[Micah]

Vel,

Items can make gems..blood stones cost a whopping 2 earth gems and 3 blood slaves with a hammer (which now cost 3 gems to make with a hammer), and every single Goetic master that gets an earth random can make them with no boosters because of Forge's path bonus. I think when they're that cheap you start getting limited by how many indie commanders you can pump out to hold the damn things. A 2 turn payback on earth gems is a pretty good bet. 3 blood slaves is next to nothing as well, a single hutnter gets twice that every month. Similarly, Clams only cost 3W/1N, the saving grace there being that Marignon doesn't have paths for them. Forge might not be *quite* as bad as Nexus, but if not it's certainly a strong second place for the most powerful positive global. (The "everything sucks" globals I'm not sure about, Utterdark/Astral Corruption)