Those who give a poor rating to this card are amateur noobs who know nothing about the game. This one is wonderful in ALL, and I mean ALL, mono colour and artifact decks, cause it works like any other basic land, until you need a 3/4 flier that comes out of nowhere at instant speed... Cards that have two completely opposite effects are versatile and therefore powerful, if you know anything about the game. There are soo many decks where this one would be a great addictions, and yet the noobs will never use it...

  -- By Luca Simonazzi from Italy on May 22, 2011

If this card is ever the best use you have for 5 mana, you need to do some serious work on your deck.

  -- By Gary Larson from The Far Side on October 04, 2010

It''s not horrible, but, I personally have no real use for it, because the way I build decks, I will almost certainly have a better use for 5 mana, regardless of what turn it is.

  -- By You know who from You know where on June 21, 2010

I'm going to walk *you* through this very slowly. Say you have 24 lands and 36 spells in your deck. Most of these spells don't have extremely high colored mana requirements; an artifact deck would be an extreme example of this. But plenty of decks can use some lands that produced uncolored mana. If you can stick a turn 1 Forest and Birds of Paradise, you probably won't have mana problems. My point in explaining all of this is that taking out a basic land and putting in on of these will do absolutely no harm 95% on the time...and you also have a late-game win condition. Ta-da. You're welcome.

  -- By Gerg from Atlanta on February 06, 2010

I don't think anyone really understands the point of this. It is supposed to be for a Draw-Go Control deck where you want to try and counter every spell the the other person plays. The problem is that you still need a win condition and what better way than to make your lands the win condition?

  -- By Stewart Aiken from LA, California on November 23, 2009

OK,people, I'm going to walk you through this very slowly ... I want to build a deck that has exactly 60 cards. I add 1 of these things, and now I can only add 59 more cards... Why? Because a slot has been used. It's that simple. 60-1=59. It doesn't matter that it is a land that can become a creature, I still have only 59 slots left open.

  -- By Jim from Madison, WI on August 26, 2009

Considering that there is little to no land destruction coming out in the coming, and recent, sets this card will see lots of play in control decks once the Mutavaults are gone. You have to remember that creatures in land form win games when it comes down to you having no cards in hand and results in you top decking for board advantage. Overall I'll pay the 5 mana late game for a Treetop Village with flying that can't be Lightning Bolted.

  -- By Phil from Houma, LA on August 21, 2009

It doesn't use a slot because it's a land as well as a creature. The deal for this card is similar to Mutavault's: if your deck isn't really mana intensive, and you don't need every single land to produce colored mana, this is probably a good call. First, it's just a land, and then, it's a creature! 5 mana definitely is a lot, but a card like this is definitely going to have a drawback (or two).

  -- By Greg from Atlanta on August 15, 2009

I'd say closer to 3.5, but I'll round to four. A) As mentioned, it takes NO slots in the deck and can produce mana. B) It cannot be countered, major help. C) Appeal isn't in its defensive use, but as a late game punch to the face. Seriously, late game, few good cards in hand, dumping your extra mana into a flying attacker is a major plus.

  -- By Nate from MI on August 08, 2009

OK, let's think about this a little bit...an instant blocker? You need 5 mana to do this, meaning you would have to limit your spell casting during your turn to leave 5 mana unused. That kind of strategy will lose you game after game. Also, if you are using it to produce mana, it will be tapped, meanng it is useless as a creature. Finally, if you plan on sticking to a 60 card deck, each and every card you put in a deck means there is one less slot open, so I'm not really sure what you mean when you say it doesn't use a slot. If it's in a deck, it takes up a slot that could have been filled with something else, regardless of card type.

  -- By Jim from Madison, WI on July 30, 2009

There are some benefits to Gargoyle Castle. Yes, there are better creatures out there for five mana (Baneslayer Angel comes to mind) but Gargoyle Castle can generate mana for most of the game, it doesn't take up creature or spell slots, its ability can't be countered and it can be used as an instant blocker or a waiting threat.

  -- By Anonymous from New York on July 28, 2009

This card ranks up there with Scornful Egotist and Filthy Cur as one of the most useless cards in the game. Seriously, 5 mana is WAY too high for a 3/4 flying with no other abilities. There are tons of bigger, better flying creatures that also have other abilities and you could play them for the same 5 mana you would waste on this thing (Serra Angel and Serra Sphinx for example). This card would be most useful if shredded and eaten as a fiber supplement for good colon health!

  -- By Jim from Madison, WI on July 24, 2009