Cavern of Souls + Haven of the Spirit Dragon: overkill?
Modern forum
Posted on May 12, 2015, 1:07 a.m. by Jimmy_Chinchila
I'm trying to make a modern dragons deck, and I like the utility of both lands, Cavern of Souls and Haven of the Spirit Dragon. In a multi-color deck I could see running both, but is it overkill in a mono-color (red) deck? The counter protection helps in blue heavy metas, and the recursion helps with removal, but I honestly don't know if I should pick one or use both, and if so what split? My first thought was 4 Cavern, 3 Haven.
branston567 says... #3
They are both strong lands and very worth running, mono blue merfolk run 4 Cavern of Souls and 4 Mutavault and they have a heavy 
reuirement
May 12, 2015 4:53 a.m.
JexInfinite says... #4
Run at least 1 of each, maybe 2 Havens. Counterspells aren't especially huge at the moment, so not as much risk.
May 12, 2015 5:20 a.m.
The Havens seem like they are less useful. The amount of none damage based removal running around is limited to Path to Exile and a few odd copy's of black kill spells in some niche decks. The rest is more or less red bolts and other red kill spells since Abrupt Decay will not be hitting your cmc4+ Dragons. So Cavern seems like the better option for an open meta. If there are an abundance of Black based kill spells in your area then one or two Haven's might be good to have. But that is something that would be specific to your local shop, in every other case I'd run 3-4 Caverns and at best 1 Haven(and only if your mana can support it).
May 12, 2015 6 a.m.
branston567 says... #6
I think Haven of the Spirit Dragon would still be useful as it means that Thoughtsieze and Liliana of the Veil are weaker against you, the rise in Grixis Delver is seeing an increase in Terminate, there are still methods for burn to get rid of your dude (using 2 Lightning Bolts to eliminate a Thundermaw Hellkite can appear good but not when they can just reanimante it) and you could be happier trading creatures off as you will be able to recur them. Although as Jojja said it is mostly dependent on your local meta, think about what is usually played and base it off that. (e.g. my meta is mmostly 
decks so I'd go 4 Cavern of Souls and 2/3 Haven of the Spirit Dragon)
May 12, 2015 6:12 a.m.
I run 2 caverns in a knight deck and have another 2 in the sb. No clue about the heaven though
May 12, 2015 2:34 p.m.
Jimmy_Chinchila says... #8
I guess I could use one of the two to start, and have the other in SB. Will have to examine meta. What about a 2 color deck? They both help mana fix, and if I used Dragonlord Atarka as my only green mana need, for example, I may not need any green mana sources running both lands in like a 4/3 split...
JakeHarlow says... #2
They're both awesome. Use both. I'd 2 or 3-of the Haven, though, so you don't mess up your instants and sorceries.
May 12, 2015 1:45 a.m.