Dominion Strategy Forum

Dominion => Game Reports => Help! => Topic started by: catsclaw on June 20, 2012, 09:59:32 am

Title: Does overloading on Victory cards and Crossroads actually work?
Post by: catsclaw on June 20, 2012, 09:59:32 am
I thought my opponent had a terrible strategy: buy lots of Crossroads and victory cards early, and use them for draw.  But it didn't seem to hurt him at all, as he just breezed to victory.  What's the right strategy for this set?

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201206/20/game-20120620-065732-06a11045.html
Title: Re: Does overloading on Victory cards and Crossroads actually work?
Post by: pingpongsam on June 20, 2012, 10:10:33 am
My experience with powering up Crossroads is that you need to have a significant terminal you are looking to draw, here that is Mine. Mine is an excellent Crossroads terminal because the deck gets clogged with VP and it is important that what money is drawn is Big Money. This was a modified Big Money strategy wherein the draws were performed by Crossroads and the engine actions could decide if more draw were needed or if a treasure could be upgraded.

The biggest trap with powering up Crossroads is trying to use Crossroads itself to power an engine instead of making it a draw machine. In this case the only comparable +action was Native Village which had some potential for this set but not as much since there are no really good terminals that could bear repeat playing from a single hand. This was certainly a BM set with Philosopher's Stone being the siren call kiss of death with 3 trashers on the board and the only extra gaining cards being Develop and Talisman both of which are extremely weak on this set.

Tunnel isn't triggered by Chancellor although it would be of benefit to Trade Route to get at least one and maybe trash it later.

Based on this process of deduction, Crossroads and Mine come out as the strongest contenders for the strategy.
Title: Re: Does overloading on Victory cards and Crossroads actually work?
Post by: pingpongsam on June 20, 2012, 10:49:25 am
Here's a fine example of toeing the line between drawing for money and drawing to play some nice terminals which is a little more preferable in a Province only game:
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201206/20/game-20120620-074412-5c994b48.html
Title: Re: Does overloading on Victory cards and Crossroads actually work?
Post by: ddubois on June 21, 2012, 02:15:58 pm
I think his strategy was bad and he got lucky. I mean, its crucial that he was able to keep his deck at 7-8 coin for the whole game with Mine, but it's utter ridiculousness that he drew two green and a crossroads in a five card hand as often as he did.  His deck wasn't 40% green and 20% crossroads until turn 18, but you couldn't tell that from looking at turn 4,5,9, etc.  Put a Harem or a Nobles on the board, and I think his strategy is great.
Title: Re: Does overloading on Victory cards and Crossroads actually work?
Post by: gorgonstar on June 22, 2012, 01:35:51 am
Your opponent opened mine/crossroads and buys another mine on turn 3.  That's really good luck on his part.  Mine is very good, especially with Platinum is on the board and no engine potential.