Orzhov basilica
Asked by student-of-life 12 years ago
can I play Orzhov Basilica as the first land I play or do I have to wait until I have a land down? I realize that is says "when orzhov basilica comes into play, return a land to its owner's hand but a friend said you can. That that is a loophole. he has been supplying me with faulty rules so I need to check up on him. Thanks
student-of-life says... #2
Thank you very much. It is very nice to have a place to easily find out what is the right way to play.
MagnorCriol says... Accepted answer #1
Your friend is wrong.
Well...in a way he's right. You can play it on your first turn. It is, however, inadvisable: its ability triggers when it enters the battlefield, and when the trigger resolves, you must return a land you control to your hand. If it's turn one and the Basilica is the only land you control, you'll have to bounce it, giving you a net of no lands at the end of the turn. (This is handy in a landfall deck, however.)
This is why the lands are good, but not broken. If you could get around their drawback just by playing them on turn 1, they'd be ridiculously broken.
March 6, 2013 11:35 p.m.