Divison C1 match: AdamH 3, HiveMindEmulator 3Link to entire stream on TwitchLink to YouTube video playlistNot my best showing ever, but I knew this was going to be a tough match. I'm a little upset that I could have played better in the games I lost, though. I just should have focused more. As it is, the start player ended up winning every game.
I'm not sure if people are noticing, but I'm now attaching the chat logs to these posts in case people are interested in reading them. Of course, I'll quote or paraphrase things that I think are important but I've never specifically called that out. So I am now.
Unfortunately, Goko decided to only make game logs for three of the games, so some of them are missing, but at least we have the videos.
Game 1: AdamH 44, HiveMindEmulator 33
(Game Log missing)
Twitch Highlight YouTube VideoKingdom Cards: Hamlet, Secret Chamber, Shanty Town, Wishing Well, Farming Village, Mining Village, Merchant Guild, Stables, Altar, Possession
I see the point of this board as being to play as many Possessions as possible, since it counters many of the sexier strategies. I get a little lucky with an early Altar, but him not going for Possessions means that relatively soon I'm able to play more turns with his deck than he is, which puts me at a big advantage.
Game 2: AdamH 35, HiveMindEmulator 24
Game Log Twitch Highlight YouTube VideoKingdom Cards: Pawn, Fortune Teller, Great Hall, Caravan, Coppersmith, JackOfAllTrades, Pirate Ship, Quarry, Spice Merchant, Harem
There are some cool things you can maybe try here, but I don't think it beats DoubleJack with Pawns, so that's what I go for. HME goes for the funny stuff and even though I had terrible draws (which I partly enabled with imprecise play) I'm still able to win comfortably.
The chat seemed to believe that I should have opened Spice Merchant over Jack. On my second shuffle I certainly should have gotten SM over my second Jack, given my draw, but I just can't see SM opening being better than Jack for money. Why were people even suggesting this? I don't understand.
Game 3: HiveMindEmulator 16, AdamH 9
Game Log Twitch Highlight YouTube VideoKingdom Cards: Hamlet, Sage, Warehouse, Workshop, Cutpurse, Remake, Smithy, Duke, Junk Dealer, Nobles
There are a couple of ways to go here with Duke around. There's a weak draw engine with all of the components you need, but enablers for money strategies for both Provinces and Duchy/Duke. We both go for the engine, which is definitely the right call, but the short story is that I play terribly and HME plays well, so he destroys me.
This is definitely a tricky engine to build, since Hamlet provides the only Village effect AND the only +Buy, so increasing handsize is really difficult to do with any meaningful payload. I couldn't see it in the game, but the chat was actually really enlightening as to what I was doing wrong:
Because this deck needs to be really thin to get off the ground, I should have prioritized Remake over Warehouse -- in fact Warehouse only has a place in this deck towards the endgame after greening starts, and it's super-easy to gain with Workshop.
It's a frustrating loss for me, because I played so unfocused and poorly on a difficult board and got crushed, but I believe that by examining my play closely here I can become a better player, and that's more valuable than one point in a tournament for sure.
Also, I wanted to mention something here about the chat log. Along with telling me all of the things I was doing wrong (Stef gets a special nod here because his messages really sparked some light bulbs for me while reading the chat), the people in the chat were responsive to the person in the chat who isn't from this community and isn't as familiar with the game as everyone else. This is exactly the kind of thing that streaming can do -- foster an environment where people can chat about Dominion and get into the game using a different medium, so I wanted to thank the people in the chat for making that possible.
Game 4: HiveMindEmulator 39, AdamH 25
(Game Log missing)
Twitch Highlight YouTube VideoKingdom Cards: Transmute, Crossroads, Forager, Bishop, Silk Road, Golem, Count, Rebuild, Bank, Forge
Rebuild with decent support vs. Golden Deck with decent support. We both end up going for a Golden Deck (which I think is a better strategy than Rebuild here, despite what the chat says) but he gets a 5/2 opening and opens Count. After seeing this, I misread his intentions and open Bishop/Forager, thinking he wants a Rebuild deck (he did get a Crossroads on his $2 hand, which a Golden Deck wouldn't want). By the time I make silly misplays I'm already so far behind that it doesn't matter.
Game 5: HiveMindEmulator 4, AdamH 3
(Game Log missing)
Twitch Highlight YouTube VideoKingdom Cards: Hamlet, Herbalist, Armory, Bureaucrat, Quarry, Bazaar, Explorer, Library, Merchant Ship, Upgrade
A cool Library-based engine to build here with a potentially explosive payload. I open 5/2 which gives me a pretty good start, which I'm able to press to stay a half a step ahead in building.
On his third-to-last turn I notice him trigger a bad reshuffle where there are 4 stop cards in his draw pile. On my next turn I'm just short of ending the game on a win and my deck is much better and leaner. I decide to play conservatively by increasing the payload of my engine and not touching key piles, so that if he manages to get lucky and kick off with his one potentially good card, he can't end the game with a win. I also pick up a Duchy for insurance.
He stalls, as expected, on his next turn, but I get a terrible draw with all of my stop cards at the top of my shuffle, which means he can end the game on his turn with a win. On the surface this looks like his first-player advantage coupled with a bad draw handed him the game where I had a great position and he played poorly, and I get more upset about it than I'm proud of.
Then HME points out to me that playing conservatively doesn't mean increasing payload of the engine, but rather buying the components I need to improve reliability and lower piles while he has less control over them. And he's totally right. I had a great position and I only have myself to blame for throwing the game away, and he played to his outs at the right time and was able to take advantage of it.
There was talk in the chat of me missing a forced win on my second-to-last turn, and though I don't think I missed one, there's no way to check it without watching the stream video because THANKS GOKO. Ugh.
Game 6: AdamH 17, HiveMindEmulator 7
Game Log Twitch Highlight YouTube VideoKingdom Cards: University, Great Hall, Oracle, Steward, Watchtower, Apprentice, Counterfeit, Duke, Ghost Ship, Wharf, with Shelters
University/Wharf engine here. He opens 5/2 and can't open Potion/Steward, and though the Wharf is good for him, I end up pretty far ahead with the help of a few good draws in the next couple of shuffles. I win the Wharf split 7/3 and from there I just focus on gaining millions of cards and I'm able to end the game on a win pretty comfortably.
People in the chat feel I trashed too many Coppers. Perhaps they're right, perhaps I was tilted from the last game where I thought I gave myself a 0.0001% chance of stalling and my deck decided to take it (which is not true but that's how I felt) so I decided to overdraw my deck before my turn started every turn. I could have done better if I had some treasures in my deck, but I didn't need them because I was so far ahead so I guess I decided that was a good reason not to buy them.
<wanderingwinder> I think he's a little overfocused sometimes on "this is good" more than "what am I actually doing HERE"
People who don't broadcast their games and put them out there for people to watch don't get this kind of advice from people who are better at Dominion than most other people in the world. If anyone is on the fence about streaming their matches, maybe this will help you decide to give it a shot.
Anyways, I got to play lots of action cards this match so I'm happy with it, and hopefully I can get better as a result. Thanks for the match, HME!