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[yuma]

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201202/07/game-20120207-080625-0bc1e91d.html

Develop, Duke, Embargo, Herbalist, Hoard, Lighthouse, Mandarin, Oracle, Talisman, and Woodcutter

I know I didn't play this perfectly, nor did my opponent. Embargo was present and he easily could have put a huge damper on my Duchy rush by embargoing them. But aside from that I have been trying to use Silk Road and Dukes whenever they are on the board. In this situation  it appeared to me that since I started out 5/2 I might be able to use Mandarin to accomplish my goal. I ended up buying 3 Mandarins on my first 3 turns and then using the 5 copper again to buy my first Duchy. I think overall the strategy worked pretty well, I won. But not by much. My opponent had a $7 late that had it been $8 would have put him over the top of me.

Any thoughts on this Triple Mandarin route to Duchy/Duke? I thought it was comparable to Horse Traders. Horse Traders is much stronger but Mandarin had some nice perks being able to put a Mandarin back on top of my deck if I drew two of them together. Would Double Mandarin or Quadruple Mandarin have been better? Triple seemed best to me.

As an aside I think I would have really liked some treasure--I didn't buy any except a copper very late in the game--a silver or two could have opened things up a bit I think

[DsnowMan]

An interesting idea, but the biggest hurdle is the lack of +Buy to close out the game once you have emptied the duchies and dukes. Your opponent shouldn't let you take them all, so you need to burn a 3rd pile before they buy too many provinces.

Turns 19-23 where you both end up buying all the estates is too long for this type of rush. If either of his 7s were 8s in those turns, I think you lose.

Horse Traders works better because of the +Buy. Without a non-terminal +buy (like market, festival, wharf?), this isn't going to work great most of the time.

[RisingJaguar]

Love the gameplay.  Especially early embargo Would have loved it more if you used develop too ! I think there's merit to getting hoard, and developing/using gold (actually probably not, the $4 talisman is a pretty big turn off).

Triple seems like a good play here, although i'll say if he did not buy a talisman (or two!), you probably lose.  All in all, fun idea. 

[WanderingWinder]

I think you want a hoard on your first $6. I pretty much KNOW you want to be buying copper over nothing starting turn 1.

[yuma]

I think you want a hoard on your first $6. I pretty much KNOW you want to be buying copper over nothing starting turn 1.

I wanted one a lot, but my first $6 was on turn 11... I think.... It is hard to tell because I may have put a copper back on top on turn 6, but I think not. The logs on councilroom don't let me know what is put back on top. I know I had $6 on turn 11 before I put a copper back on top because I couldn't decide between Hoard or Duchy. I felt that turn 11 was too late to take great advantage of Hoard, perhaps it wasn't but that was my logic at the time. How late in the game would you take a Hoard over a Duchy in a Duchy/Duke rush?


The lack of plus buys was concerning. Horse Traders definitely has an advantage there. Woodcutter was in the game. I thought about getting one instead of a lighthouse. I think that would have been the better move. If it had collided with a mandarin I could have just put it back on top. Herbalist--if I had been able to swing a Hoard might also have been an idea...

[WanderingWinder]

Shoot. I was going to give you advice, but I think I'll just write that duke article that's been so long in coming.

[yuma]

Glad to be an inspiration. Look forward to reading it.