For two
colors that like to blow up land so much, they
sure have a great one of their own. Each of the
guildhalls is effective in it's own way (except
maybe Nivix). Rix Maadi can have perhaps the
biggest effect on the game once it gets rolling.
Disrupting Scepter has long been an effective
limited card. This trades the one-sidedness of
the scepter for the ability to produce land and
be much harder to destroy. I've seen it used
extremely effectively, and it can really screw
with an Azorious player who's trying to play
control. It will most likely become useful in
constructed as well, where you can more quickly
bury your entire hand and then strip out the
rest of theirs.
(Dungeon Palace? Dude, did I take a wrong turn
into the red light district or something? I just
can’t bring myself to discuss something called a
"dungeon palace." For the rest of this rambling,
I redub thee "Graceland!")
Land
Tap: Add 1 to your mana pool.
1BR, Tap: Each player discards a card. Play this
ability only any time you could play a sorcery.
Limited: Elvis once told me that discard usually
isn’t as good in limited as in constructed play,
mainly ‘cause a guy is much better off just
smashing face than trying to get all hand
disruptive and stuff. (And then he told me to
get him a peanut butter & jelly samwich and some
barbiturates.) Still, it does have it’s place.
Anytime your opponent is out of cards is a time
when he/she isn’t casting something at you,
which gives you more time to pull out a win. Of
course, using Graceland means you’ll be hitting
yourself in the head, too. If you’re really
committed to a hellbent deck, that’s probably
okay. Probably. I have mixed feelings on this
one, so I’ll split the difference and call it a
2 out of 5.
Constructed: More mixed feelings. Graceland
looks much better in constructed for two
reasons: Hellbent and dredge. On the other hand,
Bottomless Pit never conquered the universe,
either. 2 out of 5.
Casual: Somebody fetch Daddy a set of Megrims! 4
out of 5 for fans of the discard, a 2 out of 5
for the rest of you.
BMoor
Rix Maadi,
Dungeon Palace
"Each player discards a card" is only really
effective in a deck that empties its hand early
on. Which is exactly what most Hellbent decks
do. And it's on a land, so it can't really be
countered (though it can be Stone Rained).
