MTG Salvation

I'm always up for more Crucible support, but I think lands that go well with Crucible need to also be good enough without it. Unfortunately, I don't this is pushed hard enough or priced cheap enough to run on its own merits. It is certainly a sweet combo with Crucible, though.

This one's the most interesting to me of the cycle. Compared with Blighted Fen, this is a lot less intrusive on your mana, cheaper, and actually gets to target. Sorcery speed is a downside, but not a big enough one to turn me away.

This is definitely the best of the cycle, as even a mediocre removal that takes the slot of a land that doesn't ETBT or interfere with early game color requirements will make main decks almost every time. I'm not sure if I can justify a slot in my black section for this at 450, but there's such a low opportunity cost of drafting this I'm tempted to try.

I don't support C, so these lands lose some utility. Still, it's always worth considering utility lands of this kind. This is clearly the best of the cycle for me, as it acts as removal. My main problem with these cards is that most of them require double colored mana to activate. This one is almost certainly strong enough for me. Maybe not the rest of the cycle, though.

The best of the cycle, but still not quite good enough. Oh well.

If you want this effect on a land, why not Cabal Pit? Threshold isn't that difficult to achieve in most black decks. Plus Cabal Pit has some of the coolest art in MTG history.

I think Barbarian Ring is better than the red one, but I think this is better than Cabal Pit.

I think this is a real contender for the second best black-aligned land. (After Volrath's Stronghold, of course.)

Not having to pay life every single time you tap it for mana but still having the option to produce colored mana is a real advantage over Cabal Pit and its cycle. And you can rely more on reaching 5 mana than having 7 cards in your graveyard. Therefore, I think it is better than the Pit.

And I also like it more than Blighted Fen. An edict is far less reliable when your have wait until you have 6 mana available (and also have to spend that much to use it). Two -1/-1 counters seem more relevant even later in the game. Oh, and Fen strains your mana base, which is also a considerable downside.

The only thing that annoys me is the sorcery speed restriction. Without it, I would probably try it out.

Quote from Star Slayer »

I think this is a real contender for the second best black-aligned land. (After Volrath's Stronghold, of course.)

I do too.

Urborg is also better than this IMO. I think calling this a removal spell is a bit generous at that stage of the game, it is probably closer to "stalling for a true removal". In every draft there will be multiple decks this does nothing meaningful against. It doesn't hit manlands or vehicles, only somewhat weakens fatties and the cheaper creatures already did their thing by that stage of the game. Killing a mana elf or equivalent useless small body will not be worth five mana almost all the time.
Instant speed would have made this far better. Black is already a color full of self pain. As is, I do not see this card as a contender.

I think there are plenty of X/2 creatures that are still very much worth killing on T5...

I agree that there are X/2s worth killing at that stage in the game, but I don't believe it's worth 3BB and sac a land to do so.

A land that becomes a spell later is really, really useful. Even if it is a bad spell, it is basically an additional spell drawn for free. And sacrificing a land is a negligible cost later in the game, unless your deck has a really high curve.

Quote from Star Slayer »

A land that becomes a spell later is really, really useful. Even if it is a bad spell, it is basically an additional spell drawn for free. And sacrificing a land is a negligible cost later in the game, unless your deck has a really high curve.

A spell land for a higher cost is okay.
Sacrificing a land for a good effect is okay.
Putting together a high cost and sacrificing a land is where the problem lies here.