Date: Mon, 23 Feb 1998 19:52:56 -0800 From: Daniel Gray Subject: Stronghold Rules Notes (LONG) For those who haven't read one of these before, this is my usual bunch of rules notes and random commentary on the Stronghold set. I've done this for pretty much every set since Ice Age now, although only the ones for Weatherlight and Tempest are available publicly (check out www.thedojo.com. They're archived there somewhere). These are sorted by color. The card texts are based on the spoiler from the Dojo, corrected for anything I know to be incorrect. My apologies for any rules stated here that are already covered by Beth Moursund's pre-release FAQ. Dan Gray Official dcijudge-l Network Representative for Wizards of the Coast, Inc. Black; Bottomless Pit 1BB Enchantment During each player's upkeep, that player chooses and discards a card. The ability is controlled by the player who is actually discarding. The discard is considered "forced" for purposes of things like Library of Leng, but the ability is always controlled by whoever discards, so Psychic Purge/Guerilla Tactics/Mangara's Blessing/Sand Golem will not trigger. Yes, this is annoying as it looks. Brush With Death 2B Sorcery Buyback 2BB (You may play an additional 2BB when you play this spell. If you do, put it into your hand instead of your graveyard as part of the spell's effect.). Target opponent loses 2 life. You gain 2 life. This is not damage and cannot be prevented by COP: Black or anything else. Cannibalize 1B Sorcery Choose target creatures controlled by the same player. Remove one of those creatures from the game and put two +1/+1 counters on the other one. You not only choose the targets on announcement, you also choose which creature is getting removed and which is getting counters. If something invalidates/removes one of the targets prior to resolution, Cannibalize still effects the other one normally and as chosen on announcement. The fact that both creatures are controlled by the same player is a targeting specification, so if both creatures aren't controlled by the same player on resolution, Cannibalize will fizzle. Corrupting Licid 2B Summon Licid 2/2 B,T: Corrupting Licid loses this ability and becomes a creature enchantment reading, "Enchanted creature can be blocked by only artifact creatures and black creatures" instead of a creature. Move Corrupting Licid onto target creature. You may pay B to end this effect. The Stronghold Licids work just like their Tempest counterparts with regards to moving them around with Enchantment Alteration, fizzling against their targets, and trying to put them onto themselves. They also have the same errata as their Tempest counterparts-- substitute "instead of any other permanent type" for "instead of a creature" (avoids some strange tricks with Ashnod's Transmogrant and Animate Artifact, for anyone who was wondering). Crovax the Cursed 2BB Summon Legend 0/0 Crovax the Cursed counts as a Vampire. Crovax the Cursed comes into play with four +1/+1 counters on it. During your upkeep, sacrifice a creature and put a +1/+1 counter on Crovax or remove a +1/+1 counter from Crovax. B: Crovax the Cursed gains flying until end of turn. The second ability is a standard phase cost. It is possible to sacrifice Crovax to itself. Because all +1/+1 counters are interchangeable, you may remove any +1/+1 counter (such as one from a Spike), and not just his original four. Ravenous Vampire is back and this time he's a Legend. Dauthi Trapper 2B Summon Minion 1/1 T: Target creature gains shadow until end of turn. (That creature can block or be blocked by only creatures with shadow.). Strange that he doesn't have shadow himself. He must hang out with the Soltari Emissary at the local pub. Dungeon Shade 3B Summon Spirit 1/1 Flying B: Dungeon Shade gets +1/+1 until end of turn. Hoar Shade is back yet again, and this time he flies. Foul Imp BB Summon Imp 2/2 Flying When Foul Imp comes into play, lose 2 life. This is not payment of life (or, indeed, a payment at all), so you can play Foul Imp while your life total is less than 2. Grave Pact 1BBB Enchantment Whenever a creature you control is put into any graveyard, each other player sacrifices a creature. Each of your opponents sacrifices one creature for each one creature of yours that dies. They cannot just sacrifice one creature if many of yours go to the graveyard simultaneously. Megrim 2B Enchantment Whenever any opponent discards a card, Megrim deals 2 damage to him or her. Talk about injury to insult. . . Mind Warper 2BB Summon Spirit 0/0 Mind Warper comes into play with three +1/+1 counters on it. 2B, Remove a +1/+1 counter from Mind Warper: Target player chooses and discards a card. Play this ability as a sorcery. Note that there is no tap symbol, so you can play the second ability while Mind Warper has summoning sickness. Since +1/+1 counters are interchangeable, you can remove other counters (such as those from Spikes) to play the second ability. You're not limited to only the three counters it comes into play with. Mortuary 3B Enchantment Whenever a creature is put into your graveyard from play, put that creature on top of your library. The ability is mandatory (like Gravebane Zombie) and not optional (like Avenging Angel). If multiple creatures die at once, resolve Mortuary's abilities in the usual order. This basically has the effect of, when multiple creatures die, put them on top of your library in the order you choose. Serpent Warrior 2B Summon Soldier 3/3 When Serpent Warrior comes into play, lose 3 life. This is not payment of life (or, indeed, a payment at all), so you can play Serpent Warrior while your life total is less than 3. Skeleton Scavengers 2B Summon Skeletons 0/0 Skeleton Scavengers comes into play with a +1/+1 counter on it. Pay 1 for each +1/+1 counter on Skeleton Scavengers: Regenerate Skeleton Scavengers and put a +1/+1 counter on it. You pay mana equal to the number of counters on the Skeletons when you go to regenerate it, not the number that will be there after you regenerate. You have to pay 1 for each +1/+1 counter on it, not just for those it had when it entered play and/or got for regenerating. Stronghold Taskmaster 2BB Summon Minion 4/3 All other black creatures get -1/-1. Yes, it does give the penalty to other Stronghold Taskmasters. Tortured Existence B Enchantment B, Choose and discard a creature card: Return target creature card from your graveyard to your hand. Because costs are paid and targets chosen simultaneously, you cannot return the card you're discarding to pay for the ability. Wall of Souls 1B Summon Wall 0/4 (Walls cannot attack.) Whenever Wall of Souls is dealt combat damage, it deals an equal amount of damage to target opponent. Remember that damage redirected from one creature to another (such as with the en-Kor ability) loses its "combat" nature, so redirecting damage to the Wall won't cause it to trigger. Blue: Contempt 1U Enchant Creature If enchanted creature attacks, return that creature and Contempt to owner's hand at end of combat. Remember, if the enchanted creature dies due to lethal combat damage, it will be in the graveyard before "end of combat" is reached (as will Contempt, since it's target is gone), and neither card will return to owner's hand. Dream Halls 3UU Enchantment Instead of paying the casting cost for a spell of any color, its caster may choose and discard a card that shares at least one color with that spell. If the spell has X in its casting cost, X is 0. Remember that "artifact" and "colorless" are not colors, so it is impossible to cast colorless spells in this way. If the spell being cast is of more than one color, you can discard any card that is of one of the colors of that spell. You can pitch a multicolored card for a monocolored spell, assuming the multicolored card has the same color as the spell being cast. Does not prevent spells with "X" from being played, it merely sets the X to 0. Dream Halls only pays the casting cost (mana in the upper right corner). Will not pay additional costs in the text (such as sacrifices or discards) nor additional mana in the text of the spell (such as Drain Life or buyback). You can/must pay these costs normally, however. Dream Prowler 2UU Summon Illusion 1/5 Dream Prowler is unblockable as long as no other creatures are attacking. If other creatures begin attacking with the Prowler, and then they all leave combat (die, regenerate, change controllers, Mijae Djinn fails its coin flip) before declaring blockers, Dream Prowler is unblockable. You do not have to start off declaring only Dream Prowler as an attacker for the ability to function. Hesitation 1U Enchantment If any spell is played, counter that spell and sacrifice Hesitation. This is not optional, and it will counter the next spell played, even if it is yours. Will not counter abilities, nor will it stop something that's about to come into play by another means. Will trigger off a mana source, but cannot counter it (although the Hesitation is still sacrificed). Mana Leak 1U Interrupt Counter target spell unless its caster pays an additional 3. Mana Leak is not Power Sink-- the payment of the additional mana is optional, and nothing "bad" happens if you don't pay. If the caster pays, you're still free to try and use additional interrupts to counter the spell. Mask of the Mimic U Instant Sacrifice a creature: Search your library for a copy of target creature card in play and put it into play. Shuffle your library afterwards. "Target creature card in play" means any card on the table that says "Summon" or "Artifact Creature" under its artwork. Cannot be used to go get a Mishra's Factory or other noncreature permanent that is somehow animated. Can be used to go get something that is normally a creature but is currently another permanent type (such as a Licid). Since this is targeted on something in play, protection from blue and "untargetable" apply. You can name the creature being sacrificed as the target, since targets and costs are paid simulataneously, but on resolution, Mask of the Mimic will fizzle (and therefore you don't get to search for anything). Ransack 3U Sorcery Look at the top five cards of target player's library. Put any number of those cards on the bottom of that library in any order and the rest on top of that library in any order. You don't choose which/how many cards are going where until resolution, as cards in the library are considered hidden information. Rebound 1U Interrupt Target spell which targets only a single player targets another player of your choice instead. Can be used to "retarget" a spell that targets only opponents to that spell's caster, however, since that player isn't a legal target for such spells, the spell will fizzle on resolution. Reins of Power 2UU Instant You and target opponent each untap and gain control of all creatures the other controls until end of turn. Those creatures are unaffected by summoning sickness this turn. Yes, this is annoying as you imagine. It is not necessary that either player have any creatures for this to be played. It simply swaps control of everything you've got for everything they've got. If one or both of you has no creatures, somebody ends up with nothing. Silver Wyvern 3UU Summon Drake 4/3 Flying U: Target spell or ability which targets only Silver Wyvern targets another creature of your choice instead. Can be used to "retarget" a spell or ability to an illegal target, such as one with protection. The spell/ability will then fizzle on resolution. He's already known as "The Man" around here. Tidal Warrior U Summon Merfolk 1/1 T: Target land is an island until end of turn. The target is an island instead of any other land type (delta Blanket of Night) until end of turn. Islands produce blue mana and only blue mana. Volrath's Shapeshifter 1UU Summon Shapeshifter 0/1 As long as the top card of your graveyard is a creature card, Volrath's Shapeshifter is a copy of that card, except Volrath's Shapeshifter retains all its abilities. 2: Choose and discard a card. Yes, this is as confusing as it looks. Basically, if the top card of your graveyard isn't a "Summon" or "Artifact Creature" card, the Shapeshifter is a 0/1 blue creature with the two listed abilities. If the top card is a creature, the Shapeshifter is whatever that creature is (except it won't get counters, coming-into-play stuff doesn't go off, etc), plus it has the ability that determines what the characteristics it has as well as the one that allows discard. The "cloning" ability is continuous, so if another card goes into your graveyard, the Shapeshifter changes forms immediately. If the top card of your graveyard is a creature card that has one or more of its characteristics undefined (such as a Clone or Vesuvan Doppelganger), I'm unsure as to what, exactly, happens, although my gut instinct is that the Shapeshifter simply ignores any undefined characteristics (such as power and toughness on a Clone), and copies everything else about that card (so a Shapeshifter with a Clone on top would be a blue creature named Clone,of creature type Clone, with casting cost 3U, the Clone's text box, and power and toughness of 0/1). If the top creature card is something that has characteristics defined by a choice made when playing the card (such as Minion of the Wastes), I'm inclined to say the same is true. This whole mess is going to require some clarification. Wall of Tears 1U Summon Wall 0/4 (Walls cannot attack.) If Wall of Tears blocks any creatures, return each of those creatures to owner's hand at end of combat. If one of the blocked creatures suffers lethal combat damage, it will be in the graveyard before end of combat is reached, and therefore will not go back to the attacker's hand. Green: Awakening 2GG Enchantment At the beginning of each player's upkeep, untap all creatures and lands. Yes, this really will untap your creatures and lands during your opponent's turn. It's possible to tap some or all of your lands for mana during your upkeep, play this ability to untap them, and then use the mana during your upkeep to do something. Contant Mists 1G Instant Buyback-- Sacrifice a land (You may sacrifice a land when you play this spell. If you do, put it into your hand instead of your graveyard as part of the spell's effect.) Creatures deal no combat damage this turn Despite the reminder text's appearance to the contrary, it means put Constant Mists back into your hand, not the sacrificed land. Sunstone is back and this time it's green. Elven Rite 1G Sorcery Put two +1/+1 counters, distributed any way you choose, on any number of target creatures. As always with things that call for dividing something up among any number of targets, you actually have to do something to each target. You cannot simply name things as a target so that you can kill Skulking Ghost or similar. Endangered Armodon 2GG Summon Elephant 4/5 If you control any creature with toughness 2 or less, sacrifice Endangered Armodon As soon as a creatures toughness drops to 2 or less, this will trigger. Will trigger if its own toughness drops to 2 or less. Remember, damage does not reduce toughness. Erhnam Djinn is back and this time he _really_ doesn't play well with others. Lowland Basilisk 2G Summon Basilisk 1/3 Whenever Lowland Basilisk damages any creature, destroy that creature at end of combat. It means "at the end of the next combat," so if there's no combat phase during the turn it damages something (if you stick Fire Whip onto it), the something won't die until/if there is a combat. Can cause a creature that isn't participating in combat to die at the end of combat. Will still kill a creature even if that creature leaves combat due to regenerating or changing controllers. Provoke 1G Instant Untap target creature you do not control. That creature blocks this turn if able. Draw a card. Can be played on an already untapped creature, and that creature will have to try and block. Skyshroud Troopers 3G Summon Elves 3/3 T: Add G to your mana pool. Play this ability as a mana source. Llanowar Elves are back and this time they're fat. Spike Colony 4G Summon Spike 0/0 Spike Colony comes into play with four +1/+1 counters on it. 2, Remove a +1/+1 counter from Spike Colony: Put a +1/+1 counter on target Spike. Remember, the Spikes can zing +1/+1 counters of any sort, even those that came from another Spike or a card like Elven Rite. They're not limited to only the counters they entered play with. Verdant Touch 1G Sorcery Buyback 3 (You may pay an additional 3 when you play this spell. If you do, put it into your hand instead of your graveyard as part of the spell's effect.) Target land becomes a 2/2 creature permanently. (That creature still counts as a land.) The land/creature is still whatever color the land originally was (which means colorless usually). It retains all its other abilities, including the ability to tap for mana. This spell defines base power and toughness, so if another external effect (like that of Living Lands) is defining the land's base power and toughness, determine the land's base power and toughness by timestamping (That is, whichever of Verdant Touch or the other effect resolved later wins out). Volrath's Gardens 1G Enchantment 2, Tap a creature you control: Gain 2 life. Play this ability as a sorcery. As always, costs must be successful, so you can only tap untapped creatures to pay for the ability. Red: Convulsing Licid 2R Summon Licid 2/2 R,T: Convulsing Licid loses this ability and becomes a creature enchantment reading, "Enchanted creature cannot block" instead of a creature. Move Convulsing Licid onto target creature. You may pay R to end this effect. Has no effect if moved onto a creature that is already blocking. It won't stop it from blocking or undo the block-- it will merely make it unable to block in the future. See Corrupting Licid for further notes. Flame Wave 3RRRR Sorcery Flame Wave deals 4 damage to target player and each creature he or she controls. Yes, that really does say, "RRRR." Fling 1R Instant Sacrifice a creature: Fling deals damage equal to the sacrificed creature's power to target creature or player. This does not work as written and has errata that it deals damage equal to the sacrificed creature's power at the time it was sacrificed. It's raining rats and moggs in LA as I write this. Flowstone Blade R Enchant Creature R: Enchanted creature gets +1/-1 until end of turn. Firebreathing is back and this time, it's worse? Yes, I know it can be used to kill creatures. Invasion Plans 2R Enchantment Each creature blocks whenever able. Attacking player chooses how each creature blocks. The ability of the attacker to determine how the defender's creatures block doesn't allow the attacker to assign blocks that would otherwise be illegal and/or cause creatures that cannot block (tapped, have "cannot block," etc.) to do so. Mob Justice 1R Sorcery Mob Justice deals 1 damage to target player for each creature you control. It counts the number of creatures you control on resolution and not on announcement. Mogg Flunkies 1R Summon Goblins 3/3 Mogg Flunkies cannot attack or block during a turn in which no other creature you control attacks or blocks. If the only creatures you control are Mogg Flunkies, they can all attack, since the rules simply require you to declare a "legal set" of attacking creatures (and declaration of attackers is simultaneous), and, the only illegal set of attackers as far as Mogg Flunkies is concerned is a group in which it is the only creature. Ditto for blocking. Mogg Maniac 1R Summon Goblin 1/1 Whenever Mogg Maniac is dealt damage, it deals an equal amount of damage to target opponent. Yes, this is really good with en-Kor creatures. Yes, this is totally insane with en-Kor creatures and Furance of Rath (redirect damage from the en-Kor to itself a couple hundred times, then sent it over the Maniac. Poof. A bazillion damage). I suspect this is supposed to be worded like Wall of Essence/Souls, in that it only affects combat damage. No errata has yet been issued, however. Shock R Instant Shock deals 2 damage to target creature or player. Sligh. The Official Deck Archetype of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. (tm) :) Spitting Hydra 3RR Summon Hydra 0/0 Spitting Hydra comes into play with four +1/+1 counters on it. 1R, Remove a +1/+1 counter from Spitting Hydra: Spitting Hydra deals 1 damage to target creature. As +1/+1 counters are interchangeable, the Hydra can "shoot" counters from other sources (such as Spikes) at creatures. It is not limited to the four it started with. Since there is no tap symbol, it can shoot creatures while affected by summoning sickness. White: Calming Licid 2W Summon Licid 2/2 W,T: Calming Licid loses this ability and becomes a creature enchantment reading, "Enchanted creature cannot attack" instead of a creature. Move Calming Licid onto target creature. You may pay W to end this effect. Has no effect if played on a creature which is already attacking. It won't stop the creature from attacking. Merely prevents the creature from being declared as an attacker in the future. See Corrupting Licid for further notes. Change of Heart W Instant Buyback 3 (You may pay an additional 3 when you play this spell. If you do, put it into your hand instead of your graveyard as part of the spell's effect.) Target creature cannot attack this turn. Has no effect if played on a creature which is already attacking. It won't stop the creature from attacking. Merely prevents the creature from being declared as an attacker in the future. Contemplation 1WW Enchantment Whenever you successfully cast a spell, gain 1 life. Remember that "successfully cast" means "played and was not countered." You do not gain life for countered spells. Hidden Retreat 2W Enchantment Choose a card from your hand and put it on top of your library: Prevent all damage to you from an instant or sorcery. Since it doesn't specify "spells," the ability can be used to prevent damage from either sorcery/instant spells or abilities. Lancers en-Kor 3WW Summon Soldiers 3/3 Trample 0: Redirect 1 damage from Lancers en-Kor to a creature you control. This ability does not target the creature the damage is being redirected to. Using this ability to redirect trample damage will "erase" the trample nature of the damage, so the new creature will not get trampled over. Redirected combat damage also loses its combat nature. Yes, it is possible to have an en-Kor redirect damage from itself to itself. It is possible to redirect damage of a color to a creature with protection from that color (and thus have the protection reduce the damage to 0.) Spells and abilities that trigger off damage assignment (such as Justice) also trigger off damage redirected with this. Furnace of Rath will double all redirected damage. Yes, this is an ugly combo with the Furnace and Mogg Maniac. Pursuit of Knowledge 3W Enchantment Skip drawing a card: Put a study counter on Pursuit of Knowledge. Remove three study counters from Pursuit of Knowledge, Sacrifice Pursuit of Knowledge: Draw seven cards. The first ability is a standard replacement ability, and it works just like Island Sanctuary or Aladdin's Lamp. If the ability is countered, the card draw is still gone. Since sacrificing Pursuit of Knowledge is part the second ability's cost, you cannot build up to six or more counters in order to draw fourteen cards. You can, however, put more than three study counters on Pursuit if you want to for some reason. Yes, this is really sick with Sylvan Library, Brainstorm, and several other things. Rolling Stones 1W Enchantment Each Wall can attack as though it were not a Wall. Only stops the normal inability of a Wall to attack because it is a Wall. Will not allow a Wall with summoning sickness, that is tapped, or is otherwise inelgible to attack (Calming Licid, Change of Heart, Ensnaring Bridge, etc.) to do so. Sacred Ground 1W Enchantment Whenever a land is put into your graveyard by a spell or ability you do not control, put that land into play. The ability is not optional. The land comes back whether you want it to or not, so things like Kjeldoran Outpost or Lotus Vale will have their coming-into-play costs retrigger, Tempest pain lands come back tapped, etc. This plus an opponent's Land Equilibrium appears to be an infinite loop. This will need clarification. Skyshroud Falcon 1W Summon Bird 1/1 Flying Attacking does not cause Skyshroud Falcon to tap. Zephyr Falcon is back and it's not only white, it's not even a Falcon. Smite B Instant Destroy target blocked creature. Note that it says, "blocked," not "blocking." I saw this mistake made numerous times at the pre-release. Soltari Champion 2W Summon Soldier 2/2 Shadow (This creature can block or be blocked by only creatures with shadow.) If Soltari Champion attacks, all other creatures you control get +1/+1 until end of turn. This is all other creatures, not just those that also attack. Weird. Temper X1W Instant Prevent up to X damage to target creature. For each damage prevented in this way, put a +1/+1 counter on that creature. You can pay to prevent more damage than there is, but you only get counters equal to the amount of damage actually prevented. Yes, this is targeted damage prevention. Wall of Essence 1W Summon Wall 0/4 (Walls cannot attack.) For each 1 combat damage dealt to Wall of Essence, gain 1 life. See Wall of Souls for notes. Multicolored: Sliver Queen RWGUB Summon Legend 7/7 Sliver Queen counts as a Sliver. 2: Put a Sliver token into play. Treat this token as 1/1 colorless creature. Note that Sliver tokens are not only tokens named "Sliver," they count as creature type Sliver as well (and thus get all the abilities of other Slivers.) Artifacts: Bullwhip 4 Artifact 2,T: Bullwhip deals 1 damage to target creature. That creature attacks this turn if able. Obviously, this cannot force a creature to attack if played during someone else's turn or if the attack phase for the turn is already over/started. Ensnaring Bridge 3 Artifact Each creature with power greater than the number of cards in your hand cannot attack. If the number of cards in your hand drops too low while combat is in progress, it will not stop creatures already attacking from doing so. Merely prevents creatures from being declared as an attacker. Heartstone 3 Artifact Activated abilities of creatures cost 1 less to play. This cannot reduce an ability's cost to less than 1. Works just like Power Artifact. The card needs errata so that it's clear it reduces the total activation cost by 1 (similar to Medallions), and not just that it reduces activation costs that require only generic mana. Does not affect activated abilities with no mana in their cost (and will not cause them to cost 1). Horn of Greed 3 Artifact Whenever any player plays a land, that player draws a card. The draw is not optional. Jinxed Ring 2 Artifact Whenever any card is put into your graveyard from play, Jinxed Ring deals 1 damage to you. Sacrifice a creature: Target opponent gains control of Jinxed Ring permanently. Will deal damage for cards that go to your graveyard in any way-- from play, from your hand, from your library, or from elsewhere. Remember, "permanently" only means, "This effect does not end." It doesn't mean that another effect cannot cause the Ring to change controllers again. Mox Diamond 0 Artifact When Mox Diamond comes into play, choose and discard a land card or sacrifice Mox Diamond. T: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool. Play this ability as a mana source. Just like the Alliances lands and Lotus Vale, you cannot tap the Mox for mana until you've dealt with its coming-into-play cost. You cannot play it, tap it for mana, and then let it go to the graveyard. Portcullis 4 Artifact Whenever any creature comes into play, if there are two or more other creatures in play, set that creature aside. If Portcullis leaves play, put that creature into play under its owner's control. "Set that creature aside" means to put the card in the Elkin Zone. Coming-into-play abilities/costs of creature's the Portcullis is setting aside still trigger and will resolve. When the Portcullis leaves play, all the creatures returning to play also have their coming-into-play paraphanelia reprocess. Sword of the Chosen 2 Legendary Artifact T: Target Legend gets +2/+2 until end of turn. Follows the same rules as Legends and Legendary Lands. The ability refers to the creature type Legend, and not Legendary permanents in general (so it cannot be used on animated Legendary Land or itself if it is animated). Selenia's sword is back and this time it's in our expansion set. :) Volrath's Laboratory 5 Artifact When you play Volrath's Laboratory, choose a color and a creature type. 5,T: Put a token into play. Treat this token as a 2/2 creature of the chosen color and creature type. Remember, "colorless" is not a color. You must choose a creature type that actually exists in the game of Magic, but you can choose anyone (We here in LA recommend you choose "White Slivers" and _not_ "Red Fish." :)