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.

You'll Flip for Mithas!

This might be a short blog entry, because Mithas (Dragonlance, 1/100) is so obviously great. One of the most primo realms in Spellfire, no matter what format you play.

Why? Well, if it is razed, Mithas rebuilds automatically at the start of your next turn. You get it back free, and can still play another land that turn, or discard three cards and flip another razed realm that turn.

When combined with cards like Menzoberranzzan, Caer Allison, Korgunard the Avangion, Spirit of the Land, and Arms of the Shield Lands, Mithas can be part of a strategy that allows you to win games by playing or rebuilding 4, 5, or possibly all 6 reams in one turn!

In TAV, where its easier to raze realms when attacking, Mithas can be a great front land. Let's say Gib Lhadsemlo is heading to your formation. You could waste cards trying to beat him (unlikely), but with Mithas up front you can just let it go. It gets razed, and your opponent gets a spoils, but at least no lasting damage is done. At the beginning of your next turn Mithas unflips and (provided no other opponent has razed another of your lands) you are back where you started. Play a realm and you're even ahead of where you were last turn, even though you had one of your realms razed.

The flaw with this realm is that Mithas allows opponents to attack it after it has been razed. Not much of a problem in a two-player duel, but in multi-player you might find your front land under seige.

The only other downside to Mithas is that just about everyone runs it in their deck. This becomes even more of a problem in a multi-player game. Once it's down somewhere on the table, Mithas will need to be removed using a valuable land-destruction spell like Disintegrate or Dissolution, or attacked once each by a combination of two players.

But if you're the one who gets Mithas down first, your opponents might just flip you off! :)

Next Time: My tournament deck.                            

Ruins and...Ruins.

 

In TAV, attacks are difficult to defend against. It's a fast format, filled with instant-kill cheese. The best strategy is usually to prevent your opponents from attacking at all. That's where realms like these come in. The Ruins of Zhentil Keep (3rd Edition, 3/400) and the Ruins of Iolonia (Dungeons, 32/100) are two lands your enemies will struggle to visit.

Both have powerful movement restrictions, although both have weaknesses as well. First of all, they both attract realm-destroying cards like magnets. This goes without saying, since they are othwise tough to raze and/or discard. Secondly, they are both vulnerable to a popular category of attacking champion: Zhentil Keep allows clerics to attack, and most Avatars are clerics. Nothing like having Zhentil as your front realm when your opponent slaps down Istus. Whoops.

As for Iolonia, the undead are practically everywhere in Spellfire. They're cool and there are quite a few of them to choose from. Odds are you're going to face a few now and then.

Still, even with these vulnerabilties, I'll take these two lands over the typical "can only be attacked by flyers and swimmers" realms. In the right situation, if your opponent lacks the proper type of champion able to attack, Zhentil Keep and Iolonia can shut him or her down for turns at a time. You can concentrate on picking off the few champions that can attack, hopefully before they do their damage. With Zhentil or Iolonia up front, you get precious time to build your Formation and stock your hand. And if you are going to be hit with a land-destuction card like Cataclysm - at least you know where it's going to go. Your Avanil or Tyr is safe for now.

Sometimes hiding out in the Ruins can really pay off.

Next time: Dungeons.                      

The Menzo Dilemma

Play it first turn, just behind your front realm.

What do you do with Menzoberranzan (4th Edition, 1/500) in TAV? It's a puzzling conundrum. This realm is far too good to leave out of your deck, but once you've added it you have to carefully examine the strategy for its use.

First of all, it's the only land that you can play at any time, allowing it to be slapped down for the win if you already have 5 lands and Menzo will be your 6th. If it hits the table in this situation, it's game over. In TAV, where lands are razed a lot more easily than in standard Spellfire, this ability is even more primo.

But Menzoberranzan has a downside. Because it's so good (and so popular), everyone is running it in their deck. If you wait too long to slap it down, odds are that one of your opponents will. Once facing a Menzo on the board, your options decrease. TAV allows you to raise realms easily, but discarding them is another matter. A raised Menzo still keeps you from placing down your own (Rule of the Cosmos). So you'll need a Cataclysm, an Estate Transference, a Dissolution, or similar to rid yourself of it.

It's a catch-22: put Menzo down too soon, you'll find it destroyed or razed. Wait, and someone else will beat you to the punch.

Finding the right balance can be tricky.

It should also be noted that Menzoberranzan is one of the worst FRONT lands possible. Besides its "play at any time" goodness, it has no powers except being immune to flyers. As one of your back lands, it's passable, but the best use of this card is as a last-turn game winner - if you can play the finesse game that will allow you to slap it down!

Next time: ...the dread Lady!