Hey Duders,

Today is the beginning of prerelease weekend for Khans of Tarkir and I thought that a good topic to cover for my first Magic: The Gathering specific blog post would be what makes the “fetch-lands” of Khans so good. The fetch-lands are some of the most powerful lands ever printed, but the things that make them so valuable are subtle and as such they are often overlooked by newer players (myself included. The first time I saw them I had no idea they were good). I figured I would try to explain why everyone is going to be hoarding them for the next few months.

1. The fetch lands can effectively create 2 colors of mana- This point is the most obvious, but it is worth mentioning. Fetch-lands do not behave like most normal lands do. They do not directly tap for mana. Instead, fetch lands can be tapped and sacrificed at the cost of 1 life to search your deck for one of two basic land types. That allows fetch lands to facilitate playing multicolor decks, since each fetch land you play can get you two different colors of mana. Having cards trapped in your hand because you don’t have the right lands to play them really sucks and fetch-lands help with that problem.

2. 1 life is not a high cost for lands that produce 2 colors of mana- There are many different costs that are associated with lands that tap for two different colors : coming into play tapped, 2 life to come into play untapped, one damage every time you tap for colored mana. All of these costs are higher in most circumstances than the one life upfront that fetch-lands cost. The drawback with fetch lands (in Standard) beyond the life cost is that once they are used they leave a land that can only tap for one color of mana. That drawback will hurt occasionally; but, more often than not leaving a basic land is not a huge drawback when you get to choose which basic land you get. In every format besides Standard fetch-lands can search for lands that also tap for two colors on their own, making fetch-lands AMAZING in larger formats. In formats like Modern and Legacy fetch-lands get you whatever two colored land your deck needs as soon as you need it for just 1 life. Now that’s some value!

3. Fetch-lands “thin” your deck- Here is the subtle point that alluded me when I first saw fetch-lands ten years ago. Every fetch-land you play in your deck effectively removes a land from the total number of cards in your deck. Think of it this way, whenever you draw and use a fetch-land it counts as one land and it also fetches a land out of your deck, thereby removing a second land from your deck. This seemingly tiny advantage is actually enormous if you are thinking of the percentages of your deck. Average decks are 60 cards with 23 lands and 37 other cards, so the average deck is 38% land. If 4 of your 23 lands are fetch-lands then it allows your deck to play as though it only had 19 lands, resulting in a deck with only 31% land. This decreases the likelihood of drawing relatively useless lands later in the game and thereby increases your chance of drawing cards that actually do things! Even better, the more fetch-lands you play the better the ratios get in your favor. Land floods end games and fetch-lands help mitigate that chance.

4. Fetch-lands let you shuffle your deck- Whenever you use a fetch land you have to shuffle your deck after searching. This simple bit of bookkeeping can be used to your advantage if you know what cards are on the top of your deck. If you have a card, like Courser of Kruphix for example, that lets you look at the top card of your deck then you can see if the next card you would draw is useful. If that card is not what you’re looking for then go ahead and use a fetchland as a means to shuffle your deck. The chance that a useful card will be shuffled to the top is well worth the price of 1 life.

5. Fetch-lands fill your graveyard- After you sacrifice a fetch-land it goes to the graveyard. Ordinarily this is not important; however, adding a card to your graveyard works wonders with mechanics like Delve (which is in Khans) that use cards in the graveyard as a resource. Fetch-lands are a cheap way to fill your graveyard and that can be very advantageous in the right deck.

Those explanations are far from exhaustive because, quite honestly, fetchands are profoundly useful in high level play for a bunch of other edge cases I haven’t covered. Fetch-lands have cost anywhere from 30-70$ apiece in the past because of their versatility and utility. So try to get as many complete sets as you can. Lands are the least sexy part of any deck, but they are very valuable if used correctly.

Good read. As a casual Magic fan, I found this info interesting and informative.

@savage: Thanks! I think I'm going to try to write one of these either weekly or bi-weekly so tune in for more stuffs!

Write a full article about Snapcaster mage and you'll be lauded

Ah yes lands, one of the most mechanically fascinating and financially draining aspects of MtG. Fetch lands are fucking bananas, and yet another reason why I will never get back into playing on a competitive level.

@starvinggamer: There are actually a few really strong monocolored decks right now that take very little land investment to get going. Getting a decent standard deck is pretty cheap if you choose the right deck.

@fallen189: I think a lot of digital ink has been spilled on snapcaster. Not to mention the reason why it is good is that it synergizes well with ALL instants and sorceries. I could certainly add to the chorus of praise.

Yeah, I just hate playing mono-whatever. Are Rats rotating out? I have no idea what's what right now.

@starvinggamer: Packrat is rotating and the new set is wedge themed (RUG,WRB,BUG,WGB,WUR). The meta hasn't been defined yet, but mono green devotion, mono blue devotion, and mono red devotion look feasible. The blue deck is a tempo/ aggro deck. The green deck is straight ramp. And the red deck is aggro. Mono green looks like the cheapest option and the most fun. Khans look like it is going to be a blast to draft and I think it is going to really shake up standard.

It's sort of weird that in standard for purely mana fixing their probably worse than shocks/checks/fasts in a vacuum, but of course they get supercharged in modern and legacy/vintage. It will be interesting to see how the standard format shakes out colourwise, with devotion and potentially clunky mana fixing (pain lands, fetches and scrys all have drawbacks) on one side and the new set wedge stuff and the inherent power level of three colour decks on the other. At least we won't have mutavaults being an auto-include in at least 75% of all decks.

@Levius: I'll miss mutavault and its ability to single handedly win games. I think the deck thinning of the fetches will be a huge boon to mono and dual color decks, especially ones that can run Courser of Kruphix. It is going to be very interesting to see which new decks shake out. I'm personally planning on playing RUG chord and UR counter burn. I love me some toolbox decks.

My local MtG communtiy disappeared, so I don't play much anymore. Which is probably for the better since MtG is another expensive, time-consuming hobby I really don't need on top of all the others.

Most non-basic lands are awesome. A decent condition Mishra's Workshop will run you $400.

As mostly a Limited junkie, I don't quite get why people are so excited about fetchlands - aside from the financial benefits, it's hard to not be disappointed when the rare in your draft booster is a land - but I certainly understand how powerful that effect is, and how it's going to have a big impact on Standard. Lands that filter your deck are good in Limited because they increase the chance of drawing your bombs, but still for KTK Limited you'd be better off taking the tempo hit of enters tapped with the tri-lands for maximum mana fixing. Three-colour sets tend to be pretty slow, whereas Legacy and Vintage, where fetchlands are godlike since they can fetch the original dual lands, are about turbo speed and maximum efficiency.

I have pretty much no idea how Standard works, and how it's going to turn out, but as a Selesnya player if there's a viable G/W archetype outside of Convoke, I'll be pretty happy, even if I have to splash Black for Abzan value. I'm bummed that Populate is rotating out, along with value cards like Loxodon Smiter.

Also, nice to see some more MtG fans on Giant Bomb. I kinda feel like the general approach of the staff and the community is to be extremely dismissive of it; I cannot tell you how much it hurt my soul to hear Dan Ryckert say "I played Pogs, not Magic, because I'm not a dork" and nobody call him out on it (you could almost hear Jeff nodding in silent agreement, and he doesn't even like Pogs).

@atlas: Rorie is basically the only one on staff who has done legit nerd hobbies like Magic or pen and paper stuff, but he's always too polite during live shows to contradict people on something opinion-based. If someone is factually wrong he might say something, but that's about it. I like video games just fine and I've accepted that Giant Bomb staff members are basically oblivious to other nerd hobbies outside of video games, because younger Vinny was busy being cool and wearing mesh shirts, and then Jeff and Brad and Dan were too busy playing video games and thinking they were somehow above other equally nerdy hobbies.

I miss Dave.

@thatpinguino: Ever since Keranos came out I have been wanting to make a UR counter burn too. I've seen people online talk about Jeskai Asendancy Storm, which I hope is at least competitive, but will probably be too fragile. I think if I do get into standard this time round it will be some kind of Courser deck, as it's one of the best cards in standard; Junk/Abzan looks pretty strong.

@Levius: Yeah I have been pining for counterburn since Keranos, magma jet, and satyr firedancer were printed. I might make the deck American just to get Jeskai ascendancy in there for bigger hi-jinks. I've played with Courser since it was printed and it really feels like cheating when it is working properly. You can't really go wrong with it in play.

@bisonhero: I would like if Rorie was able to showcase more of the tabletop games he is into. Although I know his community management stuff doesn't really allow for him to be a content creator all the time, he provides a perspective that the rest of the crew lacks. We have 2 wrestling editors and no tabletop editors and that is a bummer.

@atlas: Yeah most rare lands don't really shine in limited simply because you won't build your deck around having a fancy land. It is highly likely that you will open an off-color land and you won't have any way to use it. If you can use a fetch in limited it does do a lot of work though since deck thinning is much more potent in a 40 card deck, especially given the uneven power level of most cards in a limited deck. I think g/w/u has the potential for a really fun +1/+1 counter deck in the coming standard. Not necessarily a super powerful deck, but very fun.

Also, nice to see some more MtG fans on Giant Bomb. I kinda feel like the general approach of the staff and the community is to be extremely dismissive of it; I cannot tell you how much it hurt my soul to hear Dan Ryckert say "I played Pogs, not Magic, because I'm not a dork" and nobody call him out on it (you could almost hear Jeff nodding in silent agreement, and he doesn't even like Pogs).

Yeah that wounded me as well, but then again half of the things Dan says feel like affronts to my soul so I mostly try to let it go. Also I think stupid and dork are like 90% of Dan's go-to critical vocabulary so you can't take that stuff too hard.

@sinusoidal: Yeah MTG is not the cheapest hobby. I find that if you can win enough events it can become mostly self-sustaining if you stick to limited and one consistent constructed deck.

Where's the fun in that? I want 800 different, fun-to-play novelty decks with crazy combos all messin' up people's shit!

My favorite deck to play is red/blue with Ceaseless Searblades that gain +1/+0 every time you use an elemental ability, Tidewater Minion that has the elemental ability tap to untap target permanent (itself, over and over and over... you can see where this is going) and finally Fling to straight up murder the opposing player by sacking an infinity/4 Ceaseless Searblades to do its power worth of damage directly to her/him. Muhuhahaaa! Of course, it rarely comes together perfectly, and anyone who sees it coming can shut it down pretty easily, but damn it's fun!

@thatpinguino: I'd argue we have 3 wrestling editors, between Jeff, Dan, and Alex. Brad sounds like he has a tiny amount of tabletop cred, but hasn't been legitimately "into it" like Rorie has.

@bisonhero: Good point. We've had wrestling coverage and a wrestling podcast. Where are the Warhammer people? Where are the card game guys and/or gals?

@sinusoidal: That is certainly a nasty combo if you can pull it off. I like locking my opponent out of the game entirely with isochron scepter + silence or boomerang on turn 1. Most people don't have ways to great around the turn 1 lockdown. Of course the combo only really works on turns 1 and 2, but when it does...

Magic is so awesome! I'm mainly interested in the fetch land reprint because it adds the remaining 5 fetches to Modern (which is pretty much the only format I play now). When paired with shocklands in modern the fetch lands are practically 3 color lands.

Those were some great tips! Looking forward to more Magic articles Pinguino, wish me luck at Pre-Release tomorrow!

I also agree with the wrestling/board game sentiment. That said, Dan had already mentioned he has arranged a new GiantBomb Unplugged, so I'll give him props for that. As long as it's not a wrestling board game! It won't be the same without Vinny's intense roleplaying ability though.

@bollard: Hope you did well at the prerelease! I won mine with Temur and a nice beefcake to removal ratio. We had a 32 player field which was a new record at my LGS so the store bumped up to the next level of WOTC support. I managed to open a foil polluted delta too in my prize packs. All in all it was a pretty darn successful prerelease. Khans limited looks like it is going to be very fun and varied which is a nice improvement after Theros block.

@ekajarmstro: Yeah the fetches are even more bonkers in any format but Standard (and I guess block constructed if anyone plays that).

I opened two fetchlands at the pre-release, including one in my colours (played Abzan, got G/W fetch). Almost took the sting away from going 0-3 and dropping from the event. Normally I'd stick around but I just wasn't having any fun - had a miserable week, and just wasn't feeling it. My deck wasn't good enough, and I got blown out by some ridiculous plays. I wish I could say I had fun losing, but I didn't. It was utterly miserable. Every single round went the same way; win game one and then just get totally blown out in games two and three.

I think that this Limited format is going to be a real mountain to climb for newer players. I described myself as a "Limited junkie", but in reality I've been drafting for less than a year, and have only ever drafted M14, M15, and Theros (a relatively easy "expert" level expansion block), so I think I got a falsely inflated sense of confidence in my Limited skills. Khans of Tarkir is just nuts. I have no idea how I'm going to go about drafting this format. Morph is such a tricky mechanic to get a sense for, and Jeskai decks are a nightmare to try and play around. If you're playing against a Jeskai deck and they go to attacks with six mana open, you just have to prey they don't have Flying Crane Technique. Card is bananas. I don't even think I was using Outlast properly, or if I was that mechanic is just stupid slow and not worth the pay-off. It's a very skill intensive format, which led to me playing against much stronger decks even in the losing bracket - the guy I played in round two was running a much better Abzan deck with three Abzan rares including Anafenza herself, and the guy I played in round three (i.e. we were both 0-2) had the aforementioned FCT, a Jeskai Ascendancy, a bunch of good Prowess creatures, and a Sarkhan Vol. And he somehow lost his first two rounds. I don't know what is real any more.

The pre-release at my LGS was very well attended and everyone else seemed to be having a lot of fun, so good for them and well done Wizards for making a set that seems to really be resonating with people.

Went 2 wins, 3 losses and 1 draw (stalled out a game I was 1 turn from losing :P) which I am very happy with! Was aiming for 1 win, so doubled my goal :D We had a 64 man event which was hectic, my friend wen't 4-0, winning every match 2-0 :O Morphs are pretty crazy...

Didn't quite get a foil land but I did draw Sarkhan from a pack which was sweet! Plus got a foil mythic, even if it wasn't in my colours haha! The deck I constructed was crazy good, someone who was more experience at me in Magic could have done a lot better with it, but all in all I had a lot of fun.

Sorry for poor quality, you can just about make out the names. I might take a better one.

@bollard: That looks like a solid Mardu pool! It seemed like every Mardu player I saw had a copy of ponyback brigade somehow and your deck continues the trend. Not a bad removal suite either. Morphs are going to be very important in this format considering a few of the color combos are really lacking good low mana drops other than morphed creatures. Morph is always a real skill tester.

@atlas: Yeah Khans has a whole lot more going on than Theros did. You are going to need to balance three or more colors and all 6 mechanics during every draft. On top of that Khans has much better removal and much more hidden information in the form of morph creatures. The sum of all of that is a format that favors experienced players even more than the last few limited formats. In Theros you could basically resolve one or two monsters and let them carry you because your opponent just couldn't do anything to profitably kill them. That is no longer the case in Khans. Learning how to balance all 5 factions and how to play around morphed creatures will be a real skill tester.

You should stick with it though! I came up by playing original Ravnica block limited and Timespiral limited and those formats were even more punishing. You learn much more about drafting, constructing decks, and playing well during tough, interactive environments than during relatively bomby formats like Theros.

Yeah every time I flipped Ponyback up, everyone already knew what it was :P My friend's deck literally had 2 creatures that weren't morphs, it was bananas. She basically won because her opponents had no idea what creature to block or target ever. It's hard to win when every decision you make is basically random!

@bollard: Sure, but morphs eat almost every form of removal in the format, they expose otherwise strong creatures to weak removal, and they require two separate mana investments. If you happen to get a bunch of creatures that are good with or without morphing then by all means play them; but, I think focusing on morph is a trap unless you get some of the morph specific enchantments or ghostfire blade.

Hey thatpinguino, I've been looking at your post on here for a couple of days now. I played magic primarily between the time spiral and alara reborn blocks, and was wondering if there was ever a time where you'd take a fetch land like Flooded Strand over Terramorphic Expanse? The only thing i can think of would be that TE might not me tournament legal in this rotation, though gatherer doesn't indicate that.

@owlhead: Good question! You would prefer a fetch-land over something like terramorphic expanse in almost every situation because fetch-lands put lands into play untapped. Putting a land into play tapped is a very significant tempo hit in the early game since you have to wait a full turn to take advantage of that new land. That makes terramorphic expanse basically unusable in any sort of aggressive deck. Also fetch-lands can fetch any land that has a matching land type to the two listed on the card, not just basic lands. So Flooded Strand can fetch any island or plains, including dual lands like hollowed fountain, stream vents, and tropical island. That allows fetchlands to be super powered mana fixers in formats like modern and legacy. Terramorphic expanse is a great limited mana fixer, but only putting basic lands into play tapped is a death knell in many competitive decks due to the tempo loss and the weakness of the mana fixing.

Terramorphic Expanse is actually in the current Standard, just by a different name - Evolving Wilds was re-printed in Magic 2015.

There is almost no situation where you wouldn't be happy paying one life in exchange for a land that enters untapped.

I'm a new player. I'm trying to learn the game. My question is this; can you use a fetchland as a dual land until you want to shuffle your library? Or do you have to pay the life every time you tap it for mana?

@bkpickell: The answer is neither! Fetchlands do not tap for mana at all (barring some edge cases). The only way you can use a fetchland is to tap and pay 1 life to search your deck for one of the two basic land types and put that land into play. The land you find comes into play untapped (unless it says otherwise) and you can then use that land as if you just played it from your hand. Fetchlands are not dual-lands in the traditional sense. Instead, they allow you to search your deck for a land of one of two basic land types and put that basic land into play.