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[PerdHapley]

So I just played this game: http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201111/13/game-20111113-151939-6de81b4f.html which was a lot of fun, and though I feel I played it pretty decently I was basically just winging it as I went. I'd be really curious to know how you guys would analyze something like this at the beginning of the match. Here's the setup for reference:

Bazaar, Bishop, Border Village, Farming Village, Farmland, Forge, Lighthouse, Salvager, Stash, and Upgrade

It's basically a trash-for-benefit lovers' dream board. So, where do you start? Assuming a 4/3 open, what's your general strategy here? I'm assuming the correct play with your first $6 is to take BV/Upgrade (which could be totally wrong), but what about your next couple $6s? Is using Upgrade to go BV/Forge/Province too many steps, or is it simpler to just Salvage away to victory? Are the Bishop points going to usually be worth it? How much treasure do you want here? I played this one pretty erratically, is there a more precise way to play it?

[DG]

I'm not a bishop expert since I don't play them that often, but here I'd be tempted to get some bishops, bazaars (with or without border villages), and try to get a deck that can be drawn every turn with some bishop trashing for points. Border villages/farmland going to provinces could get mixed in too. The difficulty with this kingdom is getting a good hand of cards, not what you can gain/buy with them. In this respect the bishop will manage the deck whereas a green card approach could clog up.

[Kirian]

This board has no drawing power, so the most cards you'll ever have in hand is 5, which makes for some difficult choices.  Even though Bishop isn't an elite opening, I'd go Bishop/Silver here.  I'd actually be tempted to grab a second Bishop at $4 in the second shuffle.  It's tempting to go full-on Bishop spam, but you can't net more than one card per turn here except with Border Village--Salvager forces a trash for each +Buy.  At some point you'd only have the extra Bishops and BV/Bazaar to use for your Bishop.

Hrm, having written that, BV/X spam for extra Bishop material could be nice... a $6 buy gets you 7 VP total when trashed by Bishops

Bazaar will boost your buying power better than the Villages, so I'd skip FV, and Upgrade just seems wimpy in the face of Bazaar/Bishop on this board.

[Kirian]

I went ahead and tried this out solitaire:

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201111/13/game-20111113-171615-e88eac5c.html

This gets 24 points on T13... better than BMU/Smithy because it won't stall out.  (Turn 14/15 might be more likely, though... turn 13 and 14 here were quite lucky.)  This then goes on to get a Province or more in points for another ten turns.

Now remember, with Bishops you're also trashing your opponent's deck, so they'll be faster than BMU/Smithy as well... but I suspect Upgrade/Salvager isn't going to do it.

I also tried

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201111/13/game-20111113-174454-9f7db167.html

in which I limited myself to buying no more than 5 of any card.  It hits 24 points on T15, though again with little chance of stalling.  However, it takes a lot longer to end the game, as with only five Bazaars there was a good chance of not having enough cash for the Province.  A sixth Bazaar would do the trick, depending on competition from your opponent.

I think multi-Bishop is your best bet here.

[philosophyguy]

The game will probably play faster than Kirian's simulation because you'll also be able to trash cards (read: Coppers) when your opponent plays a Bishop. Since you've got something you want to buy at all the major price points ($6 = BV, $5 = Bazaar, $4 = Bishop), there's not a compelling reason NOT to trash a Copper if given the chance.

[kn1tt3r]

I'd probably try Border Village/Bishop with massive Bischopping.

[quasi]

Hey, first post.

I think bishop/upgrade works well together.  I'd be looking to get one bishop, two silvers, and two upgrades.  trash down your deck as quickly as possible and potentially upgrade an upgrade into a gold.  Then get into the endgame hand of bishop/gold/silver/silver/province. 

[Kirian]

Hey, first post.

I think bishop/upgrade works well together.  I'd be looking to get one bishop, two silvers, and two upgrades.  trash down your deck as quickly as possible and potentially upgrade an upgrade into a gold.  Then get into the endgame hand of bishop/gold/silver/silver/province. 

Welcome, quasi!

The problem with going Bishop-2xUpgrade is twofold.  First, Upgrade makes it tough to get to Bishop/GSSP, since it only removes cards from your deck if you use it on Copper.  I can get there in 13 turns--and I think that was pretty lucky going solitaire--but only because I purchased nothing else but the second silver after opening S/Bishop.  Second, you're not gaining nearly as many points as you'd like.  On T13 I had 12 points (vs. 24 above).  With BMU/Bishop it's possible to get 4 Provinces by 13... so he's up by 24-ish at that point.  (I'm assuming here that you're using each others' Bishops, speeding both parties up, as per philosophyguy).

I think it's competitive but I wouldn't bet on it vs. BV/Bazaar/Bishop.  I don't think this is easily tossed into a simulator though; I don't think the simulators ever assume your best interest is to sacrifice BV to Bishops.