Here's a game that I started playing yesterday, but had to quit after my video driver crashed (I know, lame excuse, right?). Here's the kingdom:
This board seems to be stuffed with power cards, and I had a hard time deciding which way to go. Ambassador seems to be strongly countered by Apothecary and Hermit, as well as Lighthouse, which also counters Mountebank. Tournament is probably strong. I have no idea if Procession, Apprentice, or Duke are playable here, and even lowly Workshop seems like it could be used for good.
I decided to delay Ambassador and opened Hermit/Potion to head straight for Apothecary. I picked up a bunch of Lighthouses and then an Ambassador, which may have been a mistake. I often have the problem of trying to buy every card in the kingdom, and I think I did that a bit here. But, I really lost the game on turn 10, when I had enough for a Province but passed 2 Coppers instead of 1 with Ambassador, and then frustratedly bought a Procession.
So, what would you open here, and with what strategy? My opponent opened Ambassador/Tournament, and seemed to be doing better by the time I quit.
This is a very interesting kingdom! I'm glad you posted it. Here's my thought process:
- Ambassador and Duke are game-defining cards. Both provide alternative ways to win and both tend to lengthen the game.
- Tournament is almost never ignorable. My strategy should almost certainly incorporate it.
- Ambassador and MB are strong attacks, but there's also Lighthouse and no village other than Trusty Steed.
- Both Procession and Apothecary lack support. No strong cantrip/draw chain for Procession and no buys/sifting for Apothecary.
- Tourney-Apprentice is an amazing combo.
This isn't a great kingdom for an Apothecary strategy. Apothecary really likes to have a +buy for those early $6P hands, and it's nice to have some cantrips and sifting to keep the non-Coppers from piling up. It's a reasonable soft counter to Ambassador or Mountebank, but with Lighthouse and no villages those attacks aren't at their best anyway. But the most important thing is that Duke kills Apothecary dead. If your opponent just buys Duchies and Dukes, Apothecary will never get all 8 Provinces in time all by itself.
So really I'm only considering a Tourney-based strategy or a Duchy-Duke slog. I've had some good results using a treasure gainer in support of Duchy-Duke, and Hermit will do as the gainer in a pinch. But Tourney-Apprentice is an amazing combo, particularly if you can get there with a slim deck. You can trash to draw a Tourney-Province combo, and you can gain a Duchy or a Gold (from Bag of Gold) and trash it to Apprentice for a net +4 cards. The prizes and Apprentice provide enormous flexibility in the mid and late-game, particularly on a board like this where Princess in the only +buy and Trusty Steed is the only Village.
I expect Tourney-Apprentice to crush Duchy-Duke. I also expect it to beat Apothecary and anything based on Ambassador or Mountebank. So my only real question is how to get there.
Tourney-Ambassador is one of the strongest opens in the game, and it works great with my long-term goal. Lighthouse weakens Ambassador, but it strengthens it too, as I'll have some early $2 hands after returning with Ambassador. The other plausible approach is to open Apothecary and transition to Tourney-Apprentice, but those cards have conflicting goals. Apothecary wants Copper while Tourney-Apprentice wants a slim deck. This approach may gain the first prize or two, but in the long run you'll have a bloated deck where you can't make much use of the Tourney-Apprentice combo.
So I'd open Tourney-Ambassador and focus on slimming aggressively. Early on I mostly want to buy Tournaments, but I'll settle for a lighthouse if it means I can Ambassador away an extra Copper. When I get to $6, I'll probably pick up a single Gold. After that it'll be all Apprentices, Tournaments and Provinces.
Tourney-Apprentice is really flexible, so it's hard to be too precise about how to play it. Trashing gained Duchies and Gold is huge, as is playing Followers every turn. You can gain Duchies and go Duchy-Duke if your opponent is gaining Provinces with a fast Apothecary deck, and you can be all but certain of playing a Lighthouse every turn if your opponent has gone for Mountebanks. If your opponent mirrors, then things are going to get pretty crazy and the best strategy is going to depend in large part on who got which prizes.
For an example of Tourney-Apprentice at work, check out
this game where Davio beat my Apprentice-Market Square with it. He did a whole lot of stuff like "trash a Gold to Apprentice, Tourney revealing Apprentice gaining Duchy, trash Duchy to Apprentice, Trusty Steed, Followers, etc." Optimal Tourney-Apprentice play will vary by kingdom, of course, but being able to play 2-3 prizes every turn is always going to be a huge deal.
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As for your actual game, I agree with your diagnosis of buy-every-card-itis. There's really no role for Procession here, and Ambassador + Hermit + Mountebank is too many early terminals for an Apoth deck. I know you're thinking about clearing out your Estates, but exchanging 3 Estates for for 4 Lighthouses isn't really a big gain for Apothecary. Better to hold out until you can trash them with Apprentice.
IMO, keeping focus is one of the most important skills in Dominion, perhaps even more important than finding the right strategy in the first place. It's often better to play a mediocre plan consistently than to play a schizophrenic strategy.
Apothecary may not be best here, but once you've committed to it, you'd better just forget about Ambassador and most other terminals. If I were writing a bot to play an Apoth-centered strategy, I'd give it the buy order Apprentice > Apoth > Tournament > Lighthouse > Nothing. Mountebank and Ambassador are strong cards, but don't feel obliged to buy them for that reason alone.
