[easybox]Russell's life has interfered and he won't be providing us with an insightful new article this week. As such I've gone back and pulled one of his early articles back into the spotlight. This was originally published on Jan. 27th, 2010, just before Worldwake's Pre-release he evaluated the new Manlands. -- Trick[/easybox]

Well folks, the Worldwake prerelease is this weekend and finally the spoiler floodgates have opened, both official and unofficial. We have Ally decks threatening to reach block - or even standard - playability, Vampires getting a real shot in the arm, and nothing really showing up to answer Cascade... yet. As the name suggests, the world is literally waking up in the story behind the new set and this is represented mechanically in a number of ways.

At common we have a cycle of 'Zendikon' auras that turn your lands into creatures. These are sure to show up frequently in limited, but it remains to be seen how constructed-worthy they are as one of your first few lands being destroyed with Lightning Bolt will really hurt your tempo. They do have some built-in resistance to the normal card disadvantage associated with auras thanks to that second line of text, but as you can only play one land a turn normally, you will still be a turn behind on mana development. The Zendikons are not the main show for constructed mages however. That honour is reserved for a return of some old friends – manlands.

Manlands – or "dude-ranches" as one twitter user has suggested as a modern, hip alternative – have been an occasional but persistent element in magic ever since the original all the way back in Antiquities – Mishra's Factory. Factory was and is a very strong card, still being played in Landstill decks in legacy. Its modern successor, Mutavault, was stunningly successful during its time in standard and is still rocking out in Faerie decks in extended. In fact, of the bare handful of manlands ever printed, every single one of them has seen tournament play. Treetop Village was a staple in green decks, Blinkmoth Nexus is powering up Affinity and Burn in today's extended, even lowly Spawning Pool has found a constructed home at some points in the game's evolution. There are a few inherent reasons why these seemingly nondescript, part-time creatures have proved so valuable in the past, and they largely hold true today.

Firstly, at no point is a manland vulnerable to countermagic. Playing a land does not use the stack, and by the time it has transformed into a creature and started beating down your opponent the time for Essence Scattering has long passed. This is an extremely valuable ability to have against monoblue decks, as often they are light on answers to in-play threats and the old "bounce-n-counter" routine is no good against a land. In many ways being a land is far better to having "cannot be countered", as Terra Stomper and his ilk are still vulnerable to things like Mindbreak Trap or Venser, Shaper Savant. This protection also extends to Duress type effects – nearly all targeted discard spells have an exemption for lands, meaning it is very hard to stop a manland in the hand reaching the table.

As well as this advantage, being a land on your opponent's turn makes the manland immune to sorcery-speed creature removal. The utility of this depends entirely on the format as the present standard has a vast amount of playable, instant speed removal, however it is not irrelevant. If you activate your land while the opponent is tapped out, you can get in a hit and your creature will be safe once again before the foe untaps. In addition, manlands are generally immune to wrath effects, making them very hardy beaters. There are land destruction spells as well, of course, but they are far more expensive than the equivalent for creatures and usually less versatile.

Manlands even make deckbuilding easier! When planning their 60 cards, deckbuilders will often divide the deck into land and spell slots to ensure they have the right balance between the two. Aggro decks want as few land slots as they can get away with, to improve their threat density. Threat density is simply what proportion of your deck is capable of dealing damage to your opponent. Manlands are a great help with this as they go into a land slot, but still provide an extra threat. Control decks need to generally play more lands, meaning they have even less space to go around for spells. Often the control deckbuilder has so many answers he wants to fit into those spell slots he will only play one or two actual ways to win the game. Being able to fit these finishers into land slots is very valuable, and the unassuming Urza's Factory finished many a game during Time Spiral's stay in standard. Even combo decks can employ manlands as a capable Plan B - if their combo fizzles or the opponent has too many hate cards, attacking with lands may catch them off guard and steal the win.

So what do our new toys in Worldwake offer? As well as all the advantages listed above, for the first time we are getting manlands that make two colours of mana. This blew my mind when I first saw them, as it was not so long ago that the Shivan Oasis cycle was playable. They have been obsoleted many times over in the last year or so as "comes into play tapped" has become the standard land drawback, but the new ones in Worldwake are a step up again. The Refuge cycle from Zendikar has seen a good deal of standard play recently in multi-coloured control decks. Gaining one life is hardly even comparable to the ability to turn into a creature, and thinking about the new manlands as tapped duals with a great bonus is a good place to start in thinking about just how much play these new lands are going to see. Let's take a quick look at each of the new cards and see where they might fit in to existing decks.

Celestial Colonnade

The white/blue member of this cycle is the buy-a-box promo, and it announced the return of manlands in style. It costs 3WU to activate, but for that steep cost you get a Serra Angel for a turn, and vigilance is a nice bonus as you'll still be able to tap it as a land to cast Path to Exile, for example. Serra Angel used to be one of the most dominant creatures in the game and it is still nothing to sneeze at – while it has been outclassed by modern creatures like Baneslayer Angel, it is still capable of finishing the game very quickly. This card will slot straight into any UW control deck such as LSV's popular RWU list – it's also possible that the deck will evolve and drop the red. Day of Judgment plays a lot better with Celestial Colonnade than it does with proper creatures so Earthquake may be less necessary. I doubt aggro decks will want this as they don't often want citp-tapped lands and if they get to 6 lands, something has gone wrong. Another deck that may want this is one featuring Knight of the Reliquary featuring Colonnade as a tutorable finisher.

Creeping Tar Pit

Aside from filling the "art looks like animated poop" quota for the set, the Tar Pits also have other compelling uses. Unblockable makes this a perfect finisher for blue black control and if some sort of blue-black aggro deck emerges this could give it some reach. 3 power is high enough, though the 2 toughness makes this very vulnerable. Grixis control may want this as a supplement to the overwhelming Cruel Ultimatum, and even just having it in the deck might encourage opponents to keep in removal that is otherwise dead against their main creature threat, Sphinx of Jwar Isle. Theoretically the opponent will be in a no-win situation when sideboarding – take out Disfigures and be defenceless against Tar Pits, or keep them in and have dead cards in hand while the Sphinx takes chunks out of their life total.

Lavaclaw Reaches

Opinion is divided on the red-black member of the cycle, as a 2/2 manland normally costs 1 to activate – see Mutavault, Mishra's Factory. Is firebreathing really worth the extra RB? All I know is my gut says maybe. I imagine this card will operate solely as a finisher, most likely in a creatureless or near-creatureless deck – once you've cleared the way and emptied your opponent's hand, you can sink all your mana into this and end the game over a couple of turns. Grixis control will probably test this as well as tar pits, as it is a great way to spend all that mana you've built up if you don't have a Cruel Ultimatum handy. This is the member of the cycle I'm least sure about, but it should certainly see play as a dual land with a bonus.

Raging Ravine

Another strong entry in the cycle, this is the most likely to see play in aggressive decks due to its colours and its efficient cost. One subtle thing to note with its special counter ability – if you have enough mana to activate the Ravine twice, it will get two counters when it attacks. This is a great way to use your mana in an aggressive deck if you're anticipating a Wrath, or Gatekeeper of Malakir, or similar. Even if you don't activate it for the first 5 or 6 turns, it gives you some on-board reach similar to a topdecked Flame Javelin, if your opponent is unable to block it. A contender for the best of the cycle, in my opinion.

Stirring Brush (?)

While it hasn't been officially spoiled yet [Ed. Note - We know the card's body is correct, we cannot confirm the card name though.], there is certainly a G/W version of this cycle and rumour has it, it's going to be 1GW to activate for a 3/4 reach creature. Reach is an interesting ability on a manland, as if you want to block with it you have to hold mana open for the opponent's turn. A lot of the commonly played fliers in the format are difficult to block anyway, so while this might be a surprise blocker occasionally it is not going to pose a lot of danger to Baneslayers or Sphinxes. That said reach is not defender, and this guy can certainly attack as a 3/4 in a similar fashion to the Ravine above.

This entire cycle is going to be in great demand, and for good reason. With worldwake providing other tools to enhance your land-based assault like Terra Eternal and Amulet of Vigor, not only will there be manlands showing up in most multi-coloured decks but there may even be enough tools for a dedicated land deck in block or even standard! That would certainly be a sight to see. Make sure you grab your playsets of these early, as I think some people are underestimating them. Let me know in the comments which one you think will be the best, or any inventive uses you've thought of for these manlands!