I thought you might like to know I playtested Almoner in a real, live game last week. It plays very well -- this is a cooler card than I initially thought it would be. The on-play decisions resemble those of IGG very much, but since buying them out only depletes one pile, not two -- and doesn't slow down your opponents, either -- the viability of a Duchy rush is a lot more situational.
Nonetheless, I actually came quite close attempting this against my opponent, who was doing something else entirely. I can't remember the full kingdom, but I know that it was a slow board with lots of okay cards but no obvious power combos. Woodcutter and Monument were on the table. I opened with Monument, because although that wasn't part of my strategy I didn't want to fall behind on VP chips. And my other opener was Woodcutter, the only cheap source of +Buy. I figured the +Buy was critical, and a terminal Silver not so bad when I would only be targeting Duchies and $2 cards.
I bought a single Silver and then dove into the Almoner pile, picking up two at a time when possible. I won the Almoner split 9-1 (as I say, my opponent was doing something else) and then hit Duchies as hard as I could. As with IGG, I gained a Copper to hand whenever I needed one to hit $5 but not otherwise. However, this is harder than with IGG! Almoner giving you +1 Card instead of +$1 makes playing a hand a lot more speculative. True, with a single Almoner, you're fine -- because you draw the card before deciding if you'll take the Copper. But with a hand of multiple Almoners, it's not clear what the maximum $ amount you can hit is.
In fact, I missed an opportunity to pick up a Province this way. I had a hand full of mostly Almoners, drawing more with some of them. I was so concerned about ensuring I hit at least $5 that I never picked up on the fact that I could have reached $8 had I gained more Coppers from Almoners that turn. I did reach $5 and bought a Duchy, but the next turn I was alert to the possibility of reaching $8, did so, and snagged a Province. It was the only one I managed that game.
Anyway, once I figured out the strategy for playing a stack of Almoners, it was pretty cool. I figured out that I had to figure out what the maximum and minimum possible $ amounts I could hit, given the Almoners left in my hand, and go from there. It was a different kind of strategizing than you get with IGG or, indeed, any other Dominion card, so that was a delightful discovery.
As my opponent started snagging Provinces, I rushed the Duchy pile, picking one up each turn. My opponent eventually started helping me and took the last 2-3 from me. Meanwhile, I'm picking up Estates whenever I come up short. The Woodcutter helps me pick up multiple Estates at a time sometimes. The game ends when the Estates are gone -- there were three or so Provinces left in the pile.
I lost by 6. Had I snagged a Province on that turn I could have had one, possibly I'd have only lost by 3, but it's hard to say since the extra Coppers would have changed the dynamics of my deck. My Monument was worth 6, which certainly helped close the gap a little, but my opponent didn't buy a Monument at all, so likely there was room to optimize his play as well.
Now here is the clincher: Although it was a 2-player game, we played with 12 Provinces, 12 Duchies, and 12 Estates, which is wrong, but it's how we play. Had we played with 8 of each, like you're supposed to, the Duchies would have been gone 4 turns earlier, and the Estates gone sooner still, almost certainly ending the game with fewer Provinces in my opponent's deck.
So while I lost, I think I've proven to myself that an Almoner/Duchy rush can be a viable strategy on a slow board. I don't believe it would outrace a good engine, but it's probably something you should consider every time Almoner shows up. As for pricing, I have no doubt whatsoever that $2 is exactly where it should be.
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Topic: Mini-Set Design Contest, Challenges #1 and #2! (Read 63643 times)