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!

If you can Dodge a knife, you can Dodge an ally!

Watch out, it's a poorly-aimed knife strike!

I have a Dodge (Runes & Ruins chase, 12/25) in four of my decks. Yes, it's that much of a monster card. I call it the cheese killer.

Worried about a Loup-Garou? Hang on to that Dodge! Nervous about your opponent slapping down a Fighting Dirty? Yup, better have a Dodge. Inellect Devourer? Dodge. Haymaker? Noble Djinn? That's right - Dodge.

When playing TAV, you will undoubtedly find yourself at the center of a cheese-storm of epic proportions. Luckily, most of the cheese can be cut by this nifty little event. In fact, if you use it to counter an unarmed combat card, you actually get to draw two cards for free! Nice.

But if you only get 10 events (and forget the rule book, every good TAV deck runs the maximum 10 events), why give a prized slot to Dodge, a card that will sit in your hand for turns while you wait for just the right opportunity to use it?

The answer is, the payoff is worth it. Sooner or later you *will* get the chance to use it. It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when. Let's say you are enjoying a nice, peaceful three-person game. That's 3 Loup-Garous, guaranteed. A Haymaker or two. Maybe 3 Djinns. A Fighting Dirty? An Athasian Sloth? More than one? Everyone runs these cards in TAV. Trust me, that Dodge in your deck is going to be put to good use in short order.

Please note that Dodge can't stop the level-up of an opposing ally, just the power. But relax - that's not much of a downside. How many times has anyone lost a battle because of the Intellect Devourer's +1? I'll answer that for you: it's not happening.

If it does, however, please drop me a line. I'm sure that story would be interesting! :)

Next time: Life in the Ruins.