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76

Dominion General Discussion / Re: When durations are better

« on: August 09, 2012, 09:21:05 pm »

Independent of the defense, I want Lighthouse over Silver in a Scrying Pool game no question (and obviously Fishing Village). The defense there is just a bonus but I want Lighthouse even without its defensive capability there.

Merchant Ship is more interesting. Maybe I take one over a Gold in a Duchy/Duke game where I am using an engine to get there?

Also, in the Stay out of the Way category, I want Merchant Ship over Gold in a Tunnel game. I'm going to get Gold in that kind of game anyway but a Merchant Ship often makes the C-C-C-T-E hand that often happens a heck of a lot more useful than had I played a Gold on the previous turn

77

Dominion: Dark Ages Previews / Re: Dark Ages Preview #1

« on: August 06, 2012, 01:37:01 pm »

I'm just waiting for the fun time when someone (ok me more likely) tries a Poor House/Chapel open, just for fun.

78

Game Reports / Re: How would you play this powerful kingdom?

« on: July 22, 2012, 06:16:55 pm »

Wow, crazy set! Probably open Quarry/Silver, head for Border Villages and gain Wharves and Bridges, aiming for a mega turn that ends the game on piles while racking up some points. Conspirator and Governor probably aren't good enough here to compete with that plan. I don't see Militia mattering too much, either--not with giant multi-Wharf hands.

Had I been up against that strategy, my Militia open probably would have killed me. I guess I'm lucky my opponent never bought a Quarry. Had he done so, there would have been no need to waste buys on Farming Villages and I would have been in some real trouble.

79

Game Reports / How would you play this powerful kingdom?

« on: July 22, 2012, 02:49:59 pm »

Cards in supply: Border Village, Bridge, Conspirator, Farming Village, Governor, Horse Traders, Militia, Nobles, Quarry, and Wharf

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201207/22/game-20120722-114454-84ee5185.html

Even though I won I have no idea what the optimal play is. My first instinct would normally be either BV-Wharf (played by both of us) or Governor. Still, I won by 3-piling on turn 12 and I feel like the deciding cards were Quarry and Militia.

What does everyone else like here?

80

Game Reports / Dumped all 10 curses into my opponents deck in 3 turns

« on: July 08, 2012, 03:19:16 pm »

Needless to say, this one is a little odd especially as the curses were all dumped in turns 13-15. Chapel was available as were Young Witch, Familiar and Alchemist. Also Outpost which turned out to be super important.

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201207/08/game-20120708-115856-d58ee9f9.html

I started with a Young Witch/Chapel open against my opponent's Chapel/Oasis. Considering Oasis was the Bane, this went about as bad as it could for me in slowing him with curses, but he was still slowed by needed cards to discard for Oasis. Knowing what is happening I buy a Potion with the idea of Familiar and maybe Alchemist since it looks like I won't have a Young Witch coming back at me based on the early strategy here.

From there it is massing Familiar with the idea of a huge curse dump. Doing it slowly won't work with the cycling of Oasis and the presence of Chapel in his deck. Hence why on turn 12 I choose not to play my Familiar in hand as it would trigger a reshuffle and making my Familiar I am about to buy miss the reshuffle as well.

Then, with my opponent having already greened with 2 Provinces I unleash the attack on turn 13. 2 Familiars followed by a 3rd one on the Outpost turn. Turn 14 was 2 Familiars followed by 2 more on the Outpost turn and then Turn 15 was the final 3 to put all 10 curses in his deck in a 3-turn span, the first seven of them in the span of one reshuffle. Even down three provinces, I know the game is mine from here as even a Chapel deck with cycling is going to choke on the combination of green and curses that got added in that short of a period. There was just no engine good enough to overcome that available.

81

Help! / After the bad luck, where did I go wrong with Remake?

« on: July 06, 2012, 02:15:36 am »

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201207/05/game-20120705-231100-e67848d6.html

I'm not one to say the bad luck cost me the game here. I had some bad shuffle luck early (open Silver/Remake and not hit 5 for first reshuffle and also have Remake on turn 5 and have Remake miss all Estates) but I feel like I let it get me off my game. Still, how would everyone else play this thing? Even with that and I feel some bad play in the mid-game I only lost by 6 points.

82

Game Reports / An interesting P-Stone vs Amb game

« on: July 05, 2012, 11:21:57 pm »

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201207/05/game-20120705-200505-7fece92d.html

On this board I open Potion with the idea of using Philosopher's Stones as a counter to Ambassador especially with no big draw other than Envoy available meaning the Bridge megaturn was unlikely at best (how wrong I was). Then my opponent opened Envoy. Envoy-BM would be absolute death to my original thought of PS countering Amb so I picked up an Ambassador. Then my opponent bought Amb to go with his Envoy setting up a clash of two bizarre openings - Potion/Ambassador with on PS for Potions against Envoy/Amb.

From there the game takes some interesting twists and I end up with a big lead after having had a bunch of copper passed to my deck to power my stones and then pairing that with Adventurer (my only non-points buy costing more than 4 in the game) to build an insurmountable lead. Then my opponent used Envoy-WV-Bridge for his megaturn and bought all the remaining points, still leaving him 7 points sure.

2 questions from this game.

1. Given the openings, what would you do from there (from either side)?
2. What would you open because I know most players sure as heck won't open Potion/Amb or Envoy/Amb there (or maybe ever)?

83

Dominion General Discussion / Re: The Best Dominion Cards List 2012 Ed.2: $3 cards

« on: July 04, 2012, 10:28:13 am »

Oasis seems way overrated here. It feels like I lose pretty much everytime I buy it, even in its supposed good spot with curses or early greening.

Fortune Teller is underrated. I feel like its a decent opener and skipping someones opening buys can be a killer.

84

Game Reports / Re: Most bizarre ending conditions

« on: June 27, 2012, 03:26:43 am »

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201206/27/game-20120627-001450-e4a66485.html

Fun times here.
Vineyards (obvious, especially on this kingdom if you look)
Transmutes (ok fine maybe especially when players go Vineyards early and there are spare buys and potions around)
Fool's Gold (uh, a normal pile drive as well, but usually not for 3-pile and certainly not with the other two.

Bonus for me for having pile driven Transmute, getting 8 FG and making my 5 Vineyards worth 10 points each in the same game. Yes even nombos like Vineyard-FG can win on occasion and give us bizarre endings as well.

85

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Oscar The Grouch

« on: June 24, 2012, 11:15:25 am »

http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20110831-190736-45f253cb.html - KC/Chapel as immediately after having KC-KC-Torturer-Torturer played against me

86

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Which card is best for you?

« on: June 20, 2012, 03:18:44 pm »

My top 10

Jack of All Trades - 82.4% gain - And to think I hate this card (or at least DoubleJack). Still I find it helpful early even though I pretty much never play DoubleJack and evidently I know how to transition from JoaT to other things (an underrated skill I believe as many of my wins using JoaT have been because of suboptimal play from my opponents).
Noble Brigand - 62.5% gain - I play lots of BM type strategies. And I also usually automatch against pretty much anyone meaning lots of wins against low level players and lots of time in seat 2 where this card really helps.
Highway - 61.3% gain - Often a huge trap, especially with no +buy. Even when it is a trap I will often grab an early one as many people don't see its a trap and then start racing them while I buy everything else I need unencumbered.
Familiar - 77.3% gain - Based on this I am the jerk who never pulls 2P, ever with this card. Actually it is because I almost never open Silver/Potion to get to it. My open is generally Potion/anything, anything at all that gives me a chance to get 3P over Silver whether that be Courtyard, Warehouse or an attack (Fortune Teller is amazing here often discarding the potion or often discarding the Familiar after it's in the deck).
Menagerie - 79.4% gain - 
Duchess - 66.3% gain - I tend to play BM games and play them well. Usually one Duchess from a Duchy in the greening stage is useful
Ambassador - 91.2% gain - That said I can and will build an engine when necessary and Amb is my favorite card to do that with no question.
Nomad Camp - 56.8% gain - I often use this to try to link to a $5 card in the open (the grand 4/5 opening) especially when there is no other extra buy or there are useful $2 cards to split $4 between.
Moat - 24.3% gain - Whatever. I usually veto this now (and Lighthouse too) just because so many attacks get vetoed.
Fishing Village - 94.8% gain - Evidently I know what I am doing with this card.

87

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Ignore Saboteur at your cost.

« on: June 20, 2012, 01:56:09 pm »

Here is a game where I got torched that shows both the good and bad of Saboteur.

My opponent picks up an early Sab and proceeds to Oracle, Nobles, Silver, Nobles, Worker's Village and then finds the Sab useless because he is playing his Highway's first and I have nothing in my deck that Sab can hit after 4 Highways.

I pick up one and of course hit nothing of importance and then a couple of turns after his Saboteur becomes useless I hit that too and my way to a 3-pile defeat.

http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20120619-192427-3fe9e19a.html

88

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

« on: June 19, 2012, 04:57:12 am »

Dear F'ing New Guy

I'm sorry you vetoed Tournament and then watched me pull it out of the Black Market along with Wharf, Rabble, Bishop, Apprentice, Salvager and Hamlet in a game that already had King's Court available. Needless to say you had little chance despite finding some decent cards in the Black Market yourself (Margrave, Remake, Worker's Village among them).

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201206/19/game-20120619-015029-5027c77a.html

89

Dominion General Discussion / Re: What card is worst for you?

« on: June 18, 2012, 03:29:33 pm »

For me it's Hunting Party but that can be easily explained. I hate the Hunting Party stack and think it very boring, especially in a mirror match. Therefore I never play it and often get beat by it (it is one of the few things I don't mind losing too because I so hate winning with it that I am happy to have not played using it).

If I cared to play Hunting Party optimally (it still wouldn't be great because I was awful with it when I first started), my lowest would be Philosopher's Stone. I only buy it 28% of the time but my Effect With is -2.06 and my Effect Without is a marginally better -1.91. In other words, it doesn't matter what I do, if this card is in the kingdom I am basically screwed for some reason. And if I knew the reason I would be a bit better with it.

90

Game Reports / Re: A crazy develop game.

« on: June 13, 2012, 08:32:02 pm »

While, Develop was a key card here, I would argue this was more of a Governor game than anything else given the way things happened. The Develop was key to making Governor and KC work to full potential, but the speed of this game screams Governor and the mistakes your opponent made were consistent Governor mistakes (trash Estate on turn 3 and trash for anything other than points on final turn when Provinces are low and 7 cost cards are in the kingdom).

Still, bravo. Pile driving the provinces in under 10 turns is just insane, even with Gov.

91

Game Reports / Re: Drawing 5/2 with Young Witch/Tunnel

« on: June 13, 2012, 01:39:50 pm »

The 5/2 draw with YW/Tunnel seems to happen quite a bit (Trading Post is great there and is really good on a 5/2 no matter what).

Of course there is the question of what you do if you're second player, you draw 5/2 against YW/Tunnel, Ambassador is on the table too and there are no cost 5 cards (except duchy of course). Yes, this actually happened. http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20120518-064044-6fa15bb8.html

92

Game Reports / Re: Fun desperate comeback

« on: June 03, 2012, 08:36:39 pm »

I probably would have avoided Young Witch/Tunnel here. With Masq as the Bane the curses were all likely to be blocked or passed back.

That said, why no Masq/Silver open to transition to Wharf-BM grabbing FG with the extra buys from Wharf? With your opponent going Tunnel, there was no need to immediately start on the FGs.

93

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Which Cards are the least fun?

« on: June 03, 2012, 08:30:51 pm »

For the most part the cards I hate are the ones that encourage front running decks to continue to run away.

Haggler, Peddler, and Tournament I'm looking at you. With these in play a small disadvantage often gets out of control really easily.

Other than those, Scrying Pool. It's not fun to sit there and watch your opponent play for 3 minutes turn after turn after turn. I play Dominion )or any other game for that matter) because I like to play. Often with other times where I sit for awhile, I can at least be in awe of a well constructed engine. With Scrying Pool, especially with a village in play, it is just too easy to construct.

94

Dominion General Discussion / Re: What cards are the most fun?

« on: June 03, 2012, 07:59:52 pm »

By cost

$2 - Crossroads - It's fun to not have a bunch or green dead in your hand. Even better when there are either Action or Treasure Victory cards.
$3 - Oracle - I love the early cycling and enjoy that it gets overlooked by so many. If there is nothing good at 4 this is nearly automatic, even over a second Silver.
$4 - Monument - I like long games and being able to spam Monuments often means a longer game with more tactical choices to be made along the way
$5 - Contraband - Especially with low priced engine components. There is little in Dominion mores satisfying to me than watching someone stumble for the correct card to ban, especially if there are multiple good options (Nobles and Grand Market are especially good for this)
$6+ - Harem - I think really underrated. It's presence often causes the difference in BM-Province games
$P - Familiar - I know most hate the luck factor, but I enjoy using alternate openings other than the standard Silver/Potion to get to it.

Honorable Mention: Haven, Menagerie, Silk Road, Tactician, Mandarin, Nobles, Apothecary

95

Solo Challenges / Wingnut challenge 1 - A Monumental Challenge

« on: June 01, 2012, 06:06:13 am »

I've been wanting to run a few of these for awhile but work has not allowed me too until now. This is the first of four that will run for each of the next 4 weeks.

Victory condition: End the games in the fewest turns possible while having played Monument at least 50 times and finishing with over 100 points (I'll post the game this was inspired by after the challenge as I scored 127 points while playing Monument 63 times in an actual game using some of these cards). Tiebreaker if needed is most total points.

Kingdom: Inn, Tactician, Monument, Salvager, Remake, Moneylender, Menagerie, Trade Route, Warehouse, Cellar, Colony, Platinum

Entry: PM to me with log by 11:59 PDT Thursday, June 7

96

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Expansions Ranked by Flavor Paragraph

« on: May 30, 2012, 05:57:11 pm »

"Exotic countries where they have pancakes but not waffles" from Hinterlands is either the greatest line of them all (for creativity), or the worst of them all depending on your stance on waffles.

Sadness would ensue if there were no waffles 

97

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Overrated and Underrated

« on: May 24, 2012, 06:30:35 pm »

Overrated :
1 - Swindler : Too swingy, and really, giving a curse at the beginning of the game is not that powerful.

I know I was the first to say Swindler is overrated, but the curse giving power is a big part of why it is powerful. It's the endgame where the swinginess of this card is really bad and makes it overrated. I find myself not playing Swindler unless I need to cash quite often once the greening stage begins.

For context, you gain it 98.2% of the time, while I gain it 78.7%. Maybe *you* overrate it? 

Or it means I have a very good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the card. I have wanted to get away from it of late, but there have been no boards with Swindler that have another good option on it lately.

Still, I probably overrate it even more than the community does.

98

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Overrated and Underrated

« on: May 24, 2012, 05:50:38 pm »

Overrated :
1 - Swindler : Too swingy, and really, giving a curse at the beginning of the game is not that powerful.

I know I was the first to say Swindler is overrated, but the curse giving power is a big part of why it is powerful. It's the endgame where the swinginess of this card is really bad and makes it overrated. I find myself not playing Swindler unless I need to cash quite often once the greening stage begins.

99

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Greatest Isotropic Moments of 2012

« on: May 24, 2012, 12:58:38 pm »

The best Watchtower ever (even if I still got killed in this game).

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201205/24/game-20120524-095109-023b76c3.html

— kennikins's turn 12 —
kennikins plays a King's Court.
... and plays a King's Court.
... ... and plays a City.
... ... ... drawing 1 card and getting +2 actions.
... ... and plays the City again.
... ... ... drawing 1 card and getting +2 actions.
... ... and plays the City a third time.
... ... ... drawing 1 card and getting +2 actions.
... and plays the King's Court again.
... ... and plays a Mountebank.
... ... ... getting +$2.
... ... ... Wingnut gains a Curse and a Copper.
... ... ... ... revealing a Watchtower.
... ... ... ... trashing the Curse.
... ... ... ... revealing a Watchtower.
... ... ... ... trashing the Copper.
... ... and plays the Mountebank again.
... ... ... getting +$2.
... ... ... Wingnut gains a Curse and a Copper.
... ... ... ... revealing a Watchtower.
... ... ... ... trashing the Curse.
... ... ... ... revealing a Watchtower.
... ... ... ... trashing the Copper.
... ... and plays the Mountebank a third time.
... ... ... getting +$2.
... ... ... Wingnut gains a Curse and a Copper.
... ... ... ... revealing a Watchtower.
... ... ... ... trashing the Curse.
... ... ... ... revealing a Watchtower.
... ... ... ... trashing the Copper.
... and plays the King's Court a third time.
... ... and plays a Mountebank.
... ... ... getting +$2.
... ... ... Wingnut gains a Curse and a Copper.
... ... ... ... revealing a Watchtower.
... ... ... ... trashing the Curse.
... ... ... ... revealing a Watchtower.
... ... ... ... trashing the Copper.
... ... and plays the Mountebank again.
... ... ... getting +$2.
... ... ... Wingnut gains a Curse and a Copper.
... ... ... ... revealing a Watchtower.
... ... ... ... trashing the Curse.
... ... ... ... revealing a Watchtower.
... ... ... ... trashing the Copper.
... ... and plays the Mountebank a third time.
... ... ... getting +$2.
... ... ... Wingnut gains a Curse and a Copper.
... ... ... ... revealing a Watchtower.
... ... ... ... trashing the Curse.
... ... ... ... revealing a Watchtower.
... ... ... ... trashing the Copper.
kennikins plays a Silver and a Gold.
kennikins buys a Province.
(kennikins reshuffles.)
(kennikins draws: a King's Court, 2 Coppers, a City, and a Gold.)

100

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Overrated and Underrated

« on: May 23, 2012, 11:28:39 pm »

Let me be clear here. I think Swindler is a good card. A really good card. It is the card I buy in a higher percentage of games than any other (%98.2). And maybe I didn't word the write up very well. Swindler is a great card early. No doubt. It can be an elite opener. That said, it is very swingy and because of that it is not as good as the community here rates it to be. It is often good, but it on occasion just an Estate sifter and can sometimes be a terminal silver with no important effect on the game. Those games make it overrated IMO.

That said, with more than two player the only way I am passing up on my open is a 5-2 open with either Witch, Mountebank, or Vault with either Tactician or Grand Market in the kingdom.