Matthew Cordeiro
United States
Cumberland
Rhode Island
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The wife and I played a 3-game series with all expansions and promos mixed in, except for Alchemy - she wasn't in the mood for that one. Kingdom cards were chosen at random, with a few from game 2 reused in game 3 (simply because they didn't get used in game 2). We also had platinum/colony in play for every game.
Game 1
$2 - moat, haven (bane)
$3 - scheme
$4 - young witch, remodel, moneylender, walled village, salvager
$5 - venture, margrave, merchant ship
The wife opened young witch / silver. With both moat and haven able to stop the young witch, and with remodel able to turn curses into something halfway decent, I decided to pass on the young witch this game and open moneylender / moat (knowing that the wife already bought a young witch). This was a very unusual move for me, since I always go for the cursing cards.
The wife also bought a salvager, a few ventures, and a margrave. I bought a merchant ship early on, plus a margrave, a remodel, and a walled village.
The young witch was my downfall, and I was somehow powerless against her. Besides opening with the moat and buying a haven, I turned 3 curses into havens. By the end of the game, I had 1 card that could stop the margrave and 5 that could stop the witch. I was 0/1 on stopping the margrave, and an astounding 1/6 on stopping the witch. I thought for sure that a bunch of reactions/banes would put the witch in her place for the most part, but I either miscalculated or was just plain unlucky (or both). With me unsuccessfully playing defense, the wife grabbbed 3 colonies early on. I got myself back into the game, but things were getting desperate at the end. I had a couple turns where I bought provinces instead of colonies to avoid ending the game too soon. I was still behind, and I didn't want to help the wife finish off the colony pile. It was too little, too late, and I was blown out 83-52.
Game 2
$3 - shanty town
$4 - worker's village, militia, throne room, bridge, navigator
$5 - wharf, council room, city
$8 - peddler
This was the perfect setup for action chaining, peddler buying, and throne rooming. I opened wharf/pass. The wife opened bridge/silver.
I picked up a silver and a militia with my third and fourth buys.
I had a couple of early 5's and decided to buy worker's village. Not only did it give me the extra actions and buys to get a bunch of free or really cheap peddlers, but also some actions to string together multiple wharfs and council rooms later in the game. Sure enough, this worked out well. I had a couple turns where I got 3 free peddlers. I also had a mid-game turn where I got a council room and a wharf to keep the engine going. The wife saw the peddler shenangians unfolding and countered by buying cities. When the peddler pile ran out, she got the extra +1 card. But it wasn't enough to compete with my engine. I was often playing about 5-7 peddlers, a worker's village or 2, and a couple of my terminals (wharf, council room, militia). And I was careful not to let a 2nd pile run out before the end of the game, which would have made her cities even better. This one was a blowout too, but the tables were turned. I won 82-55. I was really surprised neither of us bought a throne room. This was the perfect game for it. The cards kind of dictated what I was buying. Once the engine was running, I had tons of money every turn, and I wasn't slowing down to buy a $4 card at that point. Although I probably should have bought one.
Now, we were tied one game apiece, and both were blowouts. The 3rd game would be much closer.
Game 3
$2 - pawn, native village, secret chamber
$3 - shanty town
$4 - throne room, navigator, feast, jack of all trades
$5 - witch
$6 - hoard
The wife thought long and hard about buying a feast, but opted to open jack/silver instead. That choice would prove to be her undoing.
I opened feast/silver. In my second time though the deck, I got another feast. I turned both feasts into witches. The wife also picked up a witch. But, I had two witches to her one, and I was able to play mine just a bit quicker (This was part luck of the draw and part smaller deck size - I was trashing the feasts.)
I picked up 2 jacks during the game - they're good for trashing both the estates and the curses. I also picked up a hoard with my first $6 buy. I knew the curses would empty, and with the hoard, I could empty the duchies and estates quickly while picking up golds along the way. I figured the wife would also pursue this, and she did, buying 2 hoards.
I had 4 terminals in a relatively decent sized deck, but I was still drawing them together a lot of the time. That was pretty frustrating. Despite being cursed more often, the wife was keeping it close. Sure enough, the game ended with 3 piles gone - but it was a bit different than I expected - curse, duchy, province (in that order). At the end of the game, I had a turn where I spent $7 for an estate because the wife had just bought the last duchy the turn before. That was also pretty frustrating. This one was a nail biter, but I pulled out the win, 43-41, and the series win, 2 games to 1. We also like to keep track of total points, and the wife won that battle, 179-177.
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