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[michaeljb]

tl;dr I played an IRL tournament in Denver, it was a lot of fun, and I won!

A few weeks ago, I decided it would be really fun to play in a live Dominion tournament, so I did a quick internet search for Denver Dominion Tournament, and came across info on Genghis Con XXXIII, being held in Denver. I investigated a little, and found there was indeed going to be a Dominion tournament there.

The tournament was held on last Saturday, the 18th. I went with my good friend John, with whom I've played most of the IRL games I've ever played (I do prefer Isotropic, but John never liked it). We had a lot of fun.

Tournament Format
There ended up being 17 entrants for the tourney (it looked like it was going to be 16, but someone else joined in at the last minute, ruining the perfection of 4 tables of 4 players). Play was divided into five tables (three 3 player tables and two 4 player tables), and four rounds were played. Instead of elimination or round-robin, players were awarded points based on their place in a game; first place received 3 points for the round, second place 2, third place 1, and fourth place 0. This unfortunately resulted in every player at the 3-player tables being guaranteed a point, while players at the 4-player tables were not.

Victory point totals through the games were tracked and used as the tiebreaker for determining final rankings.

For each round, a random kingdom was selected from 2 Dominion sets, with 5 kingdom cards coming from each set. Each table played the same board for the round.


Round 1
Base and Intrigue: Moat, Chancellor, Swindler, Workshop, Mining Village, Remodel, Adventurer, Duke, Harem, Torturer

This was the only three player game I played in the tournament.

I opened Swindler/Silver, looking to get a Mining Village/Torturer engine up, and both opponents opened Silver/Mining Village, and it quickly became apparent they bought Expensive Village, not One-Shot Grand Bazaar. Anyway, I drew $2 on turn 3 or 4, so I bought a Moat, figuring that Swindlers and Torturers were going to be the key players, and it proved to be an alright buy. I ended up with only 2 Torturers, but neither of my opponents got a real Torturer chain going either (I don't think anyone bought more than 2), and I focused on Treasure more than my opponents did. They did a little messing around with Remodel and Workshop, which seemed pretty silly to me. After my first Gold, I picked up Harems with $6. In the midgame, the Swindlers did mess with me a bit--Mining Village into a Remodel and 2 Silvers into Chancellors. The Remodel ended up being alright, turning an Adventurer (Swindled Gold) into a Province, and a late Torturer into a Duchy.

It ended up being close, but I felt relatively comfortable the whole time because I had picked up more Treasures than my opponents. The game ended on piles: Moats, Mining Villages, and Curses; first place, 39-34-25.

I even took pictures of my final deck for fun, here's what I had in the end:
5 Coppers, 4 Silvers, 1 Gold, 2 Harems, 2 Moats, 2 Chancellors, 1 Swindler, 1 Remodel, 1 Torturer, 4 Curses, 6 Estates, 3 Duchies, 4 Provinces.

Round 2
Prosperity and Hinterlands: Duchess, Loan, Trade Route, Scheme, Spice Merchant, Talisman, Embassy, Ill-Gotten Gains, Mint, Rabble, Platinum and Colony included

As soon as I saw this board, I knew exactly what I was going to do: 1 Embassy, 1 Gold and/or Platinum, IGG's, Silvers, and green. After I bought my Embassy, I got a fortunate draw, hitting a pretty quick Platinum. I decided I didn't need to bother with Gold, and would just rush IGGs, buying Province or Colony if I could afford it, then buying Duchies once IGGs were low enough.

None of my opponents were nearly as experienced as me (in fact, no one I talked to had played online before), and it was evident they did not realize the power of IGG. Some questionable decisions were made by my opponents, such as opening with Talisman, buying 2 Spice Merchants early, and buying nothing with $4 hands in the midgame.

Embassy+IGG provided smooth sailing, and I cruised to victory, 41-28-22-14.

Final deck: 1 Embassy, 5 Ill-Gotten Gains, 1 Platinum, a small pile of Silvers, a sizable pile of Coppers (I didn't spread them out when I took the picture, so can't tell exactly how many there are), 5 Curses, 3 Estates, 5 Duchies, 3 Provinces, and 1 Colony.

note from another game: my friend finished 3rd overall, tied in ranking points with the 2nd place player, who won the VP tiebreaker because in this round she apparently scored 90 points. I don't really see any way someone could score 90 here without some bad play from opponents...

Round 3
Seaside and Cornucopia: Embargo, Haven, Pearl Diver, Fortune Teller, Menagerie, Horse Traders, Island, Harvest, Hunting Party, Merchant Ship

Another one where I almost instantly knew my plan of attack: Hunting Party+Horse Traders with some Islands for fun. Pretty standard Hunting Party build, and another case of the other players not realizing the full power of a card. An opponent's Fortune Teller helped cycle my deck fairly early on, letting me reshuffle right after buying my second Hunting Party instead of waiting a turn or two more. I got a big turn off pretty quickly, getting $10 and 2 buys, which I used on 2 more Hunting Parties before I started greening. At least twice, and I think it was three times, I bought Island+Province. With my Parties, I was scoring and shuffling every turn. In the late-ish game, after HPs had been exhausted (opponents caught on a bit after a while, but no one else had more than 2 I think), I drew $6 with 2 buys, and decided I didn't a second Gold, and went for Haven+Island. The Haven did help me at one point, setting aside an Estate to help my next turn HPs out. The Island, not so much. I ended up playing an Island to set aside 2 Islands rather than an Island and a Province.

Embargo was bought in the late game, and only played when there was one Province left, which I happily bought--I was even able to afford an Estate that last turn as well.

My biggest victory of the day, 47-30-28-11.

Final deck: 7 Coppers, 1 Silver, 1 Gold, 1 Haven, 1 Horse Traders, 5 Hunting Parties, 4 Islands, 1 Curse, 4 Estates, 6 Provinces.

Round 4
Alchemy and Hinterlands: Crossroads, Fool's Gold, Jack of All Trades, Apprentice, Cartographer, Border Village, Apothecary, Scrying Pool, Familiar, Philosopher's Stone

Having won my first three games, I was feeling pretty pumped, but this board definitely had me the most worried. I ended up thinking that BV+Apprentice with a Jack or 2 for support would give me good Apprentice fuel, keep my economy up, and deal with the Curses moderately well. Turned out to not be so great...I only ever bought one Border Village, and I bought Province over it each time I drew $8. I did have enough Silvers that Apprentice-ing an Apprentice or BV did give me $8, but I probably shouldn't have neglected Familiar completely. 2 of the other players went for Familiars, but they didn't start dishing out Curses terribly quickly, so I thought I would be alright. 2 players went for Fool's Gold (one of which being the one who also bought the most Familiars), so that pile ran out quickly. The game ended after Curses, Fool's Golds, and Apprentices were bought out, and the winner had played...BM+Fool's Gold. I finished second with 5 points and the turns tiebreaker, 8-5-5- -3.

I was frustrated about losing to BM+Fool's Gold in a game involving Cursing, but he got a $9 hand very quickly and bought Provinces right away, which turned out to be a good move as the game ended so quickly. I also messed around with the simulator a bit, and discovered my own strategy was pretty dismal, though I suppose I could blame the simulator not playing Apprentice correctly :p

Anyway, I forgot to take a picture right away of my final deck, but I still pretty much knew it:
2 Jacks, 1 or 2 Apprentices at the end (since they fed each other during the game), 6 Coppers, a pile of Silvers (probably 7 or , 7 Curses and 2 Provinces.

Conclusion
With 3 wins and 1 second place, I was tournament champion! I was given a choice for the prize: a copy of Hinterlands, or a Con-Cash thing; the tournament organizer owns a game store, so he provided the copy of Hinterlands, while the Con-Cash was the convention's award they were giving to all the event winners. Since I already own all the expansions, I went with the Con-Cash, only to discover it was redeemable for what can only be described as a lackluster selection. I ended up with $15 in gift certificates to a local game store, so
Hinterlands was awarded to second place, but the player that finished second actually had left very quickly and wasn't there to claim the prize, so it fell to third place, my friend John! But he doesn't own any of the sets, and never plays with anyone but me, so he let me have Hinterlands, which is going to end up going to my mother, who I got hooked on Dominion almost a year ago (she currently has Base, Seaside, and Prosperity).

That turned out to be a pretty long write-up, so I'll be impressed if anyone actually reads it all 

[shark_bait]

Congrats and nice job on the write up!  I must say, I'm quite jealous that you were able to find an IRL tourney so fast.   I've never been able to find one reasonably close to me 

[michaeljb]

Thanks

Yeah, I felt pretty lucky to find a convention was happening less than two weeks from the time I looked for a tourney. Sucks that there haven't been any near by for you. :/

The thing that the online tournaments (even back to the BGGDL) really have going for them is the level of play--definitely higher than what I experienced at Genghis Con. Being able to play hundreds or thousands of games online, plus the wonderful resource that this web site is, just completely sets apart those who are online enthusiasts from those who are just gamers IRL.

So the IRL tourney was a lot of fun, but definitely casual next to things like the IsoDom tournaments.

[michaeljb]

PS - I stumbled upon the idea of buying an Embassy and Gold before IGGs from a recent game where that option was on the board, and I decided to give it a try. (and apparently I also got a Ghost Ship, forgot about that detail...) Anyway, it was successful, despite causing me to fall behind in the IGG race.

I went to the simulator, and found that adding an Embassy made IGG surprisingly better. So I was pumped to use that when I found the opportunity in the tournament...and then I did some more simulator testing, and it definitely makes it worse. Which probably means I did something wrong the first time, which basically makes me a little confused. My best theory is that when I was testing stuff for IGG + X, I had a Province rule in place but forgot to add in the Province rule for the built-in IGG...

[Forge!!!]

Congrats and good write-up, was interesting to read =)

When I was starting to play dominion I went to a very small tourney at a game store in Chicago, and it's interesting to look back and remember how terrible the play was. I wasn't very good at the time (more on that in a bit), but I was able to get 3 easy wins because in one game one of my opponents bought 7 secret chambers, and etc. etc, terrible play. I remember in the final game there was both Masquerade and Mountebank, and I scoffed at my opponent buying Masquerade and didn't think Mountebank was that terribly great either. Ah, how times have changed.

[theory]

Congrats!

If it makes you feel any better shark_bait, there are never any boardgaming tournaments near NYC either.  I did a search for tournaments in the London area while I'm here, but it seems like the only one was one that Tables ran back in January.

michaeljb is right that online tournaments have higher skill levels, but let's face it, there's still something uniquely prideful about winning competitions in person.  (Though I suspect olneyce would disagree.)

We should print up DS/CR shirts for future competitors to wear in IRL tournaments

[greatexpectations]

theory -

if there isn't anything at the moment, i am sure we could put together a nice tournament in the nyc area.  between the reach of this blog and including a couple collegiate gaming clubs you could probably get a decent turnout, especially with some wide advertising.

[theory]

That might work out well.  Though collegiate gaming clubs?  I used to play with the NYU undergraduate gaming club during law school, but they were never that into Dominion.  Perhaps Columbia, or one of the other 100000 NYC schools?

I think the real problem, though, is space.  You'd probably need a really cooperative school.

[WanderingWinder]

Heh. I'm friends with the President of the Math Club at the University in the town I live in, and a couple weeks ago she brought up their latest meeting. "We pretty much just played Dominion the whole time"

[greatexpectations]

i was thinking of collegiate/area clubs more for the organization and getting access to a location than the attendance bump. colleges, in my experience, seem flexible with their facilities on the weekend if a student run club is involved.  it would take some legwork, but there are enough colleges in the area (heck, even tapping into jersey/long island) that i would expect you could probably get a location and decent attendance. 

heck, i think just advertising a tournament for all levels on the blog could probably get 20-30 players.  i think the potential for a tournament is there, but it would take some support from the regulars around here. just my two cents.

[michaeljb]

I remember in the final game there was both Masquerade and Mountebank, and I scoffed at my opponent buying Masquerade and didn't think Mountebank was that terribly great either. Ah, how times have changed.

Yeah, I remember thinking Masquerade was pretty lame. That changed when one of the earliest best openings list came out, and Fishing Village/Masquerade was near the top, and I figured I'd try out Masquerade more. Now I know better 

michaeljb is right that online tournaments have higher skill levels, but let's face it, there's still something uniquely prideful about winning competitions in person.  (Though I suspect olneyce would disagree.)

Definitely true 

We should print up DS/CR shirts for future competitors to wear in IRL tournaments

Totally!

[Kirian]

Theory--there are no game conventions in/near NYC?  Really?  That's nuts.

And yes, we totally need DS/CR T-shirts!!

[dondon151]

This thread and the local tournament interest thread (http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=1675.0) lead me to think that maybe incorporating an optional "location" field for each user would be a good idea... It's something that I've always viewed as unnecessary and a dumb gimmick for most communities, but there seems to be a potential benefit to this considering how Dominion as a face-to-face game is a much different beast than Dominion via Isotropic. There are also the very small handful of us who don't play Isotropic or may not play the official online Dominion app if it requires a paid subscription.

[jsh357]

This thread and the local tournament interest thread (http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=1675.0) lead me to think that maybe incorporating an optional "location" field for each user would be a good idea... It's something that I've always viewed as unnecessary and a dumb gimmick for most communities, but there seems to be a potential benefit to this considering how Dominion as a face-to-face game is a much different beast than Dominion via Isotropic. There are also the very small handful of us who don't play Isotropic or may not play the official online Dominion app if it requires a paid subscription.

Crazy thought, but perhaps something like the music map on RYM would work (It's generated by Google Maps somehow).


It groups bands/artists/site friends by location.  Could do the same for users.  Unfortunately I don't know how the code for it works.  Of course, this is only a middle-size community so it would still be hard to find players, I think.

[theory]

Here's a mod to install on the forum to display Location on the left-hand side along with Posts and Isotropic username.

Get on it, rrenaud!  I can't do it from here.

[rrenaud]

Heh, you are the forum admin monkey! ;P

[olneyce]

michaeljb is right that online tournaments have higher skill levels, but let's face it, there's still something uniquely prideful about winning competitions in person.  (Though I suspect olneyce would disagree.)

Nope.  Winning in person is certainly more fun.  Though the online experience has the benefit of letting you play several people on the other side of the planet on your way to the end.

DS/CR shirts is a great idea.