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[Kirian]

The discussion thread for the last round.  Feel free to post analysis, commentary, etc.!

My apologies for the lateness of these threads.  Life has been hectic lately and my posting has been limited to a few minutes here and there... followed by my computer going on the fritz and sometimes only having a few minutes to type.  I think that's figured out now... video drivers.

Good luck in your last round, everyone!

[Polk5440]

Polk defeats Simon 4-2.

Unfortunately, our kingdoms were pretty boring and the games were characterized by misclicks and high luck. Oh, well. Thanks for accommodating my schedule, Simon. I am glad we were able to find a time before next week.

Game 1:
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130928/log.50ba29b8e4b015dcbac5f45a.1380376794844.txt

Chancellor, Rats, Catacombs, Festival, Graverobber, Inn, Library, Wharf, Hoard, Peddler

I go first, and go Wharf-big money. He chooses the same, but doesn't hit $5 for a while. I was very tempted to try something fancy after getting the first two Wharfs. Something like Festival-Rats-Graverobber to get an engine going, get more Wharfs, suck up Peddlers, use Inn, Hoard, etc. I was unsure whether an engine beat Wharf big money, and I was out to a lead in a mirror, so why risk it?

Game 2:
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130928/log.50ba29b8e4b015dcbac5f45a.1380377513383.txt

Vineyard, Chapel, Develop, Doctor, Fortune Teller, Remodel, Scout, Festival, Rogue, Venture

I build a very clean Chapel Venture money deck. By turn 7 I get rid of all of my Coppers so Ventures are always worth at least $3 to me! At this point I can buy them over Gold! He opens Develop-Develop. He has me wondering if Developing a Develop into a Scout and a Chapel is a thing when I realize he is going for Vineyards. There is not enough support for that to be fast enough here.

Game 3:
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130928/log.50ba29b8e4b015dcbac5f45a.1380378239674.txt

Candlestick Maker, Hamlet, Secret Chamber, Forager, Masquerade, Village, Highway, Mint, Vault, Hunting Grounds

So I open with 2 Masqs, he 1 and a Silver. I get behind (he has 3 Provinces by turn 10), and my attempt at a Highway engine megaturn never gets fully off the ground. He wins this one convincingly.

Game 4:
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130928/log.50ba29b8e4b015dcbac5f45a.1380378941324.txt

Courtyard, Pearl Diver, Workshop, Death Cart, Pirate Ship, Bazaar, Graverobber, Jester, Junk Dealer

A Courtyard mini-engine game. We play very similar strategies. The only big difference was he picked up a Jester before me, and I like that move. Its first flip got him a much needed Junk Dealer (my first $5 purchase). My pieces don't quite line up often enough (three Baazars then next turn 3 Courtyards? I hate it when that happens), and he wins this one by a mile.

Game 5:
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130928/log.50ba29b8e4b015dcbac5f45a.1380380195287.txt

Squire, Masterpiece, Mining Village, Monument, Remodel, Contraband, Harvest, Junk Dealer, Margrave, Peddler

I really like my opening Remodel. Estates can become useful engine pieces. If it lines up with a Squire that would get me a Mining Village and a Margrave! They don't line up, mostly due to me going overboard on Silver gaining with Squire. I forget that I should be using the Squire for the buys to pick up Peddlers. Two pretty big mistakes that combined with an accidental discard of a Margrave should have cost me the game.

On turn 18, all he has to do is get $5 and buy a Margrave to 3 pile. He misses. Then he misses again on turn 19. In the meantime I am ferociously trashing Mining Villages and buying points. On turn 20 I pass him. He now needs $10 and 2 buys to grab a Margrave and Duchy. He misses. I steal the game on turn 21.

Game 6:
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130928/log.50ba29b8e4b015dcbac5f45a.1380381036937.txt

Feodum, Rats, Spice Merchant, Tournament, Bandit Camp, Duke, Graverobber, Market, Mystic, Expand

I think this a pretty interesting board with all the alt VP, but we essentially do the same thing. Silver-Spice Merchant into Tournament. I get a Province first and quickly connect. I get Followers for the discard attack to try to stop him from getting a Province. If he had a Province, I probably would have grabbed Trusty Steed right away. If things get really bad with all the Estates I am gaining, I have a dubious plan to clean out those Estates with Rats and Expand. I chicken out and just get the Expand.

He transitions into Duke-Duchy, so I compete for Duchies. I am able to connect Tournament again and get Trusty Steed for the Silvers. This makes it easy to hit $5 or $8 and powers up Feodum. I just stay on top of points, and empty piles to win the match.

It was less interesting than I thought because, well, as with most Tournament games it came down to who wins the Tournament. Oh, well.

---

Thanks again for the games, Simon, and I hope to see you in future tournaments!

[kn1tt3r]

http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130928/log.505c84d751c3249282789115.1380374365516.txt
Secret Chamber, Scheme, Death Cart, Envoy, Marauder, Plaza, Treasure Map, Bandit Camp, Torturer, Grand Market
Torturer game. I open with Marodeur which he ignores. Instead he builds up a drawing engine with several early Schemes to support it. It goes back and forth for a while but in the end his superior engine prevails. He nearly threw it away in the end by emptying the Ruins, which would have meant a win for me if I were able to buy the last Duchy. Well, I wasn't (only had $3 plus 1 Token), so it didn't matter. I guess his approach was a bit better, but I do like my early Marodeur. Maybe Marodeur/Scheme would have been a better opening?


http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130928/log.505c84d751c3249282789115.1380374824559.txt
Fortune Teller, Hermit, Village, Conspirator, Explorer, Festival, Haggler, Mint, Mountebank, King's Court
Nice engine board with Hermit, Conspirator, Haggler, King's Court, and Mountebank. Interesting enough. He doesn't hit $5 after the first shuffle, which gives me a nice headstart. Moreover, he doesn't keep his Hermits but deals them in early for Madmen, which I think is a mistake. You actually want those Hermits to grab tons of Villages to support the engine and trash stuff on the way. I hit him hard with my Mountebanks and finally end it on piles with a win.


http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130928/log.505c84d751c3249282789115.1380375660651.txt
University, Death Cart, Nomad Camp, Remodel, Golem, Bandit Camp, Junk Dealer, Merchant Ship, Mystic, Venture
Colony game with Golem/Mystic being the main thing here and Junk Dealers to get things going. I'm not entirely sure how, but I get my deck together way faster and very soon have a big lead in Colonies. Ultimately he gives up and ends it himself with a loss.


http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130928/log.505c84d751c3249282789115.1380376430571.txt
Fool's Gold, Black Market, Fortune Teller, Armory, Rats, Silk Road, Taxman, Cartographer, Merchant Guild, Fairgrounds
Probably the most interesting board. There is Black Market/Fairgrounds. There is Silk Road (but only Armory to really support it). And there's Fool's Gold. I don't know what I would have done with a 3/4 opening, but with my 5/2 I tried to outrace his Black Market plan by going for Merchant Guild/Fool's Gold. I probably made the mistake to also buy VP cards other than Provinces, which somewhat prolongs the game. In the end it's very close, and I think he would have had good chances to win this. Unfortunately he misread the score and ends the game with a loss by buying the last Province.

[2.71828.....]

http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130928/log.505c84d751c3249282789115.1380374365516.txt
Secret Chamber, Scheme, Death Cart, Envoy, Marauder, Plaza, Treasure Map, Bandit Camp, Torturer, Grand Market
Torturer game. I open with Marodeur which he ignores. Instead he builds up a drawing engine with several early Schemes to support it. It goes back and forth for a while but in the end his superior engine prevails. He nearly threw it away in the end by emptying the Ruins, which would have meant a win for me if I were able to buy the last Duchy. Well, I wasn't (only had $3 plus 1 Token), so it didn't matter. I guess his approach was a bit better, but I do like my early Marodeur. Maybe Marodeur/Scheme would have been a better opening?


http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130928/log.505c84d751c3249282789115.1380374824559.txt
Fortune Teller, Hermit, Village, Conspirator, Explorer, Festival, Haggler, Mint, Mountebank, King's Court
Nice engine board with Hermit, Conspirator, Haggler, King's Court, and Mountebank. Interesting enough. He doesn't hit $5 after the first shuffle, which gives me a nice headstart. Moreover, he doesn't keep his Hermits but deals them in early for Madmen, which I think is a mistake. You actually want those Hermits to grab tons of Villages to support the engine and trash stuff on the way. I hit him hard with my Mountebanks and finally end it on piles with a win.


http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130928/log.505c84d751c3249282789115.1380375660651.txt
University, Death Cart, Nomad Camp, Remodel, Golem, Bandit Camp, Junk Dealer, Merchant Ship, Mystic, Venture
Colony game with Golem/Mystic being the main thing here and Junk Dealers to get things going. I'm not entirely sure how, but I get my deck together way faster and very soon have a big lead in Colonies. Ultimately he gives up and ends it himself with a loss.


http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130928/log.505c84d751c3249282789115.1380376430571.txt
Fool's Gold, Black Market, Fortune Teller, Armory, Rats, Silk Road, Taxman, Cartographer, Merchant Guild, Fairgrounds
Probably the most interesting board. There is Black Market/Fairgrounds. There is Silk Road (but only Armory to really support it). And there's Fool's Gold. I don't know what I would have done with a 3/4 opening, but with my 5/2 I tried to outrace his Black Market plan by going for Merchant Guild/Fool's Gold. I probably made the mistake to also buy VP cards other than Provinces, which somewhat prolongs the game. In the end it's very close, and I think he would have had good chances to win this. Unfortunately he misread the score and ends the game with a loss by buying the last Province.

Game 1- I possibly should have picked up at least one marauder on T4 instead of the plaza, but got lucky at the end with him only have 4 his last turn.

Game 2- My T3 cce with conspirator and hermit really put me behind to start, but that is the danger of opening with two terminals.  However, on a board with Mountebank and KC, you need to take those chances and I didn't get what I needed.  I feel like my play to gain hermit/trash hermit for a madman was correct on T3, but it still was basically a lost turn.

Game 3- Opening nomad camp/potion slowed my deck down rather than speeding it up.  I am unable to get 5, and can't get a junk dealer until T6, and by that time kn1tt3r has 2.  The T3 remodel was a mistake, it should have been a silver, but then as kn1tt3r said, we were going for basically the same thing and his deck came together much quicker.

Game 4- I looked at black market, saw it had some pretty good cards, and decided to go for it even though the board was full of terminals.  I then saw kn1tt3r pull a 5-2 on a merchant guild/fools gold board and saw the end coming quickly if I tried to contest provinces.  My only chance was to get into a fairground/silk road slog.  It worked, until the point where I mysteriously buy the last province.  I may have confused myself a bit because his duchy buy was his 10th card, giving him an additional +6 vp boost from fairgrounds, but with the vp counter on there is really no excuse.  Just really strange (and bad) play on my part.

In all, they were fun games and kn1tt3r was a great opponent.  Well deserved win for him

[Eevee]

Eevee 3.5 - microman 0.5

http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130929/log.505c85050cf27cdcceaba6ca.1380484321056.txt
Moat, Secret Chamber, Stonemason, Vagrant, Trade Route, Spy, Bazaar, Cache, Explorer, Possession, province game with estates.
So, a super lackluster board, but I'm happy to notice explorer can be a power card sometimes. We both open 5-2, he opens bazaar-moat and gets a potion on turn 4 (!) to pursue possessions, I go for the less shiny route of two explorers, money and green cards. Explorer is pretty great against a possession deck.

http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130929/log.505c85050cf27cdcceaba6ca.1380484945814.txt
Chapel, Crossroads, Masquerade, Death Cart, Feodum, Salvager, Merchant Ship, Mine, Minion, Stables, province game with shelters.
He opens 5-2 for minion-chapel, I have to settle for silver-chapel. His early death cart works scarily well in a trimmed deck, but my deck catches up. I take the draw on turn 15 without realizing how terrible his deck has gotten. A definite misplay from me, he would have had to draw his entire deck just to get a duchy. Dumb dumb dumb.

http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130929/log.505c85050cf27cdcceaba6ca.1380485666709.txt
Ambassador, Smugglers, Baron, Cutpurse, Feodum, Silk Road, Thief, Cultist, Pillage, King's Court, province game with estates
The often so mighty king's court and ambassador pretty much suck here. I open baron-silver, get some cultists for the lack of better options and rush silk roads for a pretty easy win. There was just nothing to do with ambassador, and helping me out with the estates was a doomed proposition for my opponent.

http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130929/log.505c85050cf27cdcceaba6ca.1380486307958.txt
Woodcutter, Remake, Baker, Festival, Governor, Margrave, Merchant Guild, Rebuild, Possession, Expand, province game with shelters
So, there is rebuild, but it's a shelters game and baker allows a 5-3 opening. This was my first time seeing governor on goko, and the picture looked shiny so I decided to ignore rebuild in favor of a governor-margrave deck. This was the most satisfactory game for me, ignoring rebuild and winning always feels like you are doing something special.

Thanks for the games, microman!

[Geronimoo]

Geronimoo beats jsh 3-1
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130930/log.505da8ce51c359e6597efefa.1380566278584.txt

So this board has nothing going for it except maybe Peddlers. I decide to open Warehouse/Spice Merchant. After buying the Warehouse I see 3 Coppers in my hand. D'oh, should have been a Spice Merchant. When I make another mistake of not buying a Peddler when I have $2 I concede in disgust. Must slow down.

http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130930/log.505da8ce51c359e6597efefa.1380566852278.txt

A Colony game with Mountebank. There's also Mystic and University to spam those which jsh goes for. I don't like that plan much because the University is going to be a dead card once the Mystics have run out and Mountebank's junk is going to hinder Mystic chaining. I basically stick to Mountebank Big Money and seem to win this easily.

http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130930/log.505da8ce51c359e6597efefa.1380567840462.txt

Moat, Doctor, Cutpurse, Scout, Taxman, Treasure Map, Young Witch, Cartographer, Merchant Guild, Fairgrounds, Harem
A fun board with focus on Young Witch and its bane the Doctor. I open YW/Doctor to my opponent's Doctor/Silver. I get a second Witch and a second Doctor (when jsh gets a Witch as well). Mid game I get to combo Cartographer with Doctor which is pretty sweet. I go mostly for Big Money, but get singletons of most of the board to get Fairgrounds up to 6VP. Meanwhile my opponent is messing around with Treasure Map for some reason and never gets his deck in shape. I win by a landslide.

http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130930/log.505da8ce51c359e6597efefa.1380568244313.txt

Forager, Wishing Well, Bridge, Gardens, Nomad Camp, Procession, Cache, Mint, Rabble, Stash
Again we're using different strategies. I go for Big Money with Caches (looking ahead to the end game where Gardens will be important). Jsh on the other hand tries something with Wishing Wells and Bridges. He starts to go for the Gardens very early (even before he's reached Province money). He wins the Gardens split 6-2 but as expected his deck chokes and my Mint powered deck buys 7 Provinces easy.

Glad to finish this tournament with a win.

[jsh357]

To be honest, I was sort of throwing the games (I don't think it matters too much at this point anyway, as only the top 8 advance).  Sadly, I am just not that in to playing competitively anymore, as I have returned to game development and not been practicing Dominion so much.  Did not read the boards as well as I could have, mainly in the Treasure map one, no idea why I didn't just go for Silver/Bridge in the last one.  I don't have too much to say about the games.  Sorry for the lame match.

[Stealth Tomato]

I apologize for leaving on such a sour note (with my comments on the last match against Eevee and all) but I'm attempting to quit Dominion and have therefore resigned the final round. In the unlikely case that this actually sticks, many thanks to everyone here who I have played with, argued with, and otherwise interacted with. It's been a lot of fun.

[pst]

pst vs 17and3buys 3–0.

game 1:
Hamlet, Vagrant, Market Square, Masterpiece, Wishing Well, Bureaucrat, Quarry, Band of Misfits, Contraband, Stables.

Very unexciting board without trashing or much of anything really. I didn't bother with +buy, but just got one Bureaucrat, some Stables, money and green.

game 2:
Colony game with Chapel, Fishing Village, Sage, Moneylender, Monument, Noble Brigand, Rats, Cartographer, Council Room, Stables.

I got Stables for my first $5. Then another the second time, thinking Council Room would be next. I regretted not buying it then already, because then, because I needed that +buy earlier, but didn't want to underbuy to get one. With early +buy I think there would be more FVs and Monuments.

game 3:
Colony game with Vagrant, Scrying Pool, Forager, Great Hall, Woodcutter, Bishop, Feodum, Count, Harvest, Journeyman.

We both drew with Scrying Pools, and bishopped stuff. We both tried different variantions on what to buy and what to trash. I guess better players would make this some more effective variant of a golden deck. It was exciting though, but then unfortunately 17and3buys had to go and resigned.

[PitrPicko]

PitrPicko defeats florrat 4-2

Game 1

Game 2

Game 3

Game 4

Game 5

I cannot obtain game six log, but I won.

I think all games were pretty tough and close. Mostly engine things (thrice KC). That also brought some misplays by both players


Game 1: Familiar board. We both chose to open oracle/potion, hoping that oracle attack will skip opponents potion in T4, that was at least my idea. And oracle draw is pretty decent when hitting 3P. Also it can trigger reshuffle if needed. Pretty good opener on Familiar board, imho. Thanks to Oracle florrat managed to buy Familiar T3 AND T4. I on the other hand hit $5 T4 and bought city, with thoughts that it will be better lab pretty soon with curses running out thanks to Familiar.
Then the cursing starts and we split curses 5-5, I have more cities in my deck, while florrat has more silvers. I'm lucky to hit first $6 for altar to trash my curses for cities. florrat also hits his $6, gains altar but after that he decided to buy duchies. That was questionable move for my, because no other piles were running low except for curses. I still focus on cities (and winning split 9-10 and adding 2 golds for economy. After full-powered cities I can buy plenty of VPs and gain a win.

Game 2: It could look like a boring board, especially with dead procession (no $3 actions). But right in begging we both had to chose our path. Either normal BM w/o any support (maybe advisor, maybe not. I think advisorBM is pretty weak...) or altVP road with vineyard and GREAT $2 actions (Pawn,Haven,Cellar). I decided for BM and florrat went for altVP and that made this game interesting.
I'm buying money money money and using masterpiece for increasing money density, while florrat focus on potions pawn(+buy) and other cheap actions. Knights were also on board and it really could hurt my deck with hitting silvers, luckily for my top knight was Dame +2coins and next was +2buy knight, so buying knights stopped there.
My BM after tight battle won here but I think it was basically because florrat made some poor decisions (sorry florrat). He bought Advisor instead of second potion. And then more advisors. I really don't think that advisor could do any good for you. I've just discarded your potion over and over. And when not I could just chose Pawn to deny you extra buy you desperately needed and let you draw those vineyards and coppers and estates...
However it was pretty tight. Maybe I shouldn't panic and keep building my money density, while I decided to buy some duchies for extra points. Maybe I could buy all provinces earlier, I don't know. Anyway  small difference in the end (66-59), so it was an interesting game

Game 3: Incredible board (Colony,KC,Altar,City,WV,Smithy,CR,coppersmith(CS)) Only thing missing for incredible engine was virtual money except Fortune teller. I've decided to open CS/silver(!) while florrat goes for traditional smithy/silver. I was thinking that I really really want to hit that $6/7 early and CS could help (and my secret plan was to play KC(CS), while having lots of coppers (5) in hand because draw was really sweet here. However after some really cool KC turns florrat is able to buy 8provinces in T12 after some KC(WV,City) thing followed by KC(KC(CS,CS,CS)).
My most favorite moment from this game was this:
florrat   plays Altar
florrat   trashes Smithy
florrat   gains Copper
because why overdraw when you can draw copper worth $8 .
Needed to say that florrat had to end game T12 otherwise I'd do it T13 having KC,KC,City,City in hand which will most probably lead to same megaturn.

Game 4: IGG board.
I screwed this, florrat gained deserved point.

Don't open spice merchant on IGG board when you can buy monument... Trashing coppers won't do a thing. I'm stupid I know it...

Game 5: Well what is still missing for perfect match, we already had KC, City, Altar, Monument, IGG. Yeah right MEGATURN GOONS!
This board is so PERFECT!
My idea was, that I really want to play multiple goons (I was thinking about 5 goons almost each turn). How you ask? Chapel for trashing, Fortress for actions, Apprentice(Fortress) for draw or labs if you want, bandit camp if you are running low on actions, and poor house for reaching to goons.

Game went as I thought. I added a smugglers to gain some more fortresses and goons and you know stuff. T12 I've managed to play quintuple goons. T15 I thought I can end game, but I didn't have enough money ( but I've noticed that after I piledrove goons. Luckily it was with quadruple goons so I just gained some coppers to gain a secure lead. However florrat added outpost to his deck and could easily catch up, especially because it was on colony board. However I managed to end game on piles before he could do that.


Game 6: Log is lost, I don't know why, but key card were KC(as usual), Steward, Shanty town, Councilroom, Forager, Contraband.

I'm going for steward trashing and then directly to KC(Steward) for more trashing and getting more stewards and then adding few shanties even though they never draw anything and CR in the end game for better draw.
florrat is going for forager for trashing and buy (that was clever), but after that for contraband (less clever). As florrat said in game chat, playing contraband after you showed your whole hand with shanty town is not an optimal strategy. I effectively block KC and Gold (hoard were on board as substitute for gold, but I still think, that on KC board is gold better than hoard.)
And then we are buying some points but I have slightly better deck and playing KC(KC(CR,steward,steward) brings enough money in last turn to finish this with win.


Thanks florrat for magnificent games, I really enjoyed playing with you. It is a great shame that my recording didn't work ( It would be pretty nice start for my commentary career because of all those great KC boards...

Some important things to remember from this games:
City is a great card (especially when you can gain it) on board when one pile will surely ran out.
Sometimes it is a good idea to play coppersmith. And trash smithy for copper
IGG boards are very different from normal game (as same as remodel boards). Don't open with Spice merchant, try monument instead
KC combos with everything (except chancellor and scout ) even with steward and/or coppersmith.

Once again thanks for the games.

[nopawnsintended]

Revered Peasant and No Pawns scratch themselves to a draw.  3-3

Game 1: http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20131003/log.516d315ce4b082c74d7b31f0.1380852752598.txt Revered Peasant 37 No Pawns 29

Sea Hag versus Junk Dealer.  I get a 5-2 opening against is 4-3, so I go for Junk Dealing with minimal Sea Hag.  My goal is to churn through the Curses he gives while building some economy.  I might have started greening too early.  My deck dies earlier than I thought.  I don't know what happened here.

Game 2: http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20131003/log.516d315ce4b082c74d7b31f0.1380853757993.txt Revered Peasant 19 No Pawns 20

Rats and Watchtower are on the board, so I try that combo.  His Sea Hag gives me plenty of ugly cards to trash, but I don't have much of an idea aside from Rats + Watchtower + = Profit.  turns out to be Menagerie and money, and I am able to use Rats as a third pile to control the piling out at the end of the game.  I win by one.

Game 3: http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20131003/log.516d315ce4b082c74d7b31f0.1380854801924.txt Revered Peasant 30 No Pawns 32

Urchin-Mercenary is important here, but so is Procession.  He goes Mercenary + Money + a coupla Wharves.  I go Urchin-into-Mercenary + Procession, and Scrying.  I process things like Wharves, Pillages, my Mercenary when I last need it, a Remodel at one point in the middle of the game.  And, it is fun.  End game I pull some stunts to buy a Fairgrounds, and then get it up to 4 points per FG.  I eke it out by 2.

Game 4: http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20131003/log.516d315ce4b082c74d7b31f0.1380855587359.txt Revered Peasant 43 No Pawns 42

This is mostly a Fishing Village - Journeyman mirror where we pile Tunnels and name Tunnels to gain Golds.  He bought more Silver early on.  This one ended up being less interesting than I thought it would be.  Anyway, I have a dud turn at the beginning of a Duchy dance from the lead, and he closes it out by buying the last Province.  Maybe the early Silvers did it.

Game 5: http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20131003/log.516d315ce4b082c74d7b31f0.1380856232014.txt Revered Peasant 42 No Pawns 23

Tournament is key here.  He gets them, and he buries me (relatively) with Sea Hag.  I don't get up to Province, really.  So, I try to make up for it by buying Estates.  I win the battle to get the most Silver (9>6), but I lose big time on points.

Game 6: http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20131003/log.516d315ce4b082c74d7b31f0.1380857138511.txt Revered Peasant 42 No Pawns 46

Remake is on the board.  Colonies in play.  Throne Room, Bridge is nice.  Only source of draw is Apprentice.  Inn is nice too.  Needing a win, I decide to go for the fun strategy (Remake to thin, amass TRs and Bridges, get a few Apprenti and Inns, and hope to draw a bunch of awesomeness with TRs to TR-TR-TR-B-B-B, etc.  Oh yeah... Monument is around too.  I figure that if I get behind, I could pick up a few of these, and get some points that way.  He goes Remake into Money (the other strategy I considered).  And, he pulls out to a lead that makes me consider picking up some Monuments to close the gap.  I stick to my guns, and I get the strategy to hit once or twice for big turns, and I'm in a position to pile out when he has less control over the endgame (because my strategy is the one with the buys). 

All in all, I thought it was a nice variety of boards.  I played some well.  He played some better, and in the end, we end up with a tie.  Fun match, RP.  Thanks for organizing the tourney, Kirian.

[AdamH]

Round 7 Match: AdamH 3, Jdaki 1

Video Playlist Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuK15wXV6vo&list=PLHV1uVDYN5Y_s3lCorMjSZbwIv0BQV38Q&index=26


Game 1: AdamH 38, Jdaki 27

Game log: http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20131003/log.5085f5130cf270038ff92212.1380830671996.txt

Kingdom Cards: Crossroads, Stonemason, Fortune Teller, Masquerade, JackOfAllTrades, Procession, Count, Festival, Minion, Upgrade, with Shelters



Is it Jack+BM or Masq+BM? Well I see more enablers for Jack than Masq so I go for Jack and he goes for Masq. With my first turn and a little bit of luck I cruise to an easy win here.


Game 2: Jdaki 16, AdamH 15

Game log: http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20131003/log.5085f5130cf270038ff92212.1380831627084.txt

Kingdom Cards: Secret Chamber, Squire, Great Hall, Ironworks, Salvager, Wandering Minstrel, City, Highway, Minion, Forge



Ironworks, Highway, and City are key cards here. At least that's what I think -- he seems to think Great Hall is important and pile-drives them. For some reason that's beyond me, this is more effective and he's in a commanding position for most of the game. I feel like both of us got slightly below average luck here, so why were Great Halls better than Wandering Winders here? This game really confuses me.


Game 3: Jdaki 31, AdamH 35

Game log: http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20131003/log.5085f5130cf270038ff92212.1380832372743.txt

Kingdom Cards: Haven, Armory, Cutpurse, JackOfAllTrades, Salvager, Trader, Mandarin, Margrave, Mountebank, Altar



Tons of terminals and lots of attacks, buuut there's Jack (and Trader) for defense. I invest pretty heavily in defense which I think is wise. After my second Jack I feel like a single Trader would be better than Silver if I can block just one Mountebank with it, so I pick one up. What I didn't think would happen is that my single Trader would block his first four Mountebank plays. In fact, the only curse he got through was on the last turn of the game. The rest of my defense performed as expected but that Trader luck was just absurd. It was still a pretty close game, but I liked my position throughout.


Game 4: AdamH 6, Jdaki 4

Game log: http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20131003/log.5085f5130cf270038ff92212.1380833951109.txt

Kingdom Cards: Duchess, Stonemason, Ambassador, Familiar, Caravan, Throne Room, Ill-Gotten Gains, Inn, Trading Post, Wharf



This game was exhausting, but what a comeback! Ambassador war is enormous here, and with a 2/5/2 on my first three turns I'm ridiculously behind. He dominates the Ambassador war the entire game, and has lots of draw and good cards, but never gets a very good economy going. I'm able to get some halfway decent draw going and as the snowball is starting to roll over my foot and doom seems imminent I make one last desperation attempt to end the game on piles with this lead I have because I have eleven trillion Estates. Things come together well enough and it turns out to be just enough to end the game with the smallest of leads.



I did have some good luck here, but I liked the ways my play was different from his in (I think) every case and it seemed to work out for me most of the time, so I'm happy with that. I would have preferred for there to be more games that didn't so closely resemble Jack+BM. Thanks for the match, Jdaki.

Overall, I was in a tournament where I think I was in the lower half of the entrants and I finished above .500, so I'm really happy with that. Even with an abyssmal start where I played terribly and got crushed by people who are several orders of magnitude better than me, I could still turn it around and I'm pretty sure I grew as a Dominion player by playing in this tournament.

So now that this one's over, we're gonna start the next GokoDom tomorrow, right, Kirian? SIGN ME UP for MOAR DOMINIONZ!!! Seriously, I can't get enough of this stuff and I can't thank Kirian enough for putting this together.

[awildnoobappeared]

awildnoobappeared and loppo draw

http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20131005/log.50955175e4b013548a3d58f0.1380960370860.txt - loppo 34-25
Duchess, Embargo, Village, Familiar, Moneylender, Nomad Camp, Procession, Talisman, Bazaar, Junk Dealer
So there isn't a lot on offer here, there's heaps of trashing but not really much to do once you're trashed down. loppo lands a Junk Dealer on turn 2 and therefore can trash into a thinner and richer deck than I can, and I'm left chasing Embargoed Duchies.

http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20131005/log.50955175e4b013548a3d58f0.1380961508419.txt - awildnoobappeared 30-21
Haven, Urchin, Wishing Well, Caravan, Moneylender, Rats, Governor, Minion, Mint, Pillage (shelters)
Lots of tough decisions here, but Urchin's presence means this is a Governor game. I have first player advantage, and manage to get my nose in front at the end - I think Mercenary did just enough to keep loppo from ending the game before I do.

http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20131005/log.50955175e4b013548a3d58f0.1380962371038.txt - loppo 37-21
Embargo, Fool's Gold, Pawn, Urchin, Throne Room, Bazaar, Hunting Party, Stables, Tactician, Vault
I try some Hunting Party thing with Mercenary, it takes too long to get moving against double-Tactician with Vault even with Mercenary's trashing and discard attack.

http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20131005/log.50955175e4b013548a3d58f0.1380963195932.txt - awildnoobappeared 42-33
Lighthouse, Advisor, Envoy, Scavenger, Baker, Highway, Jester, Rabble, Nobles, Peddler
Fairly straightforward game without trashing or +buy, and the only +actions is Nobles - this means there isn't a lot on. I go for lots of Bakers with a decent amount of money - some good draws, plenty of saved up tokens along with loppo having nothing at all on turn 18 mean I can finish the game fairly easily.

http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20131005/log.50955175e4b013548a3d58f0.1380964179922.txt - loppo 29-20
Transmute, Shanty Town, Workshop, Death Cart, Marauder, Moneylender, Procession, Treasure Map, Knights, Adventurer (shelters)
I still have no idea how to play Knights. They wreck an opponent's deck so hard, but likely if you've been concentrating on them your deck is pretty bad too. And there's a decent chance your opponent has been able to sneak a Province if the split is about even, which is bad news when both your decks are awful.
Loppo managed to build a better economy besides me winning the Knights battle, and his Death Cart was the difference in the end game, allowing him to buy enough Duchies to get a decisive lead.

http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20131005/log.50955175e4b013548a3d58f0.1380964711646.txt - awildnoobappeared 42-35
Scrying Pool, Oasis, Philosopher's Stone, Cutpurse, Island, JackOfAllTrades, Smithy, Counterfeit, Embassy, Explorer
Loppo gets a pretty bad 5/2 opening on a board where Counterfeit and Jack are going to dominate. I'm tempted by Embassy at some point, but decide against it as Counterfeit is just going to be too good with all that free silver. In the end it's fairly close but my luck holds out just long enough.

Thanks to loppo and everyone else I've played this tournament. This brings my tournament record to 2 wins, 2 losses and 3 draws, with a games record of 15 wins and 16 losses - I'd have taken that going into the tournament, especially as I came up against some excellent players. I'll certainly be watching the finals series with interest!

[Robz888]

http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20131005/log.514b5511e4b0b79c883b5e3b.1380993653807.txt

He's Junk Dealer/nothing on 5/2 here, and I'm Silver/Doctor. I don't know, I know there's Ambassador, but there's SUCH strong non-Amb trashing here, it just doesn't seem like it would work to me. Well I overpay Doctor and flip my Silver, so that's disappointing. He gets a really good Throne thing going and has some nice Black Market pulls. But with only Black Market villages, its always a little shaky. Basically, Bishop and Graverobber seal the deal for him, although I am in striking range at one point.

http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20131005/log.514b5511e4b0b79c883b5e3b.1380993980703.txt

There's Procession/Rats/City/Graverobber, but isn't that just a little slow? I decide to go Jack/Silver. He likes pairing Squire with Jack instead. That makes sense, I quickly wish I'd done that. But then I think he gets a bit overboard with the Squires. I know they are nice for Jack, but that's just ALL we are doing. Any way, my draws come in really even and I win, I think because he got a touch too fancy but also good draw on my part, and first turn.

http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20131005/log.514b5511e4b0b79c883b5e3b.1380994434184.txt

Yeah, I REALLY feel shafted by the 5/2 here. Just not good options for me. Maybe I even should have gone Chancellor/nothing. I feel like CHancellor is actually pretty good here! I'm surprised he didn't want it. But yeah, Lab/nothing isn't good. We have comically difficult times connecting Province/Tournament--not that we have decks where connecting is particularly easy. Just decent Lab and Money decks. I like my Chancellor, though! Anyway, he has more Gold and just gets more Provinces. I connect first, and decide I DO need Followers if I am going to mount a comeback. He gets the Steed right after though, and can close out eventually.

http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20131005/log.514b5511e4b0b79c883b5e3b.1380995501687.txt

The closest any game could possibly be. We diverge from the get-go: He does Hermit/Silver, hoping for quicker Wharves, and I do Ironworks/Hermit, hoping for quicker Caravans. This allows him to build a nice draw deck with uber Wharves, but the ONLY village is Inn, so he's never in draw the deck territory. And neither of us have time to buy Gold, so we know we're always going to be in like single to double Province shape. There's also Embargo tactics--he blocks IGG to have that out of the way, but it's not really something I want for my deck anyway. I eventually block Inn, because I don't want him setting up an awesome turn. Eventually, I'm behind, and there are only so many points left for me to catch up, and we eat through all of those (Estates run before Duchies) and I lose. Very interesting game, though.

Good match with some very close games. WW recorded so I am looking forward to the videos and what he thought. I didn't feel myself making big mistakes, but it's possible I did. Certainly possible in Game 1. Game 4... maybe? Maybe his opening was better. (Also, I continue to loathe non-identical starting hands...)

[Titandrake]

For Game 2, I'm increasingly less interested in Procession/Rats, because in the end you still have net +1 Rats in your deck, and with the only other way to trash them being Graverobber, it's not great. But Procession/Fortress/City/Graverobber sounds sounds like it could be competitive, depending on how fast you can empty the piles.

Game 4, I think what both of you did was better, but I'd still be tempted into the Procession/IW engine. IW to gain $4 costs to Procession into Inn/Wharf, you have Hermit as another gainer + Madman shenanigans if you don't have much money, Embargo + Procession might be able to slow the game enough to make it work, and (theoretically) Taxman + IGG in a draw-your-deck engine is a Curse every turn. The downside is that the start-up time is pretty bad and you'll run a lot of piles low, possibly before you can even get started.

[WanderingWinder]

http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20131005/log.514b5511e4b0b79c883b5e3b.1380993653807.txt

He's Junk Dealer/nothing on 5/2 here, and I'm Silver/Doctor. I don't know, I know there's Ambassador, but there's SUCH strong non-Amb trashing here, it just doesn't seem like it would work to me. Well I overpay Doctor and flip my Silver, so that's disappointing. He gets a really good Throne thing going and has some nice Black Market pulls. But with only Black Market villages, its always a little shaky. Basically, Bishop and Graverobber seal the deal for him, although I am in striking range at one point.

I get to the point here where I just have a massive advantage, but I think I play reasonably sloppily from there on, which left him barely breathing. I'm not sure WHY I got such a big lead though - some combination of black market pulls and hitting 4 for thrones, maybe the better early trashing?

http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20131005/log.514b5511e4b0b79c883b5e3b.1380993980703.txt

There's Procession/Rats/City/Graverobber, but isn't that just a little slow? I decide to go Jack/Silver. He likes pairing Squire with Jack instead. That makes sense, I quickly wish I'd done that. But then I think he gets a bit overboard with the Squires. I know they are nice for Jack, but that's just ALL we are doing. Any way, my draws come in really even and I win, I think because he got a touch too fancy but also good draw on my part, and first turn.

I'm not sure the optimal number of Squires here, I'd guess something like 2 or 3. The biggest thing I see in terms of mistakes from me is a turn I had 5 including a squire and bought 2 squires. Probably this should be gain silver, buy jack, or possibly silver+silver or maaaybe silver+squire. But I think this was a bit too much on squire. In any case this was just going to be pretty close.

http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20131005/log.514b5511e4b0b79c883b5e3b.1380994434184.txt

Yeah, I REALLY feel shafted by the 5/2 here. Just not good options for me. Maybe I even should have gone Chancellor/nothing. I feel like CHancellor is actually pretty good here! I'm surprised he didn't want it. But yeah, Lab/nothing isn't good. We have comically difficult times connecting Province/Tournament--not that we have decks where connecting is particularly easy. Just decent Lab and Money decks. I like my Chancellor, though! Anyway, he has more Gold and just gets more Provinces. I connect first, and decide I DO need Followers if I am going to mount a comeback. He gets the Steed right after though, and can close out eventually.

So, I explain in the video that I don't so much like chancellor, as the acceleration is somewhat marginal, and I may want some terminal draw at some point (prizes), though it's not going to be a big change either way. The big thing here is that I keep getting golds, and he keeps getting labs - this is actually a big luck-of-the-draw difference, but I think a lot of people would go labs with my draw here, and well, the golds should just be better. It's not really a position you are probably going to chain so much and get those nice tournament connections, and if you wanted to connect, tournaments would be better anyway. I don't think lab is actually that great here - not that I wouldn't take them given his draws. Well, followers is really good in such a game, but several extra golds is quite nice too, so it isn't unbeatable.

http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20131005/log.514b5511e4b0b79c883b5e3b.1380995501687.txt

The closest any game could possibly be. We diverge from the get-go: He does Hermit/Silver, hoping for quicker Wharves, and I do Ironworks/Hermit, hoping for quicker Caravans. This allows him to build a nice draw deck with uber Wharves, but the ONLY village is Inn, so he's never in draw the deck territory. And neither of us have time to buy Gold, so we know we're always going to be in like single to double Province shape. There's also Embargo tactics--he blocks IGG to have that out of the way, but it's not really something I want for my deck anyway. I eventually block Inn, because I don't want him setting up an awesome turn. Eventually, I'm behind, and there are only so many points left for me to catch up, and we eat through all of those (Estates run before Duchies) and I lose. Very interesting game, though.

Well, this has to be the most interesting. I definitely make some small mistakes on embargoes. The first one was fine, because I just got it off $2, and there wasn't really something for me to embargo. I am actually planning on more doing BMish things early, but I just overbuild like an engine. I mean, it's fine anyway. I think his big problem here was over-doing caravans and not getting procession much sooner. If I was going to be that slow-building, IW was probably worth it. And actually, his embargo on Inn hurt him more than me, I think - I actually am relatively BMish, and I already have more Inns than him... I play the late endgame sorta nice, if you watch the vid, but I am not sure we don't both overgreen too soon...

[SCSN]

That last game was certainly the most interesting. The engine should win here if it goes for Procession on Ironworks and Caravans from the start, and, crucially, puts 2-3 Embargo tokens on the Provinces just before you expect the moneyish player to start greening (don't do this right away or he has little trouble switching). You might also want to Embargo Wharves in the early game.

"But why would I do that? I need those Provinces myself!" That's true, but you don't need to buy them There's Expand on the board that was completely ignored, and the engine player should (eventually at least) have more $5 cards b.c. of Procession gaining and should have less trouble connecting them due to a lower money density. The other benefit of gaining most of your cards over buying them, is that you can get a Madman here and there almost for free, as you have little money to spend anyway, so not buying anything hurts a loss less then if your average turns produced $7+.

[eliegel34]

eliegel beats A Drowned Kernel 4-2

Game One
Game Two
Game Three
Game Four
Game Five
Game Six

Thanks for the games, it was all pretty crazy.

Game 1    eliegel 30 A Drowned Kernel 24
University, Scheme, Advisor, Death Cart, Fortress, Apprentice, Graverobber, Laboratory, Margrave, Mine

This is a huge engine board.  I open Potion/Scheme hoping to get a ton of plays out of University; he opens Apprentice.  I'd be tempted to go Potion/- since you really want a lot of Universities, but its probably pretty close either way. We both start filling our decks with Apprentice/Lab/Margrave to draw our deck.  We both start Schemeing Apprentice/Fortress onto our decks, and pretty soon we both have huge draw. I go for more draw than him so i can start drawing my deck and playing my University gains same turn; he transitions to Graverobbers and starts greening earlier.  He gets ahead early, but I'm able to end it with 4 Graverobber plays on my final turn.

Game 2    eliegel 22 A Drowned Kernel 39
Doctor, Wishing Well, Armory, Baron, Ironworks, Taxman, Tournament, Torturer, Adventurer, Goons

I open Doctor/Ironworks to his Doctor(+1)/Wishing Well. I'm not sure which opening is better, but with my 4 coming second, I think Doctor overpay is a lot worse. I've been hating Doctor a lot lately. It seems to be really swingy based on how your shuffles line up and if you have 3/4 or 4/3; regardless its nothing compared to Tournament. He gets slightly better Doctor trashes, and gets the first province and just kills me. I'm not sure if there is much I would have changed here.

Game 3 Take 1
I can't remember what the board was, but it was a board with cursing. My opponent played it out pretty well. He was a little ahead, when my computer died. Since it was only T9 or something I didn't want to concede the game. I really appreciate him allowing us to just start over!

Game 3    eliegel -6 A Drowned Kernel 0
Familiar, Cutpurse, Ironmonger, Navigator, Scout, Spy, Apprentice, Horn of Plenty, Hunting Party, Expand

This looks like a really interesting board with Familiar, slow trashing from Expand and Apprentice, Hunting Party for draw, and Horn of Plenty to power the Engine.  Unfortunately, it wasn't very interesting.  I get 5/2 to his 4/3, so I'm already behind a little.  I open Hunting Party/- to his Potion/Silver. My turn 3 is HPCCEE giving me 3 coin hand and a reshuffle, and turn 4 brings me 3 coins again. He picks up Familiar/Hunting Party on 3/4. This plays out about how you might guess, I get 9 curses and he builds his deck. I resign

Game 4    eliegel 43 A Drowned Kernel 17
Stonemason, Forager, Market Square, Shanty Town, Bishop, Farming Village, Mining Village, Walled Village, Journeyman

Finally another engine board. I was a little upset from getting killed in the last 2 games, but I really like terminal draw engines, so I was excited to see this. This set has strong draw, and Market Square and Trashing for all the money you would need.  I open Forager/Shanty Town; he opens Bishop/Forager.  I didn't want two foragers in the open since it really hurts your chances of hitting 4/5.  I had planned to pick up my second forager on the second shuffle, but since he got a Bishop, I never need to get one.  I think his Bishop is a mistake, it helps me nearly as much as it helps him.  It really speeds up my trashing and allows me activate Market Squares when he plays it. He goes for a lot (4) Market Squares; I assume his plan was to bishop a lot of Golds for points.  I pick up Journeyman and Mining Villages so I can draw my whole deck.  He is up 15 points by the time I start greening, but I can reliably double province, so it doesn't really matter. I really think I could have sped this up a little with some careful Stonemason buys. 

Game 5    eliegel 38 A Drowned Kernel 34
Transmute, Chapel, Courtyard, Pawn, Forager, Scheme, Fortress, JackOfAllTrades, Catacombs, Nobles

This set may be about as interesting as a JAoT board can be.  I spent a couple minutes at the beginning of this one trying to decide between Jack/Forager vs. and Engine. In the end I decided on the Engine, largely because of Nobles giving more points and therefor more time to the engine player. I'm still not sure if my engine would beat double Jack with a ton of Foragers. I did want a Jack in my Engine though, its just so good with Forager.  We both opened Jack/Forager.  He goes for a BM approach after that with a Gold and a Province by T7.  I start collecting engine parts and trying to thin my deck.  I continue to build by engine, while he transitions into more of an engine direction.  I start drawing my deck and he keeps trading leads with me. In the end I was able to pull it out despite a 3/5 Province split.  This was a really fun set.

Game 6    eliegel 60 A Drowned Kernel 32
Shanty Town, Ironworks, Island, Nomad Camp, Taxman, Wandering Minstrel, Baker, Band of Misfits, Catacombs, Nobles

This looks like another engine board.  I open Shanty Town/Ironworks, opting to keep my coin token and maximize my cycling; I really should have spent the token to open Band of Misfits/Ironworks.  My opponent spends his coin token to get Ironworks/Ironworks.  Ironworks/Island is a nice combo to thin before going into the engine, and grab a few points.  I think my opponent went a little overboard though getting 6 Islands by turn 7. While my opponent plays a ton of Islands, I pick up a few Catacombs and a bunch of Minstrels.  Finally, I round out my deck with BoM for +Buy (Nomad Camp) and some Nobles for draw.  I was able to double Province a few times and then it was over.


Thanks for the games!

[ragingduckd]

Yet another drawn match, my 13th this GokoDom, I believe...

Game 1: AI wins - This is a tricky board. Ambassador can't be ignored, but there's no villages or draw to take a conventional Amb engine. There's also Upgrade, Peddler, and Jester. Somehow I won in the end, but I still don't really understand what happened. Probably it was my brilliant T10 Upgrade Amb into Scout play.

Game 2: AI wins - Is the Young Witch-Sage open strong enough open to make up for Sage being the bane? I figure YW won't be great in the long run and I take a T1 Nomad Camp instead. SCSN teaches me a lesson by sending me Curses on T3, T4, T5, and T6. My T2 Trading Post is huge though, especially with Venture available, and I get rich enough to ignore the few Curses I don't manage to trash.

Game 3: SCSN wins - I hate Black Market. Somehow it makes me misplay the rest of the board. The only sensible play here is Scrying Pool, Highway, and +buys, but after getting a Potion or two flipped, I panic and start buying treasure. I'm not sure I could have won this anyway, but I probably would have done better to keep focus, particularly after pulling a Count out of the BM.

Game 4: SCSN wins - There was some discussion about Chapel-Advisor after ednever's article, but this was my first chance to try it. It works pretty well for me, but I think it's still better to go straight for the Wharf-Shanty engine, as SCSN does. It's close in the end though, with SCSN only just eking out a 2-VP win.

Game 5: SCSN wins - Not much to say here. I lose a lot of games by spending a 5/2 open on Mandarin. I lose more by underestimating Wharf on boards without villages. Here I make both mistakes and SCSN clobbers me with straight Wharf-BM.

Game 6: AI wins - We both spend T1-T10 spamming Hunting Parties, after which its either Vineyards or Provinces. I figuring that all the power we already have in our decks makes Provinces the better call. SCSN get his Vineyards up to 8 VP each, but without a third pile to empty he doesn't have a good way to end the game on his turn. It's close enough for that to make the difference and I win by 4-VP after a double-Province turn.

Good games, SCSN. It's nice to hold my own for a bit after the way you've been slaughtering me lately.