Subject: Stronghold and the State of Green Date: Thu, 05 Mar 1998 12:37:14 -0600 From: bensmith@cybrwks.net Newsgroups: rec.games.trading-cards.magic.strategy Hello folks! Here's my take on Stronghold and the current state of green: Alright; I went to the Stronghold pre-release, and I’ve studied the spoilers and played with some of the cards. As a big fan of green (and aren’t we all, deep down? It must be an underdog thing), I was extremely interested in what would be added to green’s arsenal. To say that I was underwhelmed is an understatement, but instead of griping, let’s take a look at what came with Stronghold… Let’s take a look at the Rares—Awakening, Burgeoning, Carnassid, Hermit Druid, Spike Breeder, Verdant Touch, Volrath’s Garden. None of them are inspiring; Carnassid is way too expensive; Spike Breeder and Burgeoning are way too narrow. Awakening and Hermit Druid have some possibilities, but the rest is just chafe for trade stock or combo decks. Awakening suffers from the new green sub-theme of “sharing” but especially paired with blue, it could overcome this handicap. Of course, costing 4 mana and non-cumulative in effect costs it some value on the power scale. For a solid green rare, my vote has to go with the Hermit Druid: cheap casting-cost, potent ability to make sure a land is played each turn, and the “disadvantage” of self-milling can easily be gotten around (with Gaea’s Blessings) or used as an advantage (with Lhurgoyf, Revenant, or black graveyard strategies). Let’s move on to the Uncommons—Constant mists, Elven Rite, Primal Rage, Spike Feeder, Spike Soldier, Tempting Licid, Wall of Blossoms. Alright, here there’s some possibilities. I’ll pass on Constant Mists, Spike Soldier, and Primal Rage; the Mists sounds more like a prison type card, the Soldier falls low on the list of available green critters with the same casting cost (I’d rank him right around Uktabi Efreet level), and Primal Rage, while an okay cheap enchantment, suffers from the same problems as Serra’s Blessing, Fervor, etc., namely not bringing a strong enough effect to warrant a slot (or slots) in a competitive deck. The Tempting Licid is almost tempting; I’d say it ranks up there with the Leeching Licid as *almost* worthy of a deck slot. In the right deck, it might work; hey, it’s the only green critter that can avoid a Perish! Wall of Blossoms is a great wall, very good for green and combines very well with another solid green creature, Stampeding Wildebeasts; I’m thinking between the Wall, Provokes, and Gaea’s Blessing (not to mention the honorary green card, Horn of Greed), a mostly green deck could really keep up the speed, which is gonna be necessary due to the Perish factor. **A quick aside on the Perish factor** I think everybody has to agree WotC did a horrid mistake by adding this card to the mix; at 2B casting cost, it is way too cheap and splashable in the current “splash” environment; I see 2-3 Perishes in just about any deck’s sideboard that has multi-mana lands. What this means is, a green based deck has to either 1) not rely on green creatures to win the day which is kinda counter to what green is supposed to be all about, or 2) draw enough cards so that the loss of card economy to a Perish is minimalized. The Perish factor is something everyone who considers green must weigh heavily. So anyway, in my opinion the best green critter in the set is a Spike, namely the Spike Feeder. What a flexible creature! For 1GG, it gives you a solid 2/2 critter that can move +1/+1 tokens to other creatures or sac itself for 4 life; what a bargain! This little guy moves right up there in this CC with Jolrael’s Centaurs, and between Edicts, Disks, Earthquakes and Perishes, what good is untargetability, anyway? Anyone who has seen how nice Bottle Gnomes have turned out have got to like the Spike Feeder. Elven Rite would have been really nice if it had been an instant; if it weren’t for the Feeder, it would sink down into the dregs of the set, but with the Feeder, I could see playing a couple of these, maybe. Lastly there’s the Commons—Crossbow Ambush, Endangered Armodon, Lowland Basilisk, Mulch, Overgrowth, Provoke, Skyshroud Archer, Skyshroud Trooper, Spike Colony, Spike Worker, Spined Wurm. I hate to say it, but the only card I really like here is the (dare I say it) closest green has to creature control, Provoke! I’ll admit that I have only today gotten enough of these to play in a deck so I have not actually played with it, but it sure looks good, and a cantrip to boot! Look out, Ouphidians, here comes my Centaur. Taroooooo! I would love to hear from anyone on the effectiveness (or uselessness) of Provoke. “Hey, what about the new Erhnam?” you may be saying. No, I have not forgotten about the new Don; I have thought about him a lot and find him offensive to his native color. Sure, his drawback can be worked around, but why bother? There are plenty of quality creatures at that CC that stand head and shoulders above him (you know, Maro, Wildebeasts, Uktabi Efreet, I’d even rank Spike Soldier above the new Don), and a vanilla 4/5 critter isn’t worth giving up my Grangers, Rangers, Birds, Boas, Centaurs, Elves, not to mention any other colored "splashed” critters. Until somebody beats me over the head with this guy, he’s gonna sit in my commons box and gather dust. So, what’s the state of green, post-Stronghold? There’s gonna have to be some severe restructuring; the cycle of tournament worthy walls have really hurt Stompy; with Walls of Tears on the board, what are you gonna do with the Rogue Elephants and Harvest Wurms? Wall of Souls and Wall of Razors slows down the horde just as effectively. Of course, 5cG decks are liable to incorporate some of these walls into their own arsenal, but overall these mighty walls seem to be a blow to the creature swarm method of winning. Control decks got a serious boost in power. Blue got yet another excellent counterspell with Mana Leak, an ugly super-Ray of Command, and a really potent game finisher with the Silver Wyvyrn (not to mention an early beatdown critter with the Spindrift Drake). Evacuation is just plain rude. Black control got yet another boost in power with Bottomless Pit and the Ensnaring Bridge. The fact that both of these colors are the “opposite” foes of green does not bode well. I find it really aggrevating that WotC gave such weapons to two of the most irritating decks to play against-- black hand destruction control, and blue permission decks. This has really helped the “fun” factor of the game, hasn’t it? Looking ahead, I sure hope WotC is holding some Aces for green in Exodus and the upcoming Urza’s Saga; so far the Tempest block has been as much a bust for green as the Mirage block has been a boon. Think about what is going to leave green’s arsenal come the next standalone the end of this year-- Granger, Quirion Ranger, Maro, Jolrael’s Centaur, Creeping Mold, Emerald Charm, Stampeding Wildebeasts, Wall of Roots, Gaea’s Blessing, Rowan, Preferred Selection-- and it seems quite daunting to think how WotC can replace these losses with cards as useful to tournament decks. Everyone keep your fingers crossed for green power and utility in Exodus! Bennie Smith -----== Posted via Deja News, The Leader in Internet Discussion ==----- http://www.dejanews.com/ Now offering spam-free web-based newsreading