Subject: Important ST Cards Date: Tue, 3 Mar 1998 11:27:38 -0500 From: David Matteson To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com 'allo Frank (and you, kind Dojo reader), A friend -- Ted Stanulis -- and i picked up a box of Stronghold last night. The distribution of the uncommons seems especially odd (3 bloody bullwhips??) but not nearly to the extent of Visions.. After playtesting a little, trying to make decks with the infinite mana and infinite damage combos, just to see how broken they really are; it was determined that they aren't very broken. Bottomless Pit makes them impossible all on its own. I set up a fairly nice deck for getting the respective combos going, however, every time i was ready to set it out, the bottomless pit came out and ruined it all. Here is my list of a few very important cards in Stronghold. Some which i will miss will prove to be important, but i am willing to bet few of what i will mention will not.. Bottomless Pit -- Very obvious. Very powerful. Almost broken. The whiners who complained about the Cursed Scroll will be off their rockers once they get a taste of this. Big Blue was very, very powerful until yesterady. Now, counterdecks are near impotent. Disenchants are going to go up $.10 ;) Spindrift Drake -- This guy is a wonderful addition to Blue Beatdown. Jackal Pups now *officially* suck. Ooh, pay one U to keep him. Hmm, when you get bored and draw that Silver Wyvern you can let him go if you want. Very, very nice. With Mox Diamond, throw two of these out on your first turn, smack for 4 next turn. Ping-able, of course, but, being a first turn creature, what do you expect? Mogg Flunkies -- The Conscripts from TE were a nice addition to some Sligh decks, these guys, however, fit perfectly into any many-creature deck that can afford to splash red. 1st or 2nd turn 3/3, very nice. Throw out the Spindrift first turn, next turn throw out these guys, attack for 2, attack for 5. Ouch. Mulch -- This will put a zip in the step of the Gaea's Blessing decks. If they can manage to deal with Bottomless Pit -- through disenchant and other means -- they should still be viable. Lobotomy will be a main addition to any control decks, they will have to be, must get rid of the bloody Pit. Bringing up some land and tossing the Blessing right into the graveyard is nice. Tidal Warrior -- If you had problems with Fish decks in your area, they just got worse. You know how you started playing Sligh because you didn't want that Islandwalk to do anything? Doh! Also a good addition to any blue control deck. Turn their only land into an Island during their upkeep, sucks to be them -- unless they are playing blue too, in which case you may have helped. Silver Wyvern -- Like the Spindrift, this guy will be a good addition to blue-beatdown. Replaces my Waterspout Djinns in beatdown. Replaces my Silver Golems in Orb. Why? Because with those Sapphire Medallions out he costs UU, he's much easier to protect, he flies, and he's 4/3. Who cares if he's bolt-able? Redirect the bolt at their creatures. Mana Leak -- Will be staple in Orb decks. Going to replace Memory Lapse as the standard splash counter. Great early game, great right after that armageddon. Good all-around. Hesitation -- This one i am iffy on. In play-testing, it did prove to be good at stalling the game. In anything but Orb i don't know that it will have much use. Possibly, though. At the very least it serves to make them waste a card, almost as good as a Coercion in that respect, since it costs less. Mind Games -- As i said in my deck post, this card brings back Prison decks. Works EXTREMELY well. In TE/ST constructed, expect to see lots of StaticGames decks. Those and Bottomless-Grim will probably dominate, and with good reason. Mind Games makes a better prison than Icy Manipulator could have dreamed. Megrim -- The reverse Underworld Dreams. I don't know if any of you ever had fun using Braingeyser to kill people through damage, but i sure did. Now we can do the same thing in type 2 using Mind Warp -- ok bad example -- and Stupor. Very nice. Stupor for 2 cards and 4 damage. Mind Warper will be a useful creature in this kind of deck. In Type 1 it'll be even worse with Hymns and whatnot. Portcullis -- I don't know if anyone will harness the potential of this card, i personally have no great motivation to do so, but it is there. Gain control of the board completely with this. Great addition to a Prison deck. Mox Diamond -- This is a very, very useful card. Only place i wouldn't use it would be a mono-colour deck. Everywhere else, 3 or 4 of them. Better than anything but a dual land. Definately not worth the asking price we'll see for them, but that's what stupid little kids are for -- "hey want a Rathi Dragon?" Reigns of Power -- It hasn't quite hit people yet, but this with Goblin Bombardment would be very, very fun. Probably won't make it into tournament play, but, in a U/R Counterburn this with a bombardment or altar of dementia or whatever, serves as a one-way Wrath and fireball/grindstone. Cast, attack, sac. Intruder Alarm -- This card is very broken, but, the good news is thanks to Bottomless Pit the combos are almost impossible to get going. I am willing to bet this will get errata. Ensnaring Bridge -- Defense is totally against the Sligh credo. Or is it? Empty your hand and they can't attack. Hmm, it's not that expensive either... definately great for white weenie. Pursuit of Knowledge -- Expect those annoying Gaea's Blessing decks to morph into a Sylvan/blessing/pursuit menagerie. It won't be pretty. Foul Imp -- This card should become staple for black-beatdown. First or second turn 2/2 flier. Almost as good as the Spindrift Drake. This is a much better balance than the Serpent Warrior. 3 life and 3 mana for a 3/3? No thanks, i'll stick with the Flunkies.. Crystalline Sliver -- This guy almost makes Sliver-decks tourney viable. Probably will be a no-brainer for sealed depending on what else you get. An ability i did not expect to see WotC give the slivers.. Youthful Knight -- Should become a WW staple. Definately no-brainer for sealed. He is ping-able, but a 2/1 first trike for 1W is not bad at all. I'd rather have one of these than a Jackal Pup. That's about it for now. A good summary of very nice cards from Stronghold. There are more, but i don't want to give it all away. Have fun, ...dave