Fetch Lands, Tri Lands, and Guildgates, Oh My! - Modern Masters 2017 Reprints (MTG)

by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist

When three land cycles were released in Modern Masters 2017 spoilers, few players were probably surprised to see land cycles each at the common, uncommon, and rare rarities. What may have surprised some players is that the rare cycle of lands were the enemy-colored fetch lands from Zendikar!

That’s right. Arid Mesa, Marsh Flats, Misty Rainforest, Scalding Tarn, and Verdant Catacombs are a part of the Modern Masters 2017 set. They’ve been awaiting reprints for years now, and considering that they are staples in the Modern format, it makes sense that a Modern Masters set finally contains them. Without a doubt, these are going to be five of the chase cards in the entire set (plus, a little Black sorcery called Damnation!)

Obviously, this reprint will put a huge dent in the prices of the original Zendikar printings of these five lands. At the time of the announcement, Arid Mesa was $50, Marsh Flats was $35, Misty Rainforest was $45, Scalding Tarn about $75, and Verdant Catacombs around $60. The supply of these was getting low due to pretty much every Magic player wanting at least four copies of each. They’re playable, and very good, in every format outside of Standard. Fetch lands not only fix mana quickly at the cost of only a single point of life, but shorten the number of lands that you draw, as well.

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Still, we should not overlook that the five Shards of Alara tri lands are also included in the set. These are Arcane Sanctum, Crumbling Necropolis, Jungle Shrine, Savage Lands, and Seaside Citadel. While they don’t see much in the way of Constructed play anymore, they do see considerable play in Commander. The tri lands are also quite popular among casual players for mana fixing, as we’ve seen with the Khans of Tarkir tri lands. They do come into play tapped, but having access to three different colors of mana is worth the drawback. Even though these lands were reprinted in both the Commander 2013 and Commander 2016 product, there’s still a lot of demand for these.

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The Return to Ravnica and Gatecrash Guildgates aren’t exciting, but they too see some play in the various Maze’s End decks that still roam at the fringes of Modern. They are also very popular among budget casual players and do indeed see play in Commander. While they come into play tapped, they are so easily obtainable that many players will use them as filler lands until they acquire more efficient mana sources.

These are some great lands to open not only for drafting and sealed deck purposes. These lands will be good to open for collection purposes and deck building, as well. The fetch lands themselves sell sets.

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