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Re: Hordes! This is it!

 Samuel J Doyle (doylesj@newton.ccs.tuns.ca) wrote:
 : Well, all this flaming over the Hordes is crazy. I mean comparing to the Juzam and
 : all that has gotten out of hand. The thing is that the Hordes are an awsome type
 : II card. For those people concerned about losing the card at random then play with
 : Libraries of Leng. The Juzam is not a type II card so stop the comparisons!!! And
 : yes it is fairly easy to put the Hordes out in turn one and even easier in turn two
 : which is very useful. So everyone give it up and stop the flaming.
 I haven't been flaming; nor have I been saying that people should
 be using Juzams instead (I play exclusively Type II myself, as a
 matter of fact).  I have simply been saying that the Hordes are
 not all that great a card.  It is simply *not* "an awsome
 type II card."  It's usable, but if you are not careful
 it will burn you badly.  Going for a turn 1 Horde is a great
 way to kill yourself.  Against a good opposing deck,
 your opponent will handle the Hordes probably by his second
 turn, third turn at latest.  After he has done so, you will
 be out five cards to his one (maybe two).  A Mind Twist, except
 you did it to yourself!  Count the number of ways a Horde
 can handled with one or two mana:  Swords to Plowshares.  Terror.
 Paralyze.  Spirit Link.  Two Lightning Bolts.  Unsummon (or Word
 of Undoing).  Boomerang.  Hydroblast (or Blue Elemental Blast).  
 Circle of Protection: Red.  Giant Growthed Savannah Lions.  
 Savannah Lions and a Lightning Bolt.  Repentant Blacksmith.  *Any*
 1-mana creature with a Righteousness.  Don't play a creature
 and Balance.  Any 1-mana creature and a Red Ward.  Brainwash.
 And that was just with a quick glance through my collection.
 I came up with something for every color except green.  I'll
 allow a Giant Growthed Bears for that.  Any green deck that
 can't generate three mana on its second turn is seriously sick.
 I also only gave solutions that handle the problem permanently
 or semi-permanently.  You can always throw sacrificial weenies
 in front of the Hordes until you can come up with something better.
 Fog is a green player's best friend in this sort of situation.
 Any decent deck will come up with *something.*  The conclusion:
 you can *not* afford to invest 5 cards in one creature.  That
 creature, *any* creature is just too damn fragile to invest
 all your resources into him.  Hordes are good card for play on
 turn 3 or 4 to give a little extra turn of speed to decks that
 expect to have little trouble with running out of cards.  Say,
 that Howling Mine/Winter Orb deck you've been working on.  The
 Hordes are a good threat and help to distract your opponent 
 from the lock your deck is working on.  You'll not likely miss
 the discard.
 		Chris Mattern