This game wasn't so exciting as a whole, but I can't stop thinking about this sequence of turns. The preamble to it is my opponent had been buying a lot actions and trashing his Coppers (with a Spice Merchant). There were no Villages or other +2 action sources, he'd also picked up a few too many terminals. I was playing a pretty straight Masquerade game.
--- tantastik's turn 6 ---
tantastik plays a Scheme.
... drawing 1 card and getting +1 action.
tantastik plays a Smugglers.
... gaining a Silver.
tantastik puts a Smugglers back on the deck.
(tantastik reshuffles.)
(tantastik draws: 3 Coppers, a Smugglers, and a Spice Merchant.)
After watching this I draw $6, but know he's got a Smugglers sitting in his hand. I really don't want to give him a free Gold. So I buy a card that will at least be okay in my deck, but will be terrible in his deck, Envoy. He'll be drawing all his terminals and I can make him discard his treasure. He then proceeds to mindlessly gain the Envoy.
--- Jorbles's turn 6 ---
Jorbles plays a Pawn.
... getting +1 action and +$1.
Jorbles plays a Masquerade.
... drawing 2 cards.
... trashing an Estate.
Jorbles plays 3 Coppers and a Silver.
Jorbles buys an Envoy.
(Jorbles reshuffles.)
(Jorbles draws: 2 Coppers, a Pawn, a Silver, and a Masquerade.)
--- tantastik's turn 7 ---
tantastik plays a Spice Merchant.
... trashing a Copper.
... drawing 2 cards and getting +1 action.
tantastik plays a Scheme.
... drawing 1 card and getting +1 action.
tantastik plays a Smugglers.
... gaining an Envoy.
tantastik puts a Scheme back on the deck.
(tantastik draws: 2 Coppers, 2 Schemes, and a Silver.)
Now I can buy a Gold without giving him a freebie. I picked up my Envoy here and decided that it would hurt his deck more than it would help mine and promptly passed it to him.
--- Jorbles's turn 7 ---
Jorbles plays a Pawn.
... getting +1 action and +$1.
Jorbles plays a Masquerade.
... drawing 2 cards.
Jorbles plays 3 Coppers and a Silver.
Jorbles buys a Gold.
(Jorbles draws: 4 Coppers and a Silver.)
His turn 8 was the high point of the whole thing, which happened the next turn when he got to play his new Envoy for the first time. He still picked up a Gold, but the Envoy was very unhelpful in the process, and he promptly trashed the other Envoy (I imagine) in disgust.
--- tantastik's turn 8 ---
tantastik plays a Scheme.
... drawing 1 card and getting +1 action.
tantastik plays a Scheme.
... drawing 1 card and getting +1 action.
tantastik plays an Envoy.
... (tantastik reshuffles.)
... drawing an Envoy, a Scheme, a Spice Merchant, and 2 Estates.
... discarding a Scheme and putting the rest into the hand.
tantastik plays 2 Coppers and 2 Silvers.
tantastik buys a Farmland.
... trashing an Envoy.
... gaining a Gold.
tantastik puts a Scheme and a Scheme back on the deck (first on top).
(tantastik draws: a Smugglers, 2 Schemes, and 2 Estates.)
I guess the interesting point being that in a deck not designed for it a terminal card drawer can be terrible. Having the Envoy did end up helping him once, but the rest of the time it ended up being a dead card in his hand and twice he played it only to discard a bunch of actions. Do you guys ever do shenanigans like this with Smugglers to mess with your opponents deck and do you think it was actually worth it for me to? I'm pleased with the result, but I'm not sure it was worth the risk.
The game itself ended up bogging down when he picked up a Saboteur and managed to knock out some of my economy after I'd started greening, but I managed to slog it out for a win trashing a Farmlands to gain the final Province.
