Stronghold was the second installment in the Rath Cycle. It was the last MTG set to not have the rarity of the cards printed on them. Also, it wasn’t as strong as Tempest or Exodus (in my opinion), but had some really heavy hitting cards. There were about thirty amazing cards. I’ve put together what I believe are the top ten, so take a look and see the best cards from Stronghold!

Just a side note, only three cards on this list were ever reprinted. The cards from this set were just too good to see reprint. As you get to the top of the list, you’ll see what I mean.

#10 Dauthi Trapper

This card may seem out of place, but its ability should be updated! Because there really are no creatures with shadow anymore, this card basically reads, “Target creature becomes unblockable until the end of turn.” An unblockable creature is one of the most powerful things in MTG, and this card can make any creature unblockable! Of course, there may be the rare instance where you face someone who is also using shadow (very rare). However, this card will still be useful against such a foe. It’s just an awesome card.

#9 Mob Justice

Here’s a common from Stronghold that was never reprinted. Wonder why? Because this card causes some serious damage! Using it in any deck that swarms an opponent (goblins perhaps), this card does massive damage. I’d say you can do around five or more when you use this in the right deck at any given time. That’s a lot of damage for only two mana! If you can get infinite tokens then you can deal infinite damage too. Just a little FYI.

#8 Dream halls

Although this spell affects everyone, if you’re using it then you know what you’re doing. You’ll have a strategy and it will dominate the game. Of course, you can always play spells normally, but if you’re using this card you’re going to play spells by discarding cards instead. This card can have a deck built around it, and is pretty cheap (to play and to buy) for how effective it is.

#7 Volrath’s Stronghold

This land is just cool. Volrath is cool, and so is his stronghold. This card is basically what the set is named after! It gives mana, which makes it better than some lands that only can be used for their abilities. Also, and this is the good part, it allows you to put a creature card from your graveyard on top of your library. This essentially means you can have a creature that will always come back to you. There are plenty of ways to use this card to get awesome creatures right away. Buried Alive or Entomb come to mind. It’s just a very useful land that can take the place of a spell that would do the same thing. If this card put the creature into your hand instead of on top of your library it would be insane. Luckily, the MTG staff didn’t go crazy with this one, they just made a good strong card. Nice work guys!

#6 Ensnaring Bridge

This card was reprinted in Seventh & Eighth Edition. This card has a lot of different ways to use it. You can use it in a couple of ways, all of which lead to interesting results. It really is difficult for an opponent to deal with this card. If you’re smart, you’ll build a deck that allows you to draw cards on your turn so you can attack (or just have a ton of little creatures) and then discard cards at the end of your turn so your opponent can’t attack. Also, I love how a lot of the flavor text from this set was Gerrard making his way through Volrath’s Stronghold. It was just very appropriate.

#5 Fling

An utterly amazing card. This card was never reprinted and probably won’t be (although they actually made a more powerful version that I call Rite Of Consumption). It’s incredibly powerful and can always be used. I like to attack for some massive damage and then sacrifice the biggest creature I have to go for the win. It’s a great card to use with things like Skyshroud Behemoth or other big cards with drawbacks. That’s one gross giant in that illustration though.

#4 Shock

Here’s one of the cards from this set that was reprinted… a ton of times. It was the replacement Lightning Bolt. It’s one of the best one drop instants ever and great in direct damage decks. People rejoiced at the creation of this card. However, will this card stick around in the future with the reprinting of Lightning Bolt in MTG 2010? Well, we’ll have to wait and see! I sure hope so. Lightning Bolt is incredible, but you can’t say this card isn’t good too!

#3 Sliver Queen

Ah yes, the Rath Cycle’s famous slivers. The creature type everyone loves and nobody likes. Slivers are just ridiculous how quickly they build on each other. This sliver is still highly sought after today. It generates little 1/1 sliver tokens that (because they’re slivers) will get all the bonuses of the other slivers in play! This card creates a sliver army that is nearly impossible to stop. It’s a great card and the first of the big three slivers created in MTG. It still sells for about $25.00, and that says a lot about this card. Even if you don’t run a sliver deck, this card is fun to have. You can tell your friends that you’ve got one and they’ll be impressed because Sliver Queen is just plain cool.

#2 Intruder Alarm

Here’s the final card from this list to ever have been reprinted. Why is this card so awesome? Well, it’s basically built for infinite combos. If you have a creature that taps to put a token into play, then it will untap and you can do that an infinite number of times. That’s power. Without a combo, this card does offer some great defensive power, but it’s all about those combos. Usually I don’t rank a card based solely on its comboing power, but this card is just too easy to combo with. It’s really surprising that they reprinted it!

#1 Mox Diamond

A mox that makes any color of mana? Yep, this card was quite the showstopper. You have to discard a land when you play it or it goes straight to the graveyard, but that’s hardly any trouble at all. This card gives you a huge edge and can be used for a first turn win very easily. It works like the other moxes with that small downside of discarding a land. Even outside of first turn win decks, this card is useful for any deck that has trouble finding the correct color combinations of mana. It’s pretty sweet and is still highly sought after today. It’s without any debate the best card from Stronghold.

Thanks for reading!