The first time it attacks, it'll be a 4/4 by the
time it connects, so the window of opportunity
for your opponent to Lightning Bolt it is small
indeed. Bituminous Blast gets a slightly bigger
window. Then again, non-toughness based removal
like Smother or Doom Blade can always job it, as
can a big enough blocker, though "big enough"
becomes a progressively more challenging
criterion to meet. And how much damage can it do
before that happens? A lot, I'd wager. And in
the meantime, you've still got a dual land.
Like their ancestors from Urza's Legacy, Raging
Ravine and friends are a multiple threat. Not
only do they do what good multilands do, they
punish your opponents for forgetting to play
with instants. Raging Ravine is arguably the
least essential of the five, as it does similar
things to Lightning Bolt, but it's hard to argue
with something that hits as hard as this. And it
even has great art.
Today's card of the day is Raging Ravine which
is the Red and Green living land that costs four
to activate as a 3/3 that gains a +1/+1 counter
whenever it attacks. The counters are
useful as it is not vulnerable to many forms of
removal while a land, but the activation cost
being maintained is a bit high. Also, the
lack of any direct protection or defensive
ability limits this to a fairly singular role.
For Constructed, Casual, and Multiplayer this
can be a good choice as both mana production and
opportunity to use excess mana in the middle to
later stages of the game. Some of the
other lands may offer a bit more pressure as
this can just be blocked by a 1/1 and will take
several turns of attacking to become a real
concern. Better than a standard dual land
with a comes into play tapped condition for a
Red/Green deck and can be supported by Red's
burn to help get open attacks.
In Limited drafting this is a difficult first
choice as it requires support from two colors,
but burn and mana acceleration go well together.
Very much worth using in Sealed if the pool is
adequate in both colors as it makes running two
colors easier and is quite useful in the later
stages of the game. In addition any
removal options, especially for a land, are not
likely to be in abundance in the format.
