Trying this Game Reports thing out for this tournament. Due to time zone issues, the first six of these games were played in the 6:30-8 AM range, on about five hours' sleep. I play in the morning sometimes, but never this early, and when I do I'm even more prone to mistakes than I normally am. Some of these games have just really bad moves.
Video(s): Game 1 & Part of 2 Rest of 2 - Most of 6Game 1: Chris is me 10 - Lucapkennedy 6
Secret Chamber, Squire, Familiar, Apprentice, Graverobber, Minion, Outpost, Saboteur, Grand Market, Nobles
I open 5/2 and decide on Minion / Squire. Doing this over Potion / Squire means I can't get a second shuffle Familiar, which risks me losing the Curse split. Opening Potion / Squire is far from a guarantee that I'll hit 3P, though. Ultimately, I figured that Minion would speed up my cycling while possibly forcing the opponent to miss a Familiar buy / play, offsetting the disadvantage.
I didn't manage to get a Familiar until T8, when my opponent already had two, yet somehow I won the Curse split 6-4. I attribute this to picking up a third Familiar with 5 Curses left and prioritizing cycling in turns 9-14 in order to create more Familiar opportunities. After a huge T17 and a decent T18, I had two Provinces and fewer Curses, so I ended the game by buying out Squire and Minion.
I gained several Silver with Squire - perhaps too many. Initially I figured that I could Apprentice them later on, but Apprentice ended up playing a fairly minimal role in my deck. I just didn't have the opportunities with it I expected, or maybe I just didn't see them. Trashing Squire into Familiar or Minion jumped out at me - damn, maybe Apprentice / Squire would have been a better opening just for that.
Game 2: Lucapkennedy 14 - Chris is me 17
Oasis, Tunnel, Advisor, Gardens, Herald, Horse Traders, Scavenger, Spy, Bazaar, Journeyman
This was just poor play on my part. 5/2 start in this kingdom kind of sucks, but Journeyman / nothing is okay. Tunnel / Horse Traders was the obvious open here that could have led to a pretty solid Journeyman BM strategy where you basically always name Tunnel. Seeing as I was too tired to pull off the possible yet difficult engine (Herald, Bazaar, Journeyman, HT is a pretty solid group of cards even without trashing), I should have gone BM. Some nonsense Oasis buys in there and general poor play sealed the deal.
Game 3: Chris is me 19 - Lucapkennedy 2
Vagrant, Scrying Pool, Menagerie, Oasis, Island, Procession, Sea Hag, Worker's Village, Vault, Venture
I open Hag / Oasis due to the likelihood of lots of junk and the greater chance of getting Hag on the first shuffle thanks to Oasis draw. He opens Hag / Silver - I think this was a mistake here. On T3 I have $4 and Hovel, easy Island pickup there. Procession seemed quite useful - I could use Vagrants as Villages and pick up Oasises or Menageries, plus I could eventually turn Sea Hag into Vault or something. Ultimately my investment in Menagerie gets my deck off the ground faster than his, and he resigns as I'm about to end the game on piles.
I played this game better, capitalizing on good luck and better gains to pull off the win. I could have ended the game a lot sooner than I did, but I was really paranoid about setting up a 3 pile when he could, in my mind, come from behind in one turn. He couldn't. Didn't need Colony 2.
Game 4: Lucapkennedy 33 - Chris is me 32
Native Village, Squire, Masterpiece, Menagerie, Scheme, Plaza, Smithy, Rebuild, Bank, Expand
Rebuild board. I open Plaza / Silver, he opens Smithy / Silver. Smithy / Silver was far better. I manage to stay afloat thanks to a misclick on his part. I managed to get all of the Estates out of my Rebuild deck before the Duchy pile ran out, which is huge in a Colony Rebuild game. I had the win, but blew it by naming the wrong card on the final turn of the game, resulting in a 1 point loss instead of a guaranteed win. I don't think I really deserved the win here anyway. I really need to step up my Rebuild mirror game, the card freaks me out.
If I were more awake and more brave, I think the engine here might actually be able to pull off some big Colony turns fairly quickly. I'm imagining a few Banks as payload, with Squire for buy, Plaza and Smithy to get it going, Expand to pick up components, and Scheme to ensure you get a few solid turns in a row at the end. I don't know if I'm disciplined enough to make that work, though.
Game 5: Chris is me 28 - Lucapkennedy 10
Candlestick Maker, Hamlet, Ambassador, Oasis, Bureaucrat, Counterfeit, Mandarin, Merchant Ship, Trading Post, Goons
Everything you need for a Goons engine, except draw. I opened Counterfeit / Hamlet; he opened Ambassador / CSM. If this wasn't a shelter game, he could have opened double Ambassador and buried me. We both pick up Trading Posts for reasons not entirely clear to me. Better buys, especially a Merchant Ship pickup, result in me having 3 Goons to his 1 Goons, and the rest is pretty much inevitable from there. I'm able to end things before he can get something going that picks up Colonies.
Game 6: Chris is me resigned
Courtyard, Chancellor, Shanty Town, Bishop, Plaza, Scout, Young Witch, Catacombs, Mystic, Venture, Peddler
Why did I buy Shanty Town? I had no focus in this game, and I neglected Bishop as well as allowing him to get a better engine off the ground more quickly. Too little too late for me to catch up here. Realizing a Game 7 was inevitable, and since we both had to go, I resigned and prepared for Game 7 a few days later.
Game 7 (not streamed): Chris is me 37 - Lucapkennedy 25
Hamlet, Alchemist, Ironmonger, Plaza, Library, Rogue, Tactician, Upgrade, Harem, Nobles
We both open Potion / Silver to go for the Alchemist deck. On the first shuffle, only I hit $3P, so that's a huge advantage off the bat. He picks up Tactician early, which I'm not really a fan of on this board, where you have ample draw and good trashing with Upgrade. His neglect of Upgrade (buying Library instead... twice...) ultimately is his downfall, as my Estates do a lot of work as Silvers and I'm eventually able to thin all those Copper out of there. Plus Upgrading Upgrade into Nobles is a sweet trick.