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[Kirian]

We play with Prosperity this week!  Exactly 6 Prosperity cards.  Post your results here.

Skeletal thread for now, matchups are where they always have been, at http://isodom.challonge.com/

[Brando Commando]

Brando Commando 3 games to GreatExpectations 4 games

Game 1: BC 62 - GE 61
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/18/game-20120418-190645-f7c2042e.html

Game 2: BC 49 - GE 61
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/18/game-20120418-200309-6c3c16a9.html

Game 3: BC 29 - GE 62
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/18/game-20120418-195402-ff64957b.html

Game 4: BC 23 - GE 15
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/18/game-20120418-194333-7d9e0d96.html

Game 5: BC 31 - GE 45
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/18/game-20120418-192622-0452f6e0.html

Game 6: BC 39 - GE 35
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/18/game-20120418-202439-21fa2c9f.html

Game 7: BC 46 - GE 55
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/18/game-20120418-201550-4c6540db.html

Thanks for the games, Greats, you played well and were gracious...

[CoheedandCambria]

[MAD] Mergus (0-7-0) vs Coheed (7-0-0)

Game 1: Mergus: 26 - Coheed: 79
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/21/game-20120421-111445-7e2b4bf5.html

Game 2: Mergus: 50 - Coheed: 82
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/21/game-20120421-112550-9c1cb774.html

Game 3: Mergus: 21 - Coheed: 39
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/21/game-20120421-113706-5b91b958.html

Game 4: Mergus: 40 - Coheed: 61
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/21/game-20120421-115255-107be8e6.html

Game 5: Mergus: 89 - Coheed: 117
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/21/game-20120421-120536-294acdb7.html

Game 6: Mergus: 30 - Coheed: 44
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/21/game-20120421-121327-a62bfd6f.html

Game 7: Mergus: 27 - Coheed: 34
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/21/game-20120421-122639-35fd93ec.html

analysis:

1: Lucky 5/2 opening with a mountebank on board. Not much he could do this game, bishops help my deck more than his and there's not much else on the board. I chose to not get any provinces since my lead was so big, just bought stables with 5, gold with 6 plat with 9 and colony with +11.

2: Another game where BM dominates. I didn't agree with his opening of potion(for univ.)/oracle since there's not much engine potential. I don't have much experience with vault in colony games, I wasn't too happy with them to be honest.. I guess monument might have been a better buy at 5. Again, I ignored provinces and just bought money and colonies.

3: First non colony game of the set and guess what, another BM game!.. Once again I don't agree with his opening of talisman/Trade route, I think he was trying to make something out of a board with nothing interesting on it. Started trader and just bought money and a forge towards the end.

4: First interesting board with Goons, cities, tournaments, and scrying pools. I was really scared of losing this game when he had 2 goons and 2 cities by turn 7 but my scrying pools prevailed in the end. Even though I lost the goons and city split the scrying pools allowed me to get them all in my hand successfully.

5: KC with only bishop and mine as targets. I stumbled into a neat infinite combo towards the end involving KC KC bishop mine silver which got me 7 pts a turn and 6 pts a turn when the platinums were gone. First game ever for me where this happened: Banks, Platinums, and Golds are all gone.

6: Another game with Goons and cities. I tried to empty the goons pile early to deny him of some since there were also mining villages for actions. Neither of us had more than 2 goons in a turn which is pretty surprising with cities on the board.

7: KC with possessions and bishops. I decided to trash my deck really thin and get lots of possessions KCed. After doing this I realized I couldn't do much with his turns. I possessed him 6 times in one turn and was only able to get 2 markets and a bishop out of him. I realize now that there was a combo using KC KC feast market bishop for 9 pts a turn which is obviously a lot better than what I went for.

[Mergus]

With the exception of the first game (where you got lucky with Mountebank) I think you just played better in all the other games. Your way to build a good deck was superior resulting in some really cool engines (like the infinite bishop+mine one in game 5). I didn't manage to create any of those. You really deserve this win. Good luck in the remaining games

[PerdHapley]

With the exception of the first game (where you got lucky with Mountebank) I think you just played better in all the other games. Your way to build a good deck was superior resulting in some really cool engines (like the infinite bishop+mine one in game 5). I didn't manage to create any of those. You really deserve this win. Good luck in the remaining games

Game 5 was a really fun one to read through, what a creative, unique game. 89 cards trashed in 26 turns has gotta be some kind of record.

Embarrassing admission: I had an "oh, duh" moment when I looked at these logs, which are the first ones I've seen from this week: It's been a while since I've played a real-life game of Dominion and I had totally forgotten what the rulebook specified for how to decide whether or not a game used Colonies. I have been assuming since the tournament began that every single game in this round would have them automatically... for some reason. I have played 5000+ games of Dominion and I spent weeks (at least) totally blanking on one of the most basic rules for setting up the game. My mind is blown.

edit: Having played the two of you over the last two weeks, I was excited to see how this match turned out and loved reading through those games. This tournament format has been so fun so far, and it's crazy how much one result can totally throw a bracket for a loop - within ours, at least, it's pretty much anyone's bracket to take, and I can't wait to see how it all shakes out.

[CoheedandCambria]

I just found another creative combo in game 7 that nets 9 points a turn using KC KC feast market bishop. feast 3 cards, draw them all with market, trash them all with bishop, buy a feast, repeat.

I didn't know what constituted a colony game either, perdhapley. When I saw game 3 had no colonies I asked Mergus what makes the game a colony game or not. I guess it's not so bad for me since I've only played intrigue live. When I first came to this site I thought scout was one of the best cards in the game.. boy was I wrong.

[dghunter79]

Titandrake wins 1 game; dghunter79 wins 6 games.

dghunter, 69; Titandrake, 58
http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20120422-151950-7e3058b1.html

Goons, Shanty Town, Embassy.  I buy more Shanty Towns and Embassies, Titandrake buys more money.  It's very close -- Titandrake falls one coin shy of buying the winning Province.

Titandrake, 17; dghunter, 28
http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20120422-152838-cbada673.html

Talisman, Gardens, and Worker's Village.  A combo I don't think I've ever seen before.  I get 6 Talismen; Titandrake gets 3.  We split Gardens, but I finish with 64 cards, including 34 Copper.  Titandrake has 33 cards and 12 copper.  Funnily, Counting House was on the board, but it just never made sense for either of us to buy it.  I like to think this game finally broke its heart forever.

Titandrake, 38; dghunter, 80
http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20120422-154110-24694174.html

Quarry, Grand Market, Haggler.  I open Quarry/Silver.  Titandrake gets 5/2 and opens Quarry/nothing.  We both get another Quarry, but I'm the first to pair mine for a Grand Market.

Titandrake, 30; dghunter, 90
http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20120422-160307-3cbaa5ef.html

King's Court, Goons, Scrying Pool.  I open Potion/Silver, figuring that with Bishop and Mint to trash, Scrying Pool is very viable.  Titandrake opens Bishop, but buys a Potion later.  Scrying Pool turns out to be great for both of us, and it allows me to finally set up the winning Goons mega-turn.

Titandrake, 43; dghunter, 32
http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20120422-161742-e7e15224.html

Native Village, Goons, Bank.  We both buy Native Villages, hoping to set up Goons mega-turns.  After I win the Village split, Titandrake turns to straight-up treasure, which turns out to be much, much better.  When I finally play my "mega" turn, everyone says "awwwwww, cute."  Then Titandrake buys the last Moat for the win.

dghunter, 113; Titandrake, 66
http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20120422-163500-a3ed2f83.html

Another weird one.  King's Court, Stables, Tunnel, Warehouse, Bishop, Expand, Steward.  We both go WTBG: Warehouse Tunnels, Bishop Gold.  My extra Steward proves to be key munition.  It's no-strings-attached card draw allows me to set up slightly bigger King's Court-King's Court hands.  18 Golds in the trash by game's end!

Titandrake, 26; dghunter, 31
http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20120422-164037-e50bb220.html

Double-Jake for both of us.  On 5, Titandrake buys Vault.  I buy Inn, which might be slightly better.  But probably Embassy would have been best.  Titandrake errs and buys the penultimate Province and an Estate instead of two Duchies, and I buy the last Province for the win.

Titandrake was, despite some bad breaks, my toughest opponent yet, and supplied excellent commentary as the games went on.  Best of luck.

[Titandrake]

My thoughts:

Game 1: Double Goons is huge. Double Goons is a lot harder with 2 Goons and less card draw.

Game 2: Trade Route opening was a bad call. Thought it could be nice with Talisman: normally it's net +1 card, with Talisman it's net +3. But guess what, Warehouse makes getting Talisman+3Cop for double Talisman/WV a lot easier, and WV-Talisman = +4
cards.

Game 3: Still feel buying down for Quarry was the right move. Quarry-GM is just too good.

Game 4: Going in I thought Scrying Pool would be too slow (no Village, only way to get extra actions is KC-Scrying Pool. This is why KC is constantly vetoed over other possible choices like Goons). Decided on Bishop-Goons-BM for 8 Provinces. Changed my mind partway through, but dghunter Scrying Pools constantly discard my Potion, so I get a really late Pool, and it's just all bad from there. Looking back Bishop-Goons-BM would definitely have been too slow.

Game 5: Awesome turn 4 tech of spending $6 for NV. My feeling was that if Goons gets Smuggled I am just really sad (even though I'd already have one). So I buy down. Lose NV split because of Smugglers and less aggressive buying in general. This is where I transition to money, skipping Golds for Banks so that Smugglers only get Silver. I didn't intend it, but when going for a NV-super turn, constantly gaining Silvers from Smuggler might be a bad idea. I'm not sure.

Game 6: Not quite sure what to think of this one. Later Expand gives me less versatility, but we both went for the same strategies. Gold pile runs out! Bishops constantly give 4 VP from Gold trashing! And this is actually sneakily close to Annotated Game #11.

Game 7: Yeah, looking back idk why I bought Prov/Est. In the end it likely wouldn't have mattered: double Duchy ties me up, dghunter buys Province, if I buy Province I lose on turns so I have to hope for good luck. Vault-GM too slow.

[PerdHapley]

perdhapley beats Axxle 4 (8 points) - 3 (6 points)
Thank you to Axxle for a really fun set of games. We traded the lead back and forth through the whole series, and went into the last match 3 - 3. The kingdoms we were handed were nothing at all like I had expected (a recurring theme of the tournament for me) but almost every one required creative strategy decisions. Results with key cards bolded, then my thoughts:


#1) perdhapley 31 - Axxle 36 (Tournament, Watchtower, Worker's Village)
#2) perdhapley 43 - Axxle 27 (Swindler, Monument, Peddler)
#3) perdhapley  5  - Axxle -2 (Fishing Village, Torturer, Expand)
#4) perdhapley 51 - Axxle 55 (Minion, Horse Traders, Hamlet)
#5) perdhapley 22 - Axxle 46 (Wharf, Forge, Peddler)
#6) perdhapley 37 - Axxle 21 (Remake, Vault)
#7) perdhapley 69 - Axxle 57 (Trader vs. Mountebank)


#1) http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/23/game-20120423-190004-e8fd0993.html / Axxle said he got pretty lucky this game, I'm not so sure. It's true he gets to Golds pretty quickly, but I snag the first Province and hit the first Tournament, and it's there that I think I make my big mistake, which is taking Followers. I had spent most of the game up to that point thinking he would get there first instead of me and take Followers himself, and I had made a deck pretty well-equipped to deal with that scenario. I should have instead taken... almost anything else. Probably Trusty Steed, with hopes of Princess next. Instead I take the "I'll take it so that he can't have it" approach, he has Watchtower every time I play it, and I don't have nearly the buying power he does (and I'm also diluting my deck with Estates). Lesson learned, I guess.
#2) http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/23/game-20120423-190702-d1ae09ac.html  / Ctrl-f "perdhapley plays a swindler" and then ctrl-f "Axxle plays a Swindler". Commentary over.
#3) http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/23/game-20120423-191508-eff4dfbd.html  / I liked this one. Looking at it in the beginning, I knew that FV/Torturer/Curse piles emptied is how this one ends like, 99% of the time, and that whoever got a Torturer chain off first would be pretty much unstoppable. So the interesting twist: Axxle gets 5/2 as first player and goes Mint/Duchess. I go Quarry / Fishing Village. Would've probably been Talisman instead of Quarry (for FVs) had he not gone the Mint route, but I feel like I need to get to Torturer ASAP in order to slow down his progress - if he's able to put the pieces of a Torturer chain together fast enough that turn one Mint purchase will make it all snap into place fluidly; if not, the additional two terminal actions he's got give me some room to breathe. Three lucky things happen after that win this for me: I grab a Talisman and it collides quickly with Quarry for a couple Torturers at once, then it shows up again in time for a reshuffle where I can get the Fishing Villages I still need (I think I might play this a bit risky by waiting so long to get all the +actions that my deck wouldn't work at all without) and then I Mint away six coppers. That makes it easy to mint my Quarry and get Expands, and with my engine fully running I have control over the endgame. I love these kinds of Torturer games where the end comes suddenly and strangely, or basically any game that ends with curses being purchased.
#4) http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/23/game-20120423-193439-9ce7504d.html / We both agreed that this was the most tense match either of us have played all tournament. Everything goes pretty smoothly through the first part of this game as we race down the Minions, with Axxle's 5/2 open cancelled out when I'm able to get the last two at once and split them 5/5, with the Hamlets getting emptied a turn later, turn 11. After that, neither of us seem exactly sure what to do next (I sure wasn't, anyway) and the game turns into this crazy back-and-forth, where we both slowly chip away at increasingly smaller-valued Victory cards. Once I get a lead that's more than ten points I start looking for a way to safely end the game. I prepare quickly before the reshuffle for one last run through of my deck designed to empty the Estate pile. And then I barely miss it on turn 20, where I manage to get all the buys I need with Hamlet and HT but fall $2 short of the $10 I need and have to settle for Province, which Axxle follows up with a Colony buy that closes the point gap between us. Ultimately Axxle gets to the finish line first. Really, really tense game, right in the middle and filled with tough choices. I have this weird feeling that ignoring Minion and going for some sort of mass Horse Traders/Hamlet/Treasure strategy may have very well been the winning strategy here, and that Counting House could have actually made a big difference here had either of us decided to pick it up. Well won, Axxle, I'll be mulling over this one for quite some time.
#5) http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/23/game-20120423-194047-86a59ea1.html / I get 5/2 on Wharf board and proceed to somehow massively mess that up. I mean, I played this one TERRIBLY. The strategy Axxle pursues is solid and similar to what I would normally do here, and instead I just lose my mind for a game, cringing and thinking "ugh, wait, why did I buy that?" after most turns. I don't really have analysis to explain this away, I genuinely just wasn't thinking here, and Axxle played it well.
#6) http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/23/game-20120423-194351-54b9230f.html / Not much to say about this one. Remake board with Vault, I get to Vault first and then immediately draw Remake with two estates & $3, then proceed to draw well enough to win the Province split. This was the only game of the series where I felt like we were both on autopilot, playing an almost-mirror match.
#7) http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/23/game-20120423-194840-02e73ec2.html / Okay, I'm proud of this one. I grinned when I saw the Kingdom. Trader is my favorite card in the game, and I have a general self-imposed rule that pays off here: in games with both Mountebank and Trader where Double Mountebank/BM would be the winning strategy in Trader's absence, I always ignore Mountebank and buy two Traders ASAP. I can't say for sure without looking it up on CouncilRoom, but I have done this many times and don't believe I have ever lost this way. I think it's just a case of Trader as a reaction being the single best Mountebank counter in the game, and Trader itself being maybe the most underrated BM-enabler. With an otherwise pretty weak Kingdom, it's just much, much faster here, and by the time Mountebank is finally able to more reliably hit without backfiring it's far too late to make any difference.


Very, very fun set over all. I'm struck again by how the Prosperity factor was much different than expected. No Colonies until game three, and only one game (the last one) that ended with their depletion. No Goons. No King's Court. No Grand Market. No real mega-turns or massive engines. This one felt more like a tense rally built around well-designed kingdoms, with a tough opponent who was cheery throughout and happy to chat. Axxle was the only player in my bracket that I had not previously played with going into our match, and I left really hoping that we'll meet up again. Thanks again Axxle!

[O]

O defeats Ednever 5-2

1: O-35 22-Ednever
2: O-68 32-Ednever
3: O-41 47-Ednever
4: O-43 25-Ednever
5: O-38 19-Ednever
6: O-25 45-Ednever
7: O-34 15-Ednever

This round was possibly the most fun yet. Ednever was a highly challenging opponent (5 games felt very close up until the end, one game was a blowout for him and one game was a blowout for me) and made for great conversation. Like the other sets, cursers/power cards from non-prosperity sets occasionally dominated a board. I might post analysis when I get all 7 CR logs.

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/24/game-20120424-201810-51552cef.html
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/24/game-20120424-2029340e2917b9.html
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/24/game-20120424-203818-4de92241.html
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/24/game-20120424-204835-88a15c0e.html
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/24/game-20120424-205653-18703aaa.html
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/24/game-20120424-211001-c72e52a3.html

[michaeljb]

BJ Penn 4 wins, michaeljb 2 wins, 1 draw

Game 1: BJ Penn 35-24 michaeljb; Pawns not enough Vineyard support to beat Apprentice with Banks.

Game 2: BJ Penn resigned-8 michaeljb; Worker's Village/Rabble/Ghost Ship engine overwhelms more treasure based deck.

Game 3: BJ Penn 49-35; good draw for Mint (6 Coppers) propels BJ to Grand Market advantage and the win

Game 4: BJ Penn 30-34 michaeljb; good draws late help me squeak out a win against a deck which got to Goons, Grand Markets, and Cities

Game 5: BJ Penn 38-19 michaeljb; KC/Minion Game, more KC's got the win

Game 6: BJ Penn 33-33 michaeljb; Monuments into Vault + money doesn't quite outrace straight Alchemists. On Turn 7 I mistakenly played my money before my Monument. I also might have started greening just a hair too early. Either way, I shot myself in the foot with this one.

Game 7: BJ Penn 72-60 michaeljb; finally a true Prosperity score. Mostly a focus on Money and Ventures, with Markets for +Buy.

I felt lucky to win Game 4, should have had Game 6, but I can at least be proud of my Game 2. My deck their ended with one Council Room, Ghost Ship, Monument, Outpost and a handful of Worker's Villages and Rabbles. Used Loan early to clear out some Coppers, and Quarry was of course key in acquiring all the engine parts.

Overall it was a fun match, BJ was a good opponent. In Game 3 I don't think I had much of a chance after his Rabble gave him 6 Coppers in hand, but can't complain too much about good fortune there as I didn't even pick up an early Rabble. He played very well in Game 1, focusing on Provinces and money instead of going for Vineyards when there weren't many cheap Actions. I should have just stayed away.

[Jorbles]

Round 5: Jorbles v. Ignorantmen
Jorbles wins 4-3 against Ignorantmen

Game 1: Jorbles 39 - ignorantmen 22
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/28/game-20120428-110400-207d41e1.html
Key cards: Mountebank, King's Court, Governor, City, Mountebank
I open Mountebank/Haven and ignorantmen opens Silver/Silver. I think the odds were against him at that point, and then when I'm the first to hit KC-Mountebank that wraps it up.

Game 2: ignorantmen 76 - Jorbles 50
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/28/game-20120428-110959-2a6c4cf9.html
Key cards: Platinum, Mine, Masquerade, Loan, Grand Market, Rabble
I open Mine/-, to ignorantmen's Masquerade/Loan, Mine's strong on this board, but I think I like his opening more. I pick up a Masquerade after the first reshuffle and then on my next $5 I pick up a Rabble, which I think was a mistake (two terminal drawers in the same small deck) especially when I'm looking to get some Grand Markets. ignorantmen is ahead of me most of the game and there isn't really much I can do to catch up. If I was was to play it again I'd probably just get another Mine and big money the game with Grand Market support.

Game 3: Jorbles 56 - ignorantmen 44
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/28/game-20120428-111537-f2d3b1db.html
Key Cards: King's Court, Monument, Council Room, Trade Route, Highway
A big come from behind superturn gets me this game. I'd just watched WanderingWinder's incredible KC-Monument fueled victory against Robz888 in which he comes back from a 7 Province deficit so I was hanging in there after ignorantmen pulled off 4 Provinces to my 1 Province. I'd picked up an early Council Room and had been hoping for a KC-KC-Council Room hand with it that I could megaturn the game with. I manage to get it on turn 20 when the game is almost over, draw most of my deck and net 33 points in a turn to end it. I'm not sure if this game went too long or not, we spent a lot of time jockeying for position trying to KC-Monuments. If one of us had just BMUed it with a couple Monuments it might have been faster than either of our strategies. Hard to avoid shiny strategies though.

Game 4: ignorantmen 31 - Jorbles 46
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/28/game-20120428-112600-e552ffe1.html
Key Cards: King's Court, Market, Vault, Monument, Spice Merchant, City, Fishing Village
Seeing King's Court again I immediately want to get KCable actions and slim my deck simultaneously so I open Spice Merchant/Fishing Village, ignorantmen I think after the strength it played in the last game open Monument/Fishing Village. He doesn't end up getting any trashers, while I slim my deck with the Spice Merchant and then a Trade Route. Even though he's first to King's Court my ability to easily match my KCs with my actions gives me a big advantage. When the KC's run out and I've got a couple activated Cities I cruise to a comfortable victory picking up 5 Provinces, 6 VPs and a Duchy in two turns.

Game 5: ignorantmen 40 - Jorbles 28
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/28/game-20120428-113323-ad49cac2.html
Key Cards: King's Court, Young Witch (Bane: Great Hall), Saboteur, Mint, Vault, Courtyard, Monument
We both open Young Witch/Great Hall and proceed to rush the banes. I think we only end up dealing out 3 Curses all game. We mirror each other for a bit going for KCs and Vaults, but ignorantment diverges into a Royal Seal that he uses to get his economy up and running a shuffle faster than me. I try to come back with Saboteurs, but though I do manage to hit one of his Provinces, I don't manage to get lucky enough for another comeback. I just don't have enough green cards in my deck, and hitting his Great Halls, doesn't hurt him much as he just turns them into Estates.

Game 6: Jorbles 74 - ignorantment 57
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/28/game-20120428-114241-ee0d9ab0.html
Key Cards: Bishop, Venture, Bank, Mint, Ironworks, Haven, Colony
ignorantmen goes for a straightforward Bishop strategy, while I use his Bishops trashing and a Mint buy to get the Coppers out of my deck and beef up my Ventures. Combined with a couple banks my strategy is just too fast for a Bishop Big Money strategy to keep up with. On the side I get an Ironworks to spam Havens and use them to keep my hands reliably good, which helps, but doesn't seem crucial to my strategy.

Game 7: ignorantmen 80 - Jorbles 61
Key Cards: Ghost Ship, Shanty Town, Venture, Colony, ?Worker's Village?, Fairgrounds
Really neat interactions here between Ghost Ship the dominant card and two partial counters to it, Shanty Town and Venture. I thought ignorantmen's early purchase of a Worker's Village was a mistake; I think he was planning on using the plus buy to beef up Fairgrounds faster, but I didn't think we'd be having big money hands with Ghost Ship around. However, on turn 18 he ends up getting what I think is safe to call a very lucky $22 with his +Buy based on activated Shanty Towns and Ghost Ships drawing most of the treasure in his deck. I don't think either of us were counting on that in the game, which had been even to that point. He capitalizes on that turn and easily defends his lead to win the game.

Overall a fun set, that felt dominated by KC. GGs ignorantmen!

[ignorentmen]

My quick thoughts:

Round 5: Jorbles v. Ignorantmen
Jorbles wins 4-3 against Ignorantmen

Game 1: Jorbles 39 - ignorantmen 22
His 5/2 opening hurt. I tried for amazing with some +3 card Governors hoping to catch up. But I think it helped him more than it helped me.

Game 2: ignorantmen 76 - Jorbles 50
I don't think I played this perfectly, although I liked my Masq/Loan opening, but I will take a win that was mostly based off first player advantage and better opening after the previous game.

Game 3: Jorbles 56 - ignorantmen 44
Turn 14 I bought 2 KC and 2 Provinces. I think a better idea would have been 2 KC a Highway and another Monument, but wasting all that money was too hard to do. Originally I was gunning for a megaturn and I think I could have had it if I hadn't shot myself in the foot. Jorbles was much more patient and it paid off.

Game 4: ignorantmen 31 - Jorbles 46
For me this game was decided when I 1. didn't get a trasher and 2. didn't get a card with a +buy. Trade Route would have sufficed for both. I think turn 5 would have been an ideal time to buy it instead of another FV but I really wanted to get to KC first... but forgot that without a +buy lots of money isn't worth much.

Game 5: ignorantmen 40 - Jorbles 28
I really liked my Royal Seal buy here although I only used it to top deck once the whole game. But that Gold on top made a huge difference. Sab was annoying here, especially since my Monument kept getting trashed. And I didn't turn the Great Halls into Estates... They got turned into a whole lot of nothing.

Game 6: Jorbles 74 - ignorantment 57
Bishop BM wasn't my original strategy but once again I got distracted feeling like I needed to make my money more worth while. I bought Platinum when I should have been buying Banks, which go together with Venture so much better.

Game 7: ignorantmen 80 - Jorbles 61
My Worker's Village buy was planned to be useful. I learned my lesson about not having a +buy on hand. But I never expected it to net me a double colony. I was thinking more platinum/gold early on or something like that. My strategy hinged on me getting more Ghost Ships and then making sure I had enough Shanty Towns to defend against his and to synergize with mine. But yeah... the $22 turn was lucky and was the deciding factor in the game.

Fun games, King's Court is one of my weaker cards and I was really disappointed to not see Goons at all... Sigh...

Thanks to Jorbles for the games and logs.

[yuma]

It is finals week for me. So tlloyd and I are going to delay our game for this week. I think my last test is on Thursday, maybe it is Tuesday. Either way, we will play soon and I need to stop coming to this forum and getting distracted.... Stop being so interesting guys...

[Kirian]

It is finals week for me. So tlloyd and I are going to delay our game for this week. I think my last test is on Thursday, maybe it is Tuesday. Either way, we will play soon and I need to stop coming to this forum and getting distracted.... Stop being so interesting guys...

Gotcha.  I'm putting the match in the "missing" thread for my own reference but with the note that you're rescheduling.

[rspeer]

Duck Sauce and I are still trying to schedule. It may happen tomorrow.

[mnavratil]

Results of mnavratil(5) vs CarpeDeezNuts(2)
Game 1 mnavratil(68) vs. CarpeDeezNuts (29)
http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20120428-180637-2f15aa91.html
Oracle/BM vs Envoy. My oracle hits his envoy the first 3 times through the deck. Not much else to say.

Game 2 CarpeDeezNuts(-100) vs. mnavratil(9)
http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20120428-181434-781b11ba.html
We both go for Rabble enignes, but I get the majority of GrandMarkets

Game 3 CarpeDeezNuts(11) vs. mnavratil(17)
http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20120428-182012-0caaac77.html
We both go for one mountebank then transition into University/Rabble with Goons. I am late at getting goons going so in desperation grab duchies/Silk Roads/Estates. I barely pull out a probably undeserved win.

Game 4 CarpeDeezNuts(43) vs. mnavratil(58)
http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20120428-182545-be3276bf.html
A sea hag game where we both transition to bishop to clean our decks. I get a few hoards earlier which helps me rebuild my economy slightly faster.

Game 5 CarpeDeezNuts(78) vs. mnavratil(84)
http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20120428-183911-c373ea61.html
This was a crazy game. We both go Hunting Parties/Kings Court/Bishop. I slightly over-trash my economy and it takes me a while to build up to platinum. I am able to pull off KC/Mint on Platinum and then trash all the Platinums with Bishop. I also barely eeked out the win here.

Game 6 CarpeDeezNuts(74) vs. mnavratil(20)
http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20120428-185154-e592493a.html
Carpe builds a convincing Goons lead and crushes me here. I ignore young witch, which ends up being a fatal mistake.

Game 7 mnavratil(32) vs. CarpeDeezNuts(82)
http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20120428-191112-4810ee1f.html
We both try and use black market/quarry and the plentiful actions to power up vineyards. Carpe is much more succesful than I am an furthers his lead by getting tournament->followers and a witch out of the black market deck. I lose badly.

[Insomniac]

shark_bait (5) beats Insomniac-X 5-2

Insomniac-X 13-2 shark_bait
Game 1: http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/30/game-20120430-184400-61ec5276.html

Insomniac-X 36-59 shark_bait
Game 2:http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/30/game-20120430-185207-9e994635.html

Insomniac-X 49-24 shark_bait
Game 3: http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201205/01/game-20120501-181038-5e32cdd5.html

Insomniac-X 13-64 shark_bait
Game 4: http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201205/01/game-20120501-181943-7a753365.html

Insomniac-X 6-92 shark_bait
Game 5: http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201205/01/game-20120501-183158-7d03187e.html

Insomniac-X 14-25 shark_bait
Game 6: http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201205/01/game-20120501-184203-5c437064.html

Insomniac-X 27-43 shark_bait
Game 7: http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201205/01/game-20120501-184813-9d8d7d0d.html

Commentary to come.

Thanks again for the games we had a few weird ones and a lot of 5-2 opening hand splits

[tlloyd]

tlloyd wins 4, yuma wins 3

Game 1: tlloyd 26 - yuma 29
We both struggle to buy Grand Markets while also destroying each others' decks with Mountebank. Once the GMs are gone, we opt for Duchies over Provinces because (1) Duke, and (2) we are having a hard time reaching $8! I had an extra Vault, which probably gave me the long-term advantage and should have made me more patient, but toward the end I get a series of bad draws and panic into buying too many estates, which allows yuma to empty the pile for the win. Yuma played it well, of course, but this is one where poor play, rather than luck, determined the outcome.
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201205/01/game-20120501-210859-c725c9d5.html

Game 2: tlloyd 59 - yuma 44
Another game with GM and Mountebank, but Goons is the key card (although Mountebank prevents any incredible Goons turns). The game was much closer than the final score suggests.
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201205/01/game-20120501-212449-1ecb2dcf.html

Game 3: yuma 1 - tlloyd 12
We both buy Swindler, but I don't think it made much difference. The key combo was King's Court/Grand Market, with Loans to slim the deck. I pile drive the Estates for the win, but at that point my lead in terms of deck development was probably insurmountable. This is the only game of the series where I actually felt that I had both good play and good luck.
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201205/01/game-20120501-213212-6ece8f5a.html

Game 4: yuma 31 - tlloyd 8
We both have identical strategies (Bazaar/Masquerade/Goons), but boy did the outcomes differ. I was puzzled by yuma's decision to buy Bank, but you can't argue with results. Mostly I was just glad there was no KC to go with Goons/Masq.
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201205/01/game-20120501-214035-1cde0841.html

Game 5: tlloyd 12 - yuma 1
Key cards are King's Court, Wharf, and Goons. I felt, well, cursed when yuma hits me with a KC/Sea Hag on turn 7, but in the end the curse split was only 6/4, and it only takes one solid Goons turn for me to make up the point difference and end on piles. I very nearly failed to see the winning play on my final turn.
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201205/01/game-20120501-214807-f42d40ae.html

Game 6: yuma 53 - tlloyd 40
I really don't know what to say about this game. Envoy, Vault and Mint are all great BM options with Platinum on the board, and I may have made a mistake to grab Hamlets and try to chain actions together. But yuma buys King's Court with only three other action cards (!?), and it only misses once (?!?!). On the other hand, yuma buys a Mint turn 4, and is never able to use it. So, yeah, someone needs to tell me what happened here.
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201205/01/game-20120501-215609-4ee56e77.html

Game 7: tlloyd 79 - yuma 65
With both Duke and Silk Roads on the board, an alternate-VP strategy is tempting. But it's likely a trap for three reasons: (1) Colonies are much harder to ignore than Provinces, (2) there wasn't a great enabler for a rush strategy, and (3) Rabble can really punish a deck with lots of green cards. We both opt for Colonies, but at some point yuma diverts into Silk Roads and my Rabbles make him pay. Also, Contraband allows me to sneak an early Platinum when yuma very reasonably banned Golds. That may be the first time I've put Contraband to good use.
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201205/01/game-20120501-220404-6103edd1.html

Thanks for the games yuma - they were all fun and very competitive.

[shark_bait]

shark_bait (5) defeats Insominiac-X (2) for 10 and 4 points respectively

Game 1 aka "Living your life in a court for king's is better than dwelling in a secret chamber"

Game 2 aka "The Lucky Chancellor"

Game 3 aka "So I heard you wanted to play some Talismans and Quarries to gain tons of Grand Markets, good luck catching up to my 5 Provinces in 13 turns"

Game 4 aka "Rumor has it you're building Cities in your Colony.  Too bad I'm Scheming to Hoard all the Gold in my Vault"

Game 5 aka "I got it first"

Game 6 aka "3-Pile Slogfest"

Game 7 aka "ROT, don't ignore attacks"

[yuma]

ttloyd's remarks were spot on... I'll just add a few thoughts.
tlloyd wins 4, yuma wins 3

tlloyd 26 - yuma 29  The end game was weird. Because of all the +buys I stopped buying estates when there were four left and give him the chance to buy them out to win since Duchies and Curses were gone. Antepenultimo is the word for the third to last. I don't know the word for fourth to last. Anyone want to chime in.

tlloyd 59 - yuma 44]
tlloyd had 7 GM, I had 1. That made the difference more than anything. I was trying for a three or four turn goons big play, but all the curses and coppers made it impossible. There also wasn't enough drawing power for that kind of a play so I should have realized getting GMs over Goons was better.

yuma 1 - tlloyd 12
Ugly deck to open 5/2... The only $5 was Counting House and no $2 in sight. I felt I was behind from the first turn and my Swindlers didn't hit effectively enough... Mostly because he bought no $5s to turn into Duchies? Glad this one ended quickly.

yuma 31 - tlloyd 8
Getting 1 more Bazaar helped immensely and my Bank buy seemed to be a good strat as I figured it might pair well with the three card combo in providing more buying power for my goons. I debated about getting 2, but I think 1 was just right. It also allowed me to buy coppers and still make good use out of them early if that was needed.

tlloyd 12 - yuma 1
another 5/2 opening I wasn't too pleased about, although Wharf is much better to have than Counting House. I thought I should have won this game after triple cursing him, but in the end bought too many terminal actions. Quarry will do that to you, make you think that buying money is a bad idea because all the actions are so cheap. ttloyd executed his game perfectly after the ugly turn 7 attack.

yuma 53 - tlloyd 40
My buying of King's Court here was that at my buying point I had a relatively small deck and was willing to miss it a few times later on if I could just get my Mint, Gold and KC together in a hand. I consistently seem to dream too big for those sorts of things, but my KC is able to hit my Vaults and Envoys consistently for the win, I feel lucky about that. But man, Mint... I couldn't draw it.

tlloyd 79 - yuma 65
I have the biggest crush on Silk Roads and I knew that in this game going for them would be a mistake. I fought the urge to buy them all game long until a fatal turn 15 left me with $8 and two buys. Just buy Province! Or Gold! Man, that moment was like high school prom all over again. tlloyd looked up in surprise, slapped me in the face and left with the rest of the Colonies... Sigh...

Final thoughts... 5 of the games were ended on 3 piles. Makes sense for the goons games and the duchy/duke game, but for the others? King's Court is one of my least favorite cards in the game. I don't use it well enough for it to be anything but swingy for me. I need more practice with it.

thanks to tlloyd for the games, our bracket is super close!

[rspeer]

I played a good match against Nicki Menagerie. rspeer wins 6, Nicki Menagerie wins 1

(missing log, rspeer wins): when life gives you smithies and money, make Big Money Smithy.
rspeer 69 - Nicki Menagerie 60: PHILOSOPHER'S STONE, BITCHES.
rspeer 68 - Nicki Menagerie 54: a comedy of errors. I was trying to Bishop Peddlers without any +buys in my deck for some reason, and basically I was setting myself up for a long slog while giving Nicki the opportunity to run away with the (singly-embargoed) provinces. Then Nicki put a second Embargo on Provinces and filled his deck with Duchies, creating the long slog that I could win.
rspeer 83 - Nicki Menagerie 46: Expanding Silvers into Grand Markets.
rspeer 52 - Nicki Menagerie 24: Goons/Watchtower/Worker's Village, but the engine wasn't sufficient for a mega-turn.
rspeer 52 - Nicki Menagerie 67: I need to get better at Scheming.
rspeer 31 - Nicki Menagerie 23: smuggled Duchy, you're the one. You make the Duke rush lots of fun.