Logs and comments on the games. I recorded video, but I'm having difficulties chopping it into pieces. Will get that fixed soon hopefully.
Game 1 olneyce 52 – 27 Wandering Winder
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201201/19/game-20120119-113746-9e7a2452.htmlKey Cards: Hunting Party, King’s Court, Conspirator, Smugglers
In this game, my draws played me more than the other way around. I hit $7 on turn 4 and felt obliged to take a King’s Court. On my next three turns I got $5 and a Hunting Party, then $4 and a Conspirator, and finally $7 and another King’s Court. That was some pretty good shuffle-luck – since those were precisely the pieces that I wanted. From that point on, I pretty much hit way above $8 and bought a Province, or hit less than $8, and picked up a couple pieces to try and maintain my advantage. I bought Great Halls as a potential tiebreaker – and as another action that I could King’s Court if necessary. I think the only particularly clever thing I did was to snag a Smugglers on turn 16, which I was then able to King’s Court two turns later to get three Duchies.
Game 2 Wandering Winder 85 – 51 olneyce
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201201/19/game-20120119-114631-22a9e607.htmlKey Cards: Wharf
Nothing particularly complicated here. I tried to get fancy here, and bought a bunch of terminals on a board with no +actions. Then, realizing that simple Wharf/Big Money was going to dominate me, I tried to get some Wharves, too. But you know how that ends: my Wharves drew my Grand Markets dead, and my already significant deficit only continued to grow.
Game 3 olneyce 34 – 20 Wandering Winder
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201201/19/game-20120119-115604-815a0f03.htmlKey Cards: Young Witch, Menagerie (bane), Forge
I think I played this one pretty well, though maybe people can comment on whether I just got lucky. I bought Menageries far earlier than him. My goal was to get some curses into his deck to slow him down, buy single copies of Silver and Gold, and then get a Forge to clean out as much as possible from my deck. I was hoping for a synergy there – use the Forge to trash a bit, which will make it more likely my Menageries work as super-Labs, which in turn will give me bigger hands that I can Forge into useful parts. On turn 15 this all came together, and my deck was pretty well set. This game is also notable for having Tournament on the board and both of us basically ignoring it.
Game 4 Wandering Winder 41 -
41 olneycehttp://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201201/19/game-20120119-120545-c281283a.htmlKey Cards: Tournament (Followers), Scheme, Baron, Lighthouse
A Tournament game, and a pretty interesting one, I think. He went for the BM approach to getting Provinces, opening Silver/Courtyard, while I opted for Barons. He got a Province on turn 6, while I got them on 7 and 8. He won the first Tournament and picked up a Followers, which he then kept in his hand for a significant chunk of the rest of the game with Schemes. Meanwhile, I was using Schemes to keep Stables on top to let myself draw a bunch. I took a Trusy Steed on turn 13, hoping to use the +actions to play two Barons. I did it on that turn, but actually only ever saw the Steed once more in the game. I had four Provinces by turn 13, and spent the rest of the game trying to maintain enough parity with the other green cards to keep him from passing me. As we raced for Estates it became increasingly clear to me that his Followers giving out Curses was going to drag me further and further backward – and I was increasingly unlikely to hit $8 to get the final Province.
I think we had both lost track of the score a bit though, because he ended the game with us tied, and thus lost as the first player – in a circumstance where he could have dealt out another Curse on the next turn. I actually thought I was still ahead by a point or two so was surprised to find out I only won on the tiebreaker. I’d certainly be curious to hear from people about the endgame. What mistakes did we both make? What should I have been doing once I had compiled a lead in order to block him out?
Game 5 Wandering Winder 34 – 24 olneyce
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201201/19/game-20120119-121352-7506532e.htmlKey Cards: University, Smithy, Cartographer, Alchemist
He went for a pretty straightforward money game, buying only a Moneylender and two Merchant Ships. I went for a massively complex engine – using Universities to gain Smithies, Cartographers, and Hamlets. My engine got humming pretty well by turn 11, but I just didn’t have quite enough money to get good use from it. Despite playing 15 cards on turn 14 I still only had $12 to spend. Even worse, I didn’t have any drawing cards in my following hand, so when he bought the penultimate Province, I couldn’t do anything about it and he then finished off the game. I'd like to think a better engine could win the game here, but is it just too complex to take on his more direct strategy?
Game 6 olneyce 35 – 34 Wandering Winder
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201201/19/game-20120119-122338-cb7b00ef.htmlKey Cards: Rabble, Salvager, (Walled) Village, Caravan
We used identical starting hands, which meant we were both stuck with 5/2 on a board where it was not ideal. I opted for a Salvager rather than a Rabble, hoping to trim my deck a bit and get some bang for my buck. In a change from several of our previous games, I went for simplicity while he constructed an engine with villages and Rabbles. I used my Salvager liberally, trashing my only Rabble on turn 11 to get a Province and my second Gold on turn 14 to do the same, and also trashing a couple Provinces to hold onto my lead.
Once I got my fourth Province (with one trashed), I knew I simply had to keep him from getting too many of the other green cards to cut into my lead. Then, I was able to trash another Province, guaranteeing me a 12-point advantage there. If I could get three Duchies, he wouldn’t be able to catch me no matter what. Unfortunately, he bought the final three Duchies, giving him a 6/2 split there – effectively neutralizing my Province lead. So we started Estate-dancing, and I was able to one ahead every turn. My real hope was to draw my Salvager with a Province, to trash it and finish out the game. But absent that, I knew that if could hold onto my one-Estate advantage, I would win even if he bought the final Province. Which is precisely what happened. On turn 22 I bought the final Estate – and then had to hold my breath through several more turns to find out if I had kept track of all the numbers correctly.
A very hard-fought set of games, with some pretty interesting components. The first player won every game except for the 4th one, which was decided on the tiebreaker.