Still soo expensive! I run these in my B/W Suicide deck. Off all the swamps I can with Lake of the Dead, float a ton of mana then cast Balance, then drop Flesh Reaver or Phyrexian Negator, or play Putrid Imp and filter down to 1 kill card and balance in hand and leave lake of the dead in play. Balance down to 1 Land, 1 Card, and no creatures, then drop the Negator or w/e. I become public enemy #1 the second I drop this land and everyone already knows my deck

  -- By Jay from Minneapolis, MN USA on December 24, 2010

I love this card! by far the best black land. I would never put more that 2 in a deck, but i own 10 of these because it has a tiny little place in my heart. Its a classic, always reminds me of my high school magic days!

  -- By MaGneToK from Florida on February 09, 2010

ah, sorry, I forgot the "sacrifice a swamp" part .. but it's still loads of mana >_>

  -- By Jens N from Denmark on November 12, 2009

that's 5 mana on your second turn! without using Dark Ritual! simply cast Crucible of the Worlds on your second turn, and you're ready to go :P

  -- By Jens N from Denmark on November 12, 2009

I'm not sure how viable it'd be, but does anyone else think you could make a pretty awesome Legacy deck by combining this, Crucible of Worlds, Nantuko Shade, Mox Diamond, Damnation, and Drain Life effects? Reliable acceleration is pretty hard to come by in that format, and this would go great in any deck designed to exploit land recursion.

  -- By DukeDemonKn1ght from on November 15, 2008

Too slow to recieve 5 stars, but a great mid-game to end-game card, and useful for finishers like Drain Life or Howl from Beyond in a mono-black deck. Beautiful illustration as well - classic black mana production. Not quite up to the speed of a Lotus or Mox on turn one, but darn close. 4.5 stars.

  -- By Matthew from Minnesota on August 26, 2007

This card has won me many games in my speed black deck. This is perfect for drain life or to get one of black's many large, nasty creatures out. One of the best lands ever. Heck, one of the best mana producers ever.

  -- By Kristen P. from Madison,WI on June 25, 2006

this card is the best black land there is! you dont have to sacrifice untapped land to play it and get mana with it which makes it very flexible. and it has a nice picture for mid game mana this is a must for a mono black deck. for early mana use dark ritual with bog witch

  -- By someone from somewhere on June 01, 2006

my friend played with this in a black suicide 1.5("legacy") deck four or five years ago and won a tournament. this land was part of that deck. i believe my friend played either two or three copies. anyway, while i've always thought about playing with it, it's uses seem to be highly specialized and niched than it may appear at first glance. also, very vulnerable to any kind of land destruction because of its ability AND the "come into play and sack a land" requirement. not exactly speedy either if the situation isn't right. all that being said, its quite nice to have a mana pumper that stays in play. in conclusion, a highly vulnerable card that consistently and efficiently produces only under controlled "greenhouse" conditions. ..................

  -- By Anonymous from gainesville, FL USA on August 18, 2005

Sweet card. Very good for getting those pumpable weenies(i.e. Nantuko Shade)big in no time at all. Excellent. Nice picture, too.

  -- By Jared Grace from Urborg on April 24, 2002

This is one of the best Black non-basic lands. However many times it is to slow to help out an aggressive black deck. Having to dump a swamp when it comes into play and each time you use it can hurt as much as it helps. On the other hand in Extended were you do not have Dark Ritual it is as good as it gets. All in all it is one of the better lands from one of the better sets, a vary soild 4 star card.

  -- By Camden Harper from Old Town, ME USA on November 25, 2001

I think this card is truely awesome for 2 reasons.



1) The swamp that you sacrafice when the Lake comes into play does NOT have to be untapped, unlike many other lands that make you sacrafice lands when they come into play, such as Lotus Vale.



2) The swamp that you sacrafice to add 4 black mana to your mana pool does NOT have to be untapped. So not only do you get 4 mana for sacraficing it, but you can tap it for one before you sacrafice it, giving you 5 mana to play with.

  -- By Jeremy Dambach from Jewett City, CT USA on March 07, 2001