Game 1: Colony, Platinum, Potions, Courtyard, Develop, Menagerie, Warehouse, Fortress, Noble Brigand, Duke, Grand Market, Transmute, Apothecary
With a 40 minute time limit, this game was a bit nerve-wracking. The engine to be build here consists of Apothecary/Menagerie/Warehouse/Fortress to Develop Fortresses into Duchy/Develop to get Grand Markets. It was a beat to play needing to keep track actions, cards in the discard pile, reordering of the top of the deck and cards in the hand.....
AND IT WAS STILL FASTER THAN GOKO! Couldn't resist that little jab
Game 2: Haven, Urchin, Cutpurse, Horse Traders, Spice Merchant, Trader, Cache, Counting House, King's Court, Forge
This was the least interesting of the semifinals. There is not potential for an engine, even with KC. As it is, I went for a Single Trader and a Single Spice Merchant. I was able to Cache in on the golden $5 with Trader in hand a couple of times. I ended up winning this one on turns after I got $7/$7/$4 in my last 3 hands of the game.
Game 3: Colony, Platinum, Potions, Herbalist, Masterpiece, Swindler, Farming Village, Remake, Witch, Hoard, Bank, Expand, Peddle
This was an interesting board for a 2-player enthusiast. I saw this and immediatly wanted to get Peddlers to 0, buy them and then trash them with Expand. I was successful, butin the process of doing that Farming Villages were emptied and Curses were emptied and the Swindler attack made every Swindler and Silver a Masterpiece. I managed to get 2 Peddler=>Colony before the 3-pile ensuring 2nd place.
Game 4: Shelters, Embargo, Chapel, Forager, Death Cart, Pirate Ship, Cultist, Junk Dealer, Torturer, Fairgrounds, Farmland
This one one where I had my plan right from the get go. I ignored all of the Junkers in this game and with our own opening split being our choice, went for Junk Dealer/Chapel. I quickly trash down keeping my Necropolis. It was then just a matter of picking up 2 Pirate Ships and playing each of them for the attack for about 5 turns in a row racking up $6 ships. After that I got a Gold and went to the races.
Semi-final Game 1: Poorhouse, Coppersmith, Gardens, Moneylender, Noble Brigand, Bandit Camp, Counterfeit, Ill-Gotten-Gains, Rogue, Thief
This was a standard IGG/Gardens rush. I could see how Thief could maybe do a little bit of work if it steals a few IGG from the players, but apart from IGG, it's tough to make a call for any other strategy. Good draws and FPA make this an easy win.
Semifinal Game 2: Potions, Crossroads, Fortune Teller, Hermit, Rats, Highway, Knights, Rebuild, Harem, Vineyard, Golem
I open Highway/Crossroads only to have my Highway trashed by Sir Plus Buy right before my 4th turn. It's a tumultuous game from then on. My goal for the game was to not do Rebuild and to combat Knights using Rats. Then go for a Megaturn with Hermits/Highways. Things are going well and I have 5 Highways in deck and am primed to gain 4 Provinces until I get hit by Knights on my Highways. In the end I manage to pick up enough VP before the 3-pile to take 1st.
Semifinal Game 3: Fool's Gold, Squire, Doctor, Market Square(Bane), Menagerie, Shantytown, Watchtower, Young Witch, Merchant Guild, Pillage, Tactician
This was a great set. It's one of those where every card in the set can be looked at as a candidate for inclusion in the deck. With the ability to reorder your opening deck, Doctor became a must buy on Turn 1, (overpay $2 with the guarantee to trash 2 Estates). After that I really did a lot with everything. The main thing was trying for Squire into Watchtower for draw, throw in a couple of Merchant guilds for coin and a Tactician to help with large hands. A log would be nice for this game as there really was so much that went on in it. We ended up 3-piling Fool's Gold, Squire and Curses. I ended up at 1st with a much more potent engine than my opponents.
Final: You can read more about how to throw a game with 7 Governor and 2 Goons in my previous post.