You plan to tech all the way to Age 10 with Math? Age 10 cards are not insta-win by any stretch.
why not? if you didn't meld any leaf all i need to win the game is a single application of bioengineering,if your score is around 30,i win as soon as i use the internet/software/ai 4 times,if it's really bad i might need to use some mass media/combustion/vaccination/databases/rocketry combination
Metalworking empties the piles even faster than Fermenting
metalworking is as luck dependant as much if not more than math,even assuming everything goes well and dandy it becomes a useless card after age 3 is done,how do you plan to empty pile higher than that? besides what happens if i get metalworking and math together? what's your cunning plan to beat me then?
Where are you finding Gunpowder if you're teching to Age 10?
there is no rule that says if the situation calls for it,you can't stop at a specific age to find a certain card....
How do you plan to maintain all other symbols? Are you magically hitting all the splay cards and building depth at the same time you're teching up?
...and also there is no rule that says i can't use other cards than math to splay my pile,if anything being higher in tech means having better splays option like metric system and flying... why would i have trouble building my board anyway? drawing and feeding a card to math isn't much different than drawing and melding a card normaly...
If you really are counting on Databases to save you from a Metalworking spree you are in for a rude awakening. How many score killers are there? Vaccination (can be blocked by leaves, teleports me to Age 6 so your tech lead is gone); Combustion (can be blocked by Crowns, takes only 2 cards at a time so weak vs Metalworking); Rocketry (stops your teching up and only returns 1 card at a time at first).
this part makes so many stupid assumption,what makes you think by the time i get to one of these cards you have the lead in every single symbol ever? or that i don't want to use vaccination because you get a free 6 (as i said the important thing with math is to get to 10) even if you somehow ends up having the lead in everything,there is no way at all for you to defend against mass media... what do you intend to do against that? if i meld rocketry,there is a chance i've melded lightning or railroad in age 7 therefore being able to return 2 cards without no extra cards... also i'm still in age 8... time to search for quantum theory and get to 10 with that then...
what happens if i scored earlier before getting math and already claimed age 1 or 2,or says you claimed age 1 and 2 and then i catch up with and claim age 3 and 4,what do you intend to do with your big score pile then?
here's the thing...there is a chance i never get any score attacking card,and you never get metalworking or another scoring card,the scenario's are infinite and calling every score-screwing scard powerless against the almighty metal working is just plain stupid
I don't even know what to say. It is astonishing to me that you can get to Level 30+ and still think it's worth melding and executing Writing to go for Mathematics. It can work against slow opponents who mainly use draw actions, but any kind of early scoring will be on average more consistent than Math. Math is just too slow and luck-dependent otherwise.
math and fermenting are cards that are worthwhile for the whole game and which you can build a whole strategy around them,metalworking and clothing become useless as soon as your opponent has all the colors and all the card with castle's are gone,what would you draw? a card that you use the whole game or one that is only usefull for the first 5 turns?
Really it is that you are fixated on the idea that Math "randomly melds BETTER stuff on your board". This is the core misunderstanding -- in most ages, I would rather have a card that says, "Draw and meld a card of whatever age you are on" rather than Mathematics. The most powerful card in each age does get much more powerful in each age, but the average power rises much more slowly.
and you think of a math player as a clueless idiot who just think bigger is better,if i'm playing math that doesn't mean i can't score,splay or use board building cards,what it means is that i have every deck avaiable to me instead of just the current one,and any deck also include the deck that ends the game,that's seriously the biggest effect in the game i can think of
this is also why i don't mind sharing the tech or having it stolen,sure go ahead,meld that 6 with vaccination,i'm getting to the deck that ends the game in 3 turns anyway,the only stealing card that i fear are societies and enterprise... BECAUSE THEY STEAL MATH