September 22, 2024 / by saltroza
Season 65 Feature Matches
Videos and recaps for the six matches featured in Season 65, plus the Champion Match
Week 1: D4, chesstick vs duhmark
Video with commentary by Mort and saltroza
This was an engaging match with several kingdoms that provided a good degree of ambiguity as to the optimal strategy. chesstick took the first game in convincing style, with the slightly weak draw being greatly ameliorated by judicious Delivery (largely of Ferryman and his Vassal).
The second game offered a strong engine with plenty of villages, draw and buys but slightly weak payload, with duhmark snatching up Plunders and both players taking advantage of Commerce to add Golds. chesstick had the better-controlled deck and seemed to be in command of the game, but overreached towards the end and left a win open — which duhmark unfortunately missed on their turn, allowing chesstick to finish off the Provinces.
Game three also went chesstick’s way, with a 7–3 split on Hasty Hunters leaving duhmark with inadequate draw and perhaps a few too many Villas in deck.
Undeterred, duhmark rallied to take the fourth game, with some neat Governor-based play around chesstick’s Frigates and a points lead (attained largely via Aqueduct) that proved decisive.
Game five was a close one: it began with a particularly cute opening involving Hasty Farmhands played with Way of The Butterfly to gain Replace. chesstick ultimately built the stronger draw deck, taking the lion’s share of the Witch’s Huts; duhmark’s potential for slightly greater control over the piles looked for a moment as though it might prevail nevertheless, but they didn’t quite have the draw to support the gains, and chesstick found just enough to pile out on turn 11.
Finally, game six offered the messiest kingdom and the most tense endgame. After opening with Potion and Battle Plan, duhmark was able to play several Familiars before chesstick (who opened with Sculptor on 5/2) could even get one into his deck — a very significant advantage with non-Treasure trashing being limited to Farmland and Necromancer. Before long, chesstick had 9 of the Curses and the game looked over, but the specific path towards victory was not at all clear (although ample fun with rotation of the Castles pile was had by duhmark along the way). By seizing his chances to take Territories and Castles, chesstick was able to draw out the game to a very close finish, just one coin short of a win on turn 29 and with both decks rammed with junk of various kinds. It wasn’t quite enough, and duhmark took the victory on the following turn, for a final match score of 4–2 in chesstick’s favour.
Week 2: E3, tufftaeh vs Viking39
Video with commentary by saltroza and Bienchen1
This week’s match was good battle with some closely fought games! We started out with a 5/2 opening for both players on a Vampire board, the Vampires ramping up draw quickly via Werewolf with Villas added as needed. Viking39 opted to take Herbalist rather than nothing in the opening and was also impeded by some early bad draw luck and a War hex that only helped his opponent; soon he was struggling for deck control while tufftaeh had emptied the Villas and lowered two other piles. A well-placed Delusion bought Viking39 one more turn, but it wasn’t enough and tufftaeh was able to pile out once free of the hex.
In game two, Viking39 took the advantage on Friendly Saunas and Avantos and also managed to gain a Voyage while denying this to tufftaeh; however, tufftaeh’s deck was once again under better control a bit sooner, and he was able to apply greater pile pressure via a small crew of Quartermasters, finishing off the game with some high-scoring Vineyards.
The third game offered an exciting Populate to build towards. The draw was a bit tricky (the options being Hireling, Advisor and Pooka) and the decks were junky at first, with plenty of Cursed Golds being played. Viking39 was the first to hit Populate but made a tactical error with the ordering, gaining Inn first, which meant he couldn’t take advantage of its on-gain ability to shuffle the other gains into his deck. Meanwhile, tufftaeh was building towards some explosive payload with a bevy of Priests; he came close to managing a winning triple Province turn, but was a little short on draw and opted to trash one of his Priests, which prevented the win. Viking39 was able to close it out using Golds gained via Hoard as his main souce of payload.
Game four presented a strong but very tricky board, with no +Buy but powerful gaining via Fortress, Altar, Advance and Engineer. tufftaeh seemed to have the upper hand at first but then took more Duchies than his deck could really handle, relinquishing deck control for a sloggy but interesting endgame. Seizing his chance, Viking39 played a promising-looking turn but then triggered a junk-filled shuffle, leading to a dud. Even this extra turn granted to tufftaeh wasn’t quite enough, however, and Viking39 was able to take the pile-out to draw the match level.
Game five offered Armory/Cemetery for trashing, but both players struggled to line up good trashes early on, leading to decks that never quite got under control. tufftaeh filled up on Highways; he was a little short on Buys to support them, but did eventually create an opportunity to take a Cavalry autopile and finish off the Menageries for the win. He missed this and scored with Province instead, but did manage to find an ending on the next turn.
Finally, game six provided an interesting board with Advisor draw and a Menagerie Mouse. A moderately late but effective Mint was taken on both sides and Gold-minting commenced as fodder for Enlarge. Fleet added some interest, making the endgame Province-milling less clearly winning than usual for tufftaeh, but he was able to execute the manoeuvre successfully, leaving Viking39 unable to catch up on his Fleet turn and finishing out the match with a 4–2 win overall.
Week 3: F3, miked1991 vs ceneij
Video with commentary by JNails
This was an interesting and closely fought match showcasing a good variety of the brand new Rising Sun cards! In game one we saw the prophecy Kind Emperor, as well as a neat demonstration of the new debt rules, which were relevant both for the new card Change and for Black Market purchases. The game started out a little slowly, with ceneij (perhaps mistakenly) playing a Search with Daimyo, which left the Daimyo temporarily suspended in set-aside land. From around this point, miked1991 seemed ahead, but eventually he lowered the piles slightly too much while not quite scoring enough to prevent ceneij from ending the game on a win.
In the second game, the spectators speculated that Flourishing Trade might hold promise of plentiful Peddlers, with Actions from Rustic Village being the only source of +Buy available. The players chose a different route, with miked1991 in particular being taken to task by commentator JNails for loading up on treasures, including Platinum, without the +Buy to make use of them. Some Rustic Villages were eventually acquired, but it was a little too late for real deck control and the Trade never did Flourish; miked1991 eventually prevailed through single-Colony turns.
Game three presented an initial kingdom with Kitsune cursing, plenty of trashing, various forms of draw, and Pouch as the only +Buy; but after a few turns (during which some Madmen were obtained and a Ronin was notably grabbed by miked1991), the piles were whisked away by a Divine Wind, which brought in Butcher, Enlarge, and some more sources of +Buy. The decks were fairly junky from the Kitsune curses, and deck control was never really attained; some Golds from Courtier were Enlarged to Province to good effect by miked1991, and he was able to double-Province on turn 16, which effectively closed out the game.
We next saw a remarkably aggressive kingdom featuring Approaching Army and no fewer than eight Attack cards! With no village either, this made for a sloggy game without too much to do but load up on Relics and attack opportunistically with the more terminal options. ceneij had a couple of opportunities to take what might have been an effective Alliance but chose to buy Province instead; miked1991 eventually stacked up enough points that ceneij was left with no way to catch up.
We moved on to a perhaps more interesting fifth game: Kitsune made another appearance, this time paired with Great Leader, and the board offered plentiful engine components, including Marquis, Daimyo and Encampment. Both players opted for Silver/Rats openings, with an eye for Transmogrify/Rats shenanigans, but perhaps loaded up a little too aggressively on the Rats without quite enough Transmogrification to keep them in check. Eventually, ceneij was quicker getting the Rats under control, with some help from Great Leader, who boosted the value of Marquis significantly. Meanwhile, miked1991 found an opportunity to take double Province that might have put him in a winning position, but he lowered the piles further alongside a single Province instead, leaving ceneij able to finish it off with a winning pile-out on Rats, Marquis and Curse.
Finally, we saw a game in which both players made interesting use of Transmute, ceneij taking the lead on this by opening with Potion and Silver while miked1991 took Tea House on the 5/2. miked1991 was able to get his deck under control to a greater extent with the help of Rice Broker and some Root Cellars for extra draw, eventually taking the win for a 4–2 match win overall as well.
Week 4: C3, Zanderg vs Iras42
Video with commentary by Sharur and strumphf
This match kicked off with an awkward Clashes board, with Crystal Ball as both the only village and the only trashing. Iras42 managed to get better control of the Clashes at an early juncture, although Trade Flourished just in time to enable Zanderg to snatch a single Warlord on 4 coins. The game proceeded with some cute Owling of Caravan Guards and some tricky decision-making as to when to refrain from playing a terminal (usually Archer) to spend the Action for a Buy. Iras had the clear advantage in terms of deck quality; Zanderg responded by taking the lead on points. Iras then perhaps erred by lowering piles rather than attacking with Archer and buying Province to catch up some of the lead, which left Zanderg with a neat out-of-the-bag win on his next turn via War Chest gains.
In game two, Zanderg opted for Student in the opening, leaving Iras better placed to hit 5 coins and begin to apply oppression via Berserker. The precise path towards the win was less than clear, but Experiments formed a good target for Berserker gains, and eventually Iras managed to amass just enough uniques and just enough draw for a 7-Province turn with Horn of Plenty, which elicited the resignation.
The third board was a good one for Capitalism, with Minion, Storeroom, and a lack of trashing. Both players headed fairly directly for the Capitalism line, although Zanderg took some slightly dubious Black Cats that didn’t mesh well so well with the overall plan. Iras’s opening Storeroom proved the better move, and he took fairly solid control over the game by around turn 10, greened steadily, and was able to Province out.
Game four presented the players with another awkward, village-less board, this time featuring Wall, Souk and Rebuild. Iras opted for a fairly conventional Rebuild line, while Zanderg tried for something more creative but implausible-feeling involving Scrap, Artist, and Rice powered up by Raider. The latter strategy got surprisingly close to the win, helped by Iras repeatedly failing to find 4 coins for a timely Seize the Day, but in the end the Wall was too high for Zanderg’s creative vision and the less exciting but solid Rebuild deck got there. After closing it out, Iras remarked that even he had been rooting for the more novel approach!
The fifth game offered a Colony board with Lackeys and finally some conventional villages in the form of Farming Village, Squire and Ghost. Both players opened with Rats with a view to Apprenticing them and perhaps got a little too overrun, but eventually the decks were under control and the players managed to add some draw and payload, heading into a tricky pile-dancing end-game, in which Zanderg prevailed on turn 12.
Finally, we got a fairly rapid game in which Landing Party played a starring role once the players had reached Enlightenment via River Shrine. A slightly surprising line towards the win was taken by Zanderg, who loaded up on Charms, then Duchies, and eventually finished off the Ruins and Vassals to tie the match at 3–3 overall.
Week 5: H7, TrinaCat vs Kuyara
Video with commentary by JNails
This was a fast-paced match with a focus on treasures! In game one, the players faced a Divine Wind kingdom with Rustic Village, Lackeys, and Treasurer as the only trashing. TrinaCat seemed to take the stronger opening in the form of Young Witch and Lackeys, while Kuyara’s choice of a relatively early Treasurer put her in the better position to head towards deck control. Although both players added some terminals to their decks, Rustic Village was not touched, meaning that the Divine Wind never blew in and both players struggled a little for terminal space. TrinaCat was faster to green, but Kuyara managed to even this out and ultimately take the win.
In the next game, both players prioritised Loots from Cutthroat over trashing with Research or Mint, with TrinaCat taking a Cutthroat in the opening via Credit, while Kuyara opted to spend her Credit on a Hasty Idol. TrinaCat got a nice Loot pull in the form of Shield, for protection from both Cutthroat discarding and Idol Curses, while Kuyara got into significant debt via Credit during the greening phase. Kuyara managed to rally and find a lead on points despite this, but TrinaCat was able to take the last Province alongside an Estate to close it out for the win.
Game three saw a Deliver board with Footpad to cancel out the extra starting hand-size and also the friendly draw effect of Governor. Both players opened with Ghost Town, gambling on hitting a fortunate draw for 5 coins on turn 2, and both got lucky, with Kuyara taking a Governor and TrinaCat opting for Cutthroat. Once again, the players chose not to focus on draw, instead taking plenty of Loot and other treasures. Salt the Earth promised to speed up the endgame, although a few tricks were missed here, with Kuyara opting to Salt while behind on points and TrinaCat not taking the opening this provided, buying a Duchy instead of Salting the final Province for the win. Kuyara wasn’t quite able to catch back up to capitalise on this, however, and TrinaCat managed to empty the Province pile a couple of turns later.
In the fourth game, we saw a strong focus on Keep points, with the players opting not to aim for heavy Mercenary trashing. Both piled up various treasures, while taking a few Groundskeepers for some opportunistic VP while greening as well. Eventually TrinaCat built up a large points lead; however, she opted not to use Desperation to take the penultimate Province. This led to several turns of scrapping for points, but ultimately her lead was too big for Kuyara to overcome.
Game five offered Groundskeepers for scoring once again, along with plenty of draw and villages. Greening started early on turn 7 for Kuyara, while TrinaCat was building towards a somewhat bigger engine (which had plenty of scope to catch up via Groundskeepers and Marchland) and managed to draw deck around the same time that the Winter turned Harsh. However, she switched to greening to keep pace rather than continue building bigger; although she was able to build up a points lead via Marchland, both decks were struggling to end the game. Eventually Kuyara was able to take the last Marchland to pile out, but she didn’t quite get enough points from it for the win, leaving TrinaCat triumphant.
Finally, we saw a Quartermaster board on which the players got started with Night Watchman, Astrolabes and Rangers. Kuyara chose to put Pathfinding on Shanty Town; meanwhile, TrinaCat was able to get some good mileage out of Rangers and Villas but struggled to hit 8 for Pathfinding. By the time she did, Kuyara was fairly deep into the greening and TrinaCat opted to use her 8 for Province. Overall, TrinaCat’s deck was in better shape, but not completely reliable, and she didn’t quite spot a possible win in which she could have Developed Ranger into a Duchy and bought the last Province. Ultimately, Kuyara was able to pile Shanty Towns for the win, putting the match score at TrinaCat 4–2 Kuyara overall.
Week 6: B2, ZomZraft vs Bryan
Video with commentary by JNails and aku chi
Game one began with a favourable 5/2 Treasurer opening for ZomZraft. This was a board with no +Buy but a good-value Expand, so both players were angling for the early 7; Bryan opted for a surprising Rich Ferryman (coming with Gondola) as their first 5, which helped with hitting 7 but did not help with working towards deck control. ZomZraft made some perhaps questionable Journeyman draws, but was eventually able to put Bryan in a tough spot by double-Provincing to leave three in the pile; Bryan opted to take the gamble on doubling as well and hoping for an unlikely miss from ZomZraft, which didn’t materialise.
In game two, the build looked awkward, with both players hitting high early pricepoints with Church set-asides and taking non-obvious decisions as to what to buy. ZomZraft was more focused than Bryan on Fool’s Gold payload, while Bryan suffered two nasty duds on turns 12 and 13, finding Journeyman with no village and without a Church down. With a big lead, ZomZraft opted for cautious play (building bigger than was probably necessary with extra Festivals and draw) and was able to Province out.
The third game offered a Joust board with a lack of trashing, Ninja, and the possibility of using Diplomat as a village if attacked. King’s Cache and Capital represented a possible synergy, but the players were more focused on the Rewards; Bryan was the first to obtain a Province and began loading up on these, managing to throw in a Marauder attack as well. ZomZraft opted for Demesne as his first Reward, although its value was rather hurt by Bandit Fort. Once Bryan had also snaffled up Housecarl and Renown, ZomZraft decided he’d seen enough.
In game four we saw another awkward-looking kingdom: Bandit Fort made a reappearance, this time paired with Keep, while Flagship looked important with Nobles and Magnate as the only draw options. Following a surprising Humble Castle opening from Bryan, the first objective was to trash Magic Lamp; ZomZraft got there first by some margin, helped along by Flagship and probably by having fewer Lurkers in deck. Bryan played on for a few more turns, but ZomZraft’s lead proved too much.
Trashing was absent once again in game five, which offered a useless Sewers and untrashable Jewelled Eggs (barring the edge possibility of the Fool’s Gold Reaction!). The players took slightly different routes in building, but in the midgame things seemed close, with Bryan having an additional Artisan while ZomZraft had the lead on Quartermasters and Hunting Lodges. Bryan proceeded to trigger a couple of bad end-of-turn shuffles with Hunting Lodge; the first worked out, as they also had a Cargo-Shipped Hunting Lodge waiting to kick off the next turn, but the second resulted in a dud, allowing ZomZraft to draw sufficiently ahead as greening commenced for Bryan to resign.
The last game featured a Black Market kingdom in which both players opened with Chapel and Wandering Minstrel. Bryan found Bridge Troll in the Black Market on turn 7, and then took a Cardinal on turn 8. Both players were building fairly steadily, with a number of Wealthy Villages and Loots taken, but ZomZraft was gradually falling further and further behind, partly thanks to the Cardinal attack, which Exiled his Replace and Orb, among other cards. Bryan’s decision to take a Province and an Estate (presumably with an eye on the Battlefield points) on turn 14, despite not having a Replace of their own in deck yet, was perhaps dubious, but ZomZraft’s deck was worse by a large enough margin that he resigned in any case, for a final score of 4–2 to ZomZraft.
Champion Match: yurikamome vs Mic Qsenoch
Video with commentary by Kubu and derpa
The season ended with a thrilling Champion Match, our two contenders starting out with an equal win rate for the season and keeping it level all the way down to the wire! Game one began with Hermit shenanigans and progressed into a complex and protracted endgame, with yurikamome’s Poor-House-payload-based and Black-Cat-filled deck looking to have the upper hand. However, Mic managed to angle out a very clever win, eliciting Black Cat plays via an Estate gain with Hermit before finishing off the curses along with just enough points.
The second board offered some high-power components, including Deliver, Daimyo and Inventor, but it was far from clear how to put them together. Both set about Delivering Daimyos and finding out what they could do; yurikamome opted to take Golems, while Mic was more reliant on lining up Daimyos with Inventor in hand, but was better positioned to Daimyo for many Inventor plays when he did manage this. There were some awkward turns on both sides, but ultimately yurikamome’s deck clearly had more juice to it, and after some heavy greening by both players, he was able to empty the piles on a solid win.
In game three, the players thinned quickly with Goat and Masquerade, accelerated by Lackeys, but the path to build back up was non-obvious. There was much Foraying for Loots, made especially attractive by Mining Road and by the presence of Fairgrounds. Eventually, yurikamome took a calculated Seize The Day within the win on turn 11 in order to claim most of the Fairgrounds. Mic was left in a tricky position but managed to thread his way through some complex calculations to a win, ultimately by a significant margin.
Game four brought a perplexing kingdom in which it looked very difficult to build a functioning engine even despite the presence of Peasant and Lost Arts. Mic opted for a broadly moneyish strategy focusing on Replace; meanwhile, yurikamome set about building a tricky, brittle, and rather weak engine involving Tide Pools, Feodum, and eventually Graverobbers. It was a close contest: ultimately yurikamome had much more control and was able to avail himself of this for the win, but a different draw on the final shuffle for Mic might have tipped this in the other direction.
Game five was relatively simple by comparison: with Necromancer as the only thinning, reliability was challenging, but plenty of draw and strong payload were available. Mic got to work on making use of this, taking a surprisingly early Fool’s Gold in the process, while yurikamome attempted to use Covens to threaten the success of this already-junky deck. The Covens proved too slow; Mic was able to get the engine flying before the Curses landed and secured the win relatively easily.
Finally, the sixth game presented the players with a wildly accelerative opening in the form of double Amass for Souk. Souk and its enablers (Flagship, Cursed Village, Town and Druid) were powerful enough here that Nearby Magpie was never quite worth touching, although there were moments at which the players considered it for the autopile. The game rapidly progressed towards another complicated, calculation-heavy endgame: yurikamome hit an unfortunate Delusion on turn 8 and subsequently dudded badly, leaving Mic space for a cleverly woven turn 9 finish that earned him the 4–2 match win and the trophy. Congratulations to Mic Qsenoch on his twentieth turn as League Champion!
Thank you to all the players who participated in feature matches this season, and to the commentators who helped to make them happen!