Temple Cycle

## Summary

The Temple Cycle is a ten-card cycle of dual lands from Asridia.

Each land in the cycle taps for one of two colors, and enters the battlefield tapped. They then have two different abilities, each costing three of one of the colors, plus sacrificing the land, to activate.

They are based directly off of the Mirran Swords cycle, with slight alterations to balance the power of the two abilities with one another.

## Temple of Truth and Justice

Temple of Truth and Justice is the Azorius-colored dual land of the cycle, that can be sacrificed for the following abilities:

For three white mana, you may put two +1/+1 counters on target creature they control.

For three blue mana, you may proliferate.

While perhaps individually weaker than Karn's Bastion or any given run of the mill combat trick, the dual utility of being both at the same time made Temple of Truth and Justice a popular card in many counters-based commander decks, but particularly shined in Bant Infect, where the mixture of the lasting counters, combat trick ability and proliferation made it a flexible way to close games against multiple opponents.

However, due to the speed of infect decks in other formats, and quicker alternatives, the card didn't see much play in any other format.

## Temple of Once and Future

Temple of Once and Future is the Dimir-colored dual land of the cycle, that can be sacrificed for the following abilities:

For three blue mana, you may exile an instant or sorcery card from their graveyard with mana value 2 or less, and they may play it until end of turn without paying its mana cost.

For three black mana, you may Surveil 3.

Temple of Once and Future, despite seemingly being a downgrade from the likes of Mystic Sanctuary, became an incredibly popular land in Dimir and Esper control decks for the pseudo-hand advantage it created. While three for two objectively went down for mana, and the second mode was almost useless, it ultimately was a land that acted as a spell when topdecked, and greatly increased your options at instant speed.

## Temple of Sinew and Steel

Temple of Sinew and Steel is the Rakdos-colored dual land of the cycle, that can be sacrificed for the following abilities:

For three black mana, you may destroy target planeswalker.

For three red mana, you may destroy target artifact.

Temple of Sinew and Steel, while not particularly a standout card, would become a commander goodstuff staple. With slower lands not being as much of a liability, the temple could protect its controller from a wide variety of threats, or scare opponents off from playing them in the first place, or wasting opportunities trying to bait it.

## Temple of Forge and Frontier

Temple of Forge and Frontier is the Gruul-colored dual land of the cycle, that can be sacrificed for the following abilities:

For three red mana, exile the top two cards of your library. You may play those cards this turn.

For three green mana, you may play two additional land cards this turn.

The power of Temple of Forge and Frontier was undeniable. Both of its modes were incredibly useful when completely isolated and it could be played for just one mode, but they also worked together wonderfully in big Gruul aggro decks that needed a lot of mana for big creatures and struggled with card draw. The ability to effectively draw two cards off of a land meant the red mode could be used in just about any commander deck that would take it, while the green mode found a ton of use in ramp and lands decks of all sorts. With the usual cast of land deck support cards, such as Crucible of Worlds and Amulet of Vigor, Temple of Forge and Frontier could become a ridiculously efficient value engine.

## Temple of Hearth and Home

Temple of Hearth and Home is the Selesnya-colored dual land of the cycle, that can be sacrificed for the following abilities:

For three green mana, search your library for a basic land card, put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle your library.

For three white mana, exile target permanent you own, then return it to the battlefield under your control.

Temple of Hearth and Home was generally not seen as a great card, but was occasionally seen in flicker-based commander decks as a clutch card of sorts, a dual land that would help you throughout the game, then, should something go wrong, feed your value engine to get it running again. Overall, despite its weak abilities, the low opportunity cost in commander and the extra insurance made it a good pick.

## Temple of Light and Shadow

Temple of Light and Shadow is the Orzhov-colored dual land of the cycle, that can be sacrificed for the following abilities:

For three white mana, you gain 4 life.

For three black mana, return target creature card from your graveyard to your hand.

Temple of Light and Shadow lived and died in every format with Dryad Arbor. While otherwise a nearly useless land, land sac decks loved the fact that the temple was a land that could be sacrificed to bring back another land, and the Abzan land sac lifegain deck named Drinidad was born.

## Temple of Feast and Famine

Temple of Feast and Famine is the Golgari-colored dual land of the cycle, that can be sacrificed for the following abilities:

For three black mana, target player discards a card.

For three green mana, untap all lands you control.

This card was broken as all shit. Value engine and lands based decks could easily use its untap ability to cycle it, making it a part of many, many infinite combos, where it would add in its own infinite discard along the way. The increased hand advantage and near-mana doubling had some considering it an extra turn card on or surpassing the level of Prophet of Kruphix. It was pretty quickly banned in most formats.

## Temple of Body and Mind

Temple of Body and Mind is the Simic-colored dual land of the cycle, that can be sacrificed for the following abilities:

For three blue mana, target player mills ten cards.

For three green mana, create a 3/3 green beast creature token.

Temple of Body and Mind, while at first glance seems to lack focus and is hard to use, became a surprise hit of a card, and single-handedly brough Mill back to many formats as a viable option, specifically in a Sultai Mill deck which used dredge effects meant to be pointed inwards on opponents, and created a decent blocker presence before quickly milling opponents out. The flexibility of the card allows the mill player to throw up a blocker to stave combat damage off long enough to get mill pieces going, or on the other mode finish off a library by going for broke and sacrificing a land.

## Temple of Fire and Ice

Temple of Fire and Ice is the Izzet-colored dual land of the cycle, that can be sacrificed for the following abilities:

For three blue mana, you draw a card.

For three red mana, Temple of Fire and Ice deals 2 damage to any target.

Temple of Fire and Ice didn't see a lot of competitive play. Ultimately, it was too steep a cost to draw a card, and more efficient draw methods would lead into more burn spells anyways. Ultimately, it was mostly written off as a budget version of Fiery Islet until its reprint.

## Temple of War and Peace

Temple of War and Peace is the Boros-colored dual land of the cycle, that can be sacrificed for the following abilities:

For three red mana, Temple of War and Peace deals damage to target player equal to the number of cards in their hand.

For three white mana, you gain life equal to the number of cards in your hand.

Temple of War and Peace quickly became a staple in Jeskai control decks of all formats, being able to utilize superior card advantage to hold out against aggressive decks, while punishing opposing control decks for keeping cards up against them.

It also saw a great deal of play in commander. While the damage swings weren't as extreme, it provided an increased edge to strategies such as Group Hug and Wheels that might otherwise backfire by giving opponents resources.