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Rules Questions / I got DOMINIONED! Ill-gotten-gains AND Embargo?
« on: April 18, 2014, 08:47:13 pm »
So I was playing online dominion with one of the most interesting boards I've seen in a while... cards were duke, ill gotten gains, embargo, quarry, pirate ship, beggar, baron, golem, farming village and I don't remember the rest because they weren't really relevant. Also I should note the game started with shelters instead of estates, which factors in heavily to this particular game.
So I go early pirate ship/embargo, and he gets silver and a quarry I think. So I'm pirate shipping his coppers and I also hit a quarry, but he had already used it and a silver to get 3 early ill-gotten gains before I finally embargoed the pile to stop him. So I wind up with 3 curses in my deck... but he's getting his treasures thinned out by my pirate ship. Then I start buying up a few farming villages to chain my embargoes/necropolis and at the same time, use my pirate ship more. I also was able to get 4 golds in my deck before embargoing the gold pile as well. He didn't even get a chance to get any golds before I do this. Then I embargoed the pirate ship (but at this point he already had 1 in his deck as well), and also the golem pile when I saw he bought a potion. I get 2 early provinces using my pirate ship and the golds I have before he finally caves in and decides to take a pirate ship and the curse that comes with it. Then he winds up buying a few other embargoed cards (including a province, golem, and another pirate ship and taking the curses with them). Before too long he has 5 curses compared to my 4 (I took another province after I had embargoed it earlier). So at this point I had been whittling down the quarry pile as to force 3 piles empty, and to seal the deal, I figure I'd take an ill gotten gains from the embargoed pile (thinking incorrectly this would give him the last curse, and I'd get an ill gotten gains without a penalty). To my surprise, it was ME who received the last curse from the pile. Then with no curses left, he got lucky draws and proceeded to draw the last provinces beating me by 6 points!!! (This probably never would have happened if a curse remained in the pile).
So what's the deal? I thought the ill-gotten-gains effect would resolve before the "embargo" effect (doesn't the on-gain effect resolve immediately???). But instead, it was the opposite and I lost the game I should have won. Can someone please clarify the rule with embargoed ill-gotten-gains pile when the curses are about to run out? It seems counter-intuitive that the embargo would supercede the card's natural on-gain effect.
So I go early pirate ship/embargo, and he gets silver and a quarry I think. So I'm pirate shipping his coppers and I also hit a quarry, but he had already used it and a silver to get 3 early ill-gotten gains before I finally embargoed the pile to stop him. So I wind up with 3 curses in my deck... but he's getting his treasures thinned out by my pirate ship. Then I start buying up a few farming villages to chain my embargoes/necropolis and at the same time, use my pirate ship more. I also was able to get 4 golds in my deck before embargoing the gold pile as well. He didn't even get a chance to get any golds before I do this. Then I embargoed the pirate ship (but at this point he already had 1 in his deck as well), and also the golem pile when I saw he bought a potion. I get 2 early provinces using my pirate ship and the golds I have before he finally caves in and decides to take a pirate ship and the curse that comes with it. Then he winds up buying a few other embargoed cards (including a province, golem, and another pirate ship and taking the curses with them). Before too long he has 5 curses compared to my 4 (I took another province after I had embargoed it earlier). So at this point I had been whittling down the quarry pile as to force 3 piles empty, and to seal the deal, I figure I'd take an ill gotten gains from the embargoed pile (thinking incorrectly this would give him the last curse, and I'd get an ill gotten gains without a penalty). To my surprise, it was ME who received the last curse from the pile. Then with no curses left, he got lucky draws and proceeded to draw the last provinces beating me by 6 points!!! (This probably never would have happened if a curse remained in the pile).
So what's the deal? I thought the ill-gotten-gains effect would resolve before the "embargo" effect (doesn't the on-gain effect resolve immediately???). But instead, it was the opposite and I lost the game I should have won. Can someone please clarify the rule with embargoed ill-gotten-gains pile when the curses are about to run out? It seems counter-intuitive that the embargo would supercede the card's natural on-gain effect.