Do Golgari Guildgate Count as Swamps?
Asked by ImTriForceGuy 12 years ago
If a creature has Swampwalk does Golgari Guildgate count as a swamp?
I know a card's color identity is dependent on the mana symbols on the card, so the Guildgate Counts as both a black and green card.
No they do not. They way you tell is it will be on the "land type" bar which is in the same place as creature type. Overgrown Tomb is both a swamp and a forest and is affected by stuff that affects both. As is Bayou and cards like it that specifically say it counts as a swamp.
tldr: No.
November 15, 2012 2:59 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... Accepted answer #3
Color identity is only used in EDH and is in no way synonymous with card color or types/subtypes.
Golgari Guildgate 's typeline says "Land - Gate." That means it has the type land and the subtype gate. It does not have either swamp or forest as a subtype, so it doesn't count as either a swamp or a forest. Being able to tap for mana of a given color does not automatically give a land the correlating basic land type.
November 15, 2012 3:10 p.m.
ImTriForceGuy says... #4
My girlfriend says: "That's dumb. A card is any color that appears on it, therefore the Golgari Guildgate is black. And what do we call a black land? A SWAMP. (I know I'm wrong, but their logic is a little...nonexistent sometimes.)"
November 15, 2012 3:11 p.m.
ImTriForceGuy says... #5
Addendum: I was unaware that color identity was only used in EDH, therefore I told her wrong, which is why she was wrong.
November 15, 2012 3:13 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #6
Explain to her that a card has the color identity of any colored mana symbol that appears on it, but color identity is not the same as color. They're related, but different concepts and it's important to know that CI doesn't matter unless you're playing EDH and it only matters in determining what cards are legal in a given deck. It does not impact effects that ask for a card of a certain color.
Additionally, a "black land" (which is a misnomer, since all lands are colorless and may have colored identities) is not necessarily a swamp. Take, for example, Crypt of Agadeem . It's not a swamp because its typeline doesn't say swamp. On the other hand, Leechridden Swamp is a swamp because its typeline does say swamp.
November 15, 2012 3:16 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #7
Looks like you posted while I was typing. Color identity is rarely used or referred to. In fact, the only in-game effect I can think of that's even relevant to color identity is the rule that a land in EDH can't produce mana of a color outside its controller's general's color identity. Other than that, no in-game effects interact with color identity and no card text references it.
November 15, 2012 3:18 p.m.
Rhadamanthus says... #8
Epochalyptik is right. "Color identity" is only relevant for EDH/Commander deck construction and the results of mana abilities during an EDH/Commander game.
The color of a card is determined by its mana cost, its color indicator (the colored dot in the type line on card:Ludevic's Abomination Flip, etc.), or characteristic setting abilities mentioning color (Ghostfire , etc.).
Zerix says... #1
The guildgates like Golgari Guildgate only count as Gates because their subtype is Gate, not Swamp Forest like Overgrown Tomb for instance.
November 15, 2012 2:42 p.m.