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Pojo's Magic The Gathering
Card of the Day
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Image from Wizards.com |
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Volrath's Stronghold
Stronghold
Reviewed July 2, 2004
Constructed: 3.4
Casual: 3.3
Limited: 3.8
Ratings are
based on a 1 to 5 scale
1 being the worst. 3 ...
average.
5 is the highest rating
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Card of the Day Reviews
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Chris
Gerhardt
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game store owner in CA,
ShuffleAndCut |
Cool artwork by Kev Walker. He has always
been one of my favorites.
Hmmm... pretty strong, really. While it
doesn't bring it to your hand, honestly, at that
cost, that would be a bit broken, anyhow.
But for 1B, you can bring back an important or key
creature, ready for you to redraw the next turn.
Kinda nice against control, as their counters
suddenly lose meaning when you can replay a
creature over and over until their reserves of
permission or destruction are exhausted.
I'm sure this could
find a happy place in many Casual decks,
especially those that rely on key creature
component's to make some insane combo go off.
Even on the simple side, what about
Bottle Gnomes with this thing. Block,
sac, gain 3 each turn. You'd need to add
some card draw to your deck to keep it your draws
from stagnating, but that can easily be
accomplished. But I'm sure you can think of
some grander idea to use this nice utility for.
In limited, a very
strong card, assuring that if you run up against
burn, or if you lose a good fattie, you can
reclaim it. A higher pick in draft, and an include
if you are even splashing Black.
Constructed:
3.5
Casual: 4
Limited: 4
Current Price:
Volrath's
Stronghold -
Stronghold - $6.13
Combos
Well With:
Bottle
Gnomes -
Mirrodin - $0.46
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Judge
Bill
*Level 2
MTG Judge
*game store employee
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Volrath's Stronghold
A very black like ability, this helps you reuse
a creature that died (at the cost of a draw). It
is very helpful in a recursion deck, and lets
you save a creature from a graveyard removal
(from game) spell. Only good in very specialized
decks, but where it's good, it's very good.
In casual, this
would be very effective, as getting back a
creature that your opponent either (a) used a
removal spell on, or (b) used one of his
creatures to kill will provide you with an
advantage.
In limited, if I
were able to produce the black mana to power
this, I'd play it. Being able to get back
creatures that die is very good.
Constructed: 3.5
Casual: 4
Limited: 3.5
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Jonathan
Pechon
2 Grand
Prix Top 8's
Multiple Pro Tour
appearances |
Volrath’s Stronghold
Putting creatures on
top of your library from your boneyard has
actually been a pretty common practice, with
Slivers and Rock probably being the most notable
decks to run this in the most powerful manner.
The pain of slowing you down for a draw step meant
that you really couldn’t use this until you had
managed to stabilize the game somewhat; Rock was
probably able to do this best with Spike Weaver
and Feeder, ensuring a long life and many, many
spike counters.
Keeping your
irritating creatures available is always good when
you’re goofing around. This thing’s got my
endorsement. Not so great in Mental, but eh,
what’s that gonna hurt you?
Once again, constantly
bringing back creatures is good. The only
unfortunate thing is that you didn’t have access
to creatures with strong CIP abilities like you
had in Mirage-block right before Tempest, or the
ridiculous Echo creatures that were available in
Saga-block right afterward. Regardless, you
definitely wanted to pick this high if you could.
Constructed: 3.0
Casual: 3.0
Limited: 3.5
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Jeff Zandi
5 Time Pro Tour
Veteran
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Volrath's Stronghold
This card was a must-have for several of the
better black decks of the
Tempest block era. This card had remained popular
among casual players
because it simply gets the job done. Unholy Grotto
from Onslaught does a
similar job for one colorless less mana, but can
target only Zombies. In
Tempest block limited play, Volrath's Stronghold
is a high pick, providing
card quality advantage, the next best thing to
actual card advantage.
CONSTRUCTED: 3.5
CASUAL: 3.5
LIMITED: 3.5 |
Ray
"Monk"
Powers
* Level 3 DCI Judge
*DCI Tournament Organizer |
Volrath’s Stronghold
I admit it. I played a
deck called Oath of Oath way back when. It had
Survival of the Fittest, Oath of Druids, Oath of
Ghouls, and Volrath’s Stronghold, and every
utility creature I could find. I won a great many
games with that deck, my favorite method of
winning being an eventual lock recurring Avalanche
Riders using either Oath of Ghouls or Volrath’s
Stronghold. The Stronghold was so good at getting
what I needed out of my graveyard, and being a
land makes it less susceptible to removal spells
that would often take out my Oaths. This card is
slow, but very solid.
Constructed:
4
Casual:
2
Limited:
4
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DeQuan
Watson
* game store owner (The Game Closet - Waco,TX) |
OK, remember how
I dumped on Yavimaya Hollow yesterday? Well,
this is much better than that. Even with a two
mana activation that requires some colored mana,
this ability is amazing. Consider getting
creatures back with "comes into play" effects.
Imagine getting the big trouble fatty out over
and over again. Heck, control players hated
this card, because their Wrath of Gods were as
good. I think this card has some use in every
format.
Constructed: 3.5
Casual: 4
Limited: 4
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Andy
Van Zandt |
Volrath's
Stronghold
No card advantage by itself, but very strong
anyways. Control decks rarely
like having to counter spiritmonger or yavimaya
elder every turn. Similarly
in limited, when they deal with your best
creature, drop this to show them
how much their effort was wasted.
constructed 3.5
casual 3.5
limited 4 |
w00t |
Volrath's Stronghold
-
Constructed - The
original Unholy Grotto. One of the Strongest
decks in Extended, "The Rock" can take advantage
of this card. Reviving its dead Beat Sticks, to
smack the opponent aside the head. It's ability
to bring a late game to a deck that somehow
gets overcame early is great.
Casual - Zombie
decks love to revive critters, but they have a
nearly strictly better way in Unholy Grotto.
Volraths Stronghold works good to get back any
creature though, and splashing a color is the
best way to do it. You can use Red, splashing
black, to get a Blistering firecat each turn.
Same thing with Skizzik. Or you can just use it
to help against the overwhelming death your
opponent brings upon your fattys. That's what I
like about this versatile card, you can build a
deck around it, or you can use it to support
another theme/idea.
Constructed - 3.0
Casual - 3.0
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