Magic's Khans of Tarkir Brings Anticipated Reprint

[Encaen]

Magic's Khans of Tarkir Brings Anticipated Reprint

Rampant speculation has proven correct, as Wizards of the Coast announces that Onslaught Fetch Lands will be reprinted in Khans of Tarkir.

I got to chat with Wizards of the Coast at PAX 2014 about some very exciting things with September's Magic set, Khans of Tarkir. While we discussed the different clans and khans, the origin of planeswalker [mtg_card=Sarkhan Vol], and the new 2-set Block scheme [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/137026-Wizards-of-the-Coast-Announces-Block-Changes-for-Magic-The-Gathering] that Mark Rosewater recently announced, the biggest news was by far the fact that Khans will feature Fetch Lands, like [mtg_card=Flooded Strand], originally reprinted in Onslaught way back in 2002.
[gallery=3103]
The Khans party at PAX is well underway now, and the reveals there will include these highly-sought lands, which currently sell for up to $90 each [http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/magic_single_card.asp?cn=Polluted%20Delta&sn=Onslaught]. In addition to fetch lands, the Morph ability is making a return, where you can play a Morph card face-down as a 2/2 creature, and turn it face up at any time for it's Morph cost to surprise an opponent.

To assist with the three-color theme of the set, there will be clan-colored tri-lands as well, which add mana of any of three colors with the downside that the land always comes into play tapped.

There are also some fairly big changes coming to the Khans prerelease events. With Return to Ravnica and Theros, there were fairly easy choices for which pre-release box you chose, assuming you were aiming for the highest powered promo card. This time around, there will actually be 40 different promo cards, with the seeded pack in each pre-release box containing one of the eight from your chosen clan. Additionally, the Intro Packs will now feature alternate art versions of some of these promo cards, offering a more compelling reason to pick one up for those who've already got the pre-release promo.
[gallery=3102]
Of course, for the more serious Magic player, most of this pales compared to the reprinting of the high-value fetch lands, but the variety we'll see at pre-releases certainly comes as a welcome change of pace.

What do you think about the reprints? Are you excited to have them accessible, or have you already invested hundreds of dollars into acquiring them, and worry that they'll now devalue? Let us know in the forums!

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[RJ 17]

That's all? Wake me when they bring the Eldrazi back.

 

[Brian Tams]

Ruh-roh. I might actually attend a prerelease now (the last one I attended was M13) and get back into magic in at least a Limited capacity.

Official wedge support? Check. Sarkhan (my fave planeswalker from Alara)? Check. And now fetch lands? YES! I may actually own a fetchland now.

 

[Daymo]

I'm interested to see how this shakes up modern more then anything since I'm looking at making the jump when I have a bit more money.

 

[CounterAttack]

I'm tossing up between Jeskai and Temur as my clan of choice... from what I've seen, I like the flavour of Jeskai and the gameplay of Temur. Gonna have to wait for Temur's mechanic to be revealed in the DailyMtG article before I decide proper, though.

Also, dat Sarkhan. 4/4 with flying, indestructible and haste? Do want.

 

[Jeroenr]

Pay 1 life?
why pay 1 life for a land card you could have played before.(or may play shortly)

I think there are land card's as well as other cards that let you seek out the land card you desire without paying 1 life.
Guild gates are a good example.(although them entering tapped cripples them a bit.)


But can you tap these types of cards as colorless mana (them being land), or only use them as described in the text?
If not they don't really make sense to me, like i said there are better alternatives.
Why not make it a sorcery or instant (could be mana cost free even).

 

[Hadesshade]

Pay 1 life?
why pay 1 life for a land card you could have played before.(or may play shortly)

Well, The main reason that the fetchlands are sought out so highly (in competitive play at least) is for 2 reasons. In the early game, it gets you the specific colour mana of the one you need at that stage of your 2 or even 3 colour deck. Later on it helps thin your deck of lands so you are more likely to draw the spells you want, rather than lands you don't. The latter may seem stupid, as we are talking about small numbers in variance, but if you want your deck to win at a high level tournament, the consistency and ever so slightly better odds in your deck is what sometimes makes all the difference between winning and losing.

 

[Altorin]

Pay 1 life?
why pay 1 life for a land card you could have played before.(or may play shortly)

Well, The main reason that the fetchlands are sought out so highly (in competitive play at least) is for 2 reasons. In the early game, it gets you the specific colour mana of the one you need at that stage of your 2 or even 3 colour deck. Later on it helps thin your deck of lands so you are more likely to draw the spells you want, rather than lands you don't. The latter may seem stupid, as we are talking about small numbers in variance, but if you want your deck to win at a high level tournament, the consistency and ever so slightly better odds in your deck is what sometimes makes all the difference between winning and losing.

There are also several non-basic lands with basic land types that can be pulled with the fetch lands. There are also cards that combo interestingly with them due to the way they leave play, cause other lands to come into play, and also don't come into play tapped. They're tricky cards that have certainly filled a niche.

I only wish I knew they were so valuable before this announcement, or I might have sold the ones I have (I have an almost complete set of onslaught, including several signed fetch lands)... With this set dropping with reprints, the value will probably drop to the point where it won't really be worth me pursuing selling them.. but if I'd known that several of them were worth as much as they were, those values certainly might have swayed my decision to sell them.

 

[Lizardon]

Pay 1 life?
why pay 1 life for a land card you could have played before.(or may play shortly)

I think there are land card's as well as other cards that let you seek out the land card you desire without paying 1 life.
Guild gates are a good example.(although them entering tapped cripples them a bit.)


But can you tap these types of cards as colorless mana (them being land), or only use them as described in the text?
If not they don't really make sense to me, like i said there are better alternatives.
Why not make it a sorcery or instant (could be mana cost free even).

No you can't tap these for colourless mana. It has to say "Tap: add 1 to your mana pool". There are actually a few lands that don't tap for mana at all, but most modern lands have at least some connection to making mana.

Giving you a specific colour of mana in the early turns of the game can be extremely important in a multicolour deck. Being able to get the exact lands you need helps make your deck play more consistently.

There are other lands that let you search up certain lands without life payment ([mtg_card=Flood Plain]). Coming into play tapped is a huge drawback in formats like Modern or Legacy where decks are incredibly fast and not being able to play your spells on time can be the difference between winning and losing.

One of the main appeals of these lands is how they combo with the original dual lands in eternal formats ([mtg_card=Volcanic Island]) or the shock lands ([mtg_card=Steam Vents]). These lands have the basic land subtypes meaning you can search them up with the fetch lands. So a [mtg_card=Polluted Delta] on turn 1 can search up a [mtg_card=Tundra], [mtg_card=Underground Sea], [mtg_card=Tropical Island] or [mtg_card=Volcanic Island] giving you access to whatever colour or mana you want.

And one life is not a huge deal. Your life is not a score, it is a resource. It doesn't matter what your life total is as long as your opponents is zero.

EDIT: I forgot to add that making it a free instant is a bad idea. Putting it on a land means you a limited to playing only one per turn. They don't do free spells anymore, most spells that can be cast for free that have been printed have ending up being too powerful.

 

[Hawk of Battle]

And here I was about to throw some Evolving Wilds into my Temur standard deck. This is a vast improvement indeed. Still think I'm gona be reserving my 5 drop slot for Stormbreath Dragon over the new Sarkhan though. I don't think gaining temporary indestructable is in any way better than just outright protection from an entire colour, and his ultimate doesn't sound all that great either. His -3 is ok I guess.

Not sure on that Temur mystic either. I could maybe see it replacing my Elvish Mystics, but for 2 mana I already have Sylvan Caryatids which are already superior, and I can't see the morph ability being all that useful. It's certainly no Noble Heirarch.

I do like the sound of Temur Ascendancy though, might even replace my Bow of Nylea's maindeck, and it curves right into Polukranos and Stormbreath.

Can't wait to see what kind of legendaries we get as well.

 

[Cowabungaa]

Can't wait to see what kind of legendaries we get as well.

Same here, seeing as I pretty much only play EDH. I really want to see what kind of cool new decks we're going to be able to make. Sultai Charm and Temur Ascendancy sound awesome for EDH in any case, Crackling Doom is pretty rad too.

Also, a week or two ago a friend of mine traded his foil fetch land he got from a random Onslaught booster a week before that for almost ?110 worth of cards. He sure as hell is going to be happy he traded it right before this got announced.

 

[Pickles]

Pay 1 life?
why pay 1 life for a land card you could have played before.(or may play shortly)

Well, The main reason that the fetchlands are sought out so highly (in competitive play at least) is for 2 reasons. In the early game, it gets you the specific colour mana of the one you need at that stage of your 2 or even 3 colour deck. Later on it helps thin your deck of lands so you are more likely to draw the spells you want, rather than lands you don't. The latter may seem stupid, as we are talking about small numbers in variance, but if you want your deck to win at a high level tournament, the consistency and ever so slightly better odds in your deck is what sometimes makes all the difference between winning and losing.

There are also several non-basic lands with basic land types that can be pulled with the fetch lands. There are also cards that combo interestingly with them due to the way they leave play, cause other lands to come into play, and also don't come into play tapped. They're tricky cards that have certainly filled a niche.

I only wish I knew they were so valuable before this announcement, or I might have sold the ones I have (I have an almost complete set of onslaught, including several signed fetch lands)... With this set dropping with reprints, the value will probably drop to the point where it won't really be worth me pursuing selling them.. but if I'd known that several of them were worth as much as they were, those values certainly might have swayed my decision to sell them.

I wouldn't worry too much, theres a good chance the onslaught versions will be more expensive than the Khan's reprints. The same thing happened with shocklands in original Ravnica vs. Return to Ravnica. Having signed ones as well (depending on who signed it obviously) can be a pretty big deal. Its also the kind of card that is never going to get too low. They'll be played in Standard, Modern, Legacy, Vintage, Casual and EDH so its not as if there won't be a market.

 

[Dragon Zero]

I'm kind of underwhelmed by the Abzan mechanic, "outlast". I mean sure it's probably going to be great in limited and being able to grow your creatures is cool but it doesn't seem like a WBG ability to me.

Also I'm surprised Delve is coming back, I'd heard somewhere that WotC considered it a bit hard to balance properly. I've never played with it myself, though so it might be fine.

I guess it's good that fetchs are coming back. I mean I find it somewhat predictable and would've liked to see a new cycle or finish a cycle like giving the Scars block lands or man-lands their wedge pieces, but at least they will be more affordable now.

All in all I'm still looking forward to this set, I just wasn't expecting some of these things.

 

[WhiteTigerShiro]

Pay 1 life?
why pay 1 life for a land card you could have played before.(or may play shortly)

When running a dual-color deck, you might not always get the type of Land that you need, even with an ideal set-up. Having a Land that counts as both colors is an invaluable thing.

I think there are land card's as well as other cards that let you seek out the land card you desire without paying 1 life.
Guild gates are a good example.(although them entering tapped cripples them a bit.)

You kind of answered your own question. During the first few turns of the game, having your one land for the turn enter play tapped is kind of undesirable. Most players would rather take a single life hit to get access to the land of their choosing now. You might say, "it's not worth taking damage for such a simple utility," the high-end players would say, "any life I have at the end of the game is a resource I could have used to make my victory all the easier."

But can you tap these types of cards as colorless mana (them being land), or only use them as described in the text?
If not they don't really make sense to me, like i said there are better alternatives.
Why not make it a sorcery or instant (could be mana cost free even).

They only have their use ability. Making them an Instant or a Sorcery would break them, especially if they were free, because then you would be able to play 2 lands in one turn. As-is, they're the single land you can play for the turn, and they let you pay a single life to get whichever color you need more at the moment. You might consider an Instant or (more likely) Sorcery to be a better alternative, but that costs mana that you could be using to play other spells. Using a Sorcery to summon lands is more of a long-term strategy - due to them often being expensive (4+ mana) and basically taking-up your entire turn - while most high-end decks aim to end the game as soon as possible. And yes, there are creatures that can act as Lands, but again that falls to both summon sickness and costing mana, and the fact that creatures are (or at least were when I was playing) the easiest cards to remove from play.

 

[2xDouble]

Pay 1 life?
why pay 1 life for a land card you could have played before.(or may play shortly)

Well, The main reason that the fetchlands are sought out so highly (in competitive play at least) is for 2 reasons. In the early game, it gets you the specific colour mana of the one you need at that stage of your 2 or even 3 colour deck. Later on it helps thin your deck of lands so you are more likely to draw the spells you want, rather than lands you don't. The latter may seem stupid, as we are talking about small numbers in variance, but if you want your deck to win at a high level tournament, the consistency and ever so slightly better odds in your deck is what sometimes makes all the difference between winning and losing.

There are also several non-basic lands with basic land types that can be pulled with the fetch lands. There are also cards that combo interestingly with them due to the way they leave play, cause other lands to come into play, and also don't come into play tapped. They're tricky cards that have certainly filled a niche.

I only wish I knew they were so valuable before this announcement, or I might have sold the ones I have (I have an almost complete set of onslaught, including several signed fetch lands)... With this set dropping with reprints, the value will probably drop to the point where it won't really be worth me pursuing selling them.. but if I'd known that several of them were worth as much as they were, those values certainly might have swayed my decision to sell them.

I wouldn't worry too much, theres a good chance the onslaught versions will be more expensive than the Khan's reprints. The same thing happened with shocklands in original Ravnica vs. Return to Ravnica. Having signed ones as well (depending on who signed it obviously) can be a pretty big deal. Its also the kind of card that is never going to get too low. They'll be played in Standard, Modern, Legacy, Vintage, Casual and EDH so its not as if there won't be a market.

Another interesting point: This is the first time these particular Fetchlands will be usable in the Modern format, making them all the more valuable, despite increased availability.

 

[ccggenius12]

Also, a week or two ago a friend of mine traded his foil fetch land he got from a random Onslaught booster a week before that for almost ?110 worth of cards. He sure as hell is going to be happy he traded it right before this got announced.

Actually, with them becoming legal in standard and Modern, The old foils will probably see a price jump. While the normal ones will go down a bit, you can't underestimate the power of pimp-factor.

Pay 1 life?
why pay 1 life for a land card you could have played before.(or may play shortly)

I think there are land card's as well as other cards that let you seek out the land card you desire without paying 1 life.
Guild gates are a good example.(although them entering tapped cripples them a bit.)


But can you tap these types of cards as colorless mana (them being land), or only use them as described in the text?
If not they don't really make sense to me, like i said there are better alternatives.
Why not make it a sorcery or instant (could be mana cost free even).

A guildgate can produce two colors a turn after you play it, a fetchland can fetch a dual land/shock land with any of the five colors, as long as one of the two colors it produces is a type on the fetchland, and you can use it NOW. Not being behind a turn is EASILY worth one life. Fetchlands also interact favorably with cards like Brainstorm and Sensei's Divining Top.

 

[Souplex]

Now that most of the keywords have been announced, it looks like I'm going to be rolling with the Abzan houses. (WBG)
None of the keywords particularly thrill me like the ones in Return To Ravnica did.

Also; apparently Morph was a highly requested returning mechanic.
Who requested morph? As far as I was aware, it was a gimmick that was used in one set that nobody had any strong feelings about and was quickly forgotten.

 

[Souplex]

That's all? Wake me when they bring the Eldrazi back.

If my math/pattern recognition holds, that will be 2016.
OG Mirrodin: 2003
Scars of Mirrodin: 2010
OG Ravnica: 2005
Return to Ravnica: 2012
Zendikar: 2009
Every seven years. Assuming the set was worth caring about. Hence why we had Innistrad instead of Kamigawa, and we'll never see a return to Innistrad.
Because Innistrad is terrible.

 

[Daymo]

Now that most of the keywords have been announced, it looks like I'm going to be rolling with the Abzan houses. (WBG)
None of the keywords particularly thrill me like the ones in Return To Ravnica did.

Also; apparently Morph was a highly requested returning mechanic.
Who requested morph? As far as I was aware, it was a gimmick that was used in one set that nobody had any strong feelings about and was quickly forgotten.

Morph has so many combat possibilities, Onslaught and future sight were before my time, but just looking at the cards and knowing when to flip them or to play them unmorphed makes them seem great. Keeping track of multiple morphs at once might get annoying though.

 

[BiscuitTrouser]

Im not massively excited for khans, but thats probably because I love mono or duel decks I feel like my mono white heroic will get so much hate from khans and very little in the way of support. Theres always Boros though, some nice looking red/white cards are likely.