Why do people run so many fetches?
Modern forum
Posted on June 4, 2015, 3:24 p.m. by ThisIsBullshit
Before everybody goes all "duh" on me, I know why people run fetches.
My question is why do people run more fetches than they have fetchable cards? What happens if you go to the long game and run out of cards to find but need that mana?
VampireArmy says... #3
Delve spells maybe? I've seen some burn decks do it just to thin
June 4, 2015 3:27 p.m.
Eliiiiiiiiiiiiiiza says... #4
To get your life below 5 so you can trigger Fateful Hour? That's my best guess
June 4, 2015 3:27 p.m.
Running fetches with basics is way better than cutting the number of fetches and adding shocks. The reason for this is flexibility, life considerations, and Blood Moon.
If you run out of fetch able cards then you're going to have at least 8 mana down or so and just be absolutely fine.
June 4, 2015 3:29 p.m.
FAMOUSWATERMELON says... #6
Pretty much what Chief said. Also that in 3 color decks, you really need to be able to fetch for the land that you need, and not hope to draw the right one. Fetches basically provide you with any color in your deck.
June 4, 2015 3:34 p.m.
also, fetches are better in your opening hand than other lands, at least for providing options. if you're playing jund and start with 2 Overgrown Tombs in hand, you don't have access to red, and you can't Lightning Bolt that t1 creature your opponent played. if you start with 2 Verdant Catacombss, you have access to 1 or 2 of every color you need based on the rest of your hand. playing more fetches gives you a higher chance of drawing them in your opener.
June 4, 2015 3:34 p.m.
Also there is the minute difference in filtering your deck fetches make. It only manifests itself over tens or hundreds of games but it does happen.
June 4, 2015 3:35 p.m.
Unforgivn_II says... #9
Oh, and Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth can make them into swamps if you're really that desperate for mana
June 4, 2015 3:35 p.m.
VampireArmy says... #10
ChiefBell This is why I reference burn. They have such a low land count to begin with that it ups the chances of drawing action which they tend to need very much to close the game
June 4, 2015 3:37 p.m.
Because the fixing in the early game is more important than making say your 9th land drop.
June 4, 2015 3:40 p.m.
some people like that 1 life loss per turn, it triggers super game prowess...deck thinning and shuffling is also another to consider. and sometimes your opponent does not hit you at all, so its nice to bring the life totals a bit closer.
June 4, 2015 3:53 p.m.
So that if you're at one life, and your opponent is about to kill you, you can crack a fetch to kill yourself before they can.
June 4, 2015 4:12 p.m.
TheAnnihilator says... #15
Fetches let you make your opponent paranoid too. I have a Hallowed Fountain and a Scalding Tarn on the field, is it safe to cast something into a potential Mana Leak?
Now it's my T1, your T2. I have a Tarn out, can you cast Goyf? I could have Spell Snare.
To represent these plays w/o fetches is shocking down a dual, which is 2 life per mind game.
June 4, 2015 4:30 p.m.
Serendipitous_Hummingbird says... #16
VampireArmy touched on this briefly but fetches have use even in mono decks. Drawing a land T4 is gg for burn, so anything they can do to decrease the chance of running into a dead card is worth doing. Don't worry about the life loss. If you are worrying about the life required to activate a fetch you are playing burn horribly wrong. Burn will slap down an Eidolon of the Great Revel T2 and still continue firing 1 cmc spells. Burn dgaf. The other thing is that fetches provide fodder for Grim Lavamancer.
Outside of burn, Grixis delver likes to be able to pump out those Gurmag Anglers and Tasigur, the Golden Fang.
In BGx variants fetches put a land in the graveyard for Tarmogoyf. It's why you can't Lightning Bolt a T2 goyf. Fetch->hand disruption followed by a turn 2 Tarmogoyf means goyf is a 2/3 (sorcery and land in the 'yard). If you try to bolt that bad boy, goyf becomes a 3/4 (bolt hits the 'yard before it resolves) rendering bolt useless and goyf able to stall pretty much anything.
As other people have said, in 3 color decks a fetchland is any color you need it to be (thanks to shocks). You have to mulligan far less frequently because an opening hand with a Watery Grave and a Polluted Delta gives you access to red.
A T1 fetch is one of the best plays in modern. You really, really want to play that T1 fetch.
June 4, 2015 5:07 p.m.
Serendipitous_Hummingbird says... #17
Shuffling your deck can be very useful as well. In legacy, Brainstorm with an uncracked fetch reads "
Instant, draw three cards, then put two cards from your hand on top of your library in any order, or if you don't want to draw them until later you can just shuffle 'em in"
June 4, 2015 5:10 p.m.
fluffybunnypants says... #18
I am currently running Grixis Delver with 19 lands. 9 of these lands are fetches because Gurmag Angler and Tasigur, the Golden Fang.
June 4, 2015 5:29 p.m.
NobodyPicksBulbasaur says... #19
Expanding on what TheAnnihilator said, you can also catch your opponent off guard if they aren't being attentive. People will often play around the cards they see coming, but they might get lazy and not expect a Bloodstained Mire to turn into a Steam Vents -> Spell Pierce.
Granted, you shouldn't bank on your opponents being stupid, but off-color fetches in the early turns can give you real jukes in game 1.
June 4, 2015 5:34 p.m.
aeonstoremyliver says... #21
Anyone have insight as to why people play more fetches than fetch able lands? Is this merely to maintain consistency? It's always driven me nuts, so I either like to run an equal number of fetches vs other lands or less fetches vs other lands.
June 4, 2015 6:14 p.m.
Its literally just because the added consistency of running fetches cancels out the fact that you can't fetch all the way through the game.
If I can get the 4 exact lands I need on T4 in my abzan deck then I've pretty much won the game. It doesn't matter that I barely have any more lands I can fetch anymore because their job is done.
June 4, 2015 6:20 p.m.
It's more important to get the lands you need early in the game than it is to make sure you can reach like 10+ lands if the game goes long.
June 4, 2015 6:21 p.m.
bijschjdbcd says... #24
Not directly addressing the question, However leaving up a fetch land can be useful against Twin.
June 4, 2015 7:31 p.m.
fluffybunnypants says... #25
Nothing like shuffling after a Brainstorm in Legacy, also Delve.
June 4, 2015 8:26 p.m.
FAMOUSWATERMELON says... #27
You have to sucky cards in hand, but you have to put them at the top. Cracking a fetch enables you to shuffle and get rid of those cards.
June 4, 2015 8:28 p.m.
JexInfinite says... #28
I run a lot of fetches because I need to have proper mana. Since I've got 4 colours in my deck, I need my mana to be really consistent. Also great to fetch basics against Blood Moon decks.
June 4, 2015 10:45 p.m.
NobodyPicksBulbasaur says... #30
Particularly in Legacy, there's also the fact that some decks don't need more than 2 lands in play to execute their game plan. Burn and RUG Delver would be considered to be flooding out if they hit their fifth land unless something is forcing the game to go long.
June 7, 2015 7:43 a.m.
joshnothnagle says... #31
Sorry for necroing this thread, but I didn't feel like this question was answered completely. So I'm going to toss in my bit.
Fetches are great for color fixing, obviously, and all of the reasons given so far are good, but I think ChiefBell is the only one who touched on why so many decks would want to run more fetches than fetchable lands.
The reason is because you want to see the fetches in your opening hand, not the basics or shocks. The more you can thin your deck the better. If you can hit two fetches in your first two turns you have increased the odds of hitting gas the rest of the game. This article talks about the odds of hitting your best card and how that changes when you play with a 61 card deck instead of a 60 card deck. This is a similar concept, except it makes your deck more like a 59 card deck instead of a 60 card deck.
I hope that helped to answer your question. If there's anything I wasn't clear about, please let me know. -- Also of interest.
smackjack says... #2
If you run out of lands to fetch you have all your lands out already and dont need to fetch for more :)
June 4, 2015 3:27 p.m.