Anyone who still remembers Phyrexian Arena will
fall all over themselves to get a playset of
this. That card pretty much made monoblack
control possible. Will this card herald a return
to those halcyon days? Considering how much
better creatures have gotten since then, I'm
thinking probably not. But it will be a pretty
strong advantage. A lot of decks don't maindeck
answers to enchantments or lands (though in
these multicolor-heavy days, someone might try
color denial as a strategy). The fact that this
ties up a land when you use it doesn't really
matter as long as you've mastered the art of
doing things in your opponent's end step (and
control players should know how to do that
anyway). And the fact that you can choose not to
use it means that unlike Phyrexian Arena, you
don't have to worry about accidentally losing to
it.
David Fanany
Player since
1995
Underworld Connections
So . . . it's basically Phyrexian Arena that in
a sense costs one colorless mana to activate?
That sounds pretty good to me, especially since
you can save it to use when you don't have
anything else to do with that extra one
colorless mana, and it'll never kill you the way
the Arena did (although, did anybody ever
actually die because of their own Phyrexian
Arena?). Paying life (or almost any resource) to
draw cards is so powerful in Magic that they
could have made you pay 3 life and this would
still have been a viable card. It doesn't even
matter that much that it's an Aura; land
destruction in the sense that people used to use
the phrase hasn't existed in the formats this is
intended for since what feels like forever.
Today's card of the day is Underworld
Connections which is a three mana aura that
allows you to tap the enchanted land to pay one
life and draw a card. The loss of one life
and effective loss of one mana for each use is a
small price to pay for an extra card each turn
and this will be a popular card in mono-Black
and even some half Black decks.
In Limited the double Black slows it down a
little and reduces the splashability, but card
advantage is always welcome and mana is often in
abundance in the format. The low amount of
offensive life gain makes using it a bit
riskier, though the advantages will more often
outweigh that than not. This is good
enough to be a first pick in Booster even though
other cards may be more direct it helps get
those cards into your hand. For Sealed if
your deck is around half or more Black this is a
solid addition that is a bargain with as few as
two uses.
Welcome back to the card of the day section here at Pojo.com!
The card for today is Underworld Connections
from Return to Ravnica. Underworld Connections
is a rare black enchantment aura that costs one
generic mana and two black mana. Underworld
Connections is an enchant land and says
enchanted land has tap, pay one life: draw a
card.
Card advantage is called that because, well, if you have
access to more cards, you there in should have
an advantage over your opponent(s). Black loves
gaining you things, but at a price. While this
kind of theory fell off the radar for a time, it
is definitely resurfacing, mainly in the form or
card draw through not only Underworld
Connections, but in Griselbrand.
Paying one life and one mana (in essence since you must tap
the land) in exchange for a card is not really
all that bad when you think about it. Rakdos
based decks try Miracling a Bonfire of the
Damned on their opponents turn, or a Thunderous
Wrath. And should one of those find it's mark,
it was definitely worth it. And to balance out
the life loss, what better than a Daggerdrome
Imp with a Dark Favor?
