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[methods of rationality]

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201207/31/game-20120731-194156-15987788.html
was Alchemist the right move here? I know potion slows things down but the alternative would be to ether not buy king's court at all or have one of those games where if you buy too much treasure before you hit 7, your king's court will be drawn dead, and if you buy too little treasure before you hit 7, you'll never afford a king's court (since there ere no cheep cantrips) - and it always feels like its impossible to find the balance between too much and too little treasure.
Other than possibly alchemist, what mistakes did I make?

[thirtyseven]

At a quick glance your play looks fine. The difference was your opponent went first. By my calculation, you two were tied going into his "extra" turn, and you two were exchanging megaturns by then. Perhaps in anticipation of the megaturns you could've greened earlier? If you look at when you both went green, it was him triple-provincing, then you triple-provincing, then him with the capacity to triple-province for the 3rd consecutive turn. Anyway, I would also say both of you underrated Bank with such spectacular card draw!

Edit: Just saw you're twice my rank so I feel so out of place right now

[DStu]

Other than possibly alchemist, what mistakes did I make?

First, I think Alchemist is definitely NO mistake here. King's Court, Vineyards, Grand Market, Bank.  You don't win this board with BM-Margrave.

Focussing on the endgame, given we are at turn 14, you are behind 3 Provinces.  The probability is very high that your opponent can repeat the strong turn, in which case you lose if you buy 2 or more Provinces.  So I don't think grabbing 3 Provinces is the right move.  The Problem is also that you have at most 4 buys, while your opponent has a lot more.  So everything else also will let you lose, maybe it was not that bad to take the gamble after all...

With more buys, you should have gone Duchies and/or Vineyards, buy say all Duchies and force a longer game. But as it went, I think it's mostly first player advantage, and I don't see how you can reliably turn this into a win.

[Morgrim7]

Go Alchemist/KC/GM/Margrave/Bank, pick up some Vineyards.
You want to get to KC fast, and it takes priority over Alchemist. So I would open Silver/Navigator and get Potion after the first reshuffle.

[KingsSkort]

I'm skeptical of the Alchemists, especially as an opener. Margrave is a stronger card, plus its attack will keep an alchemist stack from getting out of hand. (Side note: I would generally not topdeck more than 3 alchemists if your opponent is margraving every turn. You won't get to keep the extras, and seeing random cards instead will give you a chance to find a KC to keep.) The replication factor of alchemist is great, but I worry that it will just be too slow. Finally, you can just add a potion a bit later (I would say after you get your first Margrave) and pick up one or two alchemists to improve your deck's reliability and then grab vineyards as desired.

Another way to think of it is that the only reason alchemist is good here is that you can top-deck it to avoid a dead KC. You don't need to open potion and damage your economy to get that benefit.

[ehunt]

I vote no alchemist. it delays you from getting kc's. first player to king's court a margrave probably wins; if it were wharf, I'd be more certain, but still.

[DStu]

And how do you all want to play that without Alchemists?  Going BM-Margrave with King's Courts? Taking more Margraves, to draw them dead with the KC-Margrave? Buing more KCs, and hoping for KCKCMargrave?
And what do you do with all the cards from KC-Margrave? Buy 2 Banks, and hoping to repeat it? Sounds all a bit wacky to me.

And the second and the third Margrave help the opponents...

[ehunt]

no banks, but harvests and grand markets.

[blueblimp]

I'd be scared of Noble Brigand if going Alchemists. If you put more than 5 on the deck, then you'll get a copper pretty often.

Still might be OK though.

[methods of rationality]

Idea. People are debating going for Alchemist or not. the way I see it, Alchemists are safer. Your alot less likly to draw your king cout with no actions if you have alchamists. But alchamists are slower on avrage than margrave. With king court since it will come down to mega turns in the end game first player advantage is big. So maybe first player should go with alchamist since its not worth risking having to draw king's court wit no actions and loussing when you already started with a hugh advantage. But second player, who can only win if he gets lukey anyway, should go for margrave and skip alchemist. Whatya all think?