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[tko]

I keep hearing about "Double Jack" but I'm not clear on how the strategy works.  Could someone post a game log?

When do you buy the 2nd Jack of All Trades?  Turn 3 or 4?  Does it change things if you get $6 and $3 or $5 and $5 on those turns?

It's between turn 8-11, and the Jacks collide... do you trash one?

Thank you in advance for the help.

[def]

What about this one? You buy the second Jack as early as possible, but not over Gold I think; you don't trash one when they collide.

This game is a perfect example of how ridiculous it can be, pretty much perfect draws result in 6 Provinces in 13 turns and my try for a sophisticated engine doesn't pay off at all. There are not many multi-card-comboes - or let's say there are, but you won't see them this often on boards with Jack - that can beat it reliably.

It probably would be nice for you to see an example without good draws and how fast it is in that situation, but I don't have one now. You can try to search logs of good players on councilroom for it, maybe something like "2 Jack of all Trades," will do it.

[HiveMindEmulator]

"double jack" is pretty formulaic. Your buy priorities are, in order:
1. Province
2. Duchy/Estate if game is close enough to ending
3. Gold
4. Jack (up to 2)
5. Silver
That's it. It is a pretty fast strategy and doesn't require much thinking, but it's rarely the best strategy on any given board. In def's example, there are no $5 cards, but usually getting any decent $5 card is better than a second jack. In the example specifically, I think double jack should lose to courtyard+money or jack+warehouse.

[tko]

In def's example, there are no $5 cards, but usually getting any decent $5 card is better than a second jack.

What are some $5 cards that would best a 2nd Jack?

Governor seems pretty fast though admittedly I don't have handle on how to play that card.  I played in a 4 player game IRL and had 2 Jacks and before I knew it the game was out of control as the Governor players were getting Golds in their deck so quickly.

[WanderingWinder]

In def's example, there are no $5 cards, but usually getting any decent $5 card is better than a second jack.

What are some $5 cards that would best a 2nd Jack?

Governor seems pretty fast though admittedly I don't have handle on how to play that card.  I played in a 4 player game IRL and had 2 Jacks and before I knew it the game was out of control as the Governor players were getting Golds in their deck so quickly.

Governor is NOT all that good in Jack games. You aren't going to get enough of them to chain, the draw won't help all that much (will help your opponent at least as much on average), opponents getting more silver is actually almost as big a deal as you getting gold, and the trashing... you can turn a silver into duchy, buy duchy fairly often, but then, you could have had two duchies buying one over gov in the first place. Still, it's probably better than not.
Almost any generally decent card (exceptions: lab variants) is going to be better than a second jack, I think.