Why is Gaea's Touch so dirt cheap?
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on March 24, 2016, 3:13 a.m. by TheAmazingSalsa
I mean, I can understand the restriction of only basic lands being played additionally each turn.
But still, it can do some serious ramping throughout the game, plus you can add 2 mana when saccing it.
WHY IS NO ONE RUNNING THIS CARD//???/////
PhotogenicParasympathetic says... #3
It's good, sure, but next to Oracle of Mul Daya, which helps your draws, and similar cards like Azusa, Lost but Seeking, Mina and Denn, Wildborn, Exploration, Burgeoning etc, none of which restrict you to basic forests, it's not as good outside of mono-green.
Also worth noting that unlike the cards listed above, it's never seen any play in non-EDH formats, which are usually the ones that decide a cards price.
March 24, 2016 4:24 a.m.
Hey, I run it :) , I run Gaea's Touch in an enchantment deck, as well as a landfall deck (reminds me, I have to post those one day).
But I think it has to do that the card is only really good in a deck the has a great deal of non basic forests. If you run not that much lands, or only little basics, other options - as those named by PhotogenicParasympathetic - are better. The card is slightly circumstantial, the others more versatile.
March 24, 2016 6:10 a.m.
TheAmazingSalsa says... #5
Well, I agree with everything posted. But still, there are a lot of mono-green EDH decks that don't run tons of non-basic lands. Of course there are better cards, but this one gives good ramp as early as turn 2 and with almost no drawback whatsoever.
It just feels underappreciated, that's all.
March 24, 2016 6:27 a.m.
aeonstoremyliver says... #6
I think that Terrain Generator is better, as it's a land slot and works for all decks. Journeyer's Kite works well with both, as does Cultivate, Kodama's Reach, etc.
March 24, 2016 10:20 a.m.
Yes, but regardless of how many lands are in your hand, unless they are basic forest then it won't matter if it hits as early as turn 2, Gaea's Touch won't do anything for you except the one time of adding 2 mana when you sac it.
You ask why is no one running this card. The answer is simple. People are running other cards that are better options. The problem is you see this as "almost no drawback whatsoever", when that's just not true. If it weren't a drawback, then this would fit into any EDH deck that runs green. The fact that it's limited in the amount of decks it can be effective in because they have to run a large number of basic forest, is only further evidence of how big of a drawback this is. You can look at basically any card and judge it in a vacuum under perfect scenarios and say that it has virtually no drawbacks, which is essentially what your doing with this card. Your looking at it from the perspective of a deck that runs a lot of basic forest when in reality not all decks that have Green in them run a lot of basic forest. So regardless of how good this card can be in something like a mono-green deck or how early it hits the board, the reason it doesn't see more play is because there are other cards that do the same thing or better and fit into more decks.
March 24, 2016 10:22 a.m.
nobu_the_bard says... #8
It doesn't help your card draws. It lets you play forests earlier, but it doesn't get more of them into your hand. Ramp like Kodama's Reach has similar requirements (need 3 lands to be useful for ramping early, etc) but actually replaces itself with a land and puts another directly into play from the library, neither of which Gaea's Touch do. You get your mana investment back later with Gaea's Touch but you needed to be drawing a lot of lands to get use out of it as a land accelerator.
It works okay to "displace" two green mana to later turn, but it doesn't ramp like Dark Ritual in this respect. This means it's alright to potentially have 6 mana on turn 3 (two sources of green mana on turn 2, a basic forest in your hand on turn 3- means of your first 9 cards 4 were lands and 1 was this) but then it is expended.
Rampant Growth (or similar) could have resulted in +1 mana on turn 3 and for the rest of the game for a less restrictive cost (and this case is easier to do- only needed 2 lands and rampant growth for this to work). Kodama's Reach could result in +2 mana for the remainder of the game starting on turn 4, but this is a little more conditional.
It is pretty nice but it's very niche. It does its thing well but isn't useful everywhere. I should still get one sometime.
March 24, 2016 10:50 a.m.
griffstick says... #10
Any time I'm on a mono green edh deck I run it. Amazing card if I'm running mono green. It's in my only mono green edh Most underrated commander of all time deck check it out.
March 24, 2016 1:12 p.m.
Gaea's Touch is actually an amazing card, and the drawbacks are pretty negligible.
Why are people not running it? Why is it not $10 like Exploration and Burgeoning?
Because shhhhhhh...
April 6, 2016 12:47 a.m.
Now come on, common sense, if that were true and its drawbacks are negligible then it would be playable in every deck that has green like Exploration and Burgeoning. Reality of the matter is, this card doesn't force you to play green, it forces you to be heavy in green. Otherwise, you can't take advantage of the ability and it just becomes 
for an enchantment that will give you a one time effect of at a later time.
canterlotguardian says... #2
Hmm. That looks like it could be a good addition to pretty much any G/x EDH deck. I may need to pick a copy up for my Titania deck.
March 24, 2016 3:37 a.m.