Magic: The Gathering
Magical Thinking: Stronghold
Welcome back to Magical Thinking, a look back at the art and cards of Magic: the Gathering, set by set, from the beginning. This time we’re looking at the second expansion of the Tempest block: Stronghold.
Released in March of 1998, Stronghold continues the story of the Weatherlight crew as they enter Volrath’s stronghold to rescue their captured allies. Get ready for some major dungeon crawl action here: Creepy creatures, deadly traps, deception, betrayal, all that good stuff. I was reading Inquest at the time so I was following the release of Stronghold pretty closely. I thought it was pretty hype.
So without further ado, lets get into it.
It seems like I was wrong last time saying the Licids only showed up in one expansion. They’re here as well. Gotta say though, having a weird spider thing attached to my head doesn’t seem like it would be calming to me. I guess don’t knock it till you try it.
Aw, this is oddly cutr. Karn made a friend. Now I want the next Phyrexia expansion to end with Karn riding in with an army of Slivers, on the back of the Queen Sliver, to deliver the Thran Sylex right to the heart of New Phyrexia to blow it up once and for all.
Yeah, spoilers for Stronghold, Gerrard doesn’t get to kill Volrath (yet). As it turns out Volrath has a thing for doombots. Go figure. Although I do like that the card matches the flavor here, throwing one creature under the bus in order to give your other creatures time to escape. That’s the White way, isn’t it? Right up there with land taxing, genocide and leprosy (And yes I am still harping on the Leprosy thing, but I will never let that go ever).
This is another monster that found its start in Portal. But while the Portal art is cute and whimsical, this is freaking terrifying. I mean, if I saw this up in the sky, I’d assume the world was ending. It looks like a half finished mind flayer. Great art though.
Now this is the kind of Licid I can get behind. I mean who doesn’t want to fly with big alien-looking wings? I think the brain nibbling that the Licid must get up to would be worth it. Honestly, as much as I kid I think the Licid are an intriguing concept and I would like to see more symbiote style monsters (Which is also why I like Ikoria and its mutate mechanic).
Oof. I hope Volrath keeps the aspirin handy, because this guy looks like he needs it. That is a pain migraine right there. You don’t wanna mess with that.
DISRESPECT YOUR SURROUNDINGS! *Begins smashing stuff*
Yeah, if any card was a 2020 big mood, this is it. It’s pretty clear that Gerrard and Mirri are 100% done with Volrath’s crap at this point.
I love the one guy whose just standing there not even reacting. He’s like “Welp, our time has come.”
OH CRAP, IT’S THE THING. MAC WANTS THE FLAMETHROWER.
I’m not sure if Graveyard order is still a thing people pay attention to or care about. But I feel like this could have the makings of a great Dimir self-mill deck where you use the Shapeshifter to cheat out big minions by milling them into your graveyard and turning this thing into them.
I don’t know about that, Gerrard. Volrath strikes me as being extra enough to put a bottomless pit into his evil lair. He’s that kind of guy.
The great thing about the Weatherlight was that it had representative of all the colors: Gerrard was white, Erati was Blue, Squee was Red, Mirri was Green, and here we have Crovax the vampire, representing Black. Unfortunately I think this is the point in the story where Crovax suffers his heel turn, and next time we see him, well, more on that later.
Now here is some creepy art. I think we’d need to go back to The Dark to find creature art this unsettling. The thing that makes it creepiest, and I just noticed this looking at the full sized card, is it has no body. It’s just a big floating head. Imagine seeing that coming at you down a darkened hallway. You’d never nope out of a place faster your whole life.
I play MTG Arena, and I recently begun to stick my toe into the historic mode, and one of the first decks I made was a Rat tribal deck which is fairly powerful. This card is not in it, but I think rats are an unappreciated archetype in Magic. You’d be surprised how powerful these little guys can be. Respect the rat.
Fling is one of those cards which has become iconic of Red and its design theory. Plus there’s something just very satisfying about literally picking up your minions and flinging them at your opponents. I’ve been on the receiving end of a pretty brutal combo of this card which ended with a 23 attack Storm Herald meeting my face with his face.
Wow, and you thought Wolverine had it rough. Now that looks like it hurts. You need some ointment, buddy? Some salve? I think that might be infected. Alright, I guess you know what you’re doing.
Gee, Gerrard. Who would have guessed the evil mastermind had ambitions to conquer the world?
This card is interesting because it basically lets you control how blocking works. Its like planning ambushes and counterattacks against your opponent (with the drawback your opponent can do the same to you once they’ve seen your plans). But I like enchantments like this because they basically change how the game plays.
I know he looks scary but he’s actually Stronghold’s chef. You ever try and cook a Sliver? They don’t go down easy, in ANY way.
Ah, Shock. Another iconic Magic card. Once upon a time we had lightning bolt, which deals 3 damage for 1 red. WOTC decided that was too powerful, so we got Shock, which does basically the same thing only 1 damage less. Now it’s taken Lightning Bolt’s place for the most part. To the point it’s used to this day.
Ha! See? I told you there were traps in this set. Here’s one right here. I think we could use a few more, though. Maybe next time.
Yo mamma competitions on Rath can get really intense.
Tempest introduced Spikes, but this set really brought them into the forefront. I think this is my favorite one, since while Spikes look like slugs, apparently they function like ants. Specifically honey pot ants, which will gorge themselves on honey to act like living food stores for the colony during the winter. Here the effect being, basically, a giant peach with nipples. I’d hate to eat a cobbler made out of that.
Yeah, Volrath might be an evil mad scientist and servant of Phyrexia, doesn’t mean he doesn’t have a green thumb (His thumbs can be any color, he’s a shapeshifter).
Here we are, the very first five color card in all of Magic. The big mama herself, her highness the queen sliver. She was the lynchpin that made the entire Sliver Archetype really come together, and would make five-color Sliver decks a force to be reckoned with (I assume, I never really paid attention to the tournament scene. Maybe she stunk out loud and Slivers were never a thing, but she’s gotten a few reprints so I assume she’s good).
Another cool trap. I don’t know why, but I like the idea of Magic cards that represent obstacles and traps more than I do the creatures or locations. No idea why. Maybe it’s because of how you have to think about implementing them.
Ah, the Mox Diamond. A late addition to the Mox family. I actually owned a copy of this card back in the day, tried to sell it without success, and eventually lost track of it. Which really stinks because it’s apparently worth a lot of money. According to Scryfall they go for almost 400 dollars. It’s not original Power Nine or Juzam Djinn money, but it’s something. Ah well, maybe it’s still in one of my bags gathering dust somewhere. You never know.
Oh it’s not you Gerrard, it’s the girl scouts. The Thurlls have been getting a bit chonky lately and Volrath has banished all Tagalongs from the stronghold as a result. Yes, he is that evil.
And here it is, the titular stronghold, the big place itself. This is what Gerrard and the gang have been running around all this time.
Is it me or does it look like a Zeppelin?
Well, that does it for this week’s Magical Thinking. Tune in next week when we conclude our look at the Tempest block by making our exit out of the Stronghold. Yes, it’s time for our Exodus. See you then, and stay magical.
