I played a very even series of rounds with Smartie, ending in a tie 3-3 draw.
Game 1: To my mind, a not-very-interesting engine game with Nobles, Herald, and Vault. I fell behind early and needed better luck than I got with my Heralds. I manage a double-Province turn to make it close, but Smartie didn't stall on the last turn like I needed him too. He wins 39-34.
Game 2: Soothsayer and Chapel are the central cards here. Smartie opens Chapel/Feast, I open Chapel/Silver. A late Feast and Count work well for me to grab some extra Duchies in the end game to put it away. I grab some Silvers via Masterpiece midway through; I think they help me, but I'm not sure. I win 42-29.
Game 3: Jack and Hamlet. Smartie opens 5/2 with Hamlet/Trading Post, which I figure is a huge advantage for me, but I end up just pulling out a squeaker. I think I probably overestimate the value of Hamlet here; maybe a purer Jack+money strategy would have worked better? I'd be curious to know what's best here. I win 38-36.
Game 4: Familiar. I'm aiming to get 6vp Fairgrounds on this Shelters board. I like how things are working for me -- my early Alter helps a lot -- but Smartie's big advantage in Curses ends up just slightly too much. This could easily have gone either way at the end, but I lose 22-23.
Game 5: An incredibly boring Workshop/Gardens, which we both go for. I don't really see any other choices here. (Does anyone?) I lose 26-20, with 29 cards in my deck. I had a chance to Workshop the last Workshop for a tie; obviously I wish I'd taken it.
Game 6: This is the one I was least sure what to do with. Ambassador, but no villages or cantrip money; I also see Philosopher's Stone. I'm also eyeing some wackiness with Great Hall/Remake/Silk Road. No actual buys, but we have Haggler and HoP. I end up holding my breath and ignoring Ambassador, going for Stones, and taking a few extra green cards to try and get Silk Road at 3 or even 4. The plan works better than I expect it to, and I clear the Provinces before getting a chance to pump up the SRs. I'd be very interested to hear expert opinion on the ideal strategy for this board; I feel lucky that what was in effect a pure guess ended up working very well. This was the only game of the whole set that didn't feel extremely close and tense the whole way through. I win 43-25.
I think that if Smartie and I played ten more games, we'd probably be tied 8-8. Thanks for the match!