ARTjoMS over mischiefmaker 4-3 in the Chapel division. All games played in veto mode.
Game 1: http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201112/18/game-20111218-073506-4c6f4590.html We both opened Sea Hag/Silver and went for Tournaments and Hunting Parties, splitting both Curses and HP 5/5. She opted for 3 Tournaments while I only got two and a Salvager. I got the first Province, but she picked up the first two Prizes, taking Trusty Steed and Diadem. I eventually get mine to line up and take Followers. Our decks clog up and stall as we battle for duchies, but I eventually close it out on the 27th turn by buying the last Duchy and Estate, 38-30.
A little bit of swingyness here, but not nearly as much as Sea Hag and Tournament could have been. I think I had the better deck, as I kept the number of different cards trim, and I think Followers was still a strong choice even with Curses gone due to the attack and Hunting Parties to bypass Estates, but first player advantage helped too.
Game 2: (lost log, will edit and post tomorrow)A Colony game where we both go for early Margrave. She plays straight Margrave BM; I try for some complicated Golem/Margrave/Oasis engine, with Salvagers to try and trim my deck. I draw both my Golems on a hand that gets Margraved, opting to keep Golem-Golem-Margrave, and my first Golem hits both the Salvagers in my deck. Ouch. Not that that would have made a difference; my strategy here was obviously inferior, and though it took 25 turns to finish this game, it was basically over after 10.
I made a huge mistake here not just going Margrave/BM, probably my worst strategic mistake of the series. I'm a little surprised at myself since I am terrible with Golem and generally good at recognizing BM+X situations, although a Margrave/BM mirror match probably had a low chance of success for me too due to going second.
Game 3: http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201112/18/game-20111218-075822-0480b56a.htmlI go for Minions early and get a very smooth draw, picking up 2 early. With her first $5, she takes a Jester, and by turn 9 I'm up 4-0 on the Minion race. She executes a very nice pivot and goes for Harem/Silk Road, with Festival to add +buy for multiple Estates. I panic a little bit and deviate from my strategy despite having a huge Minion advantage, figuring that if I let her get all the Silk Roads, if my deck stalls I'm in big trouble as she picks up Estates. So I contest the smaller green cards, ending up with a 4-4 split on both Silk Roads and Duchies and winning 54-48.
I really don't know if I played this right; I feel like if I'd just plowed ahead with Minions I probably could have won on Provinces since her deck would have been completely clogged with green, but I haven't played enough with Silk Road to have a good feel for its late game power.
Game 4: http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201112/18/game-20111218-075822-0480b56a.htmlWe both go for Ghost Ships early. I get 2 and she gets 3, which seems odd to me. We both get an Expand, and then I go for Gold while she gets a second Expand. I'm feeling pretty good about my deck, as I have a huge advantage in treasure while she has a ton of terminals (plus Expand is one of my very best Win Rate Given Available cards, sort of a lucky charm for me), but she takes some Havens to smooth her deck draw and is completely ruthless about trashing with Expand. 4 of her 5 provinces were obtained via Expand, and I couldn't match her speed. She takes this one 38-26 in 20 turns.
I'm sure my deck was better at the end of the game, but she outplayed me in the mid-to-end game by going green early, using the Expands to great effect and constantly putting pressure on me. And I think I probably would have lost even if there were 12 Provinces in the Supply, as she could have kept on buying Duchies and Expanding them to Provinces.
Game 5: http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201112/18/game-20111218-081308-a6e8c175.htmlShe comments about how this board looks pretty boring, and I agree. I open Silver/Silver, and after some thought she opens Silver/Chapel. I think that was her one big mistake of this series; there really wasn't an engine of any kind worth building, and a Library/Warehouse/BM deck is pretty strong. I win 33-22 in just 14 turns.
I did get a little lucky, as my turn 4-5-6 draws went Gold-Library-Gold, but I also think my strategy was better.
Game 6: (lost log, will post tomorrow)This one is going to sting for a while. On a Colony board, we both open Bridge/Silver; she goes for Cities while I get a lucky early Forge and then branch off for Alchemists. In the mid-game, she transitions to Nobles. On turn 19, there are 5 Nobles, a Bridge, and 2 Alchemists left. I draw my entire deck, with Gold, Silver, 3 Copper, 2 Potions, Nobles, Forge, and 3 Bridge, down 7-2. With the match almost certainly hanging on my decision, I think about this for a long time and then do probably the worst (reasonably) possible thing, taking 3 Nobles and an Alchemist. She Forges a Nobles into a Nobles, plays a Bridge, and picks up the last Nobles and Bridge to win 8-7.
I'm still kicking myself here. I had 8 Alchemists and was set up to draw my deck every turn without fail; she had 5 or 6 cities, 3 Nobles, and 6 Bridges. So she still could have beaten me and ended the game with a good draw, but if she hadn't gotten a good draw and I'd just bought a Platinum on that last turn I could have started buying Colonies every turn and won this game going away. A prime example of the "Know who's the beatdown deck" principle in action.
Still, I was feeling reasonably good about my chances since first player had won every game so far in the series. I take a deep breath and move on to game 7...
Game 7: http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201112/18/game-20111218-084853-492d389f.htmlI feel even better about my chances when she says "Hey, what does this Scheme card do?" With her lack of recent games, I'm hoping the presence of a couple of Hinterlands cards helps tilt things in my favor. We both open Silver/Silver, going for Witches. On 6 we get Border Villages and on 5 Witches until we both have 3. Then, with Curses nearly gone, she makes a brilliant play, going double Tactician/Scheme/Secret Chamber. With the Border Villages and Schemes in her deck, she's able to play the Tacticians fairly consistently and topdeck her other action cards for her Tactician turn. When Secret Chamber lines up, she's able to buy Province/Duchy most times, and Province other times. My deck isn't capable of generating anywhere near that kind of money, and while I valiantly try to salvage the game by getting Philosopher's Stone, Monument, and Harems, I already know the game is over. We spend the last 10 turns or so chatting about the games and wishing each other good luck in the future as she coasts to an easy win, 49-30.
I got a little unlucky here, splitting Curses 6-4 despite first player advantage, as she got BV-Witch-Witch to line up on turns 7 and 10, but I got outclassed in the mid-game by her Scheme-Tactician-Secret Chamber play. Ironic that her superior strategy would have as the linchpin both of the cards from Hinterlands that were in the set!
I'm still grumpy about giving away Game 6 with my poor play, but I feel a little better that I held my own against a level 44 player (other account). The games themselves were great fun and overall I'm reasonably happy with how I played. Best of luck to ARTjoMS in the rest of the tournament and thanks again to theory and rrenaud for putting this together!