A Complete Strategy Guide to the Original Dominion Card Game: October 2013

Friday, October 25, 2013

Deck Efficiency

Today, we're going to look at actions cards that increase your deck efficiency by trashing cards. But before I talk about specific cards, let's discuss what I mean by “deck efficiency”. Why would you want to trash cards? What exactly is deck efficiency and how does it help you win?

Deck efficiency is the ratio of your good cards vs. your bad cards. High-efficiency decks are usually quite small. Because you recycle your deck when you run out of cards, small decks allow you to play your best cards more often. They also force you to draw your worst cards more often, so it's essential to keep a small deck as clean as possible. The key to building an efficient deck is to get rid of your bad cards, and that's exactly what the following four action cards¹ do.

Chapel

Chapel is the king of deck efficiency. Be careful to buy a few silvers before you get rid of all your Coppers. There is a detailed section on Chapel on Game Knight, if you're prepared for some reading².

Mine

The Mine doesn't make your deck smaller, but it makes your treasure cards better, one card at a time. This is a slow rate of improvement, but at least you get to use your new treasure card right away. Mine depends on you having a Silver or Copper in your hand, which is a safe bet, but not a guaranteed one.

Moneylender

Moneylender is a picky eater – you will probably get hands where you have a Moneylender but no Copper. Moneylender is similar to Mine in that it cleans your deck at a much slower rate than Chapel, but gives you an immediate benefit.

Remodel

Remodel is often used to upgrade an Estate to a Silver, or a Gold to a Province. Trashing a Gold is not good, unless the game is going to end soon, so I'd stick with buying Provinces the traditional way until the game is half over. That being said, I recommend looking at this Remodel/Throne Room/Chapel strategy³. You'll find it about half-way down the linked page.

So I should always make my deck smaller?

High-efficiency decks have a lot of potential, but they aren't necessarily better than big decks that can buy Duchies without care. Since small decks are so fragile, it's important to try decks of all sizes so you can decide which style you prefer. I personally like big decks, but if I see a Chapel, I find it hard to resist the appeal of a lean n' mean deck. Everything in Dominion depends on the specific set of action cards on the table.

References...

1 Dominion Game Manual (2008). Dominion. Rio Grande Games, Rio Rancho, New Mexico.

2 Hannes, J. (2012). Dominion: Strategy Guide. Retrieved from http://gameknight.com/?page_id=848

3 Kirkwb. (2011, Oct 19). Beginners’ Guide: Dominion. Retrieved from http://www.gamehead.com/article/1271/dominion

Friday, October 18, 2013

Introduction

Welcome to my blog, where I will provide you with a complete resource that focuses on the first Dominion card set. Over the course of eight weeks and eleven more posts, I will look at each of the 25 action cards¹ individually, and I will talk about the more general strategies that involve these cards.

Presumably, you’ve bought the original Dominion card game. You've learned the rules, and maybe played a few times with your friends. You know how to play, but that’s not enough -- now you want to learn how to win.

Online strategy guides will help you get on your feet, but they vary in quality. Most guides offer an overview of all the Dominion expansions, which doesn’t help you very much if you’re learning with just the basic set. You can learn a lot about general Dominion strategies, but you also need an analysis of every action card so that you’ll know what your first purchase will be when you see the ten action cards that made it into the supply. I'll do my best to provide you with the information you're looking for.

I started playing Dominion in 2009, but I didn’t play it very much until this September. Now I play as many as three games per day, and I have gained valuable experience with every card from the first set. I hope to accelerate the learning process for you by giving you my take on the strengths and weaknesses of each action card...

Some cards are so powerful that you should always consider them.
Most cards are only good under certain conditions -- I will help you identify these situations.
A couple of the action cards are quite mediocre -- once you know which cards to avoid, you can safely take your buys elsewhere.

All of this information will make the first few minutes of a game much less overwhelming as you plan your strategy around the cards on the table.

As you become more advanced, you may be eager to test your new knowledge. If you don’t have friends who are available to play Dominion, I recommend playing the online version of Dominion, where you can play against competent computer players for free². Be careful though: if you rapidly play dozens of games against the computer, you will get bored of Dominion much faster than if you had enjoyed the game with friends over a longer period.

References...

1 Dominion Game Manual (2008). Dominion. Rio Grande Games, Rio Rancho, New Mexico.

2 Goko Games. (2013, March). Dominion. Retrieved from http://play.goko.com/Dominion/gameClient.html