Why Are Popular Land Cycles More Difficult to Reprint?
General forum
Posted on Nov. 11, 2021, 10:15 p.m. by DemonDragonJ
In this post on Mark Rosewater's Tumblr account, a user stated that the more popular a cycle of dual lands is, the more difficult it is to reprint, but that makes no sense, to me. Would it not be easier to reprint a popular cycle of dual lands? What does everyone else say about this?
If you're asking about the main question posted, that's not what the person was asking.
The question was about having a mechanic from the set appear on dual lands. So for example, we saw the snow dual lands apear in Kaldheim. A similar example would be if we saw dual lands that create blood tokens on ETB from Crimson Vow.
Instead, what we see is more consistency in dual lands (for most sets). there are about three different mechanics they like to cycle through, here, Deathcap Glade is very similar to Blooming Marsh in how the mechanic works. Similarly, Port Town and Glacial Fortress are very similar. But they're generic effects that can be reprinted across sets.
November 11, 2021 11:29 p.m.
Probably because popularity ends up closely tied to the power level of the land cycle. Everyone loves fetches, shocks, and triomes because they make your deck so much better. Snarls are generally despised. Temples are tolerated when they're all you got. Also, Standard is supposed to be a changing experience, which is why they don't keep reprinting the same lands.
November 12, 2021 1:27 a.m.
plakjekaas says... #5
The temples were actually first printed in the set where "scry" was a mechanic, when it hadn't been keyworded yet. Ikoria Triomes had cycling, as did the set. They do try to make lands that use set mechanics from time to time, if the mechanics lend themselves for it.
The risk you take with that, is if they do become popular, mechanics are usually plane-bound. There's no cycling on Tarkir, the triomes won't make sense there, even though it's a plane that focused on the same three-colored wedges as Ikoria did.
That means the Triome cycle we know, is hard to reprint in a standard set that's not on Ikoria. The names of those refer to specific regions of the plane, it wouldn't make sense in, say, Dominaria, to have a Ketria Triome. I think that's what makes it hard.
November 12, 2021 10:13 a.m.
wallisface says... #6
Your link doesn’t match at all with what you’re asking here - its nothing to do with reprint difficulty.
Rosewater has said before though that WotC doesn’t want fetches in standard, and I believe they’re against the idea of the format becoming a game where shuffling is happening every turn because of lands.
WotC also knows fetches are highly sought-after, and are likely printing these super-infrequently so that they can justify charging more for a product when they do (i.e. MH2).
November 13, 2021 5:54 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #7
enpc, wallisface, I know that the question that Mark Rosewater was answering is not the question about which I was asking, but I could not think of any other way to address the subject.
November 13, 2021 11:12 p.m.
DarkMagician says... #8
plakjekaas Scry was a keyword long before the Temples.
wallisface Keeping demand high while keeping reprints low is how WotC sells product but it isn't how they justify charging more.
November 15, 2021 1 p.m.
wallisface says... #9
DarkMagician it can definitely be both. MH2 was the first set we’ve seen in forever with fetches, and also one of the most expensive sets we’ve seen on-top of that. When they’re figuring out how much to charge for a set i’d find it hard to believe they don’t add the sets-contents into that calculation.
I agree that they’re unlikely to come out and reveal the exact maths behind what they charge for sets, but there has to be a bunch of thought behind those price tags.
November 15, 2021 2:33 p.m.
TriusMalarky says... #10
They can't say anything about the price tags of cards legally, it opens them up to be sued into oblivion by the government for allowing minors to gamble.
November 15, 2021 7:27 p.m.
plakjekaas says... #11
DarkMagician it was hinted at in futuresight, and the mechanic existed earlier but was spelled out, not named Scry. In Theros it was a keyworded set mechanic, which was liked so well, the keyword was evergreened in Magic Origins. For the purpose of the discussion, with set mechanics on lands where possible, it was still a valid example.
November 15, 2021 7:41 p.m.
jethstriker says... #12
Scry is a mechanic before Theros block. I think you're mistaking it for being spelled out because it has a reminder text. See Magma Jet and Serum Visions in its original printing in Fifth Dawn.
November 16, 2021 4:25 a.m.
plakjekaas says... #13
Wow, yeah, I guess I'm mistaken. I was remembering Darksteel Pendant for being Scry without the keywording, which was printed in the same block, though not the same set as the cards you linked.
November 16, 2021 9:07 a.m.
Because landbases are the method by which a lot of competetive magic is gatekept.
I had a Mardu warrior tribal deck that was pretty good in standard back during Tarkir. I could turn it into a tokenspam deck too. Both were almost mean decks in a "casual setting". But it didn't do well "competetively" because i wasn't going to drop 160 on 2 playsets of fetchlands. The limiting factor was literally the landbase. There was probably nothing else i could have done. I was able to consistently win by turn 6 or 7, and boardwiped games tended to go in my favor. I needed to be winning at turn 4 ot 5 though, and the only way to do that was a better landbase that let me get my stuff out a little faster, thin my deck a little to make it more consistent, stuff like that.
TriusMalarky says... #2
it's harder to reprint in standard legal sets. For example, standard was an overpriced 4-color hellhole when the allied fetches were printed in KTK. Standard was also a bit of a mess during the period it had Shocklands, as every deck was 3 colors with no repercussions and cost significantly more than normal(average standard land is less than $5, shocks sit at an average of $10 and fetches at an average of $30).
Outside of standard though . . . wizards has the choice. They could print fetches and shocks in every commander precon and nothing is stopping them, except some dumb excuse of "but it'll make it so non-noob edh players buy the product up" like that's not already happening with Dockside, Fierce Guardianship and Friends, and other assorted pushed staples.
November 11, 2021 11:26 p.m.