Sunken Citadel is one of those cards players keep asking about. Here is, in plain words, what its official text says, the rulings published by Wizards of the Coast, and the combos players actually run.
Official card text
This land enters tapped. As it enters, choose a color.: Add one mana of the chosen color.
Complete guide
Sunken Citadel is a versatile utility land from the Lost Caverns of Ixalan set that acts as a powerful battery for your other lands. By tapping for two mana specifically for land abilities, it provides significant acceleration for decks that rely on activated abilities from their mana base.
What It Does
Sunken Citadel is a Cave land that enters the battlefield tapped. Upon entry, you choose a color, and it can subsequently produce one mana of that color for any use, or two mana of that color specifically to activate abilities of land sources.
How It Resolves Step by Step
First, as Sunken Citadel enters the battlefield, you must choose a color; this is a replacement effect and does not use the stack. Once on the battlefield, you can activate its second ability to add one mana to your pool like a standard land. If you activate the third ability, you add two mana of the chosen color, but a restriction is placed on that mana: it can only be spent to pay costs for activated abilities where the source of that ability is a land card.
Common Mistakes
A frequent error is trying to spend the two mana on non-land abilities or spells. Note that the mana can be spent on land abilities regardless of where the land is; for example, you can use it to pay for Cycling costs if the card with Cycling is a land in your hand, or for abilities of land cards in your graveyard.
When to Play It
This land is best played in decks featuring lands with high activation costs, such as creature lands or utility lands that draw cards. Because it enters tapped, it is often better to play it on an early turn when you don't need the immediate mana, setting up for a big activation later.
Interaction examples
Command TowerIf you have Sunken Citadel and Command Tower on the battlefield, Sunken Citadel can provide one mana of your chosen color to help pay for spells, or you can use its two-mana ability to pay for other land abilities if you have them. Command Tower remains your primary source for flexible color fixing for spells.
Exotic OrchardIf you tap Sunken Citadel for its third ability, you add two mana. You cannot use this mana to cast a spell or activate an artifact ability. However, if your Exotic Orchard had an activated ability that cost mana to use, Sunken Citadel could cover up to two mana of that cost.
Guide written with AI from the official text and rulings. Official English text prevails.
How it works : Sunken Citadel
Original English text — Wizards of the Coast / Scryfall
- #1· Wizards of the Coast
"Land sources" include any objects with the card type land. This means you could spend the mana to activate an ability of a land you control or a land card in your hand or graveyard, for example.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #2· Wizards of the Coast
You may spend the two mana added by the last ability on the same ability or on two different abilities.
No other card is named in this ruling.
Legal formats
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Meta decks with Sunken Citadel
No archived Top 8 deck with this card yet.