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[Krarks_pinky]

I've been playing bots a lot lately because it's easier than slow opponents.
Thing is, the bots beat me. A lot. An awful lot. I guess I'm just terrible at this game.
In this thread I thought I'd occasionally post games that I lost to bots where I thought I had a better strat, but it seriously didn't work out. Lemme know what you think.
Thanks in advance for your consideration.

First game is "what happened to masquarade??"
------------ Game Setup ------------
Supply cards: Candlestick Maker, Secret Chamber, Masquerade, Oracle, Village, Watchtower, Death Cart, Mining Village, Scavenger, Young Witch, Royal Seal, Copper, Silver, Gold, Estate, Duchy, Province, Curse, Ruins
Bane card: Candlestick Maker
Rating system: casual
Todd Brown - starting cards: Estate, Estate, Estate, Copper, Copper, Copper, Copper, Copper, Copper, Copper
Banker Bot - starting cards: Estate, Estate, Estate, Copper, Copper, Copper, Copper, Copper, Copper, Copper
Todd Brown - shuffles deck
Banker Bot - shuffles deck
Todd Brown - draws Copper, Estate, Copper, Estate, Estate
Banker Bot - draws Copper, Copper, Copper, Estate, Copper
 
---------- Todd Brown: turn 1 ----------
Todd Brown - plays 2 Copper
Todd Brown - buys Candlestick Maker
Todd Brown - gains Candlestick Maker
Todd Brown - draws Copper, Copper, Copper, Copper, Copper
 
---------- Banker Bot: turn 1 ----------
Banker Bot - plays 4 Copper
Banker Bot - buys Young Witch
Banker Bot - gains Young Witch
Banker Bot - draws Estate, Estate, Copper, Copper, Copper
 
---------- Todd Brown: turn 2 ----------
Todd Brown - plays 5 Copper
Todd Brown - buys Young Witch
Todd Brown - gains Young Witch
Todd Brown - shuffles deck
Todd Brown - draws Copper, Estate, Estate, Copper, Candlestick Maker
 
---------- Banker Bot: turn 2 ----------
Banker Bot - plays 3 Copper
Banker Bot - buys Silver
Banker Bot - gains Silver
Banker Bot - shuffles deck
Banker Bot - draws Young Witch, Copper, Estate, Silver, Estate
 
---------- Todd Brown: turn 3 ----------
Todd Brown - plays Candlestick Maker
Todd Brown - receives 1 coin token
Todd Brown - plays 2 Copper
Todd Brown - uses 1 coin token
Todd Brown - buys Masquerade
Todd Brown - gains Masquerade
Todd Brown - draws Copper, Estate, Copper, Copper, Copper
 
---------- Banker Bot: turn 3 ----------
Banker Bot - plays Young Witch
Banker Bot - draws Copper, Copper
Banker Bot - discards Estate
Banker Bot - discards Estate
Todd Brown - gains Curse
Banker Bot - plays 3 Copper, 1 Silver
Banker Bot - buys Royal Seal
Banker Bot - gains Royal Seal
Banker Bot - draws Copper, Copper, Copper, Copper, Estate
 
---------- Todd Brown: turn 4 ----------
Todd Brown - plays 4 Copper
Todd Brown - buys Village
Todd Brown - gains Village
Todd Brown - draws Young Witch, Copper
Todd Brown - shuffles deck
Todd Brown - draws Copper, Copper, Estate
 
---------- Banker Bot: turn 4 ----------
Banker Bot - plays 4 Copper
Banker Bot - buys Young Witch
Banker Bot - gains Young Witch
Banker Bot - shuffles deck
Banker Bot - draws Estate, Silver, Young Witch, Estate, Copper
 
---------- Todd Brown: turn 5 ----------
Todd Brown - plays Young Witch
Todd Brown - draws Estate, Masquerade
Todd Brown - discards Estate
Todd Brown - discards Estate
Banker Bot - gains Curse
Todd Brown - plays 3 Copper
Todd Brown - buys Village
Todd Brown - gains Village
Todd Brown - draws Curse, Copper, Copper, Village, Copper
 
---------- Banker Bot: turn 5 ----------
Banker Bot - plays Young Witch
Banker Bot - draws Copper, Copper
Banker Bot - discards Estate
Banker Bot - discards Estate
Todd Brown - gains Curse
Banker Bot - plays 3 Copper, 1 Silver
Banker Bot - buys Royal Seal
Banker Bot - gains Royal Seal
Banker Bot - draws Copper, Royal Seal, Estate, Copper, Copper
 
---------- Todd Brown: turn 6 ----------
Todd Brown - plays Village
Todd Brown - draws Estate
Todd Brown - plays 3 Copper
Todd Brown - buys Village
Todd Brown - gains Village
Todd Brown - draws Copper, Candlestick Maker
Todd Brown - shuffles deck
Todd Brown - draws Village, Copper, Copper
 
---------- Banker Bot: turn 6 ----------
Banker Bot - plays Royal Seal
Banker Bot - plays 3 Copper
Banker Bot - buys Royal Seal
Banker Bot - gains Royal Seal
Banker Bot - applied Royal Seal to place Royal Seal on top of the deck
Banker Bot - draws Royal Seal, Copper, Young Witch
Banker Bot - shuffles deck
Banker Bot - draws Estate, Copper
 
---------- Todd Brown: turn 7 ----------
Todd Brown - plays Village
Todd Brown - draws Village
Todd Brown - plays Candlestick Maker
Todd Brown - receives 1 coin token
Todd Brown - plays Village
Todd Brown - draws Curse
Todd Brown - plays 3 Copper
Todd Brown - buys Silver
Todd Brown - gains Silver
Todd Brown - draws Estate, Copper, Estate, Estate, Masquerade
 
---------- Banker Bot: turn 7 ----------
Banker Bot - plays Young Witch
Banker Bot - draws Young Witch, Estate
Banker Bot - discards Estate
Banker Bot - discards Estate
Todd Brown - gains Curse
Banker Bot - plays Royal Seal
Banker Bot - plays 2 Copper
Banker Bot - buys Young Witch
Banker Bot - gains Young Witch
Banker Bot - applied Royal Seal to place Young Witch on top of the deck
Banker Bot - draws Young Witch, Estate, Copper, Copper, Copper
 
---------- Todd Brown: turn 8 ----------
Todd Brown - plays Masquerade
Todd Brown - draws Curse, Copper
Todd Brown - passes Curse
Banker Bot - passes Copper
Todd Brown - trashes Estate
Todd Brown - plays 3 Copper
Todd Brown - buys Silver
Todd Brown - gains Silver
Todd Brown - draws Copper, Young Witch, Village, Copper
Todd Brown - shuffles deck
Todd Brown - draws Copper
 
---------- Banker Bot: turn 8 ----------
Banker Bot - plays Young Witch
Banker Bot - draws Copper, Copper
Banker Bot - discards Estate
Banker Bot - discards Curse
Todd Brown - gains Curse
Banker Bot - plays 4 Copper
Banker Bot - buys Mining Village
Banker Bot - gains Mining Village
Banker Bot - draws Royal Seal, Curse, Silver, Royal Seal
Banker Bot - shuffles deck
Banker Bot - draws Copper
 
---------- Todd Brown: turn 9 ----------
Todd Brown - plays Village
Todd Brown - draws Copper
Todd Brown - plays Young Witch
Todd Brown - draws Copper, Candlestick Maker
Todd Brown - discards Copper
Todd Brown - discards Copper
Banker Bot - gains Curse
Todd Brown - plays Candlestick Maker
Todd Brown - receives 1 coin token
Todd Brown - plays 3 Copper
Todd Brown - buys Silver
Todd Brown - gains Silver
Todd Brown - draws Curse, Copper, Estate, Village, Masquerade
 
---------- Banker Bot: turn 9 ----------
Banker Bot - plays Royal Seal
Banker Bot - plays Royal Seal
Banker Bot - plays 1 Silver, 1 Copper
Banker Bot - buys Gold
Banker Bot - gains Gold
Banker Bot - applied Royal Seal to place Gold on top of the deck
Banker Bot - draws Gold, Royal Seal, Young Witch, Copper, Young Witch
 
---------- Todd Brown: turn 10 ----------
Todd Brown - plays Village
Todd Brown - draws Silver
Todd Brown - plays Masquerade
Todd Brown - draws Curse, Estate
Todd Brown - passes Curse
Banker Bot - passes Copper
Todd Brown - trashes Curse
Todd Brown - plays 2 Copper, 1 Silver
Todd Brown - buys Watchtower
Todd Brown - gains Watchtower
Todd Brown - draws Copper, Copper, Village, Silver
Todd Brown - shuffles deck
Todd Brown - draws Estate
 
---------- Banker Bot: turn 10 ----------
Banker Bot - plays Young Witch
Banker Bot - draws Copper, Estate
Banker Bot - discards Estate
Banker Bot - discards Curse
Todd Brown - gains Curse
Banker Bot - plays Royal Seal
Banker Bot - plays 1 Gold, 1 Copper
Banker Bot - buys Gold
Banker Bot - gains Gold
Banker Bot - applied Royal Seal to place Gold on top of the deck
Banker Bot - draws Gold, Curse, Estate, Copper, Copper
 
---------- Todd Brown: turn 11 ----------
Todd Brown - plays Village
Todd Brown - draws Curse
Todd Brown - plays 2 Copper, 1 Silver
Todd Brown - buys Mining Village
Todd Brown - gains Mining Village
Todd Brown - draws Copper, Copper, Silver, Watchtower, Silver
 
---------- Banker Bot: turn 11 ----------
Banker Bot - plays 2 Copper, 1 Gold
Banker Bot - buys Royal Seal
Banker Bot - gains Royal Seal
Banker Bot - draws Estate, Copper, Mining Village, Young Witch
Banker Bot - shuffles deck
Banker Bot - draws Royal Seal
 
---------- Todd Brown: turn 12 ----------
Todd Brown - plays 2 Copper, 2 Silver
Todd Brown - buys Gold
Todd Brown - gains Gold
Todd Brown - applied Watchtower to place Gold on top of the deck
Todd Brown - draws Gold, Village, Copper, Estate, Copper
 
---------- Banker Bot: turn 12 ----------
Banker Bot - plays Mining Village
Banker Bot - draws Curse
Banker Bot - plays Young Witch
Banker Bot - draws Copper, Gold
Banker Bot - discards Estate
Banker Bot - discards Curse
Todd Brown - gains Curse
Banker Bot - plays Royal Seal
Banker Bot - plays 2 Copper, 1 Gold
Banker Bot - buys Gold
Banker Bot - gains Gold
Banker Bot - applied Royal Seal to place Gold on top of the deck
Banker Bot - draws Gold, Curse, Silver, Royal Seal, Curse
 
---------- Todd Brown: turn 13 ----------
Todd Brown - plays Village
Todd Brown - draws Village
Todd Brown - plays Village
Todd Brown - draws Copper
Todd Brown - plays 3 Copper, 1 Gold
Todd Brown - buys Young Witch
Todd Brown - gains Young Witch
Todd Brown - draws Young Witch, Copper, Masquerade, Copper, Candlestick Maker
 
---------- Banker Bot: turn 13 ----------
Banker Bot - plays Royal Seal
Banker Bot - plays 1 Gold, 1 Silver
Banker Bot - buys Gold
Banker Bot - gains Gold
Banker Bot - applied Royal Seal to place Gold on top of the deck
Banker Bot - draws Gold, Curse, Copper, Copper, Young Witch
 
---------- Todd Brown: turn 14 ----------
Todd Brown - plays Candlestick Maker
Todd Brown - receives 1 coin token
Todd Brown - plays Masquerade
Todd Brown - shuffles deck
Todd Brown - draws Copper, Young Witch
Todd Brown - passes Copper
Banker Bot - passes Curse
Todd Brown - trashes Curse
Todd Brown - plays 2 Copper
Todd Brown - buys Candlestick Maker
Todd Brown - gains Candlestick Maker
Todd Brown - draws Curse, Silver, Estate, Copper, Gold
 
---------- Banker Bot: turn 14 ----------
Banker Bot - plays Young Witch
Banker Bot - draws Copper, Gold
Banker Bot - discards Copper
Banker Bot - discards Copper
Todd Brown - gains Curse
Banker Bot - plays 2 Gold, 2 Copper
Banker Bot - buys Province
Banker Bot - gains Province
Banker Bot - draws Royal Seal, Royal Seal, Estate, Estate, Young Witch
 
---------- Todd Brown: turn 15 ----------
Todd Brown - plays 1 Silver, 1 Copper, 1 Gold
Todd Brown - uses 2 coin tokens
Todd Brown - buys Province
Todd Brown - gains Province
Todd Brown - draws Curse, Copper, Estate, Copper, Village
 
---------- Banker Bot: turn 15 ----------
Banker Bot - plays Young Witch
Banker Bot - shuffles deck
Banker Bot - draws Mining Village, Copper
Banker Bot - discards Estate
Banker Bot - discards Estate
Todd Brown - gains Curse
Banker Bot - plays Royal Seal
Banker Bot - plays Royal Seal
Banker Bot - plays 1 Copper
Banker Bot - buys Royal Seal
Banker Bot - gains Royal Seal
Banker Bot - applied Royal Seal to place Royal Seal on top of the deck
Banker Bot - draws Royal Seal, Copper, Gold, Copper, Royal Seal
 
---------- Todd Brown: turn 16 ----------
Todd Brown - plays Village
Todd Brown - draws Curse
Todd Brown - plays 2 Copper
Todd Brown - uses 1 coin token
Todd Brown - buys Masquerade
Todd Brown - gains Masquerade
Todd Brown - draws Mining Village, Copper, Village, Copper, Village
 
---------- Banker Bot: turn 16 ----------
Banker Bot - plays Royal Seal
Banker Bot - plays Royal Seal
Banker Bot - plays 2 Copper, 1 Gold
Banker Bot - buys Province
Banker Bot - gains Province
Banker Bot - draws Royal Seal, Silver, Copper, Curse, Curse
 
---------- Todd Brown: turn 17 ----------
Todd Brown - plays Village
Todd Brown - draws Silver
Todd Brown - plays Village
Todd Brown - draws Copper
Todd Brown - plays Mining Village
Todd Brown - draws Watchtower
Todd Brown - plays Watchtower
Todd Brown - draws Silver
Todd Brown - shuffles deck
Todd Brown - draws Estate
Todd Brown - plays 3 Copper, 2 Silver
Todd Brown - buys Duchy
Todd Brown - gains Duchy
Todd Brown - draws Curse, Village, Young Witch, Candlestick Maker, Gold
 
---------- Banker Bot: turn 17 ----------
Banker Bot - plays Royal Seal
Banker Bot - plays 1 Silver, 1 Copper
Banker Bot - buys Royal Seal
Banker Bot - gains Royal Seal
Banker Bot - applied Royal Seal to place Royal Seal on top of the deck
Banker Bot - draws Royal Seal, Gold, Copper, Young Witch, Gold
 
---------- Todd Brown: turn 18 ----------
Todd Brown - plays Village
Todd Brown - draws Copper
Todd Brown - plays Candlestick Maker
Todd Brown - receives 1 coin token
Todd Brown - plays Young Witch
Todd Brown - draws Copper, Candlestick Maker
Todd Brown - discards Copper
Todd Brown - discards Curse
Todd Brown - plays Candlestick Maker
Todd Brown - receives 1 coin token
Todd Brown - plays 1 Gold, 1 Copper
Todd Brown - buys Mining Village
Todd Brown - gains Mining Village
Todd Brown - draws Copper, Curse, Estate, Copper, Young Witch
 
---------- Banker Bot: turn 18 ----------
Banker Bot - plays Young Witch
Banker Bot - draws Young Witch, Province
Banker Bot - discards Province
Banker Bot - discards Young Witch
Banker Bot - plays Royal Seal
Banker Bot - plays 2 Gold, 1 Copper
Banker Bot - buys Province
Banker Bot - gains Province
Banker Bot - draws Gold, Curse, Copper, Estate
Banker Bot - shuffles deck
Banker Bot - draws Gold
 
---------- Todd Brown: turn 19 ----------
Todd Brown - plays Young Witch
Todd Brown - draws Silver, Curse
Todd Brown - discards Estate
Todd Brown - discards Curse
Todd Brown - plays 2 Copper, 1 Silver
Todd Brown - buys Masquerade
Todd Brown - gains Masquerade
Todd Brown - draws Copper, Curse, Masquerade, Curse, Masquerade
 
---------- Banker Bot: turn 19 ----------
Banker Bot - plays 2 Gold, 1 Copper
Banker Bot - buys Gold
Banker Bot - gains Gold
Banker Bot - draws Copper, Province, Royal Seal, Gold, Copper
 
---------- Todd Brown: turn 20 ----------
Todd Brown - plays Masquerade
Todd Brown - draws Province
Todd Brown - shuffles deck
Todd Brown - draws Candlestick Maker
Todd Brown - passes Curse
Banker Bot - passes Copper
Todd Brown - trashes Curse
Todd Brown - plays 2 Copper
Todd Brown - uses 1 coin token
Todd Brown - buys Watchtower
Todd Brown - gains Watchtower
Todd Brown - draws Copper, Watchtower, Silver, Copper, Village
 
---------- Banker Bot: turn 20 ----------
Banker Bot - plays Royal Seal
Banker Bot - plays 1 Gold, 1 Copper
Banker Bot - buys Gold
Banker Bot - gains Gold
Banker Bot - applied Royal Seal to place Gold on top of the deck
Banker Bot - draws Gold, Copper, Royal Seal, Mining Village, Curse
 
---------- Todd Brown: turn 21 ----------
Todd Brown - plays Village
Todd Brown - draws Young Witch
Todd Brown - plays Young Witch
Todd Brown - draws Curse, Estate
Todd Brown - discards Curse
Todd Brown - discards Estate
Todd Brown - plays Watchtower
Todd Brown - draws Copper, Village, Candlestick Maker
Todd Brown - plays 3 Copper, 1 Silver
Todd Brown - buys Duchy
Todd Brown - gains Duchy
Todd Brown - draws Masquerade, Estate, Gold, Mining Village, Mining Village
 
---------- Banker Bot: turn 21 ----------
Banker Bot - plays Mining Village
Banker Bot - draws Young Witch
Banker Bot - plays Young Witch
Banker Bot - draws Gold, Curse
Banker Bot - discards Curse
Banker Bot - discards Curse
Banker Bot - plays Royal Seal
Banker Bot - plays 2 Gold, 1 Copper
Banker Bot - buys Province
Banker Bot - gains Province
Banker Bot - draws Royal Seal, Copper, Province, Silver, Royal Seal
 
---------- Todd Brown: turn 22 ----------
Todd Brown - plays Mining Village
Todd Brown - draws Curse
Todd Brown - plays Mining Village
Todd Brown - draws Copper
Todd Brown - plays Masquerade
Todd Brown - draws Village, Young Witch
Todd Brown - passes Curse
Banker Bot - passes Copper
Todd Brown - trashes Estate
Todd Brown - plays Village
Todd Brown - draws Curse
Todd Brown - plays Young Witch
Todd Brown - draws Silver, Copper
Todd Brown - discards Curse
Todd Brown - discards Copper
Todd Brown - plays 2 Copper, 1 Gold, 1 Silver
Todd Brown - uses 1 coin token
Todd Brown - buys Province
Todd Brown - gains Province
Todd Brown - draws Duchy, Copper, Copper, Silver
Todd Brown - shuffles deck
Todd Brown - draws Province
 
---------- Banker Bot: turn 22 ----------
Banker Bot - plays Royal Seal
Banker Bot - plays Royal Seal
Banker Bot - plays 1 Silver
Banker Bot - buys Duchy
Banker Bot - gains Duchy
Banker Bot - draws Estate, Young Witch, Estate, Province, Royal Seal
 
---------- Todd Brown: turn 23 ----------
Todd Brown - plays 2 Copper, 1 Silver
Todd Brown - buys Mining Village
Todd Brown - gains Mining Village
Todd Brown - draws Village, Young Witch, Village, Candlestick Maker, Mining Village
 
---------- Banker Bot: turn 23 ----------
Banker Bot - plays Young Witch
Banker Bot - draws Copper, Royal Seal
Banker Bot - discards Province
Banker Bot - discards Estate
Todd Brown - reveals bane Candlestick Maker
Banker Bot - plays Royal Seal
Banker Bot - plays Royal Seal
Banker Bot - plays 1 Copper
Banker Bot - buys Duchy
Banker Bot - gains Duchy
Banker Bot - draws Young Witch
Banker Bot - shuffles deck
Banker Bot - draws Copper, Province, Duchy, Curse
 
---------- Todd Brown: turn 24 ----------
Todd Brown - plays Village
Todd Brown - draws Curse
Todd Brown - plays Village
Todd Brown - draws Copper
Todd Brown - plays Mining Village
Todd Brown - draws Young Witch
Todd Brown - plays Candlestick Maker
Todd Brown - receives 1 coin token
Todd Brown - plays Young Witch
Todd Brown - draws Village, Gold
Todd Brown - discards Young Witch
Todd Brown - discards Curse
Todd Brown - plays Village
Todd Brown - draws Masquerade
Todd Brown - plays Masquerade
Todd Brown - draws Copper, Copper
Todd Brown - passes Copper
Banker Bot - passes Curse
Todd Brown - trashes Curse
Todd Brown - plays 2 Copper, 1 Gold
Todd Brown - buys Duchy
Todd Brown - gains Duchy
Todd Brown - draws Watchtower, Mining Village, Candlestick Maker, Masquerade, Silver
 
---------- Banker Bot: turn 24 ----------
Banker Bot - plays Young Witch
Banker Bot - draws Duchy, Gold
Banker Bot - discards Province
Banker Bot - discards Duchy
Todd Brown - reveals bane Candlestick Maker
Banker Bot - plays 2 Copper, 1 Gold
Banker Bot - buys Duchy
Banker Bot - gains Duchy
Banker Bot - draws Young Witch, Curse, Curse, Copper, Province
 
---------- Todd Brown: turn 25 ----------
Todd Brown - plays Mining Village
Todd Brown - draws Silver
Todd Brown - plays Candlestick Maker
Todd Brown - receives 1 coin token
Todd Brown - plays Watchtower
Todd Brown - draws Copper, Watchtower, Duchy
Todd Brown - plays Masquerade
Todd Brown - draws Masquerade, Province
Todd Brown - passes Copper
Banker Bot - passes Curse
Todd Brown - trashes Curse
Todd Brown - plays 2 Silver
Todd Brown - uses 1 coin token
Todd Brown - buys Duchy
Todd Brown - gains Duchy
Todd Brown - draws Estate, Copper, Curse, Copper, Copper
 
---------- Banker Bot: turn 25 ----------
Banker Bot - plays Young Witch
Banker Bot - draws Royal Seal, Curse
Banker Bot - discards Province
Banker Bot - discards Curse
Banker Bot - plays Royal Seal
Banker Bot - plays 2 Copper
Banker Bot - buys Mining Village
Banker Bot - gains Mining Village
Banker Bot - applied Royal Seal to place Mining Village on top of the deck
Banker Bot - draws Mining Village, Silver, Royal Seal, Gold, Estate
 
---------- Todd Brown: turn 26 ----------
Todd Brown - plays 3 Copper
Todd Brown - buys Silver
Todd Brown - gains Silver
Todd Brown - draws Copper
Todd Brown - shuffles deck
Todd Brown - draws Silver, Young Witch, Copper, Village
 
---------- Banker Bot: turn 26 ----------
Banker Bot - plays Mining Village
Banker Bot - draws Gold
Banker Bot - plays Royal Seal
Banker Bot - plays 2 Gold, 1 Silver
Banker Bot - buys Province
Banker Bot - gains Province
Banker Bot - draws Gold, Gold, Royal Seal, Royal Seal, Gold
 
---------- Todd Brown: turn 27 ----------
Todd Brown - plays Village
Todd Brown - draws Village
Todd Brown - plays Village
Todd Brown - draws Curse
Todd Brown - plays Young Witch
Todd Brown - draws Estate, Copper
Todd Brown - discards Curse
Todd Brown - discards Estate
Todd Brown - plays 3 Copper, 1 Silver
Todd Brown - buys Duchy
Todd Brown - gains Duchy
Todd Brown - draws Duchy, Watchtower, Candlestick Maker, Silver, Copper
 
---------- Banker Bot: turn 27 ----------
Banker Bot - plays Royal Seal
Banker Bot - plays Royal Seal
Banker Bot - plays 3 Gold
Banker Bot - buys Province
Banker Bot - gains Province
Banker Bot - draws Province, Curse, Mining Village, Royal Seal, Young Witch
 
------------ Game Over ------------
Banker Bot - cards: 3 Young Witch, 2 Mining Village, 6 Royal Seal, 6 Copper, 6 Gold, 1 Silver, 6 Province, 3 Duchy, 3 Estate, 3 Curse
Banker Bot - total victory points: 45
Banker Bot - turns: 27
 
Todd Brown - cards: 3 Village, 3 Masquerade, 3 Mining Village, 2 Watchtower, 2 Candlestick Maker, 2 Young Witch, 8 Copper, 4 Silver, 1 Gold, 5 Duchy, 2 Province, 1 Estate, 2 Curse
Todd Brown - total victory points: 26
Todd Brown - turns: 27
 
1st place: Banker Bot
2nd place: Todd Brown

[StrongRhino]

I'm not exactly sure what happened here (I'm not that great myself) and didn't look very closely, but it would be much easier to see if you just provided a link.

[DG]

In this sort of game a mixed treasure/village/drawing strategy will often be worse than a treasure/drawing strategy, as played by the banker bot. To really get the full benefits from your villages and drawing cards they need to pair up together very often and draw very big hands. With extra treasures and a lot of curses in your deck it was unlikely to happen and by the time the masquerade removed a few curses you were buying green cards as well.

[ftl]

First, some things helpful to make it easier for people to look at:
1) Post a link, not the whole log in the text field. Even better, go to http://dom.retrobox.eu/  and paste the log into there, and post the resulting link  - that gives a nice little scrolling interface where we can see how the decks of both players changed over time, much easier than reading the whole log in text form.

Here, the log is http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130909/log.51378f3ae4b006f8dc8ccece.1378772000242.txt .

2) You said that you had a better strat - could you post what strat you wanted to do? I mean, we can see what you actually did, but it can help to compare "what you wanted to do" to "what you actually did".

OK, so looking at your specific game, I see a few things.  Some of it was bad luck, and then you didn't react well to it.

Your final deck had the composition of an engine - lots of villages and terminals - but only two cards that could increase your handsize, two masquerades! And you didn't trash away your starting coppers, ending with 8. So you didn't really have an engine. But you had too many actions to really be going for a big money deck - it was sort of a hybrid, that didn't work very well.

So those are the things, I think. You needed to trash faster, and get more draw cards - if you're going for an engine. You could, of course, follow DG's suggestion and skip the engine entirely in favor of Big Money+Masquerade - then you need to skip the villages.


I'll try to play a sample game as a demo and post the log here.

[edit] Sample engine game at http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130909/log.50612a9b51c36e573294bfd0.1378777849160.txt . No claims that that's optimal. Add in a Young Witch *after* trashing some, not before.

Sample Big Money game at http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130909/log.50612a9b51c36e573294bfd0.1378778098817.txt . Not much to say there.[/edit]

[Kirian]

(1)  Playing against bots will not help you get better.  Playing against people will help you get better, if for no other reason than you can examine their strategies.

(2)  If you're interested in others looking at your logs, the best bet is to post a link to the log (preferably using the prettifier at http://dom.retrobox.eu/), then post some of your thoughts about what you did right and/or wrong.  Possibly also post the kingdom.

Given the kingdom:  Candlestick Maker (Bane), Secret Chamber, Masquerade, Oracle, Village, Watchtower, Death Cart, Mining Village, Scavenger, Young Witch

(3)  Cursers are almost always bad vs. Masquerade.  CSM is an amazing bane card.  Young Witch should therefore be a total non-starter here.  You can easily load up on 4-5 CSMs, and then pass away whatever Curses sneak past them, all while trashing your deck.  If for whatever reason the opponent doesn't load up on CSMs, you could consider buying YW a few turns in.

(4)  Masquerade is an almost-always buy on T1 or T2.  Much like Chapel, the later you buy it the less useful it is.

(5)  Since Masquerade is the only real drawing power here--Watchtower is draw to 6, and only CSM is disappearing from your hand--there's not much of an engine here per se.  You don't really need 6 villages, especially if your deck has been trimmed by Masquerade.

Edit:

Like FTL, I went to play some with my advice:

http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130909/log.50635cc651c3843e7939ece8.1378777603036.txt
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130909/log.50635cc651c3843e7939ece8.1378777928414.txt
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130909/log.50635cc651c3843e7939ece8.1378778160606.txt

I lost the middle one by greening too late and getting trapped under the PPR.  So, (6) understand that mediocre players, and probably even top players, can lose to a bot once in a while.

[ConMan]

(1)  Playing against bots will not help you get better.  Playing against people will help you get better, if for no other reason than you can examine their strategies.

I disagree. Playing against bots will help you develop your basic strategies - BM+X, simple engines, identifying synergies and anti-synergies between cards. It certainly won't help you in learning about the relative speed of many of these strategies, or help you discover some of the crazier combos, and you probably won't find yourself keeping close track of your deck.

[popsofctown]

Masquerade has this way of making cursers so weak, and you kind of don't know unless you experience that, or someone tells you, and now we've told you. 

[serakfalcon]

I disagree. Playing against bots will help you develop your basic strategies - BM+X, simple engines, identifying synergies and anti-synergies between cards.

You're welcome to think that. I don't play often so I get stuck having to climb past noobs every time I come on. I can always tell who usually plays against bots because they pick really dumb strategies optimized to beat bots, not real people.

[popsofctown]

I disagree. Playing against bots will help you develop your basic strategies - BM+X, simple engines, identifying synergies and anti-synergies between cards.

You're welcome to think that. I don't play often so I get stuck having to climb past noobs every time I come on. I can always tell who usually plays against bots because they pick really dumb strategies optimized to beat bots, not real people.

Are we comparing playing against bots to playing against people, or comparing playing against bots to playing Call of Duty?

[SCSN]

(5)  Since Masquerade is the only real drawing power here--Watchtower is draw to 6, and only CSM is disappearing from your hand--there's not much of an engine here per se.  You don't really need 6 villages, especially if your deck has been trimmed by Masquerade.

Don't forget Scavenger. I definitely think a Masq-CM-Watchtower-Village-Scavenger engine is the way to go here.

[eHalcyon]

I disagree. Playing against bots will help you develop your basic strategies - BM+X, simple engines, identifying synergies and anti-synergies between cards.

You're welcome to think that. I don't play often so I get stuck having to climb past noobs every time I come on. I can always tell who usually plays against bots because they pick really dumb strategies optimized to beat bots, not real people.

What kind of strategies are you talking about?  There are also people who only play with people and still pick terrible strategies.  Not everybody has been to dominionstrategy.com!

[AHoppy]

I disagree. Playing against bots will help you develop your basic strategies - BM+X, simple engines, identifying synergies and anti-synergies between cards.

You're welcome to think that. I don't play often so I get stuck having to climb past noobs every time I come on. I can always tell who usually plays against bots because they pick really dumb strategies optimized to beat bots, not real people.

What kind of strategies are you talking about?  There are also people who only play with people and still pick terrible strategies.  Not everybody has been to dominionstrategy.com!

Or me, who just plays people and sometimes just do random things, seeing if I can do something cool

[lespeutere]

(5)  Since Masquerade is the only real drawing power here--Watchtower is draw to 6, and only CSM is disappearing from your hand--there's not much of an engine here per se.  You don't really need 6 villages, especially if your deck has been trimmed by Masquerade.

Don't forget Scavenger. I definitely think a Masq-CM-Watchtower-Village-Scavenger engine is the way to go here.

Especially with top decking from WT and Royal Seal.

[Witherweaver]

...
[edit] Sample engine game at http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130909/log.50612a9b51c36e573294bfd0.1378777849160.txt . No claims that that's optimal. Add in a Young Witch *after* trashing some, not before.
...

This is interesting.  It's better to get the Curser later?  I tend to always open Young Witch if I think I'm going to get one at some point.  Is it because the draw from Young Witch and Masquerade will make them likely to collide and Masquerade is a more helpful opener?

Though given Masquerade and the CM bane, I might not want to get Young Witch at all here.

[soulnet]

Though given Masquerade and the CM bane, I might not want to get Young Witch at all here.

I agree. You will probably be playing Masq at least once a turn and maybe twice a turn in no time, so curses will eventually be trashed by yourself. I think it would even make more sense to eventually buy a Curse with a spare buy and pass it with the Masq you already have, and spend your $4 somewhere else.

[GeoLib]

Though given Masquerade and the CM bane, I might not want to get Young Witch at all here.

Also Watchtower makes cursers weaker. I would say YW is totally skippable on this board.

[Stealth Tomato]

Though given Masquerade and the CM bane, I might not want to get Young Witch at all here.

Yup. Cursers are generally bad against Masquerade unless you can reliably sling multiple Curses per turn (or play the Curser and Masq).

It's tough to look for strengths/weaknesses from a single board, but if I had to guess, it looks like your problem is that you're trying to play from a set of rules and axioms ("Young Witch is really powerful"; "X and Y go well together") rather than considering how the cards available interact. You want to be looking at the board as a whole, seeing what powerful cards are out and what combinations of cards have synergy, and then looking for support for those cards/combinations. That leads you to a general goal.

e.g. instead of "Young Witch is really powerful", I see Young Witch. I know this is an opportunity to hit my opponent with Curses. How well would that goal work? Can he trash them quickly? Is there an obvious counter, like a powerful Bane he can spam? Is there another strategy, like a Vault strategy, that would operate really quickly, so I'd fall too far behind in money/cards/points even though I won the Curses? If any of those are yes, I probably don't want Young Witch... if they aren't, I probably do.

[flies]

I disagree. Playing against bots will help you develop your basic strategies - BM+X, simple engines, identifying synergies and anti-synergies between cards.

You're welcome to think that. I don't play often so I get stuck having to climb past noobs every time I come on. I can always tell who usually plays against bots because they pick really dumb strategies optimized to beat bots, not real people.

i'm interested in whether this is true.  i play bots a fair amount, and it is certainly true that bots play differently from people.  I'm not sure if this is just my memory playing tricks on me, but my sense is that bots tend to buy duchies a lot earlier, for instance.  This has caused me to start buying duchies earlier when playing against people, and my ranking has improved. 

Are there strategies that work better against bots than people?  I mean, people can be better than bots, but good play is good play, so if you're beating bots consistently I would think this would indicate you'd also do well against people.  Is this not the case?

In any case, I think playing against bots teaches you to react to the unexpected.  Bots sometimes buy a lot of low-cost actions in ways that appear dumb, but occasionally they scoop the win from under me doing this (i tend to play against two bots at a time, which makes such scoops more feasible).  Bots often make decisions that seem boneheaded but change the shape of the game considerably (e.g. overbuying militia), and learning how to react to that kind of thing is good practice.

[serakfalcon]

Bots often make decisions that seem boneheaded but change the shape of the game considerably (e.g. overbuying militia), and learning how to react to that kind of thing is good practice.

Yeah, typical bot-learned strategies that I see a lot of are pile-driving militia, feast or other low cost actions when going for a simple BM+X strategy will be faster (even if being militia'd)... bots don't teach you some key base strategies like workshop + gardens, or even the power of chapel.
(Just won a base game yesterday 37-0 opening chapel/remodel, I felt bad but I can't play better players due to the combination of them all having autokick and my rating being f'd over by Goko, has taken over a week to recover half my rating)

Bots often make decisions that seem boneheaded but change the shape of the game considerably (e.g. overbuying militia), and learning how to react to that kind of thing is good practice.

The problem with learning to react to dumb strategies is that it often doesn't teach you how to react to good ones.

I'd agree that it helps a little bit with 3-4 player games, because when several people start doing an inferior strategy it can make better strategies not work, but there are key concepts that you have to play out with people. (In fact, doing so helps you considerably, after about 3-4 games, the people I introduce to dominion can beat most of the bots.)

[PSGarak]

If you are very new to the game, there is unquestionably a point where you can benefit from playing bots. There are a number of soft-judgement skills that you acquire by quantity of experience rather than quality: fairly basic things like "I hit $8 early, do I go for a Province?" and "When do I start buying Duchies over Gold?" and some more advanced things like "what balance of Action and Draw do I need in an Engine?" and "When should I prioritize +buy?" If you're still so new you have to spend a lot of bandwidth figuring out these questions, games against vanilla bots will get you the experience you need. They may even be better, because you're not pressured by knowing your opponent thinks you're being slow.

There's certainly a point where you need at least some experience against humans, and another point where experience against bots is actively prohibitive. However, there's still benefit to practicing against bots, especially for new players that have to think through many of the decisions that we now make by instinct.

[Beyond Awesome]

Actually, every now and then, I will play against bots if I want to get better playing a certain card I don't feel I have a good grasp with or learning a strategy like KC/Masq/Goons or Hermit/Market Square. The thing about bots is that I feel no pressure and don't have to worry about making mistakes, so I can take risks and see what payoff they will have so when I play against real opponents, I will have an idea of what will happen if I take a strategy that I have not had adequate experience playing.

Although, to be honest, this is sort of like playing solitaire as I am not really trying to learn how to react against an opponent but just to get a better grasp over something I don't feel like I have an adequate handle over.

[tolenmar]

I need the help and experience as well, but I have always had this hangup about playing against live players. 
It doesnt matter the game, I get shy. Its silly, I know.

But it does **** me off how the bots make me feel like an idiot.  I swear that if I played that badly, I would rarely win a game in real life, either.

So, OP, you aren't the only one who can't handle the bots.

[flies]

Bots often make decisions that seem boneheaded but change the shape of the game considerably (e.g. overbuying militia), and learning how to react to that kind of thing is good practice.

The problem with learning to react to dumb strategies is that it often doesn't teach you how to react to good ones.

Learning that you have to react to your opponent is one of the more non-obvious lessons for beginners.  I'm a fairly advanced player (ranked 50-70 on goko), and I am still learning how to do this.  I'm sure that playing against better opponents is better, especially for moving from level 25-35 (in iso terms), but I'm not convinced that learning to beat/react to bots doesn't help you against humans.

FWIW, the main reason I play against bots isn't to hone my skills but to play without time pressure, e.g. while watching TV or something. 

[clb]

Bots often make decisions that seem boneheaded but change the shape of the game considerably (e.g. overbuying militia), and learning how to react to that kind of thing is good practice.

Yeah, typical bot-learned strategies that I see a lot of are pile-driving militia, feast or other low cost actions when going for a simple BM+X strategy will be faster (even if being militia'd)... bots don't teach you some key base strategies like workshop + gardens, or even the power of chapel.
(Just won a base game yesterday 37-0 opening chapel/remodel, I felt bad but I can't play better players due to the combination of them all having autokick and my rating being f'd over by Goko, has taken over a week to recover half my rating)

Bots often make decisions that seem boneheaded but change the shape of the game considerably (e.g. overbuying militia), and learning how to react to that kind of thing is good practice.

The problem with learning to react to dumb strategies is that it often doesn't teach you how to react to good ones.

I'd agree that it helps a little bit with 3-4 player games, because when several people start doing an inferior strategy it can make better strategies not work, but there are key concepts that you have to play out with people. (In fact, doing so helps you considerably, after about 3-4 games, the people I introduce to dominion can beat most of the bots.)

It is exactly these very simple, easily programmable, strategies that the Bots do as a good baseline and where they can be actually useful to practice against. If you want to hone your Beggar-Gardens mirror skills, the Bots are a good baseline.
Sometimes, they are just plain stupid, though.