Evergreens with Mistergreen - Landwalk

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mistergreen527

6 December 2011

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Winter is definitely upon us. I live in the Midwest, and here, most trees have lost their leaves. However, some trees are still green: the evergreens. Evergreen trees (also known as pine trees) do not lose their needles during winter. They stay green all year long.

In Magic, some abilities come and go when the year changes. As new blocks are released, some abilities are packed away. Maybe they'll appear again in the future. Maybe they won't. However, some abilities are used year after year. Every Magic set has access to them. These abilities are known as evergreens.

I thought it might be fun to take a look at these abilities that we see year-round, set after set. What a better time to do that than while the evergreens outside are thriving among the bare leaves of their brethren?

Today, we take a look at landwalk!

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The Rules of Landwalk

First, let's first take an in-depth look of the rules behind landwalk. Below, you'll see landwalk's section of the Comprehensive Rulebook. After each ruling, I've put a comment in parentheses that will help you further understand the ruling.

702.13. Landwalk
702.13a Landwalk is a generic term that appears within an object's rules text as "[type]walk," where [type] is usually a subtype, but can be the card type land, any land type, any supertype, or any combination thereof.

(Whenever a card has landwalk, it will specify the type of landwalk that it has, such as forestwalk, or legendary landwalk.)

702.13b Landwalk is an evasion ability.

(Landwalk is a static ability that restricts what creatures can block an attacking creature.)

702.13c A creature with landwalk is unblockable as long as the defending player controls at least one land with the specified subtype (as in "islandwalk"), with the specified supertype (as in "legendary landwalk"), without the specified supertype (as in "nonbasic landwalk"), or with both the specified supertype and the specified subtype (as in "snow swampwalk"). (See rule 509, "Declare Blockers Step.")

(If the defending player has a land that matches the type of landwalk the creature has, that creature is unblockable. For example, if my creature has nonbasic landwalk, and my opponent has a nonbasic land, my creature is unblockable.)

702.13d Landwalk abilities don't "cancel" one another.

(Landwalk doesn't grant creatures the ability to block other creatures with landwalk. For example, if my opponent and I both control islands and both control creatures with islandwalk, those creatures can not block each other.)

702.13e Multiple instances of the same kind of landwalk on the same creature are redundant.

(If a creature has two or more instances of a specific landwalk type on it, it is treated the same way as if it only had one instance of that specific landwalk type on it.)

The History of Landwalk

Landwalk abilities have been around since Magic's beginnings. In Limited Edition Alpha (August 1993), there were seven cards with landwalk on them. One of those original cards was Shanodin Dryads. Dryads originate from Greek mythology. They were tree spirits. The flavor behind landwalk was that some creatures were especially proficient at maneuvering through certain terrain. So, it makes sense that dryads would have forestwalk. Since this precedent was set, the majority of Magic's dryads have had forestwalk. Bog Wraith was also given landwalk from the get-go. While flavor-wise, there doesn't seem to be any reasoning that a wraith would have swampwalk over a shade, specter, or spirit, every single wraith that has been created has had swampwalk.

    

Limited Edition Alpha also gave us Goblin King, Lord of Atlantis, and Zombie Master. While these creatures didn't have landwalk themselves, they are able to grant it to other creatures of a specific type. This shows us that they are particularly good at leading others when in their own domain. Speaking of granting creatures landwalk, Burrowing was the first Aura to give a landwalk ability. How does one travel through mountains undetected? By burrowing underneath it.

                   

Island Sanctuary also appeared in Limited Edition Alpha. While it didn't give landwalk to any creatures, it brought attention to the importance of the ability. With this card in the meta, it surely made islandwalkers more desirable. Finally, although Magical Hack isn't an actual landwalk card, it brought attention to the keyword by explicitly pointing out the interactions it could have with it in the reminder text.

    

Four months later, in Magic's first expansion set, Arabian Nights (December 1993), landwalk returned and brought with it several developments to its design space. Erhnam Djinn turned landwalk into a trade-off that could be used against you in exchange for an efficiently costed creature. Sandals of Abdallah allowed you to temporarilly grant landwalk to a creature. Desert Nomads showed that landwalk wasn't restricted to basic land types by referring to Desert.

              

While Antiquities (March 1994) didn't have any landwalking abilities in it, the following expansion, Legends (June 1994) brought landwalk back in a big way. Of every set, Legends had the most cards with landwalk on them, twenty in total. Legends continued exploring landwalk's design space. Crevasse, Deadfall, Great Wall, Quagmire, and Undertow was a cycle that negated landwalk abilities. Gosta Dirk, Lord Magnus, and Ur-Drago were each legendary creatures that also negated landwalk. Hammerheim and Urborg were both lands that revolted against landwalk by removing the ability.

         

    

    

While landwalk obviously had a lot of hate in Legends, it did recieve some positive support as well. Giant Slug became the first creature that could choose what type of landwalk it had. Livonya Silone became the first landwalker that cared about a land's supertype, rather than subtype. Part Water allowed players to grant landwalk to creatures via spell, rather than via permanent. Legends also had at least one creature with landwalk for every basic land type.

              

While The Dark (August 1994) gave us nine new landwalk cards, the only real development of the ability was via Merfolk Assassin, which made having islandwalk a liability.



Throughout the years, there have been 190 different cards with landwalk on them. Since The Dark, it has been an ability that hasn't grown much design-space-wise. Hurloon Wrangler showed how landwalk could be turned into a crazy Un-set effect in Unglued (August 1998). And, Tanglewalker curiously was worded as "Each creature you control is unblockable as long as defending player controls an artifact land" instead of "Creatures you control have artifact landwalk."

    

The reminder text that accompanies landwalk abilities has changed slightly over the years. In Visions (February 1997), islandwalk's (as an example) reminder text said, "If defending player controls any islands, this creature is unblockable." In Classic Sixth Edition (April 1999), the reminder text said, "This creature is unblockable if defending player controls an island." Then, with Urza's Destiny (June 1999), this was minusculely changed to "This creature is unblockable as long as defending player controls an island." This is how the reminder text has appeared since, with the exception of Portal Three Kingdoms (July 1999) that temporarily changed it to, "If defending player has an island in play, CARDNAME can't be blocked."

Landwalk has been in a lot of sets through Magic's history. The only sets that have no cards with landwalk on them since Magic's beginnings are Antiquities (March 1994), Stronghold (February 1998), Legions (January 2003), Scourge (May 2003), Mirrodin (October 2003), Fifth Dawn (June 2004), Betrayers of Kamigawa (February 2005), Alara Reborn (April 2009), and Innistrad (September 2011).

In the current Standard environment, there are six creatures with landwalk. Harbor Serpent and Lurking Crocodile have islandwalk. Blistergrub and Sheoldred, Whispering One have swampwalk. Glissa's Courier has mountainwalk. And, Koth's Courier has forestwalk.

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Notable Landwalk Cards

Next, let's take a look at some landmark landwalk cards.

	Bog Wraith and Shanodin Dryads (August 1993) were the first creatures with landwalk.
Goblin King, Lord of Atlantis, and Zombie Master (August 1993) were the first creatures to give other creatures landwalk.
	Burrowing (August 1993) was the first Aura to give a creature landwalk.
Island Sanctuary and Lord of Atlantis (August 1993) were the first cards with islandwalk.
	Bog Wraith and Zombie Master (August 1993) were the first cards with swampwalk.
Burrowing and Goblin King (August 1993) were the first cards with mountainwalk.
	Shanodin Dryads (August 1993) was the first card with forestwalk.
Desert Nomads (December 1993) was the first card with landwalk of a nonbasic land type.
	Sandals of Abdallah (April 2009) was the first card to grant landwalk through an activated ability.
Part Water (June 1994) was the first sorcery to give creatures landwalk.
	Righteous Avengers (June 1994) was the first card with plainswalk.
Livonya Silone (June 1994) was the first card with legendary landwalk.
	Wormwood Treefolk (August 1994) was the first card with more than one type of landwalk.
Goblin Flotilla and River Merfolk (November 1994) were the first creatures with a landwalk type that was not the same as a basic land that could be used to pay their mana cost.
	Barbarian Guides, Legions of Lim-Dûl, and Rime Dryad (June 1995) were the first cards with snow landwalk.
Funeral Charm (February 1997) was the first instant to give a creature landwalk.
	Dryad Sophisticate (February 2006) was the first cards with nonbasic landwalk.
Celestine Reef (September 2009) was the first plane with landwalk on it.
	Trailblazer's Boots (October 2009) was the first Equipment to give a creature landwalk.

What's your favorite landwalk card? What landwalk card do you think was/is the most monumental release?

Landwalk Stats

There are currently one hundred ninety cards with landwalk on them. These charts show how these are distributed by color, landwalk type, card type, and converted mana cost.

Landwalk Distribution by Color:

White = 9/190 = 4.74% Blue = 31/190 = 16.32% Black = 39/190 = 20.53% Red = 29/190 = 15.26% Green = 59/190 = 31.05% Multicolored = 14/190 = 7.37%        G/W = 2/190 = 1.05%        W/U = 2/190 = 1.05%        U/B = 4/190 = 2.11%        B/R = 1/190 = 0.53%        R/G = 2/190 = 1.05%        U/G = 1/190 = 0.53%        B/G = 1/190 = 0.53%        U/B/R = 1/190 = 2.38% Colorless = 9/190 = 4.74%

Landwalk Distribution by Landwalk Type:

Plainswalk = 6/190 = 3.16% Islandwalk = 43/190 = 22.63% Swampwalk = 47/190 = 24.74% Mountainwalk = 27/190 = 14.21% Forestwalk = 39/190 = 20.53% Desertwalk = 1/190 = 0.53% Legendary Landwalk = 2/190 = 1.05% Nonbasic Landwalk = 2/190 = 1.05% Snow Landwalk = 2/190 = 1.05% Denimwalk = 1/190 = 0.53% Multiple Landwalks = 8/190 = 4.21% Unspecified Landwalk = 12/190 = 6.32%

Landwalk Distribution by Card Type:

Artifact = 5/190 = 2.63% Artifact Creature = 2/190 = 1.05% Creature = 156/190 = 82.11% Enchantment = 18/190 = 9.47% Instant = 2/190 = 1.05% Land = 2/190 = 1.05% Plane = 1/190 = 0.53% Planeswalker = 0/190 = 0.00% Sorcery = 4/190 = 2.11%

Landwalk Distribution by Converted Mana Cost:

CMC 0 = 3/190 = 1.53% CMC 1 = 26/190 = 13.68% CMC 2 = 31/190 = 16.32% CMC 3 = 57/190 = 30.00% CMC 4 = 36/190 = 18.95% CMC 5 = 16/190 = 8.42% CMC 6 = 11/190 = 5.79% CMC 7 = 5/190 = 2.63% CMC 8 = 4/190 = 2.11% CMC 9 = 1/190 = 4.76%

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Fun with Landwalk

Next, let's take a look at some really cool things that you can do with landwalk.

Landwalk + Land Changers

Why depend on your opponent having a specific land in order to use your favorite landwalk creatures? Just turn their land into whatever land you need it to be to make your creature unblockable. To turn their lands into Plains, use cards such as Graceful Antelope and Tundra Kavu. To turn them into Islands, use cards like Quicksilver Fountain and Spreading Seas. Cyclopean Giant and Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth-like cards can give them Swamps. For Mountains, use card such as Blood Moon and Lush Growth. Finally, to give your opponent Forests, use cards such as Gaea's Liege and Yavimaya Dryad.

         

    

    

Landwalk + Ability Changers

Instead of changing your opponent's land, you can alternatively change the type of landwalk your creature has. Magical Hack, Mind Bend, and Whim of Volrath can all help you do this. Based on the reminder text on these cards, the makers of Magic were hoping you might use these cards for this purpose.

    

Islandwalk Granting + Merfolk Assassin

Normally, Merfolk Assassin would only be good against specific cards. However, we can use War Barge to give any creature islandwalk. Then, all it takes is turning our Merfolk Assassin sideways to destroy any creature we want. We can also use Fishliver Oil, Part Water, Piracy Charm, or Sandals of Abdallah for a one time use with Merfolk Assassin.

              

Island Safehouse + Mystic Decree

With Island Sanctuary, Stormtide Leviathan, or Celestine Reef out, we only need to fear creatures with flying or islandwalk. That is until we put down Mystic Decree. Now no one can attack. Everyone can just chill on their island paradise.

    
Are there any other fun combos you've discovered that involves landwalk? What's the craziest game you've seen that involved landwalk? Finally, if you have any landwalk inspired decks, please feel free to share them!

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Thanks for reading and I'll see you again next time!