Man, alchemy is rough. I really appreciated the games with rspeer and the conversations during games, he definitely showed me that I have a thing or eight to learn about to alchemy-dominated sets. That said, there were a couple heartbreakers in the set and I hope I didn't embarrass myself too much--several of the games were actually pretty close and tense, or at least were until near the end.
Game 1 - Total heartbreaker. Possession ended up being key, especially at the end with the vineyards hand. Huge mistake in breaking ppr on my part, I actually didn't realize that I was until immediately after I did.
Game 2 - rspeer is exactly right, herbalists were the star of the show. I knew they would be good but he got more, and sooner. Things looked good at first but he completely negated my ghost ships with a flood of herbalist/potion/vineyard buys quick and I just couldn't make up the difference.
Game 3 - Major embarrassment. I thought chapel/bridge might be slightly better than opening potion here, which was dead wrong. They also collided a ton. I was struggling to get to potion at first but then completely spaced and bought two in a row without realizing. I later bought the
third thinking it was just my second. Of course I then had two hands with three potions and not much else. My gameplan looked a lot like his but I fell apart and he executed very well. The transmutes were a complete move of desperation to try and power up vineyards and snatch them before he could. Epic. Fail.
Game 4 - Looked good at first, but rspeer was right, expand was awesome and golem was a great enabler. I focused too much on apothecaries and just ended up spinning my wheels most of the game.
Game 5 - Another heartbreaker. I had next to no money, going for double tactician with conspirator (so did he). It worked well for a while and was really tense. It seemed to unravel as our decks grew larger though, that is until the philosopher's stone came from nowhere! He broke ppr but it was absolutely the right choice as my deck was pretty terrible and was not going to hit province without a tactician. Then of course his last turn was pretty crazy lucky, but I think he was going to get the win at that point anyway. Down 4-0, I was hoping he would go for the tie.
Game 6 - Another one that seemed pretty good at first, but then he just started running away with it. I'm not exactly sure what did it for him, but I think the golems and extra menageries must have helped.
Game 7 - Yay! And on my last chance to redeem myself. Fitting that it was a really tense game, too. I got out to a nice lead, but a couple of risky but smart plays allowed him to close the gap some at the end. I made a huge error not ending the game with a win on turn 25 by buying scrying pool. I thought I was going to pay for it and lose when he developed himself into the lead next turn. Fortunately I had a good (read: lucky) last hand that let me give him 2 curses and end the game with a win. Lighthouse was an absolute gem: it was a familiar board and I never received a curse. (This was lucky, too, because I ended up giving him six even though we both had 5 lighthouses and 2 familiars.)
All in all, I learned a lot and really enjoyed it. Thanks for giving me my first Dominion tournament match, rspeer!!
