Subject: Stronghold Analysis Date: Sat, 21 Feb 1998 13:09:53 PST From: "Alexander Murison" To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com Stronghold Analysis Before I examine what I think are the Cards that will make a difference in the environment – I will first state my opinions on what ST brings us. Firstly it seems to me to be the best expansion green has received in quite a long time, and for once red doesn't have the lions share of the goodies. I think that more green decks should emerge as a result of the new cards that have appeared – and not just more Stompy or Overrun variants. White for once hasn't got a particularly raw deal, it has a lot of potent weenies, as well as it's usual range of defensive cards. Black gets loaded with powerful cards. Although not as many as rumoured on LOD, blue gets a pretty average selection, with a few cards that stand out above the others. Sliver decks seem to be getting better (law of averages, some of the slivers are bound to be good if they print enough of them). So let's get down to business – here are what I think are the tourney quality – or very nearly tourney quality ST cards. ARTIFACT Ensnaring Bridge - This card has Cursed Scroll Control decks and Burn decks written all over it. It works well in a deck with lots of 1 power flyers. As you can draw a card slap the opponent then drop the card you just drew leaving the opponent unable to attack you again. As for Burn decks such as SRB scroll – Ensnaring Bridge leaves you completely defended while the burn mounts up. Horn of Greed - This card does reek of Undiscovered Paradise and also the green card Burgeoning. Try this on for size - OK, my Paradise bounces and I'll play it again, draw a card then pass the turn. You play a land and thanks to Burgeoning I'll play another land and draw another card. This card has potential. Though it's probably going to be a "nearly" tourney worthy card ( Mox Diamond - Everyone is raving about "just because the name Mox everyone wants it" but it's actually pretty decent. Get any colour of mana? Sounds like a multiland to me. Hey it gets around the one land per turn limit too. It's got potential, I think it falls into the tourney worth category – unlike most of the other "fixed" cards. Bottomless Pit - I'm sure this card is scaring all the other control players out there as much as it scares me (. I dread to think how scared the bloom players are (Turn 1, land, Dark Ritual, Bottomless Pit. Heel Bloom heel) sure it affects both of you, but it's like Winter Orb in the respects that it'll kill a control player, and merely sting a weenie horde… Brush With Death - Expensive… but for a Necrodeck, Necropotence gets the mana, this lets you spend the mana on a very worthwhile cause. Treat it as the 5th Drain Life you always wanted… Foul Imp - This card really makes Fledgling Djinn look like a wuss and makes Skulking Ghost run away in terror. This is certainly a juicy black weenie – but straight black weenie decks seem to be going out of fashion. It would surprise me to see it make it's way into the more momentum based Black 5 colour, the life based Necrodeck or a Pox deck… Still if there is a resurgence look out for this little baby. Grave Pact - This card is pretty decent against a lot of decks as chump blocking becomes a lot more viable. Sligh is going to find it's creatures pretty limited considering that the powerful foul imp is here too I think a black swarm deck could be on it's way (sarcomancy helps too). Lab Rats - When I saw it on the spoilers it was an instant, as an instant it would be awfully good, as it is it's just good. Generating a swarm of Lab Rats has got to be called satisfying – and you can just "burn them off" early game for 1/1 rats. Mind Peel - This is a card that will be used in the TE block, but in T2 for the discard one off effect Funeral Charm is better and unless you get 10 mana (not that common as many of us have seen). Disrupting Scepter is better for the reusability, but in the TE block where we have neither of these superior cards then I think that Mind Peel will be a force to fear. Revenant - Black weenie could be viable again. In a weenie horde this card is either a Sengir or bigger ( I like him… Oh and can you say Ertog? Serpent Warrior - Due to the large amount of 2/2 seen in the environment a good 3/3 has a lot to say for itself. Once again stronghold's black creatures seem to be moving away from black control and towards a weenie swarm. This also has power in the TE block, where Cursed Scroll is god… Dream Halls - A nice SB card against mana depravation and Prosbloom (oh so you're glad they banned FoW ( ), but limited elsewhere. Evacuation - Hmm lets see, that's how many weenie hordes at the tourney? This card!!! Once you reach 5 mana then at the end of the opponent's turn "Boom". If you have Man-o'-War the bounce becomes a lot scarier and just watch the amount of cards green decks will have to discard :P. The one problem is reaching 5 mana… but with Propaganda and the new Intruder Alarm, blue is definitely a stall colour. Intruder Alarm - Nice again, just watch the opponent weep as you counter creature after creature while their weenie horde lies in tatters in front of them. Even if they push one through then you just Propaganda their attack into oblivion ( Hey, Precognition is fun with this card….(Creature? On the bottom!) Silver Wyvern - A 4/3 flyer for 5 mana… not too bad, oh so I can retarget spells? Here Mr. Jackal Pup eat incinerate ( I'll need to watch this card undoubtably, although it isn't a patch on Waterspout Djinn it could give Air Elemental a run for it's money… Spinedrift Drake - The closest comparison can be drawn to Rogue Elephant (1 mana fat, ties up a land) only when they remove it from the picture the land comes back… Turbocharged blue beatdown has arrived ( Tidal Warrior - Merfolk decks now have the ability to manascrew the opponent and also a good way to take advantage of the Islandwalk ability from Lord of Atlantis. 1/1 for U is strong! Wall of Tears - bounce is getting silly now, undo, capsize, man-o'-war, boomerang, evacuation, tradewind riders and now this. We're spoilt for choice… Awakening - I think this card is particularly powerful with buyback spells and also cards such as Sacred Mesa. It's worth using this as an example… Tap out create 4 pegasi, in your upkeep my lands untap and I create 4 more. Also the ones I attacked with are available to block with. Or at the end of my turn capsize it, my lands untap in your turn ready to capsize it… Awakening works very well in a counterspell deck allowing you to cast stuff in your turn but still counterspell… it also lets you laugh in the face of Winter Orb Burgeoning - The speed!! Green is now so fast you need a Wrath to stop it (some things never change) ( Constant Mists - Not bad at all… it gives green a semblance of creature control and lands mean less to green than any other colour :P Endangered Armodon - Could be nice, it's best used with Diamonds instead of Elves so that it doesn't die, but apart from that it's stronger than Maro… Mulch – Wow - Tithe for green! This card works well with Buried Alive and Ertog too, allowing you to fill your graveyard with creatures without even losing card advantage. Provoke – Not amazing creature control, but then it is green. The main disadvantage is that you need a creature bigger than theirs…..but remember what colour its in! Verdant Touch – A good late-game card that turns excess mana into an offensive threat. Nice. Volrath's Gardens – Oh dear, poor Sligh! Combine this with Awakening and watch your life total soar. Wall of Blossoms – Brilliant! An unboltable wall for just two mana – and you draw a card! Fanning the Flames – Not really for Type 2, but in the TE block, it's a replacement for Hammer. Mogg Flunkies – Undercosted red weenies, certainly better than Orcish Conscripts, but then that doesn't say much… They are certainly viable, just a little risky. Mogg Infestation - Not bad for killing all those huge creatures you otherwise couldn't touch. Also works well with your own Snake Baskets and combined with Earthquake it's a personal Wrath of God! Ruination – Oh yeah, red's got Armageddon now! Although it's a little weak in Type 2, imagine this in Extended, or worse, Type 1. Shard Phoenix – PYROCLASM!!! OK, it is five mana, but makes for it through its versatility and recursion. Possibly the best replacement for Hammer in the TE block or when MIVIWL leaves Type 2. Shock – Bolt is powerful, so a slightly weakened bolt must be powerful too right? Right. If you liked bolt, you'll like shock! Calming Licid – The trouble with licid's up till this point.. Is that they're enchantment forms are complete rubbish, but the calming licid is a different kettle of fish. It's fully capable of pacifying the enemy's creatures and it can turn back and launch some beat down (Well – maybe ( ) Change of Heart – Powerful, early on you can do stuff like "That ball lightning wanted to attack did it?", but late game safeguard is normally better. Not that safeguard is used much. Hidden Retreat – In many ways it's more powerful than a CoP Red, Side it in vs. Drain life in particularl, so long as you don't use it too much, but vs. Sligh I still would rather have CoP Red handy… Pursuit of Knowledge – Firstly, use it with Blue in order to prevent it being destroyed.. Second suggestion – Prosbloom. "I lay pursuit of knowledge vs. mr control player, ammass 3 counters, abeyance you, good, draw 7, guess I win." And in mid combo – pursuit + meditate = 2*Meditate but only 1 turn skipped… Try it with Sylvan Library – That Sylvan is going to become Mirri's Guile ASAP I believe… Sacred Ground – Don't Geddon Me! I'm soo scared. But it's best use is in extended.. What you wanted to wasteland my Outpost? Counterpost has returned! Smite – Not only can you say the coolest things when you kill a creature of theirs.. it's a white pin-point creature destruction card… Definitely unusable outside a White Weenie, but in a White Weenie it gives Gallantry a run for it's money (. Wall of Essence - oh nuts! Down Sligh Down! This card can single handedly obliterate a Weenie horde. Lets look at it this way – Thay send 2 white knights your way. You block one, it deals 2 damage you gain 2 life, you take too damage… Hmm! Warrior-en-kor – The only good kor in the set (for constructed) but make sure you have enough Pro red to use it's ability to the maximum effect… Youthful knight – 2/1 first striker, not bad, use White Knight and order above it but ths creature is a strong contender (except in Mono white) Honor Guard – They get biger when you blow in them. And 1/1 for 1 mana isn't such a bad deal anyway… Warrior Angel – Maybe it just takes a big fat angel with spirit link in built to make the scrub in me re-emerge… but if it ever hits the table it's strong. Almost certainly not tourney viable but just like archangel and serra, everybody'll like her… Acidic Sliver – Blow up those slivers – don't you just love Mogg Fanatics? Pity you have to pay two though. Crystalline Sliver – This is well worth using outside a sliver deck just for the 2/2 untargettable bit! White Weenie just got a jolrael… Hibernation Sliver – Just the ticket for protecting the important slivers… Victual Sliver – Just the ticket for gaining life when the slivers are thrown into bad situations ( Sliver Queen – With Birds of Paradise, pain lands, CoBs, Undiscovereds, Fellwars and Mox Diamonds you might just be able to pull it off and if you do, she's big! Just watch out and make sure you have the hibernating sliver and crystalline sliver to protect her… Volrath's Stronghold – It's strong. It's Shadow Guildmage, it's tailor made for black 5 colour… OK, so that's my run-down complete the next stage is some decks I think could work, remember though these are all very preliminary and have not had much work done on them :- Bottomless Pox 4 Bottomless Pit 4 Pox 4 Cursed Scroll 4 Ensnaring Bridge 4 Diabolic Edict 4 Stupor 4 Funeral Charm 4 Bottle Gnome 4 Mox Diamond 4 Wasteland 20 Swamp The deck is just designed to rid it's hand of cards – Ensnaring bridge is tailor made to take Advantage of this, as is cursed scroll. Bottomless Pit and mox diamond have useful effects while lowering your hand size… Burn Baby Burn!!!!!!!! 4 Shock 4 Mogg Fanatic 4 Cursed Scroll 4 Ensnaring Bridge 4 Incinerate 4 Kindle 4 Thunderbolt 4 Hammer 4 Earthquake 4 Wasteland 3 Stalking Stones 17 Mountain Once again this deck empties it's hand very fast – it's got nothing costing more than 3 mana! Once you have no hand then you can get busy. Hornet cannon is a SB idea for anti-cop Red ( Orim's Stable – This is my current T2 tourney deck modified for the new set… Trust me it's not as janky as it looks ( 2 Gaea's Blessing 4 Orim's Prayer 4 Gerrard's Wisdom 4 Wrath of God 1 Winds of Rath 4 Gossamer Chains 3 Power Sink 2 Sacred Mesa 4 Aura of Silence 1 Disenchant 2 Pursuit of Knowledge 2 Disrupting Scepter 4 Tithe 1 Mind Stone 4 Fellwar Stone 4 Undiscovered Paradise 4 Brushland 4 Adarkar Wastes 9 Plains SB : 4 Wall of Essence 2 Emerald Charm 4 Abeyance 3 CoP Red 2 Karma Pursuit of Knowledge is very juicy – as is wall of essence – the only reason gossamer chains made it over Wall of essence is that it doesn't get wrathed ( Black Weenie swarm 4 Cursed Scroll 4 Sarcomancy 4 Lab Rats 4 Foul Imp 4 Black Knight 4 Knight of Stromgald 4 Serpent Warrior 1 Necratog 1 Revenant 1 Nekrataal 2 Terror 4 Diabolic Edict 4 Wasteland 19 Swamp If you can't work out how to play this deck you need some serious help….. Baby Blue 4 Ophidian 4 Man-o'- War 4 Crystalline Sliver 4 Vodalian Illusionist 4 Waterspout Djinn 4 Counterspell 3 Dissipate 2 Dismiss 3 Disenchant 3 Tradewind Riders 3 Mind Stone 4 Adarkar Wastes 4 Flood Plain 1 Plains 12 Island Crystalline Sliver fits well into a deck where Wrath of God can be countered and threatening blockers removed….. White-4-Colour 4 White Knight 4 Soltari Priest 4 Crystalline Sliver 4 Order of the White Shield 4 Soltari Monk 4 Shock 3 Incinerate 3 Disenchant 4 Cursed Scroll 3 Diabolic Edict 4 Adarkar Wastes 3 City of Brass 2 Scabland 1 Salt Flats 2 Undiscovered Paradise 11 Plains Another nice deck to slot Crystalline Sliver in – this time as a hard to kill source of damage, I like Shock because of it's lower casting cost than incinerate. Black 5 colour NB : colour is the correct way to spell colour – Aluminium is the way you pronounce aluminium (or as you call it aluminum), oh and in Britain don't ever drive on the pavement! You americans annoy me sometimes ( 4 Man-o'- War 2 Sex Monkey 4 Pump Knight 4 Black Knight 4 Cursed Scroll 4 Shock 4 Incinerate 4 Kindle 2 Necratog 3 Diabolic Edict 2 Volrath's Stronghold 4 City of Brass 3 Undiscovered Paradise 4 Sulfurous Springs 2 Underground River 12 Swamp It's a momentum based control deck. See other articles all over the dojo for stuff about this. I think there's something in Rob Hahn's War College NB : Wasn't that supposed to be updated sometimes? Endangered Phat 4 Endangered Armodon 4 Derelor 4 Wall of Roots 4 Wall of Blossoms 4 Heartwood Treefolk 4 Diabolic Edict 2 Armageddon 3 Wall of Essence 3 Disenchant 3 Nevinyrral's Disk 4 Brushland 4 Pine Barrens 4 Salt Flats 2 Undiscovered Paradise 1 Plains 1 Swamp 9 Forest Some influences from Ehrnamgeddon, the walls act as critter control and protect your phat from edicts… Green-Blue 2 Awakening 3 Capsize 1 Evacutaion 4 Wall of Blossoms 3 Wall of Tears 4 Wall of Roots 4 Tradewind Riders 4 Man-o'War 4 Ophidian 4 Counterspell 4 Dissipate 4 Skyshroud Forest 2 Undiscovered Paradise 9 Forest 9 Island This deck uses Awakening to great effect letting it tradewind muchas veces and also tap out in it's turn then counter the opponent's spells, the walls are just plain strong! You could use Eladamri's Vineyard too! Silvers 4 Crystalline Sliver 2 Hibernation Sliver 4 Muscle Sliver 2 Heart Sliver 4 Acidic Sliver 3 Sliver Queen 4 Birds of Paradise 4 Diabolic Edict 4 Cursed Scroll 4 Incinerate 4 Fellwar Stone 4 City of Brass 2 Undiscovered Paradise 4 Brushland 4 Skyshroud Forest 4 Karplusan Forest 2 Gemstone Mine 1 Pine Barrens I had to try and build a sliver deck, it doesn't look THAT bad (. On a good day it might even beat something! OK so that's enough I think the major change will be the end of sligh as we know it! I doubt Deadguy will function very well now that the 3 good walls are here and each colour except blue and red now has some form of good lifegaining! Hope you enjoyed reading this, I hope I've given you some good ideas. Alex Murison with Help from Roy Williams of team Quad Damage Alex - "Only by standing on the shoulders of giants, can you see the ground beneath you." Roy - "No! Only by standing on the shoulders of Giants can you see their dandruff." Alex Murison is known as MadEntity on IRC, you can e-mail him at alexmurison@hotmail.com Roy is SykikPurj on IRC, you can e-mail him at quaddamage@hotmail.com Happy Strongholding