From: dcphipps@academicplanet.com

Subject: Duel Masters Civilizations: Strengths and Weaknesses

Hey Pojo goers!

This is going to be my first tip that will (hopefully) get posted on this website, and it is going to be a long one, so if you don't want to learn anything, just turn back now!

I've taken a look at every card in the set, analyzed them, and decided to share the major strengths and weaknesses of each of the five civilizations of Duel Masters. Some will be longer than others, and I apologize, but some I could just get more out of than others.

Darkness: total: 24
Darkness seems to have a variety of strengths and weaknesses that contrast each other. Some of the creatures are very powerful, but lots of those require you to discard a creature from your side of the field in order to play them. This can really hold you back during the game. In contrast to the powerful creatures, there are also creatures that require too much mana for too little attack. Vampire Silphy, Death Smoke, and Gigargon deserve a special look at their effects. Vampire Silphy is good and bad because you have the chance to remove anything that she would be able to destroy without having to fight them. But, what happens when her effect backfires? If you decide that you just have to have her out and the only other creatures you have are only 3000 attack or less creatures, you'll have to destroy all of your creatures other than Vampire Silphy after you've played her! Death Smoke allows you to destroy an untapped creature, which you would not be able to destroy by attacking with a creature of your own.This effect can come in handy. As for Gigargon, he can return creatures to your hand from your graveyard! This is a great effect in any game because it allows you to reuse your resources. You also have some slight hand control with Ghost Touch and another creature(can't remember its name) because they allow you to discard a card at random from your opponent's hand. This is one of two civilizations that have the most number of choices for Shield Triggers also! It tied with Water for three Shield Triggers.

Fire: total: 25
Fire has the most cards in its civilization, coming out with one more card than the others. Lots and lots of these creatures also have massive strength capabilities, but some of these require mana discards. This slows down the game, but it is somewhat manageable. This also has some very powerful power attackers included also. This civilization includes some good, low cost creatures, such as Deadly Fighter Braid Claw, that can be played first turn. There are also cards included that have the ability to attack or destroy untapped creatures-- Nomad Hero Gigio, Crimson Hammer, and Gatling Skyterror included. Bolshack Dragon could very well be one of the most powerful creatures in the game. He has a mana cost of 6 that gives you 6000 attack and the added effect of gaining an extra 1000 for each fire civilization creature in your graveyard. Now that's power! But, even though all that power is great, there are some major downsides to this civilization. First of all, there are absolutely no blockers! This means that your opponent can attack whatever they want. Also, there's only one Shield Trigger. This leaves you with only one choice for a Shield Trigger effect. About half of the cards in this civilization are rare, very rare, or super rare. This could make some of the cards hard to obtain for your deck. Also, most of the focus is drawn far, far away from spells as you focus more and more on just the creatures. Even though creatures are the focus, Spell are vital also!

Light: total: 24
Light seems to have a lot going for it. First off, it has the most number of blockers of all the civilizations. There are a grand total of eight! This civilization seems to be the complete opposite of Fire: it focuses mostly on spells and blockers, and doesn't have enough focus on strength. There are several low cost creatures, such as La Ura Giga, Sky Guardian and Iocant, the Oracle, that have high strength. Unfornately, neither of the two aforementioned creatures can attack your opponent! Also, Solar Ray, Miele, Vizier of Lightning, Moonlight Flash, and Holy Awe all let you tap an opponent's creature. This gives you the chance to attack them now! Chilias the Oracle returns to your hand when it is destroyed, so you can reuse him! Also, certain creatures get untapped at the end of your turn. A couple of them are Frie, Vizier of Air and Ruby Grass. Unfortunately, only four creatures have an attack higher than 5000. Also, this civilization relies far too heavily on spells and blockers.

Nature: total: 24
The biggest thing that Nature has going for it is its ability to create an overflow of useable mana in your mana pile. A few cards that do this: Pangaea's Song, Poisonous Mushroom, Bronze Arm Tribe, and Mighty Shouter. Dimension gate is a spell that has a mana cost of three and allows you to search your deck for any creature you want and put it in your hand. Some creatures also can't be blocked by creatures that have an attack lower than their own. These include Tower Shell and Stampeding Longhorn. Storm Shell also makes your opponent place one of their creatures into their mana zone. This does remove a creature from the field, but then they gain extra mana to use, so this creature can be a double-edged sword. There are no blockers in this civilization either. There is also only one creature that originally has an attack over 5000: Roaring Great Horn, and it's a super rare!

Water: total: 24
Water is the other civilization that gives you the most choices for Shield Triggers. This is the only civilization with card drawing: King Ripped-Hide, Illusionary Merfolk, and Aqua Hulkus provide needed drawing that is essential for speed. Most of the creatures won't die after they lose a battle, they will return to your hand, allowing you to use them over and over again. Lots of cards allow you to return creatures to your opponents hand also. This will get rid of creatures from the field and make them use up precious mana to play them again. So many of the creatures cannot attack though, and the few that can don't have much strength at all. Only one card can be played with one mana-Marine Flower. And, also, it can be too defensive.

I hope this guide helped someone out there! So, thanks for your time reading this! -cgman