The Principles of TAV

I know I promised you "a noble piece of cheese"...and it's coming. But first I thought I'd mention that the full, complete, and official Antigonish variant rules will be posted here within the next few weeks (working on them as we speak). Before then, let's go over the guiding principles of TAV. The philosophical tenets that provide the underpinnings of the format, distilled down to their most concentrated essence. There are only four:

Principle 1 - Speed, For Lack Of A Better Word, Is Good.   

Starting off by paraphrasing Gordon Gekko! TAV is a format that embraces speed. Spellfire games shouldn't take hours to complete. Unlike some who bellyache about "speed cards", TAV players embrace them. What other format actually sought to quicken the game?! Toss down that Menzo, use a Caravan, slap down a Caer Allison, WIN. Sweet. Your opponents don't like it? Let them do something about it!
 
Principle 2 - A Spellfire Deck Consists Of 55 (or 56) Cards. Use a dungeon if you wish, but don't bother me with alternate deck sizes. They just slow down the game, and see Principle 1.

Principle 3 - There Are Only Two Banned Cards. 
And their names are Poor Oriental Lord and Wealthy Oriental Vassal. Consider yourselves lucky to even see those cards named on this blog. I like to pretend that they don't exist.

Principle 4 - "One Attack To Launch, And In The Darkness Raze Them!"
...Or not, but in that case you discard your champion and give up a spoils. :)

And with that Tolkien allusion, I'm out for now.

Next time: The cheese arrives.                        

5 Best Dragons

Okay, let's run down the five best dragon champions for Spellfire: TAV! Please note that I have excluded dragon avatars from this list.

#5 - Glimmer, the Brass Dragon (Draconomicon chase, 16/25)

Glimmer is a flyer and an earthwalker, a pretty rare combination (I can't think of another Spellfire champion who has both abilities off the top of my head...are there any?). If Glimmer wins a battle, you can return one magic item or artifact from your discard pile and attach it directly to him - and that's on top of the instantly-playable spoil you will also be collecting. A neat little power, and one that gives Glimmer the edge over Dregoth, Sparkle, and the other dragon champions all clawing at the #5 position on this list.

#4 - Sleet (Draconomicon, 39/100)

Non-flying allies can't be played against him, which rules out Noble Djinni, Athasian Sloth, Loup-Garou, and the Dreaded Ghost (among others). Sleet is himself a flyer, so he can hit back realms and avoid movement restrictions up front. If killed by any cheese (Vorpal Blade, Use Poison, etc.), Sleet is not discarded, returning to his pool instead. These abilities make him a fantastic TAV champion. His downsides include being a monster (vulnerable to events & spells that specifically target monsters), being unable to cast spells, and being of relatively high level, which allows your enemies to play first when opposing him in combat. Still, a very solid dragon champion.             

#3 - Lareth, King of Justice (Draconomicon, 31/100)

A dragon who can cast wizard spells, prevents all other dragons in play from casting wizard spells, and doesn't have to ask Midnight, Goddess of Magic's permission to do anything? And this dragon is also immune to every single offensive card in the game? Sounds like the #3 champion on this list to me.

#2 - Borys the Dragon (4th Edition, 268/500)

Borys is rated higher than Lareth because of his versatility. He can cast wizard and cleric spells, as well as use psionic powers. He's a flyer. And (since he is in direct competition with Lareth for this #2 position) Borys is also immune to Midnight, Goddess of Magic's spellcasting ban, since he's a monster and she can only affect wizards. Borys (like Lareth) is also immune to psionic power cards such as Inflict Pain and Drain Will. All things being equal, I say Borys's extreme versatility is worth more in your pool than Lareth's immunity to all offensive cards. He gets the #2 spot.

#1 - T'chaar, Dragon of Flame (Draconomicon chase, 1/25)

Unlike spots 4-3 and 3-2, there was never really any doubt in my mind as to which dragon champion would be #1. T'chaar is one of the best attacking champions in Spellfire, period. In TAV, where you only get one attack per turn in most cases, the Dragon of Flame is even more awesome. T'chaar is a flyer, and he can use any offensive card. Doesn't matter if it's an unarmed combat card, a thief skill, a psionic power, blood ability, or spell. If it's offensive, he can use it. This gives you an incredible amount of choice as to which cards to hammer your opponent with during battle. As for T'chaar's "downside" (defensive cards are doubled in level against him)...well, that's not much of a downside at all.

Next time: A noble piece of cheese.
    

Standard Decks vs TAV Decks

I know I promised you the top 5 cleric spells, but let's save that for next time.

Sometimes people wonder if they can just use their standard Spellfire decks to play the Antigonish variant. The answer is yes, if you want to lose badly.

The two formats are pretty incompatible from a deck construction viewpoint. In Standard you want to load up on champions, since you are going to be attacking numerous times each turn, and you can't raise a realm unless your opponent is out of defenders. Since each champion (with rare exceptions) can only attack once per turn, you need to fill your deck with a good assortment of potential attackers.

In TAV, on the other hand, you only need to defeat ONE defender to raze the enemy realm. Therefore you can put less champions in, and instead load the deck with a wide assortment of instant-kill cheese. Even though you only need to win one round of combat, you only get one round per turn, so you have to make the most of it. Instant-kill cards give you the best bang for your buck, so to speak.

Now TAV decks are not great at all in Standard. Too few champions, for one thing. Also, the cheese doesn't work, because all you've done is beat one measly defender, which incidently doesn't get you a spoils with which to restock your hand. So a TAV deck dies a slow, painful death against a good Standard deck when playing by that format's rules.

That having been said, however, the average Standard deck gets completely defenestrated against a TAV deck when playing by TAV rules. There's just no answer for the firepower that can be brought to bear in one combat round. And all those extra champions in the Standard deck just end up clogging the pool with useless "chumps" (to borrow a term from Magic: The Gathering).

Take a look at this (very good) Standard deck. 

http://www.claymore.co.za/spellfire/sfomigod.html

The owner of that deck says it's basically undefeated in its current form. Now take a look at my last post detailing my Gib deck...or back a few posts to my Tournament deck list. Not to brag, but either of those TAV decks would absolutely destroy his deck. It would be all over in seven turns, maybe eight. 

But should I dare to play Standard against him with either of mine...I'd lose.

So which format is "superior"? Obviously I'd say TAV, but that's because I love a fast-paced, exciting game of Spellfire, where realms are razed easily and the spoils flow like wine...

Next time: The Top 5 cleric spells...for real this time!

5 Underrated Cards

Here's my list of the top 5 underrated Spellfire cards for the TAV format.

#5 - Cannon Ball (Dungeons, 60/100)

It's an artifact that attaches to realms. Weird! Cards that destroy holdings do nothing, because it's not a holding. How many cards target artifacts? You willing to waste a Wish on this thing? Yet if you let it hang around, attached to your opponent's front land, it's trouble. The Cannon Ball can fire into your pool if you attack the realm. Your attacking champion is safe, but your others? How many champions are immune to artifacts? This card is all kinds of primo, yet it's an afterthought to most players.

#4 - Star Gem of Martek - Clear Crystal (Runes and Ruins, 77/100)

Slap this on a spellcasting champion, and cast away! Wishes, Estate Transferences, Mindkillers, whatever you want. Not many cards target magical items, so you'll probably get to enjoy counterspell-free spellcasting for awhile. And if you have a few counters in your hand, feel free to toss them at your opponent knowing they can't themselves be countered. Not easily, anyway. One last bonus to the Star Gem of Martek: Clear Crystal - if it's in your hand, you are Loup-Garou proof!

#3 - Wrath of the Immortals (4th Edition, 157/500)

There are a bunch of events that do similar things: Takhisis's Mirror of Life Trapping, Wine of Eternity, Trapped, etc. But Wrath of the Immortals is best. It removes the enemy champion's powers, reduces it to level 1, AND forces it to be used first to attack or defend. In TAV, that's basically a free realm raze during your next attack. And your opponent using a level 1 vanilla as his or her attacker is pretty much a guaranteed loss as well. No doubt about it, Wrath is a primo event, though other events of lesser quality seem to get all of the hype.

#2 - Shayira (4th Edition, 286/500)

I don't have to explain much about this pick, do I? Shayira is level 3, which means her player will usually get to play first in battle. She is also immune to the special powers of all cards played against her in combat. Get that? Cheese doesn't work on her. No Loup-Garou, Intellect Devourer, Dreaded Ghost, Hold Person, Unnerving Aura, Death Spell, Mindkiller, etc etc. This is one awesome card. Yet she's continually dismissed and passed over in favor of flashier champions. Life isn't fair, I tells ya.

#1 - The Genie Bottle (3rd Edition chase, 436/440)

This awesome event can cancel a just-cast spell like Wish. It can cancel a limited- or unlimited-duration spell, like Forbiddance or Symbol of Pain. It destroys all holdings in play. It removes all rule cards from play. The Genie Bottle itself can't be countered (Calm still works, though). Is there anything this wrecking-ball CAN'T do? This card is phenomenal. Yet many players ignore it in favor of junk like Cold Cup of Calamity. Let's put it this way: I own five of these, and each and every one of them is in a deck. It's just that good. It's also the most underrated card in Spellfire: TAV.

Next Time: My 5 favorite Spellfire Cards!                        

5 Overrated Cards

Here's a rundown of my top five overrated Spellfire cards. Please note that some of these cards are good, even great, in Standard. But for the TAV format, they just don't merit their hype.

#5 - Elminster's Intuition (Dungeons chase, 6/25)

Sounds great, right? Name a card in your opponent's draw pile, search for it, and send it directly to the Abyss. Two problems: first, if you don't find it (either because it's not in the deck at all, or because it's in the opponent's hand or discard pile) you're sending your front realm to the Abyss instead. Ouch. So if you don't know your opponent's deck well, this is a very risky card to play. Secondly, this is the TAV format we're talking about. No one card is that valuable. You're not crippling anyone by removing one card from their draw pile. It's just not devastating in 90% of decks to remove one card. So this dangerous, risky, and underpowered card is going to take up one of your precious ten event slots? Not in my deck.

#4 - Bigby the Great (Runes & Ruins, 28/100)

What? Bigby overrated? I can almost hear the howls of protest. But he is. That doesn't mean he's not a great champion. But Bigby's not a game-breaking card by himself - despite the reputation he seems to have accumulated over the years. Yes, he gives you a free spell turning each turn cycle (use it on anyone's turn but your own). But he's also a huge freaking target with absolutely no immunities when sitting in the pool. Have fun using up all your counters trying to keep this big galoot alive. What a resource hog. And if your opponent isn't running spells (I, for example, have a monster deck, a hero deck, and a thief/regent deck, all with no spells whatsoever), Bigby is a useless wizard taking up champion points in your deck. For being useful only sometimes, and for attracting champion-killing cards like a magnet, Bigby is #4 on this list.

#3 - Creeping Doom (Forgotten Realms, 28/100)

Creeping Doom is not a bad card by any means, but it pales in comparison to other cards that do more. Razing a realm is decent, but placing one in the discard pile or Abyss is so much better. That's why Creeping Doom is overshadowed by Disintegrate, Psionic Disintegration, Estate Transference, and Dissolution. The fact that a holding makes a realm immune to Creeping Doom decreases its worth even more. The biggest indictment of this card I can think of is that I have about 10 decks and Creeping Doom is in none of them. There are just too many better spells.

#2 - Kiri, Avatar of Kiri-Jolith 

Kiri makes this list at #2 because he is just as likely to wreck your game as your opponent's. A deck has to be specially constructed in order for Kiri to be your avatar. As soon as he appears, every champion - including your own - loses its powers. Depending on who is in your deck, this could range from inconvenient to devastating. Sure, your opponents' champions also lose their powers, but at worst this levels the playing field. Plus Kiri has no immunities whatsoever, making him extremely vulnerable to spells. The card would be better if it had some great special power, and was immune to its own power-stripping effect. As it is, Kiri's average at best, yet many Spellfire players still think he's awesome.

#1 - Cold Cup of Calamity (Forgotten Realms chase, 2/25)

Here it is, folks, the most overrated card in TAV. Cold Cup of Calamity is an overpriced, overhyped card in all formats, but it's especially useless in the Antigonish Variant. For a similar reason as Elminster's Intuition: it's not like there is a shortage of great cards in a typical deck. So, once during a game, you can take a look at an opponent's hand and discard it down to 5. Good for eliminating a realm or a champion or two. Any great events are going to be used by the opponent before you can get rid of them, while allies and magical items are not going to be game-breakers. You might get rid of a bit of cheese, but I've never seen Cold Cup decide a game. What usually happens is that it sits in your hand for turns on end as you frantically wonder "Do I use it now? No? How 'bout now?!" Meanwhile, one of your event slots is taken up forever by this cardboard clunker. For being great in approximately one out of every five games you draw it in, Cold Cup of Calamity wins the award for most overrated Spellfire card.
  
Next Time: Five underrated cards for TAV.