Dominion Strategy Forum
Dominion => Game Reports => Help! => Topic started by: Biderman on January 14, 2012, 08:35:09 pm
-
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201201/14/game-20120114-173053-7876cc25.html
So, I go into this game thinking I'll pick up a few TRs and maybe a Spy or two, then fill up on Governors, Scrying Pools, and GMs with maybe some Apprentaces... then suddenly my opp is buying up the Provences and I started to rush to try to catch up. Where did I go wrong? Was I just playing too slow a deck? It seemed like I had horrible shuffle luck... it took me forever to hit 5$
-
Your biggest mistake was most likely opening throne room. It does nothing for you, at all, until you have some other actions. This is the prime reason you 'took forever to hit 5$.' Even if you eventually want throne rooms, you need to get an economy going first. Silver/Silver is not a bad opening.
-
Well, ya see, here's your problem right there: you opened Throne Room / Silver. Probably not a great opening, as there is nothing to TR. Note you drew it dead three times before you got to use it. That's not bad luck, that's fate for opening TR.
You still got $5 after the first shuffle, which got you a Governor. But you probably shouldn't use it for cards early on, Gold is better. Then you can get Grand Markets. Your opponent is using Bureaucrat to load up on silvers to get GMs. You let him draw a 6th card with your Governor, so he happily bought a GM.
Opening Lessons: Don't open TR, and don't use Governor for cards early when your cards suck. Make your deck better with Golds.
-
I'll pick up a few TRs and maybe a Spy or two, then fill up on Governors, Scrying Pools, and GMs with maybe some Apprentaces
If you count those cards up, you'll probably find that in the turns it takes to buy them a good opponent can buy treasure and enough provinces to win. Cut the list to the essential cards and the nice-to-have's. Look at the attack card bought by your opponent and see if that changes your plan. Ensure your opening buys are the right stepping stones to your essential cards and the deck you need.
-
Governor can make games go really fast; if both players go for a governor-based deck, there probably won't be time for messing around with grand markets or scrying pools, since the game can easily be over by turn 12.
Also yeah, opening with TR is going to be very rarely correct.
-
Ok, so it was mostly a case of me being stupid. Would you guys open Silver Silver or Silver Spy?
-
Ok, so it was mostly a case of me being stupid. Would you guys open Silver Silver or Silver Spy?
I'm guessing that in most cases, Silver/Silver is going to always beat Silver/Spy. The thing with Spy is that it doesn't increase your purchasing power at all. This means that it is no help whatsoever in getting to $5 or $6. It might help a tiny bit if you can discard your own Estate with it, but in the first reshuffle that's only a 3/11 or so chance. And of course it can help early if it happens to allow you to discard one of your opponent's first-round buy, but again that's not a great chance of happening.
-
Spy/Silver is okay if your strategy makes Spy better than Silver quite soon, but you better know what you're doing since it's a level -1 opening (Silver/Silver is level 1).