I wonder if Nimbus Maze or River of Tears wound up in a World Champion deck, they would jump to $10 or more... Just food for thought...
If Nimbus Maze and River of Tears were good enough to be played in Competitive events, they would probably raise in price. Unfortunately, these cards are worse than filters, fast lands, and buddy lands. So even if there were two colored Modern decks that can't play fetches, these still probably wouldn't see play.
I'm honestly a bit surprised too. I remember buying this from a binder at a LGS that was marked $0.67 years ago (unfortunately, that was the only one I could find there :p). I sort of find it amusing for how long it took for people to figure out how good this was.
Canopy has always been a good card, mainly due to the fact that it allows you to turn a land draw which might otherwise be dead into another card. But it was 10-ish bucks for years and years until it was played in a deck at the world championships. Then everyone suddenly realised that they had to have their own and the price jumped.
Yup. It was hot **** back when it was in standard, and people just forgot. I bought my four when Modern first started because I could see how good it was in D&T and, well, anything with white or green. I was surprised how long it took for the card to shoot up, and I imagine it is a bit inflated right now, but even if it comes down it will not go below $20 without pretty big reprint. Nimbus Maze is not horrible, I thought it should have been reprinted in THS, but River of Tears is really bad.
A lot of places price gouge the the hell of things that are moderately playable in Modern.
It is way more than moderately playable- if you are running green or white there is almost no reason not to run at least two Horizon Canopy in your mana base if you own them. They will almost surely improve how well your deck does in a multi-match event to some extent.
Losing 1 life is irrelevant. Getting the mana you need at any time is very good.
Mystic Gate is not that good, and yet it's better than Nimbus Maze. With Nimbus and one Island you can get only WU. With Nimbus and Celestial Colonnade you can get 1U or 1W.
With Gate and the Island, or Gate and Colonnade, you can produce WW, WU or UU.
As for the other lands in the cycle, Grove of the Burnwillows is very good only because of Punishing Fire; Graven Cairns was reprinted, and is among one of the best of nonbasics without land type; Nimbus Maze is not very good, as it requires you to have another color producing land to produce colored mana, so it's nearly automatically worse than Mystic Gate and Glacial Fortress for their ability to produce either color on turn 2 rather than the one you don't have already; River of Tears, I think, is an alright dual, but can easily lead to play mistakes and there are other options.
For most of the cycle, replaceability and inferiority is what puts them down. Horizon Canopy has a unique effect and is irreplaceable.
Yup. It was hot **** back when it was in standard, and people just forgot. I bought my four when Modern first started because I could see how good it was in D&T and, well, anything with white or green. I was surprised how long it took for the card to shoot up, and I imagine it is a bit inflated right now, but even if it comes down it will not go below $20 without pretty big reprint. Nimbus Maze is not horrible, I thought it should have been reprinted in THS, but River of Tears is really bad.
While Kibler was in top 8 with Horizon Canopies, it was actually Reid Duke playing G/W Bogles with 4x Horizon Canopies in the finals against winner Shahar Shenhar.
Not true at all. Grove is good for the same reason Horizon Canopy is - it taps for two colors on turn 1 with no restrictions and a very minor drawback. In Kiki pod decks, you'd prefer Grove to Canopy - you are using fetches/shocks/phyrexian mana, and your life total is very relevant, whereas you will win with an infinite damage combo and your opponent's life total when you assemble the combo is completely irrelevant.
Canopy and Grove are worth more than the others because they do things better than anything else.
Canopy draws a card when you have too many land. It's better than savannah in a few cases, especially when you don't care about your life so much but can't risk flooding out.
Grove is occasionally better than stomping grounds in modern - when you really really care about your own life total, but your opponent's not so much.
The others are usually just worse than the other dual options.
Not true at all. Grove is good for the same reason Horizon Canopy is - it taps for two colors on turn 1 with no restrictions and a very minor drawback. In Kiki pod decks, you'd prefer Grove to Canopy - you are using fetches/shocks/phyrexian mana, and your life total is very relevant, whereas you will win with an infinite damage combo and your opponent's life total when you assemble the combo is completely irrelevant.
I'm not saying its no longer good. It's just no longer 20+ dollars good in Modern, at least.
Legacy, on the other hand... it shows up from time to time I believe?
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Nimbus Maze & River of Tears are only a few bucks... What gives? What is it about the Canopy that makes it that much better? The card draw?
What am I missing here?
Doesn't tap for colored mana turn 1.
Doesn't cycle.
Inconsistent.
How you should approach every game of Magic.
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The two cards you listed both make unreliable mana and would be a nightmare to depend on either one to produce what you need it to, when you need it.
I wonder if Nimbus Maze or River of Tears wound up in a World Champion deck, they would jump to $10 or more... Just food for thought...
If Nimbus Maze and River of Tears were good enough to be played in Competitive events, they would probably raise in price. Unfortunately, these cards are worse than filters, fast lands, and buddy lands. So even if there were two colored Modern decks that can't play fetches, these still probably wouldn't see play.
You can find me on MTGO. My username is gereffi.
Kibler, Modern
Reprint Opt for Modern!!
FREE DIG THOROUGH TIME!
PLAY MORE ROUGE DECKS!
Reprint Opt for Modern!!
FREE DIG THOROUGH TIME!
PLAY MORE ROUGE DECKS!
Mystic Gate is not that good, and yet it's better than Nimbus Maze. With Nimbus and one Island you can get only WU. With Nimbus and Celestial Colonnade you can get 1U or 1W.
With Gate and the Island, or Gate and Colonnade, you can produce WW, WU or UU.
As for the other lands in the cycle, Grove of the Burnwillows is very good only because of Punishing Fire; Graven Cairns was reprinted, and is among one of the best of nonbasics without land type; Nimbus Maze is not very good, as it requires you to have another color producing land to produce colored mana, so it's nearly automatically worse than Mystic Gate and Glacial Fortress for their ability to produce either color on turn 2 rather than the one you don't have already; River of Tears, I think, is an alright dual, but can easily lead to play mistakes and there are other options.
For most of the cycle, replaceability and inferiority is what puts them down. Horizon Canopy has a unique effect and is irreplaceable.
Thank you.
and it's AMAZING there.
But they won't because they really are not that good. Horizon Canopy is just so much better then them.
You know what is the secret to using River of Tears effectively? Count it as only an island. Getting black mana out of it is just a bonus.
While Kibler was in top 8 with Horizon Canopies, it was actually Reid Duke playing G/W Bogles with 4x Horizon Canopies in the finals against winner Shahar Shenhar.
Not really. It's always a Swamp the turn it comes into play, for one thing.
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M'saion ulé hraka vair.
Not true at all. Grove is good for the same reason Horizon Canopy is - it taps for two colors on turn 1 with no restrictions and a very minor drawback. In Kiki pod decks, you'd prefer Grove to Canopy - you are using fetches/shocks/phyrexian mana, and your life total is very relevant, whereas you will win with an infinite damage combo and your opponent's life total when you assemble the combo is completely irrelevant.
@Studoku, Grove isn't banned, but Punishing Fire is.
Canopy draws a card when you have too many land. It's better than savannah in a few cases, especially when you don't care about your life so much but can't risk flooding out.
Grove is occasionally better than stomping grounds in modern - when you really really care about your own life total, but your opponent's not so much.
The others are usually just worse than the other dual options.
I'm not saying its no longer good. It's just no longer 20+ dollars good in Modern, at least.
Legacy, on the other hand... it shows up from time to time I believe?