Torment took the innovative design of dual lands
begun in Odyssey and turned it way up. You could
have easy access to any color . . . as long as
you also played black? Really? Well, it turned
out that there were a lot of reasons to play
black, with Torment also being a
color-imbalanced set - another gimmick that they
only tried twice (Torment, and then Judgment but
with white and green to balance it out) before
swearing off. I can't help but feel that it
could be interesting to do once in a while, but
for now we'll just have to enjoy Torment as part
of heritage play.
In their original Standard environment, these
lands suffered a little once Invasion rotated
out and took a lot of reasons to play two or
three colors with it. But in casual play, these
remain very solid and certainly worth a look in
the right deck - casting Mind Sludge and Silvos
with the same land isn't just for people with
forty shock lands.
Today's cards of the day are the Tainted cycle
of four dual lands from Tempest that tap for
colorless and
can
tap for Black or one other color if you control
a Swamp. These are excellent for a
primarily Black deck that has either a secondary
color or a splash as with a majority of Swamps
in deck there is virtually no drawback to
including a set. In a fully multicolor
deck these are less efficient as a Swamp may not
be available, barring original dual lands and
the Ravnica shock lands.
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth is a strong support
card as well and the Tainted lands can be a
strong addition for many decks in formats that
allow them.
I've always had a bit of a fondness for these,
they're for the advanced player, not really for
the novice. They get better every turn, though
they're not on the same level as shocks or
whatnot, but they're still pretty good. Not too
much else to say about these.
Constructed: 4
Limited: 3.5
Casual: 4.0
EDH: 4.0
Also, If you've got a minute, I'm doing a
fundraiser for a car. I'm really in a bad way
without one folks. Take a look, share, or donate
if you can. I'd really appreciate it :D
