10 Best Sticker Set Cards

The sticker sets were created by Spellfire fans after the game had been discontinued by Wizards of the Coast in 1997. Four sets were produced in all, named Millennium, Inquisition, Chaos, and Conquest. Because they were fan-designed, some of the cards were amazingly primo and some were amazingly crappy. They were all meant to be printed on sticker paper (which you can get at any office supply company) and stuck onto unwanted Spellfire cards such as 1st edition "blanks", Ravenloft commons, and Dragonlance commons.

This time I'm picking the 10 best cards from these sticker sets. Later on I'll take a trip through the worst of the bunch, as well. As always, my choices are based on the needs of the Antigonish variant, not Standard Spellfire.

Without further ado, lets go!

#10 - Kiri Allavesse (Inquisition, 29/99)

Kiri Allavesse is sort of like a poor man's Remnis. She can retrieve a used non-land card for you once a turn, but unlike the "dirty bird", she can do it only after she's razed a realm. Plus, you lose your spoils. She gets bonus points for the fact that she is a cleric able to cast wizard spells, reducing your need to add freaks like Bengoukee to your deck. Still, Kiri barely squeezes into this list at #10.

#9 - Realm (Conquest, 66/81)

This land is immune to the Rule of the Cosmos. It can't be destroyed outside of phase 4, so no Disintegrates or Estate Transferences need apply. Realm does what it does quite nicely...it stays on the board like glue and contributes to your 6-land win. Realm is good enough for place #9 on this list.

#8 -Sacred Flame (Millennium, 37/99)

There is a lack of good cleric spells in the game, and this is the second-best cleric spell provided by the sticker sets. If only it could be used in combat, it might jump a few spots on this list. Unfortunately, Sacred Flame can only be used before (phase 3) or after (phase 5) combat. This limits its usefulness, but the ability to send any one card attached to a champion to the discard pile, regardless of its immunities, is still pretty awesome.

#7 - Bastion (Inquisition, 7/99)

This land can send any non-realm card to the void during phase zero. Sounds great, and it would be #1 or #2 on this list if it didn't have such large disadvantages. First of all, you have to also discard Bastion to the void. Secondly, you have to raze another realm in your formation at the same time. So you lose two unrazed realms, to get rid of one of your opponent's cards. Is this ever a good trade-off? Only in the most dire of situations. Because it is great as a last-ditch-effort card, I'll give Bastion the #7 position on this list.

#6 - Burned At The Stake (Chaos, 55/72)

Although there won't be tons of opportunities to use this nifty little event, when it does go off it's so sweet that it deserves spot #6 on the list. Just after Helm, Gib Reltub, Phridge, or some other loser champion casts a spell, you can slap this baby down. So long as the spellcasting champion isn't a wizard or cleric, Burned at the Stake will send them to the abyss, unless they want to discard three cards - at random, which probably isn't happening. Nice card!

#5 - Zakhata, the False God (Conquest, 63/81)

One of the best avatar-nuking cards in Spellfire. Zakhata comes into play with a level equal to the combined level of all avatars on the table, which, in a multi-player game, could give you a level 25+ false god. She also makes all avatars in play vanilla. If I were you, I'd find a place in my deck for this card, especially if you're plagued by avatars the way I am.

#4 - Domination (Conquest, 19/81)

This card is almost as good as Tyranthraxus, which is really saying something. Your opponent has a troublesome champion? Pow! He's yours. Only problem is, he becomes a useless, drooling idiot who can take no action. But...so what? At least your enemy is deprived of his services. Plus you can still sacrifice him to bring out an avatar. Domination gains extra points from me for being a psionic power, which are notoriously difficult to counter.

#3 - Dispel Evil (Millennium, 43/95)

Okay, here we go with the top 3 sticker set cards! At #3 we find Dispel Evil. Why's it so great? Well there are some really powerful, pain-in-the-butt monsters floating around out there. Gib Lhadsemlo, for example. The Gorgon. Maybe even The Living Wall. This handy spell gets rid of them all, regardless of their immunities. Quick, reliable removal like this rates highly in my book.

#2 - Kronos the Titan (Millennium, 62/99)

I've already written about this guy here, naming him the best monster champion ever printed. He can swim. He can earthwalk. He casts just about every sort of spell. Plus he shuts down all other monsters' special powers. Oh, and in case you forgot, he's level 11. Yeah, Kronos is pretty decent! In fact, only one card from the sticker sets can exceed his primo-ness...

#1 - Dispel Illusion (Inquisition, 83/99)

I've already written about this card here, naming it the best wizard spell of all time. Not only that, but it's the best sticker-set card, as well as my personal choice of the most powerful Spellfire card ever printed. It can be cast at any time, allowing you to stop one card - ANY card - from being played. It also keeps your opponent from playing that card again until his or her next turn. So that Menzo or Caer Alison they were about to use to win? No dice. The champion they were about to slap down? See you next turn. The counterspell you baited from their hand? Gone. The sixth realm? Not so fast! This card is incredible, and every deck that has wizard spellcasting needs one.

Well, I managed to do a top 10 sticker cards list without mentioning any of the three cards I designed or co-designed. Although The Forgotten Idol (Millennium, 34/99), Insanely Good Fortune (Millenium, 47/99), and Gib Cram (Chaos, 5/72) are decent cards and fun to play with (I hope), they just can't measure up to the awesomeness that is present in the top 10 cards above.

Next Time: ...er....Psionic Power cards! :)

The Best of the Sticker Sets (for TAV)

The infamous sticker sets. Milennium, Inquisition, Chaos, and Conquest. Fan-created and approved for tournament play by Wizards of the Coast (before they stopped caring about Spellfire - or acknowledging its existence - at all). Some people love the sticker sets, some hate them. But whatever your opinion, some of the cards are just plain cool.

Dispel Illusion (Inquisition, 83/99) is one of the best sticker cards printed for Standard, and I'd say it's probably the best single card for the Antigonish Variant.

TAV is a fast-paced, sometimes brutal format, filled with instant-kill cheese. Fortunately, some cards can cut the cheese with the best of them. Dispel Illusion is a fantastic cheese-cutter. It has several awesome uses.

1 - When attacking in TAV, and your opponent blocks with a lower-level champion, you are already in trouble. In all likelihood he or she is going to hit you with an instant-kill card. With Dispel Illusion in hand, let them. After you get a good look at the Loup-Garou, the Haymaker, the Mindkiller, the Noble Djinn, the Ambush, or whatever nasty surprise they toss down, Dispel Illusion makes the card "go away" before the effect happens, as if it had never been cast. Furthermore, the opponent can't use it again until next turn. Hope they had a backup plan! ;)

2 - When defending, same deal. You get a peek into their hand, as it were, and yet the revealed card does no damage to you. You can continue the battle and be more prepared for that card next turn.

3 - At any time, you can use Dispel Illusion to stop an event or spell. Don't like the look of that Caer Allison? It's gone until next turn. Wish coming at you? Not so fast, it's back in your opponent's hand. Cleric just been sacrificed to bring out Sirrion? What a waste, cleric is still discarded but the big demon goes back to the opponent's hand! Fun stuff.

4 - Opponent needs one more realm to win. He or she tries to play it. Game over, right? Not so fast! Dispel Illusion stops them from playing it and they can't do so again until next turn. You get another turn of life to raze a realm*!(*Unless, as was pointed out by an astute reader, the opponent had a second land in their hand. Oops!)

So it's basically a counter card that stops events, spells, allies, unarmed combat, realms, any card in the game from being played. This thing is better than Enter Darkness Together, better than the Genie Bottle, better than a 4th Edition Dispel.          

Dispel Illusion is the single best card in TAV. It has to be in any deck with spellcasters, period. 

Next time: Mithas!