Subject: Stronghold Date: Tue, 24 Feb 1998 19:59:38 +0100 From: "Sjoerd Verweij" To: Hi Frank! Well, prerelease-weekend has come and gone, and lots of postings have hacked down Stronghold. For all of the posters: thank you! This'll make it easier to trade for the good stuff in there I'll have on my want list after ripping open my boxes. FRANK: I do hope you keep all these evaluation reports! Repost them in like four months and see who was wrong, and who was right. Why has everybody been bashing Stronghold? - No cards that are broken by itself (though someone will prove this wrong) - Not a lot of good creatures (read: Spikes... mwahahaaa) - It sucks in sealed -- at least with Tempest. Now, why the last remark? As has been said before, sealed blocks have different environments. Ice Age was all about control, Mirage was all about creatures. People got so used to Mirage-sealed beatdown that this has endured in the Tempest block. Granted, Tempest is very inclined to Smack-'Em-Hard decks, especially in sealed. And whaddayaknow: Wizards screwed up and gave us Stronghold. Why did they screw up? Because the card mix hardly fits that of Tempest. Stronghold, in my opinion, is all about spawning twenty different wacky Standard combo-decks, and therefore would fit a lot better in the Ice Age environment. But let's await Exodus first. Not that Stronghold doesn't have strong sealed cards (Bullwhip is so broken in Tempest/Stronghold sealed, it's not even funny), but seeing most top-8 prerelease finishers using 5 to 8 Stronghold cards at most says enough. To say my say, I'll just highlight what struck my fancy (or did not): Mox Diamond Ho-hum. Hmm. Ho-hum. Not too good. HOWEVER, there are ways in Stronghold to combat it's drawback. 5-color anything will love it. (Especially green). Volrath's Shapeshifter This is the kind of card I think Wizards wants in tournament decks. Why? It's funny, and it's spectacular. I like it. Not tournament-worthy, but Arena-decks will thrive with this kind of card around. Awakening Jeez, I wish I had this at the Extended PTQLA... try doing this with U/G with Tradewinds, Elves, Instill Energy, Medaillions and Capsize. Bounce some in your turn, bounce some in my turn. Oh, wouldn't Counterpost just loooove this... Sligh This deck type has gotten so much good cards that it becomes viable in Tempest constructed. Hey, the Mini-bolt, Fling (can you spell Ball Lightning?), Mogg Flunkies (who needs Ironclaws?)... and you know what? Let's add Craven Giant, Mogg Maniac... This. Is. Not. Good. Mogg Maniac, en-Kor, Samite Blessing, Furnace of Rath The cards say it all. The combo has been published already. What the en-Kor do is kill burn as creature removal. Which is good, seeing what Sligh and burn have in the Tempest block. Oh, did I mention Temper? Sliver Queen Comments about the card have ranged from "useless" to "nice, if you can get it out". MAN, am I the only one to forget Natural Order/Lure of Prey/Sylvan or Mirri + Call of The Wild here? Add Muscle Slivers, the new Gold ones, Horned, Metallic, Elves and... Vineyards. I could be totally blabbing here, but isn't that making Slivers almost tournament worthy? Morgue Thrull Living Death. Enough said. Spikes Cannibalize. The 4/3 untouchable flyer. Bounty of the Hunt. Hey all, let's do a query on "+1/+1 counter" on our card databases RIGHT NOW. Now why did Wizards make the moving cost 2 instead of 1? And overprice all of them? Intruder Alarm, Elves, Recycle I think it's evil. Do you? Mind Games, Winter Orb, Sapphire Medaillon Just what the game needs... mono-blue prison. But won't it just be nice and EVIL? Horn of Greed, Undiscovered Paradise Bounce, mana, draw, hurrah! Fog Elemental, Contempt Contempt is ho-hum on opponent's creatures. On an Elemental, it becomes an insult. (Umm... good name!) Sacred Ground, Ruination Sure, you wouldn't play these in Standard. HELLO! Do you realise what these babies do for Extended and Classic? Finally, a good sideboard card against land destruction... (Lodestone Bauble, anyone?) Mana Leak Okay people, how often do you have 3 mana left when casting a spell? Really? Just play some games, and make a tally. Pursuit of Knowledge, Sylvan Library Yes! Another broken drawing engine! Draw seven cards? Wouldn't this fit in quite nicely in a GW Sliver Weenie? Rolling Stones Hate the group, love the card. I read about this in the tracking departments, and man, did I await it anxiously. I was afraid they'd make it blue, or cost something like Aysen Highway (look THAT one up), but nothing of the kind. It's the right color, and IMHO quite underpriced. Nobody likes it, but I'm looking up my Sunwebs, Wall of Swords, Blistering Barriers, Wall of Razors... this will be a fun card/deck to play! Mask of the Mimic I have to admit I didn't see this one until I read about using it with 187s. The current list of useful things to get include: Man'O'War, Nekrataal, Fog Elemental, brothers Grimm. Any others I'm overlooking? Hey mom, can we have THIS one with buyback? Mind Games, Royal Assassin Just to keep it interesting... These are just the things popping up while reading the spoiler, so I'm bound to have missed a lot. Maybe some of these will make it to tournaments, maybe not. What I'm trying to say is that I like the set. It will spawn a lot of new, wacky deck types and THAT is what makes this game worthwile. If you don't agree, since you're working on Necro variant #790247 for your next PTQ and don't see anything worth your while... you lack imagination and have lost sight of what the game is all about. Fun. Comments and flames are welcome at nospam!!sverweij@wxs.nl Greetings Sjoerd --- Tomorrow has been cancelled due to lack of interest.