Stronghold
- For other uses see Stronghold (location)
Template:Expansion Stronghold is the thirteenth Magic expansion and was released in 1998 as the second set in the Tempest block.
Mechanics and abilities
The block mechanics buyback and shadow are expanded upon in this set.
The ability associated with the en-Kor, based on the defunct ability banding, are introduced in this set. The abilities associated with Slivers, Licids, Flowstone, and especially Spikes are expanded upon in this set.
Cycles
- Legendary land mega-mega cycle: Volrath's Stronghold is the second card in this mega-mega cycle, which also includes Teferi's Isle, Yavimaya Hollow, Kor Haven, and Keldon Necropolis.
- Allied-color Slivers: Crystalline Sliver, Hibernation Sliver, Acidic Sliver, Spined Sliver, and Victual Sliver.
- Licids: Calming Licid, Gliding Licid, Corrupting Licid, Convulsing Licid, and Tempting Licid.
- Walls: The designers tried to create walls good enough to be used by tournament players. Each color received one 2-mana wall with a special ability — Wall of Essence, Wall of Tears, Wall of Souls, Wall of Razors, and Wall of Blossoms. Wall of Blossoms is the most popular of these 5 as it increases the speed of the already quick green player.
Theme decks
The pre-constructed theme decks are:
Notable cards
- Mox Diamond. This rare artifact requires a land card to be discarded as an additional cost, thereafter it produces a mana of any color.
- Sliver Queen. The Queen is a 7/7 Sliver which produces sliver tokens. It's casting cost of 1 of each colored mana is often referred to as "WUBRG" {pronounced woo-berg}. Stronghold was the first set to feature a five-colored card.
Reprinted cards
The following cards have been reprinted from previous sets and included in Stronghold.
- Cloud Sprit — was last seen in Portal.
- Craven Giant — was last seen in Portal.
- Serpent Warrior — was last seen in Portal.
- Spined Wurm — was last seen in Portal.
- Tidal Surge — was last seen in Portal.
- Venerable Monk — was last seen in Portal.