MTG Salvation

Not bad, but I think entering untapped and working perfectly in 2-color decks with a demanding manabase are the two things I like most about Gilded Lotus. Still, this card has a pretty absurd ceiling in 4-5 color tap-out control decks with a lot of really top-end cards. Might be worthwhile if you play a lot od decks that meet that description.

I think ETBT is too harsh of a drawback on this. You're pretty much taking your entire turn off every time you cast this.

I would consider it if it came into play untapped (Particularly if my cube played a lot fo 4 color good stuff decks). But taking a turn off it horrible. Most of the time gilded lotus is effectively 2 mana on, but you have to wait until turn 5 to play it. Much like Garruk wildspeaker. and chandra, mana right away makes these things.

A fun card as it takes some work to be good. But have a high ceiling.

It also doesn't fix you if you are missing a color(s). If I'm missing black in my Sultai reanimator deck, this doesn't actually help. If I hadn't just dismantled my rainbow cube it would have been sweet there, but I don't see this being worth it even in big cubes.

Quote from Ultimateer »

It also doesn't fix you if you are missing a color(s). If I'm missing black in my Sultai reanimator deck, this doesn't actually help.

Yes, it does. The domain only generates the value for X, not the colors of mana it can produce.

While it is worse than Gilded Lotus, this might be a nice addition for ramp and artifact decks. Ramp decks are often 3+ colors in my cube and artifact decks want 10+ artifacts and are also likely to at least splash a third color. Taking a whole turn off is fine if you get to cast Eldrazi on your next turn because of it. A 5-cost card that ramps by 3 or more the next turn is fine by that standard. With fetchlands, ABUduals, shocklands and battlelands, getting a domain count of 3 or 4 doesn't seem too hard. (Aside: I really, really want the five enemy colored battlelands!)

Quote from Ultimateer »

It also doesn't fix you if you are missing a color(s). If I'm missing black in my Sultai reanimator deck, this doesn't actually help. If I hadn't just dismantled my rainbow cube it would have been sweet there, but I don't see this being worth it even in big cubes.

I think you might be misreading the card. Only the amount of mana is restricted by your basic land types, not the type of mana this artifact can produce. If you control forests and islands, this can totally tap for BB.

Quote from wtwlf123 »

Quote from Ultimateer »

It also doesn't fix you if you are missing a color(s). If I'm missing black in my Sultai reanimator deck, this doesn't actually help.

Yes, it does. The domain only generates the value for X, not the colors of mana it can produce.

Oo! That's an important distinction. I glossed over the text after domain, reading is tech. Thanks for the correction! Still not great, but much better.

Worse than Gilded Lotus in most cubes, but if you have a high density of 3+ color decks, then yeah I would run this.

Most of my 3+ color decks would rather have a Coldsteel Heart (or a random Signet/Talisman). You want to power out early powerful 5-drops, not spend five mana putting more ramp rocks onto the board.

Tempting. Powered lists that prioritize fixing shouldn't have too much trouble getting at least 3 colors out of this, and making any combination of colors instead of just one is going to be an underrated upside. Gilded Lotus is the more consistent choice obviously, but there's something to be said for raw power.