I'm having trouble determining what I should take away from reviewing my game logs, particularly when I think my plan was OK and then I get smashed, or when it seems like there is an obvious reason why I lost, but it may hide (or even be caused by) earlier mistakes. I also have trouble reviewing logs from victories, because the question: "How could I have lost to a better player if I play this way?" is extremely difficult to answer (because I'm not a better player than myself). I'm going to post 4 game logs here, with the questions I asked myself and what I think I should learn from the game. The idea here is primarily getting better at
analysis, but specific insight into the actual mistakes made would be appreciated as well.
Duchess, Herbalist, Native Village, University, Coppersmith, Contraband, Counterfeit, Mint, Vault, Nobles
http://dominion-game-logs.s3.amazonaws.com/game_logs/20151115/log.0.1447604212525.txtI look at this board and decide I want to draw my deck each turn with Native Village and Nobles. I open Silver/Silver, get a Counterfeit, and start acquiring Nobles. My opponent plays Big Money with Vault. Its tempting to just look at the leaderboard and conclude that Vault-BM was the correct strategy here and move on, but that doesn't actually help me here. I don't think I built my deck properly; it feels like a Vault would have been good, both early to hit 6 and then later when I can discard some cards and redraw them with Nobles afterwards. I feel like I waited too long to pick up a second source of +buy, which felt like my only way to get back in the game after I got into a VP hole. I asked myself whether the engine approach here is worthwhile, and I don't see great payload (as an aside, as someone new to "organized strategy" but who has played for years at a "pretty good for someone who never thought too hard about it" level, I find the terminology difficult to adapt to, as I had phrases mentally for some of these concepts), so its possible that its not worth it and that Vault-BM is too good. There isn't any variable-VP either, which means that a Nobles advantage will only get me so far. This one is honestly hard; I really want there to be something other than Vault-BM here.
Fool's Gold, Ambassador, Horse Traders, Throne Room, Walled Village, Catacombs, Jester, Mine, Mountebank, Saboteur
http://dominion-game-logs.s3.amazonaws.com/game_logs/20151115/log.0.1447603480865.txtI open 5/2 here, which is possibly the conclusion. It doesn't necessarily feel that way to me (although Rabid seemed to think so in chat, possibly he was trying to be nice). At about turn 8/9, I felt like I was in the game. I hit 5 and buy a Catacombs, which for several "hand-occurrences" feels incorrect to play, so I don't. Rabid picks up a Throne Room at this time, which I hadn't really considered and didn't until it was far, far too late. I also picked up a Saboteur when I felt I was so far behind that I needed a miracle, but it was way too late by that point as well. Again, its tempting to be reductive and say that the opening killed me here, but that doesn't seem right for a game where it felt like with better buys turns 9-11 or so that I could have been in it.
This was the first of the two games I played against Rabid, the first log presented here being the second, but I swapped the orders of them for the post because I feel like the first log is more interesting as a review.
Haven, Pawn, Squire, Scrying Pool, Masquerade, Tunnel, Advisor, Counterfeit, Festival, Rogue
http://dominion-game-logs.s3.amazonaws.com/game_logs/20151116/log.0.1447643839204.txtI win this game when my opponent concedes when I "get so far ahead" according to his chat. I open Masquerade/Potion and pick up Advisor/Scrying Pool on 3/4. Its hard for me to gauge the effectiveness of the Advisor here, as the first time playing it I get denied a Potion (opponent's choice over Masquerade, not sure there, felt correct to me), but that motivates me to pick up a Counterfeit, which turns out to be great (predictably). I start getting Festivals and Pawns, but I also buy a second Advisor, which was terrible. Shortly thereafter, I have enough Scrying Pools where its irrelevant to play Advisor and I feel like it was probably better off just being a Pawn. My opponent concedes after I Counterfeit my Potion to pick up the last to Scrying Pools; I actually prefer to continue playing, as I really need the practice on pile control and actually winning the game from that spot without bricking my deck with VP. The questions here involve the Advisor buys, and whether or not the game actually swung on my opponent buying Silver and Squire and polluting his deck. It feels like the second Advisor was wrong, but I'm not sure on that first one, would Pawn have been better? I'm also not sure whether the game actually hinged on discarding his potion with Scrying Pool on turn 6 and his own Scrying Pool on turn 8. That feels like a big source of my subsequent advantage, but that's difficult to gauge.
University, Masquerade, Tunnel, Philosopher's Stone, Bridge, Farming Village, Monument, Taxman, Merchant Ship, Vault
http://dominion-game-logs.s3.amazonaws.com/game_logs/20151116/log.0.1447649466137.txtThis game bears some similarity to the first log. I try to play an engine, which is almost certainly overrun with terminals. My opponent plays Taxman-BM, and crushes me. This one feels more like a misbuilt deck; although it could be Vault/Masquerade just aren't good enough at card drawing to get the job done. I also wonder whether I should have picked up a Monument earlier than I did, I knew pretty early that I needed a lot of VP chips to beat an unfavorable Province split. Between this game and the first log, it really looks like l need to improve my ability to judge the available engine strength versus the relevant BM strategy. This one feels particularly bad to me, as surely Vault-BM is better than Taxman-BM? It also feels like between Monument and Bridge that something other than Big Money was viable here. That or I just don't understand the power of Vault.
What types of questions ought I to be asking myself after these kinds of games? Is my analysis way off base, or is it on the right track and I need to improve what I think I need to improve? Concluding that I need to work on something when that wasn't the primary (or secondary, etc) takeaway from a game leads to wasted time.