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by Jesus M. Lopez
Magic the Gathering : Invading Stronghold Stronghold opened its gates briefly February 21st in Pre-Release tourneys nationwide. I and a band of fearless mages (Team BK) invaded the NY-based fortress and barely escaped to provide you this report. Our initial findings indicate that Stronghold was not as powerful as rumored to be. But let's be realistic. With several thousand spells in Dominia as a comparison pool, it is becoming exceedingly difficult for Wizards of the Coast to create spells that can stand out from the crowd (and not be broken). Let's see what powerful and interesting spells can be found in Stronghold. Red Magic Red mages add another mass destruction spell to their arsenal in the multi-color land hosing Ruination (3R, Sorcery, Destroy all non-basic lands). This spell should find a place in sideboards to combat those 4- and 5-color playing duelists. Shock (R, Instant, 2 damage to player or creature) should see some action in Type II battles as a poor man's Lightning Bolt. Let's not underestimate this spell. Start naming all the annoying 1 and 2 defense creatures you see in a typical duel, and you will appreciate Shock's (don't write it) value. Promise not to laugh at my next choice - Wall of Razors- 1R, First Strike 4/1). Yes I know its a wall but it is a damn good wall. It can be played early to stop many things and when you drop the white enchantment Rolling Stones (1W - Walls can attack . . .), you can proceed to wipe the smirk off of your opponent's face. Blue Magic Permission players have yet another weapon to add to their arsenal - Mana Leak (1U, Interrupt, Counter target spell unless its caster pays an additional 3!). Early in a duel this spell is as strong as a Counterspell. 4c and 5cX players will probably make this their blue splash of choice replacing Memory Lapse. Blue also picked up the mother of all bounce cards - Evacuation (3UU - Instant, Return all creatures back to their owners hand). Yes, it is expensive, but think how much fun it will be when you Evacuate a horde of Overrun powered weenies back to their owner while returning your Man-o-Wars for future bouncy action. With all the heavy burn on the tournament scene, I believe I will add a couple of Rebounds (1U, Interrupt, Target spell which targets . . . player, targets another. . . your choice) to my sideboard when playing permission. Black Magic Fellow Team BK member, Dan Gordon, reported how mono-black received a significant boost with Grave Pact (1BBB, Enchantment - Whenever any creature you control is put into any graveyard, each other player sacrifices a creature). Gee, now I know what to do with all those Tempest Blood Pets (B - 1/1, Sac for B). Mono-black, which is already quick, gets faster and airborne with the superb flying Foul Imp which costs BB to cast and takes 2 life when it comes into play. Who cares about 2 life when you are applying rapid-fire beatdown? A spell that is both fun and tourney viable is Lab Rats (B, Sorcery, Buyback 4 - Put a rat token into play. . .). Early on it is a weenie creature and later in the game it can be many weenies. Can you say...Bad Moon? Green Magic What about green, you ask? Green gets those incredibly powerful Spike whatevers - just kidding. Green got hammered! Well, if we look hard enough, we find a pretty cool elephant - Endangered Armodon (2GG, 4/5!! If you control any creature with toughness 2 or less, sacrifice Endangered Armodon.). Hey, wait a second, how am I suppose to cast this cheap behemoth quickly without using my little elves and Birds of Paradise. Forget I mentioned the Armodon. I must confess I had visions of creating a Armodongeddon Deck. Green got hammered, let's move on. White Magic White picked up an interesting new race of soldiers called the en-Kor. These guys basically play hot potato with damage. Here, you take it! Ah, no thanks, let's give it to Larry! Not me again! The ability is interesting and with some preparation you might be able to make these invincible. Then again, by the time you have set up your combo, you may be dead! I do like the Soltari Champion, (2W, 2/2, Shadow) who is a part time (when attacks. . .) walking non-color specific Crusade (. . .all other creatures you control get +1/+1 until the end of turn). Another noteworthy white creature is the Warrior Angel, who is expensive to cast (WW4), but is a 3/4 flyer with Spirit Link standard. Artifact Magic Frankly, there is not much to chose from. Multi-color decks do get a boost from the Mox Diamond (0, When Mox Diamond comes into play . . . discard a land or sac Mox Diamond. T: add one mana of any color to your mana pool.). Ensnaring Bridge (3, Artifact, Each creature with power greater than the number of cards in your hand cannot attack) looks promising in creatureless red burn decks. It also lessens the pain when facing hand destruction disciples. O.K., I have no cards but you can't attack. I will just burn you to a crisp slowly. Gold Magic If you like Slivers you are in your glory. My favorite is the Acidic Sliver (BR, Each Sliver gains 2: Sac this creature: . . . deals 2 damage to creature or player). The Slivers are tough to begin with, but now they can blow themselves up and deal damage. The Sliver Queen (7/7) is cool (nearly impossible to cast - RWGUB) and can crank out Sliver babies (1/1) for 2 mana. Final Thoughts & Thanks I had higher expectations for Stronghold. It is a middle of the road set if you look at it from a tourney worthy perspective. I do think it is above average for sealed deck and recreational play. Before signing off, I would like to extend thanks to my Team BK teammates (Nick Watkins, Tony Berry, David Rodriguez and Dan Gordon), who provided additional insights for this report.
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