<Edit>Corrected the links</Edit>
Round 1 against Rabid. I've been upping my level a bit the last few days and can only be glad about the level of play I have showed.
But man, oh man, these games were weird.
Game 1 : "Oh, you poor thing"http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140218/log.50785f090cf28ed55d9d72bf.1392755686996.txtPoor House, Native Village, Pawn, Ambassador, Doctor, Market Square, Envoy, Gardens, Library, Nobles
Well there's a lot going on here. Library shines, since Pawn, NV and Nobles work well together with it. The second one is Ambassador/Poor House. Given this, I decide to open Ambassador/Ambassador, keeping my deck thin but not too thin to not be able to buy anything. Rabid goes Silver/Ambassador. I think this is inferior. He tries to get a Gardens strategy over with me throwing over all the junk but it just doesn't work. I build up on the Poor Houses (and stealing away the Nobles before anything) and it takes a while but the greens start coming quickly in the end, together with +buy with Pawn (better than Market Square here). Rabid is left hampering.
Game 2 : "I need stuff!!!"http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140218/log.50785f090cf28ed55d9d72bf.1392756655251.txtLighthouse, Native Village, Pawn, Ambassador, Urchin, Bishop, Remodel, Silk Road, Ill-Gotten Gains, Border Village
Again Ambassador, NV and Pawn. My plan is to go Urchin/Ambassador. But where do I get the extra stuff from to trash with the Mercenary ? Oh, I have +buy with Pawn! Wrong, the right way to in this plan is Urchin/Ambassador + BV/IGG, getting extra coppers in the deck. I think?
Rabid sees it coming and buys enough Lighthouses to counter (Ambassador/Lighthouse) and starts getting the IGGs way sooner. I'm lacking strength, since the Lighthouses block the discards effectively and I have waaaaaaaaaay too much junk in my deck. That'll show me.
Game 3 : "Actions galore"http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140218/log.50785f090cf28ed55d9d72bf.1392757510885.txtVineyard, Stonemason, Fishing Village, Moneylender, Salvager, Talisman, Horn of Plenty, Saboteur, Upgrade, Border Village
Of course this is a Vineyard deck with Stonemason, BV and Talisman on the board. Key cards besided that are Upgrade/Saboteur - or so I thought.
Rabid opens Talisman/FV, I open FV/Moneylender. I was looking at Talisman but I thought Stonemason would be sufficient enough too. And in the end, you're stuck with that pesky pseudo-copper. However, it has enough merits here. I get a quick BV/Upgrade, so I thought I was set here (Upgrade the Upgrade into BV/Upgrade and in the end BV/Saboteur to get his actions out of the deck). Also, no +buy means only one Vineyard at a time ...
I thought this should have been enough to clean it out, but I believe I myself should have cleaned out my deck more in the beginning. I struggle in the midgame with my remaining coppers. He keeps on picking up enough Vineyards and my Saboteurs never go off well.
Any thoughts or comments on this are appreciated!
Game 4 : "Empty the black market!"http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140218/log.50785f090cf28ed55d9d72bf.1392758532507.txtBlack Market, Develop, Forager, Alchemist, Baron, Militia, Plaza, Remake, Festival, Merchant Guild
Well this counts for a lot. Let's see : no draw except Alchemist. Forager/Remake on the board so Baron probably out of the question. Some nice +buys but hey, how do you get your deck racing ?
Rabid chooses rapid trashing (Silver/Remake), I go for Alchemist first with Potion/BM (let's get lucky). Rabid only goes for potion with a neat deck, but that signals me to get a quick Militia in. I start dragging out some nice cards out of the BM deck and have the upper hand on the Alchemists. It makes my deck race nicely. Rabid is stuck with a nice deck, but I think given the lack of drawing power, this doesn't work in the end and the Militia starts hurting him quite a few times. With a Mountebank (BM) and followers (Tournament out of BM), he starts getting curses and this makes it impossible for him to finish with a lead.
As a side note, I like/hate Remake. It's a nice rapid trashing card, but in the end you're stuck with that stupid thing that just won't get out of your deck. I often find myself overtrashing and just spending too much turns cleaning up that I don't time to buy other decent stuff ...
Game 5 : "Wake me up before you Go-Go (Governor - Goons)"http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140218/log.50785f090cf28ed55d9d72bf.1392759225049.txtMoat, Vagrant, Island, Pirate Ship, Governor, Journeyman, Rebuild, Altar, Goons, Hunting Grounds
You've got Rebuild but with Shelters, so that's a no. Other than that Governor (drawing) - Goons is clear.
I'm a bit screwed with the opening : Silver/Island, because Rabid can trash his Hovel, I can't.
But it seems to go off okay - I get the first Governor. But then Rabid gets the first Goons too. I buy a Moat with the $2 inbetween.
It stays a mirror (hey, I'm a MirrorMan !) but then he surprises me : Rebuild?! Ah damn, I put aside my Overgrown Estate. Right.
At one point we seem to still be going equal but I make a mistake by buying the 6th province too soon and letting him finish. Clean win, I played it wrong in the end.
Game 6 : "Let's buy the worst card !"http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140218/log.50785f090cf28ed55d9d72bf.1392760575919.txtCrossroads, Hamlet, Moat, Shanty Town, Workshop, Thief, Throne Room, Ghost Ship, Saboteur, Expand
What?! This game looks as if it had been plucked from the base set. "Dominion for Dummies". No buy, no extra money. No nothing.
So errr ... What to do ? Well, similar to Pirate Ship : no extra money from actions means ... Thief?!
I'm even more flabbergasted by Rabid's opening : Throne Room/Workshop ?! What is he planning???
I open Silver/Shanty Town and get the Ghost Ship first and then the second, so it should be a clean run right ? And then pick out all the money with the thief ?
Well Rabid's plan is clear : Shanty Town/Hamlet the hell out of me against my Ghost Ships. One Shanty town doesn't work against GS, more do.
Well we both struggle hard and long to get anything going. He decides to do pseudo buy with Expand and trashes two of his three Ghost Ships in the midgame. Really surprised again. I thief a bit, but not too much because of the moats he stacks in his deck.
I thought this was going swell but I am stalling in the end. I thought it could become a tie but the clever Expands work nicely for him. Well played Rabid and congratulations.
Again, if anybody has any decent ideas on this deck, always open for suggestions.
I'm really happy with my play against Rabid, I have learnt some nice subtleties in the deck building. On to the next!
TheMirrorMan.