After opening Potion-Silver in the hopes of getting one of the 3P cards, I did not hit 3P until the 5th shuffle. I should just have resigned at that point.
Last weekend in a Familiar/Apprentice IRL game against my 12 yo brother:
I split 5/2, and opened Apprentice/nothing (I really like to live dangerously).
First shuffle, Apprentice-c-c-c-c hand, buy Potion and be sad.
Second shuffle, Apprentice-c-c-c-c, trash a Copper and be sad.
Later in the second shuffle, e-e-c-c-p, be very sad, start to take in Curses.
We played it out, it ended on Curse-Market-Apprentice piles, the score was 30 to -5, and I never managed to trash two of my Estates.
Not sure why I'm posting this here, but it was intriguing to watch, I guess.