How To Win Dominion: Early Game (Part 1) | Strategy, Tips, Guide

[@kindofagod7]

As an experienced player this is a really good beginner guide and highlights a lot of mistakes people make, namely having extra buys and using it on coppers! Trashing is a very useful mechanic and whenever you construct a deck rather than randomizing you should always have a way to trash unless you're using gardens or something.

[@hardyhousegames]

Thanks for the kind words!

[@JensM-jc5dt]

This is probably the most competent and pogniant strategy guide out there. Well done!

[@hardyhousegames]

Thank you kindly!

[@JohnMickus]

Agreed! As a new player...this is explained VERY clearly and simply. So excited to dive deeper into this great game. Cheers

[@Flea_ip]

Trashing is *FAR AND AWAY* my favorite mechanic of Dominion (and other deck building games too, but it seems like none of them do it as well or are as satisfying as Dominion), and unless your strategy involves having Coppers in any way shape or form (Maybe things like Gardens, Counting House, or others...), I absolutely love trashing all my Coppers as soon as I'm able to get 2 silvers, but I usually begin trashing my Coppers as soon as I possibly can. Because Silvers are not that expensive and as soon as you can get one single Silver, all it takes is another Copper (or heck even some action cards to generate the coin) to buy more Silvers, and Coppers are just deck bloat at that point. I'm always always always looking for ways to trash my cards; culling the deck is the best feeling, and one of the big reasons why Dominion is my favorite deck builders. To date, no other deck builder has come close to Dominion.

[@hardyhousegames]

Preach!!! I feel the same! Dark Ages is probably my favorite expansion because of how heavily it focuses on trashing cards lol.

[@Flea_ip]

@@hardyhousegames Oh man, Dark Ages is so great.

[@revimfadli4666]

Most other deckbuilders seem to lack the soft synergies than Dominion has, relying on the joy of getting new and better cards. A lot of them also suffer from 'Ascensionitis'; having small random markets which can clog without any reliable way to unclog them. Dune Imperium is one of the worst offenders, considering how Dale of Merchants and Copycat solved it years before(Copycat even lazily ripped it off from Through the Ages)

[@ictogon]

I have played dominon for years and I always thought chapel was a useless card except for removing curses. finally figured out its literally the best card in the game lol

[@Flea_ip]

Haha, Chapel is SO STRONG, it's a little crazy. @@ictogon

[@Jhoto]

Played this for the first time yesterday and wow. Once you begin to realize how variable you can approach this game, it can almost feel overwhelming but I like to think you kinda settle for a certain method of economy building and then tweak it. It’s really got everything and is very fun.

[@hardyhousegames]

Couldn't agree more!

[@ddevinm1373]

Semi-new player here and I always thought of trashing cards as a pointless thing but after watching this I totally get the strategy now. Can't wait to dominate at the next family get together! Thanks for the tips and loved the video!

[@hardyhousegames]

Fantastic to hear! Go forth and dominate Dominion!

[@revimfadli4666]

If only Dominion made trashing starters as intuitive as Dale of Merchants and Tyrants of the Underdark...

[@ColinMcElhatton]

This helped a lot! I have played various deck builders including Ascension, Star Realms, Hero Realms, and Cthulhu Realms. Yet for some reason, getting into Dominion always felt harder. The pointers provided were spot on and they did help me improve the early game. felt

[@hardyhousegames]

That's excellent to hear :) Glad you were able to get value out of this vid!

[@fpl_cricket]

One tip I use for myself that I haven't seen out there (but also haven't really gone looking for): At least in base Dominion, there are only two possible combinations for your first two hands, namely, -- 2 coppers & 5 coppers (less likely) -- 3 coppers & 4 coppers (more likely) As a (mid) chess player, I guess I like to think in terms of opening strategies, so knowing that these will be the only options available to me for my first two turns helps me kinda pre-plan my first two buys. (And fairly often my first 3 copper hand buys me a silver, but obviously it depends on the game.) Hope putting this out in the world is helpful!

[@hardyhousegames]

Excellent insight! In that light, it's also a way to predict your opponents' second turn and therefore anticipate which cards they might open up buying. Thanks for sharing!

[@drydizzle2954]

From playing the base game online with bots, I've found that some strategies are clearly better than others. Chapel is ALWAYS a first or second round buy. Additionally, strategies involving moneylender, mine, merchant, remodel and Bureaucrat can win, but are clearly worse than other available ones. You get a feel for what works because the bots play at a high level of optimization on the base game. Once you add expansions though, the bots are pretty mediocre.

[@hardyhousegames]

Couldn't agree more! Chapel specifically is pretty busted ;)

[@strangerson712]

The jargon for scalable cards among skilled dominion players is engine pieces, with an engine being a deck that in most cases is drawn every turn. And as a note, if you decide to do more dominion guides, it will probably be better for you to go by common general strategies or mechanics than by expansions, as generally the advice for one expansion is true of another.

[@hardyhousegames]

Great idea actually. Maybe I could dig deeper into specific play styles or how to approach different kingdom card combinations based on what is and isn't available that game.

[@astrograph7875]

When are you supposed to buy silvers? Do I do it as soon as I get 3 coppers?

[@hardyhousegames]

Yup. Unless you see a card that could provide more value than silver to your game plan.

[@zoiuduu]

i only played 1 game of dominion, i bought a lot of markets and found really good that i used all my deck, but now i see that there are many other cards. is the market good?

[@hardyhousegames]

The market is great!

[@zoiuduu]

thx, ill use it when playing tomorrow @@hardyhousegames

[@cbubbb]

Gamemaker and asprite! What game are you making? Do you have anything released? Ooh and thanks for the video, super helpful!

[@hardyhousegames]

Ha! Nice catch. I'm making TetherGeist. Lots of stuff about that on my other channel: www.youtube.com/@OandCoGames

[@cbubbb]

​@@hardyhousegames super thanks will check it out!

[@Blackobluna]

Help! I've been Militia'd and I can't get up!

[@Coco-Don]

I just started Dominion and have no idea what I’m doing but I WANT to know… there’s a reason it’s so popular.

[@hardyhousegames]

You got this.

[@Coco-Don]

@ my wife and I are addicted now!

[@Animal_board_gamer]

I agree normally coppers you need to get rid of them, however if you have one of the best cards in a copper strategy. Then keeping them is amazing! Every time there’s a good copper strategy I win every single time! I’ve never lost a single game when there’s a really good kingdom card that works with coppers. Apothecary from alchemy being the best! However my beggar and rats strategy is epic, I’ve made a lot of enemies with my copper strategies! I’m probably the best and only copper strategist! That said I rarely lose. And my duplicate duchy run is OP!

[@hardyhousegames]

Oooo yeah, there are some really solid copper-synergistic cards for sure.

[@EzraRoth-j9l]

I have found that if there aren’t any cards that attack your hand you can buy only treasure and you are almost guaranteed to win

[@eric8786_]

Chapel is great in the early game after you purchase at least 1 silver

[@hardyhousegames]

Yeah, the chapel card is honestly broken lol

[@zudawood419]

I won my very first Dominion Match by simply using Library.

[@alyssar4513]

👍

[@hardyhousegames]

👍

[@nickmoffitt6516]

Village plus smithy is all you need

[@hardyhousegames]

True true

[@cameronjohnson5671]

The best way to win this game is buying silver/gold/platinum then buying the colony’s until there gone 9/10 you will win without having anything else

[@hardyhousegames]

Certainly a strong strat

[@Animal_board_gamer]

Dark ages has the best synergies!

[@hardyhousegames]

For real. It's such a fun expansion.

[@hardyhousegames]

6:34 *you're

I just started playing and this was just what I needed 🤌🏻