Friday, September 28, 2012

The Land of Return to Ravnica

Basic Land - Plains

Plains Plains Plains Plains Plains

All of the basic lands have great artwork, so I can't really say much more than that... I will say that the fifth artwork here is a reprint from the original Ravnica block...

Basic Land - Island

Island Island Island Island Island

Ditto to everything I said about Plains. This is probably a recurring theme, so I'll just post the rest of the basic land. I will say this: I want some full arts of all of these... In addition, it appears that John Avon is doing one of each land type, and Richard Wright is doing two of each land type. Well, more accurately, one of the lands by Richard Wright for each color is the reprint from the original Ravnica block and the other is new artwork for RTR.

Basic Land - Swamp

Swamp Swamp Swamp Swamp Swamp

I can't read the numbers off these... I just assume Gatherer has them in order. Anyway, fourth one is the reprint.

Basic Land - Mountain

Mountain Mountain Mountain Mountain Mountain

This time the third one is the reprint...

Basic Land - Forest

Forest Forest Forest Forest Forest

Third one here is a reprint... You know, back on the subject of full-art land, I hope Wizards is like "Here, have a fat pack" and then inside are full art lands and they are like "Hah! You got full arts. Thought you were getting regular lands, didn't you?" but that probably won't happen sadly. They'd probably make a publicity thing about it since they were popular in Zendikar...

Shocklands

Blood Crypt Hallowed Fountain Overgrown Tomb Steam Vents Temple Garden

I don't think I need to say anything about these... Other than watch my eBay account... I don't think I'll use them, but who knows... I might find a good purpose for losing two life for immediate use of a dual land...

I probably just don't understand the appeal... If someone would like to explain, please do so in the comments, but when I look at these, I see dollar signs...

Gates

Azorius Guildgate Golgari Guildgate Izzet Guildgate Rakdos Guildgate Selesnya Guildgate


The "Land - Gate" type is the common set of lands that replace the bounce lands from the original Ravnica block. This was done to differentiate and add more cards instead of reprinting multiples, which the bounce lands were reprinted in Commander... And by bounce lands, I mean lands like this. Those types of lands bounce a land back to your hand but give you two land and was also a cycle of land that was marked as common... Essentially these are shocklands without the shock ability. They come in tapped whereas the shocklands come in tapped unless you pay two life, so these are a bit watered down. They also add a mechanic to the game where some creatures or abilities benefit from you having a Gate card on the field. Not a bad idea...

Other Lands

Grove of the Guardian Rogue's Passage Transguild Promenade

Anyone who thinks Grove of the Guardian is pointless, obviously doesn't know green/white decks, and definitely doesn't understand the Selesnya mechanic "Populate".

Rogue's Passage is okay... I have a blue/black unblockable deck where pretty much all the creatures are unblockable, or I'm swinging with some inquisitor's flails and trepanation blades... It's pointless unless I'm pairing it with the 8/8 creature token from Grove of the Guardian...

Transguild Promenade is a functional reprint of Rupture Spire... That's about it...

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