Game 1:
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140311/log.516db980e4b082c74d7c7329.1394558245310.txtCrossroads, Pearl Diver, Shanty Town, Alchemist, Baron, Noble Brigand, City, Graverobber, Venture, King's Court
We both go for an Alchemist Stack with KC and Baron as payload. I open Shanty Town / Potion, but he has 5/2 and opens Potion / Crossroads. We both buy an Alchemist turn 4, but really bad was for me turn 6 where I only get to $2P and my Potion even misses the shuffle, this puts me quite behind. In the next turn my Baron finds an Estate but I only hit $6 instead of $7 and decided to get a Gold to be able to hit $7 soon. My opponent bought Alchemists on both turns 6 and 7. I hit $7 for a King's Court in turn 8. In turn 10 my Potion again misses the shuffle, but was this time able to get an Alchemist. On turns where we hit $5 I go for Cities while he goes for Ventures. He later said that it was a mistake as he will eventually draw his whole deck. In turn 14 he took initiative and bought the first Province. In turn 15 he draws the deck and gets triple Province for a big 4 Province lead. In turn 16 I can draw my whole deck and get double Province + Duchy and hope for a bad turn on his part... which he had. He didn't find his Baron so buys only 1 Province. But my deck was only capable of generating $22P and I needed $23 to win. D'oh. I should have counted this earlier, and should have bought a Baron instead of a Duchy. He draws his deck next turn and wins. So I lost because I was unlucky AND because I gave up too early instead of thinking and grabbing the Baron.
Game 2:
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140311/log.516db980e4b082c74d7c7329.1394559286966.txtHermit, Oracle, Familiar, Coppersmith, Young Witch, Duke, Haggler, Ill-Gotten Gains, Mint, Wharf, Peddler
Three Cursers, but for me this is clearly a Duke board with Hermit and Haggler as support. He opens Hermit/Silver so I get Hermit/Young Witch. Not sure about Young Witch here, maybe it was a mistake. Both my opening buys miss the shuffle, awesome! But opponent goes for a Wharf BM deck aiming for Provinces, so I still have a chance. I get my first Duchy in turn 8 after getting the Haggler in turn 7. First it seemed he wants to contest the Duchies as gets one in the following turn, but then he still prefers Province and Gold over Duchy. I win the Duchy split 6/2. He had 4 additional Provinces though before I could grab any Duke, so I felt pretty behind, but he stalled pretty hard. He also contested the Dukes a bit, not sure if he should do that, but he wasn't able to hit Province until 7 of the Dukes where gone. I end up winning the Duke split 6/2 too. He has 6 Provinces at that moment, so I'm ahead 4 Duchies over his 2 2-point Dukes and some Curses. He grabs the second last Province and I can win the game by buying the last Province.
Game 3:
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140311/log.516db980e4b082c74d7c7329.1394560994292.txtTransmute, Herbalist, Squire, Stonemason, Apothecary, Doctor, Caravan, Golem, Hunting Party, Library
This was the most interesting board for me. I have 5/2 and struggled hard between going for an Apothecary deck with the help of Stonemason or if I should buy and overpay for Doctor. I decide to go for the Apothecary route and open Squire/Potion - which maybe should have been Herbalist/Potion, but my opening buys didn't collide, so it didn't matter. My opponent opens Silver/Potion which I didn't like so much. He then picks up a Transmute with $3P over Apothecary, what!? He then uses his Transmute trashing the Estates for Golds and prefers 1 Hunting Party over Double Apothecary and over Double Hunting Party. He later stonemasons Gold into 2 Hunting Parties though. I have a lot of Apothecaries, but he has a lot of Hunting Parties and his deck works so much better while my deck just doesn't come together. He takes the initiative for greening, so I had to green prematurely, but I just weren't able to keep up. He later stopped again to build more what gave me the opportunity to catch up, but his deck was so much better, so this was a clear win for him. I'm interested in feedback on this game. Was my strategy inferior or did I just executed it badly? Should I have opened with Doctor? What would you have done?
Game 4:
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140311/log.516db980e4b082c74d7c7329.1394562363827.txtCrossroads, Herbalist, Wishing Well, Bishop, Plaza, Band of Misfits, Bandit Camp, Horn of Plenty, Vault, Expand
The engine is weak here with Wishing Well and Vault as weak draw and Herbalist as weak +Buy and Bishop as weak trasher. I just spam Bandit Camps and Plazas for $4 and $5, get 2 Vaults and play BM. My opponent goes for Horn of Plenty, but with the weak draw and Wishing Well antisynergizing with the Horns this just doesn't work out. After I have 2 Platina and a couple of coin tokens I can hit Colony quite regularly and he just resigns as he realizes that a Horn mega turn just isn't possible on this board.
Game 5:
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140311/log.516db980e4b082c74d7c7329.1394563888599.txtTransmute, Oracle, Wishing Well, Cutpurse, Death Cart, Fortress, Island, Remake, Merchant Guild, Border Village
This was another neat game. The draw is again weak here in Oracle and Wishing Well, but with Remake the trasher is strong. Also Border Village and Remake/Fortress and Death Cart/Fortress trickery makes the engine superior to Oracle BM, so we both go for it. I open Remake/Silver while he is unlucky with his 5/2 and opens Remake/-. I soon prefer Wishing Well over Silver while he only has 1 WW. He gets Death Cart in turn 8 already while I wait much longer. He also had 3 Merchant Guilds in his deck but only 1 Oracle, I think he should have focussed more on draw early on. In turn 11 I draw my deck and get my Death Cart - which probably should have been a Merchant Guild first, which I noticed next turn and get it there. My oppenent then started to remake Fortresses in a lot of Merchant Guilds, I think way too many, he had 5 MGs in turn 12. Piles were now getting really low, in turn 13 he remade Fortress into the second last MG and Duchy. I get Province/WW in my turn with BV gone, 1 MG and 2 WW left, in hand sight a bit too risky. At that point my deck was better as he had to few draw for that many MGs he had, still he manages to get to 13$ and 3 coin tokens, with 1 more buy he could have tied me. I expect him to go for double Province, but somehow he assumed the MG pile was empty too and goes for Province - double WW, a mistake that will cost him the game.
Game 6:
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140312/log.516db980e4b082c74d7c7329.1394644119709.txtScrying Pool, Trade Route, Watchtower, JackOfAllTrades, Moneylender, Contraband, Journeyman, Mine, Outpost, Treasury
This was the most boring game. This is Jack/Journeyman BM. Going from second position I expected to lose this game. We both open Jack/Silver. He gets to $4 in the second shuffle and get the second Jack while I had $5 and buy a Journeyman. Despite having two Jacks he only trashed one Estate while I trashed two of them. So we greened with him being one point ahead. He gets a Journeyman in between as his third terminal. We duchy danced for a little bit, he only hit $7 in turn 14 with 2 Provinces left. With him being 4 points ahead I had to buy the Province in my turn 14. He gets unlucky again and hits $7 again. I reshuffle and with $7 and Journeyman I'm basically guaranteed $8 and win the match luckily.
Thanks for the games Teproc, good luck for the rest of the tournament, and sorry for the unlucky last match for you and the mistake in game 5. A tie would have been deserved for you.