Worth noting: In the original Arabian Nights stories, the City of Brass was an Amalekite city that earned God's wrath and was slain in a single night...except for the queen and her bodyguards, who were somehow trapped in stasis. Just looking over the walls could drive the weak-willed into suicidal horror, and even the most strong-willed felt a pall of sorrow while walking through. Oh, and be careful about trying to go near the queen--the bodyguards will go out of stasis just long enough to kill you.
So originally, it damaged you because you're slowly suffering agonizing sorrow. Psychosomatically agonizing sorrow.
Posted By:
SkyknightXi
(6/5/2013 9:51:50 AM)
Absolutely love this artwork. Not the best card to pull from the set, but certainy good. Looks stellar with black borders. I bet it's absolutely gorgeous in foil.
Posted By:
Doaj
(6/4/2013 5:26:59 PM)
Finally, pain land that has a flavorful explanation for the pain. It's hard to see why a Temple Garden allows you to pay life for quicker mana, but ringing which slowly grinds away at you in exchange for hidden knowledge makes sense.
It reminds me of one of Lovecraft's stories, but I can't think of which one it was.
Posted By:
MasterOfCruelties
(6/4/2013 8:42:34 PM)
Looks so good with the black border, modern frame, and new artwork. I really want to replace the ugly ones in my decks now D:
@DarthParallax
How is this underpowered? Maybe in this set it seems so, but it is one of the best 5-colour lands in the game.
Posted By:
SAUS3
(6/7/2013 10:10:00 AM)
I had actually given up on getting a black border City of Brass, and then they go ahead and print this. Absolutely gorgeous art.
Posted By:
auriscope
(6/6/2013 11:31:17 PM)
This actually is arguably one of the best lands in my WUR-splash-B Modern deck. I really only need to tap it for mana in early turns before my mana base stabilizes, and even then only once or twice. Solid, affordable, and effective, I will be trading for more of these.
Posted By:
Nucleon
(6/11/2013 5:53:19 PM)
Ali from Cairo is the most flavorful way to prevent this from killing you.
Posted By:
Zetan
(7/14/2013 12:13:53 PM)
This is a reprint that makes me happy. It's been forever since this classic was reprinted. And now it gets reprinted with a black border and the best art since the original. It should have been a Time Spiral timeshifted card, but this makes up for it.
Posted By:
theButterfly
(7/17/2013 3:45:22 AM)
@ MasterOfCruelties:
The White Ship?
Posted By:
DacenOctavio
(7/18/2013 9:02:27 PM)
@MasterofCruelties: Actually not a Lovecraft story, but he used it in his mythos, so forgivable mistake. This is Dim Carcosa from the King in Yellow cycle written by Chambers.
Or maybe it's Irem, but that involves lizardmen, so I don't see it.
Posted By:
blindthrall
(8/3/2013 11:42:11 PM)