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[Destierro]

Code: [Select]

Squire, Fortune Teller, Urchin, Village, Death Cart, Gardens, Scavenger, Throne Room, Merchant Ship, Treasury
The log: http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140214/log.50a44d70e4b09c3f1c235128.1392449888947.txt

It looks so tempting. We've all seen those engines that just squeak by with barely any draw. I saw this board and my gut instinct was to go for Merchant Ship/BM. However, fancy play syndrome got the best of both me and my opponent, and we fruitlessly tried to make the best what was offered. I open Scavenger/Urchin while he opens Urchin/Urchin. We don't get our Urchin's to collide until turn 8 and 7 respectively, and it all goes downhill from there. Many turns were spent picking up engine parts piecemeal trying to form some sort of money base. It just doesn't happen, and the provinces don't run out until turn... (wait for it) 22.

About halfway through the game Jog and I both shared each other's pain, and it was one of those games where you can't help but laugh as your deck shudders to get to a province. I think the saving grace here was Merchant Ship, which allowed me to get some sort of money base each turn. Hitting $8 is much easier when you have a throned Merchant Ship in play.

It raises the question, is there any scenario here where the engine is stronger than just BM of some sort? Jog suggest possibly Squire/Gardens, but I dont have much experience with that. I think that a money strategy is just stronger here, but I've been wrong before. Whatever the answer, it was an amusing game to say the least.

[sudgy]

I would think Squire/Gardens would work pretty well.  I never realized how good it was until one time I had this turn:

Play Squire (+$1) for +2 Actions
Play Squire (+$1) for +2 Buys
Play Squire (+$1) for +2 Buys
Play Copper
Buy Gardens and four Coppers

[Awaclus]

I would think Squire/Gardens would work pretty well.  I never realized how good it was until one time I had this turn:

Play Squire (+$1) for +2 Actions
Play Squire (+$1) for +2 Buys
Play Squire (+$1) for +2 Buys
Play Copper
Buy Gardens and four Coppers

Is two Coppers better than a Silver? Sounds like Silver would make buying Duchies easier.

[Destierro]

I would think Squire/Gardens would work pretty well.  I never realized how good it was until one time I had this turn:

Play Squire (+$1) for +2 Actions
Play Squire (+$1) for +2 Buys
Play Squire (+$1) for +2 Buys
Play Copper
Buy Gardens and four Coppers

Is two Coppers better than a Silver? Sounds like Silver would make buying Duchies easier.

That was my thought as well. I think it would be too easy to snipe gardens, leaving the Squire player with no real way to buy provinces, or maybe even duchies.

[flies]

I think I'd try to go for some sort of weak engine here: open scavenger/squire.  Get a bunch of silver and squires, a few golds, and a province or two before loading up on copper and gardens.  Silver flood has trouble making $8 against discard attacks, tho.  So aiming for mercenary and then going into MS/money with a few villages and a TR or two might win?  Hard to say...

[Robz888]

Gardens has a lot going for it, with the Squires and also Death Cart.

On the other hand, that's not like unbeatable. The engine has weak draw... the only draw is Mercenary. But with good trashing, you can be throning Treasuries and Merchant Ships, which is pretty good.

I don't know for sure, but I'd probably bet on the engine.

[Destierro]

Gardens has a lot going for it, with the Squires and also Death Cart.

On the other hand, that's not like unbeatable. The engine has weak draw... the only draw is Mercenary. But with good trashing, you can be throning Treasuries and Merchant Ships, which is pretty good.

I don't know for sure, but I'd probably bet on the engine.

Look at the log. We both bet on the engine, it didn't turn out very well at all.

[flies]

Gardens has a lot going for it, with the Squires and also Death Cart.

On the other hand, that's not like unbeatable. The engine has weak draw... the only draw is Mercenary. But with good trashing, you can be throning Treasuries and Merchant Ships, which is pretty good.

I don't know for sure, but I'd probably bet on the engine.

I usually think of "draw" as something that increases my handsize.  Mercenary decreases handsize.

[Awaclus]

Gardens has a lot going for it, with the Squires and also Death Cart.

On the other hand, that's not like unbeatable. The engine has weak draw... the only draw is Mercenary. But with good trashing, you can be throning Treasuries and Merchant Ships, which is pretty good.

I don't know for sure, but I'd probably bet on the engine.

I usually think of "draw" as something that increases my handsize.  Mercenary decreases handsize.

Increasing your handsize is a good thing because it means you get more $ and get to see more cards per turn. Mercenary does both.

[-Stef-]

I don't know for sure, but I'd probably bet on the engine.

Look at the log. We both bet on the engine, it didn't turn out very well at all.

The engine looks a lot worse in your logs then it is in reality.

• The engine's attack really hurts the engine. If you need to discard two cards every turn, that really hurts from a hand like village, mercenary, throne room, 2x crap.
  A gardens player with a silver, a squire, a copper and some green doesn't care that much.
  
• You both buy the wrong cards for the engine. With draw being as hard as it is here, you need cantrips that actually do something. In the end 9 treasuries remain in the Supply.
• You both have an unlucky start. If your Urchins collide a bit sooner that helps a lot
• You make some misplays. The most obvious one: on turn 6, you start with village, urchin & scavenger. Play village, then scavenger (topdeck other urchin), then get the Mercenary.

That said, the engine has a horrible problem ending the game. Without draw (mercenary isn't draw, except maybe with fortress), it can't really support lots of green cards, and 8 provinces is a lot to go for. I think I'd go for the gardens here too.