by Avacad0
Welcome to the dark side of Noble content. If you’ve been paying attention lately, we’ve gotten a bunch of great, well written, informative articles on how to play and build established archetypes, as well as a really good breakdown on how to create a mana base, that seemed useful if you want to build like a king (smirk) even in other formats. Today I’m gonna teach you how to deckbuild like an absolute maniac.
The purpose of this article is to get people thinking about card interactions in new and interesting ways! We’re here to build decks for fun, not to win quarterlies with Izzet Blitz.
This seems like a good way to introduce my Top Ten list for every not-actually-good colorless land that’s maybe playable in Noble. Sure, everyone and their cat knows that Wasteland, Ancient Tomb, and Ash Barrens are excellent in the right build. But did you know that these lands exist?
In order to make the cut for this list, a land must: 1. Not tap for colored mana 2. Not be relevant specifically for a playable tribe (As if there are any playable tribes) 3. Cannot be "competitive-level" good
4. That’s about it
Without any further ado, here we go!
Honorable Mention: Elephant Graveyard
Elephant Graveyard has the secret line of text: Regenerate target changeling. Whether you’re using that to regenerate Changeling Outcast or Valiant Changeling, or to turn Universal Automaton into a wall, it’s at least interesting, if not very good.
10. Emergence Zone
Emergence Zone gives your stuff flash. That seems relevant, because flash is a strong mechanic. I have never played this card in noble, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t some combo synergy I’m missing, or some low color control pile that likes this card. Have fun brewing!
9. Mech Hangar
Mech Hangar is a weird one. At first glance turning on vehicles for 4 mana seems kind of midrate, when creatures can just as easily do the job. But there are some really intriguing vehicles that cost very little mana, but have high crew costs. There’s probably a weird but strong deck built around Consulate Dreadnought and Colossal Plow:
8. Mouth Of Ronom
This one isn’t that interesting. It’s an on-board, instant speed, 5 mana Flame Slash, that can cast Arcum’s Astrolabe. Probably a solid one-of in 2 color control decks that want Astrolabes for one reason or another.
7. Ghost Town
While not quite being Oboro, Palace in the Clouds, Ghost Town is a really interesting card. There are infinite combos with Sakura-Tribe Scout + Retreat to Coralhelm + another landfall effect, it turns on revolt at instand speed, and it’s pretty decent with Hedron Crab and Ruin Crab to make sure you hit your lands for mill. Actually, you can probably play all of these cards in one deck.
6. Underdark Rift
Got Mana? Underdark Rift might be just for you. The card kinda speaks for itself; If you can pay 5 mana and exile it, It’ll get rid of a pesky planeswalker, a Sphinx of the Guildpact, or maybe just a Lupine Prototype that’s breathing down your neck. Honestly the only reason it even makes the list is since it came out in Adventures in Forgotten Realms Commander, most people don’t know it exists. If you’re on a low color cloudpost strat in noble, you probably want at least one of these you can dig for when you need it.
5. Desert
I love Desert. In a format full of pesky 1/1s, Desert can buy you at least some time against those tiny goblins, cats, birds, ninjas, humans, soldiers, spirits, elves, or whatever people are playing this week with Skullclamp. It changest up combat math, and if you have more than one, it can scale. But by far the coolest thing Desert can do is murder your own Veteran Explorer in a pinch.
4. Nantuko Monastery
Monastery is a card with really high upside and significant costs. You need to be able to support both threshold, and having white and green mana, in a deck that doesnt mind having a colorless land. On the other hand it’s a 4/4 first strike beater attached to a land that enters untapped. Is that good? No. Is it interesting? Very.
3. Glacial Chasm
Are you staring down an army of goblin? Sailor’s Bane got you feelin’ down? Throw a… Chasm between you and that army of lethal attackers. And sure, the price for keeping this thing around is steep, and adds up, but you can mitigate that with Power Conduit, which should let your sagas have enough time to pop off, or for you to get enough time to get down your Behold the Unspeakable… You get the idea.
2. Maze of Ith
Maze of Ith is iconic. It’s one of the original lands that don’t intrinsically count as a mana source that are still played in competitive decks to this day. However in Legacy it’s easy enough to mitigate the fact that this doesn’t tap for mana with cards like Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth and Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth. That’s not to say it’s not playable in Noble. Besides being a good defensive card in decks that don’t need too many lands but still want to play defense, or have extra land drops and not much to do with them, Maze of Ith combos with Ley Weaver and Lore Weaver. By attacking with Ley Weaver, and then untapping it with Maze of Ith, you can generate infinite mana during combat, and then use Lore Weaver to make your opponent mill out.
1. Riftstone Portal
I could write an entire article on all the different ways you can use this card to do silly things.
If you can get it into the graveyard, which is easier than it sounds, Riftstone Portal will:
- Let you not lose Gemstone Mines after you’ve removed two counters
- Let you mitigate lifeloss from Ancient Tomb
- Um. Perfectly fix your mana in your Green White deck
- Let you tap Mystic Sanctuary for Green so that you can go infinite with enough Gush and Summer blooms
- Let you tap Maze of Ith and Glacial Chasm for mana
- Let you say “ I play an Underground Savanah” whenever you put a basic swamp into play
- Fix your mana for Nantuko Monastery
There’s probably more. Riftstone portal is probably my favorite land of any rarity. I love this card and you should learn to love it too.
In any case, do any of these cards appeal to you? I hope so! Enjoy the brewing, and don’t blame me when you end up playing bad decks! I’m Avacad0, and I’ll see you next time for more Brewing Like an Absolute Maniac!
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