{"id":717,"date":"2017-05-31T09:37:44","date_gmt":"2017-05-31T09:37:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/playerexperience\/?p=717"},"modified":"2017-05-31T09:38:50","modified_gmt":"2017-05-31T09:38:50","slug":"card-of-the-month-urborg-tomb-of-yawgmoth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/playerexperience\/2017\/05\/31\/card-of-the-month-urborg-tomb-of-yawgmoth\/","title":{"rendered":"Card of the Month – Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Written<\/a>

Written by Francesco Scialpi
\nLevel 2, Italy<\/p><\/div><\/b>In the game of Magic there are five colors.<\/p>\n

Green is rich on mana fixers and it’s almost a mandatory choice if we want to play with four or five colors. We have the expression \u201c5-color green\u201d, and Birds of Paradise<\/a> is a real evergreen card.<\/p>\n

On the other end of the spectrum, black has always been a color that wants to be alone. Some of the strongest black spells are stronger if we control more Swamp<\/a>s or if we invest more black mana, which means that we want to play monoblack. At the beginning of the game we had Nightmare<\/a> and Drain Life<\/a>, and in the history of the game we had Mutilate<\/a>, Mind Sludge<\/a>, Corrupt<\/a> and several other similar cards.<\/p>\n

Then, among all the possible monocolored decks based on the devotion mechanic, monoblack has been the strongest.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Taking into account this information, playing Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth<\/a> looks unfair to the other colors. All lands immediately become Swamps and make some of our spells more powerful. Mutavault<\/a> can produce black mana, painlands give black mana without dealing any damage, Nightveil Specter<\/a> can be cast with Urborg and any two other lands. All these advantages with Urborg that has no drawback: it doesn’t enter the battlefield tapped, the mana it produces isn’t colorless.<\/p>\n

Urborg is also an interesting card for Melvin (rules addicted), for a few reasons. Let’s take a look at the most interesting ones.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The \u201clegend rule\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Let’s start by reviewing the legend rule. Urborg has the legendary supertype; each player can control one, but if there is a moment in the game when he controls two or more copies, he has to put all except one in the graveyard.<\/p>\n

The legend rule applies to legendary permanents with the same name. There is also a legendary land called just \u201cUrborg<\/a>\u201d: if we control this old land and our current Urborg, they aren’t the same card and we can keep both on the battlefield. The legend rule doesn’t apply in this case.<\/p>\n

\u201cLegendary\u201d is a supertype and is kept even if Urborg changes type or subtype.<\/p>\n

Spreading Seas<\/a> modifies the subtype of the enchanted land: Urborg enchanted by Spreading Seas is a \u201cLegendary Land – Island<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n

For the same reason, Blood Moon<\/a> makes Urborg a \u201cLegendary Land – Mountain<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n

If we control Urborg and we play Vesuva<\/a> copying Urborg, Vesuva gets from the land it copies the supertype Legendary and also the name. We end up with two copies of Urborg on the battlefield and we have to put one into the graveyard.<\/p>\n

Urborg has no color identity<\/strong><\/p>\n

If a land has a basic land type (technically called “subtype”), it also implicitly has the ability to produce the appropriate color of mana.<\/p>\n

Urborg turns all lands into Swamps, and all lands can produce black mana. The fact that all lands become Swamps \u201cin addition to other land types\u201d is very important: if Urborg didn’t say this, all the lands would be just Swamps. It means that they would gain the ability to produce black mana but would lose any other abilities! (Blood Moon<\/a>\/Magus of the Moon<\/a> do exactly this: non basic lands become just Mountain<\/a>s).<\/p>\n

It’s interesting to note that Urborg, technically, has no mana ability. Urborg turns itself into a Swamp and therefore gives to itself the ability to produce black mana, but has no ability printed on it that allows it to produce black mana or that contains black mana symbols.<\/p>\n

If we think about the Commander format, Urborg’s color identity is colorless!\u00a0If our commander is white, we can still add Urborg to our deck.\u00a0If we play Urborg, all our lands will become Swamps too.\u00a0Can we use them to produce black mana? Let\u2019s see.\u00a0The rules of the Commander format say that, if our commander isn’t black, all of our Swamps haven’t got the ability \u201cTAP: add {B} to your mana pool\u201d, but instead they have \u201cTAP: add {1} to your mana pool\u201d.<\/p>\n

What about our opponents’ lands? If their commander is black, their lands will have the ability \u201cTAP: add {B} to your mana pool\u201d, otherwise they will have the ability \u201cTAP: add {1} to your mana pool\u201d.<\/p>\n

Other than this, all the lands will be Swamps.<\/p>\n

If our commander is white, we can still add Urborg to our deck, so that our creatures with swampwalk will be unblockable. Another option is to play the Urborg + Karma<\/a> combo. It’s technically legal, (though it might be against the gentlemen rules of your playing group).<\/p>\n

Urborg and layers<\/strong><\/p>\n

Let’s take a look at a couple of counter-intuitive situations with Urborg.<\/p>\n

Scenario 1:<\/span><\/p>\n

We turned Urborg into a creature, for example with the first ability of Nissa, Worldwaker<\/a> and there is Humility<\/a> on the battlefield.<\/p>\n

The ability of Urborg creates a \u201ctype-changing effect\u201d, which is applied in layer 4.<\/p>\n

Humility<\/a> creates an \u201cadding-removing abilities effect\u201d, which is applied in layer 6, and a \u201cpower-toughness setting effect\u201d, which is applied in layer 7b.<\/p>\n

We need to apply all effects in layer order:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. In layer 4, all lands become also swamps and gain the ability \u201cTAP: add {B} to your mana pool\u201d.<\/li>\n
  2. In layer 6, all creatures lose their abilities. Urborg loses trample, loses \u201cTAP: add {B} to your mana pool\u201d, and loses the ability to turn all lands into Swamps.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Though, the ability to turn all lands into Swamps has already been applied (layer 4) before being removed (layer 6), and its effect still exists! Conclusion:<\/p>\n