Subject: StongHold Pre-constructed Decks Commentary Date: Wed, 25 Feb 1998 21:56:07 -0500 From: Kendall Redburn Newsgroups: rec.games.trading-cards.magic.strategy First, the Kor suck. Why? Because you have to have more than one creature out to make it work. However, the deck sucks more than the Kor themselves because it makes the major fup of putting BB and WW spells in the same deck. HELLO(tm) At where I played tonight, Migraine was the favorite, and by the time you even got started on a few kor past all of blacks creature removal, you were dead. The key to the kor is getting enough creatures out that damage won't kill them. But how often do you kill creatures with damage? Maybe this would work well against red or mono green, but for christ sakes, there is only 1 flickering ward. Most people who played this deck sat with a hand of one color and 1 land of that color. I played this deck once, my first and only loss. I figured hell, maybe I would see something in it, after all, WocT didn't just throw these together in 2 minutes did they? The Sparker. If you are a seasoned control player, and know what to counter, this deck is for you. The fanning the flames is the bomb. There are lots of little tricks to keep you alive and while their creatures languish and die. Flowstone blade is there, and you have 3 creatures. It's creature removal. Mind Games with Intruder Alarm is great, tap their creatures, counter their new casts and you sit fat. Mana Leak. THis is a good counterspell, I am not a big fan of blue, but the splash counter is GOOD! For me, it's going to be tough between Migrain getting more colors or this. I really want to put Light of Day and Perish in the side and make a few small changes, this deck will rock. Migraine. Oy, I love this deck already if only because of the really wierd ass way it plays. My opponent and I both were playing it. I had one creature and a Hornet cannon in play, we each had bottemless pits and ensraring bridge and portucullis. Every time my opponent tried to cast a creature, I activated the hornet and it got his creature set aside. I eventually won because the opponent drew the Foul imp (pay 2 life) and if he played it, took 2 and lost, or held onto it and discarded it next turn and took 6 from my 3 megrim. Of course it's weekness is blacks typical weekness. Disks? I don't know, I will probably try a version with disks and Necropotence. The pit imps are great because they are 0/1 when they attack, so if you have the bridge and no cards, you can attack with imps and then pump them up. Cards in this set have a double edge. Playing bottomless pit can backfire, think carefully before dropping it. The Spikes This was the second most popular deck, and it was holding it's own quite well. All you green winers take not, the spikes rock!! THe heartstone sucks even with them, not worth the waste of card. This is because activation costs on both sides go down, I can see a lot of places this will prove more useful than in the spikes. And since it doesn't lower the cost of propaganda, it really doesn't help much. Here's a Clue, I attack with my spike colony, it's a 4/4. You go Hmm, I will have to block with a creature and then kindle it. Ok I can do that. So you do, in response, I move two of the spikes onto my dragon fly. You spent a card, probably lost a creature, and my dragon fly is now a 3/3 flyer (HELLO (tm)) I say two spikes because the colony costs 5, and that means you have at least 4 to move two spikes. Blocking these things becomes a nightmare. God forbid you should fail to block a creature, as all the damage/toughness shifts to the unblocked creature. Verdant Touch. This is a 1G third turn creature, not strong, but pretty good. My opponent kept turning his lands into creatures. This would have been a good strategy except I had fanning the flames. He would tap out, make a land a 2/2, and when I got 2 + 2+ 3 land I started burning them away. He clould have put +1/+1 spikes on them but he wasn't playing well. The second game I saw he didn't drop a second land, so I dropped a third land, used it and one other to turn another land in play and hit him for two. Two turns later he tries to kindle it. Ooops, I'll move that spike onto it, now it's a 3/3. Shock, hey, 2 for 1 is just fine. Fast red always splashes well. Elven Right, strong card, +2/+2 is good any time, and if you have the chance to keep it around it just get' s better. This deck needs some artifact creatures, (Bottle gnomes?) and it will kick some serious butt. SO green winers, Shut the Fup. Stompy is going to be here a while. Count on it! My pick of all cards Ensnaring Bridge. Good control for colors other than blue. I believe thumb screws are in 0rder here. Portcullis, Say, doesn't that set aside effect go away if it's tapped? Come to think of it, ensnaring bridge taps too. Ohh, Pinky, are you thinking what I'm thinking? How do you get it untapped on their turn? (yours that is!) Kendall