First off, hi all. New player here doing my best to climb the isotropic leader boards. I'm still firmly in the exploratory phase, though, so I wanted to get some feedback on a recent game.
Game logKingdom$2 Chapel Courtyard | $3 Fishing Village |
$4 Salvager Sea Hag Noble Brigand | $5 City Treasury Margrave Library |
I'll just highlight the notable turns to speed things up.
Turn 1: My opponent (Mole5000) opens with a 5/2 split and buys a Treasury (I assume a Chapel will follow). I'm wondering how some of the other 5/2 options would work out. Margrave/Chapel seems good but a little risky. I'd feel pretty dumb if I drew the Chapel off the Margrave after the reshuffle. On the other hand, an early Margrave makes it really hard for your opponent to Chapel their own deck effectively. Either way, I'm a little worried about the extra boost in coin that the Treasury will give him and try to find something to slow him down. I don't have enough experience with Noble Brigand to know if it would be enough so I go with the tried and true cursing attack. I open with Sea Hag/Chapel.
Turn 3: The luck swings back my way as I get to play Sea Hag and buy a Fishing Village (very important!) then Chapel my whole next hand.
Turn 8: We've both thinned our decks down and Mole5000 is going all in on the Treasuries. I get my first 5$ hand and buy a Margrave. This will keep him from starting with 5 Treasuries every turn and also let me draw my whole deck. The Fishing Villages are all stars here because they allow me to play both the Sea Hag and Margrave, which means I'm basically cursing and limiting him to a 3 card hand every turn. I start going after treasure.
Turn 10: I buy a Treasury this turn and the next. I think it was an attempt at Treasury denial that wasn't really necessary at this point. Should I have just bought Gold?
Turn 12: Buy my first Province. Mole5000's deck can't seem to get over the hump. It's a little nerve wracking to see him play 4 Treasuries a turn but the fact that their not turning into anything is a good sign. I can't tell if it's my attacks that are slowing him down or just bad draws. He also mentions that he's "messed this up" in the chat but I couldn't identify any obvious mistakes.
Turn 14: I miss my Margrave due to the Province buying, which gives my opponent a window to get a Province of his own. With a 3-1 lead, I'm not too concernced.
Turn 18: I have a 5-2 Province lead but my deck is starting to bog down. I buy a Salvager to finish things off on the reshuffle.
Turn 20: Final score 37-17.
Mole5000: 2 Province, 2 Gold, 1 City, 2 Duchy, 6 Treasury, 3 Silver, 1 Chapel, 2 Estate, 2 Copper, 3 Curse
vandergus: 5 Province, 1 Gold, 2 Duchy, 1 Margrave, 2 Treasury, 1 Salvager, 2 Fishing Village, 1 Silver, 1 Chapel, 1 Estate
Their are a few interactions I'd like people's thoughts on. First off, Sea Hag as a counter to Treasury. From what I can reason, it basically turns the first Treasury into a copper. In other words, you get 1$ with no actions spent but you use a card (since the Treasury is replaced by a curse). Subsequent Treasuries are unaffected, though, and Treasuries are usually bought in bunches. Is this sound thinking?
Secondly, assuming I already have both Fishing Villages in play, is it better to play the Margrave first or the Sea Hag. I know he'll be drawing the top card of his deck next turn off the Treasuries so that makes me want to play the Sea Hag second, leaving a curse on top. On the other hand, I don't want him to see a potentially good card from the Margrave draw, so I want to play Sea Hag first. Or is it all a wash.
I'd also like to hear comments about strategies both of us may have overlooked. Maybe some sort of cool Salvager deck?