This is a better top-deck than Marsh Flats at least. I think it still warrants some consideration if you're able to play a deck with many splashable cards you might never need to take more than 1 or 2 damage since it is a painless land for 1 colorless mana. In a fast legacy game i think it amounts to about the same. If you top deck a fetch you have to take the loss of life to get any use from the land. Technically you could turn the damage from the pain into an advantage through gaining life but it is awkward I guess. You could also prevent the damage.. but really it is not so easy. Play this with artifacts like Cursed Scroll and equipment and you'll get better use out of it you'll find yourself tapping these for the colorless more often than you might think.
Posted By:
Hovercraft
(6/10/2010 8:06:49 PM)
Play value aside (and I like pretty much any dual land that doesn't cost a fortune since it's nice for everyone to be able to fix mana), the flavor on this card is cool. Koilos was where Urza and Mishra found the halves of the Thran Powerstone and what set so many events into motion... white and black, good and evil - this place marked the beginning of it all.
Posted By:
Radagast
(1/22/2012 11:18:12 AM)
Enemy-color painlands that don't come into play tapped? Great!
Posted By:
A3Kitsune
(2/10/2010 12:20:20 AM)
Worse than Marsh Flats in nearly every way. Sad day...
How does that get downrated when Marsh Flats grabs any of 5 colors with the Ravnica lands?
Posted By:
OpenSeasonNoobs
(3/12/2012 11:32:41 PM)
"This is a better top-deck than Marsh Flats at least."
You mean when you're playing against aggro and you're at 1 life?
Otherwise, even if a player is at 2 life or 3, getting two lands out of your deck with one draw is great, and shuffles are hyper-important in Legacy and EDH nowadays because of Brainstorm type abilities.
I'd say this is a good land though. Base set duals and shocklands are often considered better because of their land type, but it's not so strange to want some land after someone casts Flashfires.
Posted By:
Kryptnyt
(12/19/2011 1:32:49 AM)
This isn't actually strictly worse than Marsh Flats. This remains flexible constantly, while Marsh Flats has to make a commitment to the mana it brings in. This can be tapped for colorless if you don't feel like paying life, while Marsh Flats always requires the life to convert to the land you "need." Marsh Flats needs either a Swamp or Plains to fine, while this doesn't. And the Caves only use up one slot, while Marsh Flats are useless without something to grab.
While I agree that Marsh Flats may be more useful a lot of the time, especially with landfall, the Caves are in the colors of life stealing. That one damage isn't going to matter much when you're stealing it all back.
Posted By:
DoragonShinzui
(5/29/2012 7:57:28 AM)
I really like this cycle of lands. They come into play untapped, generate the colored mana you need in a pinch, and late game you can use them to tap for colorless once your manabase is more stabilized. Not to mention they are fairly cheap budgetwise compared to shocklands and duals. This particular one is my favorite out of the cycle because it's an actual location from the novels.
Posted By:
lilwolf2005
(4/30/2013 10:32:26 PM)
I'll take four of these for my Extort deck please... kthanksbye
Posted By:
Captain_Sisay_2591
(5/3/2013 3:16:47 AM)
The white half is the half that makes the white mana. Dunno where the black mana comes from though. I guess the black half.
Posted By:
qk1
(6/1/2013 7:36:18 PM)