guildgates

Guildgates are a series of magical portals found across the multiverse, specifically within the Magic: The Gathering trading card game. These lands serve as two-color mana sources, producing one mana of each of their associated colors. Their defining characteristic is their ability to enter the battlefield tapped unless the player pays an additional cost, usually two life, or fulfills another specific condition such as controlling another land with a certain basic land type. This provides an advantage by allowing for faster mana development in exchange for a small life total sacrifice.

Each guildgate is named after the two allied colors it represents and is associated with a specific guild from the plane of Ravnica. For example, the Azorius Guildgate produces white and blue mana and is linked to the Azorius Senate. Similarly, the Izzet Guildgate, producing blue and red mana, is tied to the Izzet League. There are ten such guildgates, corresponding to the ten two-color combinations in Magic. While they are a reliable source of dual-colored mana, their tapped nature when the extra cost is not paid can be a drawback in aggressive strategies. Guildgates have appeared in multiple Magic: The Gathering sets, particularly those set on or referencing the plane of Ravnica.