I'm seeing echoes of Cabal Coffers, once one of
the most powerful lands in any monoblack deck.
Crypt of Agadeem was likewise an attempt to
re-capture that lightning in a bottle, but
Nykthos has the advantage of working with any
color you need it to. It's still a devotion
card, though, so you'll want to be monocolor for
it to work, and its power is tied to your board
position, which can fluctuate. It won't be as
reliable as Cabal Coffers was, but it will grant
that same effect to the other four colors.
Multicolor decks are unlikely to get any use out
of it... unless they're well-stocked with hybrid
cards like Godhead of Awe. Remember, hybrid mana
symbols count towards your devotion to both of
their colors!
As I think I mentioned in a different context a
little while ago, some of the most powerful and
dangerous abilities in Magic involve generating
lots of mana at once. You don't even have to go
to the Power Nine to prove it - Crypt of Agadeem
and Vorinclex remain popular and influential in
various settings. Nykthos has been seen here and
there in its short time in Standard, but I
suspect that its true impact is actually yet to
come. While it's perhaps more fragile than some
similar cards, and is more affected by the
prevalence of cards that remove things from
play, the fact that it adds another dimension to
decks that already use the devotion mechanic
makes it very appealing. After all, who doesn't
want to play six spells in one turn?
Welcome back readers todays card of the day is
a tremkendously powerful land and a throwback to
the obscene levels of Cabal Coffers, this land
however allows you to play any color and
actively rewards you for sticking close to mono
colored builds. In standard this card fuels
things in mono black and blue devotion as well
as the explosive green and red ramp decks
shaping the overall metagame towards the power
of one or two color decks in a profound way. In
other construxcted formats its a bit slower but
definetly something to keep your eyes on. In
casual and multiplayer it can generate obscene
amounts of mana and having access to a plethora
of untap effects for lands means this card is a
powerful addition to most mono colored decks
that have lots of mana symbols. In limited its
definetly something you draft around and
combined with other devotion enablers it can be
added to most mono colored decks. Overall a
powerful land that has already shaken up
competative standard and is a powerful land in
its own right.
The number two card of the year is Nykthos,
Shrine to Nyx which is a legendary land that
taps for one colorless or for two mana taps for
a chosen color of mana equal to your Devotion to
that color. This is a very solid card for
mono-color decks, particularly those with higher
or X costs to fuel and becomes profitable with
just three mana symbols in play. Not
coming in to play tapped and still tapping for
at least one prevents some of the typical
drawbacks for non-basic lands and there are many
builds that can benefit from this in the middle
or late game.
Overall this is a land that will surely see play
across formats and be a part of competitive
decks in Standard and Extended.
For Limited this is a strong accelerator in
Booster and barring major competition in the
pack works very well as a first pick as it can
fit alongside most second and third draft
choices. In Sealed it is more difficult to
assemble a mono-color build which lessens the
value noticeably, though depending on the
permanent pool in the colors selected this can
still be worth a slot.
Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx is another amazing land
brought to us by Wizards of the Coast! There are
a lot of players out there that believe that new
ideas are running dry in the Magic world. That
may be true, but for now Magic the Gathering is
hot with fresh new cards! Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
is already being abused by many different types
of players. Casual players love this land and
Standard players have had a few months to take
advantage of devotion. My experiences with
Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx has taught me that this
land card has many limitations, but when used
correctly it is a mana producing machine! Yes,
we all know that you need to have some devotion
to a color before this land can even work.
Did you know that you can tap Nykthos for a
bunch of mana and then drop another Nykthos to
do it again? Now go out there and cast a huge…
Fireball? Mistcutter Hydra? Drain Life? Sphinx’s
Revelation…?
