Worldwake: Land Ho!

Looks like we have our last few cards in for the Worldwake Spoiler season. This block is extremely interesting due to the seemingly overwhelming amount of "land matters" cards in the set. More than 15 cards feature the landfall ability, while a decent portion more have the word "land" somewhere on the card. With this said, out of the entire set, I'm most looking forward to collecting the lands. Manlands to be exact.

I'm going to do a little review on the lands of the upcoming set. Something I don't usually do is set reviews. Typically because I think of myself as an FNM player. I am not too crazy-diehard of a tournament player, but I do like playing with a few prizes on the line. It makes me sad to think that I will likely be missing out on the pre-release and release of Worldwake. So when I comment on these cards, my comments aren't necessarily from an uber-competitive standpoint, rather, they are from a Johnny-esque Type 2 FNM player. Capiche? Let's go:

Dread Statuary
Tap: Add 1 to your mana pool
4: Dread Statuary becomes a 4/2 Golem artifact creature until end of turn. It’s still a land.

I'm Lovin' it. Cost isn't too bad for the body. The fact that it turns into an Artifact is fun, I think. There will be a few neat tricks you can do with Esper Decks, I think. If the next block is indeed Mirrodin, I'm sure he'll have some fun synergy in that block as well.

Quicksand
Tap: Add 1 to your mana pool.
Tap, Sacrifice Quicksand: Target attacking creature without flying gets -1/-2 until end of turn.

Ahh, there it is. With how many creatures that are a toughness of two and under, I think this will be thrown in a few decks for this format. Sure, it may not have been used an incredible amount when tenth was legal, I think this format is prime. Most vamps and boros critters are under 2 toughness. BBE doesn't stand to it, either. I'll probably play with a couple.

Tectonic Edge
Tap: Add 1 to your mana pool.

1, Tap: Sacrifice Tectonic Edge: Destroy target nonbasic land. Activate this ability only if an opponent controls four or more lands.

Cute LD trick. I'm not quite sure how much this card will have an effect on standard as we know it quite yet. I'm sure it will be somewhat prevalent since lands will likely be a higher priority to get rid of once WWK releases. My only problem with it is that in order to use it, you need to have fewer lands than your opponent, which means you can't necessarily run it in as a primary LD option in an LD deck, especially since good LD is in the form of Goblin Ruinblaster, Acidic Slime and Mold Shambler; 4, 5 and 6cc spells. It might be a nice option to fall back on, though.

Common EBT Cycle

Bojuka Bog
Bojuka Bog enters the battlefield tapped.

Tap: Add B to your mana pool. When Bojuka Bog enters the battlefield, exile all cards from target player’s graveyard.

This will be particularly useful against those Fun-Mill-Crab Black creature decks. Knight of the Reliquary has nothing good to say about this card, either. The first thing I thought of when I saw it was that it could be another graveyard remover for a Bazaar Trader / Immortal Coil deck (that I think would be oh-so-fun to build). Fun tech, but methinks it doesn't have a home in every deck that runs Black.

Halimar Depths
Halimar Depths enters the battlefield tapped.

Tap: Add U to your mana pool.

When Halimar Depths enters the battlefield, look at top three cards of your library and put them back in any order.

As the emerging Blue player that is me, this card has me pretty excited. It's a free Ponder without the card draw. Particularly useful with other card drawing techniques, especially Treasure Hunt and Explore. Imagine playing this, sorting your cards, Treasure Hunt for two lands and then the meat? Sounds like a good deal to me!

Khalni Garden

Khalni Garden enters the battlefield tapped.

When Khalni Garden enters the battlefield, put a 0/1 green Plant creature token onto the battlefield.

Tap: Add G to your mana pool.

This guy has all the Polymorph fanboys in a tizzy. Can't go wrong with a free critter, even if it is just good for a chump blocker. In a control build, sure, but I think Aggro's gonna stay away from this one.

Sejiri Steppe
Sejiri Steppe enters the battlefield tapped.

When Sejiri Steppe enters the battlefield, you may have target creature gain protection from the color of your choice until end of turn.

Tap: Add to your mana pool.

.... Are you serious WOTC? This card is phenomenal, I think. First of all, it's not target white creature, like we have seen on the likes of Brave the Elements. It's crazy good protection with decks that feature Knight of the Reliquary or Walking Atlas that allow you to trick a land into play. It's also an excellent alpha strike maneuver. Out of the common EBT lands, this is likely going to be my favourite.

Smoldering Spires
Smoldering Spires enters the battlefield tapped.

When Smoldering Spires enters the battlefield, target creature can't block until end of turn.

Tap: Add R to your mana pool.

Fun combat trick but I think I'd rather run ZEN's EBT red land before this. to me, It doesn't feel like it has quite a game impact like the other Worldwake EBT lands do.

Manlands

Kelly Reid has brought up on a couple different occasions on his blogs at ManaNation that the manlands are severly under-hyped for what they are worth (read his article here). I agree with him completely. I was suprised to see that these are generally going for an average of $10 on ebay for a playset. Are they seriously only worth $2.50 a piece? Consider that when the UNCOMMON Urza manlands were recently T2 standard, they were fetching up around $5-6 apiece. Granted they were easier to activate, I believe they were not near as versatile as what the new duals have to offer.

For control decks, these are exactly what I've been waiting for. You can effectively replace a creature slot with one of these puppies to ensure you don't miss a land drop. Their creature ability becomes prevalent later on: a point in the game where you would likely play a beater anyways. For aggro, they are an excellent cleanup option if you need that extra "oomph" to win.

Celestial Colonnade
Celestial Colonnade enters the battlefield tapped.

Tap: Add W or U to your mana pool.

3WU: Until end of turn, Celestial Colonnade becomes a 4/4 white and blue Elemental creature with flying and vigilance. It’s still a land.

Excellent beater for WU. What I like about this card, is the vigilance. When attacking with any other manland, it's essentially adding one mana to the cost. With Colonnade, you are paying exactly 3WU, leaving the ability to attack/block and then add W or U to your pool. That's crucial, I think. A flying 4/4 body is excellent, too. #1 on my personal list of dual manlands.

Creeping Tar Pits
Creeping Tar Pits enters the battlefield tapped.
Tap: Add U or B to your mana pool.
1UB: Until end of turn, Creeping Tar Pits becomes a 3/2 blue and black Elemental creature and is unblockable. It's still a land.

Unblockable is always cute. While a great way to sap your opponent's life, I don't know if I'm too crazy about it. 3/2 isn't a bad critter size and the evasion is nice. Definitely the smallest body out of the manlands (would say Lavaclaw is conditionally the smallest). I think my inner Timmy says, "meh", but again, it's nice to have the option to have a creature hiding in your mana for a few pings for damage.

Lavaclaw Reaches
Lavaclaw Reaches enters the battlefield tapped.
Tap: Add B or R to your mana pool.

1BR: Until end of turn, Lavaclaw Reaches becomes a 2/2 black and red Elemental creature with "X: This creature gets +X/+0 until end of turn." It’s still a land.

People seem to be giving this land a lot of flak, rated possibly second to last of the manlands. Personally, I see this one becoming a T2 staple, especially in Grixis Control or perhaps Crypt decks. I would rate this one higher than Creeping Tar Pit as far use goes. Both die to the same stuff. If you are playing control right, you should be able to punch through with a mondo Lavaclaw for the win late game. It's in black's territory, so it shouldn't be hard to de-removalize the opponent's board and hand before swinging.

Raging Ravine
Raging Ravine enters the battlefield tapped.
Tap: Add R or G to your mana pool.
2RG: Until end of turn, Raging Ravine becomes a 3/3 red and green Elemental creature with "Whenever this creature attacks, put a +1/+1 counter on it." It’s still a land.

Fun, a beater that starts at a conditional 4/4 and gets incrementally larger as you attack with it. There is that little bit of time that it is susceptible to being bolted, but past that, you'll need some hefty instant speed removal to get rid of it in most cases. I believe this is an excellent addition to an aggro deck. It's ability makes you want to play it early. It'll also be a great late game cleanup.

Stirring Wildwood
Stirring Wildwood enters the battlefield tapped.

Tap: Add G or W to your mana pool.
1GW: Until end of turn, Stirring Wildwood becomes a 3/4 green and white Elemental creature with reach. It's still a land.

I'm pretty excited about this guy. A 3/4 body that can block most flying things. It can't kill Baneslayer, but it can sure chump well. 4 toughness is a big deal, I think. This puts him out of bolt range and many creature's power at the moment. for 3 CMC, you really can't go wrong. It's also white, which puts it in Martial's Anthem and Honor of the Pure territory, who knows, maybe you will kill a Baneslayer or two.

Eye of Ugin

Eye of Ugin

Colorless Eldrazi spells cost 2 less to cast.
7, Tap: Search your library for a colorless creature card, reveal it and put it in your hand. Then shuffle your library.

What's there to say? I mean, right now you can tutor up some colorless artifact creatures like Darksteel Colossus. It'll be one of two things: A two-dollar mythic that will turn into a twenty dollar mythic once a few Eldrazi are spoiled... or completely opposite. No tellin' til' that third block comes out. IF they are $2 a piece, you can bet I'm stocking up. :-)

So that's all I got. I'd love to hear your opinions on these new lands!

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Common EBT Cycle

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Eye of Ugin

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