Erik's Random card 6/25/2011
Alara Reborn was a set with a major "hook" or "gimick": every card was gold.
The basic lands were excluded, but the rest had to be gold.
So there weren't any non-basic lands, because those are not gold cards.
When we (the development team) played a lot of limited with it, we found there just wasn't enough mana fixing. There were cards that helped, but it was still low. If every card is going to be gold, and every color pair is represented, the set needs a lot of fixing. Normally this would mean some common lands, but those would not be gold. So we needed another solution.
Gold mana stones are a solution. The problem is that they aren't a great solution. If you don't have enough mana to cast them, then they don't help. So we tested mana stones that entered the battlefield tapped, but cost you a land drop. However Alara Reborn also has a cycle of "gold loving" two mana creatures, such as the Jund Hackblade. If you could play this on turn 1, then yo... (see all)
Posted By:
ErikLauer
(6/25/2011 11:56:50 PM)
It comes into play tapped. That's why it has a low rating.
Red and Green hate losing tempo. I could see the white/blue version working, or any other control colors that can afford to be slow.
Posted By:
Laguz
(12/2/2009 12:33:33 PM)
It is a great card especialy in artifact decks that use affinity.
Posted By:
Silverware
(10/18/2009 11:48:01 PM)
people dont understand how to play it maybe?
Turn one: drop a basic land, tap it, and return it to your hand to play this. Turn 2, play a jund hackblade and the hackblades gets the bonus due to this card (3/2 with haste). Its very good, you just have to think outside the box ;)
it is essentially a dual land that gives bonus's to certain cards
Posted By:
Cenelder
(5/5/2009 8:43:59 PM)
yes rockrchic576, you can counter this.
Posted By:
Zinniz
(9/27/2009 6:04:48 PM)
I know it seems like you'd lose tempo with this but in my deck I don't have it happen too much. If I get it out turn one on turn two, in my deck, I can drop a Mountain and then play Raging Goblinx2 or one of them and a Lightning Bolt or a Jund Hackblade with its bonus.
Posted By:
djpraiseadelik
(9/5/2009 4:11:22 PM)
It does not get that high a rating because it comes into play tapped. You lose tempo and you usually do not want to lose tempo when playing red/green.
Posted By:
Stuntman
(5/28/2009 9:25:43 AM)
I actually love these card because I play a blue and white deck and these allow me to put some awesome multi coloered cards in there without having to fill it with a bunch of basic lands! I do however have a question about these cards, I know you cannot counterspell artifact lands but can you counterspell these because they simply say artifact?
Posted By:
rockrchic576
(6/7/2009 3:37:08 PM)
it is a dual land, come on people, why the low rating?!?!
Posted By:
Dingo777
(5/3/2009 10:19:36 PM)
i miss ravnica
Posted By:
Iiory
(7/26/2009 4:21:17 AM)