Hello everyone, I have been away for the past week from Isotropic- which seems like forever. In any case, for the past month, I have been writing articles ranging gauged at players with various levels of experience, and I have decided to write my articles in a series called "making it to Level 42". (I should add that I have not reached that plateau yet). I plan to cover things from- in the importance of money, trashing, shuffling, and everything in between. Now, let's do this!
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I've been addicted to Dominion Isotropic, and have gone from a mediocre player to a top 40 player in the past 6 months. As I play, I continue to see players misplay and learn from all the concepts I have learned along the way to becoming a top 40 player. And now, I will share some of my wisdom with you.
Making it to Level 42: Level 1- The Beginning
We are going to start at the bottom, for that is where you start. In this article, I am not going to give any gameplay advice because realistically, reaching level 1 does not require any gameplay advice. Instead, I will explain some pointers regarding the mindset you should have when starting from the bottom.
1. Do not get frustrated; you are going to lose sometimes, and sometimes badly.
There are a lot of subtle concepts in Dominion that take time to understand. As you begin to play Dominion, you are going to play against players better than you, and sometimes MUCH better than you. And other times, the cards just will not shuffle your way. If you lose, learn from it. Even if you lose 100-3, pick yourself up, and see what you could have done better. But further, sometimes the score does not tell the whole picture. Even if you lose badly, the game was probably closer than you think.
2. Dominion has a lot of luck- you CAN'T win every game.
The second thing you should understand is that you are not going to win every game. Dominion has a large element of luck. Sometimes you are just going to get unlucky. Even the BEST players on Isotropic lose 36% of the time. Sometimes your buys will be “dead” (I'll explain that in a later article), and so your draws will not be effective. That is simply how it works. Your skill can only take you so far.
3. Dominion has a lot of skill- you CAN win much of the time.
The flip side of the coin is that it is possible to win 64% of the time. Every time you play, win or lose, you should reflect on what moves you made and whether or not they can be made any better. Many times, I see players wrongfully attribute their losses to luck. When you play, you should first ask yourself what you could have done to have improved your performance, and never, blame it on luck. It is easy to blame luck, but rarely is it luck.
4. Practise make purfect, Practize makes perfict, practive makes perfect, practice makes perfect!
Learn by playing. I teach college mathematics, so let me give you an analogy I give my students:
You can watch people do math just as you can watch people lift weights. However, watching people lift weights does not make you any stronger. Similarly, watching people do math, is not going to make you much better at math. In order to improve your muscles, your mind, or your ability, you have to struggle, or in other words, PRACTICE: you have to lift weights YOURSELF. The same is true with Dominion. Many times I will propose a game online with a player of a much lower rank (in part because no one else is on), and they decline- presumably because they are afraid. You should embrace the opportunity to play players better than you, to learn and practice. But further, when you play much higher ranked players, you should never have the mentality that you are going to lose. Take your time, think you can win, and go for it!
The Next step: Level 5- Money Makes Your Deck Go Round.
Until next time,
Keep Dominionating,
fp