Fake Card: Dark Alleyway, Manaless Land.

[Spiderman]

Hmm. So "strong" abilities should go on enchantments? Maze of Ith, if made today, should have been an enchantment?

 

[Oversoul]

Well, it could go on an enchantment in some way. An artifact would be more simple in that case (the tapping activation cost could be kept). I'm not saying that any particular land should be refitted to be an enchantment or whatever--just that initial mana cost is a design limitation that affects lands (they always have a mana cost of zero, whereas other types of permanents can cost a lot more).

 

[Spiderman]

Yeah, I'm not saying a land should be refitted to an enchantment and vice versa. But it seems to me that what you're saying is that more powerful effects are more suited to enchantments because of the mana cost generally (barring giving a land Legendary status).

 

[Oversoul]

You can give any card too powerful of an effect for its cost. I'm not denying that. Effects powerful enough that an enchantment, artifact, or creature would cost a lot of mana to provide it are generally unsuited to lands because lands don't cost mana to play, although it is possible to give a land other drawbacks...

 

[Force of Will Smith]

i think maze of ith would be have to be an artifact... simply cause of the tap effect..
also because its a maze.. and fits the flavor a little better..

it could have been made into an enchantment but the tapping makes the wording much less sloppy i think... like if my gang warfare was a land... no choosing.... setting aside.. all that nonsense.. if it was like..

Land
T:deal damage equal to the creature you control with the highest cost to target opponent's cr with highest toughness or sumthin

 

[Oversoul]

That reminds me of Arena.

 

[Spiderman]

I think the Maze itself is suited to be a land, just because the name evokes a "location", as a land should be. The ability is a bit more vague; I could see it being a land as it was probably intended to "confuse" the creature, being in a Maze and all.

So maybe it does come down to flavor also. Oasis "heals" creatures, being a resting point in a Desert. Desert causes damage, being presumably in a "sandstorm"... I guess further research would actually have to go into finding lands where their ability doesn't fit the "flavor" of being a land (not sure of the background of Sorrow's Path and the switching of blockers, for example).

 

[DarthFerret]

Well, Sorrows PATH would indicate that it is a 'land'. I am trying to think of a land that is not a land name. Not sure if I can come up with anything...

 

[Spiderman]

Well, the name is indicative of a location, but why would a switching blockers ability be part of it? Was that part of the backstory of The Dark?

 

[Oversoul]

I can't think of any lands off the top of my head that I would consider to be "out of flavor." There are some that are sort of questionable, like Forbidden Orchard. It gives your opponents spirit tokens. Are the spirits produced by the fruit in the orchard? It's a bit weird, but it could be interpreted in different ways...

 

[Spiderman]

Well, seeing how it comes from CHK which does deal with spirits extensively, it seems reasonable that spirits are involved with the Orchard, especially since it's "forbidden".

But maybe it's also in the novel that explains the connection.

 

[Force of Will Smith]

yeah wotc did a pretty good job making the lands work, with things like aysen alley or whatever 3 color mana producing lands from homelands i dont think make much sense.

or the lairs