Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Joseph2302]

Joseph2302 3-3 HiveMindEmulator

Game 1: http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130822/log.5062f3dc51c3843e7939eb9f.1377188308481.txt

Not convinced by the Mint/Squire opening here, and I did get quite lucky with minting golds twice (turns 10 & 13), ultimately my first turn advantage kept me ahead on VPs, so he couldn't end the game and win.

Game 2: http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130822/log.5062f3dc51c3843e7939eb9f.1377189157958.txt

Cultist was the main card here, with Border Village helping. I get some provinces, but his contraband stops him getting valuable cards, such as Rabbles and later Provinces. I get ahead and (quite easily) run out the Cultist pile to end the game.

Game 3: http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130822/log.5062f3dc51c3843e7939eb9f.1377189986539.txt

Ambassador game, with Junk Dealer & Tactician as other main cards. I buy an altar, which doesn't do much, and my ventures were a bit hit and miss (like they tend to be), ultimately was close but won on a last tactician turn by him.

Game 4: http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130822/log.5062f3dc51c3843e7939eb9f.1377190772127.txt

Another ambassador game, I counterfeit my coppers away, whilst he uses armory/plaza- seemed to work quite well, as coin tokens can be saved. He also gets more HoPs, which help him eventually win on a big last turn, coming from behind.

Game 5: http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130822/log.5062f3dc51c3843e7939eb9f.1377192370078.txt

I open Silver/Remake, which I think is better here than Smugglers/Remake, as it's essentially a big money board. Just a big money + remake/jester, which I win.

Game 6: http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130822/log.5062f3dc51c3843e7939eb9f.1377192809105.txt

Such a close decider, unfortunately I lose by a point.
He goes for many Noble Brigs, whilst I buy an early Apprentice, his Torturer wasn't even used, and was eventually trashed. Greening including tunnels (to block NBs) starts, and I eventually lose narrowly, after a well-calculated last turn by HiveMindEmulator to win.

Thanks for the games, and so close, a good "shared victory".

Note: When writing this, I hadn't read the writeup of HiveMindEmulator about our games...

[scott_pilgrim]

WanderingWinder 3 - 1 scott pilgrim

http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130819/log.514b5511e4b0b79c883b5e3b.1376969406760.txt

Band of Misfits. I use it as Steward early, then mostly throne room and monument, with a touch of herald and an accidental advisor (somehow I got it confused with herald for a second?). I trash down a good bit faster and further than sp, get a couple fewer nobles (but still some), and basically sit and pile up gobs of points, and provinces here and there, but with no particular haste. This one wasn't close, and I'm not sure if he could have trashed further (probably I think so to an extent) or just drew too badly (probably at least a component).

http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130819/log.514b5511e4b0b79c883b5e3b.1376969816011.txt

Rebuild, the annoyance of so many, myself included. I go for multiple feast for heavy rebuilds. And I pick up estate number four, which should be getting me in good shape, I think, but I draw it with the next rebuild, giving me problems. Meanwhile, my opponent just went rebuild+schemes (more or less), which may very well be a little better anyway. I get a scheme at some point but never have the chance to use it. And then I must mention that I make a terrible mistake (as though I lost my mind) in naming estate rather than province fairly late in the game - islands and fairgrounds were present and I *had* an island I'd just bought. This basically slammed the door on me, but I think I was already well behind.

http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130819/log.514b5511e4b0b79c883b5e3b.1376970719445.txt

This one was weird. I go for urchin/mercenary and get it reasonably fast but not amazingly so - and it's a bit wonky, and I never get as trashed as I'd expected. I also go university, primarily for mass mystic (I eventually get 9). But it takes me forever to get going. Fortunately for me, sp gets LOTS of urchins and cannot get them to collide for a very long time. I think this was probably a bit of overkill, but I'm not 100% on that, and it was certainly unlucky. So I come out with a lead anyway, and I am just flirting with the edge of striking distance for a long time as the game fizzles.

http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130819/log.514b5511e4b0b79c883b5e3b.1376971290972.txt

So, he goes for rats and bishop. I go for basically money with a tribute, cellar, and a few pillages sprinkled in. Eventually a bishop of my own. I didn't think this rats/bishop thing was very good, and I frankly still don't, but it's a lot better than I had reckoned, and the board was very very weak, so it's not like there was big opportunity cost for it. He gets a couple provinces along with everything, and I am barely able to steal a 1-point victory on first-turn advantage before I get totally locked out.

My comments on the games:

Game 1: We pretty much did the same thing, you just managed to trash much faster than me.  I think later I had a few opportunities to trash that I passed up because I was worried that your deck was coming together so fast and I thought I should try to keep up.  Probably a mistake in retrospect.

Game 2: I thought about it some more and I think Feast opening was probably a little better than Quarry.  In general, Scheme should be better for Rebuild than Feast; I think your later Feast buys should have been Scheme (although Feast is pretty nice with Rebuild).  I trashed a Duchy into Province at one point, which maybe should have been Duchy into Duchy, but it ended up working out in my favor.

Game 3: I had no idea what the heck I was doing that game.  It was a strange board.  I felt like I played it very poorly, I'm not sure how it ended up so close.

Game 4: My plan was Rats+Bishop and then Remake Rats into Duchies near the end.  I never ended up getting Remake.  It's probably not a great plan in general, but it was a very weak board and it seemed stronger than anything else available.  Ended up being very close.

[PitrPicko]

Thanks for games. It was really fun. All I have to say is seemed like battle between superior strategy (by you) and almost expert deck tracking and adapting (to) your strategy . But what really made it was some misplays by both of us, let's be honest :-/ Also maybe we both tend to make engines where BM could be better.

3 zporiri - pitrpicko 3

some interesting, drawn out games where end game strategy meant a lot.

37 zporiri - pitrpicko 34
An engine that really lacked +buy. we both opened silver/moneylender and i was able to buy labs on my first 3 turns. he went for more economy/less engine since he didnt have perfect shuffle luck as i did . my originally plan was to add in an explorer with the lab engine, but he started going for provinces so soon i felt like i didnt have time. he apprenticed a province to buy the last one, but only ended up with $7 (really unlucky), which killed him. i stonemasoned a gold for two duchies to keep up. neither one of us could get $8 for the last province, and eventually i 3 piled on labs (duchies+estates) to win. he probably shouldve won this one.
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130822/log.5070529651c34c5abec034ad.1377181483311.txt

This one really really messed my thinking. I knew exactly what is left in my deck and I took the chances to finish this off. And I'm pretty sure it was a good call. But some "Goko really hates me shuffle luck" played role here. Well I think this says it all:
PitrPicko   draws Gold, Province, Estate, Ironmonger, Silver, Province, Estate, Estate
PitrPicko   plays Ironmonger
PitrPicko   draws Province
Left in the deck after: Silver, Silver, Laboratory
I just needed anything from those 3 left cards... whatever. Tilt! Yay!
Also my stonemason buy with 5overpay in the T6 was lucky, otherwise I wouldn't stand a chance. But it was in my plan all the way. To trash gold for double duchy in the end game. In the game w/o +buy this makes huge difference.

7 zporiri - pitrpicko 11
village+conspirator+lab+margrave engine with doctor for trashing and possession for fun and soothsayer for cursing. i was expecting to slim down with doctor super fast and not have to worry about sooth sayer, but my first two doctor turns missed which killed me. my only chance from there was possession. he won this one, and rightly so.
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130822/log.5070529651c34c5abec034ad.1377183758712.txt

Here you got unlucky with doctor, but I'd totally name copper as first call. Always... This was only game I think I played well. At first I thought Poss will be too slow for this board, but you managed to buy it so fast. So I went same way and this is where I think deck tracking made difference. I was closely watching where all Possesions are and it could made this. But maybe just the fact, that I had more engine pieces or my golds from Soothsayer. Who knows...

5 zporiri - pitrpicko 48
treasure map game with steward for trashing. he opens plaza/steward which really helped him soothe out his turns, picking up another steward on turn 3. i opened double steward, but his opening seemed to be better. he got his treasure maps a couple turns before me, and without +buy i was done. also didnt help that i didnt connect my treasure maps in my 6 card deck . i ignored provinces and went for vineyards because i had a super super super slim chance at winning that way as opposed to contesting him for provinces.
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130822/log.5070529651c34c5abec034ad.1377184444426.txt

I'm pretty sure that Village helped here. And Plaza was perfect for this. That coin token is really cool when you draw plaza+steward+3copper. Just discard copper, trash two and save coin token. It also allowed me to connect TM earlier. Plaza(Steward(+2cards), TM(TM)). To be absolutly honest I wasn't sure that I want TM, but when you bought it, it was very clear that this is superior strategy. You made that desicion for me.

50 zporiri - pitrpicko 43
the pivotal game 4. crazy action game with peddler, pawn, city, herald and cols+plats. i opened trader/pawn to trash some coppers, but couldnt resist trashing esates and buying more pawns on two turns (pawns to help get lots of peddlers), and those silvers hurt me a lot. i was barely able to pull off a double province turn on the last turn to win the the help of level 3 cities. fun game.
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130822/log.5070529651c34c5abec034ad.1377185513962.txt

Ohh I'm so sad... I was almost sure that you have only max. 21coins and you cannot buy double colony... (( So I left 2 there, one for me, which would be enough. If I would count better I'd just buy province and I could really win this. That was silly mistake. And you took the chance. Well done.

zporiri 6 - pitrpicko 24
a tournament game with scrying pool, squire, and forager. i felt like my scrying pool strategy was superior to his strategy of loading up on tournament and foragers, but i misplayed this game very badly, i wish i could have this one back. if i had gotten another forager sooner i couldve trashed quicker and gotten provinces sooner. i really needed/wanted those followers. he got provinces before me, and that was all she wrote.
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130822/log.5070529651c34c5abec034ad.1377186346224.txt

Oh I so hate Scrying Pools... SO MUCH! Where I think you misplayed this was not trashing squires for SP. I didn't buy any gold which was probably very silly but in the end I was able to three-pile with princess help. Having 7 tournaments is a lot. They gave me money I needed for winning this. Also you totally ignored monument. I thought you're going for some SC,WV,Monument madness, but SP seemed too slow on this board. 15turns only.

zporiri wins by resignation (i got a phone call on my last turn, winning turn and was taking a while so pitrpicko resigned. sorry about that )
anotehr scrying pool game, this time with fishing village, nobles, and hamlets. death carts came into play late for extra economy. i bought two on one turn instead of double duchying at the end of the game (i needed a big turn to come back) and it turned out to be the right decision. scrying pool didnt mind the ruins, and i got my big turn at the end to win.
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130822/log.5070529651c34c5abec034ad.1377187811935.txt

some of the more interesting games ive plaed in a while, particularly the end game strategy that came into play. thanks to pitrpicko for the great games and sorry about the phone call at the end!

OOhhh, I hate Scrying pools, have I already said that? This time you pulled it nicely and it was deserved win. I really didn't do anything. I tried to be very fast with FV/Nobles, but it didn't work out very well. This one was 100% yours.

Well I didn't want to resign. As I wrote in PM I'm very confused about "Goko leaving page pop-up". It is nice that some pop-up shows up, but I don't know what option let me stay in game.
"Are you sure you want to leave this page?"
(OK)-- closes page
(Cancel) -- closes page
(X) -- closes page...
What other options I have?!

Thanks for games. It was very nice playing you and good luck in next rounds. Meet you in finals.

[jsh357]

Games against Stealth Tomato

So I'm paired up for the second round in a row against somebody I consider a top player.  Hold me. 

Game 1:
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130822/log.505de22f0cf2ef979299a5d8.1377207715360.txt
This ends up being a Poor House almost mirror thing.  He gets the 5/2, opening Count for trashing and later Duchies.  I open Spice Merchant, hoping to win by having more components than him.  It turns out his plan/opening hand was a little better.  Not sure if my Shanty Towns were worth it or not, but well, I did manage to draw with them most of the time. 
Stealth Tomato wins, so I'm 0-1


Game 2:
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130822/log.505de22f0cf2ef979299a5d8.1377208309783.txt
There's potential for a few things here, but I opt for Monument BM-ish with Hoard.  Sadly my Hoard decides to not connect on hands where I need it, but with the chips I manage to come out ahead anyway.  Twice I buy Inn and my Monuments all go to the bottom of the shuffle.  I probably shouldn't have bothered with the Market at all.  His Taxman works all right to slow me down some, but not enough to stop my flow.  On one lol-worthy turn, he gets 3 Golds from Hoard long after it actually matters.
I win, 1-1

Game 3:
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130822/log.505de22f0cf2ef979299a5d8.1377208914271.txt
Big ol' Minion and Monuments game.  I open Talisman to speed up getting Monuments and Native Villages.  For the most part, I'm able to run the engine I wanted to here. (Monument followed by Minion flip)  I get an Upgrade to eliminate Copper; don't care about the Estates as much since my hands are just going to get flipped for Monument hands anyway.  He starts catching up, but I 3 pile for the win.
I win, 2-1

Game 4:
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130822/log.505de22f0cf2ef979299a5d8.1377209849484.txt
An Ambassador game with Moats, Fortress, Remake and Highway.  This game is just nutty as all-get-out.  Read the log, man.  In the end, I let him get the seventh Highway and that seals it as he can Remake for 2 Provinces per play.  If I had contested Highway better, maybe I'd have a chance, but it was slim after a point.  I saw his Outpost buy and played monkey see monkey do without thinking.
He wins, 2-2

Game 5:
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130822/log.505de22f0cf2ef979299a5d8.1377210670616.txt
The Knights battle of the century.  My Watchtower stops all but 1 Ruin, my Beggar is in hand right when it needs to be, and I end the game with the only Knight remaining: Dame Josephine.  Guess how many points I won by.  Bakers were the key card.  I got a bit worried because he was able to stockpile tokens better than I was (I'm still getting used to the things) but everything came around in the end, I guess.  You might say this game is very swingy, but there are also some interesting tactical decisions involved.
I win, 3-2

Game 6:
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130822/log.505de22f0cf2ef979299a5d8.1377211400683.txt
Tournament game, and maybe one of the best Band of Misfits boards I have ever played.  I get an early lead and choose Princess over Followers, which turned out to be a terrible idea.  He slows me down to the point I can't catch up, even when shooting for Dukes.  I didn't lose this by much, but it could've gone the other way and I regret getting Princess still. 
Stealth Tomato wins and we tie 3-3

So now I've tied two top players.  It's nice to not lose, but only getting ties doesn't get me anywhere either.  These games were mostly very fun and interesting, so thanks for playing, Stealth Tomato.

[Stealth Tomato]

I said I wasn't going to post a summary. I lied. I'm bitter, not about the draw (I may have deserved to lose) but about the absurd swinginess of every game we played. Therefore you don't want to read this summary. Also I'm apparently having a shitty day, which I know because my opponent apparently really enjoyed this match.

For all that I loved my Round 1 boards, I HATED that round's. I like my strategy in Game 1, and his in 2, but for the most part, every game but 2 was just dumb. That said, we made elementary endgame mistakes in 5 and 6 (me and then him), so either of us could have won this.

There is actually substantial skill in playing nearly all of these boards, but they're the sort of boards where substantial skill can give you at most perhaps a 60:40 edge over another very good player.

Game 1: ST over jsh
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130822/log.505de22f0cf2ef979299a5d8.1377207715360.txt
I open 5/2 Count/Poor House on a board with Fishing Village, trash just about everything, and quietly walk away with a win. Drew slightly lucky, jsh had no chance whatsoever.

Game 2: jsh over ST
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130822/log.505de22f0cf2ef979299a5d8.1377208309783.txt
I try something stupid with Hoard and get burned. He uses Monument well.

Game 3: jsh over ST
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130822/log.505de22f0cf2ef979299a5d8.1377208914271.txt
This board is goofy. He uses Talisman to pick up multiple Monuments, I try using Nomad Camp to win the Minions. Despite this (and him opening Upgrade) and partially due to a stupid double-NV buy from me on Turn 3, we split the Minions and there's nothing resembling hope for me.

Game 4: ST over jsh
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130822/log.505de22f0cf2ef979299a5d8.1377209849484.txt
One of us was going to want to throw things at a wall afterward. The shuffles pretty well hosed both of us repeatedly... but I ended up with 7 Highways in this Remake/Fortress/Outpost setup and picked up 7 Provinces in a double-turn. We both had some chances to do better, but good God, the shuffles on both sides were horrendous.

Game 5: jsh over ST
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130822/log.505de22f0cf2ef979299a5d8.1377210670616.txt
His lone Watchtower collides with my Marauder repeatedly. I keep picking up lucky coin draws. I miscount the points, break PPR, and lose.

Game 6: ST over jsh
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130822/log.505de22f0cf2ef979299a5d8.1377211400683.txt
Ultra-powerful Bands of Misfits thanks to Fortress, Smithy, Tournament, Cutpurse, and Border Village. My stuff connects slightly better and he accidentally depletes the piles.



EDIT: metacommentary!

Game 1:
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130822/log.505de22f0cf2ef979299a5d8.1377207715360.txt
This ends up being a Poor House almost mirror thing.  He gets the 5/2, opening Count for trashing and later Duchies.  I open Spice Merchant, hoping to win by having more components than him.  It turns out his plan/opening hand was a little better.  Not sure if my Shanty Towns were worth it or not, but well, I did manage to draw with them most of the time. 
Stealth Tomato wins, so I'm 0-1

I think you're underselling how vastly differently our decks developed. I also got somewhere between relatively and fantastically lucky with my draws late.

Game 2:
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130822/log.505de22f0cf2ef979299a5d8.1377208309783.txt
There's potential for a few things here, but I opt for Monument BM-ish with Hoard.  Sadly my Hoard decides to not connect on hands where I need it, but with the chips I manage to come out ahead anyway.  Twice I buy Inn and my Monuments all go to the bottom of the shuffle.  I probably shouldn't have bothered with the Market at all.  His Taxman works all right to slow me down some, but not enough to stop my flow.  On one lol-worthy turn, he gets 3 Golds from Hoard long after it actually matters.
I win, 1-1

I got too many Hoards (and bought too many Duchies). This game is also a good reminder that Taxman is bad even in situations where it seems to have synergy with the board.

Game 3:
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130822/log.505de22f0cf2ef979299a5d8.1377208914271.txt
Big ol' Minion and Monuments game.  I open Talisman to speed up getting Monuments and Native Villages.  For the most part, I'm able to run the engine I wanted to here. (Monument followed by Minion flip)  I get an Upgrade to eliminate Copper; don't care about the Estates as much since my hands are just going to get flipped for Monument hands anyway.  He starts catching up, but I 3 pile for the win.
I win, 2-1

I wasn't catching up here. You had this bagged up easily. I think your deck may have been slightly better, but my repeated $4 pickups and inability to draw NVs when I needed them changed this from a close game into a blowout.

Game 4:
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130822/log.505de22f0cf2ef979299a5d8.1377209849484.txt
An Ambassador game with Moats, Fortress, Remake and Highway.  This game is just nutty as all-get-out.  Read the log, man.  In the end, I let him get the seventh Highway and that seals it as he can Remake for 2 Provinces per play.  If I had contested Highway better, maybe I'd have a chance, but it was slim after a point.  I saw his Outpost buy and played monkey see monkey do without thinking.
He wins, 2-2

The 5/2 open was more painful for you here than you're letting on. Even though my Remake and Ambassador collided, having both of them was a huge help to me.

Game 5:
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130822/log.505de22f0cf2ef979299a5d8.1377210670616.txt
The Knights battle of the century.  My Watchtower stops all but 1 Ruin, my Beggar is in hand right when it needs to be, and I end the game with the only Knight remaining: Dame Josephine.  Guess how many points I won by.  Bakers were the key card.  I got a bit worried because he was able to stockpile tokens better than I was (I'm still getting used to the things) but everything came around in the end, I guess.  You might say this game is very swingy, but there are also some interesting tactical decisions involved.
I win, 3-2

This was actually an interesting game. You got lucky with the Ruins, I got lucky with the Forge, then I committed a cardinal sin and broke PPR because I lost the count.

Game 6:
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130822/log.505de22f0cf2ef979299a5d8.1377211400683.txt
Tournament game, and maybe one of the best Band of Misfits boards I have ever played.  I get an early lead and choose Princess over Followers, which turned out to be a terrible idea.  He slows me down to the point I can't catch up, even when shooting for Dukes.  I didn't lose this by much, but it could've gone the other way and I regret getting Princess still. 
Stealth Tomato wins and we tie 3-3

I disagree with almost everything here, haha. BoM is so overpowered here that it's entirely uninteresting, and Princess was absolutely the correct pickup. I'd argue you didn't lose because of Followers vs. Princess, you lost because your draws didn't line up as well as mine close to the end.


Man, what happened to all the easy games in these tournaments? I almost miss those.

[WanderingWinder]

So, the Robz888-AdamH match:
Game 1: The presence of baker really makes haggler the clear choice here - it gives you very very nice options on 5 and 6. Adam's 2nd merchant ship strikes me as really ungood.

Game 2: Stonemasoning treasure mapped golds into duchy/duke seems really interesting. But while it's the very interesting thing I love to see as an idea, I don't think it actually works very well... and certainly not here. So. The other thing is, is this really an engine board? I mean, I know, it's my first thought, too, but... Village/smithy is not really where engines want to be, stonemason as the only trashing is bad, pawn is your plus buy, stonemason is less effective than normal here, I think? And duke is not so bad - especially as there's a reasonable chance to snap back for 3 piles in a lot of cases. So I actually wonder if duke slog isn't just better, and maybe open SM-pawn-pawn in the hopes of SMing your estates? This should be good for a slog, really good, if it works, though it of course well may not. Hmm, interesting board.

Game 3: Well, Adam just plays badly here. I was really interested in whether Butcher+Hunting Party would beat cultist (eh probably not, but...), until I realized city was around and makes cultist just way the way to go here. Right? Anyway, Adam for some reason thinks he just wants wishing wells and trade routes, and... well he waits forever to get any form of income beyond his original 7 coppers, which means it is really going to take him forever to get to 5 again. And this is borne out. Really needed an early silver or two. I also don't think WW is very good here, as you will just have so much stuff lying around, though hey, if you want to go big actions later, maybe after 1 or 2 silvers it's ok. It seems like Rob plays a bit unfocused after he gets his dominating advantage, but ok, it doesn't really matter, he wasn't in any danger of losing.

[Titandrake]

Alright, going to keep this short since I have a tendency to ramble.

Game 1: http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130822/log.506b5cfc0cf21d2313f966fe.1377209556907.txt
No villages, but there is Ironworks-Great Hall and Menagerie. I go into it thinking it's a Witch-BM game, lose to a part-rush part-engine deck. Matching on Provinces and handing out more Curses doesn't help when Curses is a free empty pile and you're immediately down 4 VP from Great Halls. Fun game though, Develop does nice work here.

Game 2: http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130822/log.506b5cfc0cf21d2313f966fe.1377210586061.txt
Cultist, Upgrade, Border Village, King's Court, no +Buy. Game seems fast, so I open Silver/Conspirator to make sure I get an early $5.  Instead I get $6 turns 4 and 5, which is even better. dudeabides tries for University, but Potion goes to turn 5, and we both agree it's a bit too slow here. Cultist snowball gets going and hits hard.

Game 3: http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130822/log.506b5cfc0cf21d2313f966fe.1377211829877.txt
Originally, I wanted to do some odd Madman-Woodcutter engine. Some point in the first couple of turns, I decided that Courtyard-Counterfeit-BM with Bishop is probably a lot better than that. I get a nice turn 4, where I manage to trash both dead Shelters and pick up my Courtyard. dudeabides tries to make an Explorer-Bishop-Madman deck that never needs to buy anything, and therefore never runs out of Madmen. It didn't work fast enough here, but I feel like it should if the shuffles are even.

Game 4: http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130822/log.506b5cfc0cf21d2313f966fe.1377213995936.txt
Definitely the hardest game here. I go for a Jack based engine, using Lookout, Squire, and Tribute for +Actions. I don't pick up enough Jacks to make the draws consistent, but because Jack is Jack, well...

dudeabides goes for Squires and Catacombs, intending to go for Fairgrounds. In the middle of the game, I realize that Ruins help Fairgrounds a lot, and end up having to track which Ruins I have and which I don't, in case I want to buy any. In the end, dudeabides has 5 Fairgrounds worth 8 VP, but forgets to use coin tokens which would have given a 6th. I end on Provinces and win because of it.

They were all interesting games, and we actually had diverging strategies in all the games (except for arguably game 2.) Thanks to dudeabides for the games, and sorry the last game ended that way :/

[AHoppy]

SirSlugma 3.5 - AHoppy 0.5

Game 1: SirSlugma 40 - AHoppy 21
Transmute, Courtyard, Crossroads, Duchess, Fishing Village, Watchtower, JackOfAllTrades, Royal Seal, Vault, Possession
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130822/log.51534171e4b0a260b59991f4.1377220203985.txt
We both get 5/2 opens, and I, not wanting to give up the chance to buy a nice shiny 5 T1 go Vault-courtyard BM (I kinda want to do a draw-to-X engine, but realize that doesn't really work with FV too well) so my watchtower and FV buys aren't good.  Meanwhile, his courtyard-jack BM works much better.  Not much to see here, I just need to stop trying to build engines on every board and go half in and half BM.  Doesn't work for me

Game 2: AHoppy 27 - SirSlugma 27
Farming Village, Horse Traders, Pirate Ship, Plaza, Worker's Village, Butcher, Highway, Mountebank, Fairgrounds, King's Court
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130822/log.51534171e4b0a260b59991f4.1377221319365.txt
I see workers village and highway and think that with WV for buy and highways I should be able to cobble together a deck with a bunch of different components for fairgrounds along with mountebanks early to slow him down.  Somehow though, even though I win highway split 7-3 and curses 3-7, he still has the buying power to get a province over my duchy.  Also, stupidly I bought a pirate ship T13 thinking to get more variety.  But I think it just hurt me.  A village would have been better and I could have picked up the infinitely more useful butcher later.  In the end though, I could have lost because SirSlugma could have bought an estate.  I need to work on my fairgrounds games...

Game 3: AHoppy 31 - SirSlugma 36
Fool's Gold, Chancellor, Lookout, Steward, Feodum, Taxman, Highway, Upgrade, Hoard, King's Court
I was happy with the 5/2 here, but it didn't work out for me.  I didn't go highway because of the lack of +buy.  In a desperate last-ditch effort I had to upgrade my KC, hoping to be able to buy the last province later, but he beat me to it by 1 turn...

Game 4: SirSlugma 52 - AHoppy 44
Poor House, Herbalist, Woodcutter, Coppersmith, Noble Brigand, Nomad Camp, Spy, Contraband, Mandarin, Goons
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130822/log.51534171e4b0a260b59991f4.1377222854017.txt
This game was just frustrating... all his Noble Brigands kept killing my goons and another 5-2 open that kinda sucked... I'm not really sure what I should have done differently here.  Any advice is quite welcome

Thanks for the games SirSlugma and good luck in the rest of the tournament!

[zporiri]

this is mostly a question for Kirian, but i'd love if we could see the standings somewhere after each round (how many points each player has). perhaps you could add it to the google doc if it isn't too big of a hassle? if not, no worries

[Kirian]

this is mostly a question for Kirian, but i'd love if we could see the standings somewhere after each round (how many points each player has). perhaps you could add it to the google doc if it isn't too big of a hassle? if not, no worries

The "Round 1 Rankings" tab is what you're looking for.  It has the total "ordering" score, which includes the Solkoff score etc, but I've updated it to have the points (which is the ordering column divided by 1000000.)

[ragingduckd]

Mallard Match (ragingduckd vs Psyduck) -- ragingduckd wins 3-1

Game 1:

Kingdom

ragingduckd - 1,

Psyduck - 0

Apothecary, Hermit, and Vault make me pass on Mountebank here despite my 5/2 start. I open Vault/- while Psyduck goes Potion/Hermit, picking up a pile of Upgrades and Mountebanks with University while I slog away with Vaults, Hermits and a pile of green. Psyduck gets a very clean deck with a lot of Gold and strong actions, but not quickly enough to overcome my VP lead.
 

Game 2:

Kingdom

ragingduckd - 2,

Psyduck - 0

Another Mountebank-trap board. The Baker token gives us flexibility and I open Caravan/Remodel to Psyduck's Lighthouse/Mountebank. Only one MB attack ends up getting through and I end up with most of the Caravans/Bakers. After picking up Outpost I'm almost playing two turns to Psyduck's one and win comfortably.
 

Game 3:

Kingdom

ragingduckd - 2,

Psyduck - 1

An Ambassador game with Baker. I make my typical Ambassador mistake, picking up a Poor House and using it to win the Baker split instead of thinning aggressively. Soon Psyduck has far the slimmer deck and his four Bakers are doing more than my six. He picks up a Haggler, getting ready for some robust greening and I gamble on a Gold instead, hoping that some lucky turn with Poor House, Pawn, and Baker tokens will let me sneak the win. I come closer than I had expected given his mid-game lead, but I don't connect and Psyduck's extra Haggler Gold end up giving him the win he deserves.

We'd appreciate some comments on our game and on this kingdom. We discussed it afterwards and neither of us was very confident in how we felt it should have been played. Between Ambassador and coin tokens, we both had a lot of difficult decisions to make.
 

Game 4:

Kingdom

ragingduckd - 3,

Psyduck - 1

I think we both played this one very poorly. There were several cantrips and reasonable engine parts on a board with Tournament and Horn of Plenty. I err first in buying a HoP just because I draw $5 and Psyduck follows suit, spending his $6 hands on Border Village with HoP or Masquerade and similar. Psyduck builds a slimmer engine with more HoPs but never quite gets to 8 uniques. I get to $8 to T10 and end up picking up most of the good prizes for a modest win.

[Robz888]

Mallard match. Love it.

[SCSN]

Game 3:

Kingdom

ragingduckd - 2,

Psyduck - 1

An Ambassador game with Baker. I make my typical Ambassador mistake, picking up a Poor House and using it to win the Baker split instead of thinning aggressively. Soon Psyduck has far the slimmer deck and his four Bakers are doing more than my six. He picks up a Haggler, getting ready for some robust greening and I gamble on a Gold instead, hoping that some lucky turn with Poor House, Pawn, and Baker tokens will let me sneak the win. I come closer than I had expected given his mid-game lead, but I don't connect and Psyduck's extra Haggler Gold end up giving him the win he deserves.

We'd appreciate some comments on our game and on this kingdom. We discussed it afterwards and neither of us was very confident in how we felt it should have been played. Between Ambassador and coin tokens, we both had a lot of difficult decisions to make.

Open Haggler/Silver and ignore Ambassador entirely. Without villages and draw, Ambassador slows you down more than it does an opponent who goes for BM with Haggler and Baker for support (getting a gold + Baker from Haggler should be pretty sweet).

[ragingduckd]

Game 3:

Kingdom

ragingduckd - 2,

Psyduck - 1

An Ambassador game with Baker. I make my typical Ambassador mistake, picking up a Poor House and using it to win the Baker split instead of thinning aggressively. Soon Psyduck has far the slimmer deck and his four Bakers are doing more than my six. He picks up a Haggler, getting ready for some robust greening and I gamble on a Gold instead, hoping that some lucky turn with Poor House, Pawn, and Baker tokens will let me sneak the win. I come closer than I had expected given his mid-game lead, but I don't connect and Psyduck's extra Haggler Gold end up giving him the win he deserves.

We'd appreciate some comments on our game and on this kingdom. We discussed it afterwards and neither of us was very confident in how we felt it should have been played. Between Ambassador and coin tokens, we both had a lot of difficult decisions to make.

Open Haggler/Silver and ignore Ambassador entirely. Without villages and draw, Ambassador slows you down more than it does an opponent who goes for BM with Haggler and Baker for support (getting a gold + Baker from Haggler should be pretty sweet).

Dammit. I kinda figured you'd say that. I should just ask myslf what Ambassador strategy SCSN could name to make me feel dumbest and then do that.

Okay. Explain it to me like I'm five. I'm obviously Ambassadorially-challenged.

1. When do I ignore Ambassador?
2. When do I take Ambassador and do anything other than just thin at top speed?
3. When do I open double-Ambassador?
4. When, if ever, do I ignore Lookout in favor of Ambassador?

[Polk5440]

Polk5440 ties Beyond Awesome 3-3

Game1:
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130823/log.50612f220cf2d91d287a93b8.1377303231445.txt
Polk wins 40-3

I'd love to say this win was because of some great skill I had, but it just wasn't. I made an error purchasing a Taxman on turn 5 (I didn't even play it for the first time until turn 16). Caravan would have been better. I got the first Goons and ended up with a couple more Caravans and a Gold. Maybe that made the difference, but BA had more Universities, more Jesters, one more Oracle, and four more Torturers. We both had 3 Festivals, 4 Golems, and a Silver.

It came down to this: my deck triggered first. I emptied the Curse pile and won.

Game 2:
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130823/log.50612f220cf2d91d287a93b8.1377303793956.txt
BA wins 42-35

I made the biggest mistake of the series in this game: I purchased a second Sea Hag rather than a Monument.

I thought the second Sea Hag would help me win the split then I could pick up a Monument later and Trading Post the Sea Hags away. We split the Curses anyway, I never got a chance to Trading Post a Sea Hag late, and I never picked up a Monument. Those few Monument points gave BA control over the endgame, and he won. I really feel like had I made the right call with Monument, this would have won me the game and the series (especially since I had great luck early, being able to Trading Post away two Estates).

Game 3:
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130823/log.50612f220cf2d91d287a93b8.1377304501054.txt
Polk wins 37-29

We both start Sea Hag-Silver. He catches a great break early flipping my Sea Hag with his.

To catch up, I try something pretty high variance and of dubious quality: (again) I get a second Sea Hag, lots of Counts, a Haggler, and a Graverobber. I win the curse split, and get a couple good Count trashes, but he's has 7 Gold to my 2 Gold. Somehow I am able to come back and win this.

Game 4:
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130823/log.50612f220cf2d91d287a93b8.1377305326324.txt
BA wins 70-48

An attrocious 5-2 opening for me. I try Harvest-Embargo and Embargo the Peddlers. He goes double Trade Route, cleans out his deck, and while our decks looked fairly similar in the end and the points were close at one point, I never really put any pressure on him.

Game 5:
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130823/log.50612f220cf2d91d287a93b8.1377306493536.txt
BA wins 19-3

We both get a bit sidetracked with Knights (though he does hit one of my Talisman early), and while we play similar strategies, his deck just comes together better. I see the writing on the wall with piles running out, but without buying some key cards I am toast, anyway. He empties piles and wins.

Game 6:
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130823/log.50612f220cf2d91d287a93b8.1377307410137.txt
Polk wins 66-47

Here 5-2 is okay -- I open Ghost Ship-nothing to his Taxman-Silver. In a Colony game Taxman actually helped quite a bit. We ended up doing the same thing -- Ghost Ship, Embassy, Bazaar, Taxman. I win the Bazaar split giving my deck more power and land a great Taxman Gold->Platinum which makes him discard a Gold late to win.

I spent a long time thinking about whether to just go Embassy-big money here at the very start of the game. Then I thought about going Ghost Ship money. Given the game was 30 turns, I think we could have done better. Luckily BA didn't try it, and had two Taxmen rather than some more draw using up his precious actions.

------

Thanks for the great games, BA. I think we both played pretty well and the tie is well-deserved. Good luck in future rounds!

[WanderingWinder]

Game 3:

Kingdom

ragingduckd - 2,

Psyduck - 1

An Ambassador game with Baker. I make my typical Ambassador mistake, picking up a Poor House and using it to win the Baker split instead of thinning aggressively. Soon Psyduck has far the slimmer deck and his four Bakers are doing more than my six. He picks up a Haggler, getting ready for some robust greening and I gamble on a Gold instead, hoping that some lucky turn with Poor House, Pawn, and Baker tokens will let me sneak the win. I come closer than I had expected given his mid-game lead, but I don't connect and Psyduck's extra Haggler Gold end up giving him the win he deserves.

We'd appreciate some comments on our game and on this kingdom. We discussed it afterwards and neither of us was very confident in how we felt it should have been played. Between Ambassador and coin tokens, we both had a lot of difficult decisions to make.

Open Haggler/Silver and ignore Ambassador entirely. Without villages and draw, Ambassador slows you down more than it does an opponent who goes for BM with Haggler and Baker for support (getting a gold + Baker from Haggler should be pretty sweet).

I don't think this (no villages/draw, no ambassador) is always correct. But as a general rule of thumb, it's not bad, and here I agree with you.

(The biggest clear exception is if you are going for a deck with tons of great cantrips, but there are other cases with weak colony boards and such that it's also the play to get one - and only one - amb anyway).

[StrongRhino]

I made the biggest mistake of the series in this game: I purchased a second Sea Hag rather than a Monument.

Well, after all, monument is just a sea hag that doesn't junk or discard the top card of their deck but gives you money.

[Psyduck]

Mallard Match (ragingduckd vs Psyduck)

Haha, that was also my thought when I saw the spreadsheet.

Game 1:

Kingdom

ragingduckd - 1,

Psyduck - 0

Apothecary, Hermit, and Vault make me pass on Mountebank here despite my 5/2 start. I open Vault/- while Psyduck goes Potion/Hermit, picking up a pile of Upgrades and Mountebanks with University while I slog away with Vaults, Hermits and a pile of green. Psyduck gets a very clean deck with a lot of Gold and strong actions, but not quickly enough to overcome my VP lead.

For me this was the most difficult game. So many strong cards and University zu gain them. I still don't know how to play this correctly. Using Vault to gain plenty of green cards and then Silk Roads obviously worked decently. It's very hard to see when Mountebank should be ignored.

Game 2:

Kingdom

ragingduckd - 2,

Psyduck - 0

Another Mountebank-trap board. The Baker token gives us flexibility and I open Caravan/Remodel to Psyduck's Lighthouse/Mountebank. Only one MB attack ends up getting through and I end up with most of the Caravans/Bakers. After picking up Outpost I'm almost playing two turns to Psyduck's one and win comfortably.

Not happy at all how I approached this one. Seemed like Mountebank was important again, but as ragingduckd proved it wasn't that powerful here.
I also completely missed Caravan/Outpost. When I finally realized it I was already way behind.

Game 3:

Kingdom

ragingduckd - 2,

Psyduck - 1

An Ambassador game with Baker. I make my typical Ambassador mistake, picking up a Poor House and using it to win the Baker split instead of thinning aggressively. Soon Psyduck has far the slimmer deck and his four Bakers are doing more than my six. He picks up a Haggler, getting ready for some robust greening and I gamble on a Gold instead, hoping that some lucky turn with Poor House, Pawn, and Baker tokens will let me sneak the win. I come closer than I had expected given his mid-game lead, but I don't connect and Psyduck's extra Haggler Gold end up giving him the win he deserves.

We'd appreciate some comments on our game and on this kingdom. We discussed it afterwards and neither of us was very confident in how we felt it should have been played. Between Ambassador and coin tokens, we both had a lot of difficult decisions to make.

Open Haggler/Silver and ignore Ambassador entirely. Without villages and draw, Ambassador slows you down more than it does an opponent who goes for BM with Haggler and Baker for support (getting a gold + Baker from Haggler should be pretty sweet).

I don't think this (no villages/draw, no ambassador) is always correct. But as a general rule of thumb, it's not bad, and here I agree with you.

(The biggest clear exception is if you are going for a deck with tons of great cantrips, but there are other cases with weak colony boards and such that it's also the play to get one - and only one - amb anyway).

Okay, Ambassador is an engine card, I was aware of that. But this board featured no excellent BM cards, just Haggler. Doesn't ignoring Amb mean to be heavily junked with curses, and - possibly - Poor Houses? Is that just too slow with only one Amb play/turn?

 

Game 4:

Kingdom

ragingduckd - 3,

Psyduck - 1

I think we both played this one very poorly. There were several cantrips and reasonable engine parts on a board with Tournament and Horn of Plenty. I err first in buying a HoP just because I draw $5 and Psyduck follows suit, spending his $6 hands on Border Village with HoP or Masquerade and similar. Psyduck builds a slimmer engine with more HoPs but never quite gets to 8 uniques. I get to $8 to T10 and end up picking up most of the good prizes for a modest win.

Fully agreed. Our initial goal was to get to $8 as soon as possible, but we both got distracted by other stuff.

Anyway, thanks for the fun games ragingduckd, and good luck for the next tournament rounds.

[Mic Qsenoch]

Mic Qsenoch wins 3-1 over blueblimp


Game 1: http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130824/log.5066a4d70cf20e086dc89e71.1377366809642.txt
Transmute, Chapel, Crossroads, Fool's Gold, Swindler, Farming Village, Contraband, Explorer, Mint, Harem

I asked blueblimp before my opening how badly Swindler would wreck Mint/FG, and he responded cryptically with "that's the question." It turns out the answer was "pretty badly". I get good Mint/FG collisions in my first reshuffles. I probably need to get a Chapel at some point, but I'm not sure when. Soon I am swimming in green junk. Not a good strategy choice by me, and my opponent wins with a Chapeled down Swindler/BM deck. Oh and there are Colonies, which makes my thing probably even worse.

Game 2: http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130824/log.5066a4d70cf20e086dc89e71.1377367447114.txt
Beggar, Chapel, Black Market, Trade Route, Tunnel, Cutpurse, Silk Road, Counting House, Inn, Treasury, Witch
Another Colony game, where my opponent goes Alt-VP all the way with Silk Road/Beggar, eventually clearing Tunnels as well. I Chapel down and build Treasuries/Platina for a while because I know I'll have to piledrive the Colonies. My early draws aren't fantastic, but I don't play it perfectly either. The games ends very close, but I really think the Colony player should have a straightforward win here. I add Inn/Witch late in the game, it's possible I needed them much sooner (though I didn't want to set up an easy 3-pile). Black Market is also a possibility, it has a few nice cards, but I'm not sure it's worth a terminal slot to go fishing for goodies. I win by a slim margin.


Game 3: http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130824/log.5066a4d70cf20e086dc89e71.1377368021233.txt
Urchin, Alchemist, Baron, Ironworks, Quarry, Thief, Apprentice, Mandarin, Mystic, Altar
I am not pleased with 5/2 on this board at all, but I go ahead and open Apprentice/-, blueblimp goes Ironworks/Urchin. I don't love Urchin or Mercenary here because Alchemist should counter them nicely. If you collide Urchins really soon it might be worth it, but that isn't the case for my opponent in this game. Our engines aren't very impressive here, I want to blame my draws but it's more likely I made some stupid purchases or Apprentice plays. I win this by getting an early lead and then aggressively trashing Province/Golds to end the game before my opponent can catch up. 18 turns to 4 Provinces looks so slow for what was available on the board though.

Game 4: http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130824/log.5066a4d70cf20e086dc89e71.1377368585338.txt
Courtyard, Squire, Lookout, Market Square, Conspirator, Nomad Camp, Spy, Duke, Royal Seal, Forge
My third game to get 5/2. The kingdom offers a two paths in my mind: Duchy/Duke with Squires/Nomad Camps or Provinces with big Conspirator engine. I go for the Duchy/Duke plan. My opponent opens Lookout/Market Square with the goal of getting a few Golds and contesting Duchies. I win the Duchy split 5/3 and my opponent hasn't been able to gain much gold, and his deck is now flooded with Copper. This makes a Conspirator chain impossible, so he doesn't have much hope of catching up on Provinces. He resigns before the piles can run out.

I really wanted to try the Conspirator engine, but 5/2 was no good for it. I'm interested in how fast that deck can clear Provinces. You would want to open Lookout/Conspirator I think. Get a second Lookout and a few Market Squares. Never gain Gold with Market Square and then lots of Spies/Market Squares/Conspirator until you can at least double Province.

Thanks for the match blueblimp!

[hsiale]

http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130824/log.50893139a2e67cff211cd7e5.1377377096062.txt
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130824/log.50893139a2e67cff211cd7e5.1377377570675.txt
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130824/log.50893139a2e67cff211cd7e5.1377378700580.txt

hsiale 3
17and3buys 0

[yed]

http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130824/log.51102b6ee4b06719e45eef9d.1377362953501.txt
Cellar, Moat, Forager, Familiar, Feast, Treasure Map, Rogue, Saboteur, Vault, Goons
Mail-mi missed Familiar and that decided the match.
I'm curious if it would be a good idea to skip Familiars and go for a lot of trashing from Foragers from the start.

http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130824/log.51102b6ee4b06719e45eef9d.1377379553168.txt
Herbalist, Urchin, Familiar, Philosopher's Stone, Farming Village, Procession, Sea Hag, Apprentice, Ghost Ship, Market
Mirror match. It felt like I'm behind the whole game, but I was better trashed and that probably helped. Still shuffle luck decided this too.

http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130824/log.51102b6ee4b06719e45eef9d.1377380850896.txt
Pearl Diver, Fishing Village, Loan, Masquerade, Bishop, Coppersmith, Jester, Market, Pillage, Altar
I decided to delay Bishop buy and build engine with FV, Masqarade and a lot of Markets. It worked quite well.
My Jester was lucky to hit mail-mi's green surprisingly often.

yed 3
mail-mi 0

Thank you mail-mi for the games. I was lucky in all of them, sorry for that. Good luck in next rounds.

[mail-mi]

http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130824/log.51102b6ee4b06719e45eef9d.1377362953501.txt
Cellar, Moat, Forager, Familiar, Feast, Treasure Map, Rogue, Saboteur, Vault, Goons
Mail-mi missed Familiar and that decided the match.
I'm curious if it would be a good idea to skip Familiars and go for a lot of trashing from Foragers from the start.

Oh man. Getting 2p in the second shuffle, then buying a familiar, then having it miss the reshuffle all killed me.

yed 3
mail-mi 0

Thank you mail-mi for the games. I was lucky in all of them, sorry for that. Good luck in next rounds.

It was fun!

[florrat]

jaybeez - florrat: 3-3


florrat wins 8-6: Scheme, Bureaucrat, Quarry, Remake, Wandering Minstrel, Catacombs, Festival, Journeyman, Knights, Stables
A knight war. I tried to trash my deck down with remake, while jaybeez skipped remake, to make (almost) sure his stables always worked and to make my knight a less effective. I won the knight war which led to a win.

jaybeez wins 27-22: Vagrant, Sage, Butcher, Counting House, Graverobber, Highway, Minion, Mountebank, Rabble, Witch
We both opened 2/5 and we both went Curser Big Money with Butcher support. The main difference was that my initial curser was Mountebank and his curser was Witch. It was a really close match.

jaybeez wins 40-39: Chapel, Ironmonger, Scout, Thief, Throne Room, Trader, Library, Soothsayer, Possession, Forge
I basically went Chapel big money with 1 library, while jaybeez went for Possession. After the game we both agreed that going Possession was a mistake, but he still managed to win the game with it.

florrat wins 39-31: Menagerie, Feast, Scout, Smithy, Merchant Ship, Saboteur, Stables, Treasury, Hoard, Hunting Grounds
I went Smithy big money, jaybeez went Stables big money. Smithy big money is definitely better, but jaybeez 5/2 opening made that less attractive, but probably he still had to open Merchant Ship/- or Smithy/-

florrat wins 49-36: Stonemason, Ambassador, Fishing Village, Smugglers, Familiar, Journeyman, Library, Pillage, Saboteur, Altar
An Ambassador war with FV support. I won the amb war (being help a lot by his terminal collision on T3), but jaybeez won the FV-split (7-3), but it turned out that winning the amb-war was more important.

jaybeez wins 42-15: Scrying Pool, Masquerade, Armory, Conspirator, Farming Village, Noble Brigand, Walled Village, Horn of Plenty, Journeyman, Grand Market
We both went Masquerade - Scrying Pool. I made some mistakes early (my third masquerade should have been silver), and jaybeez' early HoP was very good picking up extra engine pieces. He was a few turns ahead building up his engine, which was too much to overcome.

EDIT: I just realized that in ALL six game the second player won.

[HiveMindEmulator]

Game 3:

Kingdom

ragingduckd - 2,

Psyduck - 1

An Ambassador game with Baker. I make my typical Ambassador mistake, picking up a Poor House and using it to win the Baker split instead of thinning aggressively. Soon Psyduck has far the slimmer deck and his four Bakers are doing more than my six. He picks up a Haggler, getting ready for some robust greening and I gamble on a Gold instead, hoping that some lucky turn with Poor House, Pawn, and Baker tokens will let me sneak the win. I come closer than I had expected given his mid-game lead, but I don't connect and Psyduck's extra Haggler Gold end up giving him the win he deserves.

We'd appreciate some comments on our game and on this kingdom. We discussed it afterwards and neither of us was very confident in how we felt it should have been played. Between Ambassador and coin tokens, we both had a lot of difficult decisions to make.

Open Haggler/Silver and ignore Ambassador entirely. Without villages and draw, Ambassador slows you down more than it does an opponent who goes for BM with Haggler and Baker for support (getting a gold + Baker from Haggler should be pretty sweet).

Dammit. I kinda figured you'd say that. I should just ask myslf what Ambassador strategy SCSN could name to make me feel dumbest and then do that.

Okay. Explain it to me like I'm five. I'm obviously Ambassadorially-challenged.

1. When do I ignore Ambassador?
2. When do I take Ambassador and do anything other than just thin at top speed?
3. When do I open double-Ambassador?
4. When, if ever, do I ignore Lookout in favor of Ambassador?

There are a few ways you can go about playing boards with Ambassador, and it's basically like a gradient, so it's hard to give any steadfast rules.

If you can build a full-drawing engine, you want 2 Ambassadors early (either open double Amb or get a second one on the next shuffle) to trim down to set up the engine, and you can use the Ambassadors to continue to attack all game.

If you lack the +actions to keep playing Ambassadors you may want 1 (or even 2, returning one later, to speed up the trashing) as trashing to set up some lesser engine.

If you're playing something that's barely an engine or not even really an engine at all, you still might want an Ambassador as light trashing if the game figures to go long enough for the early "dead" turns to be worth it. (This is like where you might even prefer Lookout.)

If there's something very fast that's resilient enough to taking on a few extra cards, you can skip it entirely.

[jaybeez]

jaybeez - florrat: 3-3

florrat wins 8-6: Scheme, Bureaucrat, Quarry, Remake, Wandering Minstrel, Catacombs, Festival, Journeyman, Knights, Stables
A knight war. I tried to trash my deck down with remake, while jaybeez skipped remake, to make (almost) sure his stables always worked and to make my knight a less effective. I won the knight war which led to a win.

I still have trouble figuring out when to go for Knights at all, and if you do how aggressively.  I think it was losing the Knights split more than ignoring Remake that did me in, but I'm not sure.  I did not play well here.

jaybeez wins 27-22: Vagrant, Sage, Butcher, Counting House, Graverobber, Highway, Minion, Mountebank, Rabble, Witch
We both opened 2/5 and we both went Curser Big Money with Butcher support. The main difference was that my initial curser was Mountebank and his curser was Witch. It was a really close match.

I think Witch is better head-to-head with Mountebank, and maybe I'm right because I win the Curse split 6-4.  Butcher is key here (Cursers into Duchies, Curses into Estates) and I go for a second one earlier than my opponent and it pays dividends.  My Sages do some good but set up a bad reshuffle at one point and don't do much later in the game, Silvers might have been better.

jaybeez wins 40-39: Chapel, Ironmonger, Scout, Thief, Throne Room, Trader, Library, Soothsayer, Possession, Forge
I basically went Chapel big money with 1 library, while jaybeez went for Possession. After the game we both agreed that going Possession was a mistake, but he still managed to win the game with it.

I had planned to go for a super-slim deck with Possessions, Throne Rooms, and Ironmongers for lots of multi-Possession turns and I somehow lost track of that.  I don't think I played well and I'm a little surprised I won.  Was it luck?

florrat wins 39-31: Menagerie, Feast, Scout, Smithy, Merchant Ship, Saboteur, Stables, Treasury, Hoard, Hunting Grounds
I went Smithy big money, jaybeez went Stables big money. Smithy big money is definitely better, but jaybeez 5/2 opening made that less attractive, but probably he still had to open Merchant Ship/- or Smithy/-

Yeah, I'm really into Stables these days.  I think it was a mistake to open with, but Smithy/Silver is just much better here than anything you can do with 5/2.  I don't think my strategy was awful but it wasn't great either.

florrat wins 49-36: Stonemason, Ambassador, Fishing Village, Smugglers, Familiar, Journeyman, Library, Pillage, Saboteur, Altar
An Ambassador war with FV support. I won the amb war (being help a lot by his terminal collision on T3), but jaybeez won the FV-split (7-3), but it turned out that winning the amb-war was more important.

My Ambassadors collide before the second reshuffle, his don't.  I also have some turns where I return fewer Coppers than I could in order to buy Fishing Villages.  That's how I win that split but I get even further behind with the Ambs.  I thought it would be more important to have lots of FVs to enable big draw with Libraries, but the power of Ambassador is not to be taken lightly.

jaybeez wins 42-15: Scrying Pool, Masquerade, Armory, Conspirator, Farming Village, Noble Brigand, Walled Village, Horn of Plenty, Journeyman, Grand Market
We both went Masquerade - Scrying Pool. I made some mistakes early (my third masquerade should have been silver), and jaybeez' early HoP was very good picking up extra engine pieces. He was a few turns ahead building up his engine, which was too much to overcome.

I have to say this was my most satisfying win in weeks--facing a loss for the round I win in dominant fashion with one of my favorite deck types, a totally over-the-top Scrying Pool engine.  I'm particularly proud of my decision to go with HoP which worked out beautifully.  Typically you want to minimize the number of Treasures in a SP deck, but I knew that HoP would be good because it'd almost always get at least a $4, which I needed, but also it wouldn't be too hard to grab GMs with it--and I managed to do that on three consecutive turns, T9-T11.  At that point my deck starts to snowball pretty quickly, I pour on the GMs with some Conspirators on the side.  I might have overbuilt a little bit but I was just so happy to have forced a draw that I allowed myself this pleasure.

EDIT: I just realized that in ALL six game the second player won.

I hadn't noticed that.  Very weird.  But whatever, thank you florrat for the exciting match.