Misinformation about the "land cycle"

Spoilers, Rumors, and Speculation forum

Posted on July 17, 2015, 11:26 a.m. by kbarnhart

I keep reading threads on here about how "wizards wants to print full cycles of land from now on" so therefore by that logic we MUST be getting the enemy fetchlands reprinted.

WRONG!

If any of you follow Mark Rosewarer (MTG Head Designer) he has a blog on Tumblr called Blogatog and he has said that the majority of people misunderstood that statement from Wizards of the Coast regarding printing full land cycles.

He has said that what they meant when they said that is that they want a full cycle of COLOR PAIRS in a set. Not a full cycle of the same land type. Wizards simply wants there to always we access to each dual color land within a standard block setting.

This means we could see enemy pain lands and ally colored scry lands for example.

Back in the day Wizards used to make it easier to play "ally" color pairs and they are now realizing it makes more sense to allow players to have access to whatever they want and thus "We would like to have a full cycle of each color pair" is what they actually meant.

So can we stop the posts about how they NEED to print they other fetches because they said they will always complete a cycle from now on?

Thank you.

Brad7986 says... #1

Enemy man lands please!!!!

July 22, 2015 2:17 a.m.

durzostarfire says... #2

They most likely won't print the enemy fetches in Battle for Zendikar and in my opinion here's why

They won't put all the fetches into standard at one time, my guess is when Khans rotates out is when we might see the enemy fetches. All the fetches would make standard too expensive and really not be friendly to people that are playing standard because they can afford it. Already people are struggling with standard because the land base is so expensive with fetches and WotC pushing for a 3 color format. I expect to see the enemy color fetches after KTK rotates.

July 23, 2015 1:41 p.m.

wish12oz says... #3

@durzostarfire

We have radically different ideas of what expensive is I guess, but I dont think a few $2 temples and $2 pain lands with 4~ $12~ fetches and some uncommon/commons is expensive.....

BTW though, Theros standard, and Return to Ravnica standard both had more expensive land bases than the current standard.... Maybe you forgot Mutavault and those shock lands. Like Hallowed Fountain

July 23, 2015 10:17 p.m.

Monsmtg says... #4

Now, I'm going to say some thing and I'd appreciate it if no one would go off on me. Thank you.

Everything being said here does not effect WOTC or anyone involved in anyway. As much fun as it may be to speculate, it shouldn't start blood feuds, and maybe we should all just take a break.

Although, in my opinion, WOTC needs to rethink modern masters. I drafted it (mm2) and had a great time, but I would prefer a terrible draft format with more meaningful reprints to a thriving draft with nothing good. WOTC seems way too concerned with draft to print certain niche cards.Thanks you for your time :)

July 25, 2015 1:33 a.m.

Monsmtg this is something, I think, everyone is aware of. However, discussion and speculation are generally positive aspects of the Magic community.

July 25, 2015 9:03 a.m.

JexInfinite says... #6

wish12oz Good ol' $40 Mutavault.

Wizards have shown that they don't care for completing land cycles unless they really like them. They loved filter lands, so a full set was made. As far as Wizards are concerned, all 10 fetches are modern legal, so that's that.

July 26, 2015 8:16 a.m.

Monsmtg says... #7

Ok, I just wanted to get my opinion out there.

July 26, 2015 9:06 a.m.

JakeHarlow says... #8

Perhaps we will see a new cycle of dual lands in BFZ. The current paradigm of fetches, pains, and shocks for Modern-Standard is starting to be a little stale to me.

Even the Lorwyn Block filters would be fun to see again. But those cards are flavored specifically for that block, so I doubt that we will be seeing anything like them in BFZ.

July 27, 2015 2:10 p.m.

Saucealicious says... #9

awphutt Stormbreath Dragon is from Theros. Just pointing that out, agreeing with you otherwise.

July 27, 2015 5:41 p.m.

I find it hard to believe that Wizards will make all ten fetches Standard legal at one time. Sure, it would spice up the format and make it better imho, and it would sure help out us Modern players, but I just don't see it happening. As someone stated, they had to do all ten shocks in RTR since it fit the theme/story line. Technically, it fits the theme/story line of Zendikar to reprint the remaining fetches, but it doesn't have to be in that set. Zendikar is very heavy on the land theme, so there's a TON of things they can do to be creative with a new cycle of lands, or reprinting an existing one. Man lands I can definitely seeing getting the nod for BFZ, especially if they were to do the colors that they didn't have the first go around. Furthermore, I really doubt they would do man and fetch lands in the same set, but maybe the same block if we're lucky. It seems to me that since all the fetch lands are currently Modern legal, there's no big rush for Wizards to reprint them again. I mean, it really hasn't been all that long since the original printings of the first Modern fetches, and look at how long it took for them to reprint Onslaught fetches. The remaining man lands would be a higher priority to design and develop than a reprint of fetches, I would think.

Now, with all that said, I'm still hoping for Zendikar fetch reprints lol, but I don't think it will happen quiiiite yet. It's like actually playing the game of Magic. You don't lead with your very best cards in a game, you drop the ones that you feel you could stand to lose to spot removal or chump blocking or whatever. Same with land reprints. You don't want to open with reprinting all the fetches for Standard at once, you want to bait people with man lands, pain lands, check lands, whatever lands until it's really time for the reprint. If they let all fetches get into Standard at once, people wouldn't play any other lands besides fetches and basics. Ok, people might still play a few man lands along with them, but they wouldn't see as much play if they reprinted fetches and man lands of the same color identity. Think about Verdant Catacombs being reprinted in the same block as a BG man land. You can't fetch for it, so it's almost like you would want to play one or the other, or at least not have to make that decision. Remember I'm speaking of Standard in that last bit.

It would do wonders for Modern to just see all the staples reprinted and back cheap again, but then what would that do to Standard? Probably a lot of the Standard players would make the shift to Modern, and then no one is buying boxes of new sets coming out, they're just buying the singles they need for their eternal deck on the secondary market. Bad for business if they were to do that...

So we can all complain about how they are releasing/reprinting cards, but we are at their mercy whether we like it or not. I do love the discussions and speculations though, it does good for the life of the game. But try not to be too surprised or disappointed with the way they design their formats. Look at Goblin Rabblemaster. A bulk $1 rare when he first released, and look at how he exploded. It goes to show that cards can't be valued on the surface. They need to be played in a certain format to see how they perform, and that only happens after a set has been released for a bit and everyone is doing their brewing.

Wow, I kinda derailed form my original point and went on a rant, sorry about that. But bottom line is I doubt the Zendikar fetches will be reprinted in this next block, even though it does make the most sense to do so, and most of the community wants it that way. Man lands, especially the ones that don't exist yet, are most likely to have their ink on the cardboard.

July 31, 2015 12:06 p.m.

Ally fetch lands were litterally JUST reprinted. It could be a few years

August 6, 2015 3:23 a.m.

This discussion has been closed