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151

Dominion Articles / Article Request: Stopping the Rush

« on: January 04, 2012, 05:57:03 am »

I would like to see an article about how to deal with rushing opponents.

I often find myself wondering whether I should join in on the rush with a deck that is not as specifically tailored to the rush or whether I should just try to grab as many Provinces as I can to grab a quick VP lead.

I played a couple of games against Michael Harris that have me confused.

In this one I fail to combat his Duke/Silk Road strategy in time and even though I steal the most of the Dukes it was too late. I wonder whether I should have grabbed Duchies instead of Provinces earlier. I chose Bank because I originally chose to just grab Provinces with a BMU+-style deck for which my Banks would usually be $3+ and coupled with Nomad Camp (but no draw) I could maybe sneak an extra card in here and there. But I switched to his rush strategy, but it was already too late.

In this one I succesfully beat his Island/Silk Road rush due to grabbing an equal share of Islands and having a way better economy to outlast his rush. I think he ended the game, because he knew he probably couldn't win anymore.


I am a big fan of IGG-rushing myself and had very good results with it, but how does one deal with being rushed? The main question I find hard to answer is whether to join the rush (which may be too late) or stubbornly go for the Provinces still... This also applies to Gardens of course.

How to stop the rush?

152

Game Reports / Nobles/Great Hall/Silk Road/Gardens

« on: January 03, 2012, 06:06:33 am »

Okay, so this was an interesting game: http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201201/03/game-20120103-025823-9c6a0bfe.html

It had Nobles, Great Halls, Silk Roads and even Gardens!

I basically went for this priority: Nobles > Great Halls > Silk Roads.
My opponent didn't catch up to my Silk Road plans until later and mistakenly bought the penultimate SR so I could easily grab the victory here, even though it was close due to his late two Provinces.

The availabilty of Gardens made this game even more interesting. Maybe I could have taken them instead of Great Halls or Gardens instead of Silk Roads? I didn't want to ruin my economy that fast however. And as it turned out my SRs were worth 4VP and Gardens would have been only 3VP each. I took a Merchant Ship instead of Jester because multiple medium treasure totals were more important than a single high one and he didn't have much cards that I wanted.

Is it a good strategy to just grab as much VP cards as possible instead of rushing towards end of game? There were a lot of times I could have taken a Duchy (or a SR), but I chose a Great Hall instead.

Any thoughts?

153

Dominion Isotropic / Feature Requests: Random Seating and Rematch

« on: December 21, 2011, 03:32:05 am »

I think it's weird that when you start a game with a new random player, it takes into account your previous result. I suggest that this should only be true for consecutive matches against the same opponent (within a certain time span).

And to facilitate this, a rematch option may be handy.
Rematch should let you quickly play the same opponent again without having to look through the list to find his name.
It should use the same parameters as the previous match, but just reverse the seating (for 2p).

154

Dominion General Discussion / Cards You Horribly Misjudged

« on: December 20, 2011, 08:18:55 am »

Glady, I am blessed with a good enough memory that it dates back to my starting days of Dominion. Now this was only a year ago (back when Alchemy was the newest expansion) and I'm only 26 so this isn't too hard. But I vividly remember some of the earliest games I played with friends and it was amazing. A sense of general awe came over me after that first game. I buy this card, shuffle and now it's in my hand? Wow!

Not surprisingly, this was the first deck building game I had ever played and buying and getting to play cards was such a revelation. It was a totally different game from all the Euro worker placement / cube gatherers we had played before and required quite a different mindset. With those Euro games, every cube was precious and we couldn't waste a single one of them.

So, obviously, there were a lot of cards in Dominion that I had no idea were so good until I started to learn more about the game, play on BSW, discuss on BGG and eventually move over to Isotropic and these forums.

Chapel comes to mind as the epitome of cards that I didn't understand at first. Trash money and victory points. Wait, what? I didn't understand tempo back then. How wrong I was. It's now my 2nd highest "Win Rate Given Avail" card and that's saying something. My "Win Rate With" is at 1.48 ± 0.14.

The Cursers I understood quite early, especially after having been cursed yourself you start seeing the value of giving your opponents both dead cards and negative VPs.

Torturer I actually picked up on later, because I somehow assumed it worked like Militia, never letting one get down to less than 3 cards. My jaw dropped to the floor the first time someone played multiple Torturers in a row.

Ambassador is also a card that I underrated in the beginning. Maybe that's because there's no bold text on the card. It looks so harmless and even gives free gifts.

I had problems with a lot of the Alchemy cards in the beginning, but I've grown fonder of them as time goes by.


Are there any cards that you remember misjudging horribly when you started playing or when expansions came out? Did you have a "Jack"-experience with some of the others? Tell us...

155

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

« on: December 11, 2011, 01:46:05 pm »

I started out using images because I was used to the original game and had played on BSW before which uses images exclusively.

Then I went to text for simplicity and got used to it so much that I have trouble when I try and switch back to images. I have also played with text on Iso so much that I sometimes have a hard time in offline games and need a few minutes to actively switch back.

So which do you use? The image or text interface and why?

156

Variants and Fan Cards / Mulligans in Dominion?

« on: December 08, 2011, 04:27:19 pm »

Time for another thought experiment, which can easily be tried in real life if someone wants to.

My last one seemed like a good idea to myself at first, but got discredited quite easily: No Waste Dominion

Mulligans
In Magic, players can mulligan their starting hand and draw a new hand of one less card and go on until they are satisfied. Players start with 7 cards and sometimes go down even until they have just 4! I don't actually play Magic myself, so I don't know if this is 100% correct, but you get the gist of it.

I was wondering if this could be something for Dominion: During clean-up phase, if you are not satisfied with your new 5 card hand, you can discard it and draw 4. You can repeat this process, drawing one less card each time, until you are satisfied.

Apart from the obvious slowdowns this will cause, I wonder if the strategic aspect is interesting to those wanting to make Dominion a more strategic game. The amount of strategy a game has, is directly linked with the number of decisions a player can make. In Dominion, most decisions occur during the buy phase. In a regular game a player doesn't have to make more than ~20 decisions (random number pulled out of thin air).

Of course, the quick cycling is going to be big, primarily in the beginning of the game.

Any thoughts?

157

Variants and Fan Cards / Thought Experiment: No Waste Dominion

« on: December 07, 2011, 10:43:41 am »

What if... you had to spend every available Action, Coin and Buy (all if possible) during each phase?

Clarification: You start every turn with 1 Action (without durations), you must play one or more Action cards if you have them in your hand, but you may choose. So you could play a terminal first and be unable to play your cantrip later. You may choose how many Treasure cards to play during your Buy phase, but you must spend every $ if you can. So if you play $10 and have only 1 Buy, it's OK to buy just 1 Province. But if you have $8 and two Buys, you could buy a Province still, but then you'd have to take a Curse or a Copper.

Would this make the game more strategic? Which cards would become more powerful and which cards would become awful?

I think it can be interesting, because you can't spam cantrips anymore without thinking about it. If you play 10 Markets, have 10 Coins to spend and 11 Buys, do you buy 2 $5's and 9 Coppers or 5 $2's and 6 Coppers?

Some obligatory trashers become more dangerous if you have to play them. Certainly Lookout has that bad rep when used later in the game.

Balancing out your Actions, Buys and Coins can be tough, but satisfying.

158

Simulation / Golem + Tunnel Companions?

« on: December 05, 2011, 09:15:59 am »

I recently played a game trying out the old Golem + 1 Action (discard entire deck) strategy with Tunnel.

In that game, I chose Margrave as my main Action.
I don't know if this was a good decision, but I liked the +Buy that it offered.

I want to know
1) Whether Golem + Tunnel on its own is a viable strategy against the better known baselines (BMU Envoy/Embassy etc)
I.e: Is it viable without a good payload? I think it's too slow without a good helper action.

2) What other cards also significantly help the Golem + Tunnel combo?
Counting House seems obvious, but it may be better served as a standalone without the whole Tunnel deal.
Building on Margrave, it's no-Attack big brother Council Room (+4 Cards, +1 Buy) could be a very nice card.
Otherwise: The known Cursers?

You guys are a lot handier with the Simulator then me, so I'll let you have a go at this.


I just realized that if you play any kind of drawing card, it will shuffle your entire discarded deck and draw from that. This may not be what you want, because your in-play Golem and critical Action card both get discarded after your turn and you have to wade through your entire deck of crap (Tunnels, Coppers, Estates included) before you can shuffle them back in. This is of course less of a problem once you get multiple Golems, but then again, getting multiple Golems is very hard.

159

Dominion Isotropic / Fan Cards on Isotropic?

« on: October 27, 2011, 07:33:34 am »

For those who are wondering what this new "Fan-Created" expansion is on Isotropic, have a look at our Dominion Fan Card Contest topic.

I'd like the discussion of the winning card and its results/strategy to take place in that topic and a general discussion about the inclusion of fan cards on Isotropic can be held here.

Just some quick info:

- The fan created card is called Archivist and is the winning card from our contest. It was designed by rinkworks.
- The fan-created expansion is a fake expansion, designed to hold only that card. It's done this way to make clear to the players that this isn't an offical Dominion card and isn't endorsed by Donald X. or Dominion in any way. Donald X. wanted to make sure players wouldn't get confused, that's why it's being done this way.
- You can enter "Archivist" into the Required Card(s) box and play with it that way
- This fan-created expansion isn't meant to open the flood gates and you shouldn't submit all your fan cards and expansions to either me or Dougz. The chosen card was the winner of a carefully constructed contest and ending up on Isotropic was a surprise for exactly that contest.
- I am uncertain if such a contest will ever be held again. If I do or someone else does, there is no guarantee that the winner will end up on Isotropic too.
- Dougz holds every right to maintain Isotropic in any way that he chooses. If he decides the fan-created category must go, it will.

But for now, we can all have fun with it!

160

Puzzles and Challenges / The 5 Card Fantasy Deck

« on: October 20, 2011, 05:32:33 am »

I was wondering last night before I went to sleep if it would be possible in a solitaire game to:

- Grab all Colonies with a 5 card deck/hand in a single turn
- If not, what would be the least amount of turns needed to accomplish this?

This is a theoretical exercise and thus if you are shuffling, you must prepare for the absolute worst shuffle luck imaginable. In an algorithmic sense, I am looking for a Big Oh (worst case) runtime (in turns).

I think getting it done in 2 turns is not that hard, but I couldn't do it in 1.

Some pointers:
KC-KC-Bridge-Bridge-Bridge doesn't work, this gets you 4 Colonies, but your next hand you could draw Bridge-Bridge-Bridge-Col-Col and you can't even buy one. The hand after that you would draw KC-KC-Col-Col-X and again fail to buy 1. You can see this doesn't get you anywhere fast past that first turn.

I tried incorporating some Ironworks, but I just couldn't do it in one turn, I always came up short.

You are allowed to pick any 5 cards as your starting deck, even Prizes. For reality's sake you can just imagine you have arrived at this point after some heavy Bishopping by your opponent Islanding away your Chapel.

Using either Outpost or Possession(?) is considered using an extra turn.

Edit: I almost got it, but I'm $1 short, aaargh!!!!

Your hand is KC-KC-Bridge-Bridge-Trade Route

The Supply consists of: Black Market, KC, Bridge and Island. It also has 6 other random VP cards, all of which have been bought by you at least once prior to this time, you have also bought an Estate, Duchy and Province.
In the Black Market deck we find Trade Route and Young Witch. The bane card added to the Supply is Great Hall, so there are 8 VP cards in total in the supply.

The Trade Route value is therefore $11.

You play KC-KC-Bridge-Bridge-Trade Route, don't trash anything, have $39 to spend, 10 Buys and each Colony costs $5, you can almost buy all 8, but you're $1 short! Aarrrrgh!

161

Variants and Fan Cards / Dominion Fan Card Contest

« on: October 14, 2011, 07:40:11 pm »

Dear Dominion Lovers,

If our beloved game of Dominion has shown us something, it's that there's always room for more cards. With Hinterlands around the corner, the number of Dominion cards will exceed 150 and the number of possible kingdoms will exceed 3 Gazillion. Still, true fans of the game have always found that there was a certain card missing, or maybe they just wanted to add their touch to this fantastic game.

That's why I've decided to organize a Dominion Fan Card Contest!

In order to be an actual contest, it needs a prize.
How about having your card printed in the next expansion after Hinterlands?
I'm sorry, that's probably not possible, since Donald has designed and playtested all expansions already.

Instead, I am offering a $10 Amazon Gift Card to the winner!
That and eternal glory, fame and honor of course.


Now, let's get on with the official part.

A real contest needs real rules, so here they are.

Entrance
1. Each user may only enter one card into the contest, so choose wisely, I will not accept follow-ups or replacements.
2. Cards must be submitted to me through PMs and can be submitted until Friday October 21 19:00 GMT. Do not post them here!
3. Once a card has been submitted, it may not be changed by the user, any submission is final, so once again, choose wisely. Even changing the cost will not be accepted.

Cards
1. Each submitted card must be compatible with all other official Dominion cards and Promos, not including Hinterlands.
2. Each card should either have a simple effect (like +1 Buy, +1 Action) or have its effect flow logically from its text. Cards that require a pagelong FAQ may be accepted at my discretion, but may not get much votes. Edge cases will always exist but a card designer should try to minimize them by making the text concise and clear.
3. Cards should adhere to current mechanics as much as possible. For example, introducing a new "phase" is not allowed. A card should do its work during either the Action (Duration), Buy or Clean-Up phase. If in doubt, keep it simple. Also, introducing something nifty like negative VP counters is not encouraged, since you're only submitting one card and something like this should be reserved for an entire set. Focus on designing a card that works well with the current set.
4. Each card should have either one of the current types (Treasure, Action(-Attack), Reaction, Prize, Victory or Curse) or at most two of those types, just like the current cards.
5. Plagiary will not be accepted. While some ideas may be very common, blatant copycat behavior will not be approved. Even if I do, I doubt it will get you many votes.
6. Cards don't need any art, just the text is good enough.

Voting System
1. After I have received all entries and the submission time has passed, I will publish the card list in alphabetical order and without the users who submitted them.
2. From this time until Wednesday October 26th 19:00 GMT votes can be cast by any registered member in the following order: 1. Top card, 2. My number 2, 3. My number 3 card.
3. Every #1 card will receive 3 points, every #2 card will receive 2 points and every #3 card will receive 1 point.
4. After the voting closes, the points will be tallied up and the card with the most points will be the winner! At that time, the winning contributor will also be disclosed.
5. Any post with votes may not be edited. If they are, the votes are void. If you feel you need to add something, just place another post, do not edit your original post and risk losing your vote.
6. Of course, every user is only permitted to cast his 3 votes one time.
7. Any attempt to influence the votes including, but not limited to, advertising your card here or elsewhere, revealing which card you have designed and creating bogus accounts to vote for your own card, will lead to immediate disqualification.
8. Of course, you can't vote for your own card. You may however, vote for someone else's card, as long as it isn't clear you deliberately passed on your own card, letting other members know it was your card.

Winning!
1. As mentioned earlier, the winner will receive a $10 Gift card from Amazon from me and eternal fame, glory and honor.
2. In case of a tie, the prize pool of $10 will be split amongst the tying members.

Organization
1. I reserve the right as host to add to these rules if it may prove necessary. I hope it will not be, but you never know when some less obvious edge case will crop up.

Useful Links
Definitely, definitely read rinkworks' extensive Dominion Fan Card Creation Guide
Check out all the good (and bad) ideas on our own Variant forum or the BGG Variant forum.


For now, happy designing! And don't forget to PM me your designs instead of posting them here.

162

Game Reports / Finishing in Style

« on: October 04, 2011, 07:14:50 am »

I am curious to your most stylish finishes.

Sure, you could KC your Bridges and buy 8 Colonies. This is somewhat stylish, but is it stylish enough? I wonder...

Now how about KC'ing a Smugglers and voluntarily grabbing 3 Curses (your opponent gained one due to an Embargoed Province), emptying the pile and winning?

I think that could be a little more fashionable.

So, time to show off your stylish last turns.

163

Game Reports / Once You Go Green...

« on: September 28, 2011, 05:01:56 am »

...you never go back?

Cards in supply: Chancellor, Coppersmith, Counting House, Fairgrounds, Hamlet, Potion, Stash, Tactician, University, Village, and Worker's Village
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201109/28/game-20110928-013103-b19e308f.html

I played this interesting game against an equally skilled (30+) player and we both immediately noticed the funky Tactician/Coppersmith(/Counting House) combo.

Wanting to get that Tactician asap, I opened Silver/Coppersmith. I think my opponent made a mistake by opening Village/Coppersmith.
Opening a plain Village seems so unnecessary to me, since it's essentially a useless cantrip in the beginning and the opportunity cost is too great at that point.

I get my Tactician one turn faster, but he gets to play it first. He chooses another Coppersmith and a Worker's Village with $16 to spend! He is looking to expand his combo. I get my first Tactician draw on turn 8 and decide to keep things simple with a Province and a Gold. I double Province on turn 10, he does likewise on turn 12.

From this point on, I realize it's going to be a shutout race. I needed to grab as many green as I could before his better engine would totally dominate me. In a game with no VP tokens, the Greens are the only source of VP and their number is limited.

I think this game demonstrates well the importance of fully committing to Green. By my switching to Green only mode, my opponent is almost always behind and while the number of Greens for him to grab and overtake me is dwindling, I just try to hold him off until there are no more Greens left. Because my opponent is behind, he can't snag the 2nd to last Province and allow me to end the game, he needs a lot more because of my shutout game plan.
On his turn 16, I already have 36 points to his 12 and he goes into double Duchy mode.

This game also stresses the importance of adjusting to the tempo of the game and adjusting the tempo yourself. As he expanded his combo, I decided to speed up my game and get some Greens so that when his combo got into gear, it would be too late. That's exactly what happened. I spotted an opportunity and seized it. This, I think, is what high level Dominion is about. You could always play a mirror match and let fate decide whoever wins, but reacting to an opponent and thwarting his plan is what makes Dominion fun for me. I'm always looking for sneaky ways to win, like piledriving the Estates in Grand Market games, those are the most fulfilling to me.

I finally get my much needed 5th Province in turn 25 and he commits Harakiri by buying the last one with some Estates.

164

Puzzles and Challenges / My Last What's Missing For The Day

« on: September 27, 2011, 09:08:52 am »

Inspired by all the other greats, I decided to compile this one for you.

What's Missing?
Sea Hag
Pawn
Festival
Courtyard
Quarry
Bazaar
Explorer
Jester
...

There is in fact more than one possible answer.
I won't give any hints at first, let's see if some smarties can get this one without help.
If so, I applaud you! 

165

Puzzles and Challenges / An Easier What's Missing to Relax Your Brain

« on: September 27, 2011, 05:09:28 am »

After all those difficult What's Missing puzzles, I reckon this one to be a little or a lot easier.

I'm always having a hard time with those puzzles, so I'll make one myself. This way, I can get it for sure.

What's Missing?
Possession
Envoy
Contraband
Masquerade
.....

And for Bonus Points: What card would be an honorable mention for this list?

166

Puzzles and Challenges / The Rube Goldberg of Dominion Challenge

« on: September 23, 2011, 08:22:44 am »

From Merriam Webster:

Definition of RUBE GOLDBERG
: accomplishing by complex means what seemingly could be done simply <a kind of Rube Goldberg contraption … with five hundred moving parts — L. T. Grant>; also : characterized by such complex means

We have all been beginners once. We have all been enticed by the indefinite chaining ability of Villages and Laboratories only to count our money and find we have... $3. Luckily, that's exactly enough for another Village!

I propose this challenge for you, with nothing other to offer than bragging rights:
Devise the most elaborate Dominion combo to do something really simple, like buying a Colony, which can be done with a boring hand full of Treasure.

I'm not looking for a way to clean out the entire Colony stack in one turn or something like that which can be either very elementary (KC-Bridges) or justifiably complex. It just has to be something a normal BMU-player could achieve as well, but with less effort.

Look at this straightforward example: The Über Upgrader

Code: [Select]

Starting hand: 2x KC, Village, Curse, Bridge
Deck: Village, 3x Upgrade

Play Village, draw Village, play Bridge
Play KC->KC
1. Play Village, draw 3 Upgrades

2. Play Upgrade
2a. Draw nothing, Trash Curse, Gain Estate
2b. Draw Estate, Trash Estate, Gain Great Hall
2c. Draw Great Hall, Trash Great Hall, gain Gardens

3. Play Upgrade
3a. Draw Gardens, Trash Gardens, Gain Duchy
3b. Draw Duchy, Trash Duchy, Gain Fairgrounds
3c. Draw Fairgrounds, Trash Fairgrounds, Gain Bank

Play your remaining Upgrade, Trash Bank, Gain a Province.
With use of the Bridge, 4 stepping stone Victory cards and 1 Treasure, a measly Curse is Upgraded all the way to a Province.


I'm curious to see what you guys come up with. The wackier, the better!

167

Dominion General Discussion / Pirate Ship Dilution?

« on: September 19, 2011, 03:44:42 am »

If your opponent goes Pirate Ship and you don't, do you actively dilute your deck to decrease his hit chances or do you just don't care and think: "If he hits, he hits.".

Take a look at this log and tell me what you think: http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201109/19/game-20110919-004006-4b323810.html

The diluters I used were Labs, Nobles and a Great Hall I picked up.

I had exactly 2 Golds and a Steward to provide enough $ for the Provinces and I bought all Provinces in turn 16 - 23.
My good deck cycling (small deck, lots of drawers and a little luck) made it possible to play my Witch every turn, doing even more damage.

If he'd had trashed one of the Golds, I'd have to spend 2 Turns getting it back, so I left myself a little vulnerable, but I hoped my strategy would deter him and his Pirate Mat already had 4 coins, so he was less inclined to attack.

168

Dominion General Discussion / Cards You (Don't) Buy When They're Embargoed

« on: September 09, 2011, 04:27:25 pm »

I played a game today where I started with a lucky opening of 5/2 and bought and Apprentice and an Embargo. Other good $5's were Festival and City, City less so because no pile would be emptied fast. I chose Apprentice over the also available Trade Route for strong end game possibilities with Festivals (and perhaps a Trade Route or 2) for multiple Buys. Maybe going Festival first and Apprentice later would have been right, I don't know, I chose the Apprentice, since I'm an avid trashing afficionado.

I was lucky enough to shuffle my Embargo into turn 3 and I embargoed the Apprentices. To my surprise, my opponent still bought one and took the Curse. I guess one Curse isn't so much, especially with the trasher that he got.

This made me wonder: What cards are so good that you'd buy them even when they're embargoed? I can compile a list of crucial Cursers here (Mountebank, Witch), but I'd like to see your views and maybe discover some less obvious ones.

I think the reverse question is much more insightful though and I'll make it bold to stress the importance:
Which "essential" cards do you refrain from buying when they're embargoed?

In other words: Which cards are very nice to have, but not nice enough to warrant getting even one Curse over? This would obviously have to be some borderline cards like for instance... Cutpurse?

As always, looking forward to your replies.

169

Dominion General Discussion / 3 Player Dominion

« on: August 29, 2011, 10:30:19 am »

While I enjoy 2 player Dominion on Isotropic and think it is the most pure form, it is actually 3 player that I have the most fun with while playing live.

There are some added dimensions:
- Players will often try other strategies
- More often than not, the kingdom cards will be unevenly balanced
- Interaction will happen more often

The fair share of Victory cards for each player is still 4 (there are 12 instead of , but a 3-pile ending may be more common with 3p than with 2p.


I am starting this topic because I am playing in a Dominion tournament this weekend and it will be 3p all the way (unless there is a shortage of players) with 3 rounds of point scrambling and a semi and full final after that.

So I am asking you for any insightful comment regarding 3p.

Of course I already know that attacks are more powerful since there are 2 players who can play one in 1 turn, but any other things to look out for?

170

Dominion Articles / Risky Combo: Minion + Golem

« on: August 18, 2011, 03:43:27 am »

I ran into a setup which featured both Minions and Golems today.

While Minions alone are certainly enough to do the job most of the time, they can sure be helped by Golems.
This is because Minions work best if you have at least 2 of them in your hand (one for the $2 and one for the redraw) and Golem makes sure you dig up 2.
You need to buy only Minions and Golems for this to work obviously.

The only drawback is that you can often swing and miss with your Potion and not be able to buy a Golem until late.

I am calling this a "risky" combo, because the simulator doesn't like it, it's only 33%-66% against BMU!
This is probably due to the fact that you are wasting time with your Potion and Golems when you could have bought another Minion with a Silver instead of a Potion. And perhaps the simulator has some trouble with how to play Minion as with any other choice card.

The payoff is only possible if you get the Golem and some Minions early to start reaping the benefits as soon as possible.
The upside is that you are continuously cycling your deck (which Minions are able to do on their own, granted) , so any Golems and Minions you buy are ready to get into play.

I will dig up the game log from councilroom later to show an example.

For now be warned, but try it yourself and let me know if your experiences are good or bad.
Obviously, just my one game is way too small of a sample size to say anything about this possible combo.

171

Puzzles and Challenges / Make "Bad" Cards Shine!

« on: August 08, 2011, 09:06:49 am »

Every Dominion card has been created with one thought in mind: "There will be situations in which this card will be very good, but also situations in which it will be very bad may not be as good."

Looking at Councilroom's card list, we can see that not all cards receive the same amount of love from the players on Isotropic.

Therefore I present this challenge: For each card on my list, create a setup in which that card can really shine.
Of course, it's hard for $2 cards to shine in any setup (except for Chapel duh!), but that's part of the challenge.

Every setup is intended for 2p and you may assume an opponent to play a certain strategy (e.g. BMU, Workshop/Gardens etc.) which you must mention. You can always try Geronimoo's simulator to verify some of your findings.

You may wonder: "What's the use? Do I need to know this for that 1 in a gazillion chance this exact setup will appear on Isotropic?"
There are no "perfect" solutions for this topic, the intention is to generate some discussion to maybe look at some of the undervalued cards in another way.

The loveless list:

• Chancellor: It's at the lonely bottom (just above Diadem) with only 14% (games in which it was bought/games it was available in). Surely there must be a set in which constantly discarding your deck (and reshuffling!) is useful?
• Counting House: It only has 14.6%, but I reckon there may be some amazing setups for this one, Coppersmith could synergize with it beautifully perhaps...
• Navigator: It's not enough to have a misshapen head, you are also at the bottom of the buy list, is there any hope for this card?
• Stash: I think people mainly avoid this, because they don't want the extra hassle of placing it somewhere
• Adventurer: It's just too expensive! Or is it...?
• Harvest: Too random?
• Explorer: Reveal a Colony and gain a Platinum in hand? Oh wait, that's not on the card. Well maybe if it was, someone would actually buy it. Now it sits at 24% which surprise me, because it's higher than 20.
• Bureaucrat: There has been some discussion about this, so it may be possible to find a good fit for it.

172

Puzzles and Challenges / Cleanup on (a)Isle 4

« on: August 03, 2011, 05:09:21 am »

Starting with your normal deck of 7 Coppers and 3 Estates and playing solitaire, what is the least amount of turns needed to move your entire deck to the Island mat? Nothing may be trashed, everything must be moved to the mat.

This is not something I have worked out, but you are all so much better at these puzzles, so I'll just let you do it.
I don't know whether it's mathematically possible, but I'm guessing it is.

The cards needed seem obvious, but the order in which to buy/play them may prove somewhat of a challenge.

Note: Every card you add to your deck must also be moved to the mat at some point.
This means your last move before completing the challenge will exactly be: Play Island, Move Island with X to your mat. Buy nothing. Cleanup: Nothing to draw!

173

Dominion General Discussion / Your Blind Spot

« on: August 02, 2011, 09:21:46 am »

Dominion can be a highly complex game.
Cards that are worthless in one setup, can be golden in another.

Recognizing these differences and grabbing these opportunities is what makes good players great.
I don't strive to be a great player, but I try to be a good one.

There are some cards which tend to be in my blind spot more than others and which I undervalue almost always.
I reckon more players have this weakness and they ask themselves: "How can he buy that card?" Only to get clobbered by it in that very game.

I will tell you some of my weaknesses (hey, you can exploit them when you play me!) to learn something myself and to see who else has trouble with what.


I generally have the most problem with Alchemy cards and judging their value correctly, especially Scrying Pool. I see this getting bought when there are no trashers and think to myself "why?". Sure enough, early game, it's no better than a regular Spy, but come mid / end game, it regularly draws 6 cards! I guess it's good in setups with action cards that provide money and with other cantrips. I got creamed by this, Alchemist and Apothecary recently. I only had Alchemists...

Another game with this and Golem didn't end well for me either...


Sometimes, I misjudge the power of Goons. I see my opponents diving into the Copper pile head first and I get a wry smile on my face: "He's polluting his deck, look at him!" I try to get enough good cards to buy a Province with just 3 of them while slowly but surely the cheap piles are emptying... By the time I'm even in Province territory, I'm up against an insurmountable lead. I go Goons myself from time to time, but I'm always hesitant with the Coppers, maybe too hesitant...


Horn of Plenty can be placed here. I guess I just have a hard time with these variable cards. I also disregard Bank often in favor of Gold.

174

Dominion Articles / Combo: Salvager / Peddler

« on: August 01, 2011, 06:46:57 am »

In Province games, Salvagers and Peddlers make quite a nifty combo.


(c) Copyright for these images belongs to Rio Grande Games obviously, but I linked to the scans on diehrstraits.com.

Mid game, you can use the +Buy from the Salvagers to buy an extra Peddler (with lowered cost).
In the end game, you can trash these Peddlers for free Provinces (you get +8$ for a trashed Peddler).

Salvager is well known for it's possibility to trash Provinces for other Provinces while you're ahead, rushing the pile down. It synergizes perfectly with Peddler for this same purpose.

This combo works best with:
- Cantrips (villages) to lower the cost of the Peddlers and to enable you to play multiple Salvagers if needed (be careful with Mining Village, because trashing it causes it to no longer be "in play")
- Province games (I wonder if a Province rush would work in Colony games)
- Smaller decks: If you're cursed and coppered to death by Mountebanks, it's obviously harder to draw your Salvagers and Peddlers together and to chain enough actions to lower the Peddler costs
- Possibly another +Buy card to get more Peddlers, like Wharf
- Worker's Village gets its own entry in this list, since it's a cantrip and gives a +Buy!!!

Most players will have figured this combination out for themselves, but I didn't see an actual topic about it (nor a blog entry on Dominionstrategy.com), so I made one for the beginners.


Message to Geronimoo: I fear that your simulator doesn't actually handle Salvagers well for this combo. I've seen it trash an Estate rather than a Peddler in the end game.

175

Dominion General Discussion / Dominion Card Art Discussion

« on: August 01, 2011, 05:49:44 am »

Whilst playing Dominion, we don't always take the time to look at the graphics of all the cards, we are more concerned with the text.
Still, there are a lot of artists who did their best in creating the graphics on these cards. Some have done a lot of cards, some only one.

I decided to create a new topic instead of interfering with the Top 10 topic found here: http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=403.0


I have compiled a list with artists and their creations (may revise it to make it more reader friendly, but it's a lot of work!)

    Alayna Lemmer: Harvest, Horn of Plenty
    Alejandro Gutierrez Franco: Lookout
    Alex Drummond: Familiar, Vault
    Alexander Jung: Ambassador, Swindler
    Brian Brinlee: Quarry
    Christof Tisch: Duke, Minion, Seahag, Workshop
    Claus Stephan: Coppersmith, Haven, Mine (as Claus Stefan), Mining Village, Outpost, Transmute, Village, Worker's Village
    Colin Throm: Hoard
    Dennis Lohausen: Explorer, King's Court, Saboteur
    Eric J Carter: Talisman
    Franz Vohwinkel: Black Market, Golem, Island, Masquerade, Native Village, Pawn, Pirate Ship, Torturer
    Garret DeChellis: Farming Village
    Harald Lieske: Bridge, Courtyard, Embargo, Fishing Village, Herbalist, Library, Throne Room, Trade Route
    Jacob Corn: Philosopher's Stone
    Jason Slavin: Royal Seal
    Jason Snair: Bank
    Jeff Himmelmann: Horse Traders, Jester
    Jessica Cox: Fairgrounds, Young Witch
    Joshua Balvin: Peddler
    Julien Delval: Great Hall, Laboratory, Monument, Thief, Vineyard, Warehouse
    Kieron O'Gorman: Mountebank, Possession
    Kim Feigenbaum: Mint
    Klemens Franz: Scrying Pool
    Kurt Miller: Hamlet, Hunting Party
    Lee Smith: Venture
    Lorraine Schleter: Followers
    Lynell Ingram: Princess
    Marcel-André Casasola-Merkle: Caravan, Festival, Grand Market, Lighthouse, Nobles, Secret Chamber, University
    Marco Morte: City
    Mark Poole: Remake, Trusty Steed
    Martin Hoffman: Apprentice, Bazaar, Cutpurse, Forge, Ironworks, Stash, Tactician, Trading Post
    Matthew Tames: Menagerie
    Matthias Catrein: Bureaucrat, Cellar, Chancellor, Chapel, Conspirator, Council Room, Counting House, Envoy, Feast, Gardens, Ghost Ship, Market, Militia, Moat, Moneylender, Potion, Remodel, Scout, Smithy, Steward, Treasure Map, Tribute, Upgrade, Witch, Woodcutter
    Maura Kalusky: Harem, Navigator, Pearl Diver, Shanty Town
    Michael Menzel: Spy
    Raven Mimura: Fortune Teller
    RC Torres: Contraband, Rabble, Salvager, Smugglers
    Rick Hershey: Watchtower
    Rom: Bishop
    Ryan Laukat: Adventurer, Apothecary, Bag of Gold, Diadem, Expand, Merchant Ship, Treasury, Wishing Well
    Simon Jannerland: Alchemist, Loan
    Simon Samuelsson: Wharf
    Taylor Bennett: Tournament
    Tu Peí-Shu: Goons

I like Franz Vohwinkel's work best: Golem, Torturer, Black Market and Pawn have an ominous look to them while the Seaside cards Island, Native Village and Pirate Ship make me daydream about my upcoming beach holiday in Portugal.

Maura Kalusky's work is just awful, with Harem being the ultimate ugly card. And have you looked at the face of the guy opening the door on Shanty Town?

A lot of Matthias Catrein's cards have a "washed" look to them which I don't like and some of his faces are really bad (Chancellor, Envoy), but I like Witch.