Perfect in combination with artifact mana, big creatures and Armageddon.
Weretarrasque
★★★☆☆ (3.4/5.0)(8 votes)
In the late game, this is just brutal, letting you get the extra colorless to summon... say, Emrakul, the Aeons Torn?
More advice: Don't play in a landfall deck.
nammertime
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(5 votes)
Tech: You can return this land to your hand if you play Guildpact dual lands like Izzet Boilerworks or Planeshift lairs like Dromar's Cavern, since their CIP ability goes on the stack and resolves before City of Traitor's sacrifice effect. You could even sacrifice this land, if it is untapped, to Lotus Vale.
Lateralis0ne
★★★★☆ (4.4/5.0)(4 votes)
Further Tech: In a land-centric deck that runs the Crucible of Worlds engine, the drawback really no longer matters. Just play it early on, then bring it back as you see fit. Throw in Zuran Orb and Fastbond, and the drawback definitely no longer matters!
ItsSlaughteringTime
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(3 votes)
this card abilities fit the name of the card perfectly. 5stars
Sironos
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(3 votes)
I love how this city must act based on the mechanic: "WHAT? Our planeswalker has learned of another land? Burn this city at once!" CIty of lealousy is more like it. Can anyone explain how the flavour of the mechanic really is?
limbrooke
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(2 votes)
I regret having sold my copies years ago for, they're worth a lot more now especially with the mentioned bounce lands and CoW. Good card.
CovetousDragon
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(4 votes)
"City of Traitors does not trigger on itself being played." lol
fissionessence
★★★☆☆ (3.2/5.0)(5 votes)
Andrew's Occasional Random Card of the Day #12 - 7/8/2011 - City of Traitors
This card really promotes early explosive plays. That's the type of game play that Wizards doesn't really print cards for anymore. Plan on winning on turn two or three using the extra mana generated from City of Traitors? Well, enjoy it in your legacy format, because you probably won't be seeing new cards like that. Even newer cards like Mox Opal that push the modern boundaries of fast mana encourage you to play more permanents, forcing you to spend more cards on your board position, rather than rewarding you for playing fewer lands and more expensive and powerful spells.
I think this card reads like a Spike card to most informed people today, but a less informed (on average) Magic population of the past might have seen this more as a Johnny card. And in a way it is. It has a pretty severe drawback, but with big potential. Figure out how to mitigate that drawback and reap the rewards. It turns out that the way to mitigate the drawback is to be a Spike and use the mana to just kill your opponent before you need another land. Or play Crucible of Worlds. Or both.
001010011100101110
★★☆☆☆ (2.2/5.0)(4 votes)
The city pours unnecessarily large quantities of lava upon itself when you travel to another land. More like city of... dumb... bitches.
chrisAAMO
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(3 votes)
@ Sironos, regarding flavor: It's old, but if you've heard anything about Volrath's Stronghold on Rath, this is the city that was built below it to house his minions. These minions were traitors of their own people and moved here. If I remember, the city's population all fled when Volrath's Stronghold was invaded by the good guys (Eladamri, Lord of Leaves and his elf army).
It's supposed to represent Volrath The Fallen's minions abandoning the city. I guess to be more accurate, the card could have read "At the end of each turn, if you were attacked this turn, sacrifice City of Traitors."
If you compare the artwork from Volrath's Stronghold to this card, you can see how they fit together.
DarthParallax
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
the only Land from Exodus.....if anyone cares.
PS: do you have ANY idea how hard it is to get Gatherer to generate a list of all non-basic lands in the Pre-Modern card frame?
It does not know how to eliminate Academy Ruins, no matter how I try to put in the result. I SPECIFICALLY say for it to NOT SHOW MODERN, NOT SHOW TIME SPIRAL BLOCK, and it keeps showing me cards that ONLY have modern-legal printings!
DAFAQ??!?
Kragash
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Phase 1: Tap City of Traitors for , play a City of Traitors and sacrifice previous one, tap City of Traitors for another . Phase 2: ??? Phase 3: PROFIT!
DrJack
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
In regards to the flavor text: well, that's what you get for allying with people that call themselves "il".
Some people think this card's broken. I don't know. I think Ancient Tomb is considerably further up the scale of brokenness. City of Traitors is closer to Crystal Vein in terms of power. Any land that provides 2 mana and doesn't come into play tapped is worth a good look, to be sure.
@ Kragash, now that you mention it, City of Traitors does indeed combo with ITSELF quite nicely. Turn 1, play City of Traitors. Turn 2, tap city for 2 mana, play another city, tap it for 2 more mana... how about a nice Juggernaut? True, you could do the same with a Dark Ritual, but with City, you don't even need to rely on having any black mana. Play this card alongside bounce effects, artifact mana, Crucible of Worlds, and also feed it to things that require land sacrifices. You will indeed see profit.
blurrymadness
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
ChrisAAmo's comment is pretty awesome. Seeing Volrath's Stronghold Art and this art and knowing the flavor is just too cool.
Comments (15)
More advice: Don't play in a landfall deck.
This card really promotes early explosive plays. That's the type of game play that Wizards doesn't really print cards for anymore. Plan on winning on turn two or three using the extra mana generated from City of Traitors? Well, enjoy it in your legacy format, because you probably won't be seeing new cards like that. Even newer cards like Mox Opal that push the modern boundaries of fast mana encourage you to play more permanents, forcing you to spend more cards on your board position, rather than rewarding you for playing fewer lands and more expensive and powerful spells.
I think this card reads like a Spike card to most informed people today, but a less informed (on average) Magic population of the past might have seen this more as a Johnny card. And in a way it is. It has a pretty severe drawback, but with big potential. Figure out how to mitigate that drawback and reap the rewards. It turns out that the way to mitigate the drawback is to be a Spike and use the mana to just kill your opponent before you need another land. Or play Crucible of Worlds. Or both.
It's old, but if you've heard anything about Volrath's Stronghold on Rath, this is the city that was built below it to house his minions. These minions were traitors of their own people and moved here. If I remember, the city's population all fled when Volrath's Stronghold was invaded by the good guys (Eladamri, Lord of Leaves and his elf army).
It's supposed to represent Volrath The Fallen's minions abandoning the city. I guess to be more accurate, the card could have read "At the end of each turn, if you were attacked this turn, sacrifice City of Traitors."
If you compare the artwork from Volrath's Stronghold to this card, you can see how they fit together.
PS: do you have ANY idea how hard it is to get Gatherer to generate a list of all non-basic lands in the Pre-Modern card frame?
It does not know how to eliminate Academy Ruins, no matter how I try to put in the result. I SPECIFICALLY say for it to NOT SHOW MODERN, NOT SHOW TIME SPIRAL BLOCK, and it keeps showing me cards that ONLY have modern-legal printings!
DAFAQ??!?
Phase 2: ???
Phase 3: PROFIT!
Some people think this card's broken. I don't know. I think Ancient Tomb is considerably further up the scale of brokenness. City of Traitors is closer to Crystal Vein in terms of power. Any land that provides 2 mana and doesn't come into play tapped is worth a good look, to be sure.
@ Kragash, now that you mention it, City of Traitors does indeed combo with ITSELF quite nicely. Turn 1, play City of Traitors. Turn 2, tap city for 2 mana, play another city, tap it for 2 more mana... how about a nice Juggernaut? True, you could do the same with a Dark Ritual, but with City, you don't even need to rely on having any black mana. Play this card alongside bounce effects, artifact mana, Crucible of Worlds, and also feed it to things that require land sacrifices. You will indeed see profit.