I just want to know who sent you the card info to playtest. Did Jay approach you? Donald X. V.?
I needed some playtesters. The old playtesters had scattered to the four winds. I did let them know about this amazing opportunity but many of them had their own lives now.
I wanted people who could playtest irl. So, they had to have Dominion and be that kind of person. And I wanted players who were good. And I didn't want to say, "so, who here is good and has the physical game?" It was obv. going to stay a secret until Jay announced it.
There was a recent thread for a tournament, where I could see how people did. And there was the Chicago meet-up thread, with some people saying, yes I'm coming and bringing Dominion. So I looked at who had done well in the tournament, who also could bring Dominion to Chicago. And I invited some of them to playtest.
Later, Doug programmed the set into isotropic (sorry, not trying to taunt anyone), so I also invited some players who were just good, who might have no ability to playtest irl. But for the first group, you somehow had to be willing to go to Chicago. It was just the data I had.