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51

Puzzles and Challenges / Re: Purchase all cards ASAP

« on: December 13, 2011, 12:52:07 am »

The theoretical maximum is infinite thanks to monument/bishop with no cards in hand.

Also, the solution probably involves ironworks as well as bridge and king's court and looks something like this.

52

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Greatest Isotropic Moments of 2011

« on: December 13, 2011, 12:30:08 am »

This was kind of a silly game, with no one getting up to $6 until like turn 30 thanks to both of us grabbing a ton of ambassadors and pingponging stuff back and forth. It's not often that I'm able to say that if one of us had grabbed bureaucrat, it would've broken the game open. It's also not often that a search for ambassador in a dominion log leads to 217 results.

This game featured a very large number of saboteurs, which was kind of silly. It also features me getting ridiculously lucky in the early game(chapel hits 3E+C, two hands later has 5 coppers which I can use to buy a mint).

If games with large numbers of coppersmiths are still on the table, then I think I can one-up everyone so far here.

   ... ... ... and plays the King's Court again.
   ... ... ... ... and plays a Coppersmith.
   ... ... ... ... ... making each Copper worth $2.
   ... ... ... ... and plays the Coppersmith again.
   ... ... ... ... ... making each Copper worth $3.
   ... ... ... ... and plays the Coppersmith a third time.
   ... ... ... ... ... making each Copper worth $4.
   ... ... ... and plays the King's Court a third time.
   ... ... ... ... and plays a Coppersmith.
   ... ... ... ... ... making each Copper worth $5.
   ... ... ... ... and plays the Coppersmith again.
   ... ... ... ... ... making each Copper worth $6.
   ... ... ... ... and plays the Coppersmith a third time.
   ... ... ... ... ... making each Copper worth $7.
   ... ... and plays the King's Court again.
   ... ... ... and plays a Coppersmith.
   ... ... ... ... making each Copper worth $8.
   ... ... ... and plays the Coppersmith again.
   ... ... ... ... making each Copper worth $9.
   ... ... ... and plays the Coppersmith a third time.
   ... ... ... ... making each Copper worth $10.
   ... ... and plays the King's Court a third time.
   ... ... ... and plays a Coppersmith.
   ... ... ... ... making each Copper worth $11.
   ... ... ... and plays the Coppersmith again.
   ... ... ... ... making each Copper worth $12.
   ... ... ... and plays the Coppersmith a third time.
   ... ... ... ... making each Copper worth $13.

53

2011 / Re: Schedule and Results: 2011 DominionStrategy.com Championships

« on: December 13, 2011, 12:16:40 am »

Elyv beats ScottPilgrim92 4-2 in the Witch Division. We played with identical starting hands, no veto mode, and no point counter.

Game 1 (Elyv 47-33 ScottPilgrim92): Both of us open Silver/Nomad Camp with the intention of getting hoards and going green. The main difference is that ScottPilgrim bought an early expand while I didn't buy any, and he felt like that was why I won.

Game 2 (Elyv 31 - 21 ScottPilgrim92): I open potion/warehouse, visions of king's courted alchemists dancing through my head, but Scott goes for Jack BM. When he sees me grab the potion, he buys an early embargo and blocks the alchemists, so I decide that I have to transition into Jack BM as well. It was a pretty close game, but I realize that I still haven't been able to trash one of my starting estates, so I'm able to grab the second-to-last province without fear, and then am lucky enough to get the next one on the following turn as well.

Game 3 (Elyv 46 - 35 ScottPilgrim92): Another BMish game, with the difference that he opens with horse traders and I open silver/silver, intending to get a vault later. His deck ends up doing better for the majority of the game, with the result that when the duchies run out with 2 provinces left, he has a slight lead on points. Luckily, I'm able to snag the last two provinces to take the game.

Game 4 (Elyv 35 - 39 Scottpilgrim92): At the beginning of this game, I say something to the effect of "finally an interesting board", which was really kind of a silly thing to say since I'd somehow missed that the kingdom had no card draw, leading to both of us going remake BM. Scottpilgrim grabbed a second remake, and that may have been the difference, as he ends up with a pretty significant lead once the duchies run out. I felt like I had no real chance to win the game at that point, so I bought the province for the loss.

Game 5 (Elyv 26 - 27 ScottPilgrim92): Probably the closest game of the series. I open masq/silver since I hate opening with tournament, especially when paired with terminal card draw, but Scott doesn't seem to mind. I end up getting the first couple of golds, so he gets a couple of Noble brigands, which hurt me a lot more than I was expecting. Regardless, I was still able to make my one tournament collide with my one province before he was able to, putting me in a good position. On my last turn, I stupidly use tournament to grab a diadem instead of a princess, forgetting about the $1 that the tournament provides. As a result, scott is able to pass me his one curse with masquerade and buy the province to squeak out the win. If I had grabbed princess, I would've been able to buy an estate as well, and the game would've been a draw.

Game 6 (Elyv 34 - 20 ScottPilgrim92): Probably the most interesting game of the series. Both of us go for a fishing village/steward deck, mixing in jesters and forges later. Again going into the endgame, I'm up a point from a random estate that I hadn't had a chance to trash, so I'm able to buy the penultimate province and then the last one a turn later to take the game.

It was a fun match, especially since I was able to chat with ScottPilgrim after every game, and it felt like every game was very close.

54

Dominion General Discussion / Re: What makes a level 45 player stronger than a level 40 player?

« on: December 11, 2011, 05:51:46 pm »

Interesting to hear that some of the other 40+ people don't actually feel like they're "the best" at Dominion.  I sort of wonder how on earth I got to be a lvl 40... I make plenty of mistakes, usually due to lack of concentration (I get easily distracted when opponents play long turns) or discipline (e.g., buying cards that are "good cards" but don't support my strategy).  I would wager the difference between me and a 45 is fewer of those mistakes and the ability to be truly creative in thinking about card combinations.  I'm just not that creative of a player....  This was borne out when Hinterlands was released -- I dropped a bunch of levels, because it took me awhile to really figure out how those cards could work together with others (I kept trying different combos, particularly with Highway, that were....  unsuccessful).

What I do have going for me is probably an intuitive sense of what my deck really needs at any given time (e.g., how many terminals it can support) and how many green cards it can handle (e.g., when to start buying duchies).  And lots of experience playing games, so I've been exposed to more good combos that I've added to my arsenal....

This is exactly how I feel as well.

55

Dominion Isotropic / Re: Text or Images, Which do you use?

« on: December 11, 2011, 02:22:58 pm »

Images, because that's what I started with and I haven't seen any reason to switch.

56

2011 / Re: Schedule and Results: 2011 DominionStrategy.com Championships

« on: December 10, 2011, 07:36:31 pm »

I beat Danshep 4-0(witch division), but despite the final score, all of the games were really close.

Game 1: http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201112/10/game-20111210-153637-6c2e4ff9.html (Elyv 48-47)
Both of us open ambassador/caravan. I think he plays slightly better overall, and on the last turn he is up 6 points, and I have $7 worth of treasure and a pawn in my hand. Because I went first, I can't buy the last province for the draw, so I pawn for card and buy and pray. I skillfully manage to draw a gold and steal a game I shouldn't have won.

Game 2: Forgot to save log. The game had grand market, courtyard, upgrade, and menagerie amongst other cards. Both of us go for the grand markets, but I mix in a couple of midgame menageries while he gets silver, and they make a huge difference.

Game 3: http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201112/10/game-20111210-160156-0543cd2b.html (Elyv 49-32)
I think I like Danshep's opening with talisman here better than mine with tournament(or at least, I felt like it panned out better). I manage to snag the first province, and then get a couple of prizes and win. Also, I don't think I've ever seen anyone get less lucky with wishing wells than Danshep did in this game. Despite both of us opening with ambassador, surprisingly possession didn't play a factor; I didn't end up buying a potion until after I got my first province, and I never it with $6.

Game 4: http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201112/10/game-20111210-161648-5e384c87.html (Elyv 60-57)
Both of us open Fools Gold/Wharf, going for a ton of fool's golds. After that, our paths diverged; I went for a more BMish deck with wharfs and warehouses and money, while Danshep went for village/wharf. Luckily for me, I manage to end the game on piles right as his engine starts to get rolling.

Danshep was an excellent opponent, and this series could have very easily gone the other way.

57

Dominion General Discussion / Re: How good are these combos?

« on: December 08, 2011, 05:46:29 pm »

worker's village/peddler is amazing, especially if there's a non-terminal at 4 or 3.

58

Game Reports / Re: Big Turn with Native Village, Workers Village and Governors

« on: December 08, 2011, 03:49:07 pm »

I think the best I've done without goons or bridge shenanigans was this game. It was a fun game, I got to play 12 coppersmiths in a single turn and stuff.

59

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Confusable cards

« on: December 08, 2011, 03:11:40 pm »

Farmland/Fairgrounds right after Hinterlands first came out.

60

Game Reports / Re: Ambassador beaten by... a bunch of junk

« on: December 08, 2011, 02:14:54 am »

I posted about this before.. but I really don't understand the absurdly-high rating the double-Ambassador opening gets. Maybe it makes some sense when you're up against another player also using Ambassador.. but without an influx of Estates and Coppers to volley back at the opponent, I've frequently found that double Ambassador will whittle my own economy down too quickly and clog up. Plus in this case not only is his second Ambassador semi-useless, it also just increases the likelihood of you getting to use your Horse Traders (a card that imo gets underrated).

I think what it comes down to is, even though double amb is worse than single ambassador against an opponent who isn't ambassadoring, the card is so good that you usually end up beating them anyway, and double ambassador beats single ambassador. That said, someone on this forum was advocating opening amb/silver and then getting a second ambassador on turns 3 or 4, and I've found that I actually like that more than amb/amb on most boards.

On an unrelated note, the only time I can ever remember beating ambassador with a deck full of crap was this game, where I fall behind on the ambassador war pretty quickly, and start buying green cards. I don't think my opponent played his best(if you can consistently draw your deck, it might not be time to get rid of all your coppers, for instance. Also, so many black markets), but it was still kind of cool.

61

Puzzles and Challenges / Re: Exception to the Rule, Part 5

« on: December 03, 2011, 06:16:37 pm »

You think you can TR or KC it next turn, or you're trying to 3-pile.

62

Puzzles and Challenges / Re: Exception to the rule, part 4

« on: December 03, 2011, 03:46:15 pm »

You don't want to draw cards off of the tribute in your hand(maybe you already drew your deck or something).

63

2011 / Re: Schedule and Results: 2011 DominionStrategy.com Championships

« on: December 03, 2011, 03:41:08 pm »

Witch Division:
Elyv(4) beats The Darce (61) 4-0

Thanks to The Darce for the games, and being gracious with a last-minute rescheduling(we were originally going to play Thursday evening, but I had something come up in the afternoon and we moved it to today).

64

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: The Seven Deadly Sins - Mini-expansion concept

« on: November 27, 2011, 01:58:31 pm »

I don't think bonuses for curses is enough to make up for the 5 vp difference between gluttony and island.

65

Dominion Isotropic / Re: Leaderboard change

« on: November 24, 2011, 01:34:25 am »

I don't like it; I tend to play in spurts, so I'll play very little(or not at all) for a month or two, and then play a ton for a couple of weeks. I find I can still hold my own against people my level fairly well once I start again, and I'm certainly still better than a level 0 even after an extended period of inactivity.

66

Dominion General Discussion / Re: +1 card, +1 action, +1 coin

« on: November 23, 2011, 06:42:07 pm »

Highway is definitely a variant of that hypothetical card. Grand Market, City, and Conspirator not so much, imo.

67

2011 / Re: 2011 DominionStrategy.com Championships Registration

« on: November 21, 2011, 01:37:06 am »

Elyv
PST/GMT-8

68

Dominion Isotropic / Re: Councilroom.com

« on: November 06, 2011, 04:19:46 am »

I look at councilroom mostly for amusing stats, but I don't really use for strategical analysis.

69

Rules Questions / Re: Inn + Gain

« on: November 03, 2011, 12:51:35 pm »

Looks like this game.

Code: [Select]

   Socrates plays a Native Village.
   ... getting +2 actions.
   ... (Socrates reshuffles.)
   ... drawing a card and placing it on the Native Village mat.
   Socrates plays 2 Silvers and 2 Coppers.
   Socrates buys an Inn.
   ... shuffling 1 card into the draw pile.
Seems fine to me.

70

Dominion Articles / Re: Ranking the opening terminals (for 4/3 splits)

« on: November 02, 2011, 10:47:44 am »

I can only think of maybe 5 cards off the top of my head that would counter Sea Hag to an appreciable extent, and even with those cards in the kingdom I would still open with Sea Hag just to slow down the opponent. Masquerade and Trader are probably the 2 cards against which I definitely don't want to open Sea Hag.

I think I might prefer to open Ambassador/Ambassador when Sea Hag is on the table (at least, if my opponent buys a Sea Hag).

Ambassador is basically just a better card than hag, since the cards you're putting into your opponents deck still suck, but you're also getting those bad cards out of your deck. Cursers are fairly mediocre in an ambassador game, unless you've already won the ambassador war. I've actually ignored mountebank with ambassador on the table before, because I was in a position where I could fairly consistently ambassador all the curses/copper being sent my way.

71

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Notes About Set Design

« on: October 29, 2011, 02:07:49 am »

Minor nitpick: Prosperity's main theme was definitely not victory tokens; there were a total of 3 cards that use them. I feel like its main themes are treasures and cards that are like other cards, but bigger(colony<=>province, grand market<=>market, KC<=>Throne Room, etc)

Definitely a good read overall, though.

72

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Create a card inspired by another game

« on: October 28, 2011, 12:41:22 am »

Actually the way it's worded, I think you reveal the same card 10 times.

73

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Keeping Score

« on: October 27, 2011, 08:21:54 pm »

Personally I keep track of the number of each type of vp card with each player and typically lose count when I need to track more than provinces and duchies.


Some games are much more important to track than others. Counting curses is always a good idea too, just so you know how much to expect from each player's deck and what options you have for a quick or slow finish.

Yeah, basically this. I almost never keep track of the curses, but if the game is anywhere near even it usually means a 5-5(or at worst, 6-4) split.

74

Dominion General Discussion / Re: What cards are still unique?

« on: October 27, 2011, 10:28:36 am »

Counting House is the only card that lets you put cards from your discard pile into your hand.

75

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Mandarin

« on: October 26, 2011, 11:01:47 pm »

Counting House is the worst card.

Edit: Well actually Curse is the worst card, counting house is just the worst card not in every game.

Counting House is so good, it lets you win games where your opponent opens 5/2 with a Mountebank while you're stuck at 4/3:

http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20110901-113804-d99bff63.html

Okay, that was awesome.

I guess I'm willing to admit that counting house might be better than thief, at least.