The way I see it, the primary goal when playing with a fresh recruit is to make Dominion attractive to them. Thus, I try to tailor the experience to their personality.
Some people have prior experience with Eurogames, others don't.
Some people like to have a solid grasp of the fundamentals before moving on, others like being thrown into the deep end.
Some people expect to lose their first time playing a new game, others never want to play again if they lose the first time. (Usually, because they assume that the game is "too hard" for them.)
Some people only have about a 30 minute attention span for a game, others are happy to play a 5-hour game of chess.
Some people learn best by reading a rulebook, others are kinesthetic learners and catch on faster by going through practice motions.
Some people are only 5-years-old and can barely read the cards. ("Daddy, what does reveal mean?")
My sister-in-law hated the Witch, because she thought it was mean that her husband was giving her -1 curses. (So we don't play with cursers when she's in the game. If Witch was in the first game she played, she may not have ever played again.)
Generally speaking, "complexity" in a game is attractive to some people, while it scares off others. Some people see complexity and start engaging with it, asking questions, make an attempt to grok it. (I gather that just about everyone who reads this forum has this trait.) Other people respond to complexity with a sense of being overwhelmed, and therefore not interested (like someone explaining differential equations to a person who doesn't know algebra). Still others may be capable of understanding, but, seeing too much complexity, dismiss the subject with an "I don't have time for this" kind of approach.
I'm a huge fan of complexity, and thoroughly enjoy the
variant of Dominion where all kingdom cards are in play. But pretend Magnus Carlsen was my recruit. He definitely has a mind capable of learning all aspects of Dominion, has the patience to play a long game, and excels in complexity. However, let's say I decided to introduce him to Dominion using the all-kingdom-cards variant for his first game. And then I proceeded to pulverize him before turn 10 with
a Band of Misfits combo. I think we'd all understand if Magnus wasn't interested in a rematch.
My point is that for some people, the 10-card kingdom can have a similar initial effect as the 250-card kingdom. If you see that deer-in-the-headlights look on the recruits face,
and they aren't asking questions... you're giving them too much, too quickly. Ask them if they want to play a practice round with just the fundamentals. Since we can scale the amount of complexity present in the player's first game of Dominion, we can hit that sweet spot of "enough complexity to be interesting, but not so much that it turns them off of the game".
Kind regards,
David
PS For anyone who cares, my preferred way of learning a game is like how my brother taught me Terra Mystica. He had played it before, so I told him to just start off playing the full game with me a few turns, and tell me when I screw up. Once I felt like I had a grasp on all the mechanics involved (the power, the turn bonuses, etc.) we aborted that game, and started over playing a "real" game.
I learned Dominion by Donald's method.
I learned chess by rook-and-king vs king.