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Pojo's Duel Masters Card of the Day
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Image from
Wizards Duel Master site
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Gregoria,
Princess of War
DM04
Card #30
Date Reviewed: 12.24.04
Constructed Average Rating: 2.15
Limited Average Rating: 2.5
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale
1 being the worst. 3 ... average.
5 is the highest rating. |
|
Lee Sandow |
Twas the night
before Christmas, and all through the world,
Not a creature
was stirring… except a single Dark lord.
She’d laid out
her gifts for the Demon Commands,
Extra power, and
‘blocker’ was theirs to be had
But is Gregoria
worth it, I’ll let you be the judge
While I sit and
eat my Christmastime fudge.
Ok, I’ll admit
that last limerick was stretching it, but
still, poetry is an ART people. Anyhow,
today, we are reviewing Gregoria, Princess
of War. A nasty little bugger who can make
your big, bad demon Commands bigger, badder,
and blocker!
Gregoria,
Princess of War
Cost: 6
Civilization:
Darkness
Card Type:
Creature
Creature Class: Dark Lord
-
Each Demon
Command in the battle zone gets +2000
power and has “blocker.” (Whenever one
of your opponent’s creature attacks, you
may tap a creature that has “blocker” to
stop the attack. Then the 2 creatures
battle.)
Flavor Text: “Those
fools in the clouds had better learn to like
eternal midnight.”
Power: 5000
Mana Generated:
1
Rarity: Rare
Card Number:
30/55
Christmas
time is supposed to be cheery, so why do we
keep reviewing cards that want to cast the
world into darkness? I’ll bet they don’t
believe in Santa anymore, and that’s why
they’ve turned out so bad…
Civilization/Race: It’s a Darkness
card. That’s deep information right there.
It’s a Dark Lord, which currently has no
evolutions, and no cards to directly support
its type. That’s OK, because SHE is doing
the supporting here.
Cost:
Six mana is a very reasonable cost… IF you
have a good effect. 5000 power
certainly isn’t worth six mana, so her
effect better come through to save her
behind here…
Power:
5000 Power is on par with the “middle
range” attackers, by which I refer to
Barkwhip, Crystal Paladin, and others like
them. It will kill most small creatures,
and then lose to big creatures in turn.
This is OK, but at a cost of six mana, is
really lacking.
Abilities:
She gives all your Demon Commands 2000 extra
power. Not that most of them NEED it, but
it can certainly make them even more 1337
than they already are. Then, they get
Blocker. I don’t know if most Demon
Commands NEED this ability. Most of them
are double breakers, and they will be
attacking most of the time. Why you’d leave
one to block is beyond me (unless it was
summon sick, in which case it can double as
a blocker until your next turn). Demon
Commands are meant to be your swords, not
your shields.
Ok, now that
I’ve reviewed these stats, let’s see how
they stack up.
Constructed
overview: Gregoria is trying so hard to
be loved… but sadly, I fear that she is just
not up to scratch. I don’t like cards that
support very specific creatures. If you
have no Demon Commands out… then what’s the
point? She could potentially help your
opponent out more than she could help you.
If you summon her when you have no demon
Commands, she is an overcosted waste of
space with no business being on the field.
She can be summed up in one word.
SITUATIONAL. I don’t like situational.
Don’t waste my
time Gregoria. I don’t know WHY Shadowmoon
likes you. 1.5/5
Limited
overview: Here, it’s decent. It has a
nice power level, but don’t expect to use
her effect. The only demon Commands in this
set are Trox, Photocide, and Ballom. Odds
are you won’t see Ballom or Trox, so that
leaves one Demon Command. Her effect won’t
help you much. Let me give you an example
of something that happened to ME when I used
her in draft. I was simply using her for
her power. Then my opponent summoned a
Photocide. So now, he has an 11000 attack
point blocker. See the problem this posed?
2/5
Merry
Christmas!
|
cecillbill
(Top 4 at
2004 GenCon - Indy
Championship) |
Gregoria, Princess of
War
If the Dark Lords are the masters of the Darkness
civilization, why aren't they more playable? Vampire
Silphy has the most going for the Dark Lords, and
even that creature spends a lot of time in the
binder. While Gregoria doesn't pack a "sweeper"
effect like the Queen of Death, her effect is
tailored made for supporting the Dark Lords most
prized creations, the Demon Command creatures. But,
is her effect any good at this point in the game?
[Effects]
1. Each Demon Command in the battle zone gets +2000
power and has 'blocker."
First, it becomes important to note that Gregoria
shows love for each player's Demon Commands. Suppose
your opponent packs mana gain and gets his Demons
out before you? Now you have to contend with his big
guys first, and that may leave room for a 9,000
Zagaan to lay the smacketh down on your super cool
Crystal Lancer. Like Shadow Moon, she has a
universal support effect that can backfire. But
unlike Shadowmoon her effect is limited to a
specific race of creatures, ones costing serious
moolah...err mana so it can be a task
getting/keeping both Gregoria and a Demon out long
enough for her effect to matter.
In terms of the 2000 power boost, it can turn some
of the underpowered Demon Commands into scarier
adversaries, and coupled with the blocker effect,
turn them into or surpass the likes of Gran for
roughly the same price--provided you can keep
Gregoria around. A 9,000 Vashuna is nothing to
sneeze at because it can come for 5 mana and sooner
with mana gain. Gregoria gives Vashuna the power to
mow down Fighters and Lancers, which is handy once
Vashuna's 'can't attack' effect kicks in. Still,
Demon Commands are plagued with summoning sickness
and pricey summnoing costs, and the one that doesn't
have summoning sickness--Ballom--is a task to get
into play. 2000 power means nothing to Death Smoke,
Chains of Sacrifice, Terror Pit or Natural Snare,
but it greatly helps when going toe-to-toe with
others creature.
Let's face it, Darkness blockers do not stick
around. Ooze, Squito, Clown--all die within the
blink of an eye. Gray Balloon has some legs, but not
enough or sometimes it just gets evolved. The other
blockers aren't nearly as playable, *cough* Night
Master *cough* but even if they were they'd still be
easy to deal with for many decks. The blocker status
gives Darkness some late game protection, and turns
Photocide/Vashuna into solid Fighter Dual Fang
deterence. Gregoria's effects on Photocide make it
capable of answering everything but Miar, Ballom,
Alacadieas and seriously pumped hitters. Even so,
Gregoria's effect turns your Demons into sitting
decks for anything that slams blockers. Now your
Demons are vulnerable to Crystal Paladin, Critical
Blade, Scarlet Skyterror--all that jazz. Do you
really want to see Ballom go to Critical Balde or be
bounced by Paladin? Now, consider the point of
having a DB in your arsenal anyways. You want
beatsticks to ... um... beat. So, why risk losing
Zagaan to blocker-hate or a creatrue overrruning it
if you choose to block? If you want to pay 6 mana
for a flexible blocker/beatstick then run Ladia Bale
since it lacks summoning sickness. Again, if your
opponent is sporting some Demons too, you'll have to
work around some of the same huge walls, but perhaps
you'll be armed with things like slayers or maybe
even some Blades. Still, it's a gamble.
Effect Ratings:
Constructed: 2/5 in a Demon Command (Ballom) deck.
Basically Gregoria Worm adds some stall until you
can fish out Ballom. Not needed or worth playing in
any other deck (until Dark Lords see an
evolution--and only if the evo is any good). Not
really "needed" in a Demon deck at this point.
Limited: 2/5. If you pull Demons, it's most likely
going to be 1 or 2 at the most. Gregoria would be
played just to have something mid-sized for turn 6.
Hope your opponent doesn't pull and play and Demon
when you don't have one.
It's a gamble, so weigh out all your other options
before decking Gregoria.
[Power/Cost]
6 mana for 5000 power. Bites. Barkwhip packs that at
2, Bone Spider at 3, Paladin at 4, Tri-Horned
Shepard at 5. She's very underpowered. But, with her
effects it's what you'd expect for a Darkness
creature.
Constructed: 1.5/5. Vulnerable to early kill like
Death Smoke, but your opponent is prolly going to
use Smoke on one of your powered Demons if both are
out at the same time. If you drop her before that,
she's a flaming target.
Limited: 3/5. 5000 can kill a ton of what gets
played before and after the 6 drop in Sealed and
Draft. As with many other cards, things on the
bottom of the ladder in Constructed can become solid
picks in Limited.
[Other Considerations]
None at the moment.
[Where To Deck]
In a Demon Command deck. Yar, in a Ballom deck. The
deck doesn't have to be mono-Darkness, but it should
have some Demons--duh!
[Some Cards To Deck With It]
Hum...Demon Commands. Packing some mana gain can get
the Princess and her warriors out sooner, which can
spell trouble for an unprepared opponent.
Basically, the usual suspects when it comes to
mono-Darkness build, with a bit of emphasis on late
game beatsticks than normal.
[Format Ratings Overall]
Constructed: 1.7/5. If I'm running a Demon deck or
Darkness deck in general I'd run something else in
the 5 spot.
Limited: 2.5/5. Consider your other selections
first. If you have next to nothing going for your
late game, then it's an okay pick. Just hope that
you don't see any Demons staring at you from across
the battle zone.
|
Fish &
Chips |
Here's the review of
Gregoria, princess of War.
Fish
Hey everyone! First
off, I would like to apologize for my hasty
review of Purple Piercer. i gave that card a
much higher score than I truly think it
deserved. Now that that's out of the way, I see
that this set has way too many conditional
cards. Conditional cards are cards that need a
certain creature or color, like Demon Command,
in play to be effective. Gregoria just isn't
effective. Demon Commands are few and far
between, and this card isn't particularly
strong, so if you use it, there's no guarantee
that it will stay for long. a +2000 power bonus
is nice, but that's all it is. This is an
excellent example of the cons outweighing the
pros. Some of this set's cards have been a real
letdown to me. Let's just hope they get better.
Constructed: 1.5/5
Way too conditional.
Limited: 1/5 Even
worse because there are less Demon Commands.
Chips
Hey! This is Chips
with a review of Gregoria, Princess of War. This
card is not too great with its 6 for 5000
tradeoff but the effect isn't too great either.
It only works for Demon Commands. There are 3 or
4 Demon Commands and they all have high power
anyway so this card is most likely a waste of
deck space.
Constructed: 1/5 Not
a good card at all.
Limited:1/5 This
card is useless in Limited Play.
|
The Antman |
Gregoria, Princess
of War- Rare-#30(DM-04)
Well... not a card I
would have chosen for Christmas eve, but ok.
Well people... this
card does give every demon command DB, but
almost everyone has it anyways so why bother?, I
know I wouldnt. There are much better choices
in the world.
Ratings:
constructed- 1.1/5
next
Limited- 2.4/5 there
is a low chance you will get a demon command.
Final Thought- there
are better fish in the pool
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|
Knives101 |
Gregoria, Princess
of War.
Hey does anybody out there want to know what
survivors are like? Well then just run this card in
a Ballom deck. Gregoria works pretty well to give
your Demon Commands a nice boost in power, as well
as the blocker ability. The problem with running
Gregoria is that Demon Commands are really costly,
and you need a lot of Demon Commands in your deck in
order to feel her full effects. If you run too many
Demon Commands then you will get outrushed. So I
only recommend using Gregoria in a meta that has
almost no rush decks.
Rating: 3
|
Parshathrules
8391 |
Gregoria, Princess of War
This thing isn’t completely useless. =/
6 for 5000 is bad, but it’s effect makes up for
that.
Or does it?
Giving Demon Commands blocker isn’t all that
helpful. Demon Commands are generally these huge
double breakers that take out all your opponent’s
creatures/shields whenever they feel like it. Giving
them blockers lets them sit back and… stall. Instead
of taking out your opponent, you get to block.
The second effect, +2000 to all Demon Command, is a
lot better than what Supporting Tulip does to Angel
Commands. Permanent power is much better than power
attacker, because it makes them harder to take out
with creatures, and can take them out of harm’s way
when your opponent is playing red.
The creature type, Dark Lord, is crap though. No
evolution and no support.
2.5/5
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