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1

Dominion Articles / Re: Combo: Hermit/Madman + Market Square

« on: March 08, 2013, 02:17:51 pm »

I want to preface this by saying that this is probably a combo for advanced players. It requires a careful balance, a knowledge of exactly what's in your deck, as well precise timing to pull off correctly, without which your deck could easily flop.

Great article and a really impressive combo - on par with the impressive and intimidating nature of mega strategies (KC/KC/Bridge x3) or Scrying Pool-enabled engines - these are the key phrases to understanding this combo. The combo is a melting of mega-turn with an engine, and that's what to me makes it a very high-level combo. I haven't played Dark Ages but I had to read through the cards several times before I feel like I scratched the surface of how these cards interact and how to properly play them to make this combo go boom. It feels most like Native Village/Bridge, where on your megaturn, you Native Village to draw/set aside all but your last NV on your mega (to continue setting aside cards, and pick them up with the last NV and lather, rinse, repeat until all NV's have been played) and then play all of your Bridges and you know how it ends.

As for how to kill it, I agree that a constant discard attack (Torturer may be the most effective because it can act as a junker, too, but the hand-size increasing nature of the curse-in-hand may negatively affect the Torturer player because it increases the amount of cards drawn by Madman) or a good junker (Hag, Moutebank) may be the best way to slow it down subject to the notes in the article re: trashing curses. The problem is that the combo draws so many cards so quickly that even with three cards in hand (two of which are Madmen, or if you know you have at least one Madmen in next four cards if you play (i.e. if you have a small draw stack remaining)) that this is a difficult combo to beat.

2

Dominion Articles / Re: How would you open on this board? #2

« on: March 06, 2013, 03:03:10 pm »

Hag/Silver as first player, with Silver/MB on next pass through the deck. Anything else and you're just asking to lose the curse war, no?

If there is no Sea Hag, I'd open Moneylender/Silver into Mountebank.

At $5, Mountebank/nothing, no question.

This game is going to end with Duchies, Curses and Estates gone.

I would definitely go sea hag; better reliable cursing, copper is not very painful this game, and there's only a 40% chance of a T2 mountebank.

Agreed. Note that there is counterplay to the copper junking from Mountebank in Moneylender and Coppersmith.

Moneylender, yes, but there is nothing to trash Curses or Estates with. I think you'd have a hard time getting more than two coppers to hit with the Coppersmith in hand once the junk starts flying. You're more likely to get terminal collision with Hag/MB or draw it with silvers.

3

Dominion Articles / Re: Article Request: Fairgrounds

« on: March 06, 2013, 11:17:27 am »

Fairgrounds is a goofy card because if you can get it to 6 VP each, you're looking at at least 48 points plus likely a province, Duchy and Estate thrown in for the unique cards (58 points; 60 if you don't trash two initial estates). But if you can't - and your opponent can end the game before you get 15 unique cards, you're taking a 16 point hit, and you're at 42. This is seven Provinces, or six provinces plus Duchy and three initial Estates. One more Duchy for your opponent and you the Fairgrounds player lose. This is the calculus you need to think long and hard about when you think about going for your second or third Province (if you get four, you've likely won anyway). My thoughts are that you should get that second Province if it will not affect your ability to hit 6 VP/Fairgrounds or you can end the game on Provinces.

As for your opponent, him hitting a Fairgrounds is much like a non-Gardens player taking a Gardens. It's a 3-4 point loss for him and a 2-3 point gain for you, a five to seven point swing. For your opponent, that Fairgrounds is likely to be worth 4 VP to him but at a 6 VP point loss to you - a 10 point swing.

I think HME is correct that a good Fairgrounds deck is engine-based that can consistently hit $12 with at least two buys. This will get you double Fairgrounds, and then allow you to pick up miscellaneous parts as you close out and empty piles. Focus on the engine parts first, then move to Fairgrounds (they'll likely be worth 32 VP total at this point, so you've got at least 35 points available to you barring Estate trashing and a Province/Duchy buy) and final unique cards. Then end the game on piles - Fairgrounds and two engine piles, curses (if present on board, making the game more of a slog than it already is), or Estates.

My other thought was that you can try to end the game by getting half plus one of the VP available. This is 48 + 48 + 24 + 8 in a Fairgrounds game, so you need 68 VP (assuming no Estate trashing) to get there. 8 Fairgrounds + Province/Duchy/3x Estate and then two Duchies and an Estate get you there.

4

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Cards with no optimal opening

« on: March 05, 2013, 11:10:10 am »

Well, Potion cards are impossible to open with.

You're second player. Opponent opens Noble Brigand, discards 2 of your estates, giving you a copper. You buy potion. Next turn, you draw 4 coppers and Potion and can open any potion card other than Possession.
(Possession opening is possible, but it requires 4-5 players and Masquerade passing good cards)
[/edgecase snipe]

Excellent Rube Goldberg.

5

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Good second cards for Jack BM

« on: February 26, 2013, 09:42:55 pm »

And don't underrate Wharf/BM: it's very strong, and frequently faster than any engine you could build with the same pieces.

The more I play the more I appreciate Wharf. Add a village, even a generic one, and you're solid.

6

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Veto Quiz #1

« on: February 20, 2013, 03:37:28 am »

Pirate Ship because I HATE it.

My initial reaction too, but Kirian's analysis and those who point the finger to the coin provided by Peddler/FV/Woodcutter if someone goes Pirate Ship have a good point.

I'd likely veto Peddler and think hard about going for Fairgrounds here.

7

Dominion General Discussion / Re: The Dominion Cards Lists 2013 Edition: $4 cards (Part 2/5)

« on: February 01, 2013, 02:18:05 pm »

So I've come to feel that treasure map, while not quite a "good" card, is under-rated. At least its better than feast/nomad-camp/rats/pirate-ship. Obviously waiting for your maps to line up at random is bad, but I win lots of games by using haven/warehouse/courtyard/tactician to line them up. Also, in a situation where you have heavy trashing, or draw your deck every turn, it can be great. Its hard to beat four gold for two installments of $4 for boosting your economy. I often play games where people forget this option exists.

PS. The jerk in me wants to say that I hope no one actually listens to this post, because there's nothing more fun than beating someone with a "bad" card like treasure map.

Agreed - for TM to work you need methods to get the two together. Haven, Native Village (if you're using it liberally or not using it blindly), Scrying Pool, Tactition, Courtyard, etc. can all work, as can heavy trashing. I don't see too much of a problem opening TM/Chapel, so long as you can pick up a silver to make sure you can get the other TM w/o delay.

8

Dominion General Discussion / Re: How to play the "iconic" kingdom

« on: February 01, 2013, 02:14:28 pm »

Good thought above, and it's likely tough to beat Wharf/Bank/BM, but my initial thoughts also suggested opening potion/Silver, and picking up a Golem or then pushing Wharfs (2 or 3) and Labs on $5 after you get a couple of golds and push for double provinces to end game.

9

Game Reports / Re: Dear My Opponent: I am Sorry

« on: January 30, 2013, 11:00:51 pm »

Code: [Select]

— crazyrunnerguy's turn 13 —
crazyrunnerguy plays a King's Court.
... and plays a Hunting Party.
... ... drawing 1 card and getting +1 action.
... ... revealing a Copper, a Fool's Gold, a Hunting Party, and a Platinum.
... ... revealing a Colony.
... ... putting the Colony into the hand.
... and plays the Hunting Party again.
... ... drawing 1 card and getting +1 action.
... ... revealing a Copper, a Fool's Gold, 2 Hunting Parties, a Colony, and a Platinum.
... ... revealing a Gold.
... ... putting the Gold into the hand.
... and plays the Hunting Party a third time.
... ... drawing 1 card and getting +1 action.
... ... revealing a Gold, a Copper, a Platinum, a Colony, 2 Hunting Parties, a Fool's Gold, and a King's Court.
... ... revealing a Salvager.
... ... putting the Salvager into the hand.
crazyrunnerguy plays a King's Court.
... and plays a Hunting Party.
... ... drawing 1 card and getting +1 action.
... ... revealing a Gold, a Copper, a Platinum, a Salvager, 2 Colonies, a Hunting Party, and a Fool's Gold.
... ... revealing a Hunting Party and a Copper.
... ... discarding a Copper and a Hunting Party.
... and plays the Hunting Party again.
... ... (crazyrunnerguy reshuffles.)
... ... drawing 1 card and getting +1 action.
... ... revealing a Gold, 2 Coppers, a Platinum, a Salvager, 2 Colonies, a Hunting Party, and a Fool's Gold.
... ... revealing a Hunting Party.
... ... discarding a Hunting Party.
... and plays the Hunting Party a third time.
... ... (crazyrunnerguy reshuffles.)
... ... drawing 1 card and getting +1 action.
... ... revealing a Gold, 2 Coppers, a Platinum, a Salvager, 2 Colonies, 2 Hunting Parties, and a Fool's Gold.
... ... revealing nothing.
crazyrunnerguy plays 2 Coppers, a Platinum, and a Gold.
crazyrunnerguy plays a Fool's Gold.
... getting +$1.
crazyrunnerguy buys a Colony.
(crazyrunnerguy reshuffles.)
(crazyrunnerguy draws: a King's Court, a Colony, a Hunting Party, a Gold, and a Fool's Gold.)

Playing Cat Daddy. Opened 2/5, went Fool's Gold (only 2 option)/Hunting party and went nuts from there. King's Court really makes Hunting Party just insane. This was a typical turn for my six of my last 8 or so. Game ended on Turn 18 when I trashed a KC /w Salvager and bought a colony with the +7 and a platinum in hand.

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201301/30/game-20130130-195657-e1404547.html

10

Dominion General Discussion / Re: What Do You Wish You Knew When You Started Dominion?

« on: January 29, 2013, 04:41:44 pm »

The necessity of trashing and how awesome Chapel is. Such a subtle card (like Smithy) instruction, yet devastating effect.

11

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Greatest Moments uhh... I mean Misclicks of Dominion 2013

« on: January 29, 2013, 10:00:05 am »

Two things recently for me: I was playing on Isotropic in a tired haze in the morning and three(!) times clicked for a copper when I wanted silvers.

Last night, I bought an Expand /w $7 instead of picking up a KC. Lost the game because of it.

12

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Random city question

« on: January 29, 2013, 09:56:53 am »

Was always Level 1 and 2 for me. Cities /w no piles empty didn't get a level. Good question re: terminology.

13

Dominion General Discussion / Re: When to go for Council Room?

« on: January 27, 2013, 11:04:36 am »

If there is a discard attack, then a Village-Council Room engine could work well.  Militia, Goons, Margrave, and even Followers all work.

Village/Militia/Council Room is one of my favorite engines in base set. 2x CR's, 2x Militias, 5-6 Villages and you're set. If there are no discard attacks or village-type cards, I'll usually only pick up one to capitalize on the occassional possibility of double Province, provided there is enough coin in my deck.