City of Traitors

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Legality

Format Legality
1v1 Commander Legal
Archenemy Legal
Canadian Highlander Legal
Casual Legal
Commander / EDH Legal
Commander: Rule 0 Legal
Custom Legal
Duel Commander Legal
Highlander Legal
Legacy Legal
Leviathan Legal
Limited Legal
Oathbreaker Legal
Planechase Legal
Premodern Legal
Quest Magic Legal
Tiny Leaders Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

City of Traitors

Land

When you play another land, sacrifice City of Traitors.

: Add to your mana pool.

Azoth2099 on Miracle Wizard | You shall not pass! (LOTR Theme)

3 months ago

StyxOG

Yeah man, dialing in the landbase is so crucial for consistency, it can't be overstated. Personally, I try to keep the curve on my decks below 2.00 if I can manage it, which allows me to cut down to 30 lands and retain speed along with ~10 mana rocks and perhaps a few rituals depending on the build. Your build's got plenty of rocks, don't be afraid to cut down a bit as you switch things up.

https://m.managathering.com/trilands/jeskai.html

Here's all the applicable lands within the color combo. Even upon refinement, I'd imagine that your deck will include a few that come in tapped under specific conditions like Spirebluff Canal & Training Center, but that's fine. Just be discerning as to how often they'll realistically come on untapped (quite often).

I'd obviously also recommend the 5-color lands like Mana Confluence & City of Brass if you can afford them or are willing to proxy them. Cheaper options like Command Tower, Spire of Industry & Gemstone Mine, Forbidden Orchard & Exotic Orchard aren't to be forgotten either.

The only colorless lands I'd consider on a budget are Crystal Vein & Emergence Zone. If budget/proxy constraints aren't an issue, I'd also consider Ancient Tomb, City of Traitors & Boseiju, Who Shelters All.

Also give Mystical Tutor, Enlightened Tutor & Gamble a shot for sure. They just got reprinted, they're super cheap right now! Speaking of sick reprints, Sapphire Medallion, Ruby Medallion, Pearl Medallion & Smothering Tithe have all seen big price drops lately. Gotta strike while the iron is hot, ya know...

Lastly, I'd recommend testing out fellow all-stars Elsha of the Infinite since you're running Sensei's Divining Top so heavily & Kykar, Wind's Fury, which can be utilized as both a wincon & and absurd value engine here with what you've already got going on.

Azoth2099 on The Iron Giant

6 months ago

Have you considered Emergence Zone, Crystal Vein, City of Traitors or Urza's Saga for your land base? A few Tutors and choice card draw pieces like Ring of Three Wishes, The One Ring, Planar Bridge, Planar Portal & Citanul Flute could help you quickly outvalue your opponents with your Commander's ability, as could Ramp pieces like Ashnod's Altar & Doubling Cube. Portal to Phyrexia & Grimoire of the Dead could potentially win some games here as well, depending on the pod!

TheBestMagicCard on Emrakul, the Promised End

6 months ago

Hey Profet93, thanks for the comment!

I do think Rings of Brighthearth is a great card, but I've excluded it mostly because, on it's own, it doesn't do anything...

Forsaken Monument, for example, = infinite mana with Basalt Monolith, but is also an incredible ramp card on it's own. This is basically the same reason that I've also excluded it from my Atraxa - Planeswalkers-Poison-Proliferate-Turns, even though it seems like an auto-include in that deck as well, in my opinion. I like Rings of Brighthearth a lot, but I really don't like looking at it on the battlefield without a combo piece, it's just a dead card then.

Aside from infinite mana, there are a bunch of other abilities that it could copy, like Planar Bridge, etc... However, the Rings only copies activated abilities, and I would sooner include cards like Lithoform Engine or Abstruse Archaic, as these cards also copy triggered abilities, like the cast triggers on Eldrazi, specifically Ulamog and Emrakrul, or Unwinding Clock's untap. Lithoform Engine and Abtruse Archaic both have somewhat more utility than the Rings, but as of yet, I still haven't squeezed them in either, again because I still feel like they just aren't good enough on their own without another combo piece.

Voltaic Construct fits into this "doesn't really do anything on it's own" category as well, and arguably is an even worse include than the Rings, Engine, or Archaic, but it's a lot easier to tutor up with cards like Eye of Ugin, Sanctum of Ugin, and especially Scrapyard Recombiner. Voltaic Construct + Metalworker and two artifacts in hand = infinite mana, which is pretty easy to assemble, and Metalworker is just a house on it's own. Voltaic Construct can also count for towards Emrakrul's casting cost in the graveyard...

Ultimately, I would like to include any of these copy-an-ability cards, if not all of them, but when I have, it just feels bad to have them sitting around doing nothing. Also, I kind of don't really need to copy abilities like that, as it turns out. I've found this deck to be pretty strong, and copying abilities often seems kind of win-more and win-less at the same time. Copying doesn't always make as big of an effect as it might seem... although copying a Planar Bridge ability could put two combo pieces in, the Bridge can also chain out anyways that with Clock of Omens, which is also a really powerful card, even though it also fits into the "doesn't really do anything on it's own" category, but I think is still better than any of the afore mentioned cards ...

I haven't included Voltaic Key either, for the same reasons basically, although I think this is really a card that should be in here. I guess I've also partly not included Rings of Brighthearth because I haven't included Voltaic Key either. I would put the Key in before the Rings, but I'm still not sure about the Rings. I think I decided to include Unwinding Clock instead of Voltaic Key, because, even though it's more expensive, it is really really REALLY powerful!!! With Liberator, Urza's Battlethopter and mana rocks, this mimics Prophet of Kruphix, which I think is rightfully banned becuase it's way too powerful for one card...

The Top trick with the Rings is cool, and more card draw is definitely welcome in this deck. This combo ultimately reads, ": Draw a card", but... I guess I've just come to the conclusion that there are already kind of a lot of "doesn't do anything on it's own" cards in here, so I've had to really pick the most powerful ones, and I guess I feel like the Rings just aren't powerful enough even when they do work, as they can only be activated once per ability. Clock of Omens, for example, can untap something a bunch of times, effectively "copying" abilities by just untapping something and activating it again. Also, Sensei's Divining Top + Jhoira's Familiar and Mystic Forge combo to draw the deck out for no mana once assembled, and these two cards are powerful on their own.

I like Wayfarer's Bauble a lot, and still want to include it. I think it is ultimately much better than Wanderer's Twig and Traveler's Amulet, which are both admittedly kind of bad cards.
The only reason I really include these at all is to get an artifact in the graveyard for Emrakrul's mana cost reduction, and to ensure land drops. Notably, multiple cards of one type still only count for , so often times it's redundant anyways. I think the reason I kept the Twig and Amulet in instead of Wayfarer's Bauble, is I kind of see the Bauble as a mana rock that adds but costs, which I do not think is acceptable. The only rock that cost and makes which is included is The Celestus because it also has card draw attached to it, and it can be tutored for with Moonsilver Key, for the card draw.

Even though the Twig and Bauble aren't technically ramp, they do help ensure a land drop every turn, which is think is important. There's already 36 lands in the deck, which is a lot for how many mana rocks are included, but I really want a land drop every turn if I can help it. I've tried to minimize high mana cost cards, even though there's so much mana in here, because it's still possible to get mana screwed if you have just a bunch of expensive cards in hand and not enought mana! Technically there's 38 lands in here currently, but I've put Eye of Ugin and City of Traitors in their own "Special" category, as I consider them to act more like artifacts then lands, as they don't always do what just a land that taps for mana does. They're unreliable for just basic mana, I guess. I'm thinking of putting Temple of the False God in, and I would also include this in the "Special" category for the same reason, being that it can't always be relied upon for mana like a regular land...

The most recent addition has been The Irencrag, which I myself think is funny to fit in over any of these other cards, but the consistency of early ramp is too important. Assuming that mana rocks will continued to be printed, I wonder what the limit to include will be! I actually took out Foundry Inspector to do this, which I don't like doing, and I might try to fit the Inspector in again first. But I think Karn, Legacy Reforged is on the top of the list for inclusions. Even though the mana he makes can't be used to cast Eldrazi, he'll be a huge beater, and will help cast and activate all those expensive artifacts.

My ideas are just what I've found to work playing the deck, and are by no means like, the way the deck should be built though!

Thanks for the comment!!! Very relevant, and totally valid. I will definitely try to fit Voltaic Key in again though, and reconsider Rings of Brighthearth, but actually I'll try Manifold Key first!

I hope that provided some interesting insight into my cards choices...

khunkao on Twenty Years of Playing Magic!

1 year ago

Wow, this sparks some fond memories for me!

I first started playing almost 25 years ago. I started during about a month before Exodus dropped. The "Rath Cycle" is my sentimental favorite! Phyrexians for everyone! When Urza's Saga dropped, I bought 2 booster boxes and pulled 2x Gaea's Cradle, which I still have in my binder!

I took a long break from the game in the early 2000's because my playgroup totally fell apart as everyone got jobs, got married, and moved away. However, some of us have found our way back together and have met some new players, so we're able to squeeze in real-life paper matches once or twice a month.

One thing that's been fun for me is to go back and review my older cards! I often find some serious gems I had overlooked previously because I didn't understand the game well enough to realize how powerful they were. One of my favorite hidden gem cards is Recurring Nightmare. At the time, I simply didn't appreciate what it was, but over the last 5 years or so, I've become the graveyard's biggest fan! I've also found other hidden gems in my collection such as Yawgmoth's Will, Lake of the Dead, Survival of the Fittest, City of Traitors, etc...

I can't begin to tell you how excited I've been for the game since last Fall. Dominaria United, The Brothers' War, Phyrexia: All Will Be One, and the coming March of the Machine! Dominaria is still my favorite plane and the Brothers' War and the Phyrexians are my jam!

I'm crossing my fingers & toes that we'll witness the return of Yawgmoth! It's the arch-enemy we all deserve!

jamezbl0nde on Oops, All Spells!

1 year ago

because youre not playing alot of lands and you dont really want to keep alot of lands out: City of Traitors

I also like the idea of group hug land grab effects like Collective Voyage or Tempt with Discovery right before you land wipe. "just helping out guys, grab as many as you want"

Ojallday on 5-color Mana Base

1 year ago

My advice is to run all the fetches since you have most of the original duels. Other than that all of the lands that produce any color mana is the way to go (ie. City of Brass, Forbidden Orchard, Mana Confluence, Command Tower, Gemstone Caverns). I'd avoid anything that enters tapped but that is just my opinion. With the fetches duels and gold lands that's 25 lands leaving room for utility lands or lands that tap for multiple mana like Gaea's Cradle, Ancient Tomb and City of Traitors.

Decrepit_Angel on [Primer] Colored Mana is for the Weak

1 year ago

Profet93 Thanks for the recommendations.

I have messed around with Mystic Forge and it's associated combo a bit but I ended up cutting Sensei's Divining Top as I felt that it was unnecessary more often than not and not having ways to shuffle consistently made it way worse if I didn't have a way to go infinite with it. I mighy try Mystic Forge again but I felt that it was too slow in my testing. cEDH nowadays has the "turn 3 rule" where you need to be threatening a win or overwhelming advantage by turn 3 consistently by turn 3 if you want to be relevant. From my testing, cutting a lot of the random value pieces for extra ramp has allowed for a lot more turn 2 or 3 Eldrazi Titans and a lot more success against cEDH decks.

Manascape Refractor has been very good in testing. Mishra's Workshop is my personal favorite but it also copies Inventors' Fair pretty frequently. Ancient Tomb or City of Traitors makes it into a Worn Powerstone (which I already run). Bazaar of Baghdad and Eye of Ugin are useful as well, especially when I have access to Unwinding Clock and can repeatedly activate a random tech land every turn. At one point, this deck ran Candelabra of Tawnos as a way to repeatedly use tech lands but I would argue that Manascape Refractor is a much better way to accomplish that. High Market, Homeward Path, etc. are also surprisingly useful. On that topic, using it as a High Market with access to infinite mana through Rings of Brighthearth + Voltaic Key + Chromatic Orrery (also gives infinite untaps of all artifacts) allowed me to win once as I didn't have access to a different way to sacrifice and recast Kozilek, Butcher of Truth.

I had no idea that Soul-Guide Lantern even existed. I'm not sure if I would call it a strict upgrade to Relic of Progenitus but it is definitely good. I might swap out Tormod's Crypt for it so that all of my graveyard hate can be cycled if it isn't relevant.

Regarding the Metalworker combo, a lot of the primer is outdated. I tried updating it a few times but I ended up changing out 20ish cards so I figured I would wait until I had a pretty stable list to update it. The Metalworker combo is absolutely a backup option though. Typically by the time I would go for that combo, I would have access to casting Kozilek. As for Field of the Dead, I am not a fan of tap lands and roughly 1 out of every 20 games with this deck would even go long enough to get to 7 lands for it's ability to be relevant. I think Field of the Dead would be good in a casual meta but I try to play this at cEDH tables as this deck is ridiculously unfair to play at casual tables.

Reliquary Tower is a good budget option but it might as well be a Wastes with the way the deck runs most games. I typically mulligan for some form of acceleration and try to immediately get to 10 mana which usually empties my hand. Kozilek will get me a new hand, but very rarely will I pass with more than 7 cards in hand, and if I do, I haven't had the scenario yet where I had to ditch anything useful.

The main form of drawing power in the deck is my commander. Mikokoro, Center of the Sea, War Room, Ugin, the Ineffable, sacrificing Mind Stone, Hedron Archive, or Dreamstone Hedron are the only other ones I have for card advantage. This deck is basically an all or nothing deck intent on playing really early Eldrazi Titans, going infinite, or playing stax to slow everyone else down (usually some combination of the 3). As colorless does not have access to particularly great interaction, I have tuned the deck to be about as fast as physically possible. Most games I am able to cast Kozilek, Butcher of Truth on turn 3 or earlier (admittedly almost always at least 1 mulligan for fast mana). Although some times people will have answers, that early in the game is enough to cause problems for most decks. The plan from there is to either just kill my oponents or do as you said where I cast Kozilek, draw some cards, ramp some more, and repeat. Although the situation will occasionally show up where the game goes long, this deck absolutely shines when it is doing terrifying things really early.

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.

Stardragon on Colorless Support Over 40 of …

1 year ago

Grubbernaut I knew Lunar necklace was going to be a problem i just knew almost did make it may need to delete it rather than rework it, Ashlands is meant to be that goof since shock lands are good it meant to the colorless version of those. Moonstone was debating on add suspend or not. to answer your examples Ancient Tomb is good though expensive, other than being old it don't see much reason to use City of Traitors as it will either have to the last land you play or a one turn ritual basically. Crystal Vein is good not tomb good but decent though again you have to blow it for fast mana. The Moxes are expensive and not every can have that deep of pockets a style should be locked out due to not being rich. Monolith are werid that do give fast mana but only every other turn and not a net gain i never got the love for them.

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