Subject: ST Booster Draft Review Date: Sat, 7 Mar 1998 11:48:09 -0500 From: "Craig R. Fisher" <104625.2127@compuserve.com> To: Frank Kusumoto Frank: As a loyal fan of The Dojo, I wanted to run through some of my recent experiences in some Stronghold Booster Drafts. I hope this helps. Having spent nearly all my waking hours the last weekend in February at Chicago’s Winter Fantasy convention, I wanted to post some comments about the 5 different Stronghold Booster Drafts in which I participated -- one with 3 Strongholds, one Mirage/WL/Stronghold, one WL/Tempest/Stronghold, and two Alliances/Weatherlight/Stronghold. The participants ranged from super tough to newbies, with a tendency toward above-average. I am concentrating on the Booster-Draftability of some Common Stronghold cards. Although some folks tend to lump Sealed Deck and Booster Draft together (like in DCI ratings), cards that are marginal in SD can be killers in BD. This is particularly true for double-color cards. In SD, it’s rare to find a two-color deck, but in BD, two-color decks are the standard and you even run across one-color decks. Therefore, an Enfeeblement (BB) or Death Stroke (BB) is a killer card in BD, but is potentially marginal in SD. In addition to looking at primarily Commons, I am also concentrating on creature removal type spells, very critical in the Tempest/Stronghold environment with their many difficult-to-block creatures. In playing against Blue, for example, you have to be able to stop Shadow critters, Flyers, and two unblockable creatures, including the 1/5 Dream Prowler. I lost one match to a Dream Prowler (1/5 for UU2) that was enchanted with Empyrial Armor (and the little twerp was able to put this combo together TWICE in 2 games!!). So, without further ado, here goes: The best all-around creature remover is Death Stroke [BB: bury tapped creature]. Despite its drawbacks (it’s a Sorcery, needs 2 Black mana), you can't beat it in Stronghold. Cannibalism [B1: bury one creature, put 2 x +1/+1 counters on another] also has its obvious drawbacks -- it’s a Sorcery, it requires your opponent to have two creatures out, and one of those creatures gets a nice bonus -- but works much better than I had thought it would at shutting your opponent down. Smite [W1: destroy target blocked creature] is a winner for White, but doesn't help you much against creatures you can't block. Check out Provoke [G1: Untap creature you don't control; it must block if able. !!!!Draw a card!!!!]. This will destroy many pesty creatures. If you're playing G, this is a must, and the artwork is fantastic besides. In the same way, Leap [U: creature gains flying eot, !!draw a card!!] can help stop that persistent flyer (speaking of persistent flyers, check out Spindrift Drake [U. 2/1 flier. Upkeep: U] - fast and deadly!!!). For red we have the obvious Shock [R:2 dmg] and the less obvious killer enchantment Flowstone Blade [R. R: creature gets +1/-1]. Turning our attention to creatures, Blue has some real winners in Dream Prowler and Spindrift Drake. The White en-Kor creatures let you redirect damage from that creature to any other creature you control. Great with Walls or other high-toughness creatures. Like Cannibalism, they are much more useful than I had expected. Like Walls, they are primarily defensive. It might be very interesting for the Drafter to invest some time in the Spike creatures, which move around +1/+1 counters. The jury is still out on these, however. Is this another Fallen-Empires Thallid scheme?? And I want to mention one of my favorites: Dungeon Shade [B3: 1/1 Flying B: +1/+1 eot]. Yes, it costs 4 mana to get out and requires a heavy Black investment, but it is more powerful than the Frozen Shade and probably even better than the Darkling Stalker. Stronghold has some interesting Common Buyback spells. The most promising include: Lab Rats [B;4: generate 1/1 Rat token] - Sorcery Seething Anger [R;3: +3/+0 eot] - this is a Sorcery too, and therefore more limited than you would first expect. Brush with Death [B2;BB2: 2 pt Drain Life] - expensive, but with some potential. I’ve also seen the following Buybacks in use, but their potential is mostly defensive: Mind Games [U;5 - tap creature, artifact, land] Change of Heart [W;3: creature can’t attack]. I can’t see much of a future in Booster Draft or even Sealed for the Sorcery Mind Peel [B;BB2: discard a random card], unless you would sideboard it in to yank out your opponent’s own Buyback cards late in the game. While focusing on Commons, I never-the-less did want to mention 3 Uncommons which have definite game-breaking potential: Contemplation [WW1: gain 1 life for each spell you cast] -- obviously WotC is trying to remake the "charms" like Throne of Bone or even improve upon Fountain of Youth. Cast it early enough and count on gaining maybe 1 life per turn with this baby, at no cost. Team it up with a Buyback spell and you’re really serving! An Uncommon enchantment. Bullwhip [4: 2,T: ping creature, it must attack if able] Need I say more?? It’s an artifact besides! Flame Wave [RRRR3: deals 4 damage to opponent and each of his/her creatures] Expensive, late game, major commitment to R, but WOW!!! If you can get this off, you’re gonna win. A Sorcery. Of course, 2 of these cards requires a major commitment to that color, but they are extremely powerful if you can get them out. Thanks for listening. I hope this helps. Craig "Madman" Fisher