Yes, I need to update my list, I removed it recently. Some people here love Slayer's Stronghold. My playgroup has yet to use it.
You're both right tho - Gemstone Mine is still solid. I'll find something else to cut
I doubt it will go down. Every cube wants it, every EDH-deck, most Vintage and Legacy deck want a couple. And then we are still ignoring Standard...
Of course it will go down from the $20 pre-sale price.
Most Vintage and Legacy decks want nothing to do with it. Only a few fringe Legacy decks like Dredge and TES run City of Brass. The only real demand for this card comes from Standard and EDH (Vintage, Legacy, Modern, and Cube demand is just noise) -- but those are two of the most popular formats, so there is plenty of demand. I see this card at $8-$10 after the inital hype dies down and people get the cards they need.
I think it settles somewhere around $8. Modern, Legacy, and Vintage already have City of Brass and it's a $4 card. The real price driver for this card is going to be demand from Standard, which I doubt will be enough to keep the price at $20. Maybe we'll see a spike after RavDuals rotate out, but mana fixing in standard is abnormally good right now and lots of decks will be able to afford not playing Mana Confluence.
With this just keep an eye out for a reasonably priced foil. Best time for those seems to be early before the EDH crowd jumps in (Too late for this card) or after Magic Online starts redemptions(usually the set has been drafted a ton by then too).
But there is no rush to get this card. Wizards knows exactly the impact to EDH/Cube, and a name like mundane means reprint crazy. I think they limited City of Brass because it seemed so setting specific and was old school worded. We will see this in everything, maybe as early as the new conspiracy set or in an event deck.
I looked up "confluence" and it turned out that the word actually has something to do with rivers and therefore with lands. Still, the name of the card doesn't sound that fitting for a land to me. Would have expected it more on a sorcery. And while the name is generic, it is rather weird for a land. If they wanted to make a land that would be reprinted in other sets or settings, why didn't they use something more natural? I mean, they turned Terramorphic Expanse into Evolving Wilds, but now they print a generic land with a name that is even weirder than the former of those two fetchlands.
The presorder price seems highly inflated right now. I expect it to go down after the set's release.
I think I might replace Reflecting Pool with this new card. Pool is a rather awkward fixer, since it only gives you more of what you already have, but can't help you with a color that you are currently lacking. My other option would be cutting Ancient Tomb to increase the overall number of fixers in my cube.
I looked up "confluence" and it turned out that the word actually has something to do with rivers and therefore with lands. Still, the name of the card doesn't sound that fitting for a land to me. Would have expected it more on a sorcery. And while the name is generic, it is rather weird for a land. If they wanted to make a land that would be reprinted in other sets or settings, why didn't they use something more natural? I mean, they turned Terramorphic Expanse into Evolving Wilds, but now they print a generic land with a name that is even weirder than the former of those two fetchlands.
The presorder price seems highly inflated right now. I expect it to go down after the set's release.
The name is definitely not weirder than Terramorphic Expanse.
It feels like they were groping for something and couldn't find anything truly suitable so they opted to err on the side of being TOO generic. It should basically be The Confluence of Five Rivers. But its kind of awkward since then you're drawing an allusion to streams of mana being rivers. Confluence of All Mana is also a little weird because it isn't clear what the plural of "mana" is.
Even though another 5-color land increases the value of Reflecting Pool, it is still the land that fixes mana the least on its own (and is therefore the most likely cut).
Pool doesn't help with splashes as you say, but it's a great land for hitting your 2WW and 3UU costs in the same deck, for example or even something like a 1UU cost and 2BB cost if the rest of your mana's good enough). Any deck that's solidly in 2 colors gets good use from it I've found. But it doesn't help with getting your 1 source of a 3rd color.
Reflecting Pool has many of the same issues as the filterlands, but it's still a universal fixer and those are scarce past 360. It's a good card for Winston and Sealed drafts in particular but I can't quite find room.
I like Tectonic Edge and was looking for ways to get it back in at 360, but Mana Confluence bumps it down a long way and there's no way I wouldn't play the new land.
I think wtwlf's right about what to cut for this one. Just cut an artifact that's not amazing. I'm thinking my cut for this will be Guardian Idol or maybe even Crystal Ball.
I won't include functional reprints in my cube, it just feels like breaking the singleton rule on a technicality to me (I only run 1 of Terramorphic Expanse/Evolving Wilds). So, when this card was spoiled and hailed as the new, fixed City of Brass, I just couldn't get past seeing it just as a functional reprint.
I started to look for anything at all that would differentiate the two cards enough so that I don't have two nearly identical cards, one just being slightly strictly better. And I think I just found it.
You're both right tho - Gemstone Mine is still solid. I'll find something else to cut
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Yes it does. This is the cube forum you're posting in. Every multicolor cube deck will run this card.
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Of course it will go down from the $20 pre-sale price.
Most Vintage and Legacy decks want nothing to do with it. Only a few fringe Legacy decks like Dredge and TES run City of Brass. The only real demand for this card comes from Standard and EDH (Vintage, Legacy, Modern, and Cube demand is just noise) -- but those are two of the most popular formats, so there is plenty of demand. I see this card at $8-$10 after the inital hype dies down and people get the cards they need.
But there is no rush to get this card. Wizards knows exactly the impact to EDH/Cube, and a name like mundane means reprint crazy. I think they limited City of Brass because it seemed so setting specific and was old school worded. We will see this in everything, maybe as early as the new conspiracy set or in an event deck.
The presorder price seems highly inflated right now. I expect it to go down after the set's release.
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I'd run all of the widely ran 5 color lands. All are solid inclusions.
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City of Brass
Gemstone Mines
Mana Confluence
And to a lesser extent, the two basic fetches are also great inclusions.
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Evolving Wilds
Well... Gah. I have a hard cut to figure out. Maybe Mutavault goes or Undiscovered Paradise
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The name is definitely not weirder than Terramorphic Expanse.
It feels like they were groping for something and couldn't find anything truly suitable so they opted to err on the side of being TOO generic. It should basically be The Confluence of Five Rivers. But its kind of awkward since then you're drawing an allusion to streams of mana being rivers. Confluence of All Mana is also a little weird because it isn't clear what the plural of "mana" is.
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Probably Edge. I like being able to sac a ghost quarter to fix my mana if need be.
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Even though another 5-color land increases the value of Reflecting Pool, it is still the land that fixes mana the least on its own (and is therefore the most likely cut).
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I like Tectonic Edge and was looking for ways to get it back in at 360, but Mana Confluence bumps it down a long way and there's no way I wouldn't play the new land.
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I started to look for anything at all that would differentiate the two cards enough so that I don't have two nearly identical cards, one just being slightly strictly better. And I think I just found it.
Mana Confluence wins against city when facing down an opposing Rishadan Port, but you can cast a Lightning Bolt at their face off a City of Brass at 1 life and still win.
It'll have to do. Now I just have to reconcile running two Jackal Pups...