Print

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

[brokoli]

Code: [Select]

Bureaucrat, Cutpurse, Monument, Noble Brigand, Silk Road, Bazaar, Count, Duke, Junk Dealer, Soothsayerhttp://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20131120/log.51376a99e4b006f8dc8cca4c.1384985915376.txt

I haven't played dominion for a while now… this is my first game after a month, and not an easy one.

I decided to open Cutpurse - I hesitated a lot and I'm still not sure.
Why ? Because I thought it would be an alt-vp mirror match. And Cutpuse against duke is very strong from my experience. But both bureaucrat and monument were very tempting too : b-crat because it shines in alt vp, monument because it's monument… I even thought about noble brigand, not bad with alt vp either.
How would you open ?

And, more generally : what would be your strategy here ? I think it's not easy at all, because monument and junk dealer makes the province road stronger, but there is no +buy… and on the other side, Silk Road and Duke together are very strong too. And finally, I don't really now about Soothsayer. I know that cursing games makes the alt-vp road better, but Soothsayer is a very different curser, because of the gold and the +card for the opponent…

[flies]

The more I think about it the more i see the strength of the province engine.  It's not hard to protect yourself from the brigand, which is otherwise great support for the duke player, because of the monument, bazaar and count.  However, there's no draw, and I'd definitely go for the Dukes.  Golds from soothsayer make it a strong duke enabler - it does kinda help the opponent get to $8, especially with Junk Dealer on the board to deal with curses, but still, the curses hurt while the golds help.  To play against provinces, I'd supplement Soothsayer with Brigand if my opponent is vulnerable or b-crat if she's not.

Cutpurse is indeed strong against the mirror, but again NB is strong, and I'm inclined to say it's a bit stronger once you enter the mid-game.  (cutpurse would be my opening as well.)

[flies]

looking at the log, I think i'd have gotten an NB or two prior to going for SR.  You got your monument T4, and I have to agree that the NB doesn't make sense quite that early.  T11 seems too early to start in on SR tho.

[Robz888]

I think it's just gotta be Duke. Why? Well, Count is especially good for Duke.

You should probably take a Soothsayer first, though.

If your opponent goes Soothsayer as well, you should probably pick up NB on $4.

Monument, Cutpurse, and Bureaucrat are nice cards for the slog, but I think they just get supplanted by NB, Soothsayer, and Count here. Maybe a Bureaucrat or Cutpurse just for the opening, though.

[KingZog3]

I don't see going for Provinces as possible in this kingdom. Count+Duke+Silk Road is great, and as said there's all those attacks which are great for the alt-VP cards. Am I missing something about going for Provinces here?

[brokoli]

I don't see going for Provinces as possible in this kingdom. Count+Duke+Silk Road is great, and as said there's all those attacks which are great for the alt-VP cards. Am I missing something about going for Provinces here?

Well, I was quite worried in this game because my opponent quickly cumulated the monument, and at the end of the game, he had 13 VP chips while I had 3.
I think with the trashing from Junk Dealer and Count, you can build a nice engine with bazaar and monument… Junk Dealer is also a nice little defense against curses, and this is also shown by the log.
But I agree that duke and silk road are stronger anyway.

[Polk5440]

It's a tough call on how many actions to pick up here versus when to start greening. Count, Soothsayer, Cutpurse, Bureaucrat, and Monument are all good for Duke games/slogs.

Tough one. I tend to like Soothsayer a little more than Bureaucrat in these games.

So what about this: open Cutpurse. Go for two Soothsayers (for the Gold gaining over the game, mostly), then buy Duchies on $5+, money else, then when Duchies are gone, go for green (Dukes, Silk Road, Estates).

In a mirror, even if you lose the Duchy split 6-4 because Robz bought a Count, I think the Gold gaining will set you up for grabbing more Dukes/Silk Roads to make up the gap, and up to 10 points from curses wipes away the point advantage from splitting the Dukes but losing the Duchies. I also wouldn't worry as much about NB, then either. Maybe it'll catch a gold, but it could also flip two green and hand out a Copper; yay! I don't think I'd buy any over Silk Road.

I just don't see the Province player ending the game before you rack up enough alt vp to overtake them with good play. Every attempt to block you out of an alt VP card slows them down giving you more time.

Simulation challenge, anyone?