I'm kind of baffled by the hate on Reliquary Tower. Unless my intention is to discard for reanimation purposes or other shenanigans, I generally like to keep my cards in my hand.
The problem with Reliquary Tower isn't that the effect can't be useful. The problem is that very very few decks actually need that effect (the best 7 cards in your hand is very nearly always as useful as keeping all 8+, and sometimes even more useful), and running a colorless-producing land over a color-producing land is a real cost.
Actually, I'm changing my opinion on Temple. Meteor Crater is better. It has a much lower hurdle to clear. All you need is one colored permanent to get at least one mana out of it. And you're certain to have one colored permanent long before you have four other lands.
I've tried using Meteor Crater before. In my experience it does nothing a lot more often than Temple does nothing.
Reliquary Tower to me is only good in a deck where you consistently are going to draw a bunch a cards and have more than 7 in your hand at your discard step.
Even decks that frequently have 7+ cards in hand at their end step don't often need Reliquary Tower. Keeping the best 7 cards is almost always more than enough, and allows you to pitch things for graveyard interaction, too.
Homeward Path: Meta call; if you frequently play against theft-heavy decks, or decks which reanimate opponents' creatures and you're often the target, it's worth consideration. Even if you often play against decks with theft/reanimation, if you're not the target it may not be worth using, since the owner is likely to get more value out of a particular creature than the person stealing it. Outside of a meta call, there are a small number of decks that might consider it anyway, regardless of meta (eg, Zedruu the Greathearted, taking back creatures that were given away, or Trostani Discordant as a backup commander). Note: while I can't speak for all theft decks, I know my theft deck runs most of the Strip Mine variants, specifically to deal with Homeward Path. 1 Homeward Path vs. 5+ Strip effects, who do you think is more likely to have theirs available?
Detection Tower, Arcane Lighthouse: Meta call (do your opponents have important creatures with hexproof and/or shroud) on top of what's in your deck (do you have targeted spells/auras that you really want to hit those creatures with). Honestly, in most metas and for most mid-to-upper tier decks, I suspect the answer is "no". Many of the better creatures have already done their primary job by the time you can use a removal spell on them, and many metas can get rid of creatures without targeting them just fine.
Reliquary Tower: As I mentioned above, even decks that regularly fill their hands often don't actually want this card. It's almost criminally overplayed, and people need to learn to get used to discarding things. I used to run this card a lot, but after building more red and blue decks with looting effects (and with 45 decks at this point, I have plenty), I've come to realize that discarding is not a scary thing that needs to be avoided at all costs, and is often beneficial to me. As a result, I've stopped playing Reliquary Tower in most (all?) of my new decks, and when I've got a new land for an old deck, Tower is often first on the cutting block. There are some decks that might want it still (maybe Mind over Matter without any sort of combos? And yet, just yesterday I had MoM starting the turn with 1 card in hand and turned that into a victory on that turn, thanks in large part to MoM itself and not doing any sort of MoM combo...), and some metas where it might be useful (Cyclonic Rifts for days!).
Temple of the False God: Hard cut in a cutthroat, high-powered deck/meta. Okay in a slower deck/meta. Actually strong in a slower meta playing a deck that runs on land untappers along the lines of Ley Weaver and Krosan Restorer.
Myriad Landscape: Okay in a slower meta in a deck with colors that aren't good at ramp. Not great, but not terrible.
I'd say that even running graveyard shennanigans yourself shouldn't stop you from running scavenger grounds in mono B or two color. You're in control of when it goes off, so if it hurts you more you just use it for Mana, and only crack it when it hurts your opponents more.
Just like a board wipe in a creature-heavy deck, except you can still put it to use (other than cycling) when you're not gaining more benefit than your opponents.
Two Score, Minus Two or: A Stargate Tail
(Image by totallynotabrony)
Two Score, Minus Two or: A Stargate Tail
(Image by totallynotabrony)
Just like a board wipe in a creature-heavy deck, except you can still put it to use (other than cycling) when you're not gaining more benefit than your opponents.
Two Score, Minus Two or: A Stargate Tail
(Image by totallynotabrony)