Lelouch32
01-18-2010, 01:40 AM
Landfall: Watch Your Step
By: Corlando
When I first started Magic not but two or three months ago, I had no clue what I was getting into or how much fun it would be. When I started off, I usually met with a friend of mine probably on an average of every 3 days to at least once a week and we would duel. Having been a Yu-gi-oh fan for years, I was able to grasp the basic rules quickly due to the games’ similarities. Being new to the game my fighting capabilities were limited and I struggled to understand why certain cards had certain abilities. Why did a 1/1 creature have double strike? What is it that indestructibility actually does? What the hell do you do with landfall? All of these answers were answered quickly… except for the question concerning Landfall. It’s a seemingly useless ability. Sure you’re able to boost a creature’s stats or do something else cool because a land comes into play. Not only is that power limited by the fact you can only play one land perturn, but most of the abilities I had looked at were lame and weak not really warranting research like other abilities and stratagem. However, not too long ago I was reminded that in magic nothing is ever as it seems. That is why in this installment of Cards n’Flux we are going to look at the ability Landfall and see what power lies within. Be mindful where you step, it might be the last one you take.
As our first step in trying to understand what Landfall is let us look a just a brief history. Landfall was first introduced in the Zendikar block in October of 2009 along with other mechanics such as kicker, traps, and quest enchantments. The ability is triggered every time a land comes into play under your control and can have varying effects from summoning tokens to changing stats.
After looking at the idea of Landfall it seems like it is an ability that is either highly situational or just something you have in your back pocket that won’t exactly win you the game but it is just nice to have if the situation allows it. Well let’s see if we can’t change that as we delve into the workings of Landfall.
First, we need to identify what is hindering Landfall from becoming a dominant force in a deck. One obvious point is that you can only play one land per turn. This means you will always only get the bare minimum out of each Landfall card when there is so much more to be gained. Another point to note is that you can only play lands on your turn meaning your deck format will have to be offensive rather than defensive, which is not necessarily a bad thing it just hinders you. A third hindrance to landfall is land playing. For Landfall to work you need to play lands and if you go a number of turns without drawing a land you could find yourself in deep trouble.
Okay we have identified the problems with Landfall, now class it is solution time. I know you are all so excited. The first problem we noted was that a Landfall user can only play one land per turn. There are two basic ways of sidestepping this condition. The first is with cards like Exploration and Oracle of Mul Daya, which both allow you to play an additional land each turn. This is a good option though a little risky. If you play an additional land each turn you are able to, then you will become rather predictable and your opponent will adjust to your pace knowing when to block and when to let the damage go through. The other point about playing an additional land each turn is that it depletes your hand which in turn limits your ability to counter and move with the flow of battle. This is why I prefer the second option, which I like to call Fetchers. Fetchers is a broad term which basically defines all creatures with the capacity to allow you to search your library for a land and either put it on the field or in your hand. Cards that fall into this category are cards like Civic Wayfinder, a :mana2::manag: elf which puts a land in your hand when he comes onto the battlefield, Dreamscape Artist, a :mana1::manau: human spellshaper which allows you to play two lands for the price of 1 and then some, and finally Frontier Guide, a :mana3::manag: elf which can be used to summon a land to the battlefield after you pay :mana3::manag: and tap her. Fetchers are probably the better way to go because not only do you control the number of lands you play each turn but it also keeps your hand full giving you options to counter and fight.
The next hindrance to Landfall is the simple fact that you can only play lands on your turn. Again this is not necessarily a bad thing if you like to play offensively. Every turn you can play a land and gain the bonuses from your creatures or enchantments and attack every turn or whenever you can do so. However, for those defensive players there is a simple solution. Terramorphic Expanse is a land card with the ability, “Tap, Sacrifice Terramorphic Expanse, search your library for a basic land card and put it into play tapped. Then shuffle your library.” In casual play I have often seen this ability used the second it was played getting out the desperately needed land early in the game. However, nowhere in the ability does it say that you can only play it on your turn. You may play Terramorphic Expanse on your turn and then wait for your opponent to attack. Once he or she attacks tap and sack Terramorphic Expanse for any land, gain the bonuses, and defend yourself. It is an easy solution with a popular card. You can also do this with the Alara Panoramas and some of the Fetchers that I mentioned above. Landfall is not looking as useless as it once did, right?
The third problem Landfall faces is land deprivation or depletion. Basically, what do you do when you are either not drawing lands or it is late in the game and your lands are all on the field. Granted the second one is unlikely, but it could happen. What are some solutions to these conundrums? Well again we turn to the land Fetchers, which are mostly all low mana, which will allow you to dig into your deck to get a land. The other way to insure that you always have a land to play is to use cards that send lands back to your hand. Cards that can do this range from the simple Daze, a :mana1::manau: counterspell that can be paid by sending an island back to your hand, or complex creatures such as Living Tsunami, a flying :mana2::manau::manau: 4/4 Elemental which is sacrificed during your upkeep if you don’t return a land to your hand. With a combination of Fetchers and land returners in your deck, a Landfall deck can become a very viable deck.
Now that we have a stratagem for sidestepping all of Landfall’s faults, we can now look at what creatures use Landfall and begin to build our deck. Looking over the cards that have landfall, it is easy to see that most of them are either blue or green. The other colors do have some notable landfall cards such as black’s infamous Bloodghast and red’s Zektar Shrine Expedition, but for the most part most of the cards are blue or green.
Looking at the blue and green cards at our disposal, we see a number of great beasts that can either terrify your opponents or make them smash their heads against the table in frustration. The first card we will look at is Turntimber Basilik. Turntimber Basilisk is a :mana1::manag::manag: creature with 2/1 stats and deathtouch. The great thing about this card is that its landfall ability forces target creature to block Turntimber Basilisk effectively destroying it. This is a great card because it can be used to take down anything. Just the other day I saw this card force a Sphinx Sovereign to attack it and destroy itself. It is really a great card.
Next we will look at a blue card, Hedron Crab. This little :manau: mana crab might not be a good attacker or defender with its 0/2 stats, but its Landfall ability will have your opponent’s hating it as if you just played Progenitus. Hedron Crab’s landfall ability states that whenever a land enters play under your control you can have target player put the top 3 cards of their library into their graveyard. On its own this might not seem like such a big deal, but what happens if you get two, or three out on the field at the same time? If you manage to get all 4 of your Hedron Crabs out onto the battlefield, you could easily see your opponent throwing away as much as 12 cards whenever you play a land. You could easily end up milling your opponent to death with 4 simple :manau: mana creatures and a few lands in a row.
Moving back to a green card let us look at Lotus Cobra. Lotus Cobra is another small creature at just :mana1::manag: and its 2/1 stats leave much to be desired, but why is this little creature worth upwards of eleven dollars? The answer is its ability, which states that whenever a land comes into play, you may add one mana of any color to your mana pool. This is great in any deck, but especially in a landfall deck. If you have two lands and Lotus Cobra out when another land comes into play, your mana pool total goes up to four allowing you to summon something big of any color to the field. Why do I say it is great especially in a landfall deck? With cards designed to bring in more than one land each turn, your mana pool limit can easily become immense if you have the right cards out. For example, let us say you have 2 Lotus Cobras, an Exploration, and two lands. If you have two Terramorphic Expanses in your hand you can play both, look for two other lands, and put them into play. Suddenly you have 4 mana of any color in your mana pool without tapping a single land. You can then tap the 2 lands from earlier to play a Rampaging Baloths and really begin to make your opponent sweat. Amazing what fun you can have with a little card like Lotus Cobra.
The final card I will go into detail about, even though I probably have no need to do so due to this card’s reputation, is Roil Elemental. Roil Elemental is a :mana3::manau::manau::manau: 3/2 flyer with the ability, “Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, you may gain control of target creature as long as you control Roil Elemental.” Reading its ability anyone can see why I probably don’t need to talk about it. Its ability is just so amazing that it does not need explaining. Whenever you play a land, you can gain control of a target creature. This ability has so many applications from simply depleting your opponent of little chump blockers to taking over their heaviest of hitters and using it against them. The only problem with this card is the fact that it can be shocked to death. However, a pair of Lightning Greaves can easily keep your Roil Elemental from heading to the cemetery anytime soon.
Alright, so time to create our landfall deck. This time I decided to try to build a cheap deck that could easily be compiled by anyone if they have a little cash on hand. So here’s our deck:
Creatures:
4 Hedron Crab= $0.24 each
4 Fathom Seer= $0.08 each
4 Turntimber Basilisk= $0.08
4 Grazing Gladehart= $0.04
4 Frontier Guide= $0.05
3 Roil Elemental= $0.22
3 Rampaging Baloths= $2.66
(26)
Lands:
8 Forests
8 Islands
4 Terramorphic Expanse= $0.24
(20)
Enchantments:
2 Khalni Heart Expedition= $0.07
2 Ior Ruin Expedition= $0.04
(4)
Spells:
4 Rampant Growth= $0.07
3 Evolution Charm= $0.08
3 Daze= $1.78
(10)
Again this deck, like all my others, is just a foundational deck and should probably be revised, but it works pretty well. The Hedron Crabs are there to help with the mana curve and to mill if possible. Fathom Seer’s main goal is to return lands to your hand, but it can also get you 2 cards when flipped up. Grazing Gladehart will get you 2 life whenever you play a land and Turntimber Basilisk will eliminate all the heavy hitters your opponent has. Frontier Guide is there to put lands on the field if you end up with no lands in your hand. Roil Elemental is there to take your opponent’s creatures while Rampaging Baloths is there to produce more for you. Ior Ruin Expedition is in the deck to get you cards and Khalni Heart will get you 2 basic lands when you meet the simple landfall requirement. Rampant Growth is in there to get quick land for low mana while Evolution Charm not only has the ability to get you land, but to return a creature from your graveyard to your hand, or to give one of your creatures flying till the end of a turn. Talk about a multi-tasker. Daze is in the deck strictly for land return. You can try to counter with it if you can, but honestly I think the space might be better spent on Lightning Greaves or Whispersilk Cloak. Overall I think this is a relatively good deck that could be playable if a few changes are made. However, the best thing about this deck is that it is pretty inexpensive at $17.68.
Well that concludes this installment of Cards n’Flux. I cut out a little bit of my usual joking style and I hope you all liked it. If you preferred my other more fun way of writing, please leave a comment telling me so and I will gladly switch back. Well this is Corlando reminding you that, “Etherium is limited. Innovation is not.” This is Corlando signing out.
By: Corlando
When I first started Magic not but two or three months ago, I had no clue what I was getting into or how much fun it would be. When I started off, I usually met with a friend of mine probably on an average of every 3 days to at least once a week and we would duel. Having been a Yu-gi-oh fan for years, I was able to grasp the basic rules quickly due to the games’ similarities. Being new to the game my fighting capabilities were limited and I struggled to understand why certain cards had certain abilities. Why did a 1/1 creature have double strike? What is it that indestructibility actually does? What the hell do you do with landfall? All of these answers were answered quickly… except for the question concerning Landfall. It’s a seemingly useless ability. Sure you’re able to boost a creature’s stats or do something else cool because a land comes into play. Not only is that power limited by the fact you can only play one land perturn, but most of the abilities I had looked at were lame and weak not really warranting research like other abilities and stratagem. However, not too long ago I was reminded that in magic nothing is ever as it seems. That is why in this installment of Cards n’Flux we are going to look at the ability Landfall and see what power lies within. Be mindful where you step, it might be the last one you take.
As our first step in trying to understand what Landfall is let us look a just a brief history. Landfall was first introduced in the Zendikar block in October of 2009 along with other mechanics such as kicker, traps, and quest enchantments. The ability is triggered every time a land comes into play under your control and can have varying effects from summoning tokens to changing stats.
After looking at the idea of Landfall it seems like it is an ability that is either highly situational or just something you have in your back pocket that won’t exactly win you the game but it is just nice to have if the situation allows it. Well let’s see if we can’t change that as we delve into the workings of Landfall.
First, we need to identify what is hindering Landfall from becoming a dominant force in a deck. One obvious point is that you can only play one land per turn. This means you will always only get the bare minimum out of each Landfall card when there is so much more to be gained. Another point to note is that you can only play lands on your turn meaning your deck format will have to be offensive rather than defensive, which is not necessarily a bad thing it just hinders you. A third hindrance to landfall is land playing. For Landfall to work you need to play lands and if you go a number of turns without drawing a land you could find yourself in deep trouble.
Okay we have identified the problems with Landfall, now class it is solution time. I know you are all so excited. The first problem we noted was that a Landfall user can only play one land per turn. There are two basic ways of sidestepping this condition. The first is with cards like Exploration and Oracle of Mul Daya, which both allow you to play an additional land each turn. This is a good option though a little risky. If you play an additional land each turn you are able to, then you will become rather predictable and your opponent will adjust to your pace knowing when to block and when to let the damage go through. The other point about playing an additional land each turn is that it depletes your hand which in turn limits your ability to counter and move with the flow of battle. This is why I prefer the second option, which I like to call Fetchers. Fetchers is a broad term which basically defines all creatures with the capacity to allow you to search your library for a land and either put it on the field or in your hand. Cards that fall into this category are cards like Civic Wayfinder, a :mana2::manag: elf which puts a land in your hand when he comes onto the battlefield, Dreamscape Artist, a :mana1::manau: human spellshaper which allows you to play two lands for the price of 1 and then some, and finally Frontier Guide, a :mana3::manag: elf which can be used to summon a land to the battlefield after you pay :mana3::manag: and tap her. Fetchers are probably the better way to go because not only do you control the number of lands you play each turn but it also keeps your hand full giving you options to counter and fight.
The next hindrance to Landfall is the simple fact that you can only play lands on your turn. Again this is not necessarily a bad thing if you like to play offensively. Every turn you can play a land and gain the bonuses from your creatures or enchantments and attack every turn or whenever you can do so. However, for those defensive players there is a simple solution. Terramorphic Expanse is a land card with the ability, “Tap, Sacrifice Terramorphic Expanse, search your library for a basic land card and put it into play tapped. Then shuffle your library.” In casual play I have often seen this ability used the second it was played getting out the desperately needed land early in the game. However, nowhere in the ability does it say that you can only play it on your turn. You may play Terramorphic Expanse on your turn and then wait for your opponent to attack. Once he or she attacks tap and sack Terramorphic Expanse for any land, gain the bonuses, and defend yourself. It is an easy solution with a popular card. You can also do this with the Alara Panoramas and some of the Fetchers that I mentioned above. Landfall is not looking as useless as it once did, right?
The third problem Landfall faces is land deprivation or depletion. Basically, what do you do when you are either not drawing lands or it is late in the game and your lands are all on the field. Granted the second one is unlikely, but it could happen. What are some solutions to these conundrums? Well again we turn to the land Fetchers, which are mostly all low mana, which will allow you to dig into your deck to get a land. The other way to insure that you always have a land to play is to use cards that send lands back to your hand. Cards that can do this range from the simple Daze, a :mana1::manau: counterspell that can be paid by sending an island back to your hand, or complex creatures such as Living Tsunami, a flying :mana2::manau::manau: 4/4 Elemental which is sacrificed during your upkeep if you don’t return a land to your hand. With a combination of Fetchers and land returners in your deck, a Landfall deck can become a very viable deck.
Now that we have a stratagem for sidestepping all of Landfall’s faults, we can now look at what creatures use Landfall and begin to build our deck. Looking over the cards that have landfall, it is easy to see that most of them are either blue or green. The other colors do have some notable landfall cards such as black’s infamous Bloodghast and red’s Zektar Shrine Expedition, but for the most part most of the cards are blue or green.
Looking at the blue and green cards at our disposal, we see a number of great beasts that can either terrify your opponents or make them smash their heads against the table in frustration. The first card we will look at is Turntimber Basilik. Turntimber Basilisk is a :mana1::manag::manag: creature with 2/1 stats and deathtouch. The great thing about this card is that its landfall ability forces target creature to block Turntimber Basilisk effectively destroying it. This is a great card because it can be used to take down anything. Just the other day I saw this card force a Sphinx Sovereign to attack it and destroy itself. It is really a great card.
Next we will look at a blue card, Hedron Crab. This little :manau: mana crab might not be a good attacker or defender with its 0/2 stats, but its Landfall ability will have your opponent’s hating it as if you just played Progenitus. Hedron Crab’s landfall ability states that whenever a land enters play under your control you can have target player put the top 3 cards of their library into their graveyard. On its own this might not seem like such a big deal, but what happens if you get two, or three out on the field at the same time? If you manage to get all 4 of your Hedron Crabs out onto the battlefield, you could easily see your opponent throwing away as much as 12 cards whenever you play a land. You could easily end up milling your opponent to death with 4 simple :manau: mana creatures and a few lands in a row.
Moving back to a green card let us look at Lotus Cobra. Lotus Cobra is another small creature at just :mana1::manag: and its 2/1 stats leave much to be desired, but why is this little creature worth upwards of eleven dollars? The answer is its ability, which states that whenever a land comes into play, you may add one mana of any color to your mana pool. This is great in any deck, but especially in a landfall deck. If you have two lands and Lotus Cobra out when another land comes into play, your mana pool total goes up to four allowing you to summon something big of any color to the field. Why do I say it is great especially in a landfall deck? With cards designed to bring in more than one land each turn, your mana pool limit can easily become immense if you have the right cards out. For example, let us say you have 2 Lotus Cobras, an Exploration, and two lands. If you have two Terramorphic Expanses in your hand you can play both, look for two other lands, and put them into play. Suddenly you have 4 mana of any color in your mana pool without tapping a single land. You can then tap the 2 lands from earlier to play a Rampaging Baloths and really begin to make your opponent sweat. Amazing what fun you can have with a little card like Lotus Cobra.
The final card I will go into detail about, even though I probably have no need to do so due to this card’s reputation, is Roil Elemental. Roil Elemental is a :mana3::manau::manau::manau: 3/2 flyer with the ability, “Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, you may gain control of target creature as long as you control Roil Elemental.” Reading its ability anyone can see why I probably don’t need to talk about it. Its ability is just so amazing that it does not need explaining. Whenever you play a land, you can gain control of a target creature. This ability has so many applications from simply depleting your opponent of little chump blockers to taking over their heaviest of hitters and using it against them. The only problem with this card is the fact that it can be shocked to death. However, a pair of Lightning Greaves can easily keep your Roil Elemental from heading to the cemetery anytime soon.
Alright, so time to create our landfall deck. This time I decided to try to build a cheap deck that could easily be compiled by anyone if they have a little cash on hand. So here’s our deck:
Creatures:
4 Hedron Crab= $0.24 each
4 Fathom Seer= $0.08 each
4 Turntimber Basilisk= $0.08
4 Grazing Gladehart= $0.04
4 Frontier Guide= $0.05
3 Roil Elemental= $0.22
3 Rampaging Baloths= $2.66
(26)
Lands:
8 Forests
8 Islands
4 Terramorphic Expanse= $0.24
(20)
Enchantments:
2 Khalni Heart Expedition= $0.07
2 Ior Ruin Expedition= $0.04
(4)
Spells:
4 Rampant Growth= $0.07
3 Evolution Charm= $0.08
3 Daze= $1.78
(10)
Again this deck, like all my others, is just a foundational deck and should probably be revised, but it works pretty well. The Hedron Crabs are there to help with the mana curve and to mill if possible. Fathom Seer’s main goal is to return lands to your hand, but it can also get you 2 cards when flipped up. Grazing Gladehart will get you 2 life whenever you play a land and Turntimber Basilisk will eliminate all the heavy hitters your opponent has. Frontier Guide is there to put lands on the field if you end up with no lands in your hand. Roil Elemental is there to take your opponent’s creatures while Rampaging Baloths is there to produce more for you. Ior Ruin Expedition is in the deck to get you cards and Khalni Heart will get you 2 basic lands when you meet the simple landfall requirement. Rampant Growth is in there to get quick land for low mana while Evolution Charm not only has the ability to get you land, but to return a creature from your graveyard to your hand, or to give one of your creatures flying till the end of a turn. Talk about a multi-tasker. Daze is in the deck strictly for land return. You can try to counter with it if you can, but honestly I think the space might be better spent on Lightning Greaves or Whispersilk Cloak. Overall I think this is a relatively good deck that could be playable if a few changes are made. However, the best thing about this deck is that it is pretty inexpensive at $17.68.
Well that concludes this installment of Cards n’Flux. I cut out a little bit of my usual joking style and I hope you all liked it. If you preferred my other more fun way of writing, please leave a comment telling me so and I will gladly switch back. Well this is Corlando reminding you that, “Etherium is limited. Innovation is not.” This is Corlando signing out.