Thanks for organizing the finals. It was a pleasure to play them. I just watched back the videos and I made a lot of misplays, way more then I like to think I usually do.
Beggar, Oasis, Shanty Town, Swindler, Baron, City, Hunting Party,Rebuild, Treasury, Wharf (Provinces/Estates)Here I just get absurdly bad draws. Drawing shanty dead on turn 4, dead on turn 6, double dead on turn 7, then putting 2 wharves in the bottom 3 cards of the shuffle.
On those kind of draws it doesn't matter all that much what you do so I can totally live with losing this one. Several people claim that rebuild is viable or maybe even best here, but I still don't see it.
Crossroads, Forager, Horse Traders, Ghost Ship, Jester, Junk Dealer, Market, Outpost, Tribute, Nobles (Provinces/Estates)This one I play really bad, by far the worst of the set. Again I don't get lucky, I should be pretty much ahead if my Forager and Horse Traders don't collide, or if I can react to his Ghost Ship with Horse Traders. But that is no excuse for the terrible things I do from turn 3-6. Fooling around with crossroads before I hit $5 is exactly that... foolish. If I discard the estate and forager on turn 3 and buy a $5 I'm behind but still in it. Now I'm just toast.
Squire, Philosopher's Stone, Gardens, Navigator, Scavenger, Festival, Hunting Party, Library, Mountebank, Saboteur (Provinces/Estates)In hindsight I think I could go for Philosophers Stones from the start. Topdecking your stones with Scavenger may very well be strong enough to make it work. When fighting the engine the focus should be mainly on the Philosophers Stones, gardens are nice bonus near the end that make it viable. In a mirror you go for gardens much sooner. Still, it's really scary, and the hunting party stack is much stronger then the commentators seem to think it is in the hands of a capable engine player.
Develop, Shanty Town, Trade Route, Horse Traders, Quarry, Scavenger, Taxman, Library,Upgrade, Hunting Grounds (Provinces/Estates)I try to set up the draw early and go for trashing later. Not what I usually do, but here the draw cards are very strong and the more expensive trasher (Upgrade) is really a lot better then the terminal ones at $3. Still, on the draws he gets I would have loved opening develop, but then he takes a 2nd one on turn 5 which seems very greedy and eventually what costs him the game.
Terminal space is very limited here because Shanty Town as only village is such a poor one for decks like this. The commentators are very focused on the Shanty Town split, but I don't think you can take a lot of them early. Sure then you win the split but a stack of shanty towns get you nowhere for a long time, and you'll end up with a lot of miserable turns to pay for winning that split.
Transmute, Beggar, Coppersmith, Ironmonger, Spice Merchant, Mine, Border Village, Farmland, Grand Market, Harem (Provinces/Estates)I basically play too simple here. On these draws ($5/$3 on turns 3/4) I like adding a Mine, on $4/$4 playing with a second Spice Merchant would have been nice. Now I'm just too slow compared to that. When my Spice Merchant misses copper on turn 8 I fall another turn behind and it's hopeless.
On turn 5 I take farmland estate->ironmonger because I don't want the Border Village (this early) in this deck. It kills my ironmongers and I hope to take a lot of those. I would have taken ironmonger over BV+ironmonger if Farmland was not on the board.
I intentionally lower the piles on my last turn to dangerous levels, and although I agree with that, I now prefer taking 2 more Farmlands instead of a Harem. His extra control over the Harem pile makes that the least preferable pile to run for me. I hoped it would put him in a situation where he couldn't upgrade a silver on a bad draw, but that looks like a long stretch now.
Pearl Diver, Hermit, Menagerie, Oasis, Procession, Salvager, Counting House, Outpost,Rabble, Saboteur (Provinces/Estates)Crazy procession set where it's very easy to underestimate the explosiveness. Nicely demonstrated by people not even convinced I would be able to pile out on turn 10, let alone 9. I agree with most of both our plays, although lespeutere is a bit heavy on menageries / low on oasis all game long. His early Outpost probably pushed him a bit in that direction (and rightfully so), but not this far.