Tactician (Seaside)

Here's a comprehensive strategy guide for Tactician:

Tactician Strategy Guide

Introduction Tactician is one of the most powerful cards in Dominion, serving as both an engine enabler and a way to concentrate your deck's power into fewer, more impactful turns. While the cost of discarding your entire hand might seem steep, the massive payoff of drawing 5 cards, gaining an extra buy, and an action on your next turn makes it well worth it in many situations.

Core Mechanics and Basic Usage

1. Timing Considerations
2. Tactician requires you to discard at least one card to get its benefits
3. The benefits come on your next turn, not immediately
4. You must have cards in hand to discard for Tactician to work

5. Playing multiple Tacticians in one turn is usually ineffective, as you won't have cards to discard for the second one

6. Basic Benefits

7. +5 Cards (next turn)
8. +1 Buy (next turn)
9. +1 Action (next turn)
10. Effectively doubles your hand size every other turn
11. Helps concentrate your deck's power into stronger turns

Key Strategic Concepts

1. Alternating Turns The most common Tactician pattern involves:
2. Turn A: Play Tactician, discarding your remaining cards

3. Turn B: Start with 10 cards, extra buy, and extra action This creates a natural rhythm of "setup turns" and "power turns"

4. Hand Management

5. Save Tactician for after playing other valuable cards in hand
6. Consider whether immediate plays are better than setting up next turn
7. Watch deck tracking to ensure you'll draw good cards next turn

Optimal Usage Patterns

1. Early Game
2. Usually worth getting as your first or second $5 buy
3. Can initially slow down your deck building
4. Benefits increase as your deck improves

5. Consider buying two Tacticians for consistent access

6. Mid Game

7. Helps concentrate your deck's good cards
8. Enables more reliable combos
9. Provides extra buying power when needed

10. Helps manage deck bloat

11. Late Game

12. Can set up decisive Province turns
13. Helps ensure you can use your payload cards together
14. May become less useful if deck is very thin

Synergies and Combinations

1. Draw Cards
2. Laboratory
3. Smithy
4. Council Room

5. These help ensure you have cards to discard for Tactician

6. Villages and Actions

7. Village variants work well with Tactician's +1 Action
8. Allows playing multiple terminal actions on power turns

9. Festival particularly strong as it provides +2 Actions

10. Payload Cards

11. Witch/Cursing attacks
12. Gold/Treasury
13. Market

14. Any cards that benefit from being played together

15. Duration Cards

16. Wharf
17. Fishing Village
18. Can provide benefits on both regular and Tactician turns

19. Help smooth out the alternating turn pattern

20. Specific Strong Combinations

Fishing Village + Tactician: - Fishing Village's benefits carry over to Tactician turns - Provides extra actions when needed most - Helps maintain momentum on non-Tactician turns

Wharf + Tactician: - Similar benefits to Fishing Village - Additional draw helps ensure having cards for Tactician - Creates very strong power turns

Market Square + Tactician: - Discarding cards triggers Market Square's benefit - Provides extra resources for both turns - Helps maintain economy during setup turns

Treasury + Tactician: - Treasury can be played and returned on setup turns - Provides reliable Gold density - Works well with extra buys

Counters and Weaknesses

1. Direct Counters
2. Militia/Discard attacks (if timed well)
3. Hand size reduction effects

4. Ghost Ship can be particularly problematic

5. Situational Weaknesses

6. Very small decks
7. Mandatory actions that must be played every turn
8. Games requiring consistent buying power

9. Kingdoms without +Actions

10. Strategic Counters

11. Rush strategies that end the game quickly
12. Deck denial strategies
13. Heavy junking attacks

Building Around Tactician

1. Basic Engine Components
2. 2-3 Tacticians
3. 2-3 sources of +Actions
4. Strong payload cards

5. Deck thinning/trashing

6. Example Build Order a) Early Game:

7. First $5: Tactician
8. Second $5: Second Tactician or strong payload
9. Focus on deck thinning when possible

b) Mid Game: - Add +Action sources - Acquire payload cards - Consider third Tactician - Build toward consistent draws

c) Late Game: - Focus on Provinces during power turns - Maintain engine consistency - Consider shifting away from Tactician if deck gets too thin

Advanced Tactics

1. Multiple Tactician Strategies
2. Can be useful for consistency
3. Requires careful deck composition
4. Best with 18-25 card decks

5. Need reliable drawing

6. Timing Considerations

7. Sometimes better to skip playing Tactician
8. Watch opponent's likely attacks
9. Consider turn order in multiplayer games

10. Track shuffle timing

11. Alternative Uses

12. Can function as hand filter
13. May help trigger shuffle at optimal times
14. Can dodge attacks in some situations
15. Useful for deck tracking

Common Mistakes to Avoid

1. Overcommitting
2. Don't buy too many Tacticians
3. Don't discard valuable immediate plays

4. Watch for game-ending possibilities

5. Poor Timing

6. Playing Tactician too early in turn
7. Not accounting for opponent's attacks

8. Missing shuffle timing

9. Deck Construction

10. Not enough +Actions
11. Too many mandatory cards
12. Poor payload selection
13. Insufficient trashing

Kingdom Considerations

1. When to Buy Tactician

Good Conditions: - Strong payload cards available - Access to +Actions - Trashing available - No strong rush strategy

Poor Conditions: - Heavy attacks present - Mandatory every-turn cards - Very fast kingdoms - Limited actions available

1. Number to Buy

Usually optimal: - 2 Tacticians in most engines - 3 in action-heavy decks - 1 in hybrid strategies - 0-1 in big money variants

Sample Strategies

1. Classic Tactician Engine Components:
2. 2 Tacticians
3. 2-3 Villages
4. 2-3 Smithies
5. Payload cards
6. Trashing

Goal: Create alternating big turns with multiple payload plays

1. Hybrid Tactician Components:
2. 1 Tactician
3. Strong treasures
4. Limited actions
5. Some trashing

Goal: Use Tactician to enhance traditional strategies

1. Multi-Tactician Engine Components:
2. 3 Tacticians
3. Heavy drawing
4. Multiple villages
5. Strong payload

Goal: Maximize consistency of power turns

Multiplayer Considerations

1. 3+ Player Games
2. Power turns become more important
3. Attack timing more crucial
4. Consider table position

5. Watch for pile exhaustion

6. Team Games

7. Coordinate power turns with partner
8. Share attack burden
9. Consider support roles
10. Watch for team synergies

Conclusion

Tactician is a powerful card that requires careful planning and execution to use effectively. Success with Tactician depends on: - Proper timing - Deck composition - Kingdom context - Player skill

When used well, it enables some of the strongest turns possible in Dominion. However, it requires experience to recognize optimal situations and avoid common pitfalls.

Quick Tips Summary: - Buy early in appropriate kingdoms - Build toward consistent power turns - Include sufficient +Actions - Watch timing and shuffle points - Consider kingdom context carefully - Don't overcommit to the strategy - Maintain flexibility in approach - Practice tracking your deck

The key to mastering Tactician is understanding both its power and limitations while adapting your strategy to specific kingdom conditions. With practice, it becomes a valuable tool in your Dominion strategic arsenal.

Remember: - Every kingdom is different - Timing is crucial - Deck composition matters - Stay flexible in approach - Practice makes perfect

This powerful card rewards careful play and strategic thinking, making it one of Dominion's most interesting and skill-testing cards.