Dominion Strategy Forum
Dominion => Tournaments and Events => Topic started by: Voltaire on May 06, 2015, 12:43:02 pm
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Howdy all! Cat and Mouse Game Store (http://cat-n-mouse.com/ocart/) is hosting another Dominion tournament, due in large part to the great reception our last tournament (http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=12708.0) received!
If you played in the previous tournament, be sure to check out "What's different?" below. Most importantly, there's a new location. If you're in the Chicagoland area and looking for a chance to play competitive Dominion in-person, read on - all are welcome! Full details are at the registration link.
Tournament Details
Date: Saturday, May 30
Time: 1 PM - 5:30 PM
Location: Cat and Mouse Game Store WEST LOOP (directions (http://cat-n-mouse.com/ocart/west-loop-directions.html))
Players: 15 total
Style: 3-player games, limited round robin*, everyone gets 5 games
Cards: all of 'em, including promos!, curated expansion-focused random Kingdoms**
Registration: click here (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/dominion-tournament-west-loop-tickets-16878849092) to register in advance (strongly recommended)
Cost: $10
Prizes:- all participants: $5 store gift-card
- Prize Pool (1st place gets first pick, 2nd place second pick, 3rd place gets what remains):
- $25 store gift card
- Prince promo card
- Governor promo card
*each player will play almost every other player during the tournament
**Each kingdom will feature 4 cards from a specific expansion, selected randomly, plus 6 cards from the rest of the card pool, also randomly selected. I will then consider the entire Kingdom and make any changes necessary to ensure that a 3-player game using that Kingdom can finish in the 40 minutes allotted for each game. Adventures is guaranteed to be one of the 5 expansions chosen as the focus of a Kingdom. Adventures cards could also pop up in the other four rounds (or not, it's random!)
What's different from last time?
- NEW LOCATION - this one is at our other store in the West Loop neighborhood, which has a) a larger play area that is b) separated from the rest of the store - no more playing while people shop six inches from you
- NEW FORMAT - this time, it's 3-player games
- NEW CARDS - this one includes Adventures ;D
- Lower entry fee - though this does mean fewer prizes, everyone still leaves with something
- More games - all players will get 5 games instead of 4!
A note on the tournament philosophy
I am the sole tournament organizer, director, staff, lackey, final boss, etc. The store simply can't afford to run the holy grail of competitive Dominion - 2-player games, full random every table every round, with a table judge for each game (though I wish we could). This means I'll be placing a fair amount of faith in each player to play and behave honorably, same as last time (when that faith was well-placed, I might add). The overall time constraint for the tournament means that not all players will play each other (almost, though!) If you're looking for a hyper-competitive, table judge-with-a-finger-in-all-the-rulebooks-at-all-times experience, I can't offer it to you. What I can offer is five competitive in-person games of Dominion with awesome new cards and great people (really, read the other thread). :D
If you have any questions about this event, please ask here!
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I'm out of town that day :'(
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I'd love to join, but I can't commit this far out in advance... so I'll be looking at the renaming tickets closely. I normally play 2 player, but if I wanted random faceless 2 person I could play online so I don't think it being 3 player is an issue.
I would love if there was a greater focus on Adventures (at least 1 kingdom card per game?) as I can't play it online, but at least one game with a large number of those cards isn't bad.
Thanks for putting these tournaments together, I read about last one just a few days after it was too late, and it looked great.
Two question areas. With events now added how do you plan on randomizing them? Do you plan on having them at all? Perhaps a set amount based on the number of Adventures cards in the set?
And how is the parking nearby the store, if I'm willing to walk would there be free parking anywhere nearby?
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I'd love to join, but I can't commit this far out in advance... so I'll be looking at the renaming tickets closely. I normally play 2 player, but if I wanted random faceless 2 person I could play online so I don't think it being 3 player is an issue.
I would love if there was a greater focus on Adventures (at least 1 kingdom card per game?) as I can't play it online, but at least one game with a large number of those cards isn't bad.
Thanks for putting these tournaments together, I read about last one just a few days after it was too late, and it looked great.
Two question areas. With events now added how do you plan on randomizing them? Do you plan on having them at all? Perhaps a set amount based on the number of Adventures cards in the set?
And how is the parking nearby the store, if I'm willing to walk would there be free parking anywhere nearby?
The Adventures cards will be randomized along with everything else for the other Kingdoms - if I'm doing the math correctly, that means there will be an 11% chance of an Adventures card in each of the other 4 Kingdoms? Plus of course the Adventures Kingdom could end up with more than 4 cards if an Adventures card is picked in any of the remaining 6 slots. The current plan is do to Event selection by rulebook recommendation, but then of course I'll do my quickcheck of each Kingdom. This is a very long way of saying I don't know yet.
I honestly don't know the area well enough to comment with certainty on the parking. I know the street itself has metered parking ($2/hour, limit 2 hours) but the residential streets off have, to the best of my knowledge, free parking.
I hope to see you there!
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I was able to find free parking on a side street the last time I was at the West Loop location but it took about 10 minutes of searching.
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Better location for me, but bad day. Sorry!
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Oooh I would love to attend. Can you suggest ways to get to the location via public transport? I'm not keen on driving around in Chicago.
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Turns out the store website (http://cat-n-mouse.com/ocart/west-loop-directions.html) has you covered! (I should have known this)
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Just a reminder that this will be in just over a week! There's still plenty of tickets available, but if it's anything like our last tournament they'll sell out quickly next week - I recommend purchasing right now to lock in a spot, especially if you'll be traveling to attend.
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Tomorrow's the day! :D I'm also pleased to announce there will now be prizes for the top three finishers (prize pool will be $25 gift card, Prince promo, Governor promo), with 1st place getting first pick, then 2nd second pick, then third gets whatever is left.
If you're planning on registering day-off, please arrive at least fifteen minutes early to allow for time to pay your registration fee. Tournament overview will start promptly at 1 PM, with an eye on starting the tournament proper at 1:15.
As of this moment we have 6 spaces remaining. Day-of registration is first-come, first-served, so if you want to lock in your spot (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/dominion-tournament-west-loop-tickets-16878849092) you still can.
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It was another great tournament! We had 14 players, so I became the 15th player to even out the numbers. Not ideal, but it worked out just fine (I ended tied for third, huzzah, not bad for simultaneously running a thing :P). The top three finished with 11, 10.5, and 10 points - incredibly close!
Because of Adventures and the increase in cards that muck with your starting hands, I used "identical starting hands" for this tournament. They're listed in parenthesis after the set names.
Everyone had fun and we'll probably do another one in about two months.
Here are the kingdoms everyone played (all games were 3-player):
ADVENTURES (3/4)
(Ball / Expedition) Artificer, Distant Lands, Duplicate, Festival, Library, Plaza, Port, Sage, Shanty Town, and Treasure Trove
DARK AGES (3OEH/4N)
(Shelters) Baron, Beggar, Catacombs, Counterfeit, Feodum, Fortress, Menagerie, Merchant Ship, Poor House, and Procession
PROMOS (4/3)
Apothecary, Black Market, Cutpurse, Governor, Nomad Camp, Peddler, Prince, Stash, Walled Village, and Warehouse
Black Market deck = Band of Misfits, Cache, Pearl Diver, Wharf, Grand Market, Jack of All Trades, Ambassador, Wandering Minstrel, Salvager, Herald, Rogue, Fishing Village, Island, Squire, Altar, Counting House, Mystic, Vault, Royal Seal, Goons, Forager, Oracle, Scheme, City, Masterpiece
GUILDS (5/2)
Butcher, Candlestick Maker, Taxman, Merchant Guild, King's Court, Junk Dealer, Vagrant, Hunting Grounds, Explorer, and Haven
HINTERLANDS (3/4)
Cartographer, Develop, Haggler, Highway, Margrave, Apprentice, Armory, Bank, Ill-Gotten Gains, Tactician
Random thoughts:
- setting up the Black Market deck to be in the same order every game, that was fun (I probably didn't have to but I like to go the extra mile)
- The Adventures kingdom was consistently the longest each round, except for once it finished first - I think that time they played it fairly Big Money with Treasure Trove. Most games saw Duplicate and Distant Lands get a workout.
- I need to announce that we provide all the cards for these things - two incredibly generous players brought their own cards in case we needed more!
- I met at least one other person from f.ds (who even plays in the league here). Some of you may also have been there but if you were you didn't tell me. Hello, shy people!
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I need to go to one of these sometime. I live in Madison, WI so it's a bit of a drive, but I still remember Chicago fondly. Voltaire if you do schedule one in the upcoming months remember to check against GenCon. I think it's kind of early this year.