The Bird is the Word!

Some cards are ok in Standard Spellfire, but become awesome in the Antigonish variant (like the Headless Horseman). Other cards are great in Standard, but utterly useless in TAV (like Tithian and Gorynych). Then there are cards that are so phenomenally incredible that they transcend formats and are universally primo. Remnis (4th Edition, 481/500) is one of these cards.

The only downside to the "dirty bird" is that he's a bit hard to get into play. One or more flyers totalling 16 levels or more must be sacrificied for him to appear. Once that's done, however, Remnis will increase your chances of victory substantially. His power? Once per turn, at the end, he can fly into the discard pile, remove one non-champion card, and return that card to his controller's hand.

While this is a great power and has a multitude of possible uses, in reality the card should just say "go get your Wish spell back once per turn". I've used this guy for years, and 9 times out of 10 it's the Wish I'll go for.

Wish, do other things, Remnis gets Wish. Rinse and repeat.

Wish got countered? No problem - try again next turn. Wish worked? Great - it goes to the discard pile, where Remnis retrieves it so you can use it again next turn (or, since Wish can be cast at any time, again this turn!).

Remnis rivals Istus and Gib Drawsemaj as the greatest, most powerful, and just plain nastiest avatar ever printed. Once on the board, he attracts your opponent's champion-killing cards like a magnet. If he dies, use Silver Hands and BAM! the "dirty bird" is back.  

Paired with a Wish, an Abyssal Gateway, a Mindkiller, an Estate Transference, a Disintegrate, etc, etc, etc...Remnis is a beast.

And if you're the one who slaps him down first - you'll probably be doing the bird dance. Just don't ever, EVER attack or defend with him.

P.S. How does Remnis remain so calm with that giant tidal wave about to hit him? :)

Next Time: The best sticker-set card for TAV is....?

No Head? No Problem!

Choosing to automatically win is such a primo power.

The Headless Horseman (Ravenloft, 88/100) is another awesome card that has become a staple of Spellfire decks in general and TAV decks in particular. He rivals Erellika as the best attacking champion, but she edges him out for the crown because the Horseman frequently has to die to win.

In Standard play, he can win one round of combat automatically, erasing one of the defender's champions. Good, but not great. In the Antigonish Variant, however, he can automatically raze a realm! That's right, when the Headless Horseman swings, and the defender has no way to prevent the attack, one of three things is happening. I'll list them in order of "goodness" for the defender, from best to worst.

1 - You block the Horseman, combat begins, the Horseman is losing and his owner decides to sacrifice him to make you raze the realm he was attacking. The attacker gets a spoils. Yes, this really is the BEST possible outcome!  

2 - You block the Horseman, combat begins, and you can't beat him. Either with an instant-kill card, or through level-up, the Horseman comes out on top. Damn. Now you raze your realm, your opponent gets a spoils, AND they get to keep the Headless Horseman, meaning he will plague you again next turn. Pretty bad, right? Wait, it gets even worse.

3 - Your opponent has picked the right time to attack you. Having no chance to defeat the Horseman, or no defending champion at all, he waltzes in and razes the realm unopposed. Your opponent didn't even have to use a card, and keeps his fat, fat hand for use against you next turn. Oh, and they get a spoils to make it even fatter. And they get to keep the Horseman. Yup, it's time to concede (maybe).

What makes the Horseman even more evil is that he's a flyer. He can grab back realms, front realms, basically any land he wants except for a few that specificaly exclude flyers or monsters. With a Silver Hands or Coming of the Phoenix, the Horseman becomes a double or triple threat, making multiple appearances to bedevil you.

I've used Wish on this guy, and I'm not ashamed to admit it! Once up against the Horseman in TAV play, you'll feel like Ichabod Crane for sure.

Next time: Menzo, my Menzo.       

The Living Wall!

Not pretty. Powerful, but not pretty.

Let's focus on "instant kill" cards today. First up is The Living Wall (Powers, 58/100). A fearsome card in Standard Spellfire, the power of this monster champion is even greater in TAV. Why? Well, he's always excellent on defense, best played from the hand to gobble up an unfortunate attacker. In the Antigonish variant, however, he's also a brutally effective offensive threat.

Once your opponent seems low on cards (therefore a reduced chance of a surprise defender materializing), and has a pool dominated by level 6 or higher champions, simply play the Living Wall and attack. Unless he or she has a surprise up their sleeve, you'll get the spoil without a fight. In Standard, a defender can lose without the land being razed, since the attacker is forced to send another (non-Living Wall) champion forward once one of the defender's champions has been defeated. The Wall can't attack a second time.

So the appropriate strategy against this guy in Standard is to "chump block" (to borrow another phrase from Magic: The Gathering) with a useless defender, saving better defenders for the attacker's next swing.

In TAV, however, there is only one swing. You can't chump the Wall, not without losing the champion and razing the realm (and giving up a spoils!).

If you're serious about succeeding in TAV, you have to account for the Living Wall in your deck. He's just that dangerous. 

Next time: It's tough to bust *this* Ghost!