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Author Topic: How long does it take to plan your deck?  (Read 2369 times)

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heatthespurs

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How long does it take to plan your deck?
« on: October 12, 2011, 12:47:03 am »
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How long does it normally take for you to think and plan your deck before buying your 1st card? Of course it depends on what is on board. But just on average, how long would you take for planning? 10 sec, 20 sec, or more than 30 sec?

I am also curious on the other way round. How much time would you give your opponent for planning (not in mid game, but early game) before you feel annoyed and type something like "??", "here?"?
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danshep

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Re: How long does it take to plan your deck?
« Reply #1 on: October 12, 2011, 01:17:35 am »
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At the start of play, about a minute on a harder to plan kingdom, but typically I'm away in 10 seconds or so (but sometimes to my own detriment, I should probably spend 30 seconds before starting so I don't do stupid things like forget that pawn can give +buy).

If you're going to do some heavy thinking though, it's courtesy to say at least 'hi' so the opponent knows you're there and paying attention. If you haven't said anything or done anything after 30 seconds, I'll probably prompt.

After play begins, I don't like any breaks longer than 20 seconds or so without a 'brb' or 'thinking', or an apology on return if something unforeseen happens (connection problem, cat jumped on computer, etc) - I always try to explain/apologise, but I'm not normally particularly bothered if somebody else takes an unexplained 60 second break in the middle of the game.

Also note that people on crappier internet connections may be posting '?' or '.' some other character just to make sure that the server echos it back and it's not their session that's the problem if you're wondering about what appears to be rude prompting in others.
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play2draw

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Re: How long does it take to plan your deck?
« Reply #2 on: October 12, 2011, 01:27:23 am »
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I typically go through a quick mental checklist, roughly in this order of importance:
  • Any important attacks?
  • Any cards that give +2 Actions?
  • Any +Buys?
  • Any trashing options?
  • Any easy ways to draw cards?
The more of these that are answered "yes", the sillier my deck becomes.
« Last Edit: October 12, 2011, 01:29:47 am by play2draw »
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matiez

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Re: How long does it take to plan your deck?
« Reply #3 on: October 12, 2011, 08:41:19 am »
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I typically go through a quick mental checklist, roughly in this order of importance:
  • Any important attacks?
  • Any cards that give +2 Actions?
  • Any +Buys?
  • Any trashing options?
  • Any easy ways to draw cards?

I once read an article about Magic the Gathering that was about understanding the "meta-game". It suggested going through a checklist of items and categorizing the cards. I've been attempting to get something similar for Dominion, but didn't know what questions to ask. This seems like the perfect place to start!

One of my biggest issues in Dominion is understanding the board. I take the time to go over each card in my head, but usually its not enough. I can't count the number of Iso games I've lost because I didn't realize it was a colony game until turn 10. "What can I do with this board?" is not a specific enough question to quickly get a strategy going.

To the OP, it usually takes me up to a minute on Iso and up to 10 minutes playing physically. I'm the slowest person in my group, though, and typically get scolded for it.
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DG

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Re: How long does it take to plan your deck?
« Reply #4 on: October 12, 2011, 10:28:22 am »
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I usually take longer to plan things out than my opponents do on the isotropic server. I'll happily spend a minute or two trying to work out which cards affect the play, how to build through the first few turns, then have general progression through the mid game. It's best to have an idea of how you're going to acquire victory points and know what sort of end game deck you'll eventually need.
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mathguy

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Re: How long does it take to plan your deck?
« Reply #5 on: October 12, 2011, 08:14:49 pm »
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This is usually my order of thought:

-How fast is this game going to be in turns? (BM is 16 or something, Envoy is 14, Workshop/Gardens is XX, Sea Hag slows things down, etc) Let's say I think it will be N turns.
-What are the strategies available that I have used before? How fast are they compared to N?

This method of attack sort of assumes that you have already played a lot of different strategies.

After turn 2, and you have seen your opponent's opening, refine N to N1, your new guess of how many turns you think the game will last. Now choose your turn 3,4,5 stuff based on N1. Continue to keep in mind how many turns you think the game will last.

This works very well if you have a lot of experience guessing correctly. Your guesses will get more accurate as you play more games.
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Zaphod

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Re: How long does it take to plan your deck?
« Reply #6 on: October 14, 2011, 10:38:14 pm »
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I typically go through a quick mental checklist, roughly in this order of importance:
  • Any important attacks?
  • Any cards that give +2 Actions?
  • Any +Buys?
  • Any trashing options?
  • Any easy ways to draw cards?
The more of these that are answered "yes", the sillier my deck becomes.

I do something similar.  I also check for

  • good combos
  • worthwhile cards that cost a potion
  • reaction cards, if a good attack is on the board
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Tombolo

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Re: How long does it take to plan your deck?
« Reply #7 on: October 15, 2011, 04:10:16 pm »
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Honestly, half the time I don't start planning until turn 2 or 3- not sure if I'm just that eager or want to move the game along or what.  After a very quick scan and a couple seconds thinking about if there are any combos with the 2-4 range, I often just default to whatever I consider a good generic open.  There have been times I've gotten to turn 3 or 4 and realized I passed up Chapel or something else obvious.

I don't generally prompt until it's been a couple of minutes, but I'm not above tabbing over and getting distracted if it's a regular pattern.
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ChaosRed

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Re: How long does it take to plan your deck?
« Reply #8 on: October 15, 2011, 04:19:50 pm »
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Much longer than I really allow myself, I often start before I'm really ready out of time concerns for the opponent. I find myself already regretting purchases by turn 5 or 6 as a result. Reading the board correctly is really hard, especially on Isotropic, where the combinations are vast. On a board with nothing but Intrigue and Base I am much faster, usually within 15 seconds or so.
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