Kingdom: Hireling, Distant Lands, Treasure Trove, Haunted Woods, Storyteller, Duplicate, Magpie, Amulet, Guide, Page // Ferry, Inheritance
So I’m now officially in love with the Adventures expansion. I just played the most awesome game of Dominion ever with the kingdom above.
I opened 4/3, buying Magpie/Page. My plan was to get a Champion as quickly as possible, which would require lots of cycling, and exchanging whenever possible. I bought Storyteller on the first 5, which is a pretty good cycling card, although with my low-income deck it turned out to be not as strong as I had hoped. In hindsight, I could have bought a single Treasure Trove to feed it and the Magpies that were starting to accumulate some more money, although I didn’t really need the money to buy stuff anyway, as we’ll soon see.
Anyway, I go for Ferry on the next 3, making Haunted Woods cheaper for me, and after some time (I almost depleted the Magpies at this point) I hit 7, buying Inheritance and turning my Estates into Duplicates. Soon after, I finally gain a Champion and get unlimited Actions. This is where the fun really starts.
With two Haunted Woods in play, I start my turn with an 11-card hand, almost drawing through my entire deck with the Magpies and the single Storyteller. I manage to play all three Estates and another Haunted Woods, buy a Distant Lands and call the Estates to gain three more Distant Lands.
Meanwhile, my opponent – who had opened 3/4, buying Ferry/Hireling, also an interesting strategy – is buying Provinces (after getting 1 Distant Lands early-game). He is playing a Big Money-ish strategy with a couple of Hirelings and an Amulet thrown in, but the large handsize and lack of +Buy makes his turns somewhat inefficient, spending 13 on a Province for example. What’s more, with me playing at least one Haunted Woods each turn, he is forced to put more and more Provinces back on his deck at the end of his turn. He had started greening a bit earlier, though, and he is still ahead as we reach the endgame.
Next turn, I manage to draw all three Estates again, and empty the Distant Lands pile. After my opponent grabs the sixth province, I gain four Haunted Woods. Next turn, I finally draw my entire deck, playing no less than five Haunted Woods, finishing up my Distant Lands, and buying four Estates.
After my opponent grabs Province number seven, I end the game with a bang. With five Haunted Woods entering play, I start with a 20-card hand, easily drawing my deck. I play seven Estates, buy a Duchy, gaining seven more Duchies in the process and finishing the third pile. I win the game 59-46, without ever buying a single Province against my opponent’s seven Provinces.
I love this expansion. Building up an insane engine like this is just so rewarding.
Still, it's probably more fair this way.