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[TrojH]

Code: [Select]

Embargo, Apothecary, Fortune Teller, Advisor, Conspirator, Ironmonger, Silk Road, Talisman, Bazaar, Ghost Ship
http://gokologs.drunkensailor.org/static/logprettifier.html?20140427/log.50990506e4b0e9c7eb44e375.1398642023959.txt

On this board, it took me all of 2 seconds to decide that Talisman was a key card here. Lots of juicy 4s available: Ironmonger, Advisor, and Conspirator. Throw in a few Bazaars and Ghost Ships, and we've got a nice engine. No +buy available, but oh well. Looked like an easy start to me: I opened Fortune Teller/Talisman.

My opponent opened Fortune Teller/Ironmonger. He didn't take any Talismans (Talismen?) at all. I figured this would be an easy win for me. If he spends 5 coins on a Bazaar, and I spend 4 coins and a Talisman on two Ironmongers (or Advisors, or Conspirators), I'm getting the better end of the bargain, right?

Wrong. As you can see from the log, he stomped me. You'll note that he used Embargo to his advantage, but that was just gravy; even without those Embargoes, he had me beat.

So, what's the verdict? Does Talisman stink, or do I? (Or both?)

Edit: oops, I posted the bland version of the log, instead of the nice version. It's fixed now.

[DG]

The key card is at cost 5, ghost ship.
Conspirators are not really a key card since there is no trashing, same for advisor.
The ironmongers are good but so is the bazaar.
Your opponent gets a better start from one ironmonger immediately rather than a talisman and extra ironmonger later.
You don't want to flood you deck with 3 cost cards so the only good hand with the talisman is exactly 4 coins.
There's no +buy so you can't superheat an engine with the talisman.

[SirPeebles]

Talisman can be a pretty junky card.  I think it may have shined if you had some trashing here, since it can be quite nice when you regularly play two of them, allowing you to quickly fill up on your $4 engine pieces.  But here you don't see the Talisman so often and it gums up your engine.  With the Ghost ships slowing you down, you only ever got to use your Talisman 3 times.  Considering that you could have bought a $4 engine piece rather than the Talisman in the first place, you really only netted two cards from it.  Turn 17 would likely have been a Province a Province if your Talisman were a Conspirator.

[Burning Skull]

If not for embargo, I would say Apothecary + Ironmonger + Ghost Ship is a way to go here..

[SCSN]

With 3/4 as P2 I'd still go for Apothecaries, that way you can get at least 1 and maybe 2 Apothecaries before he embargoes them, and a single Embargo might not even dissuade me from getting 1 or 2 more.

[luser]

Also apothecary looks as best way to thin your deck and counter of ghost ship.

I would skip a fortune teller here. It antisynergizes with ghost ship and silver looks better than adding terminal silver.