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[GendoIkari]

So, with all the sets that are out there now; the possible number of different games you could play is insanely huge. Even if you don't count different Black Market setups. But, many of these games are so similar to each other that they may as well be the same. After all, it's rare (if ever) that all 10 Kingdom cards matter.

So, about how many different games of Dominion are there? I mean, if you have Ironworks, Chapel, and Garden present; there's probably only a few different configurations that matter for the rest of the cards; the majority of the Kingdom will be ignored by decent players.

Obviously it's subjective, and matters how specific you choose to be with your categories. But what do you guys think? What are some high-level categories; and how many different meaningful Kingdoms in each category?

[ecq]

Enough.

[WanderingWinder]

Enough.

I was going to post the exact same thing.
The I realized I want more cards.

[Morgrim7]

Enough.

Enough to keep me busy for a LONG time.

[popsofctown]

I don't think you're asking a useful question.  There's at least tens of thousands of meaningful kingdoms.  We won't run out of kingdoms. 

I think a better question is, "what proportion of all possible kingdoms are duplicate" a proportion that can tell you, as you play a large number of games how high do the odds of hitting a repeat kingdom get.

Measuring what loses to BM/X is a good start.

[ftl]

There was a thread at one point where someone tried to classify different kingdoms or strategies. I can't find it, though.

[GendoIkari]

Just in case there was any misconception; I certainly wasn't trying to say "sure there's a lot of possible Kingdoms, but there's not really than many different ones." I'm quite sure the number is still quite huge; more than anyone will play in a lifetime.

popsofctown said it best I think... the question is what is the proportion of Kingdoms that are similar enough that the differences don't matter. Along the same lines, about how many of the 10 cards define the game? Is there any possible set where all 10 cards matter; and you couldn't replace any one of them without changing the best strategy? I doubt it. But what about 7, or 8 of the cards?

[Kirian]

popsofctown said it best I think... the question is what is the proportion of Kingdoms that are similar enough that the differences don't matter. Along the same lines, about how many of the 10 cards define the game? Is there any possible set where all 10 cards matter; and you couldn't replace any one of them without changing the best strategy? I doubt it. But what about 7, or 8 of the cards?

I think the answer to this is yes; consider the well-developed kingdoms used in the DS tournament.  I don't think you're likely to get something like that randomly, and I'm thinking you're looking at <0.001% of all possible kingdoms.

[WanderingWinder]

There are definitely many kingdoms where all the cards matter, and I play them fairly frequently. Maybe half a percent of the time, all of the kingdom cards are quite conceivably important, even if because of the particular strategies/draws, some of them don't end up getting bought.

[popsofctown]

Just in case there was any misconception; I certainly wasn't trying to say "sure there's a lot of possible Kingdoms, but there's not really than many different ones." I'm quite sure the number is still quite huge; more than anyone will play in a lifetime.

popsofctown said it best I think... the question is what is the proportion of Kingdoms that are similar enough that the differences don't matter. Along the same lines, about how many of the 10 cards define the game? Is there any possible set where all 10 cards matter; and you couldn't replace any one of them without changing the best strategy? I doubt it. But what about 7, or 8 of the cards?

Are you having a silly moment and forgetting Cornucopia entirely?  A Fairgrounds kingdom where you'll trash all your estates and coppers, or just your estates with some disdain for Duchies, easily uses all 10.  And if you're building a Horn of Plenty engine you can use all the cards that are functionally similar with different names to help trigger Horn, like mixing Walled Village and Villages, so that's not hard either.

I don't mean it's easy for me to name that kingdom right now, but I think Cornucopia makes it clear that there definitely exists several kingdoms where you couldn't change any one of them without changing the best strategy.

[eHalcyon]

Just in case there was any misconception; I certainly wasn't trying to say "sure there's a lot of possible Kingdoms, but there's not really than many different ones." I'm quite sure the number is still quite huge; more than anyone will play in a lifetime.

popsofctown said it best I think... the question is what is the proportion of Kingdoms that are similar enough that the differences don't matter. Along the same lines, about how many of the 10 cards define the game? Is there any possible set where all 10 cards matter; and you couldn't replace any one of them without changing the best strategy? I doubt it. But what about 7, or 8 of the cards?

Are you having a silly moment and forgetting Cornucopia entirely?  A Fairgrounds kingdom where you'll trash all your estates and coppers, or just your estates with some disdain for Duchies, easily uses all 10.  And if you're building a Horn of Plenty engine you can use all the cards that are functionally similar with different names to help trigger Horn, like mixing Walled Village and Villages, so that's not hard either.

I don't mean it's easy for me to name that kingdom right now, but I think Cornucopia makes it clear that there definitely exists several kingdoms where you couldn't change any one of them without changing the best strategy.

But that's exactly the point he was making.  In the games you've described, the dominant strategy is Fairgrounds and HoP, respectively.  Yes you use all the cards because you need that variety, but the specific cards you use don't really matter.  So a game with HoP, Walled Village and Village (plus other cards) is very similar to a game with HoP, Worker's Village and Mining Village, if you are only using the villages to trigger the HoP.  You can swap out many of those components without changing the best strategy.