Here is a couple of nice games I played against dudeabides (nice guy, btw, do not hesitate to play with him). We played it, analyze and replayed. I streamed and recorded the replay, so here are the kingdom, the two logs and the video:
Crossroads, Hamlet, Ambassador, JackOfAllTrades, Salvager, Festival, Haggler, Outpost, Rogue, Tactician
First game logSecond game logSecond game videoIn the first game, I went for Jack/Amb to thin out into Hamlet/Xroads for actions and Festival/Haggler/Salver for money, using Jack and double-Tactitian for draw. Lots of combos. Jack loves disappearing villages (Necro, Hamlet, Festival) and both Jack and Tactitian love dissapearing money (Festival, Haggler, Salvager). Also, there are nice cheap piles, so Haggler is a must.
He opens Silver/Salvager, which I think is a mistake for any plan. In any case, he says he wants Tact ASAP and thus skips Amb, although he said after the game he would rather open Silver/Jack. I say Amb is key to thin out coppers, and with both Jack draw-to-5 and Tact's discard, Amb does not wastes your hand.
I won the first one due to building up much faster thanks to increased cycling and thinning, and I clinched points early. Possibly misplayed the endgame, got a little to confident, and could have lost it to some bad draws for me or good draws for him.
The second game was much closer. He could not open Jack due to getting 5/2, but still went heavy into Tact and Outpost (with Jacks this time), while I went into Ambassador early. I got pretty bad draws in the beginning and thought it was doomed (you can hear me whine about it in the video), but then the Ambassador thinning proves to be key, as he starts getting some bad draws while I consistently draw my deck or most of it. However, he is in the lead thanks to his better start, but I concentrated on watching piles trying to squeeze the win and his Copper finally gives him bad draws while I get a good turn and pile out while grabbing exactly the extra point I need to win. I think he misplayed the endgame, not getting an extra point in his last turn and getting xroads instead which made it easier for me to 3-pile, I guess it was probably due to being his second really bad turn in a row.
So, please comment on the games, but also on the kingdom. How many Jacks do you want? Is Jack and Salvage Silvers really good? Is it better to try to load up on Festivals faster for money? Is there something better than double Tactitian?
Also, if you can comment on the video, it would be great. I am going to stream live for GokoDom this weekend for the first time and I would love some pointers.