Tarkir Refuges vs Theros Temples: life vs scry
Standard forum
Posted on July 14, 2015, 2:47 a.m. by Jimmy_Chinchila
So I recently had someone mention on a deck of mine that it would be better to run Temple of Epiphany than Swiftwater Cliffs. It was a combo deck so I figured he was correct, but it got me wondering about whether the Temple was strictly better for most decks or if their was viability to the Refuge-style lands of Tarkir. I thought the life could buffer against hyper-aggro decks or burn, but if I'm only drawing one a game, is the 1 life too incidental compared to scry? Just curious what people think. Clearly when Temples cycle it's a non-issue for Standard, but there's still some good play time until then (and of course it will help in deck construction overall). Is it archetype or meta dependent?
GeeksterPlays says... #3
Temples every time. I'll be very sad to see them go from Standard! At least Shivan Reef will be around still... and in terms of having your counter/burn mana open earlier might be better than a Temple anyway...
July 14, 2015 5:11 a.m.
@buildingadeck actually that's not the real reason. It may have had a little to do with it because the scry effect is better than a lone life point gain. But the temples are rares largely because the theros limited (and just the block in general) was focused on mono-colored and dual colored themes. This meant that the limited environment didn't require a ton of mana fixing and being rare meant they didn't show up regularly in drafts or sealed pools. Khans is obviously a different story since that set was focused on the 3 color wedges. In order for people to play 3 colors in limited it requires a lot of mana fixing to be available. That's one of the biggest reason the Khans gain life lands are at common. Being a common means your more likely to see them in drafts and sealed pools and it lets people have the required mana fixing to play 3 colors. If they didn't include mana fixing like that they would end up with a set designed around 3 color pairings but no one would be able to play 3 colors in limited due to mana inconsistencies.
You have to remember that the limited environment is easily the single greatest factor in determining a cards rarity.
July 14, 2015 5:53 a.m.
buildingadeck says... #5
True, but note that Khans also had rare duals in the fetchlands. Rarity is often for limited purposes, but the Temples have shown their value as a tap land in comparison to others that must come into play tapped. This is why people say they will miss the scrylands.
July 14, 2015 8:08 a.m.
khan's life lands also replaced ravnica gates for mana fixing at a common level. honestly I'll take 1 life over a gate any day
July 15, 2015 6:40 p.m.
ParzivalRPO says... #8
Because both duel lands enter the battlefield tapped, the scry is much more important than one measly life point. For example, in affect with no card drawing spells, being able to know what you will draw next turn, or changing what you will draw next turn can be a game-changer. One life doesn't do much, as any weenie can make it useless.
buildingadeck says... #2
A Temple is better 99% of the time. Card fixing is almost always more important than a single life gain. That is why the Temples are rates and the Lifelands are commons.
July 14, 2015 2:49 a.m.