When I first read this on the Dissension spoiler
I thought it was a land rather than an enchant
land. I think you can imagine how disappointed I
was when I discovered the truth. Enchant lands
have a long and not very incredible history.
From the early ones like Cursed Land and Goblin
Shrine to the more recent additions like Caustic
Tar and Annex, enchanting lands has never been
the greatest thing in world. Lands are easy to
destroy, often easy to bounce, and frequently
your most important resource. Can all these
shortcomings be made up for by the inclusion of
a very strong ability? I think in this case the
answer is yes. Obviously, this is a late game
limited kind of card. However, it excels in that
capacity. While your opponents are churning out
saprolings with Vitu-Ghazi, you could be making
little flying drakes. It's an enviable position.
I wouldn't be above playing this in the first
game of a draft match and then sideboarding it
out if I used it in the first game, in an
attempt to get them to board in their answers
for it and leave them with dead cards. This is a
card that begs for an answer, and there are many
to choose from.
A bit too expensive to probably see
constructed play. But in limited, Roost is
amazing! You start churning out 2/2 flyers,
and the game will soon be yours. Best of
all, it REQUIRES your opponent to have
either enchantment removal or land
destruction in their deck. If they don't,
you just have to hold on long enough to get
a few fliers on the board and overrun your
opponent. Also probably a fun card in casual
play.
Very solid, in any format.
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CONSTRUCTED: 2
CASUAL: 3.5
LIMITED: 4.5
BMoor
Leafdrake Roost
The only way to really get a sense of this
card's power is to compare it to Vitu-Ghazi, the
City-Tree, which has already proved its worth in
tournaments and casual Saproling decks alike.
Vitu-Ghazi is a land, which can't be countered
and comes down for free. The Roost is an Aura
with Enchant Land, which costs 3UG. Vitu-Ghazi
requires five mana (four plus tapping itself) to
make a vanilla 1/1. The Roost requires three
mana (two plus tapping whatever land it's on) to
make a 2/2 flier. Unlike Vitu-Ghazi, the Roost
is an Aura, which makes it vulnerable to a
2-for-1. However, this rule usually only applies
to Auras on creatures, which are far more likely
to die. Everyone comes to the table prepared to
deal with a creature, but not so much a land
(the secret to Vitu-Ghazi's success). And when
all else fails, Vitu-Ghazi counts as a mana
source on top of it all, albeit not a very good
one. I'd say the Roost pretty much wins out,
although in Casual it's Vitu-Ghazi simply
because of Saproling decks with Nemata and such.
This card scares me a bit. I'm hoping this
foesn't become too dominant of a card in
constructed play. If you managed a way to play
Blue/Green control, this could easily be your
kill card. And it's hard to stop this thing once
it down. It could be interesting to see how this
card fits into the format.
