So the general problem is that colorless lands DO COME WITH A COST. They are not colored lands to pay for spells. A huge mistake that even mono-colored decks do is run too many colorless lands. The reason is that you can normally get great pay-off with cards like Extraplanar Lens, Gauntlet of Power, Caged Sun.
If you're looking to use the mana doublers in mono-color then you really should only be running colorless lands do a lot for your deck configuration. Deck makers make huge mistakes in overrating colorless lands for their builds.
Then colorless lands have no real business being in three or more colored decks (unless they are fixers like Krosan Verge for example). Definitely the biggest mistake I see most players make. And it get's them in the end. Sure enough they'll play a lot of games where they just haven't had enough colored sources to get early advantage.
If you have colorless lands, they need to be super special to what your deck is trying to do. This is where Reliquary Tower fails, in that it is not special to most decks and I'll point out the reasons why.
The second mistake that people make with running Reliquary Tower is when they have cards that use your graveyard as a resource. If you even have a couple of cards that might use your graveyard, then you should avoid Reliquary Tower.
Discarding cards can be beneficial to this strategy. There are very few decks that don't have a few means of using your graveyard. Very few.
The final reason why Reliquary Tower in generally is an overrated land choice, is that it is a win-more type card. If you're discarding cards due to hand size then you are already normally have enough cards to cast.
Here is the important part; Your bottleneck is mainly going to be casting your spells. How many games do you lose when you simply couldn't cast everything in a timely manner?
So in general excess cards might not even apply to what the constraints of your deck is.
Then there is the flip side and you have some sort of incredible mana engine, where you can cast your spells in hand, and so you do, and now you don't even care about hand size because you've a cast most of your spells (and realistically won).
There are going to be very few games where this interaction of having a large hand size, over a select 7 cards, is going to really be the deciding factor that wins you the game.
Normally you can discard down to 7 cards, that has a plan of action, that's going to fit around your mana constraints anyway.
I have played several hundred commander decks, and it didn't take me long to figure out the Reliquary Tower in general was a poor choice. Over the last 6 years all but one of my decks still plays it, and it's only because it actually fits the deck configuration. The main problem is that people don't know WHAT decks they should play it in.
I only play Reliquary Tower in a single deck. It meets all the criteria into making it an OK land for the deck. Not great but fine.
1) Doesn't use graveyard as a resource.
2) I have moderate extra draw, and I am looking to grind out opponents with resources, so every card in hand can count.
3) Two color deck.
4) Early colored mana fixing is not too important, as I'm looking to make the game go long.
5) No mana-doublers off colored sources.
I feel like the sweet spot for colors is two color decks in general, as mono-colored can suffer from not getting the advantages of the good mana doublers, and decks have no business playing colorless lands in three or more colors, unless they do something extraordinarily special for the build.
Other mana doublers for mono-colored are to name a few examples; Blue has High Tide, Red has Gauntlet of Might, Green has Vernal Bloom, Black has Crypt Ghast. There are more, but I'm just pointing out why often colorless lands are a poor choice for mono-colored.
Then 3 or more colored decks will always be better off having a colored mana source over Reliquary Tower.
If you're looking to use the mana doublers in mono-color then you really should only be running colorless lands do a lot for your deck configuration. Deck makers make huge mistakes in overrating colorless lands for their builds.
Then colorless lands have no real business being in three or more colored decks (unless they are fixers like Krosan Verge for example). Definitely the biggest mistake I see most players make. And it get's them in the end. Sure enough they'll play a lot of games where they just haven't had enough colored sources to get early advantage.
If you have colorless lands, they need to be super special to what your deck is trying to do. This is where Reliquary Tower fails, in that it is not special to most decks and I'll point out the reasons why.
The second mistake that people make with running Reliquary Tower is when they have cards that use your graveyard as a resource. If you even have a couple of cards that might use your graveyard, then you should avoid Reliquary Tower.
Discarding cards can be beneficial to this strategy. There are very few decks that don't have a few means of using your graveyard. Very few.
The final reason why Reliquary Tower in generally is an overrated land choice, is that it is a win-more type card. If you're discarding cards due to hand size then you are already normally have enough cards to cast.
Here is the important part; Your bottleneck is mainly going to be casting your spells. How many games do you lose when you simply couldn't cast everything in a timely manner?
So in general excess cards might not even apply to what the constraints of your deck is.
Then there is the flip side and you have some sort of incredible mana engine, where you can cast your spells in hand, and so you do, and now you don't even care about hand size because you've a cast most of your spells (and realistically won).
There are going to be very few games where this interaction of having a large hand size, over a select 7 cards, is going to really be the deciding factor that wins you the game.
Normally you can discard down to 7 cards, that has a plan of action, that's going to fit around your mana constraints anyway.
I have played several hundred commander decks, and it didn't take me long to figure out the Reliquary Tower in general was a poor choice. Over the last 6 years all but one of my decks still plays it, and it's only because it actually fits the deck configuration. The main problem is that people don't know WHAT decks they should play it in.
I only play Reliquary Tower in a single deck. It meets all the criteria into making it an OK land for the deck. Not great but fine.
1) Doesn't use graveyard as a resource.
2) I have moderate extra draw, and I am looking to grind out opponents with resources, so every card in hand can count.
3) Two color deck.
4) Early colored mana fixing is not too important, as I'm looking to make the game go long.
5) No mana-doublers off colored sources.
I feel like the sweet spot for colors is two color decks in general, as mono-colored can suffer from not getting the advantages of the good mana doublers, and decks have no business playing colorless lands in three or more colors, unless they do something extraordinarily special for the build.
Other mana doublers for mono-colored are to name a few examples; Blue has High Tide, Red has Gauntlet of Might, Green has Vernal Bloom, Black has Crypt Ghast. There are more, but I'm just pointing out why often colorless lands are a poor choice for mono-colored.
Then 3 or more colored decks will always be better off having a colored mana source over Reliquary Tower.
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
Just stop it.
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith