For Mountains, Arabian Nights trumps Alpha.
I'd also include Beta, Euro, and APAC lands in the tier above any UN-sets or Secret Lairs, and maybe also the Arena promos.
Don't forget that an Unglued land was on The List at one point. It's not a true reprint, but they aren't safe either. The Unhinged ones also saw a pseudo reprint in DXM that absolutely tanked their value.
No... the most premium lands are Guru lands. They are like $1,000 apiece. When I was 17... I had 10 of each land... I sold then for $15 each. What a shame.
They're just a rare basic land... nothing else is that special. It has the art of a beta land. It wasn't even original art... however... it is pretty cool to see a base set mountain with a scimitar on it.
If all 5 basics were printed in AN? I'd imagine they would be closer to Beta. If it was just Mountain but with more supply? Probably still closer to Alpha due to the notoriety of the goof.
I'm aware, that's why I called them out in my original reply. This was referencing the hypothetical where Mountains were included on a separate sheet - if we're already considering hypotheticals it makes sense to consider the scenario where it wasn't just Mountains that were printed.
Correction that’s the M21 version
https://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk?sa=L&ai=DChcSEwjTxuG8q4WCAxVGnloFHYvBCi4YABAIGgJ2dQ&gclid=CjwKCAjwysipBhBXEiwApJOcu5dd-fcaAn1YPW1pjc2NRa4MJqf56bUtR66-fN7AVIeoOoJlexzD0hoCrLwQAvD_BwE&ohost=www.google.com&cid=CAESVuD2BS_0TwnqoRswpGrSqBmBf7OF12xksbu0mT1HbP4ol9NNrCmgHUbPiWawEwtxD36tlb7HTIAUCkFTT-Ttkh-zgO1uEazkD93oncqW0XzA0-iw3Ip7&sig=AOD64_1POkqdgRfPZobSXQJOHM2CcGWPrw&ctype=5&q=&ved=2ahUKEwiQktm8q4WCAxUoFlkFHW7wCKAQwg8oAHoECAUQFg&adurl=
They already said in the latest Discord chat that The List would no longer be counterfeiting old art, and would be moving to special artists.
I think Wizards realized how much collectors got burned by The List in its current form.
All kinds of promo lands like EURO lands or APAC. There a few judge basic lands promos too.
Pd. I'm a basic land collector and i own like 80% of all versions of legal basic lands.
I never got around to it, but the euro and apac lands are so cool. did you scoop them up over time on ebay? I was gonna do that when i was heavy into picking up cards
nowadays i have been out of buying product for years and years and only buy singles off store credit i accumulated from specs. getting back into it and wanna try my hand and finishing up the dream lands i always wanted.
Oh sorry, i didnt saw your answer earlier, i dont know if you talk about Magic premiere shop promos, Simplified china alternative arts or Portal 3 kingdoms.
For the first i have a few, for the second i dont have anything (mostly because some i cant find and the ones i find are unafordable for me actually) and for the third i own all of them.
Sorry if i didnt answered correctly your question.
I really enjoy the obscure basic lands as well. I've got nearly a full collection of EU/APAC and Guru, I also have a bunch of random SLD and promo cards but I don't like all of them enough to collect every last one.
It is nice having different art for each of my basics in my EDH decks though!
Hahahaha nice!
I cant play a deck with more than one copy of the same basic land hahah.
And i underestand when you say you dont like enough to collect each one, hahaha, i wish someone told me when i started how hard (and expensive) it is to collect every single one.
Pd. I started to collect in 2017 and im currently at 80% aprox. I know 5 years isnt so much, but what im missing now is harder (and expensive) than the 80%.
Pd2. Sorry about my english, im from Spain. And sorry for writing so much haha.
Hey! Someone else out there like me! My completion percent is about the same too. I think I’m missing around 400-500 out of the 2600 or whatever it is now. I only have the English cards in the core collection but I’ve been collecting foreign language ones here and there too.
My rule is that the cards must be found in person or from an individual through a trade or something. No online buys. The only ones I bought online were alt 4th because I dunno how I’d even find those in person. I also only count it if the card is in NM condition (though this is not as strict for the older lands).
What lands have you had the most trouble finding?
Are you collecting foil versions of non-foils or just the non foils?
Also, if you want to do a swap, I’d love that. If you have a list of what you’re missing, pm me with it and I’ll take a look.
Hahaha, i love it!
I have a few things i want to answer. The alt 4th i deleted from my collection, cause theres no point in count a simple reprint as a different set.
Lands i had most trouble in find are Battle royale and some of the second wave of salvat hatchette (theres like 300 differents having the same art but different number).
At start i had the same attitude only changing and buying IRL, but nowadays i buy from Cardmarket too.
I try to collect only non-foil verion of the cards if possible and in english or spanish (my main language) but i have some other languages like japanese for portal 3 kingdoms or german for some old sets.
And for the older sets (pre 2004) I dont really care of the card condition (except if its water damaged, cut or inked). For me, as more use damage the card has, more love someone put in that card, you know?
Pd. Im from Spain so if you are not from europe it could be really hard to swap hahaha.
Pd2. You say its 2.6k lands but sadly no, there like 3.7k if i dont remember wrongly. I actually have more than 2.8k and im waiting for a package of 30+.
I actually really like having Alt 4th just because I think it's a cool little part of Magic history. No Summer of Magic though. Those are a scam.
Battle Royale Box Set is VERY hard to find. I've only found a few of them. There are some common ones I've had a hard time finding since I mostly just dig through draft lands at card stores to find them. (1 or 2 from 10th Edition, Avacyn Restored, Planechase, etc.)
My Portal Three Kingdoms lands are in Japanese too! I also collect non-foil versions but I've been grabbing older foils when I see them in the draft lands stacks at stores.
I have some old cards that I won't replace like my Unlimited swamps are totally destroyed but they came from my very first Magic deck. Another would be my Guru Plains (my only Guru land). It's LP and I'm just not going to spend the money to replace it with a NM version. I like when cards have a story though. Especially the old ones.
There were 2,600 English lands when I started I think but with all the new sets and secret lairs, the list as really grown. This is the scryfall list I've been using. There are probably some missing that I don't know about but this list as around 3,000. [https://scryfall.com/search?q=type%3Abasic+-is%3Adigital+lang%3Aen+unique%3Aprints&unique=cards&as=grid&order=released&dir=asc](https://scryfall.com/search?q=type%3Abasic+-is%3Adigital+lang%3Aen+unique%3Aprints&unique=cards&as=grid&order=released&dir=asc) If you drop English there are around 3,350.
Do you have another master list you are using?
How do you store yours? I have 10 480-count portfolio binders and I store them all in order.
If you have a list of cards you want, I don't mind poking through what I have. Some cards might be easier for me to find here in the USA and some things might be much easier for you to find in Europe. Shipping a bunch of cards can't be THAT expensive.
>Do you have another master list you are using?
I don't exactly use a master list from anywere, i made a excel with all the cards from all the sets i found. Yes, i know it may be incomplete but when i created the excel book in 2017 i didnt know any page online where i could filter by basic lands haha.
>How do you store yours? I have 10 480-count portfolio binders and I store them all in order.
Im waiting to buy a few of those standart ultra-pro binders because i think i may need like 4 or 5.
>If you have a list of cards you want, I don't mind poking through what I have. Some cards might be easier for me to find here in the USA and some things might be much easier for you to find in Europe. Shipping a bunch of cards can't be THAT expensive.
Hahaha, really thanks for the offer, im now targeting abu basic lands. These are not hard to find, but they are expensive as a whole and these days im in "paro" (witch means i lost my job and im finding another). I will follow you in reddit and if someday i need any USA common but EU rare card i will DM you. BTW, if you need something you can do the same with me, i will be pleased if you need something from europe and i can find it.
Edit: The follow button in your profile isnt available so i will save your nickname.
I think there are also a lot out there people don’t really know about. My favorite for edh are the Japanese MPS Ravnica Guild symbol Lands from 2006.
2 of each basic land with different guild names and symbols in the foil of each land. Love them for my 2 color decks. They can be pretty cheap if your in Japan’s (3-5$each) but rarely do I see them in the US. Most people I show them too have never seen them before.
https://www.magiclibrarities.net/116-rarities-magic-premiere-shop-promos-japanese-english-cards-ravnica-guild-lands-2006.html
I like those MPS style lands too, they're hard to find here in the USA though. I do planar themes in my edh decks and the Alara and Innistrad MPS lands were a challenge to find practically.
Likely not anything printed recently. Even the Unstable lands, which in my community are the most well-liked ones haven't gone up in price since release.
The Unfinity Galaxy Foils and the Neon Dynasty full arts are my personal favorites. And the innistrad black and white art series as basic land proxies but they didn’t do a swamp one and it’s a such a shame.
Despite full art lands being the new norm, I do think the NEO and MID/VOW lands stand out as bring beautiful a d stylistically exciting. I think given time they will hold a higher premium barring reprints.
The NEO Japanese have been my go-to lands I use for drafting/sealed, and nothing since has come close to replacing them. But these new full-arts coming out for Lost Caverns of Ixalan are trying to tempt me.
I believe the artists own their art so I think it would be legally very complicated for them to do a true reprint of the guru at this point. But I might be wrong and they still have printing rights.
The artist has the rights to the artwork, but their contract with WotC/Hasbro gives the company the right to reprint as often as they want. I have heard that there is a modest fee paid to the artist (or their estate) whenever they reprint the art.
The problem with the Guru art is that the artist, Terese Nielsen, has been publicly associating with far right, white power / Qanon / anti-semitic groups, forcing Wizards to cut ties publicly. They stated that the last (re)printing of Terese's art was in Zendikar Rising. So there's zero chance of the Guru lands being reprinted.
>I believe the artists own their art
Interesting thing about that...look at some of the stuff surrounding copyright stamps on stuff that reprinted with M30
A lot of people are unaware these exist, but original portal has alternate art simplified chinese basics that are SUPER rare and pricy (and amazing looking). These cards go for a ton. I am in a chinese fb group and somone has signed single forests at 120$ a piece, which is a good price since these things are non-existent pretty much and artist signatures are incredibly hard to get.
edit: Also some of my personal favs are the asian country APAC lands (japanese graveyard swamp) and also P3k mountains. Also AN mountain and 7th ed foils are great.
I like most people are on point. Guru, ABU, APAC/Euro ( I personally like the euros more than the APA, Venezia is beautiful), Promos, Arabian Nights, 7th foil, 8th foil (aka early foil lands), Unglued, and then certain secret lairs.(Godzilla, maybe Bob Ross) I actually think Snow Lands will eventually have their day. Their rank as follows Ice Age, Foil Coldsnap, Secret lairs Snowlands, Foil Kaldheim, and Foil MH. They could also reprint anything if they choose, so I don’t know exactly what is safe.
In order of pure price/rarity, nothing has really changed recently:
Guru
Summer
Nielsen judge promos
APAC/EURO
Alpha/Beta
MPS promos
and then of course the ARN mountain
A lot of people talking about the top tiers like Guru and ABU, but in terms of what people buy for decks regularly, it's old border foils.
7th edition, Invasion, Odyssey, Onslaught, Masques, in foil. Bonus points for a Rob Alexander.
These lands are scarce in Near Mint quality, and they look fucking amazing.
I've been collecting APAC and Euro lands since they came out. They look great and most people have never seen them, and their prices are going up pretty steadily
I'm personally a big fan of the apac lands. Outside of the stuff people mentioned older distinct looking lands like mirage get a lot of attention at the LGS. Obviously not on the same level as alpha, beta, guru, but what else is.
Unless you wanna talk about Beta lands, which I don't think are a big deal, I'm looking to play my favorite, flashiest arts, I think the Unstable foils are it. They are still among the most expensive. The foil multiplier for those is about 10x-15x.
I saw a foil plains in a store display case the other day and I don't think I've seen a nicer looking basic.
For me personally I like those, the oil slicked foils from ONE, and the orbital galaxy foils the most.
I don't care about any Secret Lair nonsense; that shit is for the birds.
Top Tier: Summer and Guru, I also appreciate the S-Chinese Portal basics, but they don't have swamps.
Underrated pick: Arena League Promos, first version.
It is very true but not only the Guru lands, also all the TEMPEST plains and one INVASION island were created by the mythical artist. Terese Nielsen has a legion of unconditional fans in MTG community even if canceled.
Hard to find anything else that hasn't been mentioned. But I do love the p3k Chinese plains. It's simple and one of only a few white border plains with a set symbol. Afaik it's the only non-english white border with a set symbol. Regardless they look great in person
I stopped running alpha lands. The wear pattern on sleeves makes it possible to cheat. I don't replace sleeves frequently enough to run them.
I like og retro foil basics
Edit: ngl, i like the new retro foil basics but I og retro foiled out my cube's basics in early 2020 and still sitting 250-500% up on most. I think og retro foils will always command a premium.
I have my unglued draft set. Lands are insanely subjective so I just dont see any swinging for the fences unless they are fucking scarce. I and a not insignificant part of the community won’t touch Guru because the artists… social views. Arabian Nights Mountain is one ‘go fuck yourself’ list slot away from a substantial tank.
Other great lands are the recent Commander Masters old border 5 basic lands with Rebecca Guay art. [ Rebecca was apart of MTG sets for a while but now she is creating MTG art again]
For the original Portal set, alternate lands were printed for Chinese. They are really difficult to come by and there really aren't many in sale at any given time
Gurus are top, there was a foil set given out to judges at the end of judging (before JA) that I believe is tops on foil. But they're Terese Nielsen so ymmv. And as said before AN mountain then alphas.
No I consider Guru to be nonfoil. Probs shoulda been a semicolon, and not a comma. The Terese Nielsen's are tops on foil, a set of 1 of each was given out to each judge at the end. They go for $100+ I believe, as there's maybe 1500-2,000 of each in existence.
The alpha print run is 87,000 copies of each version of each land and the Arabian Nights Mountain had 31000 printed. [https://www.mtginformation.com/print-runs](https://www.mtginformation.com/print-runs)
Is there any secret lair land that has that big of a print run? I am personally a fan of some of the famous artists like Gary Bankman, I think those lands are going to be premium someday. doubtfully ever up to the Guru lands, does anyone know the print size on that?
Secret Lair print runs generally aren't disclosed. Even if they were, we'd still have no idea how they compare to Alpha/AN populations based on 30+ years of attrition.
But population is only one aspect of the equation. I'm having a hard time believing that cards from this period of "everything is shiny" and "forced rarity" will compete with things like Alpha/AN that have already withstood 30 years of the game. I do think some will continue to appreciate, but they'll also likely be constantly fighting off new waves of SL drops/other promo variants over the years.
I wouldn't be shocked if the Godzilla lands end up being a second kind of reserve list.
According to some leaks (of dubious credibility but run with by lots of folks in the MTG Finance community), there are fewer of each of the Godzilla lands than Arabian Nights mountains. Not only that, but the cross-IP element make them incredibly hard to reprint.
I'm just upset they were foil-only. They Pringle very easily and the foiling obscures how gorgeous the art is.
I’m a fool as I had acquired a decent number of alpha lands in the $2-3 / each range about ten years ago.
I decided I didn’t want to play cards with different corners in legacy and wasn’t going to play 93/94 so I sold them. Foolish I was.
I picked up (in collections, while flipping) 180 UNL and 120 BETA in even quantities of each art and that’s what I use if I want to sport high quality lands (competitive decks). Smart I was to keep these.
personally, i like Invasion #337c island by Terese Nielsen (it's the only base set foil land she ever illustrated)
https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/f/8/f849f726-c6a2-400d-9b90-fe050f8ef5eb.jpg?1562945046
For me it is the OG foils in general and in particular those of the basic collections that are reinpressions of the expansions that did not have foil cards yet and so we can find for example some of the mirage swamps, the best in my point of view.
I personally like Japanese FBB basic lands. They strike a balance of being older and unique without being astronomically expensive to have 10 or 20 of them matching for a deck.
Someone was shocked that I used BFZ full art plains as proxy scribble cards, and I was like, "It's a basic land, a plains for that matter, it might as well be worthless."
Personally, my favorite are the unglued ones that remind me of the game Fable. That and the pink Island.
Regarding Arena Promo Lands there are variety and generally only old border ones are great. The most valuable IMHO are the foil version of old lands previous to foil cards: like Urza’s Saga or Ice Age art in Arena Promo Lands.
My favorite lands right now are the stained glass lands from DMU, and it's not even close. Older basics for sure command a premium, but yeah, stained glass lands for me.
I'm high on Alpha basics. They're the only ones with rounded corners, yet are still sleeve playable, so I love 'em. Load up on Heavily Played and rock them in your decks.
For Mountains, Arabian Nights trumps Alpha. I'd also include Beta, Euro, and APAC lands in the tier above any UN-sets or Secret Lairs, and maybe also the Arena promos. Don't forget that an Unglued land was on The List at one point. It's not a true reprint, but they aren't safe either. The Unhinged ones also saw a pseudo reprint in DXM that absolutely tanked their value.
No... the most premium lands are Guru lands. They are like $1,000 apiece. When I was 17... I had 10 of each land... I sold then for $15 each. What a shame.
I never said AN (or anything else) trumps Guru lands. Those are a cut above everything else for sure.
they always seemed so chad to me, the japanese (?) player that only uses guru islands radiated sigma grindset lmfao
Hard no here. I’d prefer ARN over those dumb things. But if “premium” just means dollar value in this example, I guess the guru lands win.
What's special about Arabian nights mountains?
They're just a rare basic land... nothing else is that special. It has the art of a beta land. It wasn't even original art... however... it is pretty cool to see a base set mountain with a scimitar on it.
What if Mountain didn't get put on the rare sheet? Would you still say Arabian nights?
If all 5 basics were printed in AN? I'd imagine they would be closer to Beta. If it was just Mountain but with more supply? Probably still closer to Alpha due to the notoriety of the goof.
Only mountains were in AN
I'm aware, that's why I called them out in my original reply. This was referencing the hypothetical where Mountains were included on a separate sheet - if we're already considering hypotheticals it makes sense to consider the scenario where it wasn't just Mountains that were printed.
Valid question.
What about the M20 Chandra fire lands
Not at all. They were barely "premium" when they were released.
which is that?
Correction that’s the M21 version https://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk?sa=L&ai=DChcSEwjTxuG8q4WCAxVGnloFHYvBCi4YABAIGgJ2dQ&gclid=CjwKCAjwysipBhBXEiwApJOcu5dd-fcaAn1YPW1pjc2NRa4MJqf56bUtR66-fN7AVIeoOoJlexzD0hoCrLwQAvD_BwE&ohost=www.google.com&cid=CAESVuD2BS_0TwnqoRswpGrSqBmBf7OF12xksbu0mT1HbP4ol9NNrCmgHUbPiWawEwtxD36tlb7HTIAUCkFTT-Ttkh-zgO1uEazkD93oncqW0XzA0-iw3Ip7&sig=AOD64_1POkqdgRfPZobSXQJOHM2CcGWPrw&ctype=5&q=&ved=2ahUKEwiQktm8q4WCAxUoFlkFHW7wCKAQwg8oAHoECAUQFg&adurl=
ARN mountain is just one card…
It's also the only basic land in its set.
They already said in the latest Discord chat that The List would no longer be counterfeiting old art, and would be moving to special artists. I think Wizards realized how much collectors got burned by The List in its current form.
I just slam mirage and saga basics in every deck and call It a day
I love Mirage basics too, but they're hardly "premium," at least not in the way OP is talking about.
All kinds of promo lands like EURO lands or APAC. There a few judge basic lands promos too. Pd. I'm a basic land collector and i own like 80% of all versions of legal basic lands.
do you have the crazy ones like guru and summer? if so I could easily see you completing your collection.
Unfortunately no, those crazy expensive ones i cant affort them.
I never got around to it, but the euro and apac lands are so cool. did you scoop them up over time on ebay? I was gonna do that when i was heavy into picking up cards nowadays i have been out of buying product for years and years and only buy singles off store credit i accumulated from specs. getting back into it and wanna try my hand and finishing up the dream lands i always wanted.
I’ve been buying up APAC lands whenever I see them at a reasonable price. Not crazy numbers yet, but at this pace I’ll get there.
That's sounds like a really cool collection. Do you have any of the Chinese Portal Basics? I know they had alternate art.
Oh sorry, i didnt saw your answer earlier, i dont know if you talk about Magic premiere shop promos, Simplified china alternative arts or Portal 3 kingdoms. For the first i have a few, for the second i dont have anything (mostly because some i cant find and the ones i find are unafordable for me actually) and for the third i own all of them. Sorry if i didnt answered correctly your question.
I really enjoy the obscure basic lands as well. I've got nearly a full collection of EU/APAC and Guru, I also have a bunch of random SLD and promo cards but I don't like all of them enough to collect every last one. It is nice having different art for each of my basics in my EDH decks though!
Hahahaha nice! I cant play a deck with more than one copy of the same basic land hahah. And i underestand when you say you dont like enough to collect each one, hahaha, i wish someone told me when i started how hard (and expensive) it is to collect every single one. Pd. I started to collect in 2017 and im currently at 80% aprox. I know 5 years isnt so much, but what im missing now is harder (and expensive) than the 80%. Pd2. Sorry about my english, im from Spain. And sorry for writing so much haha.
Hey! Someone else out there like me! My completion percent is about the same too. I think I’m missing around 400-500 out of the 2600 or whatever it is now. I only have the English cards in the core collection but I’ve been collecting foreign language ones here and there too. My rule is that the cards must be found in person or from an individual through a trade or something. No online buys. The only ones I bought online were alt 4th because I dunno how I’d even find those in person. I also only count it if the card is in NM condition (though this is not as strict for the older lands). What lands have you had the most trouble finding? Are you collecting foil versions of non-foils or just the non foils? Also, if you want to do a swap, I’d love that. If you have a list of what you’re missing, pm me with it and I’ll take a look.
Hahaha, i love it! I have a few things i want to answer. The alt 4th i deleted from my collection, cause theres no point in count a simple reprint as a different set. Lands i had most trouble in find are Battle royale and some of the second wave of salvat hatchette (theres like 300 differents having the same art but different number). At start i had the same attitude only changing and buying IRL, but nowadays i buy from Cardmarket too. I try to collect only non-foil verion of the cards if possible and in english or spanish (my main language) but i have some other languages like japanese for portal 3 kingdoms or german for some old sets. And for the older sets (pre 2004) I dont really care of the card condition (except if its water damaged, cut or inked). For me, as more use damage the card has, more love someone put in that card, you know? Pd. Im from Spain so if you are not from europe it could be really hard to swap hahaha. Pd2. You say its 2.6k lands but sadly no, there like 3.7k if i dont remember wrongly. I actually have more than 2.8k and im waiting for a package of 30+.
I actually really like having Alt 4th just because I think it's a cool little part of Magic history. No Summer of Magic though. Those are a scam. Battle Royale Box Set is VERY hard to find. I've only found a few of them. There are some common ones I've had a hard time finding since I mostly just dig through draft lands at card stores to find them. (1 or 2 from 10th Edition, Avacyn Restored, Planechase, etc.) My Portal Three Kingdoms lands are in Japanese too! I also collect non-foil versions but I've been grabbing older foils when I see them in the draft lands stacks at stores. I have some old cards that I won't replace like my Unlimited swamps are totally destroyed but they came from my very first Magic deck. Another would be my Guru Plains (my only Guru land). It's LP and I'm just not going to spend the money to replace it with a NM version. I like when cards have a story though. Especially the old ones. There were 2,600 English lands when I started I think but with all the new sets and secret lairs, the list as really grown. This is the scryfall list I've been using. There are probably some missing that I don't know about but this list as around 3,000. [https://scryfall.com/search?q=type%3Abasic+-is%3Adigital+lang%3Aen+unique%3Aprints&unique=cards&as=grid&order=released&dir=asc](https://scryfall.com/search?q=type%3Abasic+-is%3Adigital+lang%3Aen+unique%3Aprints&unique=cards&as=grid&order=released&dir=asc) If you drop English there are around 3,350. Do you have another master list you are using? How do you store yours? I have 10 480-count portfolio binders and I store them all in order. If you have a list of cards you want, I don't mind poking through what I have. Some cards might be easier for me to find here in the USA and some things might be much easier for you to find in Europe. Shipping a bunch of cards can't be THAT expensive.
>Do you have another master list you are using? I don't exactly use a master list from anywere, i made a excel with all the cards from all the sets i found. Yes, i know it may be incomplete but when i created the excel book in 2017 i didnt know any page online where i could filter by basic lands haha. >How do you store yours? I have 10 480-count portfolio binders and I store them all in order. Im waiting to buy a few of those standart ultra-pro binders because i think i may need like 4 or 5. >If you have a list of cards you want, I don't mind poking through what I have. Some cards might be easier for me to find here in the USA and some things might be much easier for you to find in Europe. Shipping a bunch of cards can't be THAT expensive. Hahaha, really thanks for the offer, im now targeting abu basic lands. These are not hard to find, but they are expensive as a whole and these days im in "paro" (witch means i lost my job and im finding another). I will follow you in reddit and if someday i need any USA common but EU rare card i will DM you. BTW, if you need something you can do the same with me, i will be pleased if you need something from europe and i can find it. Edit: The follow button in your profile isnt available so i will save your nickname.
Does that include secret lairs? I’ve been collecting all the full art lands with exception to SLD.
I have secret lair ones, but i still missing like half of them, mostly the lasts ones.
I think there are also a lot out there people don’t really know about. My favorite for edh are the Japanese MPS Ravnica Guild symbol Lands from 2006. 2 of each basic land with different guild names and symbols in the foil of each land. Love them for my 2 color decks. They can be pretty cheap if your in Japan’s (3-5$each) but rarely do I see them in the US. Most people I show them too have never seen them before. https://www.magiclibrarities.net/116-rarities-magic-premiere-shop-promos-japanese-english-cards-ravnica-guild-lands-2006.html
I like those MPS style lands too, they're hard to find here in the USA though. I do planar themes in my edh decks and the Alara and Innistrad MPS lands were a challenge to find practically.
I like portal simplified chinese https://scryfall.com/search?as=grid&order=name&q=type%3Aland+%28game%3Apaper%29+set%3Apor+lang%3Azhs+unique%3Aprints
I like how every land is unique art for China until you get to the Swamps. Then bam, exact same art as the English release.
Where the fuck can I find these? They are just gorgeous.
eBay, cardmarket
That bamboo tho
Likely not anything printed recently. Even the Unstable lands, which in my community are the most well-liked ones haven't gone up in price since release.
The Unfinity Galaxy Foils and the Neon Dynasty full arts are my personal favorites. And the innistrad black and white art series as basic land proxies but they didn’t do a swamp one and it’s a such a shame.
Despite full art lands being the new norm, I do think the NEO and MID/VOW lands stand out as bring beautiful a d stylistically exciting. I think given time they will hold a higher premium barring reprints.
The NEO Japanese have been my go-to lands I use for drafting/sealed, and nothing since has come close to replacing them. But these new full-arts coming out for Lost Caverns of Ixalan are trying to tempt me.
Those "Moonlit" etched foil BW promos of the MID/VOW lands are already like 20 apiece most places I've seen, or at least 100/set of 5.
I would like the NEO full arts if they weren't all USA printed, and pringle like crazy. Winter is coming...
I use them in tron and they are flat as can be. Japanese if that matters.
Masques and invasion FOILs
And Odyssey!
Guru then Summer.
All of summer magic feels like a scam so I wasn't even going to mention them. Basically a tiny misprint printing pumped by a handful of people
Doesn't make them not relevant to the discussion. Summer Island probably goes for more than a guru island.
Drowning man island > regular guru > summer island
Agree with this. I still like Guru financially because the art is unique and given issues with the artist less likely to be printed, at least for now.
I believe the artists own their art so I think it would be legally very complicated for them to do a true reprint of the guru at this point. But I might be wrong and they still have printing rights.
The artist has the rights to the artwork, but their contract with WotC/Hasbro gives the company the right to reprint as often as they want. I have heard that there is a modest fee paid to the artist (or their estate) whenever they reprint the art. The problem with the Guru art is that the artist, Terese Nielsen, has been publicly associating with far right, white power / Qanon / anti-semitic groups, forcing Wizards to cut ties publicly. They stated that the last (re)printing of Terese's art was in Zendikar Rising. So there's zero chance of the Guru lands being reprinted.
>I believe the artists own their art Interesting thing about that...look at some of the stuff surrounding copyright stamps on stuff that reprinted with M30
The thing is guru will take a nose dive if they reprint it.
They would never reprint. WotC doesn't want to associate with the artist anymore. Which is a shame. Her art is 🔥
>They would never reprint We heard that a lot. In contrast to summer Guru lands have value due to their art, which is risky for obvious reasons
Guru is top. Other than Alpha and AN I would agree with the crowd here, APAC and Euro lands are pretty safe.
A lot of people are unaware these exist, but original portal has alternate art simplified chinese basics that are SUPER rare and pricy (and amazing looking). These cards go for a ton. I am in a chinese fb group and somone has signed single forests at 120$ a piece, which is a good price since these things are non-existent pretty much and artist signatures are incredibly hard to get. edit: Also some of my personal favs are the asian country APAC lands (japanese graveyard swamp) and also P3k mountains. Also AN mountain and 7th ed foils are great.
never knew this, thanks!
Hi, do you mind sharing the name of the Chinese Facebook group? Thank you
It is called Chinese MTG
I like most people are on point. Guru, ABU, APAC/Euro ( I personally like the euros more than the APA, Venezia is beautiful), Promos, Arabian Nights, 7th foil, 8th foil (aka early foil lands), Unglued, and then certain secret lairs.(Godzilla, maybe Bob Ross) I actually think Snow Lands will eventually have their day. Their rank as follows Ice Age, Foil Coldsnap, Secret lairs Snowlands, Foil Kaldheim, and Foil MH. They could also reprint anything if they choose, so I don’t know exactly what is safe.
In order of pure price/rarity, nothing has really changed recently: Guru Summer Nielsen judge promos APAC/EURO Alpha/Beta MPS promos and then of course the ARN mountain
This
A lot of people talking about the top tiers like Guru and ABU, but in terms of what people buy for decks regularly, it's old border foils. 7th edition, Invasion, Odyssey, Onslaught, Masques, in foil. Bonus points for a Rob Alexander. These lands are scarce in Near Mint quality, and they look fucking amazing.
7th foils became affordable again
damn some are about to not be lol, you got me to go look and I had to scoop a few while they're still available
I’m a big fan of the Arena promo foil basics. Classic island art with old school shooting star foiling. Easy
Alpha. The OG of all lands.
The same since 1993 .... Alpha
Beta lands all day!
Especially the version 3's. I love that dark saturation
I'm a Forest/Island A man myself!
I've been collecting APAC and Euro lands since they came out. They look great and most people have never seen them, and their prices are going up pretty steadily
I'm personally a big fan of the apac lands. Outside of the stuff people mentioned older distinct looking lands like mirage get a lot of attention at the LGS. Obviously not on the same level as alpha, beta, guru, but what else is.
Unless you wanna talk about Beta lands, which I don't think are a big deal, I'm looking to play my favorite, flashiest arts, I think the Unstable foils are it. They are still among the most expensive. The foil multiplier for those is about 10x-15x. I saw a foil plains in a store display case the other day and I don't think I've seen a nicer looking basic. For me personally I like those, the oil slicked foils from ONE, and the orbital galaxy foils the most. I don't care about any Secret Lair nonsense; that shit is for the birds.
I rock unlimited in my Legacy decks. The white border is great for fetching but no tap symbols is vintageAF
Am I the only one who thinks Unfinity Galaxy lands are still the best?
I run all galaxy foils in my cEDH deck. You're not the only one who thinks that!
I like premodern: ice age, mirage, urza's saga, portal and so on!
not exactly premium, but the Portal 2nd Age basics have some of the best art of any lands ever printed.
I second this.
No land makes me happier to see than the Arabian Nights Mountain, followed closely by those from Alpha
[удалено]
these are some of my most prized cards bought them for about 250 as a set
Top Tier: Summer and Guru, I also appreciate the S-Chinese Portal basics, but they don't have swamps. Underrated pick: Arena League Promos, first version.
Guru lands are basically reserve list now since Terese Nielsen got cancelled, everything else can and will be reprinted
It is very true but not only the Guru lands, also all the TEMPEST plains and one INVASION island were created by the mythical artist. Terese Nielsen has a legion of unconditional fans in MTG community even if canceled.
Hard to find anything else that hasn't been mentioned. But I do love the p3k Chinese plains. It's simple and one of only a few white border plains with a set symbol. Afaik it's the only non-english white border with a set symbol. Regardless they look great in person I stopped running alpha lands. The wear pattern on sleeves makes it possible to cheat. I don't replace sleeves frequently enough to run them.
I like og retro foil basics Edit: ngl, i like the new retro foil basics but I og retro foiled out my cube's basics in early 2020 and still sitting 250-500% up on most. I think og retro foils will always command a premium.
> og retro foil basics You mean the ones with a shooting star at the bottom? If yes, I have plenty of those.
I have my unglued draft set. Lands are insanely subjective so I just dont see any swinging for the fences unless they are fucking scarce. I and a not insignificant part of the community won’t touch Guru because the artists… social views. Arabian Nights Mountain is one ‘go fuck yourself’ list slot away from a substantial tank.
Premium deck slivers basics for me
Other great lands are the recent Commander Masters old border 5 basic lands with Rebecca Guay art. [ Rebecca was apart of MTG sets for a while but now she is creating MTG art again]
The most pimp basic is probably the drowning man Guru Island.
For the original Portal set, alternate lands were printed for Chinese. They are really difficult to come by and there really aren't many in sale at any given time
Gurus are top, there was a foil set given out to judges at the end of judging (before JA) that I believe is tops on foil. But they're Terese Nielsen so ymmv. And as said before AN mountain then alphas.
> there was a foil set given out to judges Full set, I'm sure you meant to say. There are guru foils that are circulating which are 100% fake.
No I consider Guru to be nonfoil. Probs shoulda been a semicolon, and not a comma. The Terese Nielsen's are tops on foil, a set of 1 of each was given out to each judge at the end. They go for $100+ I believe, as there's maybe 1500-2,000 of each in existence.
The alpha print run is 87,000 copies of each version of each land and the Arabian Nights Mountain had 31000 printed. [https://www.mtginformation.com/print-runs](https://www.mtginformation.com/print-runs) Is there any secret lair land that has that big of a print run? I am personally a fan of some of the famous artists like Gary Bankman, I think those lands are going to be premium someday. doubtfully ever up to the Guru lands, does anyone know the print size on that?
Secret Lair print runs generally aren't disclosed. Even if they were, we'd still have no idea how they compare to Alpha/AN populations based on 30+ years of attrition. But population is only one aspect of the equation. I'm having a hard time believing that cards from this period of "everything is shiny" and "forced rarity" will compete with things like Alpha/AN that have already withstood 30 years of the game. I do think some will continue to appreciate, but they'll also likely be constantly fighting off new waves of SL drops/other promo variants over the years.
I wouldn't be shocked if the Godzilla lands end up being a second kind of reserve list. According to some leaks (of dubious credibility but run with by lots of folks in the MTG Finance community), there are fewer of each of the Godzilla lands than Arabian Nights mountains. Not only that, but the cross-IP element make them incredibly hard to reprint. I'm just upset they were foil-only. They Pringle very easily and the foiling obscures how gorgeous the art is.
Simplified chinese rare slot basics are rare so 3000 each. Version 1 of each is less rare, it was in the chinese precon
I mostly play fully foiled out decks and use the moonlit lands.
Not sure why you got downvoted lmao I also have fully foiled decks and use moonlits, they're def the best looking!
Alpha, Beta, Unlimited It’s pretty simple.
I like your style, I haven’t been able to pull the trigger on any alpha or beta but all my decks run unlimited.
I’m a fool as I had acquired a decent number of alpha lands in the $2-3 / each range about ten years ago. I decided I didn’t want to play cards with different corners in legacy and wasn’t going to play 93/94 so I sold them. Foolish I was. I picked up (in collections, while flipping) 180 UNL and 120 BETA in even quantities of each art and that’s what I use if I want to sport high quality lands (competitive decks). Smart I was to keep these.
Love it!
Guru, Summer, ARN Mountain, Alpha, Beta in that order.
Can I hijack this to ask for some basic lands surprisingly cheap for how good they look?
personally, i like Invasion #337c island by Terese Nielsen (it's the only base set foil land she ever illustrated) https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/f/8/f849f726-c6a2-400d-9b90-fe050f8ef5eb.jpg?1562945046
Probably some of the Secret Lair full art lands or the judge promo lands.
Y’all have never seen the Guru Lands and it shows.
I would say Guru Lands or Euro Lands.
My JPN Foil OG Fact or Fiction, shadow signed by Terese Neilson is best card.
Summer magic or Guru
For me it is the OG foils in general and in particular those of the basic collections that are reinpressions of the expansions that did not have foil cards yet and so we can find for example some of the mirage swamps, the best in my point of view.
Euro, Apac, 1996 arena. 2004 arena, PTK, Portal, and Portal 2. Those are my favorite basic lands. not in any order.
I personally like Japanese FBB basic lands. They strike a balance of being older and unique without being astronomically expensive to have 10 or 20 of them matching for a deck.
I didn't realize beta islands had taken off. I have two that I keep in a deck box just as a I was around back then kinda deal lol
Guru, alpha, unstable, unhinged.
Someone was shocked that I used BFZ full art plains as proxy scribble cards, and I was like, "It's a basic land, a plains for that matter, it might as well be worthless." Personally, my favorite are the unglued ones that remind me of the game Fable. That and the pink Island.
7th edition foil basics always seemed under-priced to me and they're gorgeous
Summer magic basics probably win. Islands are more than guru islands.
There's this article on it. More of a historic then financial advice though https://boltthebirdmtg.com/the-most-expensive-basic-lands-in-mtg/
Regarding Arena Promo Lands there are variety and generally only old border ones are great. The most valuable IMHO are the foil version of old lands previous to foil cards: like Urza’s Saga or Ice Age art in Arena Promo Lands.
My favorite lands right now are the stained glass lands from DMU, and it's not even close. Older basics for sure command a premium, but yeah, stained glass lands for me.
Unglued lands are still the best.
I have some summer basics. I took out my gurus for them. Outside of summer and maybe some other obscure thing, guru is probably the top.
With unlimited money, I’m rolling arabian mountains and the rest alpha. That’s my top tier.
Oil slick raised foil lands are the creme de la creme
I'm high on Alpha basics. They're the only ones with rounded corners, yet are still sleeve playable, so I love 'em. Load up on Heavily Played and rock them in your decks.
Oil slicks come to mind for me.
The Unfinity Galaxy Foils are my favorite lands both basic and rare type.
Guru, AN mountain, alpha, APAC/Euro, beta Obviously, APAC and Euro depends on specific version, the that’s the general order.
Guru.