Today I'm going to be playing against
pros featuring the USA National champion, a New York regional champion, and a
three times Texas regional champion. Keep watching (this is a good one, I promise).
We all competed at Catan USA Nationals 2019, with Ian Dembsky, winning it all. Let’s take
a look at this board. Where would you go as a first position? I posted on Instagram. Where
would you go and why? I post difficult boards on Instagram and sometime post exclusive short
videos so make sure to follow me there. The link is inside the description below. In the
first position, we have Hawkeye playing black. He is qualified for the USA nationals three times
in a row and has won three regional tournaments in the Texas area. He decides to take the 8/3/10. It
gets Hawkeye the rarest resources on this board. The brick is very valuable since there’s so much
wood the ore is also very valuable since there is a lot of wheat and the ore is very scarce on this
board. Also, ore and wheat naturally pair together so having the 10 wheat and the 3 ore are perfect.
Although it's not the highest producing spot on the board, Hawkeye anticipates value by selling
the brick at a high price. In the second position, we have RJherm, he's a recent New York regional
champion and he places on the 6/9/3. Personally, I don't agree with this choice, but he agrees with
me that this was a mistake. I think it's a mistake because you have too much wheat and there's not
a very good second settlement that goes well with the 6/9/3. Instead of taking the 693, I
would consider the options such as the 6/4/3 or the 5/9/10. The 6/9/3 doesn't have very
many good port options and there's too much wheat that you can't use. In the third position,
we have Ian, the current USA national champion. Brown (Ian) decides to place on the 6/4/3. He
places here because he gets the wood which pairs with the brick and he gets the valuable source of
ore. Overall, it's a strong standalone pick since there are multiple wheat sheep spots. You can
place on the 6/3/4 anticipating getting on wheat and sheep when it comes back to you. Overall,
the 634 is a pretty safe choice. However, the hard part is where do you point your road?
You can point your road upwards but there's a risk that someone might take the 8/4. If you point your
road to the right there's a chance that someone could always go on the 6/11/12 and use a free
road to cut you off, although that's unlikely. And lastly, pointing left lets you double up
on the rare ore and get you access to sheep that you don't currently have. Brown makes a
decision and points his road to the left. Now, it's my turn. Where would you place and why?
I want you to pause and comment down below where you would place your settlements,
right now. (DO IT! It’s great practice!) I place my settlements on the 8/4/10 and the
5/9/10. What?!! Three resources?! Let me explain. I chose this because it gives me a strong sheet
port, a 3:1 port, I'm close enough to connect, I get strong production and I have great numbers. In
addition, I'm able to lock a lot of the sheep from other players. Playing a game with three resources
is difficult so I have to make sure to trade hard and aggressively. I point my road right on the
5/9/10 because pointing it downwards is redundant as I already have a road and settlement to the
3:1 port with the 8/4/10. I decided the 9/12 is better than the 9 wood. However, I do risk
having a race with someone else. Now it goes back to brown. Brown places on 4/5/11. This
makes it so if anyone places on the 5 wheat, the 5 wheat becomes triple shared. Whenever a
hex is shared by three people or triple shared, it's unlikely to be blocked because three of
the players on the hex will not be blocking it. However, by going on the 4/5/11, your
only expansion spot is a 9/11 which cuts off the other expansion spot on the 3/11. Next, we
have red. Red places on the 6/5/12 and he points his road downwards racing me for the 9/12. He's
basically only on two resources - wood and wheat. If red can get himself on the 9/12 and the
wood port, he might just have a winning shot at this game. Overall, playing with basically
two resources that don't have high trade value is something I don't recommend. I think the
biggest issue red will have to deal with is having too much wheat in their hand that they
can't do anything with. Unless the 12 rolls often inside this game, it's going to be difficult for
red to succeed. Lastly, it rotates back to black, Hawkeye. He places on the 8-3 but before we start
this crazy game, this was played on Colonist.io. Colonist.io is a free online Catan site where
you can set up and play a game of online Catan under 10 seconds. All you have to do is go on
Colonist.io and press create. Then send a link to your friends or simply add bots and press play.
Colonist.io makes money through non-intrusive ads so go ahead and play some quick online games
of Catan while supporting an amazing group of people. With that, the game begins. Hawkeye
rolls in eight instantly giving him a road. A wood and a brick. He decides to drop the road
towards the 8/4. That's a great expansion spot, getting him more brick which is going to be very
valuable in this game as there's so much wood. He also gets himself access to the 3:1 port. Red
rolls a 7 on their turn and since we're in a race, it makes sense for red to be putting the robber
on me and blocking me as you want to be robbing the person you're racing against. If I am able to
build on the 9/12, red will pretty much lose this game since they don't have very many spots to go
and their setup is already pretty weak. On my turn I offer two cards for a brick. If black says
yes to this deal and I give him two cards, it allows me to win the race. But in reality,
the 9/12 isn't that useful for me. It's way more useful for red. So if Hawkeye did take
that trade, I would say to red “Listen, I now have a road in hand and if I build this
road on the 9/12 your game is pretty much over. So I can NOT build on the 9/12 and build
somewhere else IF you can give me a good trade, right now. And if Red says “No,” I would build a
road onto the 9/12. However, Hawkeye says no to that deal so none of that happens. Black rolls
a 7 on his turn and he puts it on the 6 wood and he takes from red. I think he takes from red
because he has an ore in hand. Red rolls a five, giving everyone wheat except for Hawkeye. Brown
rolls a six but it's blocked. It's my turn. I roll a 7. I decide to block the 3 ore. I want
to try to block two people if possible. Although the three ore seems quite weak, it doesn't make
sense to block the eight brick as if I block it, there's not going to be much brick inside the
game which makes it harder for me to trade for. Instead, I'd rather just block a valuable ore
spot preventing anyone from getting early cities. On red's turn, they're able to do a 4 for 1 for
a brick and build a road to the 9/12. Once again, this 9/12 spot is a lot more valuable to red than
it is to me. My first priority would be getting on the 3:1 port or the sheet port. It's brown's turn
and they roll a 7 and then move the robber back on the 8 wood and take from Hawkeye. It's my turn
and I roll a 12. That's a rare ore for red. I tried trading for rare ores but none of the trades
go through. There's also no brick inside the game so I'm forced to hold. It's Hawkeye’s turn and he
rolls an 8 and he gets a valuable brick. Although Hawkeye is only at two cards, he's trying to
trade away the brick because he knows everyone's wanting a brick. If a 7 is rolled, people will
be robbing black searching for that early brick so if he can trade it away instead, it'll
avoid early robbers which is what he's doing. That's quite clever. So he's able to get a good
trade – a 2 for 1 deal for that brick. I'm also willing to do a 2 for 1 trade since I'm at seven
cards so this does slightly reduce the chance that I get 7ed out by the robbery. Overall, that's
a really good trade by Hawkeye. It's red's turn and he rolls an eight. It's brown's turn and he
rolls a nine. I roll a seven. And once again. I'm looking to block two people but I also know that
black has a brick in hand at the same time, I just traded a black a wheat and a sheep so they either
have a settlement in hand, or they are very close to a settlement. So, it makes sense for me to try
to block the 3 ore and take from black breaking the settlement and because I have a good chance at
stealing the brick. I get lucky and get the brick. Now here's the decision: Do I build a road and
settlement to the sheep port or do I build a road and settlement to the 3:1 port? I decided to
build the road and the settlement on the 3:1 port because it makes my overall setup a lot more
flexible. The 8 wood has already been blocked several times and if I double it up on the 8 wood,
it would make the 8 wood a much bigger robber magnet. It allows me to start using my useless
woods and converting them into something useful. An 8 rolled which gives Hawkeye another road. He
has a settlement in hand. On my turn I roll a six. There's not that much I can do at six cards but I
bet I could have ported my wood for a brick or an ore. I tried spitting out some trades just to
see what's out there but none of those trades go through. It's okay to offer some trades and see
what trades people are willing to take. You don't necessarily have to take those trades but it's
good to figure out what people's intentions are throughout the game. So even though I’m trading
for wheat and it doesn't really do anything for me, I’m just searching for information and don't
necessarily have an intention to take that trade. On black's turn, he rolls another three. I’m
quite glad I blocked the three ore as I’ve denied four ore inside the game. On red's turn,
he rolls a nine. Red offers a wheat for wood. I ask myself “What is he trying to do with this
trade?” and I say that out loud. Hawkeye helps me out and fills in the picture. “I mean he's going
to 4 for 1 it for a brick for the settlement. He's got the sheep he stole from you.” So, I
decided that giving red a settlement isn't too bad. Typically, I’ll demand more cards but I’m
already at seven cards and I don't want to bring myself to eight cards where I can get 7ed out
by the robber. But wait! Red 4:1’s their wood for an ore and drops the city! Shoot! I just gave
a one for one trade and allowed red to get a city. That was definitely a mistake. I needed to use my
own brain and track more carefully by myself to figure out what other people's intentions are.
This mistake could have been easily avoided if I track my opponent's cards more easily (better).
It's my turn and I roll a seven. I put the robber on the 6 wood and I take from red since he just
got a city. I port three of my cards for a brick. However, I think I should have considered porting
for an ore instead. In general, whenever using a port you want to be porting for rare resources,
but in this scenario since I can get potential trades with Hawkeye for the brick, the ore is more
rare. Therefore I think porting for an ore might have been a stronger play. Black rolls a three
giving black and brown ore. Red rolls a five, giving everyone wheat except for Hawkeye. It's
my turn and I also roll a 4. There are several bricks inside this game and I verbally
propose some trades but none go through. It's black's turn and he rolls a 12. Wow, this is
a great roll for red getting them two rare ores! Black drops a road to the 10 wheat. It's
red's turn and he rolls an eight. Once again, he's offering wheat for wood. This time I need to
make sure to be careful. I already know he has two ores in hand and he's on tons of wheat. Although
red is basically on two resources, someone having two cities while no one else has any cities is
quite scary. No trades go through and red 4:1’s their wheat and builds a road towards the 6/2.
It's brown's turn and he plays a Knight card. He puts the knight onto the 8 brick and steals
from Hawkeye. Brown drops a road and settlement onto the 3/11 doubling up his ore. It's my turn
and I roll an eight. The eight brick is blocked. I already have a settlement in hand. If I can use
the 3:1 port but I’m trying to get a cheaper deal through black. I offer him a wheat and a sheep
for a brick, but in hindsight, I think that's a little bit too good of a deal for black. I think
that deal would be a little bit more balanced if I gave black a different set of two cards
or not traded with him at all. On black's turn, he ports all of his wood and drops a city on the
8/3/10. That's quite a strong city. Although black is leading in production, on red's turn, they
do a 4:1 and they build a city. Two sixes are rolled giving red a total of eight cards with only
two rolls. That's quite powerful. Although red and black have cities and are beating me in
production, I’m still in an okay spot since I have a port strategy. Whenever I’m blocked, it reduces
my production by quite a bit. So if I’m behind the other players this makes it so I won't be getting
blocked at all. So instead of getting cities first and then getting a port, I do the reverse and get
a port first and then I get my cities. This way, I look a lot less scary at the beginning and
won't be blocked. And once I upgrade to cities I’m going to have a lot of flexibility and it's
going to be too late for my opponents to stop me. On my turn, I start porting for ores as I’ve
already gotten my two ports. Red is at 10 cards offering me a wood and wheat. I say yes to this
deal because it actually completes a city in my hand and this time I was tracking. I know that
red is only going to be building a settlement so I take that trade, anticipating giving red a
settlement and me getting a city instead. However, brown sees that I’m taking the trade. Brown
decides to take the trade also in order to steal the trade away from me. I think we and brown
could have worked out a deal and said “Instead of both of us saying yes to this trade and only one
of us getting it, how about both of us decide not to trade with red and they're stuck at 10 cards
with wood and wheat with no ports.” Unfortunately, the trade did go through and red builds a
settlement on the 6-2. On brown's turn, they drop a road towards the 4/11. On my turn, I roll a
seven and I’m forced to discard my hand. I decide to move the robber on the 6 wood and I take from
red with five points and two cities. However, I think there's some merit in blocking the 3 ore or
potentially the 8 brick and stealing from Hawkeye as I knew Hawkeye had wheat. And if I was able to
steal a wheat from Hawkeye, I would be able to get a city, but red 100% had wood. Not getting a city,
I decided to pass. Hawkeye builds another road towards the 5/10. On red's turn, they roll another
12! Another powerful two ore for red. It's brown's turn and he rolls a four. He drops another road
committing towards the 4/11 then passes. It's my turn and I roll an eight. Now I want you to
pause here and comment down below if you would like. Would you buy two development cards or would
you get a city? And if you get a city, do you port your woods or do you port your sheep? (Pause
and comment! It’s great practice, I promise!) I decided to get a city I think getting city here
is essential two of my opponents already have cities and I’m falling quite behind in production
I also decided to port the sheep instead of the wood because eight and four recently rolled this
makes it so there's a lot of brick inside the game and that means the wood is valued at a higher
price therefore I want to keep the woods on the off chance that I can sell it to
my opponents however this does make it so I have a higher chance to get 7ed out by the
robber personally I still think porting the wood to oars and getting a city that way is better on
Hawkeye’s turn he drops the settlement on the 510 red rolls another 12 getting them another
valuable two ore and they drop a third city on the 6-2 however as read I would try to start
buying development cards over trying to get a city it's brown's turn and he decides to solo block
my 10 sheep ouch getting blocked as a poor player really hurts a production luckily I’m able to roll
a 7 and move the robber I want to quickly talk about the poor strategy's strengths and weaknesses
the strength of playing a port strategy like this is its flexibility I’m going to be able to port my
cards for whatever I want I can port my cards for the ore that I’m missing if I want to start buying
a lot of development cards to go for largest army or I can port my cards for a break if I want to
start pouring for a lot of roads and go for the longest road so the strength of the port strategy
is its flexibility but what are the weaknesses of a port strategy like this one the weakness
is production I’m converting all my resources three to one or two to one so that means even
if I have ten sheep in hand I only have around five real cards because I’m going to be porting
that sheep two to one so my production is divided in two or it's divided in three depending on
how much I use the port to compensate for this you need to be getting your cities and production
first then pursue the win condition of least resistance so if largest army is being hotly
contested then pursue longest road instead On red's turn, he rolls a seven and he puts
it on the 8 brick and steals from Hawkeye. It's brown's turn and he wisely decides to block
the 10 sheep. Blocking the 10 sheep hurts me quite a bit as it reduces my production and flexibility
significantly. It's my turn and I roll an eight. For some reason, I pass that seven cards. I think
I should have ported my woods and other cards for ores and then pass. Holding at seven cards
and not doing anything is quite dangerous. It's black's turn he drops a road and asks for
a brick for sheep and trades with brown. Then he buys a development card. I’m not too sure
about that sequencing. Typically, your turn sequencing should be 1) Trade first 2) Buy your
development cards if you're going to be buying any because those are random. You're not sure what you
can get 3) Then you want to be building the things you're sure that's going to happen such as your
road, settlements, and cities. It's red's turn and he offers me a sheep for two wheats. I know
that I’m giving him a development card but I’m fine with this. If I can survive on my turn
without getting 7ed out, me getting two wheats helps out my hand by a lot as previously I didn't
have any wheats. So, I’m willing to take that calculated risk and give red a development card
and having the potential reward of having a huge turn. Black then builds a settlement on the 4/11.
It's my turn and I have 13 cards. What would you do here? Would you buy development cards? Would
you get a city? Or would you do something else? Are you going to be using the woods to
port or the sheep to port? (Pause Now) As I said earlier, it is absolutely ESSENTIAL
as a port strategy to upgrade your production first as that allows you to amplify your
production and therefore flexibility. It reduces the port strategy's weakness of not
having enough production. However, I do make a slight mistake here and I decided to use my
sheep instead of my wood to port for the city. Using the wood instead of the sheep is better
because first of all, I can get more potential trades with red as red doesn't have any
sheep but they produce wood. Second of all, my sheep is blocked. Therefore, at the moment
it's a lot rarer and I need to be keeping some inside my hand because I won't be getting easy
access to it. Lastly, since I have both my cities up and have strong production, it's time for
me to choose my win condition of the path of least resistance. I see that there aren't that
many development cards bought or knights played. So I’m going to be wanting to buy development
cards to try to go for the largest army. One of the resources you need for development
cards is sheep and not wood. Red rolls a 10. Ouch! That 10 sheep being blocked has blocked
a total of 9 sheep so far. Brown rolls a two giving red another two ore! These twos and twelves
are performing very well for red. On Brown’s turn, he trades a brick and a sheep for an ore with
red and with that, brown buys a development card. I roll a seven on my turn and I’m glad to have the
robber off of me. I decided to put the robber on the eight brick. I think black is doing quite
well and has potential to take the longest road and the largest army. I end my turn. Then, black
plays a knight and moves it onto the 5 wheat and takes from red. He rolls a 7 and moves it onto the
6 wood and steals from red again. Black thinks the red is very strong which they are, however, keep
in mind red is still basically on two resources with a ton of wheat that they can't get rid
of. So even though they have three cities, it's going to be hard for red to utilize that
production. It's red's turn and he rolls a 10. He offers me a wood for two wheat. I decide to
take this trade even though I know red is going to be building a settlement. If I take this trade, I
think red's path to victory is very difficult they are going to have to compete in the largest army
race with only wood and wheat. And from now on, I’m going to be making sure to be buying a lot of
development cards. I also take that trade because I don't have much wheat in my hand. Once again,
if I’m able to get to my turn without rolling a 7, I hold a massive reward. Lastly, I induce my
opponent to build a settlement. If you think about it, a settlement requires a wood, brick, wheat,
and sheep, but a development card requires an ore, wheat, and sheep. Two of those cards overlap. If I
can induce my opponent to build a settlement now, then it means my opponent will have less
cards to be buying development cards. What that means for me is that I have less
competition to race for the largest army. So it gets to my turn safely and I’m at 16 cards.
What's the play? Do you buy development cards? Do you buy a city or do you get a settlement? (Pause
now and comment! Do it! It’s good practice!) I buy development cards over trying to build roads
because black has already committed several roads and brown can always connect their roads to try
to go for longest road. In addition to that, I really don't have that much space to fight
for longest road. Therefore, buying development cards and fighting for largest army is the path of
least resistance at the moment. So I port and buy one development card. Nice! A monopoly. I decide
to port for another ore, buying more development cards. I get a year of plenty or a +2 (Colonist
version). Lastly, I buy another development card and I get a knight. The year of plenty isn't
actually that great since I’m searching for knights to lock the largest army. It's black's
turn. He rolls a four. He buys a development card then builds a road. Red rolls a four. Brown
rolls a seven on his turn and takes from me. He does a 4:1 for ore and buys a development
card himself. It's now my turn and I play a knight. I put the robber on the 8 brick.
Then I roll a 7 and put it on the 10 wheat. However, I just made a mistake.
Can you spot it? (Pause now) I have to start thinking about how I can use
my monopoly properly and set up the monopoly. A lot of times, people will wait endlessly for a
good time to monopoly but they will never get it. That's why you need to SET UP for the monopoly.
Traditionally, I talk a lot about coordinated roads or whenever an 8 hits, Hawkeye will
be getting a wood and 3 bricks. However, in this situation since I have a monopoly,
whenever an 8 hits I get wood, but there's also more brick inside the game. This allows
me to do a big move. If a few eights rolls, since I’m going to have a lot of woods, I can call
a monopoly on brick and then be able to build a lot of roads in one turn. Therefore, I don't want
to be blocking the brick. I want to be blocking other spots instead. Fortunately, I roll a 7 and
I’m able to move it onto the 10 wheat, freeing up the 8 brick for better monopoly potential. Red
rolls a nine then passes. Brown rolls and eight then passes. It's my turn. I roll a nine. I
want you to pause and think about what I just said. What would you do in my situation? Comment
down below your move. (Pause and do it please!) I call a monopoly on the brick. I’m at seven points. I built
a road and a settlement onto the 9 wood which brings me to 8 points. With that, I dropped two more roads to connect my
roads. That brings me to seven roads. I dropped my last road on the 9 wood which brings me
to eight roads, which takes longest road which wins me the game. But don't leave yet!
Because let's talk about a few essential Catan tips that’ll help you win your games. The first
tip is to SET UP your monopolies. I made a mistake this game of accidentally blocking the 8 brick,
and if that spot was still blocked then I wouldn't have been able to monopoly to win the game. If you
plan to monopoly brick, don't block it. Instead, potentially block the wood so they can't use
the brick. The second tip is if you're using a port strategy, the PRODUCTION is key. It's
essential that you get your production up first, when using the port strategy as that mitigates
the weaknesses of the port strategy of not having enough production and allows the port strategy
to use its strengths - the flexibility. The last essential Catan tip is to TRACK CARDS.
I know I say this very often, but if I had tracked better and paid more attention to what
other people have, the mistake of getting red a city wouldn't have happened. I find the core
of most intermediate and advanced level players mistakes is not tracking well enough. I really
do hate asking for likes, but it seriously helps with the YouTube algorithm. This is my job so
I would truly appreciate if you could support me by liking the video. (Please do it! It really
helps!) Although I won this game, I definitely made mistakes. This is only one game out of many.
The players I’m playing against are tournament veterans and have a lot more tournament experience
and skill compared to me. I’ve done some videos with the USA national champion before, so if you
want to watch those, then click on the playlist on the right. Thank you so much for watching. I’m
DyLighted, and I hope you learned something :D. (Check out Patreon for exclusive videos such as my
trading masterclass! Link inside the description!)
