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[Elestan]

It's that time again!  Join us for the largest in-person gathering of F.DS players in the world!  Compete against all the handles you've gotten to know here, using real cards!

This tournament is sanctioned by Rio Grande, and will be a qualifier for the World Masters, if there is one in 2019.  All players receive promotional cards!

The competition will feature custom-designed kingdoms drawn from all of the Dominion sets and expansions, and will emphasize strategy and high-level play. 

Tournament seating is limited, so pre-register for the event here; just click on the 'Add' button and proceed through the checkout process.  You'll need a tournament ticket and a convention badge.

If you can, I'd encourage everyone to pick out other games to play in and attend the whole game convention, which runs from Nov 9-11, all day (and late into the night Friday and Saturday).

  I hope to see you there!

IMPORTANT NOTE:  For those who have attended in the past, note that this year the tournament has been moved to an outbuilding:  We will be on the upper floor of the resort's golf clubhouse, and will have the area mostly to ourselves.  You will need to pick up your tickets and badges first, at the con's registration desk.

[Elestan]

And hearty congratulations to AdamH, our 2015 winner, for pulling off a solid win for 2018 in a tough field of competitors!

The Kingdoms used in this tournament were:

Set 2018-1:  Wolf Den, Scouting Party, Squire, Castles, Hermit, Cemetery, Feodum, Necromancer, Rats, Shepherd/Pasture, Rogue, Knights
 
Set 2018-2:  Bandit Fort, Conquest, Beggar, Druid(Moon/Sea/Wind), Changeling, Tunnel, Jack, Scout, Noble Brigand, Embassy, Pooka, King's Court
 
Set 2018-3:  Colony/Platinum, Mountain Pass, Dominate, Guardian, Market Square, Dungeon, Ghost Town, Messenger, Taxman, Cobbler, Journeyman, Legionary, Replace
 
Set 2018-4:  Orchard, Lost Arts, Embargo, Vagrant, Diplomat, Cultist, Wine Merchant, Mint, Distant Lands, Fairgrounds, Hireling, Secret Cave

Set 2018-A:  Colony/Platinum, Wall, Triumph, Monastery, Settlers/Bustling Village, Chariot Race, Storeroom, Secret Passage, Artificer, Bandit, Counting House, Pillage, Goons

Set 2018-B:  Colony/Platinum, Triumphal Arch, Bonfire, Gladiator/Fortune, Cemetery, Conclave, Gardens, Jack, Militia, Horn of Plenty, Mandarin, Tragic Hero, Raider

Set 2018-C:  Labyrinth, Ritual, Poorhouse, Changeling, Enchantress, Scheme, Transmogrify, Devil's Workshop, Pillage, Farmland, Prince, Peddler

Set 2018-F:  Colony/Platinum, Shelters, Ritual, Summon, Raze(BANE), Watchtower, Dismantle, Exorcist, Necromancer, Procession, Young Witch, Band of Misfits, Cobbler, Artisan, Prince

As always, commentary on the play experience of these Kingdoms is most welcome.

[ben_king]

I just realized that I forgot to ever write up my experience with this tournament.  Great tournament as usual.  I was fortunate enough to make it to the final table this year, so I think I actually got to play all the kingdoms.  Here are my recollections on the boards in the order I played them:

Set 3: This kingdom felt relatively vanilla compared to most of Elestan's kingdoms. (he told me how he created it, but I won't spoil it.  I'll just say that if you've played any famous designed kingdoms, this might feel somewhat familiar) The build ended up just being a standard engine.  I was able to win Ghost Towns (with 5 I think), so I just plugged away at Provinces after that (mainly through Replacing the Golds from Market Square).  It was nice to start off with a straightforward win.

Set 4: This kingdom was a little bit miserable.  Fortunately the Cultists got Embargoed after everyone picked up one Cultist.  But the main way to score points here was Orchard, and your Orchard points could be wildly different depending on which Ruins you got.  I went with a Diplomat thing, activated by at least one Secret Cave every turn (which is pretty easy with so many Ruins in your deck).  I should have picked up Wine Merchants, but I was one turn away from the pileout when Professor Yes piled out (he was 2nd player and I was 3rd).

Set 1: This was my least favorite set of the day, and I think it was mainly because it felt like you couldn't plan a good strategy without knowing what everyone else was going to do.  I foolishly committed before I knew what other people were doing.  I opened with Rogue, figuring that everyone would be playing with Necromancer and that Rogue would let me take away their good options.  Turns out no one else bought a Necromancer.  Everyone else pretty much just went with Shepherd, and I had to catch up.  I was able to do that with Knights, and toward the end of the game, I trashed most of my uniques away with Rats.  I think I was able to pull out the win, if I'm remembering correctly.

Set 2: This was probably my favorite board of the day.  There was a great Conquest strategy you could pull off here, KC-ing Jacks to gain Silvers, and KC-ing Pookas to trash the Silvers and draw.  Then you could buy 1-2 Conquests per turn.  The Pookas kept the deck size manageable and you got to keep the Conquest points, without worrying about Bandit Fort.

Set A: Despite a 1-hour time limit, the time limit bit me here.  I decided to play Counting House/Storeroom, which is ridiculously tedious here, involving most of the Settlers/Bustling Village pile, Secret Passages, and Artificer.  I chose this strategy here, because I was worried about not getting enough Bustling Villages and/or getting Pillaged if I went with Goons.  For the other players who did play Goons, this ended up being an issue, and my Counting House strategy was steadily picking up a Colony per turn, while the Goons players were getting 2-6 points per turn.  Of course the Counting House strategy took a lot longer to get up and going.  It was on pace to win easily when time ran out, and I only had the second most points in my deck.

Set B: For whatever reason, the other players here ignored Militia and Raider, so I decided to go for the Mandarin golden deck.  I wasn't able to quite live the dream here (wasn't able to turn Tragic Hero into Fortune), and I had to use Conclave to hit the amount I needed to get Mandarin and the green cards, so I didn't have the perfect golden deck (I think I only had 3 turns of making it work), but it was enough to get the win.

Set C: This was my first game of the day with AdamH, and I was ahead of him in the turn order, which is what made the difference here.  My Enchantresses absolutely wrecked Adam.  I don't think he was able to play an un-enchanted Enchantress until his after his 3rd reshuffle.  I actually played pretty poorly otherwise.  The thing to do here would have been Ritual on Peddlers, but I was playing a crazy one-of-everything strategy.  I think I still pulled out 2nd thanks to Adam's bad luck.

Finals: I don't feel too bad for Adam, because he got his revenge here.  I was 3rd in the player order (Adam was 1st), and both previous players opened by Summoning Young Witch, so I had two curses in my deck before I ever shuffled, and both other players also got to avoid their $2 hand.  I never really had a chance.  But I was just happy to make the final table.

I was able to pick up Innovation from the game store with my 3rd place winnings.  Unfortunately it looks like I missed the Innovation heyday on Isotropic.  But all in all, an excellent tournament.  I had a blast, and I'm looking forward to next year.