Volrath's Stronghold has been absolutely bonkers in my cube, yet it seems to fly under the radar a bit. I've watched a ton of MTGO cube draft videos, and it passes by every time without comment, even when the drafter is in black. It baffles me.
Am I overvaluing this card? It doesn't take a spell slot, is fairly cheap to activate, and recurs whatever problematic creature they've just dealt with. I play this in every single deck with black mana in it, as long as it runs a decent number of creatures (which is every non-control deck, and some control decks too).
I recently brought back my Baneslayer Angel over and over in a match, and it was ridiculously demoralizing (and fatal) for my opponent. I've recurred simple ETB value guys like Utkabi Orangutan when I really had to kill another enchantment, or whatever.
Volrath's Stronghold has been absolutely bonkers in my cube, yet it seems to fly under the radar a bit. I've watched a ton of MTGO cube draft videos, and it passes by every time without comment, even when the drafter is in black. It baffles me.
Am I overvaluing this card? It doesn't take a spell slot, is fairly cheap to activate, and recurs whatever problematic creature they've just dealt with. I play this in every single deck with black mana in it, as long as it runs a decent number of creatures (which is every non-control deck, and some control decks too).
I recently brought back my Baneslayer Angel over and over in a match, and it was ridiculously demoralizing (and fatal) for my opponent. I've recurred simple ETB value guys like Utkabi Orangutan when I really had to kill another enchantment, or whatever.
I win a rediclulous number of games because of stronghold. No, it is not overrated. The card is completely insane.
On the video thing, I've seen people pass Recurring Nightmare for mediocre picks. I wouldn't use those videos as a guide, most (including some pros) have no idea how strong some of these cards are.
Volrath's Stronghold has been absolutely bonkers in my cube, yet it seems to fly under the radar a bit.
It does? I'm pretty sure it's widely considered to be a staple, and the best color-aligned land in the cube (by people who know cubing).
I've watched a ton of MTGO cube draft videos, and it passes by every time without comment, even when the drafter is in black. It baffles me.
I'd take anything you see there with a grain of salt. Unless you're also playing a 720+ unpowered, nerfed, slowish cube the results there aren't going to be relevant to your cube/playgroup.
It's one of the best lands in cube; it's one of the best black cards in cube. Stronghold is grindy advantage at its best. The only bad thing about it is that there is no foil available.
It's one of the best lands in cube; it's one of the best black cards in cube. Stronghold is grindy advantage at its best. The only bad thing about it is that there is no foil available.
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less." -Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass
It's being able to play with cards like this that mean I love cube. I particularly enjoy playing it with Sneak Attack.
That's awesome! In one draft I had Stronghold, Eternal Witness, and Skullclamp in the same deck. Sadly, all three only made into play in one game and the Witness got Pathed. Meh.
Stronghold is a the stone cold nuts, it's one of the reasons I started cube. Most people I play with would take it highly too as it's easy to splash, has a powerful effect, and still produces mana when not active.
And speaking of this card with Witness, I've seen people draft Stronghold+Witness+Wrath Effects to create a bonkers Rock deck that could just lock out the board randomly and then mill itself with something like Life from the Loam to dig for its Elesh Norn or whatever else it wanted.
I'd take anything you see there with a grain of salt. Unless you're also playing a 720+ unpowered, nerfed, slowish cube the results there aren't going to be relevant to your cube/playgroup.
Isn't that even more reason to play it so that you can recur the one awesome power guy you see, instead of having to blind draw durdles?
You'd think, wouldn't you. But the MTGO cube produces some ...interesting stuff.
Yea, I watched a lot of the videos, probably all of the Channel Fireball and Cuberfauss ones, that I found on Youtube and the drafts were just weird... I wish we had some videos of people drafting more interesting cubes. Well good videos, there are a lot of hard to follow videos out there.
Maybe if they set up some kind of divider so the pack could be laid out and etc.
I mean, hell, we're all on a forum for something that most people would describe as a "children's card game"...do what makes you happy. You are never too old to enjoy yourself.
Why don't people cube with Haunted Crossroads more often? I mean obviously it's nowhere near Stronghold in terms of power level, but the effect is such that it's probably worth having multiples in your cube at the 720 level or so.
Why don't people cube with Haunted Crossroads more often? I mean obviously it's nowhere near Stronghold in terms of power level, but the effect is such that it's probably worth having multiples in your cube at the 720 level or so.
I like the effect, but Stronghold occupies a land slot in a deck, so you don't need to waste a spell slot on it. Whereas playing Crossroads means you can pack one less creature in the deck. Even still I think there are better cards to use ahead of Crossroads anyways: Phyrexian Reclamation, Strands of Night or even Tortured Existence (though I am skeptical on this one)
Volrath's Stronghold can be unbeatable for some decks. In games that are about card advantage and attrition, there are few better cards. It's still outrace-able because it can be slow, but that's good for the cube in my book. It's the best kind of powerful card; average power level is high, better if built around, has synergy with other synergy-type cards (like Life from the Loam), and is beatable by both specific answers as well as strategies (e.g., it's not spectacular against aggro). All in all, a card I'm excited to play in cube.
I'm really sad to see this card leave the MODO cube and I hope it comes back. Really it's an amazing card being a land, and it combos so well with things like Life from the Loam. I once saw a player in my cube have Eternal Witness, Volrath's Stronghold, and Loam... He was able to pretty much dig for any card he wanted and things like Lingering Souls were an added bonus.
I've also had the games where I locked a player out using Stronghold and Karmic Guide paired with other utility creatures that made it so I could get Guide out and another dude each turn to have more than one blocker if needed.
I honestly cannot fathom why they cut volrath's stronghold from the MODO cube, it just plain baffles me. Was it too good or something?
I think a dartboard was involved, or maybe a hat of some sort...
Really it wasn't even too good as in a lot of the videos I watched people passed it for some odd reason that didn't quite make sense to me... So it couldn't have been THAT powerful.
Why don't people cube with Haunted Crossroads more often? I mean obviously it's nowhere near Stronghold in terms of power level, but the effect is such that it's probably worth having multiples in your cube at the 720 level or so.
Honestly, if I'm going to pay mana for the effect of getting dudes back, I would rather do it in a way that isn't card disadvantage like Gravedigger, or Phyrexian Reclamation
Volrath's Stronghold has been absolutely bonkers in my cube, yet it seems to fly under the radar a bit. I've watched a ton of MTGO cube draft videos, and it passes by every time without comment, even when the drafter is in black. It baffles me.
Am I overvaluing this card? It doesn't take a spell slot, is fairly cheap to activate, and recurs whatever problematic creature they've just dealt with. I play this in every single deck with black mana in it, as long as it runs a decent number of creatures (which is every non-control deck, and some control decks too).
I recently brought back my Baneslayer Angel over and over in a match, and it was ridiculously demoralizing (and fatal) for my opponent. I've recurred simple ETB value guys like Utkabi Orangutan when I really had to kill another enchantment, or whatever.
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I win a rediclulous number of games because of stronghold. No, it is not overrated. The card is completely insane.
On the video thing, I've seen people pass Recurring Nightmare for mediocre picks. I wouldn't use those videos as a guide, most (including some pros) have no idea how strong some of these cards are.
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It does? I'm pretty sure it's widely considered to be a staple, and the best color-aligned land in the cube (by people who know cubing).
I'd take anything you see there with a grain of salt. Unless you're also playing a 720+ unpowered, nerfed, slowish cube the results there aren't going to be relevant to your cube/playgroup.
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"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less." -Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass
That's awesome! In one draft I had Stronghold, Eternal Witness, and Skullclamp in the same deck. Sadly, all three only made into play in one game and the Witness got Pathed. Meh.
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And speaking of this card with Witness, I've seen people draft Stronghold+Witness+Wrath Effects to create a bonkers Rock deck that could just lock out the board randomly and then mill itself with something like Life from the Loam to dig for its Elesh Norn or whatever else it wanted.
Isn't that even more reason to play it so that you can recur the one awesome power guy you see, instead of having to blind draw durdles?
You'd think, wouldn't you. But the MTGO cube produces some ...interesting stuff.
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Yea, I watched a lot of the videos, probably all of the Channel Fireball and Cuberfauss ones, that I found on Youtube and the drafts were just weird... I wish we had some videos of people drafting more interesting cubes. Well good videos, there are a lot of hard to follow videos out there.
Maybe if they set up some kind of divider so the pack could be laid out and etc.
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I like the effect, but Stronghold occupies a land slot in a deck, so you don't need to waste a spell slot on it. Whereas playing Crossroads means you can pack one less creature in the deck. Even still I think there are better cards to use ahead of Crossroads anyways: Phyrexian Reclamation, Strands of Night or even Tortured Existence (though I am skeptical on this one)
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I've also had the games where I locked a player out using Stronghold and Karmic Guide paired with other utility creatures that made it so I could get Guide out and another dude each turn to have more than one blocker if needed.
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I think a dartboard was involved, or maybe a hat of some sort...
Really it wasn't even too good as in a lot of the videos I watched people passed it for some odd reason that didn't quite make sense to me... So it couldn't have been THAT powerful.
Honestly, if I'm going to pay mana for the effect of getting dudes back, I would rather do it in a way that isn't card disadvantage like Gravedigger, or Phyrexian Reclamation
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