MTG Salvation

Uncommon cycle - colorless mana for tapping, colored mana for pain, colored + "sac a Desert" activations.

a bit disappointed on the "sorcery timing" for 3 out of 5. considering the steep cost to activate them (mana + tap itself + sac desert) they could easily be all instant effects

Excellent--more targets for the Ramunap Hydra. Weird that the creature is green while the Ramunap desert is red, but I didn't design them.

I get a weird Hokusai vibe from the Shefet Dunes.

These seem quite interesting actually.
I wonder if any of them could make a splash into standard with some of the other deserts we have already seen.

The red one seems especially useful for late game reach. As it is gives you access to repeatable burn which can't be countered as long as you have some deserts.

These actually aren't terrible for any mono-colored Commander deck. The life loss is negligible, having access to both uncolored mana and mana of your respective color on an untapped land is a plus, being a desert is actually positive with the new Scavenger Grounds, and the ability while small is always beneficial.

Quote from JCaleb »

a bit disappointed on the "sorcery timing" for 3 out of 5. considering the steep cost to activate them (mana + tap itself + sac desert) they could easily be all instant effects

Power level wise, perhaps, though considering they're basically costless to include in a deck, and repeatable, some costs might have to go up if they were instant speed. More importantly though, they'd lead to a lot of feelbad/gotcha moments, where you tried to kill my creature, but whoops I can give him +3/+3 and you just wasted your grasp of darkness. Since lands, like graveyards, typically fall into the areas people ignore when considering combat tricks to help lessen the mental load of playing magic, you can see they made a conscious choice to limit the instant speed activations to ones that don't typically affect the board.

Besides the sorcery speed on a few of them these are actually not that bad.

Oh, so that's where that 'Lightning Bolt' artwork went (Ramunap Ruins)...I was so sure that'd be one of the Invocations.

I think these are going to make for interesting pick decisions, since they don't contribute to your ~23 nonland cards, but look quite playable. Although 'Desert matters' support so far doesn't look very incentivizing...

Even with these, there's still a lack of desert support, unfortunately.

Beautiful art. That's about it, really.

These will make thought knoght seer and friends viable again. Sweet.

Is it just me or is Ifnir Deadlands just MILES ahead of the others in term of power?

I need the red one asap for my mono red aggro deck, this is the perfect finisher to go along with my playset of sunscorched deserts already in the deck. I'll probably only run two of these though.
Also these combo with the creature desert that wants you to exile a desert from your graveyard to activate it.

Ipnu Rivulet sounds like an anagram.

Love the cycle though, time to bring some color to the desert. It also seems to setup a future "world outside the Hekma".

Ugggh blue mill

With these 5 revealed, we are still missing 3 deserts. Does that mean the remaining 3 are rare? Especially considering 10 of the revealed deserts are part of cycles

Well the positive thing about deserts is that my Titania deck would appreciate all the land sacrificing. Pity the green one is abit of a downer.

Quote from LordOrgodemir »

With these 5 revealed, we are still missing 3 deserts. Does that mean the remaining 3 are rare? Especially considering 10 of the revealed deserts are part of cycles

I'd absolutely love for a land that turned all lands into Deserts in addition to their other types if for no other reason just to exist.

Hey, they come into play untapped and can tap for colored mana in a pinch. These should be pretty effortless to include in any Standard, Limited and EDH deck that could remotely use the ability. Great stuff.

Ipnu Rivulet and Ifnir Deadlands actually have the potential to be interesting, especially the former (perhaps in a The Scarab God deck?).

Interesting that they all say sacrifice a desert, rather than itself alone. These abilities are recurable....

I would love a Mythic land that says "all lands you control and in your graveyard are deserts in addition to their other types".

Quote from damagecase »

Interesting that they all say sacrifice a desert, rather than itself alone. These abilities are recurable....

Yep, just add Crucible of Worlds or Ramunap Excavator.

Quote from ChaosNomad »

These actually aren't terrible for any mono-colored Commander deck.

I'll even use them even in some multicolor commander decks. I'm a big fan of Tainted Pact as an instant-speed Demonic Tutor provided your deck is truly highlander, including no more than one of each basic land. But after a few cycles of lands (basics, snow-covered basics, artifactlands, and the sprinkling of other always-enters-untapped-and-provides-colored-mana lands) it begins to run a little short and it becomes necessary to use some lands that enter the battlefield tapped... which I'd rather not do.

Quote from Circeus »

Is it just me or is Ifnir Deadlands just MILES ahead of the others in term of power?

Eh, I see the green and black as mostly equivalent in power. Black one is basically Dead Weight. Green one is sorcery-speed Giant Growth, but the cost is one less than the black one.