Subject: One kid with a spoiler, a brain and a keyboard. (My Stronghold Ramblings) Date: Sat, 21 Feb 1998 15:31:30 -0500 From: Andrew Schwimmer To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com Not being able to go to the prerelease I woke up late, signed on and checked out a spoiler. I analyed. Ok... Color by color of what stuff caught my eye (for it's usage or it's stupidity) ARTIFACT: Ensnaring Bridge - Yet another card that abuses having little cards in hand. Most usable in control decks however do u really not want to have cards in your hand in a control deck? It does have some possibilities though. A control deck designed to dump it's hand will have to be explored more thorouly. Slows sealed deck games down to a halt in the endgame since it so kindly effects your creatures too. Horn of Greed - Something else that gets shared by both players. This plus Burgeoning can be combined for an interesting little engine. Undiscovered Paradise too. A new reason to use bounce lands and sac lands. Mox Diamond - It's a good card used in Worb decks. However it's a 2 for 1 deal so I don't think we'll see a lot of it. Volrath's Laboratory - Kills in ~6 turns. Good for a control deck in the late game as a kill card/protection BLACK: Bottomless Pit - Something else that shares with both players. Good against permission decks however these days you see more blue decks with creatures that don't need to hold cards. Cannibalize - With all the removal that black has this has it's possibilites. Maybe 1 or 2 in a deck. Wish it was an instant. Death Stroke - Great if it was in instant, only mediocre now. Lab Rats - Amazing if it was an instant. Kills in 7 turns. I could see this as a road to victory for a deck like 5cU unfortunatly it's a sorcery Mind Peel - Yet another card I would've liked to see as an instant. Now turned to junk. Revenant - The black Lhurgoyf that flies... Wonderful. Tortured Existence - Discard that guildmage, get the nekkrataal. Maybe in a 187 deck or reanimtor deck. BLUE: Mana Leak - Great in a deck with Worbs, even without, it's better then Force Spike. Mask of the Mimic - I'd rather have an unsummon. If anyone finds a use for this card please email me and tell me. Oh... Sac a Gargoyle, get 2... Anything else? Mind Games - Tap my WOrb and buyback it... Someone's going to reinvent the prison deck. Ransack - Late game timewalk by giving u land for the next few turns. I predict a resurgence of control decks after this set goes through some deck testing. Rebound - This card just screams Fireblast me. Sift - Maybe with 1 or 2 medallions I could see using a few of these. Otherwise the cc is a bit high. Spindrift Drake - I love it. Major blue beatdown in progress. Volrath's Shapeshifter - Discard the Phyrexian Dreadnought and commence the 12 pt beatdown on turn 4. I'm really itchin to try something like that. The Color That Always Gets Shafted (AKA Green): Awakening - With blue it means you can cast stuff and untap your lands to counterspell. You can also untap to Capsize twice with 6 mana or Tradewind twice. Great Against a WOrb but I still don't think it's going to see a lot of play. Burgeoning - This card looked so good in the old spoilers that we saw as the green Thawing Glaciars now got the shaft. Hermit Druid - Just for fun I'm going to make a deck that all it does is get land and send it to WotC with a note that says "What the do you think you are doing to green!" About the only thing you can use this with is Burgeoning and Gaea's Blessing. Mulch - Burgeoning and Gaea's Blessing. The Spikes - Higher CC Thallids that are going to sit in the commons box and collect dust. Verdant Touch - Wish it was an instant and created tokens instead of now making my lands vulnerable to a Wrath, Earthquake, Living Death... Good Job WotC! RED: Mogg Flunkies - Amazing. Ruination - Add this to the list of anti type 1 cards Shock - Someone at WotC was on crack... let's see... Incinerate, Hammer, Kindle, Fireblast and now... Shock. "Newbies of the world rejoice!" WHITE: Pursuit of Knowledge - Something about this isn't right. I cast it, next turn I skip my draw phase and my draws with Sylvan Library and instead DRAW SEVEN! Sacred Ground - I strip your library... I put it back into play. I cast Ruinations. So? I waste your Outpost. No you don't. I geddon. ok... Put your lands into the grave. Smite - New Swords to Plowshares. I can see these in any deck with white and creatures once this set becomes legal. I can't believe they made it common. Someone who gets 3 of these at a prerelease is going to be bouncing off the walls. Almost broken in Sealed. GOLD: Spined Sliver: these... Muscle Slivers, Metallic Slives.. Makes for some pretty good beatdown. LAND: Volrath's Stronghold: God send for 187 decks, has splashable capabilities too. Thoughts and Ramblings: White got Wrath of God and Winds of Wrath. Black got Living Death. Red got Mogg Infestation. Blue got Evacuation and green got... green got... well... deep down inside, none of us are suprised. For some odd reason they gave black a Lhurgoyf(Revenant), and it's flying too. Something else that was only for green given to other colors. I saw the new green "Spike" cards. They kinda look like higher CC Thallids. Junk for the commons box. No cards that count as kindles. No Kindle Spark. This set is very much a Limited environment set. Walls: I'm very impressed with the walls in this set. Sets up a good defence very early with good special abilities. WotC did something right with these guys. Green: Green got the shaft yet again with not even getting a decent creature. It did get some ways to get more mana though. Whatever good that does. Slivers: I still don't think sliver decks are compeditive. Sliver Queen + Heartstone + Ashnod's Alter = Infinite Slivers Horn of Greed + Burgeoning + Mulch + Whatever = Cards + Land En Kors + Furnace + Mogg Maniac = Dead Opponent -A. RoXLiDe on IRC