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[Polk5440]

I have my F.DS Championship Round 3 match against Stef scheduled for Saturday. Any advice for playing against him? Or on how to prepare? Or maybe more generally, how do you make sure you bring your "A" game to a match?

[AdrianHealey]

Incapacitate him before the match

[Limetime]

Bribe him?

[jsh357]

Play safe strategies if there is a riskier one apparent unless you are very sure the riskier one is worth it.

Dare him to try and win with a terrible card. This works more than you'd think.

Stef is human. Don't let yourself be pressured or let him get in your head (not that he's trying to--people put him there themselves). He doesn't win just because he's Stef. You have the same capacity to make good decisions and shuffle luck is as big a factor against him as anybody else.

[SCSN]

Bring lots of coffee so he can't lull you to sleep.

[AdrianHealey]

Buy a scout as opening move and confuse him from there.

[Chris is me]

At first I thought you were playing "Stef?" and not "Stef"; the former is much worse at Dominion and fairly easy to beat.

Don't get pinned.

[Kirian]

Go with classic Bobby Fisher. Bring a cigar, blow smoke in his face. 

[dedicateddan]

Have jsh rig the match!

[Mic Qsenoch]

Have jsh rig the match!

But surely a known scoundrel like Stef will see it coming from a mile away!

[DG]

My advice would be
- Don't mirror his play just for the sake of it. If you can't understand it then he's likely to do something detailed that you'll be unable to execute.
- Don't gamble on lucky draws when deck building, just keep it cool.
- If you can create end game pressure then keep it up, make it tough.
- Play treasure based kingdoms. Ban procession.

[A Drowned Kernel]

He hunts based on movement, so try to keep still when you're in his line of sight.

[Roadrunner7671]

Don't

[Awaclus]

Don't

I actually just played against Stef? today. I don't think it was that bad of an idea.

[Kirian]

Have jsh rig the match!

But surely a known scoundrel like Stef will see it coming from a mile away!

Stef has beaten SCSN, which means he's strong, and he might trust his strength to save him, so you clearly cannot choose the drink in front of Stef.

But!  Stef has also beaten MicQ, which means he's skilled, and he wouldn't want to waste that skill, so you clearly cannot choose the drink in front of you.

Stef is known to be a scoundrel, and might put the glass in front of himself, thinking you would take the poison in front of him, so you clearly cannot choose the drink in front of Stef.

(Just wait till I get going!)

[markusin]

Believe in yourself and your strategy. I'd also say don't avoid the mirror for the sake of avoiding the mirror when it's obvious that a variant of the mirror is likely to be the best option.

This is true for any opponent though, I think.

Incidentally, whoever wins in my match this week against DG faces off against the winner of your match against Stef. So, I'm paying attention to this thread too just in case.

[Witherweaver]

Keep track of all moves and deck states in a spreadsheet that you keep on the side so you can always makes the best-informed decisions. 

[Burning Skull]

gamble

[Polk5440]

Bring lots of coffee so he can't lull you to sleep.

Good idea. I think I'll brew a pot of tea. I also made sure to schedule the match at 1 pm local time so that the match doesn't run past my bedtime. 

Go with classic Bobby Fisher. Bring a cigar, blow smoke in his face. 

So that's like typing "." into the chat once every 20 seconds or so?

Keep track of all moves and deck states in a spreadsheet that you keep on the side so you can always makes the best-informed decisions.

No. <Insert Personman reference here.>

[Donald X.]

Concede quickly so he can get back to work.

[McGarnacle]

gamble

This

[markusin]

gamble

This

Still can't forego the tea supply though.

[AJD]

Have jsh rig the match!

But surely a known scoundrel like Stef will see it coming from a mile away!

Stef has beaten SCSN, which means he's strong, and he might trust his strength to save him, so you clearly cannot choose the drink in front of Stef.

But!  Stef has also beaten MicQ, which means he's skilled, and he wouldn't want to waste that skill, so you clearly cannot choose the drink in front of you.

Stef is known to be a scoundrel, and might put the glass in front of himself, thinking you would take the poison in front of him, so you clearly cannot choose the drink in front of Stef.

(Just wait till I get going!)

Battle of Wits
Action–Attack $4
+$1. Secretly choose a card in the supply. Each other player guesses which card you chose. Any player who guessed wrong gains a copy of the chosen card.

[Aleimon Thimble]

Concede quickly so he can get back to work.

Shouldn't you hope Stef loses? That way he doesn't need to play in any future rounds, so he can spend more time on his ShIT.

[TrojH]

Accept the fact that you're going to lose. Then go in there and have some fun.

[Seprix]

Beating Stef is not hard. Beating him consistently is.

[SettingFraming]

Play good Dominion. Don't be afraid to mirror. Don't be afraid to non-mirror. Don't panic and green too early or get complacent and build too long. Just do everything right.

[pacovf]

JUST DO IT

[Seprix]

JUST DO IT

[schadd]

stef looks to be out for blood this year. so, try not to bleed too much

[Witherweaver]

Try not to suck.

[schadd]

oh! wait! i just remembered, his secret weakne- oh

[Titandrake]

I mean, it's just Stef. Play the games, see what happens.

[pacovf]

Shoot him with the bow when he opens his eye, while rolling away when he prepares an attack. Do it three times and you're good.

...I wonder how many more unhelpful answers we can come up with.

[Accatitippi]

...I wonder how many more unhelpful answers we can come up with.

Looking at the post I'm writing, I'm confident it's not 0.

[Witherweaver]

...I wonder how many more unhelpful answers we can come up with.

Looking at the post I'm writing, I'm confident it's not 0.

I'm confident it's not 1.

[schadd]

i am also confident that it's not 1

[wachsmuth]

Try to play at a time when you're in a good mental state. Make sure you have eaten and slept well beforehand. Don't be too exhausted. Remain hydrated. Recent mild workout and fresh air is also nice. Try not to have other things in your life that will stress you during the game (or at least find a good way to ignore them).

[markusin]

Well apparently it went Stef 4-2 Polk5440

It occurs to me that Stef could have been reading all of this advice as well. Maybe we should have been sending PM's to Polk instead (Iet it be known that I am only being half-serious here).

[Witherweaver]

Also, maybe try steroids to give you an edge.

[Beyond Awesome]

My advice read his logs, watch his videos and videos of other top players. Also, play the board like you would normally.

[Polk5440]

Well apparently it went Stef 4-2 Polk5440

It occurs to me that Stef could have been reading all of this advice as well. Maybe we should have been sending PM's to Polk instead (Iet it be known that I am only being half-serious here).

He did +1 Donald's post....

Anyway, it was a good match; I felt like I played pretty close to my best given my current skill level and the match did feel within reach. I played a little sloppy at times -- there were definitely opportunities for me to put together an upset!

And SCSN will be happy to know the 6 games clocked in at "only"  2 hours and 40 minutes.

[zporiri]

having been swept by Stef 4-0 in round 2, i have nothing to contribute to this conversation

[Davio]

Is there any way to find out your record vs. someone?

I think my record vs. Stef is pretty reasonable. In fact, I think I do better against higher ranked players than mediocre players.
Maybe it's because I know I have to play my A game and thus play more focused and pay more attention.

With mediocre / unknown players I'm more likely to be goofing around.

[tailred]

Is there any way to find out your record vs. someone?

I think my record vs. Stef is pretty reasonable. In fact, I think I do better against higher ranked players than mediocre players.
Maybe it's because I know I have to play my A game and thus play more focused and pay more attention.

With mediocre / unknown players I'm more likely to be goofing around.

I think you can search by player on gokosalvager.

[Davio]

I did and it appears I only have one game against him, which I lost; so my memory is failing me here; I thought I had played more against him and at least won some games.

[Awaclus]

having been swept by Stef 4-0 in round 2, i have nothing to contribute to this conversation

Actually you do — you can tell what one should avoid doing when playing against Stef.

[drsteelhammer]

I did and it appears I only have one game against him, which I lost; so my memory is failing me here; I thought I had played more against him and at least won some games.

there is a Stef? guy playing on MF and maybe a few more impostors

[SettingFraming]

there is a Stef? guy playing on MF and maybe a few more impostors

Wow he has played almost 4,000 games and is only level 29. That's no sock-puppet account.

[Davio]

I did and it appears I only have one game against him, which I lost; so my memory is failing me here; I thought I had played more against him and at least won some games.

there is a Stef? guy playing on MF and maybe a few more impostors

Yeah I know, but when I see the actual Stef, we usually chat a bit because we're both from the Netherlands and have played each other in the Dutch tournaments a few years ago, so I'm more likely to remember those games.

That being said, I took a big break a while ago so I might still be remembering Isotropic games.

[Polk5440]

I did and it appears I only have one game against him, which I lost; so my memory is failing me here; I thought I had played more against him and at least won some games.

Something happened with one of the MF updates that caused a loss of all the old logs, I think. The oldest game that I've played that's recorded is from August 2015.

[Chris is me]

I did and it appears I only have one game against him, which I lost; so my memory is failing me here; I thought I had played more against him and at least won some games.

Something happened with one of the MF updates that caused a loss of all the old logs, I think. The oldest game that I've played that's recorded is from August 2015.

August 2015 is when MF shut down Goko, so that makes sense.