Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.

26

Help! / WTF, I thought transmute was less than impressive?

« on: January 14, 2013, 03:52:55 pm »

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201301/14/game-20130114-124839-7044d599.html

Yeah, yeah, I picked up Masq and didn't have a way to get rid of it on a Possession board... I thought he'd get one too and I'd pass it at some point. But that didn't even come into play... he just bought a few Labs and the one Transmute, and lined it up to get Gold rather quickly... and then I wasn't able to do anything with his deck in return. Wat? Never minding that he was able to hit 8 with my anemic deck while I couldn't with his Gold-filled one - it looks as though without Possession involved, he would have pegged similar results. But I thought Transmute wasn't capable of anything like this - 6 Provs in 16 turns? How? And this guy is 0 rank, too, so that really hurts. He even commented before the game that he "doesn't know most of these cards". Sigh.

27

Help! / I don't even know where to begin.

« on: January 14, 2013, 03:33:31 pm »

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201301/14/game-20130114-123210-2dee9112.html

just... help?!??!?

28

Help! / How did I fall behind here?

« on: January 14, 2013, 02:52:20 pm »

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201301/14/game-20130114-114754-5947eeed.html

We both seem to have the same idea: trash starting cards with Bishop in order to get to GMs, and build an engine involving TR and Scheme.

29

Help! / Is Counting House-WV really this good?

« on: January 12, 2013, 03:01:26 am »

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201301/11/game-20130111-235829-eb8e235f.html

It seemed like I wasn't able to attack him very often anyway because something else would always come up, the WVs that I bought would be in the wrong places etc. etc. but maybe CH doesn't really care about Ghost Ship anyway? It seemed like he was able to cycle a huge deck disturbingly fast with just the one Warehouse though. How did that happen?

30

Game Reports / WTF my opponent's start

« on: January 11, 2013, 11:12:59 am »

I know my Bishop is helping him (I was planning to build something pseudo-GD-ish the hard way, and it kinda-sorta worked in the end), but how lucky do you have to be to get consecutive Provinces on turns 8-10 (and then duchy-duchy-province the next three turns!) with a pretty much BM strategy?

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201301/11/game-20130111-080757-83fba807.html

31

Game Reports / My pure Golden Deck gets edged out by something vaguely similar.

« on: January 11, 2013, 01:02:06 am »

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201301/10/game-20130110-215954-c38a1f41.html

Didn't expect the gain-points-and-still-buy-Province maneuver at the end from a deck that was keeping Provinces. Though I guess I could have respected PPR by trashing and regaining Gold on the previous turn :/

32

Variants and Fan Cards / A self-limiting searcher

« on: January 08, 2013, 11:49:17 pm »

This was inspired by previous discussion of "House Elf".

Needs a name and a cost - Action

+1 Action

Gain a [This Card]. Reveal cards from your deck until you reveal a [This Card]; put one of the other revealed cards into your hand and discard the rest.

So to keep using it at full efficiency, you want to trash the gained copies - since otherwise they limit the amount of deck you'll reveal. And this is tough because it doesn't pull itself into hand, and when you coincidentally get it in hand, you typically want to play it. Of course, you'll be able to play them more often if you just take advantage of the gain, but you won't easily chain them...

33

Game Reports / In which I am thoroughly unimpressed by opponent's Pstone-Herbalist

« on: January 04, 2013, 04:04:16 pm »

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201301/04/game-20130104-125920-a00a89cb.html

Is opponent's approach really this bad? I mean, I felt like I was doing awfully enough (second Bishop can't be right and I'm probably better off just greening instead of trying to grab GMs) until I started picking up steam at turn 17 or so. But the Herbalist-Pstone combination never seemed to get anywhere for my opponent, even with Cache as support for building deck size.

34

Help! / I thought Bank needs a big hand and +Buy to shine?

« on: January 04, 2013, 11:57:30 am »

So how come I pick up a Tac and a Smithy but get crushed by the guy going pure Salvager-BM?

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201301/04/game-20130104-085608-fc0f6bc0.html

35

Dominion Strategy Wiki Feedback / Quick help with cookies

« on: January 03, 2013, 10:39:23 am »

I don't seem to be able to create an account; I am told to ensure I have cookies enabled.

I am using Firefox, and have cookies configured as "Accept cookies from sites; ask me every time". So I must have accidentally blacklisted something; the forum cookie works fine for me. When I check my exceptions list, I see "forum.dominionstrategy.com" listed as "Allow"; I do not see "wiki.dominionstrategy.com" listed at all - normally I would expect, as a result, to be prompted to accept the cookie; but I don't get anything - the cookie is just treated as blocked.

Is there some other domain that I need to whitelist/un-blacklist? Do I need to "accept third-party cookies" for some reason to make the wiki work? (Nothing else has needed them.)

36

Game Reports / My golden deck variant builds a huge lead, then gets caught.

« on: January 03, 2013, 10:08:38 am »

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201301/03/game-20130103-065749-3dfd0478.html

All kinds of fun stuff on this board. I initially rejected the idea of going University-Vineyards because (a) other than Alchemist and University, the board is full of terminals, and the Universities just won't provide enough +Action; (b) Ambassador is a pretty strong way to set up a Golden Deck.

So of course I get a 5/2 open :/ and go about my business. A few turns in I decide to compete on Alchemists because I figure it will give me some more reliability if I don't set it up perfectly, and perhaps allow me to keep a couple of Provinces instead of just constantly trashing. This, of course, is totally wrong, I'm sure, because (a) a full stack of 10 doesn't help his strategy that much; (b) it makes my treasures vulnerable to Thief, which I'd overlooked.

I work my way up to a massive lead anyway, and have gotten to 6 of the Provinces by the time he suddenly clicks everything into action, steals my stuff and leaves me scrambling to figure out a plan. He's way over-terminal'd but doesn't seem to care (although trying to Curse me with Ambassador is surely a waste for him, and he probably doesn't need more than one Thief to make his plan work - but hey, it's extra Vineyards value). I try to rebuild my economy but it's no use.

Maybe I could have helped myself out by coming to my senses and trashing my Potion and eventually my Alchemists, as I really don't need them. :/

Anyone think he can catch up with the pure Vineyards rush if I go pure GD? It'll go faster for me, I suppose, since I won't have to take time out to buy the Potion etc. Although optimal setup might require sometimes buying nothing? I'm not really sure what I'm doing when it's not classic Bishop-Chapel...

37

Help! / I took 3 Mountebanks to his 1, and lost the Curse split 7-3.

« on: January 02, 2013, 10:58:44 am »

I don't even.

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201301/02/game-20130102-075537-61afbc6c.html

Am I getting over-terminal'd here? It feels as if I never drew the Universities together with terminals so they never really added to the effective +Action count. Meanwhile, he's grabbing GMs despite the lack of trashing

38

Game Reports / I crushed him, but ending it still felt stupidly disorganized.

« on: January 02, 2013, 10:02:12 am »

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201301/02/game-20130102-065244-a786254d.html

Key cards: KC, Mountebank, Alchemist, Bishop (?), Trade Route (?).

Usually on KC-Bishop boards I end up completely destroying my deck and then letting the opponent overtake me with an engine that can Bishop multiple things and actually replenish them. I mean, I guess sometimes it works to grab a bunch of Bishop points and then transition into a Golden Deck strategy, but usually I don't even end up with the treasures necessary to do that. Here, KC-Mountebank* represented a huge boost to the economy (as well as a huge attack), so there wasn't so much risk of that, but I'm stifled by the fact that the only +Buy on board requires me to trash cards - so I end up reducing my deck size and frequently (because I rebuy it, but that doesn't actually help) trashing my Potion, turning my Alchemists into expensive Labs (not that I don't still hugely benefit from the drawing power...).

* Then again, often on KC-Mountebank boards I'll naively assume that I have "enough" Mountebanking power even though opponent has more, and end up getting flooded in Copper and unable to connect my Actions and fight back. Maybe these two effects kinda cancel out?

Basically, once I've built up some engine here, where am I supposed to go with it? Is there some funky 3-pile I'm missing? (We did end up running out Curse and Copper at the same time that I bought the last Colony, but...) Should I just be going straight for Colonies, and maybe even just get rid of my Bishops in favour of the TR economy (buying Coppers to trash them for a bunch of money next turn)?

39

Help! / DoubleJack not doing what it's supposed to?

« on: January 01, 2013, 07:03:21 am »

Is it not possible/feasible to mix in cantrips like Upgrade here? How am I struggling so much to hit $8 with so much good Treasure in my deck? And how come he doesn't seem to have any problems having so many terminals?

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201301/01/game-20130101-040142-c5b5a7f5.html

40

Help! / Why he was able to line up Goons more often in a bigger deck with less draw?

« on: December 31, 2012, 04:18:28 am »

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/31/game-20121231-011626-be1d1ad0.html

He buys Copper with every double Goons turn and ends up with way more cards than me, while I add a Salvager to trash more, and take more Wharves. But somehow he seems to keep being able to line them up, while my Goons hardly ever collide and even less often with an available Village. What's going on here?

41

Help! / Something must have gone wrong in the details?

« on: December 30, 2012, 09:16:45 am »

Because I was first player and it was pretty much a mirror strategy, or so I thought, and I got crushed.

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/30/game-20121230-061538-a950fc92.html

42

Help! / B-crat > draw?!

« on: December 27, 2012, 09:42:03 am »

on this ugly, trashless Hag board:

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/27/game-20121227-063817-f1355309.html

I manage to hold the Curse split to 6-4 taking only one Hag, which I figure is pretty good considering the second Hag itself is a dead card for him later, that he had to pay for. But then the Bureaucrat attack seems to be enough to keep me at bay? I mean, my money density would seem to be better, even without taking into account the possibility of drawing with Council Room. (Never mind the Bazaars; I guess any plan of chaining stuff was doomed from the start...)

43

Help! / What went wrong with my early play?

« on: December 26, 2012, 02:03:15 am »

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/25/game-20121225-230005-468760bd.html

So I've been taking the $4 village/amb advice to heart, and here Worker's Village seems like an especially good idea for the opening because it will help with getting Peddlers, which are obviously desirable on this board. But my opponent is somehow able to split the Peddlers anyway with the Amb/Amb opening, randomly picking up a gold along the way and then getting to KC quickly, and crushes me. What went wrong? Just his lucky $6? Can I do anything different, besides choosing to mirror the opening instead?

44

Variants and Fan Cards / Borders

« on: December 26, 2012, 12:14:12 am »

What if we applied the Border Village idea - increase the cost by 3, and add "When you gain this, gain a card costing less than this" - to other cards?

Some of the results seem pretty ridiculous, and worthy of including in the bad card ideas thread... but maybe some of them work? Some things that occurred to me...

Border Pawn: on a board with no other 5s, it's almost certainly better than no 5s at all if you open 5/2. Similarly Border Haven etc., but they seem kinda boring.

Border Chapel... probably plays pretty much like regular Chapel? Since on a 5/2, you now get a Chapel and a $3 or $4 card, instead of... well, a Chapel and a $3 or $4 card. (and if both Chapels were out, since you only want one, you'd just be screwing yourself out of a power 5.) Unless maybe there are other 2s on board worth having in a Chapel deck (Fool's Gold?). OTOH, a board with Border Chapel out, and no regular Chapel, is probably hugely unfair to the people who didn't open 5/2. Chapel costs 2 for a reason...

Border Silver: Get two Silvers for 6, or pay 6 for a Duchy and get a free Silver, etc. etc. Seems reasonable. (I think a version that can only gain a Silver - so basically you buy it and get two Silvers, similarly to Cache - is a reasonable $5 card. Border Silver is obviously strictly more powerful than that at $5, since you could gain a $4 action instead. So it needs to cost at least 6, yeah.)

Border Gold: Compare to Hoard. You pay 9 for a Gold and a Province... which is kinda like if you'd paid 8 for a Province and got a Gold with it, except that you needed to use a Hoard instead of a Gold to do so (since the Hoard is worth $1 less).

Border Throne Room: Might be more interesting than vanilla KC on Goons boards.

45

Help! / Is there something I don't understand about warehouse/TM?

« on: December 25, 2012, 11:58:22 pm »

It seems like it shouldn't take this long to work...

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/25/game-20121225-205502-c6362093.html

Is there anything else I can do here with this shuffle luck? Should I get a third TM instead of more Warehouses? Should I (this is a really strange thought) buy a Fishing Village (or maybe even Copper?!) in the hopes of hitting 5 and getting rid of the rest of the Copper with a second Mint?

46

Help! / Another wtf happened?

« on: December 25, 2012, 06:22:58 am »

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/25/game-20121225-032007-d9cdf886.html

How come I can't defend my deck with 6 Lighthouses but he can with 4?

How is he drawing so reliably with nothing better than Crossroads?

And shouldn't I reasonably expect to aim for Duchies and a 3-pile with a board this disgusting? How is he able to grab GMs and ramp up to a Province economy?

47

Help! / How did he get Pstones so quickly?

« on: December 25, 2012, 12:04:21 am »

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/24/game-20121224-210258-f29c7b61.html

And what else can I really do once this happens?

48

Help! / I got parried all over the place.

« on: December 23, 2012, 11:13:28 pm »

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/23/game-20121223-200459-45ff6912.html

The plan was to win Tournaments early, then grab green mindlessly, using Golem to avoid choking on those cards. And it worked, insofar as I was able to get Followers and Trusty Steed, and play Followers a few times. But I still couldn't keep pace, as my Tournaments were constantly blocked. He basically just gave up after one Tournament and played Vault-BM and had no problem keeping pace even with the Followers attack, and with Bank not really being able to do anything Gold couldn't (I mean, he didn't even try to take advantage of it with Nomad Camp's +Buy anyway...). What gives?

49

Help! / Was it just a question of getting a second Mountebank?

« on: December 22, 2012, 02:42:57 am »

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/21/game-20121221-233954-cbce2f22.html

I tried to keep my stack under control early, but I couldn't take the weight of his KC-Mountebanks, and eventually he ran out the Copper pile on me. I had actually been hoping at one point that I could get enough green to stay ahead on the turn that the Copper ran out, but that was pretty desperate :/ Past a certain point, there's just no holding this together with Forge - so I guess I have to fight fire with fire earlier?

50

Help! / How come he can manage to draw a bunch with this deck?

« on: December 21, 2012, 02:34:46 am »

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/20/game-20121220-232716-4fafd970.html

He seems to be just pulling out whatever random stuff from the Black Market, to pursue the same Vineyards strategy... but it always seems like he's able to find his Apprentices, draw successfully with WW or **something**, I can't even really figure it out but he's playing through a bunch of his deck constantly and getting to play multiple Black Market turns near the end even though the only Villages available are the few he pulled out of the Black Market. How the hell does that work? I thought Black Market is usually a trap, that you definitely don't want multiples of it in general, and it didn't seem like there was anything especially awesome available. Meanwhile, my plan to cycle the Hag faster early on seems to have failed - at least, it appears I managed a 6-4 split, but he had no trouble getting rid of Curses early.