Reprint Dual Lands, slightly altered.
Custom Cards forum
Posted on July 24, 2014, 1:06 p.m. by Rayenous
I know that the original ABUR dual lands (example = Bayou ) are on the reserve list, and will not be reprinted... but I was thinking of a card design that would be as close to them as possible, without actually being them or a functionally identical version of them.
The closest we have for Modern (and currently Standard) right now are the Shock lands (example = Overgrown Tomb ), but I was thinking of something that could be printed, and still be useable in Legacy... sort of a way to remove that "barrier to entry" or at least reduce it.
Key concept was 1: no damage... 2: not enter tapped... 3: counts as both Basic Land types.
What I came up with was rather simple. Give them a Name, and make the Legendary.
Example:
-Name-, the Bayou
Legendary Land - Swamp Forest
T: Add B or G to your mana pool.
My main thought was for them to print these in a Commander set first... this would make them only playable in Commander (where I know many people are looking for Duals), Legacy and Vintage.
Since Legacy and Vintage already have the Duals, these would be "strictly worse", in the sense that you cannot have more than one in play at a time... decks may run them, but probably not a full play set, and competitive decks would still need the original ABUR duals. - Players trying to get into Legacy however, could use these as a pseudo-replacement for original ABUR duals.
Later, they could print them in Standard/Modern. These would be fetchable by Fetchlands and the like, not overly abusable, and most importantly... Wizards would be able to print them whenever they want to help the formats, and help with barrier to entry.
Thought on this card concept/design?
ChiefWannaHacka says... #3
It almost removes the barrier to entry for legacy, period. Most decks can run off of 3-4 max 5 mana, so if playing 3 colors you can just have one of each, and hold fetches to grab basics or another if someone wastelands one of them.
July 24, 2014 1:35 p.m.
@JWiley129 - Functional Reprints are ... "A card is considered functionally identical to another card if it has the same card type, subtypes, abilities, mana cost, power, and toughness. No cards will be added to the reserved list in the future." - From Wizards Official Reprint Policy
Adding the Legendary type to the card, and thus preventing 2 from being in play on the same side of the battlefield, makes them quite functionally unique.
July 24, 2014 1:52 p.m.
In addition, you should consider reprinting a set of fetchlands that only fetch one basic land type...
Example:
Name: Forest Fetchland
Legendary Land
Tap, Pay 1 life, Sacrifice Forest Fetchland: Search your library for a Forest card and put it onto the battlefield. Then shuffle your library.
July 24, 2014 2:12 p.m.
No real need for the single fetches to be Legendary... since you'll just be sac'ing them anyway there's no need to limit the number you can have in play. - But fetches that can fetch a single Basic Land Type seems plausible.
July 24, 2014 2:16 p.m.
MagicalHacker says... #10
Yeah, now that I think about it, the fact that it has literally no downside in EDH means they are gonna be hella pricey either way.
Is there a way you can add a downside that means that they are worse than the ABUR duals in Edh?
July 24, 2014 2:22 p.m.
MagicalHacker says... #11
As for the new fetches, this would be fine:
~
Land
T, sacrifice ~: Search your library for a forest card, and put it onto the battlefield. Then shuffle your library.
July 24, 2014 2:24 p.m.
Adding a downside would negate the point of printing them. - If there were a downside, then you would just play shock lands.
The prices shouldn't be that high for them... sure there would be a slight inflation. True-Name Nemesis did that, but even it dropped in price and the box it's in is the same price as the rest.
Since Commander sets are no longer being print as a limited print-run, people should always be able to get as many as needed.
Note: LGS's that sold them above MSRP are greedy... Wal-Mart and Target both carried it, and never inflated the price. (A little above MSRP was okay, as keeping them in stock was a challenge)
July 24, 2014 2:35 p.m.
As for this specific idea. not going to happen
follow up on that specific post (though this I think has been stated and understood here, I wanted the follow up because it reinforces the original).
As for thoughts, since something like this will never happen.
I would argue that more mono colored/brown builds being brewed would be better for the health, than dreaming up new ways to break the reserved list given the current limitations. It may take time to find the right build, but dnt took many years to get there and proof it can be done.
July 24, 2014 3:02 p.m.
I like how in the "Follow-up" someone mentions that Fork
is essentially the same as Reverberate
...
Reverberate is more identical to a card on the reserve list than these are.
July 24, 2014 3:24 p.m.
MagicalHacker says... #15
True, but these new duals will be 2-3 times as expensive as a shockland because of EDH players, which is never a good sign as to the balance of a card.
July 24, 2014 3:26 p.m.
The only reason why EDH players would desire them that much is because they can only have one of each anyway... I don't see how that has a bearing on the balance of the card in other formats.
For other formats, the fact that you can only have one in play at a time makes it much more balanced than the original dual lands. - It would be a horrible opening hand to have 3 of these... or possibly even 2 for that matter. (depending on the deck's mana needs)
July 24, 2014 3:37 p.m.
MagicalHacker says... #17
What I mean is that they won't really help other formats like that because the price won't be that much cheaper, and it won't be cheaper because they are copies of the ABUR duals in EDH.
July 24, 2014 4:18 p.m.
lothshteth says... #18
I think it's a great idea, but WOTC wouldn't do it because it's not unique enough. Not a functional reprint, but still not unique enough for a modern legendary land. I could see them doing a cycle of Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth lands before this, and even that's just silly. The fetchland ones are even less plausible because they are way better than the legendary duals. That being said anything is possible in these days of magic so never say never.
July 24, 2014 7:04 p.m.
solkanarswampking says... #19
Maybe we would get a legendary version of the original dual lands when/if they do a Return to Kamigawa.
July 31, 2014 12:56 p.m.
lothshteth says... #20
That would make sense because they essentially made the legendary lands from Champions of Kamigawa as sort of updates to the ones from Legends like Eiganjo Castle for Karakas . But considering there was only one multicolor card, Genju of the Realm , in Kamigawa block it doesn't seem likely.
JWiley129 says... #2
I think it's an interesting idea, but I'm pretty sure untenable. The reserved list stops functional reprints, which this effectively is. I don't think making them Legendary stops them from being too good for any format.
July 24, 2014 1:31 p.m.