Panda Army!

Magic

I really do mean to post more on here, but what I mean to post probably isn't very interesting to most people! Oh well. Also the screenshots on this post will be few since I stupidly saved everything as .bmp files instead of .jpgs. I will fix that in future draft posts. The images can be enlarged either by clicking them or perhaps shift + clicking them? I dont really remember.

Draft 5-10:

1-1: Best cards are lightning axe, momentary blink, and call of the herd. The lightning axe is great removal as it hits just about everything in the set at instant speed, and can be augmented to work with madness cards. Sometimes though it will be at negative card advantage. Momentary blink will often 2 for one the opponent in somewhat, and also can be broken with comes into play abilities like firemaw kavu or the common white suspend giant guy, but works best in decks that will be both white and blue. Call of the herd is always card advantage, and if it can be cast on turn 3 and 4 can potentially be devastating. I think it is the best card, so it’s the first pick.

1-2: Choices here are corpulent corpse, viscerid deepwalker, search for tomorrow and mystic snake. I think the corpse is strictly better than the deepwalker (although blue is a deeper color) so he can be written off. Honestly I am not sure which is better, the corpse or the search. The mystic snake is probably the best card, but the color restriction is harsh. It can’t be the only blue card in the deck, and if green ends up getting cut it isn’t a very good splash in that direction, as the cards value comes from the times you can counter something on turn 4 and get a creature out of the deal. Later in the game a 2/2 creature just isn’t worth much, and a blue mage could be holding a cancel for one less mana (a card that is usually stuck in my sideboard in any case). Since I took a green card first I take the search here over the corpse, as it can cut green to the next player and this early in the draft sets up splash opportunities.

1-3: Well this pack makes it look like red is surely open, with sulfurous blast and lightning axe both in the pack. The liege of the pit is a good card, but I don’t think it is better than the blast and is a bigger color commitment in any case. I take the blast here happily (it also goes well with elephant tokens). I notice though that the thallid germinator is the only playable green card in the pack.

1-4: Plenty of choices in this pack, Empty the warrens, spike feeder, shell dweller, strength in numbers. Empty the warrens is good this early as I can pick up suspend guys a little earlier than normal, and I already have a search for tomorrow. Spike feeder is a good card but very mana intensive for his effect, and I don’t think it is as good as the strength in numbers. The shell dweller is another good card, but it isn’t as good in a red green deck as in green/blue or white. There are 2 good white cards in this pack, the peregrine and the temporal isolation. Red is the color I am most sure is open though, and red/white isn’t a very good archetype generally so no reason to go out of color yet, although I should keep an eye on white in the next few picks here. The right pick is the empty the warrens, but I took the strength in numbers in my actual draft.

1-5: Top two cards here are scryb ranger and goblin skycutter, and I think the ranger is much better. He isn’t as aggro as the goblin which is desirable in a red green deck, but the faerie’s flying might make up that extra damage that he can’t deal on the first few turns. Plus I don’t have much removal at this point in any case. His abilities can often take out a creature by surprise, and his pro blueness can really destroy some decks. Faerie is the right pick here.

1-6: Maybe I overrate careful consideration, but I consider it to be a top card. When I see it still in the pack I think blue must be open, but in reality I haven’t seen any other good blue cards (except the crookclaw). As much as it pains me to do this, since it is pick six I should probably ship it and take the solid mogg war marshal. In my actual draft I only had one red card, so I figured I could swap colors easily, but if I had taken the empty the warrens like I should have this would have been an easier pick.

1-7: Goblin skycutter is a good card and there is no card that makes me want to switch colors.

1-8: Primal forcemage is better than the savage thallid here, and it combos well with my faerie. Plus getting it this early will make me value thallids more as the draft continues.

1-9: Greenseeker might not make my deck, but he (along the with search) sets up a splash nicely. Snapback is a good card, but careful consideration + snapback <>

1-10: The ancient grudge is a good sideboard card, but the buzzards might make the deck if I can’t fill out the slot or I pick up some creature enchantments, so it’s the right pick.

1-11: Two more forcemages and the sprout might make my deck…

2-1: Well I open a lot of good blue cards, but none of them are splashable. Of course all the picks for this pack might have been different if I had taken red cards instead of blue in the first pack, but I doubt that is the case as there were really only two playables that got passed. Maybe someone else would have ditched red to go blue like I did if they got the careful consideration, but that doesn’t seem particularly likely. In any case the decision here is between gemhide sliver and orchish cannonade. I don’t have any other slivers and my deck is short removal (plus I have other cards that could help me splash if I needed to) so the pick here is the cannonade.

2-2: Vhati is pretty much the splash card I was hoping to find, and I gladly take him here over the second gemhide.

2-3: Fury sliver and grapeshot are the two choices here, and if it were the first pack the sliver would be right. But planar chaos doesn’t have great green/red slivers and I haven’t drafted any yet. Plus grapeshot is good and I am a little low on removal. Plus it adds to the synergy of cheap cards to go with my empty the warrens.

2-4: The ephemeron makes me a little sad that I am not in blue, but the gnarr is a good card and meshes well with my empty the warrens and my faerie. Once the colors are established it is the right pick here over the thrill of the hunt (since I know I will only get one use with a black splash and no gemhide slivers).

2-5: The bogarden rager will fill out the top end of my curve a little and isn’t a bad card at all. The chromatic star is ok, and would help with the splash, but I have better fixers and my deck isn’t insanely color heavy in any case, so I can afford to play swamps.

2-6: No good cards in either of my colors, but the shadow guildmage could definitely make the deck, depending on if I pick up any more removal or any pyromancers in PC. The guildmage is the right pick here.

2-7: And there’s another forcemage, but I really don’t have any cards that work well with him to make him a better pick than the coal stoker, who is good tempo and a good body. Plus he works well with empty the warrens.

2-8: I have a decent amount of creatures already, so the treefolk probably won’t make the deck and I would rather have the forestwalker for sideboarding.

2-9: The acid moss might come in against a deck with three colors?

2-10: Not sure when I would put the flamecore elemental in, but he is the best card here.

2-11: Krosan Grip for sideboarding

3-1: Brute force is the best card here. Essence warden is good (especially with empty the warrens), but it’s a little too passive for red/green. I don’t have any one drops which makes his value go up, but I still think the brute force is the better pick. Utopia vow is good late game removal, but red/green decks really would rather the game not go too late in the first place.

3-2: Dead/gone and the dustwasp both have synergy in my deck and both are pretty solid. If I had more removal I would take the flyer, but at this point I would rather have the dead/gone in my deck. This is a really close pick though and I am not sure about it.

3-3: Again I am deciding between creature and removal, here stingscourger and shivan meteor. The meteor is good against bombs and things, and the suspend part goes well with my storm spells, but its expensive and the stingscourger is just such strong tempo that in a red/green deck I definitely want him.

3-4: The shivan wumpus isn’t an amazing card, but it fits best in a red/green deck. He’s a dead card at the end of the game, but playing him on turn 4 can be devastating. The uktabi drake, on the other hand, combos well with my storm spells and is generally a good card as I don’t have any flyers in my red/green deck here. Since I already think my deck is pretty solid I would rather have the flyer, but if my deck needed win conditions then I would grab the wumpus and not look back.

3-5: Same exact pick as 3-3, and I come out with the same choice.

3-6: A third stingscourger really makes me happy and is the only playable in the pack in my colors.

3-7: Needlepeak spider and skirk shaman are both ok cards, and the choice would come down to looking at where I have a hole in my mana curve. As I didn’t draft red I don’t really know what that is, but the shaman is probably a slightly better card.

3-8: Fury charm then woodreaders and I am out of screenshots.

Sprinkles!

Not much of a post, but Abbey and I made Sprinkles cupcakes and figured I would make everyone jealous. Some remain, but for how long?

Turn 2

Time for turn two! Where we left off players one and three were broke and player two had $2. Player two is also the governor for turn two so he gets the choice between all six roles. For this turn there is $1 on the Craftsman, Trader, and Captain roles. Also if the pictures are too small to read just hold down shift and click them.

None of the roles with money on them help player two here (except the captain which gives one point), so player two can again focus on choosing between Builder, Mayor, and Settler. Being the builder would have a benefit of $1, but there is no building that player two really needs, and spending money would further slow player two from building his tobacco storage which is the building he probably wants more than any other. A construction hut isn’t terrible, but if player two wants a quarry he should probably just choose Settler. Being the mayor would allow player two to produce indigo (and get extra slave) as it is likely player three will choose to be the Craftsman, but player three would still have first crack at the trader card so that indigo would only have a benefit of $1 anyway (same as Builder). Settler on the other hand offers a quarry which is worth significantly more than $1 unless player two stops buying buildings. Which would be quite silly.

So player two takes Settler and chooses a quarry. Player three now has an interesting decision to make between corn and coffee. Choosing coffee would secure the cash crop that he is missing, but since player three has a hacienda he can afford to take a chance by picking corn. Player three will only be disappointed if he randoms indigo really, and there are less indigo tiles than anything else to this point (2 for starting cards, 2 on the first turn, 1 now – no other crop has had more than 3 tiles pulled, and sugar has yet to be pulled). So though I am too lazy to count out the actual number of tiles, I think choosing the corn and taking a gamble is the best move, but I wouldn’t criticize a player for just choosing the coffee. Player one now chooses coffee since indigo is pretty much the worst crop, he already has it, and he doesn’t have a cash crop yet. At the end of the phase both haciendas trigger, and player three receives a random sugar crop and player one receives a random coffee crop. The four new tiles are two sugars and two indigos.

Now it is player three’s turn and the captain and trader cards are still useless. Builder is a bad call here since player three is broke, and the two buildings he could get for free offer little benefit (small indigo plant and small market). Mayor would allow for the production of more corn, but that corn wouldn’t be produced until someone chose Craftsman. While this would probably generate more points, as I explained earlier money is much more valuable at the beginning of the game, so Craftsman is probably the best choice. Player three choosing Craftsman will provide him $1 and 2 corn, which can later be sold for more cash, or worse case scenario turned into points. Craftsman also provides absolutely no benefit for players one and two, and is probably the best choice.

Player one now is sorta shafted. Builder is useless for him since he is just as broke as player three was on his turn, so Mayor and two cards with $1 are his options. Being mayor would allow him to activate his quarry and get an extra dude, but since he has no cash anyway getting the quarry active probably isn’t his top concern. Besides that though, at the start of next turn player three will probably choose settler (it’s pretty much the best choice for the first few turns) and player one could then choose mayor with $1 on it. Another way too look at it is to try to decide what is more valuable at this point, $1 or an extra slave. Slaves offer no direct benefit, and without money the only cards they would actually help would be corn crops, and no corn crops are available as choices for the next settler phase. Not to mention the fact that money is

really really really important early on. So then if taking a card with $1 is more important than an extra slave, the choice is between trader for $1 and captain for $1 and a point. Player one chooses captain and collects $1 and a point, while player three starts a corn boat and gets two points.

So that is what the board looks like at the end of turn two. Trader has $2 on it, and mayor and builder both have $1. I am not sure at this point if I am going to continue onto turn three or not, so feel free to comment and let me know what you think player three should do at the start of the next turn.

Puerto Rico turn 1

Gautam didn’t want to hang out with me Monday night, and when he finally decided to come over he made me promise that I would make him go home at 1am. At 12:58 or so I came up with the idea to break down the first couple turns of a Puerto Rico game (3 players) decision by decision in an attempt to determine optimal strategy. In the name of science Gautam gave up on sleeping and we set up the board.

We took out 3 player cards and set them up in order, with the first two receiving indigo and the third getting corn. From this point on we analyzed each individual player’s turn, so rather than us actually playing the game and looking out solely for ourselves, we debated the best decision for each player every time it was their turn to make a decision. The process even motivated me to bust out my camera that I have had for two years but never used, so I will include pictures of the board before each person’s turn so it is easier to understand.

Alright so player one has to choose between the 6 professions (no prospector in 3 player game) but it is actually much simpler, as 3 of the professions are useless. The craftsman wouldn’t produce anything for player one, the trader would do absolutely nothing, and the captain would only provide one point. From my experience games tend to have around 15-20 turns in them, so choosing a profession for one point a turn seems pretty silly.

So the real choice is between Mayor, Builder, and Settler. Mayor would provide two colonists, but with only one open circle the benefit is pretty marginal (just an extra slave for future turns). The Builder would make any building $1 cheaper, which would definitely have positive benefits, such as a free small indigo plant or a cheaper hospice. But choosing the settler allows for a quarry which is a permanent price reduction of $1. So if player one is planning on buying multiple buildings throughout the game, the quarry will probably have an effective value of >$5. I think this is the most obvious move in the game, and anyone who doesn’t take a quarry with their first pick is setting themselves back pretty handily.

Player one thus chooses the Settler and takes a quarry. Player two now has to decide which crop to take: tobacco, indigo, or corn. Since player two already has an indigo, taking another one at this point of the game is pretty useless. The advantage of corn is that it only takes one slave to produce, but it has a value of $0. The advantage of tobacco is that it has a value of $3. So corn vs tobacco is basically a debate between going for money or for points. But in my opinion this isn’t much of a debate, as money is far more valuable at the beginning of the game. Money allows a player to buy buildings which are worth points in and of themselves, as well as providing benefits that enable more point growth. For example look at the harbor. Though it costs $8, the building itself is worth three points, and every time it is used it produces an extra point. So if purchased early enough a harbor can be worth 10 points or more. Points on the other hand always have the same value throughout the game, as once they are collected they offer no boon until the game ends. In this way the value of money compared to points changes every turn: at the end of the game money is worth ~0 points, while at the beginning it is reasonable to expect every dubloon to be worth 1.5-2 points. I haven’t played enough games or done specific calculations to make this conclusion more specific, but money is more important in the early game, and this is turn one. Player 2 should choose the tobacco plant.

Player three’s choice is now corn or indigo. Going into indigo at this point would be pretty foolish, as both players one and two already have an indigo plant. Plus it takes twice as many slaves to be productive, and its value is only $1 more. So player 3 chooses corn and hopes that next turn will be able to provide a cash crop. At the end of the phase four new tiles are pulled: indigo, corn, and coffee x2.

Player two’s turn! Player two is in pretty much the same boat as player one, with three useless options and two worth considering, Mayor and Builder. Mayor here again allows for 2 slaves, but with only two crops and no buildings the extra guy would be useless this turn. Builder on the other hand would allow player two to take $1 off any building purchased, and allow for player two to still collect a slave when another person chooses mayor.

Player two’s legitimate building options at this point are hacienda, construction hut, and small indigo plant. Hacienda would allow for crop growth, but player two already has chosen an expensive cash crop to produce and needs to save up to pay for the $5 cost of tobacco storage as soon as possible. If player two received a corn it would be valuable, but a cash crop would be pretty useless since he has already taken a tobacco plant. Construction hut would allow for more quarries and thus cheaper buildings, which would help in his quest for tobacco storage, but player two will be governor next turn and can just be Settler to get a quarry. Plus in a 3 player game there is no real risk of quarry depletion. The small indigo plant however would be free and allow for the production and sale of indigo. If player two chooses the indigo plant, it is very likely he will be the first player to produce indigo which will sell for at worst $1 and quite possibly as much as $3 (if there is at least $1 on the card and player two receives the trader bonus). So in my opinion the small indigo plant offers the highest reward.

Player 3, on the other hand, only has corn as a crop at this point, so must choose between hacienda and construction hut. The same arguments apply here as they did for player two, but one direct advantage of the hacienda needs to be raised. With a hacienda, player three can choose the settler card and get a quarry as well as a random crop. Whereas the construction hut would just allow for a quarry, and prevent the acquisition of a crop, which is something player three can’t afford as all he has is corn and he needs some sort of cash crop. The hacienda would also enable player three to select a corn with his choice and allow randomness to decide his cash crop: only drawing indigo would be a disaster, and there are fewer indigo tiles in the deck than any other at this point. Sugar and coffee would both be good, and corn and tobacco would be acceptable - corn allows for a huge shipping monopoly at the expense of a cash crop, and tobacco is marginal since player two will likely produce it as well and could fill the trading house. If I’m player three, I buy the hacienda and hope I don’t pull indigo with my next random.

Player One is in a spot where no building is a huge benefit. A small indigo plant would allow the production of indigo which sells for $1, but the plant would cost $1 to build since player one’s quarry isn’t active. So the indigo plant would have to sell 2 indigos to pay itself off, which isn’t particularly likely since player two has already committed to producing indigo. A hacienda isn’t vital, but still offers player one the benefit of choosing the settler card and getting a quarry and a crop. Not as huge as it is for player three and his corn farms, but still worth the investment this early in the game. Player one and three are now broke, and player two still has $2 to his name.

Player three still has three useless professions, and the Mayor. And unlike players one and two, choosing the Mayor here would actually benefit player three as he could activate his building and allow for the production of corn. So player three chooses Mayor, and puts one slave on the hacienda and one on a corn plant. Player three could put both on the corn plants, but the value of the hacienda in acquiring a cash crop is too high to leave it inactive. Player one has to choose between hacienda and quarry, but with no cash the only buildings the quarry would enable would be a small market or small indigo plant, which player one could acquire anyway if he chose the Builder. While the hacienda isn’t vital to him at this point, it still will probably have a greater benefit on the next turn, and player one can work on getting more guys during the next turn to get his quarry active. It’s irrelevant where player two puts his slave, as nothing will produce at this point (on some turns it is important to consider placing that useless slave on a building circle or a crop circle to influence the number of slaves to put on the boat, but that isn’t a consideration on turn one).

So that’s the end of turn one! I am too tired at this point to continue typing up the turn two analysis Gautam and I made, but it will come soon. And turn two is more exciting really as each player can choose between more than three roles.

First post

This post is mostly a test, as well as a bit of an introduction. I am not sure how often I am gonna write in this blog, but I do know that I will use it anytime I feel like I have an interesting story to tell. I think someday I will want to write a book, and a blog is a good platform to practice writing and get feedback from friends. So please leave comments, especially constructive criticisms about the writing itself - the stories will obviously be awesome but you can still comment on those :) Thanks for reading!