If Odyssey was when Wizards of the Coast started
getting innovative in dual land design, Ravnica
was where they took a step back. I don't usually
start with such a polarizing statement, but
consider the fact that the original dual lands
had not been legal in Extended for half a
decade, and no homage as close to them as the
shock lands had been done yet. The signals were
all in the direction of this style of design
being out of favor, but then the shock lands
came out of left field. In fact, they were used
as a surprise preview for Ravnica.
My reaction was pretty much the same as everyone
else's: "Imagine the power!" The homage to the
original dual lands' design was mind-blowing to
players who had not been around for the dawn
era, and to players who had but had been on a
limited budget or card pool. And their
interactions with everything that cared about
basic land types felt a little dirty (but in a
good way) in rotating formats that hadn't had
such things for a long time. That, in turn, was
left in the dust by their impact on Extended,
where Onslaught's fetch lands were still legal.
I remember that Extended format quite well - I
played it both casually with friends and, in a
move that will no doubt confuse those who know
me from later in my career, in a Pro Tour
Qualifier. It stretched from Invasion to
Dissension and is still regarded by many people
as the best Extended of all time. I thought I
would never see spells like Global Ruin or
Holistic Wisdom being cast in a tournament, and
yet they regularly won events. It's always been
of interest to me that the card pool for that
Extended has a lot of overlap with the initial
card pool for Modern, yet the latter has turned
out to be much more divisive and, to some
players, problematic.
I mention this because the quality of that
Extended season from so long ago has sometimes
been attributed to the shock lands. The impulse
to find a single explanation for everything is
understandable, but I think this particular one
is misplaced - partly because of the
aforementioned comparison with Modern, and
partly because as surprising and powerful as
these lands are, they're still just lands. You
still need something to cast with them, and this
is where the questions start to arise. You can
make a deck that works much like Domain Zoo or
Gifts Rock without using shock lands, but the
power of the lands themselves obscures that
fact.
Seasons that involve shock lands tend to end up
revolving around them in the minds of a large
portion of Magic players. Back in 2005 and 2006,
I met FNM goers who put acquisition of shock
lands above the pursuit of every other type of
card they might have enjoyed, and more than a
few who basically apologized for relying on
cards like Arctic Flats or even Caves of Koilos.
Even if you accept that their effect on the game
is an unalloyed positive (which is actually the
question of "How easy do you think it should be
to make a three- or four-color deck?" and which
I won't get into here), they seem to draw
people's attention to design philosophies and,
worse, to the economic elements of the game in a
way that is not beneficial.
As items, they are undeniably cool - their names
are absolutely perfect for the city and for
their respective guilds, and with their art,
form a pillar of Ravnica's world building. But
at the end of the day, they're lands. Expensive
collectible lands, perhaps, but they're not
something you can't live without, and they're
not something you apologize for not having, and
they're not something that should prevent you
from playing with what cards you have and having
fun doing so.
Today's cards of the day are the Ravnica
block shock lands which have the option of
paying two life or they enter play tapped.
These are very strong dual lands that aren't
as situational as ones with a requirement or as
damaging long term as the pain lands. The
payment is both optional and generally
manageable, which alongside the relatively
recent reprint of the cycle will keep these as
some of the most frequently played dual lands
across more recent formats.
Many new players ask "I don't see what the big
deal is with these cards are." And my friends,
the difference is the dual land types printed on
the card. Fetchability is something that turns a
2 dollar card into a 15 dollar card. and unless
we somehow get /another/ reworking of the old
alpha duals, this is probably going to be as
good as it gets, in terms of lands with power.
