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Pojo's Magic The Gathering Card of the Day


Image from Wizards.com

Black Lotus
Alpha


Reviewed December 4, 2007

Constructed: 5.00
Casual: 5.00
Limited: 4.80

Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale
1 being the worst.  3 ... average.  
5 is the highest rating

Click here to see all our 
Card of the Day Reviews 


Scott
Gerhardt

Owner of Shuffle
And Cut

What can be said about the best mana accelerator of all time that hasn't already been said. Banned in all formats except restricted in type 1, it has never and never will see reprint again.

I won't bore you with a worthless limited review, but in Type 1, if you can afford to get one, it goes in every deck, no matter what, without question. It's mana speed is unparalleled and can lock down an opponent before they ever get to play their first card.

This is a 5/5 if I have ever seen it.

BMoor

Black Lotus
 
This card is the reason that any card with the word "Lotus" in its name, rules text, or even flavor text must add mana of any color to your mana pool.  This is the reason the "four of" rule was established.  This is also the reason that Vintage isn't more popular: you can't be competitive without cards like this.  But of course, as powerful as it is, its power has been eclipsed in Magic lore by its price tag.

Is it really that powerful?  Yes.  Imagine Dark Ritual, for any color you want, for free.  What would you do with four mana on Turn One?

That said, I won't ever recommend this in my Deck Garage.  Why not?  Well, it's powerful as sin, but there's only two formats you can use it in: Vintage and Casual.  If you're playing casually, you don't need Black Lotus.  And if you're playing Vintage, you don't need my help.  I don't play Vintage, so I don't know how to fix Vintage decks.  And I haven't been playing long enough to see it in action myself, so my only experience with this card is that it sort of has become the winning lottery ticket of Magic.  It's the impossible dream.
 
Constructed- 5
Casual- 5
Limited- 3.5 (But if you open it in a draft, pick it anyway.  You know why.) 

Aethereal

Tuesday - Black Lotus

To celebrate 1,500 card reviews, we're reviewing Black Lotus.

What can't be said about this card? It's broken, amazing, wrong, overpowered, everything you can think of.

Okay, so it's not the most broken card in the game (that honor goes to Contract from Below or Yawgmoth's Will), but it sure is up there. 3 free mana, no questions asked (barring something like Trinisphere or Sphere of Resistance). The power and rarity of this card are why it regularly fetches hundreds to even thousands of dollars on the secondary market, depending on the condition and edition of the card.

Oh, and you know that saying, "often imitated, never duplicated"? That certainly applies to this card.

Constructed - 5
Casual - 5
Limited - 5

David Fanany

Player since 1995

Black Lotus
 
I never owned a Black Lotus. Until I played in a Highlander tournament in January (it was awful - they were still stuck in Combo Winter), I had never even seen one. That might seem odd for someone of my "venerable" age, but it was before even my time; I started playing with a Fourth Edition starter set, and Magic had never been really popular in that area before that. Combined with the relatively small print runs of the Limited and Unlimited Editions, fortune was stacked against me when it came to owning the most powerful (non-ante) card in Magic. All we had was a legend about a first-turn win that was possible with the Fourth Edition cards Channel and Fireball, combined with a mysterious artifact named Black Lotus (we weren't even sure at the time what set it was from!).
 
Most people, of course, started playing even later than I did, and so Black Lotus remains the ultimate chase rare, the holy grail of Magic, and, in spite of it being restricted, one of the cards that powers the Vintage format and makes it what it is. It is the best accelerant in the game and possibly the best mana producer of any type in the game. It is one of a few cards whose appearance and even name immediately conjure images of Magic: the Gathering, and will always have a place in Magic's folklore, no matter where the game's wild ride through the multiverse goes.
 
Constructed: 5/5
Casual: 5/5
Limited: 5/5
The Missing Linc

-Balding for just over 5 years
-Playing MTG for just over 10

I think last time I looked up the price of this baby is was in the $2,000.00 range.  I think that means I will never own one.  As much as I love the game, I don't think I could ever rationalize that kind of spending to get a first round play that could wow so many.  There is not much I can say on this one except, if you own one...please use it.  Remember, Magic is about having fun!
 
Sincerely,
The Missing Linc

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