5 Best Fences

Yes folks, that's the Berlin Wall. And here we go with our list of the top five cards that keep your opponents at bay!

#5 - Wall of Fog (4th Edition, 371/500)    

Attacks on your realms are bad in Spellfire. They lead to realms being razed, and spoils being awarded to players other than you. It's even worse in a format like TAV, which promotes fast play and tons of instant-kill cards. A good strategy, then, is to avoid being attacked at all, especially in critical situations (like when you are within spitting distance of a sixth unrazed realm). Fences are cards that prevent attacks, therefore they are your friends. This one is a wizard spell, which means it has a drawback - it's easy to counter. It also stops you from attacking other players, which can be a problem if getting a spoils is a priority for you. Still, it's a decent card to play if you're close to winning and would rather not have to engage in combat.

#4 - Solid Fog (4th Edition, 133/500)                     

Solid Fog has got one big advantage over Wall of Fog - it's an event. As such, it's more difficult for your opponent to counter. And if he or she does stop it, that's one less precious counterspell in their hand, so it's a win-win situation. Also, since you will most likely only be using Solid Fog near the end of a game, the threat of a counter is less of a deterrent - go for the win, baby! Note that, as with Wall of Fog, using Solid Fog means you can't launch attacks of your own...unless you slap down a Calm, that is!

#3 - Mutiny (3rd edition, 168/400)

Mutiny resembles Solid Fog, except you can end a battle which has already started. Use it when you make a mistake and realize you are about to lose, or thin out your opponent's hand by making him waste cards in combat before you slap down the Mutiny. As with Solid Fog and Wall of Fog, you can't attack either, until your next turn. Our final two cards solve this little problem, which is why they are rated ahead of Mutiny.

#2 - Forbiddance (Artifacts chase, 11/20)

Our next card is Forbiddance. It stops attacks all right - on you. Enemies are free to attack each other to their heart's content. The only possible problem this might create is allowing another player who is also close to winning the game to try for a spoils. But if you're playing this card, you've most likely got the inside track to victory, so that shouldn't be a major drawback. Oh, and if you need to raze a realm yourself, go ahead. Forbiddance is an excellent fence.

#1 - Bronze Dragons (Dragonlance, 97/100)

Our #1 card is Bronze Dragons, which combines the "everyone can be attacked but you" goodness of Forbiddance with the difficult-to-counter nature of an event. The only problem is squeezing this card into one of your 10 event slots. But, in a deck dedicated to defense, Bronze Dragons is the Great Wall of fences!

Next time: The 5 best Avatars.

P.S. Any of you Magic: The Gathering players out there check out the new Innistrad set? Or, as I like to call it, RAVENLOFT. The plundering of Spellfire concepts by Wizards of the Coast continues...

                

5 Best Allies

Let's take a look at the top 5 allies in Spellfire. As always, the list is based on the requirements of the Antigonish variant of the game.

#5 - Athasian Sloth (4th Edition, 230/500)

When the Athasian sloth is played, your champion gets a huge +8 level-up bonus, plus your opponent is forced to choose and discard two cards from his hand. Unlike our #4 pick below, it is not necessary for you to lose the round of combat to use the Sloth's power. This means you might also get a spoils, depending on how the rest of the combat goes. Card advantage for you, thinning out your opponent's hand, and a whopping +8 bonus for the duration of the combat round? Nice ally!

#4 - The Starving Artist (3rd Edition chase, 439/440)

This card is very popular among Standard Spellfire players, but not so hot for TAV (well, by "not so hot" I mean it's only the fourth best ally of all time). Card discard is just not such a big deal in a faster format with tons of instant-kill cheese. For the same reason Cold Cup of Calamity is overrated, the Starving Artist is overrated. That having been said, this is still an awesome ally. You do have to lose the battle for its power to go off, but if you get lucky it can cripple an opponent. That unlucky opponent (you get to pick if it's a multi-player game) has to get rid of all but two cards, and no-one gets a spoils for that combat round. The reason it's rated ahead of the sloth is that it can potentially discard many more of your opponent's cards, and you can force an opponent you aren't currently in combat against to lose the cards.

#3 - The Dreaded Ghost (4th Edition, 246/500)

I've already written about the Dreaded Ghost here. It's uber primo, since it gives you a gigantic +9 bonus in combat, and instantly drains 9 levels off the enemy champion (except a cleric). In most cases, that's effectively a +18 ally. And if the nine missing levels cause your opponent's champion to drop below zero? He's instantly discarded and you get a spoils. There's a reason why these babies are going for ungodly amounts of money on eBay. Awesome card, but the next two are even better!

#2 - Loup-Garou (4th Edition, 236/500)         

I've previously written about this nasty customer here. One of the best cards in the game, this guy ends combat immediately nine times out of ten. Magic items are not big in TAV, being that there are only about ten I'd even consider putting in decks. The odds that your opponent is going to have one attached to his champion or in his hand aren't good. Which means the Loup-Garou is basically an instant-kill, realm razing, spoils-granting machine! But he's not the best ally in the game, because that ally is...

#1 - Thought-Eater (Artifacts, 99/100)

That's right, folks. The only ally so powerful, they depowered it for the 4th Edition printing! He lost his ability to affect magical items, but even the 4th Edition version would be on this list. The original Artifacts Thought Eater shown above is a beast in every sense of the word. While he does have a slight downside (reducing your champion's level by 2 when he is played), even that's not too bad when playing the Antigonish variant, which is full of instant-kill cards. You actually want a lower level, so you can get off more cards before your opponent gets to play. The powers of the Thought Eater are ridiculous. Every magic item, ally, or spell played by the opposing champion has no special power (level only). The opposing champion loses the ability to cast spells altogther. And the opposing champion's special power (including all immunities) no longer functions. Turn out the lights, this battle is OVER.

Honorable Mention - Intellect Devourer (4th Edition, 213/500)

This guy didn't quite make the list, but he can be an awesome ally at times. The Intellect Devourer automatically destroys opposing champions of level 5 or less, which makes him ideal for removing Erellikas, Julios, Living Scrolls, Crawling Claws, and other annoying, low-base-level champions that seem to proliferate in Spellfire:TAV games. Slap him down, take your spoils, move on...nice and neat!

Next time: Fences!                      

Going Psycho

The Psychometron of Nerad (Powers chase, 3/20) is one of the most powerful artifacts in the game. It has two main powers, the first of which is merely okay. The Dark Sun champion to which it is attached gains immunity to psionics. Not bad, but not a power you will use every game.

The Psychometron's second ability is much more primo. If the attached champion is discarded, the Psychometron psionically destroys one other champion anywhere in play - including the champion that just won the fight! This won't work on champions who are immune to psionics, but just about anyone else is toast.

Often, players will have certain champions that they never block with. They don't want Hettman Tsurin or Gwenyth the Bard or Helm involved in a potentially fatal combat, because those champions are far better sitting in the pool where they are able to use their special powers to mess up your game. With the Psychometron attached, any Dark Sun champion becomes Lyr of the Mists! Even better than Lyr, since she can only target champions in pools, while the Psychometron can nuke any champion in play, anywhere.

It becomes a dilemma for your opponent: attempt to win the combat round, thereby losing a champion to the Psychometron, or just roll over and let the realm get razed, giving up a spoils and creating the same problem next turn.

One last interesting fact about the Psychometron: it doesn't matter how the attached champion is discarded, the effect still happens. So if your opponent gets the bright idea to target your champion with a Death Spell or something similar...you still get to take a long look at all their champions before deciding which one heads off to the graveyard with yours.

Next time: The 5 best allies!             

Dangerous Realms

Let's take a look at a few of the more perilous realms in Spellfire.

Raurin (4th Edition, 11/500)

Attack it and you die, one way or another. At least if you win the battle, you get a spoils. Hopefully it's a champion to replace the one who just croaked. On second thought, anyone got a Cataclysm?

The Forest Ridge (Artifacts, 95/100)

Same thing here, except this time the card is explicit as to why your champion dies. Apparently feral halflings eat him. Pity they wait until after the realm is razed. If they ate the attacking champion before he successfully razed the realm and gained a spoils, they'd actually be useful. Oh well, the Forest Ridge is an excellent land, in any case. Anyone got a Disintegrate?

Falkovnia (Night Stalkers, 5/100)

This realm is far better in Standard than it is in the Antigonish variant. In a Standard game you can have many champions attacking Falkovnia during one turn, all of which would die. In TAV it's going to be one champion most of the time. But this land is still just as good as the two above. No feral halflings this time; it's poison that does in your victorious champion. Nice reward for winning a battle - an agonizing death due to poison. Anyone got an Estate Transference?

The Spiderfell (Birthright, 3/100)

Okay, now we're giving the attacker a sporting chance. He's not going to instantly croak, instead a card is drawn and discarded. If the last digit of the card number is equal to or greater than the champion's base level, he's toast. And it's poison again! This time presumably delivered via giant spider. One more salient point: this all happens before the defending player blocks, so you get to wait and see if the attacker kicks the bucket before deciding which champion to risk in battle. At least no spoils is given up by the croaking champion. Anyone got a Creeping Doom?

The Scarlet Brotherhood (3rd Edition,135/400)

Well, this is different. As long as this realm is unrazed at the start of your turn you can voluntarily raze it to discard one champion in any pool. Nice! The only downside is that you have to keep the Scarlet Brotherhood from being razed through everyone else's turn, because you can't use it when you first put it down during your phase 2. The good news is almost no champions are immune to realm powers, so you can even nuke Gib Lhadsemlo and his ilk. Anyone got a Raze?

Furyondy (4th Edition, 16/500)

Finally, we have Furyondy. What a primo land. When you first play it, you get to discard any wizard in play. You can kill Bigby, Gib Irod, Midnight, Titania, anyone, since no wizard in Spellfire is immune to realm powers. Personally, I like using Furyondy to nuke Bigby, because he annoys me. Slap this realm down, and your opponents will be yelling "anyone got a Dispel Illusion?" :)

Next Time: The Top 3 Monsters.

Turn, Turn, Turn!

Today let's look at two cards that provide you with one of the most valuable things in any collectible card game - another turn.

1 - The Caravan (4th Edition - 131/500)

This event is ubiquitous - it's part of just about every Spellfire deck in existence. There's good reason for that: as I said in the intro, the power to take another turn puts you on the fast track to victory every time you are able to use it. Caravan is an event, which means it's relatively difficult to stop. You can play it only between turns, which means either before your turn begins or just after it ends in a two-player game. In a multi-player game, you can play the Caravan in between any two players' turns to sneak in a turn of your own. In TAV, two turns could easily equal two quick spoils! Be warned, however, that opponents love to cancel Caravan, by discarding Helm or using Limited Wish, Intercession, EDT, etc. I find it's safer to toss off a decoy event first, or else make sure you have a few counterspells in your hand just to be sure. 

One last point...there is a card made to specifically counter the Caravan: it's an event called Caravan Raiders (Powers, 38/100). But very few people run it in their deck. There are just too many great events to waste one of your 10 precious slots on such a narrowly-focused card.

2 - Ancient Kalidnay (Artifacts, 92/100)         

Our second card is Ancient Kalidnay, which is a realm that can be voluntarily razed to give you an extra turn. Now, razing your own realms isn't usually a great idea, but the key word in that sentence is "usually". In this case, razing Kalidnay lets you slap down another realm, attack again, and get another spoils (possibly yet another realm). It also gives you three more cards in your hand. Definitely worth it, though not as clear-cut awesome as the Caravan. On the plus side, very few cards can prevent the extra turn given by Ancient Kalidnay, compared to the relatively-more-easily-countered Caravan event.

For best results, make sure BOTH cards are in your deck. I know I do!

Next Time: The 3 best Wizard champions in the game.                        

Two More Overrated Cards

Now when I say "overrated", I mean just that. Re-target (4th Edition, 389/500) and Deflection (Artifacts, 54/100) are in no way bad cards. But they do tend to get way too much press among Spellfire fans.

Of the two, Re-target is clearly better. The ability to redirect any offensive or defensive spell can be primo, especially when said spell does not need to be specifically targeting you. Deflection has a more restrictive usage, in that you can only target events that are specifically aimed at you. Then again, events by and large are tougher to counter than cleric or wizard spells, so there is an argument to be made for Deflection's worth.

What it boils down to for me is this: in the Antigonish variant, you're going to be exposed to a ton of instant-kill and realm-destroying cards. Everyone has Cataclysm and Disintegrate, Wish and Ancient Curse. The problem with the cards above, as opposed to alternatives like Calm and Dispel, is that they are too restrictive for TAV. Deflection, for example, will sit uselessly in your hand as a Slave Revolt or Bribery hits the table (those events don't specifically target one player). It can't stop a Caravan and has no effect on Black Bess.

Similarly, Re-target can't help against a Black Tentacles or a Forbiddance.

I'd rather put the more general cards Dispel Magic, Dispel, Intercession, and Calm into my deck. I get nearly the same effect (minus the neat "hit 'em with their own pimp" stuff)...but without having to worry about nightmare scenarios - like when someone slaps down The Avatar and I've got a Deflection instead of a Calm in my undead deck. Whoops!

Next Time: Touch my hand again and you DIE!