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[bearskinrug]

Hi, all.  I posted a game the other day and appreciate the valuable feedback I've gotten.  I have another to throw out there for some insight:

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201207/19/game-20120719-135754-452a4974.html

My opponent went to a very aggressive Fool's Gold strategy, while I opted to make use of the Laboratories (especially since he wasn't contesting that move).  I started buying Fool's Golds (rather than Silver) when I didn't have enough money for a Laboratory in Turn 3 to contest my opponent running away with the Fool's Golds.  In Turn 12, I had enough money for a Province, but opted to buy the Laboratory for two reasons: (i) I figured another Laboratory in my deck would help keep it from stalling once I started buying Provinces, and (ii) one more Laboratory for me was one fewer for my opponent (therefore making him more likely to stall if he tries to switch up strategies).

In restrospect, I probably would have bought a Hamlet instead of a Fool's Gold in one of my early turns (so I could capitalize on the +1 buy), but late in the game when I could afford Provinces, I didn't want to "waste" a turn buying Provinces to get myself a potential second buy.  Agreed?

A few questions, is there an "optimal" number of Laboratories to have in a deck?  In other words, did I stick w/ buying Laboratories for one too many turns, or did I stick w/ it the right amount of time?

Should I have even bothered contesting the Fool's Gold strategy, or was that generally a distraction I should have avoided (since it wasn't really part of my initial plan)?

I had planned to supplement my Laboratories with a Library, but given the way my opponent was going full-bore w/ the Fool's Gold strategy, I figured it was best to just stick w/ the Laboratories.  I don't think the Fool's Gold strategy was a particularly good one -- in what circumstances is a Fool's Gold strategy effective?

If my opponent had played a better game, how would you have supplemented the Laboratories to build a stronger and/or more efficient deck?

Any guidance offered is very much appreciated, and in any event, thanks at least for reading this far!
Matt

[clb]

Ambassador(s?) to clear out the coppers/estates, hamlets for +buy, and nothing but fool's gold is a pretty strong strategy here. Neither of you really aggessively went for a fool's gold deck with the detritus cleared out.
As to the optimal number of labs... I don't know. Often, you can get suckered into buying a bunch because it is fun to be drawing up your cards, but they are often not the dominant strategy they may appear to be.

[carstimon]

Yes, your turn 12 should have been a lab.

But! You really really really want buy here! And if you're going to go fool's gold, you don't need that silver turn 2.  It was nice to be able to get the lab, but I think you want hamlet first.

So maybe open ambassador/hamlet, then fools gold and lab.  Maybe two hamlets total.  If your opponent doesn't buy an ambassador, it should be super easy to build up to double province turns quickly.

Most strong opponents will grab an ambassador here, though.  Opening ambassador/ambassador is definitely an option here, because you're ok with having $2 hands for turns 3-6 or so.   Another option is ambassador/silver to try to hit that lab, and then grab another ambassador turns 3/4/5.

No matter what, you definitely want hamlet before fools gold; you'll make up with it by using your +buy later.

[jonts26]

I would think that with your opponent rushing fool's golds, Amb/FG is the best opening. You will certianly want a hamlet, but at least at first, there's no way to make use of the +buy, and by the time you can, the FG split will have gone horribly against you. After the FG are depleted (which should be after like 6 turns) get a hamlet and a few labs, maybe even as many as 5. You should have the huge advantage of a thin deck while your opponent toils in a bloated deck from skipping the opening amb. Even if you lose the FG split like 4-6 or something, your thin deck with better card draw should have a lot more buying power. Consider picking up a curse at this point to bloat the other guys deck even more.

[lespeutere]

another option:
start amb/amb, grab a hamlet, gain a curse with + buy and clogg his deck with curses buy double amb every turn. Get some FG and labs.