Why hello there auto-include for every EDH deck I've ever made.
milez0
★★★★☆ (4.7/5.0)(5 votes)
The new Vesuva. Except it can tap for mana anyway, and it can change again. What an improvement!
flavioal28
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
@milez0 Vesuva sees legacy play, this thing will never. First of all, Vesuva does it for free. Also, if you are building a deck that intends to abuse stuff like Cloudpost, you don't need to copy more than one land, so being able to copy another thing is irrelevant, although it does make for an interesting design
Bobth
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(3 votes)
It will see play with Cloudpost... Cloudpost + Vesuva + Glimmerpost + Thespian's Stage = 16 post. Which is better than 12. Since you can tap it for mana as soon as it enters play without paying anything, it's still a good enough land with nothing to copy or not enough mana to do so. For the record, all 16 lands out would give you 148 mana. JUST FROM YOUR LANDS.
I don't really see the point of printing this when they banned the 12-post strategy in Modern for being broken, and anyone just looking for multicolored lands has much better options.
SyntheticDreamer
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(4 votes)
EDH gold. Also, it's time to build a 16 Post deck for Legacy...
hot4boys
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.9/5.0)(11 votes)
the le reddit r/mtg army and its leejun loves this card! 5 stars if you agree!
Nucleon
★★★★☆ (4.9/5.0)(8 votes)
Favorite card of the set, as a primarily EDH player. 5/5 on the spot. It's a Sakashima land!
pedrodyl
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
Favorite card of Gatecrash 4.5/5
Chazwald1
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(9 votes)
This card is more Vesuva than Vesuva, if we're using Vesuvan Doppelganger as our barometer of Vesuvaness.
Roytaichou
★☆☆☆☆ (1.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Perfect if running urzatron to get that one part you need for the bonus
"The Absolution of the Guildpact" is somehow rules text on the card.
Shadoflaam
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
During the prerelease someone Unexpected Results'd this out. Many jokes were made about the revelation of his deck being a closeted thespian.
PRET0RIAN
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I do believe vesuva will be copying this card to keep options open!
redhaski
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Prepare to see Mishra's Workshop copied in Vintage decks. In fact think of any restricted or legendary land in eternal formats and this will be used to copy and potentially kill.
vokeios
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Quick question: if I use Thespian's Stage to copy Transguild Promerade will I have to pay 1 less it's sacrificed?
j_mindfingerpainter
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@vokeios Nope because Thespian's Stage has already entered the battlefield
DarthParallax
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(3 votes)
Lol, I like how some fools think this is better than Vesuva. I have news for them: Tectonic Edge is not better than Strip Mine.
It might not be OBVIOUS to everyone, but let me point out quickly why Vesuva is better: the mana cost. Lands are SO often made quite superior by their Mana Cost: 0 yet the non-basics essentially give you spells. Non-basic lands are like Planeswalker abilities, almost. While it's true that some mana-activated ones are good (like Kessig Wolf Run, and sure, yeah, Thespian's Stage is good, just...)
Vesuva comes down as a 0CMC-destroy target legendary land, and it steals other lands FOR FREE if you are willing to wait and time it right. For the extra 'freedom' of being able to be wherever you want whenever you want, Thespian's Stage costs 3 MANA to do Vesuva's trick.
Is this a good card in EDH? Absolutely. Is this a good card in 16-post? Lolz! XD But if I was told to pick BETWEEN this and Vesuva? No, Vesuva is definitely the better card. EDH Decks might not even want to run both of them, since it's sort of a niche ability and you run out of spaces for utility lands faster than you'd think. If you can't get Vesuva, play this instead definitely. If you can't get Strip Mine but have Vesuva, then it's not that bad to run Vesuva AND Thespian's Stage. But I am skeptical that running all three of Strip Mine, AND Vesuva, AND Thespian's Stage is needed in EDH.
Feel free to disprove me with playtesting :)
patronofthesound
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
@ bobth
Your math is off. 12 ostensible cloud plus four glimmerpost will net you 196 colorless mana.
Ligerman30
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(3 votes)
If you think this won't see play w/ Cloudpost, I can guarantee you are completely incorrect. The deck already makes a million mana anyways, 2 mana is nothing.
@DarthParallax The biggest problem w/ vesuva in edh is "Uh I need land for turn, must copy command tower." This issue is fixed with this card. Vesuva is awesome late game, when you have real targets like maze of ith or Diamond Valley. Early game it's sort of dissapointing. With this you hit your land drop and have the same upside of copying awesome lands and killing Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoths and Kor Havens. Vesuva is good mid and late game. Thespian's stage is good early, mid, and late game, it's as simple as that. Vesuva is good at copying things like Glimmerpost or Halimar Depths, while thespian's stage is bad at it. If you want to copy something like a Balduvian Trading Post w/ Vesuva you have to sac a land which sort of sucks but with Thespian's Stage, you can just copy it w/o any major downside. So it really comes down to the situation which one is "better". Maybe one turn you copied someones Kjeldoran Outpost and now your opponent has a big dumb trampling beater, with this, you can just copy some guy's Maze of Ith something you cant do without drawing a karoo w/ vesuva but is built in w/ Thespian's Stage. Come on, raise your hand if you have ever played stuff like Boros Garrison in order to reuse your vesuvas and windbrisk heights in edh. I mean, it's not uncommon. This is Vesuva w/ built in Karoo.
LordRandomness
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Amusingly, this goes quite well with the bouncelands from the original Ravnica set. (Not as well as lotus vale, sure, but the bouncelands are modern at least)
Uknits
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
So what happens if I copy Dark Depths? Since it doesn't enter the battle field, I would assume it gets no counters and thus automatically sac into a 20/20 Indestructible Marit Lage.
danialjames
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This gave me one of the most convoluted wins I ever got in my casual simic deck. I copied my opponents grove of the guardian And then next turn And using my prophetic prism to gain white mana I used it. When the elemental hit the battlefield it triggered my ivy lane denizen. So I put the +1/+1 on my elusive krasis giving me the one extra power of toughness I needed to kill my opponent.
Yep this card is fun.
smokyWSDXS
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
When I copy Dark Depths, does it get the tokens too? If not - wohoo!
Wyldblayde
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
@smokyWSDXS You are correct that if you copy Dark Depths with this ability that the Thespian's Stage will not have any counters on it. However, Dark Depths is legendary and now so is your copy and the sac ability of Dark Depths is a triggered ability that goes on the stack. At that time a player receives priority to respond. The rules state that any time a player would gain priority, the game checks for state based effects. The "Legendary Rule" immediately puts both lands into their owners graveyard. No sac, no 20/20 beat stick. But if you wait for the M14 rules changes, as I currently understand them, the Legendary Rule is getting an update. Under new rules, if an opponent controls a Dark Depths you can then copy their land and yours will be sacrificed giving you the 20/20 token. Of course anyone running Dark Depths will no doubt remove its counters almost immediately giving them a Marit Lage of their own. A true Mexican Standoff, lol.
strider24seven
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
@Wyldblayde & smokyWSDXS Wyldblayde is correct about the M14 changes. Additionally, you can have your own Dark Depths out, and copy it with your own Stage. Then you pick which legendary you get to keep, and the other one gets put into your graveyard. Keep the Stage, and lose the original, then sac the Stage to its own trigger and get your Marit Lage token at for 2 colorless and 2 land drops.
I'm not a big fan of the new legend rule (how can you have 2 Marit Lage's staring each other down?), but that is neither here nor there.
NickDay
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Say I copied Stalking Stones with my Stage. Then I use its ability to become a 3/3 creature. If I then copy another land, my Stage is still a creature, right?
Manite
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(3 votes)
So yeah, as others have mentioned, the M14 rules change gives this a new use with Dark Depths. Say hello to "Lage, Mage, and Stage" decks.
I'm surprised I haven't seen a single one of thees at FNM even tho we have 4-5 sliver decks running a play set of Mutavault. fun card and cool art, different view of Ravnica life.
BorosGreengrocer
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This must have been designed for Theros and then brought forward.
FurnaceOfRath
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Did anyone else notice that Thespian's Stage's ability says target land as opposed to another target land? The way it reads, you should be able to target itself with its own ability which should give you a Thespian's Stage with two instances of its second ability. Additionally, if I properly understand how this works, if you then have Thespian's Stage copy itself again, you should get a Thespian's Stage with three instances of its second ability. Now, let's assume that, through whatever means, you have infinite mana as well as the ability to untap a permanent an infinite number of times. You can then proceed to have Thespian's Stage copy itself an infinite number of times to get a card with an infinitely huge text box. Too bad that doesn't really do anything.
seahen
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This + bounce lands = most card-efficient possible form of mana acceleration in formats without infinite dredge.
Lazrbeams
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Under m14 rules, this now combos with dark depths, because I'll be damned before anyone interacts with my combo.
Comments (44)
Vesuva sees legacy play, this thing will never. First of all, Vesuva does it for free. Also, if you are building a deck that intends to abuse stuff like Cloudpost, you don't need to copy more than one land, so being able to copy another thing is irrelevant, although it does make for an interesting design
I don't really see the point of printing this when they banned the 12-post strategy in Modern for being broken, and anyone just looking for multicolored lands has much better options.
My rating: 5/5
It might not be OBVIOUS to everyone, but let me point out quickly why Vesuva is better: the mana cost. Lands are SO often made quite superior by their Mana Cost: 0 yet the non-basics essentially give you spells. Non-basic lands are like Planeswalker abilities, almost. While it's true that some mana-activated ones are good (like Kessig Wolf Run, and sure, yeah, Thespian's Stage is good, just...)
Vesuva comes down as a 0CMC-destroy target legendary land, and it steals other lands FOR FREE if you are willing to wait and time it right. For the extra 'freedom' of being able to be wherever you want whenever you want, Thespian's Stage costs 3 MANA to do Vesuva's trick.
Is this a good card in EDH? Absolutely. Is this a good card in 16-post? Lolz! XD But if I was told to pick BETWEEN this and Vesuva? No, Vesuva is definitely the better card. EDH Decks might not even want to run both of them, since it's sort of a niche ability and you run out of spaces for utility lands faster than you'd think. If you can't get Vesuva, play this instead definitely. If you can't get Strip Mine but have Vesuva, then it's not that bad to run Vesuva AND Thespian's Stage. But I am skeptical that running all three of Strip Mine, AND Vesuva, AND Thespian's Stage is needed in EDH.
Feel free to disprove me with playtesting :)
Your math is off. 12 ostensible cloud plus four glimmerpost will net you 196 colorless mana.
@DarthParallax The biggest problem w/ vesuva in edh is "Uh I need land for turn, must copy command tower." This issue is fixed with this card. Vesuva is awesome late game, when you have real targets like maze of ith or Diamond Valley. Early game it's sort of dissapointing. With this you hit your land drop and have the same upside of copying awesome lands and killing Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoths and Kor Havens. Vesuva is good mid and late game. Thespian's stage is good early, mid, and late game, it's as simple as that. Vesuva is good at copying things like Glimmerpost or Halimar Depths, while thespian's stage is bad at it. If you want to copy something like a Balduvian Trading Post w/ Vesuva you have to sac a land which sort of sucks but with Thespian's Stage, you can just copy it w/o any major downside. So it really comes down to the situation which one is "better". Maybe one turn you copied someones Kjeldoran Outpost and now your opponent has a big dumb trampling beater, with this, you can just copy some guy's Maze of Ith something you cant do without drawing a karoo w/ vesuva but is built in w/ Thespian's Stage. Come on, raise your hand if you have ever played stuff like Boros Garrison in order to reuse your vesuvas and windbrisk heights in edh. I mean, it's not uncommon. This is Vesuva w/ built in Karoo.
Yep this card is fun.
You are correct that if you copy Dark Depths with this ability that the Thespian's Stage will not have any counters on it. However, Dark Depths is legendary and now so is your copy and the sac ability of Dark Depths is a triggered ability that goes on the stack. At that time a player receives priority to respond. The rules state that any time a player would gain priority, the game checks for state based effects. The "Legendary Rule" immediately puts both lands into their owners graveyard. No sac, no 20/20 beat stick.
But if you wait for the M14 rules changes, as I currently understand them, the Legendary Rule is getting an update. Under new rules, if an opponent controls a Dark Depths you can then copy their land and yours will be sacrificed giving you the 20/20 token. Of course anyone running Dark Depths will no doubt remove its counters almost immediately giving them a Marit Lage of their own. A true Mexican Standoff, lol.
Wyldblayde is correct about the M14 changes. Additionally, you can have your own Dark Depths out, and copy it with your own Stage. Then you pick which legendary you get to keep, and the other one gets put into your graveyard. Keep the Stage, and lose the original, then sac the Stage to its own trigger and get your Marit Lage token at for 2 colorless and 2 land drops.
I'm not a big fan of the new legend rule (how can you have 2 Marit Lage's staring each other down?), but that is neither here nor there.
Now, let's assume that, through whatever means, you have infinite mana as well as the ability to untap a permanent an infinite number of times. You can then proceed to have Thespian's Stage copy itself an infinite number of times to get a card with an infinitely huge text box. Too bad that doesn't really do anything.