The link to see the kingdom doesn't seem to be working but here is an example log.
http://gokosalvager.com/static/logprettifier.html?http://dominion-game-logs.s3.amazonaws.com/game_logs/20161126/log.0.1480158609632.txtThe kingdom is
- Provinces/Estates
Duchess
Squire
Doctor
Smugglers
Tunnel
Duplicate
Envoy
Jack of all Trades
Rats
Artificer
Events - Ferry
This board came up in a physical game. I lost to a variation of Envoy Big Money. Although there are some strong money options there is an interesting engine and my gut feeling is that if played correctly the engine is stronger, the problem is though how to play it correctly?
I have tried several bot games on this board to see if I can get the engine to work (an example log is linked) but most of the times I lose to the bot's money game. On the couple of occasions I did win I got very lucky with my early shuffle luck. I would appreciate any thoughts on how what the optimum strategy might be and how to play it. I look forward to hearing people's thoughts.
A few thoughts I have after my games.
One of the weaknesses the engine has is that the draw is not very good. Squire/Envoy for your village/draw combo is worse than Village/Smithy. I don't think it is possible to put together an engine that can reliably draw your deck and the engine can begin to choke when you start to green.
As I do not draw my whole deck one of the awkward decisions is when to discard a useful card to Artificer and when to keep that card to play it. I think I am making a lot of bad decisions here.
Squire is interesting on this board as it is the only village and the only plus buy. If both players go for the engine it will be important to win the split. You can make the mistake though of going too heavily for Squires at the expense of other engine components. I feel if your opponent does this you might be better off leaving them to it and switching to a money strategy.
What do you do with Duplicates here? They are very useful, probably critical, for pile control in the end game, but do you want them earlier?
Do you want Tunnel earlier on as discard fodder for Artificer? I think one or two, yes as a small number of golds in your deck is good for economy.
I think Ferrying Artificers is a given, but do you want to Ferry anything else? If so, what? I keep changing my mind on this one.