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[theory]

A very common early game knockout blow is using Currency to return 1, 2, 3 and then return 1, 2, 3 a second time.  This not only scores you quite a few points (at least 12, usually 16+), but also nets you Monument, a crucial achievement for an early game score strategy.

This is most commonly achieved with Metalworking, and is one reason why teching ahead fast with Tools can be risky.  It is not at all hard for a Metalworking player to end up with 112233 + Currency in their hand plus achievements 1 & 2 already claimed.  This combo nets them at least Monument plus another potential 2-3 achievements unless countered.

Sample game: http://innovation.isotropic.org/gamelog/201305/29/game-20130529-135146-de492bfb.html (note the extremely lucky start)

[Alexmf]

Yeah, I also realized the strength of Currency in a few past matches. It's really a good scorer, especially when used in Age 3-4+. The possibility of claiming Monument is very nice when just try to get to 6 achievements as quickly as possible.

[HiveMindEmulator]

This is most commonly achieved with Metalworking, and is one reason why teching ahead fast with Tools can be risky.

Just curious: is this claim based on a large set of statistics or just your individual games? Maybe I just under-use Metalworking, but I don't feel like this is the case. It's just any time you get into age 3-4 with a large hand, which is more common when you tech via drawing rather than via explicit tech dogmas. But I'm at least as likely to do this with Wheel/Calendar/Fermenting/Mysticism as with Metalworking.

[theory]

Good point.  Probably what I actually meant to say is that Metalworking is the best combo with this strategy, since it already has been scoring for you. 

[carstimon]

I believe I see the following mistake often, though.  Let's say I have five points, and you have currency + 112233, and no achievements have been claimed yet.  It's better to score with currency and claim 1 than to score with currency twice and get monument, because you are denying me 1.

[HiveMindEmulator]

I believe I see the following mistake often, though.  Let's say I have five points, and you have currency + 112233, and no achievements have been claimed yet.  It's better to score with currency and claim 1 than to score with currency twice and get monument, because you are denying me 1.

And potentially better to just return a 2 and 3 (assuming 2s are empty), so you have that extra 1 that might help claim monument later returning 123 and 134 or something.

EDIT: Of course, sometimes it's better to just return as many as possible just for the points, and forget about monument altogether...