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[Polk5440]

A brand new kingdom is in front of you. What do you do? Before you make that opening buy, you have to read the kingdom. The following checklist is not a decision tree to tell you which strategy is best in a given kingdom or with what to open; this checklist is about organizing the information that’s there to make the decision easier.

The Pre-Game Checklist

• Acknowledge my opponent; affirm that I am playing a friendly game of Dominion (type “good luck”, shake hands, or similar).

Ok, now look at the kingdom! What’s there? Look for both categories AND specific cards. Dominion is a game of 205 kingdom cards, and it is not so useful to completely divorce combinations of abilities from published cards when reading a kingdom. Categories and the cards within them are not mutually exclusive, they overlap somewhat. This is good because important things get repeated in the reading of the kingdom. When I think of cards within categories, I have a loose ranking of them in my head. This helps me better organize the kingdom in my head and speed along analysis. In my pre-game checklist, you will see categories and cards I keep at the top of the loose ranking for that category. 

• Attacks?
  
  • Junking (Mountebank, Cultist, Ambassador, Witch,…)
  • Discard (Ghost ship*, Goons, Militia, …)
  • Possession** (ugh) or Knights (double ugh!)
  • Treasure Trashers (Noble Brigand, Pirate Ship, Thief, …)
  • Are there hard defenses/counters? (Lighthouse, Watchtower, Trader, …)
  • Are there soft defenses/counters? (sifting, trashing, draw to X, virtual coin, …)

The first thing I usually look for are attacks and defenses for them. This isn’t an exhaustive list of attack types; however, the others (like spying attacks) are usually too weak to bother with making a special note up front.

(* and **) Yes, I know. Ghost Ship doesn’t technically make you discard cards and Possession is not an attack card. I put them in those lists, anyway.

Next, I am on the lookout for strong, single-card strategies. I want to make a mental note that these cards are in the kingdom AND remind myself they are very powerful alone.

• Single Card Strategies? (Rebuild, Jack of All Trades, Hunting Party + X, Governor, Minion, Ill-Gotten Gains, …)

Next up are the power cards. These cards are not necessarily amazing all by themselves (although they can be). What is true is that they are usually hard to ignore; they are focal to most games in which they appear.

• Focal/Power cards? (Goons, King’s Court, Fool’s Gold, Knights, Potion-cost cards, Tournament, Tunnel, Bridge, Highway, Tactician, Menagerie, …)

I usually try to identify the “most powerful/most focal” card(s) in the kingdom. In addition, at this point I start looking for cards that go well with or counter the single card strategies or power cards and begin laying out strategic options. For example, I see Minion. What goes well with Minion? Pawn? Candlestick Maker? Or maybe, there’s Rebuild… and Possession. Tunnel is enabled by Navigator and Cartographer. There’s Witch, but also Chapel. And so on. I try to read the kingdom in a way that organizes the information in useful ways around (potentially good) strategies.

Next, up? Well, next up are a series of things I look for “at the same time.” I have to list them, so they are in an order, but for me, they’re not really in order.

One of the things I do at this point is check off what “engine” components are present in the kingdom: Villages, plus buy, cantrips (+1 Card, +1 Action) and non-terminals (+1 Action), draw, and trashing (not in any particular order).  Or A-B-C-D-T (actions, buys, cantrips, draw, and trashing). I am using “engine” loosely, here. It’s more like “action-based deck.” At the same time, I try to figure out how the components fit together.

• “Engine” Components?
  
  • Villages?
    
    • +2 Actions or more? (Village and its variants, Nobles, Squire, etc.)
    • Throne Rooms (King’s Court, Procession, Throne Room, Golem, …)
  • Plus buy?
    
    • Actual +Buy
    • Gain (Ironworks, Workshop, University, Haggler, Border Village, Black Market, Horn of Plenty, …)
    • Remodel (Butcher, Upgrade, Remake, Remodel, …)
  • Cantrips and non-terminals? (Conspirator, Mystic, Wishing Well, Highway, Peddler,…)
  • Draw?
    
    • Big Draw (Scrying Pool, Smithy, Hunting Grounds, Menagerie, Tactician, ….)
    • Draw to X (Library, Watchtower, …)
    • Little draw (Courtyard, Laboratory, Oracle,…)
  • Trashing?
    
    • Strong (Masquerade, Steward, Chapel, …)
    • Weak (Spice Merchant, Moneylender, Trade Route, Lookout, Loan,…)
    • Cycling/Sifting? (Cartographer, Warehouse, Storeroom, …)

I group cycling cards with weak trashing when identifying what’s possible for action-based decks. They often serve a similar purpose: see and play good cards more often.

I like to think of “big draw” and “little draw.” This is not so much a function of the number of cards drawn as it is a function of whether the card is good for decks with lots of actions. Courtyard and Embassy are usually “little draws” when it comes to fitting them in an engine, but “big draws” when it comes to big money strategies (we’re be looking for those components later). More so than other categories, big and little draw depend heavily on the actual cards and whether they are fitting with a money- or action-based strategy, not parsing out the ability.

Whether and what type of draw is present is going to determine what your action-deck options are going to look like. No cards in the kingdom draw you more than one card? Then be on the lookout for gaining lots of cantrips and utilizing good trashing. Good draw to X? You don’t need to pay a premium for cantrips or villages that also draw a card. Lots of big draw? You want to benefit from those large hand sizes. Little draw? You are probably going to need a plan that doesn’t require gigantic hand sizes or a very action-dense deck.

You do not need to check off all 5 categories to put together a reasonable action-based deck. How many you need and in what strength depends on what else you have identified in the kingdom. We’re still trying to figure out what’s possible; however, at this point, some very rudimentary analysis is worthwhile. What is the payload of an action-based deck going to be, and what is the eventual goal? How will you win?

• Combos or Rushes? (Hermit-Market Square, Ironworks-Silk Road, Native Village-Bridge, KC-Bridge, Beggar-Gardens, …)

It’s important to be on the lookout for powerful known combos, and this is about the time I do it. Even if they are not stronger than the engine based strategies, single card strategies, or power card strategies identified earlier, you have to be aware of them. Sometimes, combos will be the strongest and most obvious thing to do in the kingdom.

• Big Money + X Enablers? (Courtyard, Jack of All Trades, Embassy, Vault, Smithy, …)

Lookout for Big Money + X enablers. I like to figure out what my best money-based strategy is after I have determined the action-based strategies. Often, you can just breeze right though this step because you already have such powerful options on the table, but every once in a while there will be a couple of viable options to seriously ponder, often because there is nothing much happening in the kingdom. I also like to remind myself that weak trashing like Loan and Lookout are probably not going to help a Big Money + X strategy, and the presence of strong trashing or attacks (especially discard attacks) makes Big Money + X weaker.

• Treasures? (Platinum, Ill-Gotten Gains, Masterpiece, Counterfeit, Horn of Plenty, …)

While I am looking for big money strategies, I also ponder the Treasure options. Many Treasures give Big Money + X a real boost, but I also take this opportunity to double-check for Treasures that might help out other action-based strategies. And I look for IGG again. Just in case.

• Colonies? Alt VP? (Vineyards, Fairgrounds, Duke, Silk Road, Gardens, VP tokens, ...)

We’ve looked for Action-based strategies and Treasure-based strategies, so also be sure to check for alternative victory point strategies. Check for Colonies. Check for VP tokens. Check for green kingdom cards. We’ve already done a lot of this; maybe you’ve already integrated alt VP into an action-based deck as your ultimate goal. But here I ask, “Is there another strategy built around alternate VP I haven’t considered, yet?”

• Are there any special setup differences to note? (Bane? Colonies? Shelters? Ruins? Spoils? Is there a second page to Goko? Do I start with a Baker token?, … )

Lastly, be sure you’ve scanned the whole set up. This is already done if you are the one setting up the cards for your friends at the kitchen table, but just in case, make sure you understand if there are any special set-up differences to this kingdom such as Colonies or Shelters, whether you start with a Baker token, and so on.

Now, you’ve read the kingdom! You have in hand some strategies to think about and compare. Often, you’ll just have one you think is best. If so, play that one***! If not, then you’ve hit upon an interesting kingdom; do some thinking, do some comparisons, make a decision and dive in – it’ll be a fun game!

(***) A quick note on play: Even if you are convinced there is one best strategy, watch out for whether your opponent mirrors you. HOW you play will change. What strategy you play should NOT change. This is why engine mirrors in two player games can take more turns to play out then big money games. If the engine is best and one player goes big money, the engine player will crush the big money player. If both players go engine, then the players are competing for the same pieces. That can slow the decks down a lot; however, it’s not better to deviate and play big money because the player that gets uncontested access to the engine pieces will win outright.

An Abbreviation
GASP! ABCD-T times two! (“Good luck” or similar, Attacks? Single card strategies? Power cards? For an action-based deck, are there actions, plus buy, cantrips, draw, and/or trashing? Alt VP? Big Money enablers? Combos? Differences in the setup? Treasures?). Ok, that was stupid.

But it’s really not as much to remember as it seems.

[soulnet]

Unless you can actually use Possession to muck the other guys deck/game state (remove cards via Ambassador, Masquerade or less likely Island, or use up returnable resources like a Native Village mat, Spoils, Madmen or coin tokens, or topdeck to junk your deck with Apothecary or clever usage of Cartographer or similar) it is really not an Attack and it is more similar to a strong Outpost. Of course, you need to play around Possession heavily, but it is NOT an Attack in the sense that it does not disrupt your own game most of the time, it just gives a benefit to the opponent depending on your own deck (like Tribute does).

[Polk5440]

Unless you can actually use Possession to muck the other guys deck/game state (remove cards via Ambassador, Masquerade or less likely Island, or use up returnable resources like a Native Village mat, Spoils, Madmen or coin tokens, or topdeck to junk your deck with Apothecary or clever usage of Cartographer or similar) it is really not an Attack and it is more similar to a strong Outpost. Of course, you need to play around Possession heavily, but it is NOT an Attack in the sense that it does not disrupt your own game most of the time, it just gives a benefit to the opponent depending on your own deck (like Tribute does).

Most of the time when I play it, it does.  Triggering bad reshuffles, Spying abilities, and the list above. It doesn't take much else in the kingdom to take advantage of a Possession turn to hurt the Possessed player a lot on boards where you want to buy a Possession in the first place.

[AJD]

Unless you can actually use Possession to muck the other guys deck/game state it is really not an Attack and it is more similar to a strong Outpost.

(Possession is to Outpost as Smugglers is to Workshop! Uh, kinda.)

[assemble_me]

Wow. That's much more than I'd expected. I think this totally excels my post, I guess I stick to yours.

[Davio]

The way I go about examining kingdoms is basically this:

- Look for obvious components and combos
- Look for reasons to exclude them

The most powerful cards immediately draw attention: King's Court, Goons, Mountebank, etc...
Then I start looking for reasons to ignore them. If I can't find any, I'll look for reasons to build around them.

Most kingdoms have various amounts of:
- Hammer cards: Cards that give you the best possible bonus or hurt the opponent the most. Think Bridge, Mountebank, etc. You usually want to King's Court these. These cards have the biggest direct impact on either player's deck and gaining power.
- Support cards: Cards that don't give you a direct bonus, but rather an indirect bonus; drawers, cyclers and such go here. They don't deliver a final blow, but help you streamline your deck and play your hammer cards more often
- Ignorable cards: Scout
- In-betweeners: Cards that don't play a pivotal role in your deck, but don't hurt either, like Pearl Diver etc. They exist mostly to spend leftover buys on if you're tired of Silver

Hammer cards are not simply attackers or Bridge-like cards, Duke is a possible hammer card if it gives you a big amount of points. Hammer cards are like a coat-rack I hang my strategy on and they help in answering the only question that matters: How am I going to win?

You can win by getting more points than the other guy of course, but that's rather vague and starting out buying Estates doesn't help. So I set a sub-goal for myself: How do I gain control? Dominion often feels like a tug-of-war where you're both wrestling to take the upper hand. You start getting a better feel for whether you're in better or worse shape than your opponent as you play more games. Control is when your deck is better than your opponent's and there's no easy way for him to come back.

I gain control by shaping my deck to provide a good average amount of money/cost-reduction/buys/gains while trying to hinder my opponent from doing the same. Usually, hammer cards are the main way to do either or both.

[Polk5440]

Wow. That's much more than I'd expected. I think this totally excels my post, I guess I stick to yours.

I think it's fun reading how different people approach a kingdom. The reason I wrote this up in the first place was because I liked how AdamH goes through kingdoms at the start of his videos and I wondered, "what do I do?"

[assemble_me]

Wow. That's much more than I'd expected. I think this totally excels my post, I guess I stick to yours.

I think it's fun reading how different people approach a kingdom. The reason I wrote this up in the first place was because I liked how AdamH goes through kingdoms at the start of his videos and I wondered, "what do I do?"

Yes, he's been inspiring for me the same way . He does what I try to say in my post: He takes his time to look through all available cards and synergies on the board. He exercises through his own list and gets an idea what to do. I think it was a big improvement for my own play, when I just started to take some time first. Asking yourself these questions is just a way to focus on every aspect of the board and not running blindly into something when something else, maybe even obvious (as said, like Ironworks-Gardens as an own strategy - or something less obvious like a Lookout as defense against a Sea Hag), is waiting for you.

[Davio]

Now that I think more about it, I try to judge 2 main aspects of the board as a whole and every strategy I'm considering: Speed and dependability. Junkers make the board slower and make strategies less dependable. Trashers make strategies quicker and more dependable. The hard part is figuring out by how much these aspects change when certain cards are included.

[soulnet]

Triggering bad reshuffles, Spying abilities, and the list above. It doesn't take much else in the kingdom to take advantage of a Possession turn to hurt the Possessed player a lot on boards where you want to buy a Possession in the first place.

I disagree a bit, in the following sense: It takes a lot to be able to muck the opponent's deck/game state enough for the effect to be significant compared to the extra gains it provides. I think most often than not the Attack is a couple of Spies at best, and a lot of times is nothing. Is "Each opponent discards their hand and draws 5 cards." an Attack? It is if you played Council Room, it is not if you played Militia.

[qdread]

One thing I am curious about is how much top-level players strategize ahead of time on which three piles should be depleted, if they're going for a three-pile ending. I feel like I rarely plan too far ahead on that unless it is something obvious like Ill-Gotten Gains or Bridge/Native Village. However maybe I would have more success if I planned that more carefully. Do you think planning which three piles to aim for should be included in this kingdom reading article?

[KingZog3]

One thing I am curious about is how much top-level players strategize ahead of time on which three piles should be depleted, if they're going for a three-pile ending. I feel like I rarely plan too far ahead on that unless it is something obvious like Ill-Gotten Gains or Bridge/Native Village. However maybe I would have more success if I planned that more carefully. Do you think planning which three piles to aim for should be included in this kingdom reading article?

You don't need to plan, usually you can tell which ones are going to empty. Things like Fishing Village, or Nobles are cards that tend to empty because they are often very useful.

The only time you need to really plan is if you're going for and Alt VP strategy, and usually its obvious which ones. The VP, the gainer cards and either Duchies or Estates.

[Awaclus]

I don't think it's necessary to plan before the game starts. It's better to plan after seeing if there's a card your opponent's going to piledrive etc.

[sudgy]

The only time you need to really plan is if you're going for and Alt VP strategy, and usually its obvious which ones. The VP, the gainer cards and either Duchies or Estates.

I don't think it's just the Duchies or Estates, I've piled another kingdom pile too (for instance, Workshop/Village/Gardens, because the Villages let me play more workshops).

[Polk5440]

One thing I am curious about is how much top-level players strategize ahead of time on which three piles should be depleted, if they're going for a three-pile ending. I feel like I rarely plan too far ahead on that unless it is something obvious like Ill-Gotten Gains or Bridge/Native Village. However maybe I would have more success if I planned that more carefully. Do you think planning which three piles to aim for should be included in this kingdom reading article?

hmmmm. I feel like this could be a good follow-up article by someone who is not me.

I think you are getting at how to play an engine mirror where it's pretty clear (once both players have revealed their intent) three piles are going to run. I don't think about three piling at all at the start of the game. This is what I was getting at with the How to play versus What to play:

A quick note on play: Even if you are convinced there is one best strategy, watch out for whether your opponent mirrors you. HOW you play will change. What strategy you play should NOT change. This is why engine mirrors in two player games can take more turns to play out then big money games. If the engine is best and one player goes big money, the engine player will crush the big money player. If both players go engine, then the players are competing for the same pieces. That can slow the decks down a lot; however, it’s not better to deviate and play big money because the player that gets uncontested access to the engine pieces will win outright.

For instance, the Hermit-Market Square article has a pretty clear formula to follow in a non-mirror. If it's the best strategy on the board, both players will go for it, but you can't execute like that article anymore. You change how you play. If there is a key card to executing your plan, you should go for winning that split (Bridge, Hunting Party, Highway, Duchy/Duke, the one and only village on the board, etc.). But again, that's changing how I play once the game is underway and responding to how your opponent is playing, as well. Not really planning for it from the start.

[Davio]

One thing I am curious about is how much top-level players strategize ahead of time on which three piles should be depleted, if they're going for a three-pile ending. I feel like I rarely plan too far ahead on that unless it is something obvious like Ill-Gotten Gains or Bridge/Native Village. However maybe I would have more success if I planned that more carefully. Do you think planning which three piles to aim for should be included in this kingdom reading article?

I don't plan for it, but I try to grab an opportunity when it presents itself.

[dondon151]

I don't personally spend too much time going through a mental checklist before playing a kingdom. I honestly think it's a waste of time. The one general element of the kingdom to look for is the card interactions. That sounds terribly vague, but it's mostly true. They could be anywhere from specific combos to attacks that make other cards weaker in the opponent's deck.

WRT 3-piles: I think it's important to predict which piles are the most likely to run out, but a predetermined game plan to run out those 3 piles is ill-advised. Making the prediction heightens your awareness of a possible 3-pile ending.

[Davio]

I just go: "Look at all the Scouts that are gone, maybe I can use them as my 3rd pile!"




(Swindler)

[AdamH]

While it doesn't help everyone, I've found that going through my own mental checklist prevents me from realizing there's no +Buy on turn 12 or things like that. Most of the reason I go through the process on video is so that the commentary is more meaningful, and I'm even more thorough in tournament matches. When I'm just playing casually, I certainly don't go through the process every single time.

...but there is a clear difference in how well I play. When I play casually I make a lot of silly mistakes that cost me games. When I play tournament matches and talk through everything out loud thoroughly I make the semifinals of GokoDom. At some point, you aren't going to get any better unless you stop making silly mistakes because the level of play is so high, and as I've developed this process for myself over the years, it's easy to see I've become a much better Dominion player for it.

I'm not saying this kind of thing is going to help everybody, everyone's mind works differently. On the other hand, assemble, I don't think this article is better or worse than yours, I just think it's different. Different things are going to be running through different peoples' minds as they look at a board and the more different options they hear, the more likely it is that they'll find something out there that resonates with them and helps them develop their own process. There's definitely value in having several of these kinds of articles because they're so personal in nature, and I don't think you should just defer to this one because you think it's better.

Anyone out there who disagrees with anything in the article, unless it's just plain wrong, I think the most productive thing to do with your disagreement is just to share what you do and embrace the differences; I don't think there's a "right" or "wrong" way to do this.

And as for the current discussion, I know Possession isn't an attack but I flag it when I'm looking at attacks because that's where it makes sense to me. It's something your opponent can do to you that should cause you to play differently, and when I'm trying to see the landscape of the game, Possession fits in that category well enough that I talk/think about it then. But that's just me.

[DG]

"One thing I am curious about is how much top-level players strategize ahead of time on which three piles should be depleted"

Should be? Could be? It's important to be aware of which piles could run out and how the three card ending can arise. You can always adjust your thinking if your opponent starts doing something unexpected. If you're planning to end the game early on a three pile finish then you should have specific piles in mind and a choice of piles is better. It's even better to get control of the three pile finish so you have options to either end the game or continue to score. Awareness of a 3 pile ending can also show the importance of leads.

For the checklist I think there could be something added about key cards and key costs. This mostly falls into strategy but before that you need an aware of the problems you might have, such as finding 9 coins for platinum in a game with goons.

[sudgy]

While it doesn't help everyone, I've found that going through my own mental checklist prevents me from realizing there's no +Buy on turn 12 or things like that.

I learned that lesson the hard way through a game you recorded with me...

[Polk5440]

And as for the current discussion, I know Possession isn't an attack but I flag it when I'm looking at attacks because that's where it makes sense to me. It's something your opponent can do to you that should cause you to play differently, and when I'm trying to see the landscape of the game, Possession fits in that category well enough that I talk/think about it then. But that's just me.

That is a very good way of putting it. Thanks. That is how I am thinking about it, too.

Speaking of, yesterday I Islanded an opponent's Possession while possessing him and then spent all his coin tokens.

[Burning Skull]

yesterday I Islanded an opponent's Possession while possessing him and then spent all his coin tokens.

Now that's cool. Meet Island: disastrous card-stealing attack! 

[KingZog3]

yesterday I Islanded an opponent's Possession while possessing him and then spent all his coin tokens.

Now that's cool. Meet Island: disastrous card-stealing attack! 

Even worse if you used his BoM as an Island to remove his Possession.

[AndrewisFTTW]

yesterday I Islanded an opponent's Possession while possessing him and then spent all his coin tokens.

Now that's cool. Meet Island: disastrous card-stealing attack! 

Even worse if you used his BoM as an Island to remove his Possession.

And even worse is when you.... I got nothing.