Dominion Strategy

254 players participated in the 2018 Dominion Online Championship.  Only 8 players are left, and we will posting interviews with each player this week before their match.

jfrisch will be playing Burning Skull on Friday at 1900 UTC (3’clock in the afternoon Eastern time); you can watch the live-stream of the match at dominion.games, or at .

This is jfrisch’s pregame interview.

Tell us a little about yourself. How old are you, where are you from, what do you do?

jfrisch:  Hi, I am 26 years old. I’m a math Ph.D student in California. I also grew up in California.

How did you start playing Dominion?

jfrisch:  I learned Dominion at a summer program I went to about 8 years ago but I started playing in earnest in late 2011 thanks to some combination of real life friends, Dominion Strategy, and Isotropic.

What do you think was your toughest match in the tournament so far?

jfrisch:  I’ve had two really tough matches so far. My match for the quarterfinals spot against singletee went to the seventh game and it was a close game!

However for me the very hardest match was probably against Huevos Locos in round 3, they thoroughly crushed me in last years tournament so I went in really nervous and it was also a really close match. It was also decided on the 7th game.

What are your favourite and least-favourite Dominion cards, and why?

jfrisch:  I’m a big fan of (most) cards that warp the game but increase the complexity in interesting ways.

My favorite Dominion card right now is Horn of Plenty. Gainers in general add lots of interesting tactics and thought into the game and Horn of Plenty in particular is quite strong but requires a good amount of finesse to build around properly. I also really like Bridge Troll which helps you gain more cards but, again, is not simply spammable and procession which leads to some excellent puzzles and incredibly precise game play. In terms of things that are not technically cards Windfall is probably my favorite event. It’s often worth warping your deck around but to do so requires careful planning.

My least favorite cards are cards which regularly dominate with limited support while dramatically increasing the luck in the game. Cultist and Rebuild both actively destroy otherwise fun kingdoms and they’re going on my ban list as soon as it exists. I’m also personally disinclined towards Possession. I don’t like the degeneracy it seems to frequently encourage (though I understand why many disagree).

What cards do you think are the most overrated/underrated?

jfrisch:  Bishop is trash. Opening with it is suicidal in most circumstances and merely disastrous in the others. If you’re both going for the engine it gives them a crucial tempo advantage. It can sometimes be a desperate source of alt-VP to enable engines (but, even then, unless they’re going Big money, you’re usually better off skipping it). The trashing it gives to your opponent is unforgivable and, for the vast majority of games, you never want it.

Gold is underrated. Obviously it’s crucial in big money games but, beyond that, you can often get it on the cheap (Courtier/Treasure Maps/Windfall/Soothsayer/Tunnel/Market Square etc). It’s actually uncommon for gold to make a deck worse. (Though there are certainly some cases where it does). Unlike silver it’s generally a good card!

What are your initial impressions of Renaissance, the newest Dominion expansion?

jfrisch:  Mountain Village seemed hilarious, Experiment delightful and Sculptor intriguing. I’m delighted that Donald is trying to push towards strategically complex, but simple to read, cards.

What was the most memorable Dominion match you’ve ever played?

jfrisch:  I remember a game which ended (on piles) in about 7 turns which just felt absurdly fast. I’m not very good at remembering specific games in general though.

How do you like to spend your time when you aren’t playing Dominion?

jfrisch:  I’m a math grad student so I do a lot of math! Other than that I really enjoy hiking, traveling (often for school), and especially trying to find hidden restaurant gems (which is what I might be principally known for in my friend group).

What advice do you have for Dominion players looking to get better?

jfrisch:  For new players specifically, you need at least 300 games (often more) before you’re going to be good (55+). It’s not just that there are lots of cards (and, honestly, you usually need to play with a given card at least 5 times before you understand its nuances) but there are so many ideas, tactics, and strategies that until you’ve played a lot of games you won’t be able to understand. Play these games trying to understand what your opponents are doing and try to make sure your deck is at least as good as big money plus one or two cards.

Don’t worry if you mess up. I don’t think there’s a player around who won’t occasionally pick a strategy that is worse than BMU (pure big money with no kingdom cards).

As in most competitive strategic games you’ll learn way more playing stronger players. Sometimes you’ll win but usually you’ll lose. If you can, ask them questions if you lose, usually they’ll have ideas of what mistakes you made which is the sort of precise tactical or strategic info and reasoning that is really hard to distill into articles. Also as in most strategic games when you’re tired or on tilt you will play much worse. Stop it when you’re no longer having fun.

In terms of specific strategic advice while strategy and deck planning obviously are the lions share of Dominion a close second is endgame play. Endgame play is sometimes simply looking for wins in 1 turn.  More often endgame play relies on paying deep attention to what your opponent could buy next round, determining how empty the piles are, figuring out roughly when the game will end, and planning tactics around it. Moving from weak to intermediate endgame skill is enough to increase your play by at least 5 levels.

254 players participated in the 2018 Dominion Online Championship.  Only 8 players are left, and we will posting interviews with each player this week before their match.

JoMa will be playing markus Friday, October 26 at 600pm UTC (2 o’clock PM Eastern time Friday afternoon); you can watch the live-stream of the match at twitch.tv/dominionstreams.

This is JoMa’s pregame interview.

Tell us a little about yourself. How old are you, where are you from, what do you do?

JoMa:  I am 31 years old, living in the north of Germany, trying to meet all the expectations of a modern father that cares about family, job and the housekeeping.

In the mornings, I work as researcher in the field of energy informatics, contributing a tiny bit to carry the German energy system transformation forward.

In the afternoons, I work as a father, trying to teach my three-year-old son some life lessons, while he teaches me patience.

How did you start playing Dominion?

JoMa:  During my study time, a friend brought the card game one evening, as we were looking for a good 2-player game. I immediately fell in love with it. We spent hours trying to figure out the cards of the base set and analyzing why certain decks succeeded and others didn’t.

What do you think was your toughest match in the tournament so far?

JoMa:  The closest match was definitely the 3rd round match against train, where I was down 1-3 and somehow managed to make it to game 7 and then luckily had a first player advantage. My best opponent was Jan in the round of 16, but I simply had loads of luck during the match.

What are your favourite and least-favourite Dominion cards, and why?

JoMa:  I somehow like to play raider, especially when both players have strong decks. Making your opponent discard one of the great cards you have played in your turn can be really powerful. However, I really like to play with certain events or landmarks, like Ritual, Mountain Pass, Fountain, Tomb or Wall.

I don’t really like swindler, but I guess I am not alone with that. The card that I play worst with is ambassador. I find it really hard to find the right balance between building your deck and junking your opponent.

What cards do you think are the most overrated/underrated?

JoMa:  Most overrated: Black market. Of course it can be a great card sometimes, but sometimes there is everything you need in front of you already.

Most underrated: I guess it’s develop. Of course it’s not a super great trasher, but during mid game it can be really powerful, especially in a kingdom with good action cards for all kind of different costs (especially good $2 cards).

What are your initial impressions of Renaissance, the newest Dominion expansion?

JoMa:  Unfortunately I haven’t had the time to test the cards during the preview weeks (I was busy with the championship matches).

What was the most memorable Dominion match you’ve ever played?

JoMa:  Long ago, I played a 3-player match with Chapel, Pirate Ship, Saboteur and King’s Court. One other player and me, we were going for Pirate Ships, while the other one built up for a whole lot of Saboteur attacks. When all the Pirate Ships got trashed, we all ended up with literally no economy at all. While one player continuously Kinged the Saboteur, the other one was going for Copper + Estates. Out of frustration I trashed my remaining deck. With only a Chapel in hand I then slowly built a 5-card deck and managed to grab a Colony just at the last turn before the 3-pile end, which gave me the win.

How do you like to spend your time when you aren’t playing Dominion?

JoMa:  Usually I spend my time with the job or my family. Once a week, I really enjoy playing table tennis in a sports club. Additionally, every now and then, I meet with some friends to play some groovy samba rhythms on different types of drums, which is really fun.

What advice do you have for Dominion players looking to get better?

JoMa:  Take your time. It has really improved my game when I started to slow down and think a bit more, especially at the start of the game.

Other than that I don’t really feel to be in the right position to give advice about Dominion, I rather feel like I am still learning, how this game works.

254 players participated in the 2018 Dominion Online Championship.  Only 8 players are left, and we will posting interviews with each player this week before their match.

markus will be playing JoMa Friday, October 26 at 600pm UTC (2 o’clock PM Eastern time Friday afternoon); you can watch the live-stream of the match at twitch.tv/dominionstreams.

This is markus’s pregame interview.

Tell us a little about yourself. How old are you, where are you from, what do you do?

markus:  I’m 33 years old and from Austria. I have a Math and Econ background and I’ve been living in Germany for a couple of years now.

How did you start playing Dominion?

markus:  I started playing it when it won the Spiel des Jahres, so I’ve been there all along. I played on Isotropic, but only became more involved when I joined the Dominion League for Season 11 three years ago.

What do you think was your toughest match in the tournament so far?

markus:  The last one in terms of not getting eliminated, the first one in terms of keeping my focus.

What are your favourite and least-favourite Dominion cards, and why?

markus:  In general, I like diversity and having all those expansions means that you don’t have to play too often with any card. I like Donate, because it really forces (and rewards) you to have a good plan before the start of the game.

I hate how Star Chart plays out with the new shuffle rule: you should take into account what say the last 2 cards of the old shuffle are that you are about to draw – do I need a Village or a Smithy using Star Chart? And it’s relatively easy to figure out what those cards are (in contrast to say Wishing Well), because youíre looking at your discard pile, hand, play area, set-aside cards and just need to add them up. Maybe also look at supply and trash, if you’re unsure what you’ve gained. It’s annoying to waste time figuring out those cards or waiting for your opponent to do so, when there is a seemingly simple fix (being allowed to see the remaining cards of the deck when shuffling).

But that’s just something that comes up online. In real life – and also with other games – my gaming groups tend to allow looking at everything that could be memorized, because we want to see who finds the best strategy and not who has the best memory. There, I should maybe pick Swindler as least favourite if I wanted to reduce my chances of losing games due to bad luck. But I will actually pick Black Market: what I appreciate in Dominion is the supply that is the same to everyone but differs from game to game. Your goal is to find the best strategy given the supply. Black Market removes that to some extent. Since the second edition and with 60 cards in it online, the Black Market deck has become strong enough that you rarely want to skip that. It’s still high skill because you need to pick the right cards at the right time. But you can’t plan on using positive interactions between cards in the supply so much anymore. I wouldn’t put it on my blacklist, but I would like to reduce the share of games with it a bit and I should put it on my blacklist every other day.

What cards do you think are the most overrated/underrated?

markus:  Overrated is Sauna/Avanto. The nice thing is that it provides a lot that you want (trashing, +Actions, drawing), but it’s not very fast, if your opponent doesn’t help you to uncover Avanto. Before you open Sauna/Silver, check whether there’s better ways to trash, get +Actions, and draw!

Underrated is Summon. Yes, you typically can only gain a $4 cost that way, but playing it without having to draw it or spending an Action the next turn is very strong. This often makes up for it being a weaker card later on in the deck compared to the $5 cost that you could have bought instead.

What are your initial impressions of Renaissance, the newest Dominion expansion?

markus:  First, I always like having a new expansion as it adds to diversity and gives you something new to think about. For sure, I wouldn’t play as much Dominion anymore, if Guilds had been the last expansion.

Second, I like Villagers. They seem like a nice way to rescue awful shuffles and weíve all had all the Villages and then all the terminal draw colliding.

Third, I also like having new landscapes, especially when they make you re-evaluate the rest of the board or do unusual stuff like Innovation. (Not so much when they waste your time when shuffling.)

Therefore, I’m looking forward very much to the full release of Renaissance!

What was the most memorable Dominion match you’ve ever played?

markus:  I remember one of the games in the Monoset tournament against Dan Brooks that had Knights and Rogue (I believe). It went on for a long time and Dan was slowly winning it by better plays.

How do you like to spend your time when you aren’t playing Dominion?

markus:  I like playing board games in general. Usually, I play a lot of different ones and many not very often. Dominion is the exception that proves the rule and probably because every board is different.

What advice do you have for Dominion players looking to get better?

markus:  Try to get someone to comment on your play (join the Dominion Discord!).

In terms of strategic advice, watch out for three-pile endings (finding them, when you can win; not opening them up for your opponent, when it’s not a necessary gamble; setting them up for a future turn).

In the early and mid-game try to play the best strategy that is available (maybe inspired by your opponent). I think you can easily get to level 60 ignoring what your opponent does in the early turns and as much fun it is to react to what your opponent does.

254 players participated in the 2018 Dominion Online Championship.  Only 8 players are left, and we will posting interviews with each player this week before their match.

Mic Qsenoch will be playing vsiewnar Wednesday October 24 at 1000pm UTC (6 o’clock PM Eastern time Wednesday evening); you can watch the live-stream of the match at twitch.tv/dominionstreams.

This is the pregame interview with Mic Qsenoch.

Tell us a little about yourself. How old are you, where are you from, what do you do?

Mic Qsenoch: I am 29, I am from the big middle part of the USA, and I surf the internet a lot.

How did you start playing Dominion?

MQ: Like anybody else, one leg at a time.

What do you think was your toughest match in the tournament so far?

MQ: DG went to game 7, 50/50 chance on one of my last action plays to find a win, that’s pretty close!

What are your favourite and least-favourite Dominion cards, and why?

MQ: Favorite: Butcher, because it’s the strongest card in Dominion. Least favorite: do-nothing cantrips like Harbinger and Pearl Diver, they don’t do much.

What cards do you think are the most overrated?  What cards do you think are the most underrated?

MQ: Just looking at some of these Qvist lists because I don’t really know what people rate things: Gear looks too high, probably because Gear BM was a meme for a while.  Butcher is too low because it’s not #1 on the list. From games I play, people seem to open Shepherd all the time and I’m not feeling it.

What are your initial impressions of Renaissance, the newest Dominion expansion?

MQ: A direct quote from myself at a time when I could answer this question: “this expansion is sweet.”

What was the most memorable Dominion match you’ve ever played?

MQ: I still wake up from nightmares reliving the league championship where I needed to 6-0 Stef to win the season and I lost the sixth game playing something basic vs. something with King’s Court.

How do you like to spend your time when you aren’t playing Dominion?

MQ: Wisely.

What advice do you have for Dominion players looking to get better?

MQ: During/after every game, try to identify a handful of mistakes that you or your opponent made, then stop doing them. Never try to decide which player played “better”. Drink plenty of water and eat lots of vegetables.

Finally, who do you think is going to win the Championship?

MQ: Good question!

254 players participated in the 2018 Dominion Online Championship. Only 8 players are left, and we will posting interviews with each player this week before their match.

vsiewnar will be playing Mic Qsenoch Wednesday October 24 at 1000pm UTC (6 o’clock PM Eastern time Wednesday evening); you can watch the live-stream of the match at twitch.tv/dominionstreams.

This is the pregame interview with vsiewnar.

Tell us a little about yourself. How old are you, where are you from, what do you do?

vsiewnar: I’m 28 and originally from Trinidad but currently live in Canada formally studying Applied Mathematics here. Thanks to ShuffleIT for organising!

How did you start playing Dominion?

vsiewnar: I started playing in person through one of my friends (trinadianese online) who introduced me to the game. It took some convincing to play the first game since I don’t typically like board games!

What do you think was your toughest match in the tournament so far?

vsiewnar: I’d say it was against ehunt in Round 2. We got pushed to game 7 and I had to come from behind to win the decider.

What are your favourite and least-favourite Dominion cards, and why?

vsiewnar: My favourite card changes from time to time. For now, I’ll go with Apothecary and Artificer. Sometimes, there is elegance with Apothecary such as setting it up to draw all 4 revealed cards or taking advantage of the information it gives. Artificer’s gaining ability is attractive mostly because it topdecks the card and is not mandatory.

Sentry often irritates me because I often expect too much from it. Perhaps I should lower my expectations. Governor also forces me to think a lot and is often centralising.

What cards do you think are the most overrated?  What cards do you think are the most underrated?

vsiewnar: I think Watchtower and Tracker are underrated. The topdeck ability is good and they both sometimes provide significant additional support. I have also seen a few people sleep on Groundskeeper though that may have changed by now.

I’m not sure what cards are overrated. Personally, I think I overrate Villa and Legionary. Villa changes the game a bit but not as much as I thought and Legionary’s attack has counters and checks as do the other attacks.

What are your initial impressions of Renaissance, the newest Dominion expansion?

vsiewnar: I haven’t cast much thought into Dominion: Renaissance aside from quickly reading the posted previews. I’ll look more into it when it become available online and I’ll probably keep calling them coin tokens 😛

What was the most memorable Dominion match you’ve ever played?

vsiewnar: The most memorable is when I lost 5.5 to 0.5 to werothegreat in the League.

How do you like to spend your time when you aren’t playing Dominion?

vsiewnar: I should be using this time for my schoolwork!

What advice do you have for Dominion players looking to get better?

vsiewnar: There are different pieces of advice for different levels of players. Some should play more to get more familiar with certain cards and ideas. Endgame is always a big area to improve. There is also the mental aspect of staying positive despite losing or going through some bad luck and keeping alert after 2 or 3 hours.

254 players participated in the 2018 Dominion Online Championship.  Only 8 players are left, and we will posting interviews with each player this week before their match. 

Derg17 will be playing limetime Wednesday October 24 at 100am UTC (9 o’clock PM Eastern time Tuesday night); you can watch the live-stream of the match at twitch.tv/dominionstream.

This is derg17’s pregame interview.

Tell us a little about yourself. How old are you, where are you from, what do you do?

derg17: I can’t believe I’m here in the quarter finals! With so many excellent Dominion players who are worthy to be in this spot I’m very honored and lucky to be here. But to answer the question: I’m 33 years old and from central Illinois. I work with a Christian college ministry as a mentor and spiritual resource to students.

How did you start playing Dominion?

derg17: I was introduced to Dominion by some co-workers back in the summer of 2012. My love really took off when I found the online version. That was right when the first official online version was being launched.

What do you think was your toughest match in the tournament so far?

derg17: The match against Sicomatic. He is a very good player (obviously!). I knew I was the underdog going in and I definitely got at least a few big breaks to pull out the tight victory.

What are your favourite and least-favourite Dominion cards, and why?

derg17: Least favorite: Swindler – I see a fun board but then I see that Swindler is there which means my finely built deck will be destroyed. Ghost Ship – it just really is so painful to be forced to see those two cards again. Stables – especially with trashing! Nothing is quite so painful as a handful of stables and no treasure.

Most favorite: Ambassador – something about the ability to burry your opponent is fun to me. Scrying Pool – drawing all those actions! Menagerie – it’s been said before, nothing feels as good as an activated menagerie. Artificer – gain and play is fun and Artificer makes gain and play pretty easy.

What cards do you think are the most overrated?  What cards do you think are the most underrated?

derg17: Overrated: I think some duration cards like Ghost Town are overrated. Only being able to play them every other turn really hurts their value in my mind. I would often rather have regular village. I’m suspicious Den of sin falls into this category. I feel like I see people try to do too much with Vassal. Also, Taxman.

Underrated: Conquest. I’m probably totally wrong, but I’m convinced on many boards Conquest big money will beat lots of other stuff. I see people under value Advisor: You can’t just let your opponent get all of those guys. Also, I have a feeling that we miss Miser on slow boards. If a long game is necessary I bet we forget Miser becomes really good.

 What are your initial impressions of Renaissance, the newest Dominion expansion?

derg17: Mountain Village seems great. I expect Priest to be a blast when you can get it rolling, but I think that will be rare. Scholar is probably the one that seems the most fun of the ones I’ve seen. Discarding your hand is what draw to X always wanted!

What was the most memorable Dominion match you’ve ever played?

derg17: I always think of this match against vsiewnar back in season 19 of the league. It started with a Black Market/Museum game. That first game alone lasted almost 2 hours.

How do you like to spend your time when you aren’t playing Dominion?

derg17: I enjoy running, biking, reading, talking theology and philosophy, and hanging out with the wife. This past year I started working towards a Master of Divinity part time. That has dramatically cut back my Dominion time and taken all my non-Dominion time.

What advice do you have for Dominion players looking to get better?

derg17: Context makes all the difference in Dominion.  So I think there’s no substitute to watching the best players play and make all their decisions in context. My preferred medium for this is Youtube.

254 players participated in the 2018 Dominion Online Championship.  Only 8 players are left, and we will posting interviews with each player this week before their match.

Limetime will be playing derg17 Wednesday October 24 at 100am UTC (9 o’clock PM Eastern time Tuesday night); you can watch the live-stream of the match at twitch.tv/dominionstreams.

Here is Limetime’s pregame interview.

Tell us a little about yourself. How old are you, where are you from, what do you do?

limetime:  I am a 17 year old high school student. I am from the American Midwest and I am looking to major in computer science or a related field.

How did you start playing Dominion?

limetime: I started offline in about 2014. I started my online dominion career in early-mid 2015. I steadily improved on the goko/making fun platforms until I got invited to the Shuffle It beta testing program. Because all the beta testers were top players and because I got to play with empires early, I improved to about where I am today.

What do you think was your toughest match in the tournament so far?

limetime: My match against Jimmmy was probably the toughest, partly because It lasted a long long time and partly because he is a strong opponent. That was a real test of endurance.

What are your favourite and least-favourite Dominion cards, and why?

limetime: I tend to love cards that make the game more complex without involving to much luck, especially those that interact with the trash. I love lurker, mission, procession, necromancer, talisman, shepherd to name a few. I really hate swindler, that one is definitely going on my ban list.

What cards do you think are the most overrated?  What cards do you think are the most underrated?

limetime: I find Minion to be really overrated. Traditional draw is so much better because you can green and add more payload without clogging your deck as much. I find leprechaun to be underrated. Wishes are really really good and getting leprechuan to gain them isn’t all that hard.

What are your initial impressions of Renaissance, the newest Dominion expansion?

limetime: I like the direction dominion is heading. I really love priest because you can get so much money if you build your deck right. I love how some of those cards completely change how you build.

 What was the most memorable Dominion game you’ve ever played?

limetime: To be honest, my memory of specific matches/games is not very great; however, I do remember building a talisman hermit villa board that ended the game turn 11 or so. I then posted it on discord and then Dan Brooks did it in a turn less than I did.

 How do you like to spend your time when you aren’t playing Dominion?

limetime: I am a participant in the First Robotics Competition program. This takes up most of my free time in the spring semester.

What advice do you have for Dominion players looking to get better?

limetime: First of all make sure you have a lot of free time because that is required to master anything. Then I would recommend watching top players play. Continue to do this and start playing a whole lot of dominion. (Results may vary)

U-Con will be holding their Eighth annual Dominion tournament this year on Saturday, November 10, 2018. This tournament features a respectable prize pool and has gathered a very talented field of players for several years, and the organizer has a way of coming up with particularly devious kingdoms to test players’ skill. Below is a message from the tournament organizer about the tournament. Any questions can be sent to him by E-mail at dominion2018@ucon-gaming.org

This tournament is sanctioned by Rio Grande, and will be a qualifier for the World Masters, if there is one in 2019.  All players receive promotional cards!

The competition will feature custom-designed kingdoms drawn from all of the Dominion sets and expansions, and will emphasize strategy and high-level play.

Tournament seating is limited, so pre-register for the event here; just click on the ‘Add’ button and proceed through the checkout process.  You’ll need a tournament ticket and a convention badge.

If you can, I’d encourage everyone to pick out other games to play in and attend the whole game convention, which runs from Nov 9-11, all day (and late into the night Friday and Saturday).

IMPORTANT NOTE:  For those who have attended in the past, note that this year the tournament has been moved to an outbuilding:  We will be on the upper floor of the resort’s golf clubhouse, and will have the area mostly to ourselves. You will need to pick up your tickets and badges first, at the con’s registration desk.