrksqr's. Kc on either of the copper trashers can really ruin your day; with Pship it hurts hard. This can be somewhat offset by playing Mrksqr and just buying coppers.
12. I'm not sure about Outpost, yeah you really don't need big hands to do more than gain a Mrksqr or trash a Hermit. I think an opportunistic buy of Outpost can let you setup a lot faster (and maybe let you poach a prov/duchy after your megaturn).

The hand size increasing durations just beg to play with this if the Hermits get contested. They can even swamp nasty stuff like perpetual Gshipping.
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Re: Combo: Hermit/Madman + Market Square
« Reply #17 on: February 07, 2013, 05:41:28 pm »
+1

Another combo of the same vein that really works well is Hermit/Madman and Bridge. I tried it and it works. It is a couple turns slower than this combo, but still pretty fast.
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Re: Combo: Hermit/Madman + Market Square
« Reply #18 on: February 07, 2013, 05:51:23 pm »
0

Given how valuable Hermits will be in a mirror, it may also be worth mentioning Scheme, since it let's you gain a Madman without losing your Hermits, and you can gain them with Hermits.  Grave robber and Rogue let you recover Hermits, but it doesn't look like you'll hit $5 often.
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Re: Combo: Hermit/Madman + Market Square
« Reply #19 on: February 08, 2013, 12:52:42 am »
0

I think Rouge is best here for mirror matchups. The attack can be pretty annoying to your opponent, and the cash can help for a Hermit-free hand. Plus its a decent gainer.
Also, would it waste too much time if you picked up maybe one Village here? With all the Hermits and potentialy a Graverobber/Rouge you'll be picking up, it might help some.
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"Oh sweet merciful heavens.

I sit here, lost amongst the cloud, that which is the brain of the Morgrim Mod. Perhaps I will learn the inner workings of that storied mind. Perhaps I will simply go mad.

Mad, I tell you.

Maaaaaaaaaaaaad." -Voltgloss
Dominion Notation: http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=7265.msg206246#msg206246

kn1tt3r

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Re: Combo: Hermit/Madman + Market Square
« Reply #20 on: February 08, 2013, 01:53:50 am »
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The problem about Rogue is that it's slow. You have to buy it with $5, then gain a Hermit from the trash, just to be able to play it again. Meanwhile your opponent has probably gathered more combo components and rushed for the (maybe not perfect, but sufficient) megaturn.

Scheme could be more viable since you can just pick it up with Hermit along the way.
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Beyond Awesome

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Re: Combo: Hermit/Madman + Market Square
« Reply #21 on: February 08, 2013, 04:37:34 pm »
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I agree. Rogue is very slow.
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TWoos

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Re: Combo: Hermit/Madman + Market Square
« Reply #22 on: February 08, 2013, 05:23:09 pm »
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Just tried this, and by pure chance, ended up with Graverobber in the kingdom.  So I picked up Hermit two extra times, and pulled the trigger on turn 16 with 7 Madmen and 4 Hermits.  I won the Market Square split 6-4, but that meant I could only buy 7 Provinces.

However, I was intentionally playing against a weak A.I., so I don't know how well this might work against a real opponent.


EDIT:  Oh, and I forgot to mention the wacky opening.  I had a 3/5, due to my opponent's Noble Brigand attacking, so I actually opened Hermit/Graverobber.
« Last Edit: February 08, 2013, 05:29:25 pm by TWoos »
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Herowannabe

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Re: Combo: Hermit/Madman + Market Square
« Reply #23 on: February 08, 2013, 05:45:33 pm »
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In a mirror with a 5/5 split of each component, I would imagine you'd want to hit the trigger earlyish -- as in all likelyhood every turn AFTER the combo will also produce a province, due to all those gold.

Actually in a 5/5 split you might be better off waiting and pulling the trigger second. If you pull the trigger as soon as you can, say with no golds in your deck beforehand, you'll end up with 7c + 5g = $22. Not much of a mega turn- only two provinces and a duchy/gold. Say you managed to pick up two golds before hand, it's still only $28 for 3 provinces and a couple estates.

Rather I would suggest pulling the trigger second, which gives you control over when the game ends. In the situation of a 5/5 split I think I would try to avoid trashing my hermits into madmen until I had picked up most/all of my share of the market squares. Then as you trash you can gain multiple golds. If you can pick up at least 6 golds before pulling the trigger it will net you 11g + 7c = $40, enough to pick up 5 provinces. If your opponent went before you and only managed to grab 3 provinces then you just won the game.
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Beyond Awesome

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Re: Combo: Hermit/Madman + Market Square
« Reply #24 on: February 08, 2013, 05:57:02 pm »
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Just tried this, and by pure chance, ended up with Graverobber in the kingdom.  So I picked up Hermit two extra times, and pulled the trigger on turn 16 with 7 Madmen and 4 Hermits.  I won the Market Square split 6-4, but that meant I could only buy 7 Provinces.

However, I was intentionally playing against a weak A.I., so I don't know how well this might work against a real opponent.


EDIT:  Oh, and I forgot to mention the wacky opening.  I had a 3/5, due to my opponent's Noble Brigand attacking, so I actually opened Hermit/Graverobber.

In the non-mirror match, I think Graverobber may have slowed you down. In the 2 times I tried this (once against a curser), the game ended before turn 16.
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