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[achmed_sender]

http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20131002/log.515e0a4fe4b03c71b674e217.1380708634123.txt

My play was very poorly, but in retroperspective I wouldn't know how to play this. Ambassador helped me like nothing, but not sure if it's because some bad luck or apothecary even don't mind the estates. Double-Expand was surely dumb, probably Province there?
BM seems weak against Amb and Mercenary, but the engine comes only through KCing Cantrips. Please help me here!

[Destierro]

Ambassador didn't help you because you didn't use it! On turn 5 you discard it to urchin (?), on turn 7 you use it to pass a potion, on turns 10 and 13 you use it to pass just a single estate! Not once did you ambassador coppers, which help you thin more than they help his apothecarys draw.

Ambassador is a tricky card, and I suggest you read the articles by Theory http://dominionstrategy.com/2010/12/23/seaside-ambassador/ and WanderingWinder  http://dominionstrategy.com/2013/02/18/seaside-ambassador-201/ It will really help you in these kinds of situations.

[achmed_sender]

Ambassador didn't help you because you didn't use it! On turn 5 you discard it to urchin (?), on turn 7 you use it to pass a potion, on turns 10 and 13 you use it to pass just a single estate! Not once did you ambassador coppers, which help you thin more than they help his apothecarys draw.

Ambassador is a tricky card, and I suggest you read the articles by Theory http://dominionstrategy.com/2010/12/23/seaside-ambassador/ and WanderingWinder  http://dominionstrategy.com/2013/02/18/seaside-ambassador-201/ It will really help you in these kinds of situations.

Of course I know how to use ambassador  , I just wanted not to give my opponent coppers for his apothecaries, but connecting it with other stuff didn't work out. So you're probably right, I should have just gone for passing coppers.

[eHalcyon]

If you're not going to pass Copper, might as well skip it altogether.

[BadAssMutha]

You did get unlucky with the Ambassador early on, getting caught twice with Copper Copper Potion Estate Ambassador when your opponent Urchins you. You ditch the ambassador the first time, and ditch the estate and ambassador a potion the second time. Not sure what the right move is - you may not want to ambassador copper, since returning it ruins your potion hand, and not returning it just gives your opponent a copper, which he won't mind. I think revealing the potion wasn't a bad move, given your options. I guess you could skip your own Apothecary on those hands and thin your deck some, but it's tough to pass up the potion card.

[Titandrake]

Only +1 Cards on anything in the kingdom, only way to increase handsize is Apothecary (or maybe KC-Merc), Philosopher stone in kingdom to help counter Ambassador. I'd suspect you can actually skip Ambassador here, or at least skip the opening. How far that takes you, against something who thins down heavily and buys a Curse, I don't know, but the engine isn't that amazing here even with KC, and Candlestick Maker gives easy +Buy to pick up more Coppers.

If you do go for the engine, I think you have to load up on CM and go for a coin token megaturn.

[Destierro]

Only +1 Cards on anything in the kingdom, only way to increase handsize is Apothecary (or maybe KC-Merc), Philosopher stone in kingdom to help counter Ambassador. I'd suspect you can actually skip Ambassador here, or at least skip the opening. How far that takes you, against something who thins down heavily and buys a Curse, I don't know, but the engine isn't that amazing here even with KC, and Candlestick Maker gives easy +Buy to pick up more Coppers.

If you do go for the engine, I think you have to load up on CM and go for a coin token megaturn.

KC Mercenary does not increase handsize. That's like saying KC Warehouse increases handsize.

The best option here is getting a decent coin lead with KC/CM, as you can mega turn out with them no problem since CM gives buys. Trash down to a thin deck, KC urchin for draw, and save coin tokens until you can end the game in a win. Also, KC/ambassador is brutal to the opponent, so winning the amb war is a number one priority here. Once you can draw your deck and KC an ambassador every turn, you win.

[DG]

I don't think a half-way deck, fighting a size war then expanding with quality (hoards), is going to work here. If you want to play with an expanding deck then it probably needs philosopher's stones, maybe with urchin, and secret chamber. If you want to shrink down then you've got to maximize your hand size with king's courts on urchins and apothecaries, then use king's courts with candlestickmakers for stored coins. Urchin is probably a better card here than mercenary and I'd say it tips the kingdom in favour of the engine.

[-Stef-]

I don't think its close at all here. KC is far too strong to ignore. Using it on cantrips is actually great. Playing a Mercenary every turn just about kills all money-based decks, KC amb curse does the rest.

Interesting question is how to trash down asap. All sorts of different approaches could work here. I do like the opening choice of achmed sender (urchin/ambassador). If I'd go that route, and I probably would, I would prioritize getting a single mercenary over anything else.

Another possibility is opening Ambassador/Potion. Buy Urchins if you don't hit $2P.

Always an option is Ambassador/Ambassador, adding a fishing village soon after. I don't really like this with KC on the board.

In the actual game you started out trying to get a mercenary, but after quite some bad luck you added cards that don't help this goal at all (fishing village, potion). You end up getting neither apothecary nor mercenary fast enough. I can understand the gamble of fishing village on turn 3, because you're likely to connect on turn 4. But on turn 4 you really really need to buy another urchin in stead of potion. On turn 6, the fishing village is not what you want. Be very careful of adding cards that don't draw another card and don't help in deck size trimming at this stage of the game. With only one terminal, you don't need the village.

After a while, you want a lot more KC then you bought here, quite some cantrips, and probably just a one-of ambassador and expand. Two expands is definitely over the top, I'd much rather have one and an extra KC. Or maybe even two KC and start using ambassador like a madman.

[Davio]

How about Candlestick Maker here?

I could imagine that you'd just keep plowing through with KC-Ambassador and KC-Candlestick Maker until you can end the game in a single turn. With one Expand you could achieve this mega-turn quite handily I would think.

I'd probably skip Fishing Village or get 1 max.
On passing the Coppers: The fact here is not to focus on how it helps your opponent, but on how it helps you. Trashing down ASAP is key because it allows you to bloat your opponent's deck quite fast. This means always passing two with Ambassador, even if they are Coppers.

Expand is your friend and your enemy since with the aggressive trashing strategy it's likely that your opponent builds a quick lead and uses Expand to trash Province for Province. Bloating him quickly also makes it less likely he'll be able to do this very often.

[achmed_sender]

Thank you for these insights, all of you!

[luser]

How about Candlestick Maker here?

I could imagine that you'd just keep plowing through with KC-Ambassador and KC-Candlestick Maker until you can end the game in a single turn. With one Expand you could achieve this mega-turn quite handily I would think.

I'd probably skip Fishing Village or get 1 max.
On passing the Coppers: The fact here is not to focus on how it helps your opponent, but on how it helps you. Trashing down ASAP is key because it allows you to bloat your opponent's deck quite fast. This means always passing two with Ambassador, even if they are Coppers.

That is sure strategy to lose ambassador war. Trimming in this kingdom with ambassador is too slow, in meantime until you accumulate money for kings court competent opponent would already have kc-kc-apothecary-ambassador.

Apothecary is fast and when you give him coppers even more so. With opening potion/cm a king court by turn 7 is possible and from that other courts will snowball fast. I would consider second potion here as apothecary eats it and with cm you could buy two apothecaries. Once you have kc and draw deck by apothecaries you could accumulate payload, ambassador, secret chamber which is good here for two purposes, one is to discard copper that you redraw with apothecaries for money, second is flooding opponent with these as well as estates and curses. Urchin/mercenary is ignorable here, at opening cards are cheap so discard does not matter and after that you have huge draw so it does not matter.