AI defeats AdamH 4-2Video playlist on YouTubeEntire stream on Twitch (First game starts about 17:00 in)
Going into this match I knew that it would be the hardest match of the tournament for me. I lost 0-3 to AI in the swiss portion of the match, but I know I'm a better player now than I was then. I had something to prove, and I know it sounds cheesy and empty, but I did prove something in this match even though I lost...
Game 1: AdamH 14,
AI 15Game log Twitch Highlight YouTube videoKingdom Cards: Pearl Diver, Stonemason, Chancellor, Warehouse (bane), Advisor, Plaza, Scavenger, Throne Room, Young Witch, Outpost, Forge
This game took about an hour to play, and almost all of the time was spent watching AI play his cards. I underestimate Advisor as a source of draw and Stonemason as a gainer on this board and AI constructs an extremely complex engine around those two cards. The things he does are truly impressive, like giving me all 10 Curses in the course of two turns. I haven't played many games with AI, but a lot of them have made my brain hurt and this was certainly one of them -- I should mention that in the brain-hurty games, he has a distinct advantage.
If anyone writes an article about Advisor, this game should be linked. Through very precise play he builds his deck around mitigating the weakness of Advisor as your primary source of draw. I never stood a chance.
Game 2: AI 4,
AdamH 16Game log Twitch Highlight YouTube videoKingdom Cards: Herbalist, Masterpiece, Nomad Camp, Salvager, Worker's Village, Explorer, Margrave, Tribute, Upgrade, Border Village
This one is mostly a mirror revolving around Border Village/Margrave. We build similar decks but I'm able to out-pace him by one or two turns. Though our play was similar for the most part, he gets a Nomad Camp on T2 and I get a Salvager instead. I get an Upgrade slightly earlier than he does, and this accounts for the main differences in our play.
As for the game, I don't think the Nomad Camp vs. Salvager made any difference for the cards we were able to buy -- the Salvager certainly didn't hurt me -- so I was just able to thin an Estate or two early, and coupled with the earlier thinning/Silver gain from my earlier Upgrade, I think this gave me a better deck. Even though he hit two $6 turns before I ever got one, and even though I had a shuffle where I saw all four of my Margraves in the same hand (with no Village, yeah I whined about it), I never felt like I was all that far behind. In the end, I'm able to put myself in a good endgame position, and AI lets the third pile get low enough that I can three-pile on a win. After getting severely outplayed in the first game, I feel I slightly outplayed him here, and I'm able to take down my first win against AI in the whole tournament!
EDIT: After reading the chat, it turns out I probably could have piled Estates to win earlier. I completely missed this!
Game 3: AI 4, AdamH 2
Game log Twitch highlight YouTube videoKingdom Cards: Shanty Town, Bridge, Fortress, Marauder, Militia, Mining Village, Procession, Rats, Torturer, Vault, with Shelters
This game. Ohhhhhhh boy, this game. This is the one everyone will be talking about (at least I hope). Junking attacks everywhere with Village+Torturer, and the only trashing is Procession+Rats. So that means no trashing, right? Apparently not. AI floods his deck with Rats and somehow manages to put together a deck that can play several Torturers every turn.
I'll refrain from comment for now because I want to see what other people have to say -- I scanned the chat after this game but I want to know what people think.
Game 4: AdamH, AI resigned
Game log Twitch highlight YouTube videoKingdom Cards: Embargo, Fortune Teller, Farming Village, Gardens, Island, Sea Hag, Inn, Laboratory, Upgrade, Grand Market
Nice payload here with Lab and Grand Market, and Upgrade is enough of a reason for me to ignore Sea Hag, which I do. AI goes for not one, but two Sea Hags, which has to be not one, but two mistakes; and because of this I'm able to win the Lab split 8-2 with a thinner deck, better cards, and a small points lead. AI resigns. Out of all of the games, this is the one where I feel I outplayed him pretty handily.
It's strange that I started the discussion on when to ignore Cursing and then it's so easy for me to make the right call here. With Sea Hag and IGG I just understand it so well, but Marauder and Familiar just leave me clueless -- maybe my weakness is not with the price of junking in general but rather with those two particular cards...
Game 5: AdamH 30,
AI 33Game log Twitch highlight YouTube videoKingdom Cards: Menagerie, Oasis, Philosopher's Stone, Noble Brigand, Pirate Ship, Quarry, Tournament, Merchant Ship, Wharf, Adventurer
No Villages (except for Trusty Steed), no attacks (except for Followers), and no trashing. This board is the essence of everything I hate about Tournament. I build a more straightforward Tournament deck, getting Oasis over Silver and loading up on Tournaments with two Merchant Ships. I get two Provinces quickly and I'm ready to get myself some Followers. Whoop-dee-doo.
AI builds a very strange deck with 5 Wharves and a Quarry -- somehow spiking a Province a shuffle earlier than I do (which I think had to be super-lucky for him) and then once he collides Tournament and Province it becomes clear what his strategy is: get the one and only village (the horse) and have two Wharves in play every turn. Use Oasis to enable Menageries for draw. I have a lead but I'm unable to hold on and he wins the game somewhat comfortably.
Now I admit I'm not the best person in the world at playing Tournament games so maybe I'm not right here, but the more I think about this game, the more I think my strategy was probably better and he got really lucky. Now you make your own shuffle luck, and AI commented to me after the match that I made my own shuffle luck in that game. I couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic (it was already really late), but let me at least say what I have to say and see if it holds up to scrutiny.
To not collide Tournament/Province on the first shuffle I could was pretty unlucky -- I had 3 Tournaments, 2 Provinces, and a partridge in a pear tree (OK, maybe not that, but I had a few Oases) and it never lined up for me. Unlucky, and I think my odds of hitting should be better than his since he was running 5 Wharves in his deck at that time. Also, I think his first Province buy was *really* lucky. What was he going to do if he didn't get the Steed? I think he went all-in here and got lucky to pull it out, which is fair I suppose. T15 really hurt me when he blocked my Tournament -- he needed to have one of two Provinces in a 5-card hand when his deck was 37 cards -- about a 25% chance. And Oasis helps Menagerie but I feel like with 7 Coppers in his deck and Wharves in play, his deck was much more successful than it "should have been."
It's possible that I'm still underestimating his deck, but between this and Game 3 I would play the same strategy again and I'm not yet convinced that I'd be wrong to do so. Now hopefully people can tell me why his decks were able to work the way they were. It's potentially very enlightening to lose to these kinds of decks, but I don't know the takeaway from these two games yet.
Game 6: AI 45, AdamH 30
Game log Twitch highlight YouTube videoKingdom Cards: Beggar, Scrying Pool, Ambassador, Develop, Loan, Market Square, Remodel, Cache, Laboratory, Mine
I just get outplayed here. I think Labs will come online earlier for draw so I go for that over Scrying Pool, but that is not to be since he's able to draw so much more. On my last turn, I make a neat endgame play, which I'm sort of proud of -- with a perfect draw I might have been able to win, but it's not to be.
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Almost all of these boards I think had a very high skill component, and they were mostly very complex. I'm really happy I got to play a match like this with AI, and I'm honored to be crushed by him.
I entered this tournament with the goal of making the finals. Once I did, I considered it a complete success. To actually make a run this deep is beyond anything I could have imagined when the tournament started and I'm really proud to have made it this far. There's no question in my mind that AI is the strongest player in the tournament and I'm lucky to have been able to play him twice. I learned a lot from the first match and I know I'll learn a lot from this one too, and this is the main reason I join these tournaments in the first place. I got to have what I consider my best moment in my Dominion "career," upsetting SCSN with a Jack-in-an-engine board to finalize a comeback from 0-2. I will never forget that game.
I got to make my mark on the community with an unexpected deep run and I'm honored to be compared to someone like RisingJaguar -- I've never considered myself to be one of the "top players in the world" and I still find it weird whenever people refer to me that way, but after a performance like this I might have to re-evaluate that.
And I had such a blast streaming all of my matches; who knew that you can get such an audience for live-streaming Dominion when I can't even interact with the chat? Reading the chat logs after the match is always a treat for me, seeing how many people show up and seeing their encouragement and criticisms. Maybe it's not fair but I feel like a lot of people were rooting for me just because I was streaming (I rooted for the streamer by default in all the matches I watched) but it was an amazing feeling and I only have the people of this community to thank for it. This tournament has been so enlightening for what people want to see from Dominion streams, and I truly believe they can be successful, particularly for tournament matches.
And so many other people streamed their matches too! I never saw that coming -- I thought I'd be the only one, and Nick would do it just so I wouldn't be. Even Stef streamed a couple of his matches! My weekly streams have been better attended since the start of the tournament, too. I was hopeful that GokoDom would be good for streaming Dominion, but this reception has exceeded my hopes by quite a lot.
I started making Dominion videos in late 2012, and my first videos were of me losing my first round match in the DS2012 Championships. I thought I'd try making videos because I saw Wandering Winder do it and I thought "why not?" I thought maybe I could get better at the game by having people comment on my play. It's been quite a journey since then and I've come a long way, but there's no doubt I'm a better player now than I was then, and there's no doubt that broadcasting Dominion has been a big part of that. I play my best when I'm streaming and focused, just look at my tournament matches.
...so if you've been watching these streams and enjoying them, if you've streamed your matches and didn't hate everything about it, if you just want to get better at playing the game; I hope my success in this tournament will inspire you, in the same way that WW inspired me, to go for it. It's been a lot of time and work I've put into my channels but it's been so rewarding on so many levels.
Finally, I want to thank Kirian for putting these together. Co-modding the tournament, I got to see first-hand the amount of work he puts into these, and to think he didn't have help for the first two GokoDoms! Kirian is the most respected member of the forum and he deserves it.
When the tournament is over, I've got something special in store for him (well, it's for everybody) to show my thanks. This is going to be good, I promise