The Golden City of Orazca MTG Card

The Golden City of Orazca - March of the Machine Commander

Rarity	Common
Type	Plane — Ixalan
Abilities	Ascend,Treasure
Released	2023-04-21
Set symbol
Set name	March of the Machine Commander
Set code	MOC
Number	52
Frame	2015
Layout	Planar
Border	Black
Illustred by	Alayna Danner

Key Takeaways

Achieving card advantage with Orazca can be a decisive move towards dominating the game.
Instant speed capabilities provide tactical flexibility in response to opponents’ actions.
While powerful, Orazca’s challenges include a specific mana cost and potential hand sacrifices.

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase The Golden City of Orazca MTG card by a specific set like March of the Machine Commander, there are several reliable options to consider. One of the primary sources is your local game store, where you can often find booster packs, individual cards, and preconstructed decks from current and some past sets. They often offer the added benefit of a community where you can trade with other players.

For a broader inventory, particularly of older sets, online marketplaces like TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom and Card Market offer extensive selections and allow you to search for cards from specific sets. Larger e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon also have listings from various sellers, which can be a good place to look for sealed product and rare finds.

Additionally, Magic’s official site often has a store locator and retailer lists for finding Wizards of the Coast licensed products. Remember to check for authenticity and the condition of the cards when purchasing, especially from individual sellers on larger marketplaces.

Below is a list of some store websites where you can buy the The Golden City of Orazca and other MTG cards:

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Text of card

Ascend (If you control ten or more permanents, you get the city's blessing for the rest of the game.) Whenever one or more creatures you control deal combat damage to a player, create a Treasure token. Then draw a card if you have the city's blessing. Whenever chaos ensues, you may put a permanent card from your hand onto the battlefield tapped.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: The Golden City of Orazca offers a unique opportunity in MTG for players to gain card advantage. This accelerates your game strategy by allowing you to pull ahead in resources and options available, keeping your opponents constantly on the defensive and struggling to keep up.

Resource Acceleration: Exploring the riches of Orazca can lead to a significant boost in your resources. The ability to swiftly accelerate your resources can change the tide of the game, allowing for a rapid deployment of your strategy and potentially overwhelming your opponent with your advanced board state.

Instant Speed: The power of acting at instant speed cannot be overstated. It gives strategic players the flexibility to respond to threats or opportunities on the fly and can be a game-changer in tight situations. This trait makes The Golden City of Orazca a formidable card as it provides the leverages needed for unexpected plays and tactical shifts during any phase of the game.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: To unlock the treasures of The Golden City of Orazca, players must meet certain conditions that sometimes feel as rigorous as the fabled city’s lore itself. This often means parting with valuable cards from your hand, which can be a steep price to pay, especially when your hand is the key to your strategy.

Specific Mana Cost: The enchantment’s allure is undeniable, but so is the specificity of its mana cost. Requiring a blend of different types of mana, its cost can pose a challenge to decks that do not have a dependable mana base. It isn’t a card you can easily splash into just any build; it demands a deck tailored to support it.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: While The Golden City of Orazca promises riches and glory, the investment to claim them is substantial. The card’s mana requirement is on the higher end when compared to other options available in the game. This can make it a late appearance on the battlefield, potentially after the most opportune moment has passed.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: The Golden City of Orazca offers a powerful utility for decks seeking long-term advantage. As a land, it’s an effortless inclusion that can bolster strategies aimed at accruing board presence and value.

Combo Potential: Within intricate gameplay, this card can serve as a cornerstone for combos, particularly in enabling mechanics that flourish with the ascension to city’s blessing. Its seamless synergy with cards requiring permanents on the field amplifies its combo allure.

Meta-Relevance: In a meta that rewards patience and strategic setup, The Golden City of Orazca shines. It’s a card that can tip the scales against aggressive opponents, providing a sanctuary of options and resources to those who play the long game.

How to beat

The Golden City of Orazca is a prized location in MTG, unlocking potent abilities and rewards for the controller. Conquering this card entails outpacing your opponent’s quest for city’s blessing or disabling its benefits. Understanding the exploration mechanic is key, as it fuels the race to Orazca. Cards that limit drawing or shuffling can impede your opponent’s progress. Accelerating your own draws and land deployment is another effective strategy.

Interaction with the stack is also vital. Counterspells are instrumental to deny opponents the spells that would trigger the city’s blessing. Another method is to employ direct removal or bounce spells to handle the permanents already on the board, thereby retracting the city’s blessing. Utilizing land destruction thwart your opponent’s progress but should be timed precisely to avoid advancing their board state.

Board wipes are a resilient option, resetting the quest for ascend for both players but should be used judiciously. The key to beating The Golden City of Orazca is not just in countering it directly, but also in strategically mitigating the advantage it provides.

Cards like The Golden City of Orazca

The Golden City of Orazca stands out within the vast catalog of legendary lands in Magic: The Gathering. It invites comparisons to Glacial Fortress, as both cards serve as land that can potentially provide two types of mana. The key difference lies in their conditions for entering the battlefield untapped. Glacial Fortress requires you to control a Plains or an Island, while The Golden City of Orazca transforms from another card, Journey to Eternity, which flips when a creature dies.

Another card often set side by side with The Golden City of Orazca is Azor’s Gateway. This legendary artifact also transforms, this time into Sanctum of the Sun, and grants an abundance of mana based on life total. The variance in setup and payoff between these two cards showcases diverse strategies, catering to different play styles.

Analyzing the strategic depth and adaptability, The Golden City of Orazca offers a unique transformative ability that can be pivotal in late-game scenarios, helping it secure a special place in the hearts of players seeking an exhilarating advantage over their opponents.

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Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering The Golden City of Orazca card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

Date	Text
2023-04-14	A permanent is any object on the battlefield, including tokens and lands. Spells, planes, and emblems aren’t permanents.
2023-04-14	Ascend on a plane or permanent isn’t a triggered ability and doesn’t use the stack. Players can respond to a spell that will give you your tenth permanent, but they can’t respond to getting the city’s blessing once you control that tenth permanent. This means that if your tenth permanent is a land you play, players can’t respond before you get the city’s blessing.
2023-04-14	If you control ten permanents but have not yet found The Golden City of Orazca (and you don’t control a permanent or resolving spell with ascend), you don’t get the city’s blessing. For example, if you control ten permanents, lose control of one, then planeswalk to The Golden City of Orazca, you won’t have the city’s blessing.
2023-04-14	If your tenth permanent enters the battlefield and then a permanent leaves the battlefield immediately afterwards (most likely due to the “legend rule” or due to being a creature with 0 toughness), you get the city’s blessing before it leaves the battlefield.
2023-04-14	Once you have the city’s blessing, you have it for the rest of the game, even if you lose control of some or all of your permanents. The city’s blessing isn’t a permanent itself and can’t be removed by any effect.