I'm running into a problem sorting my non-basic lands. I'm not sure how to go about it anymore. Right now they are like this
Ability lands (swarmyard)
5 Color
3 color - by cycle
2 color - by cycle
1 color - by cycle
This works really well when I'm filling in missing cards with singles but it makes it really hard to make decks so I'm thinking of switching to
Ability lands
5 color
Wedge
Arc
Pairs
WUBRG
and I'm just wondering what the rest of you think of that or if you have any better ideas?
Also before ideas get too grand my lands only take up a little more then 2/3 of a holiday gift box so going though all of them doesn't take that long if I ever have to.
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There's no proof she's being chased
by ninja squirrels either. - Dr. Wilson
But alphabetical leaves me with the same problem of having to go though everything to make decks.
Say I'm building a BW deck. Sorted by color I would only have to go though 2/5 of the 1 color lands, 1/10 of the two color, skip the 3 and 5, and then go though the ability lands.
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There's no proof she's being chased
by ninja squirrels either. - Dr. Wilson
If deck building is your priority then going by color makes the most sense. That is how I organize my EDH stuff (basically a big 1000 count full of stuff relevant to that format) and it is great for deck building.
Remember to only use as much sorting as you're willing to maintain. If you build and dismantle decks frequently, having a complex sorting scheme becomes very tiresome.
Some tips:
* Keep basics separate from nonbasics. Sort basics by WUBRG and leave it at that unless you're prone to building block-based theme decks or something.
* Group ability lands with the color(s) required to activate their abilities. Most people won't ever have a reason to look for colorless lands specifically, and would only use these over basics if they can activate the color-specific ability. Nephalia Drownyard goes in the same pile as Watery Grave.
* Group ability lands that are entirely colorless with the 5-color lands. In both cases, you're not looking for any specific color(s).
* There's no need to come up with a way to order all the ten-color pairs. You can thumb through your stack of cards from that section faster than you can recall a given pair's place in the sequence.
* Don't bother separating individual arcs and wedges unless you have a ton of lands like that (most people will have a handful of Alara trilands and/or lairs and maybe a Murmuring Bosk or two and that's it).
* For lands like the Vivid cycle, group them with nonbasics of just that color. They can make mana of any color, but how often are you really looking to do that?
* For cards you use often, keep those in a separate area. Got a favorite basic land art? Pull them from the basic box and put them here. That way when you need those cards, you don't have to spend much time at all looking for them. Don't put too many cards in this section though or it becomes less useful!
Basically, only sort to the extent that it'll help you find cards. Going beyond that will just have you coming up with excuses to put off the sorting until later.
It would be neat to hear from anyone who runs a singles shop on how they sort their inventory.
5 Color (alphabetically)
4 Color (alphabetically - do 4 color lands even exist? anyways, if they do, this is how I do it)
Shards/Wedges (alphabetically within each shard alphabetically, for example: Bant lands come before Grixis lands, no matter what letters, but Bant Panorama comes before Treva's Ruins)
Guilds (same as the shards, Azorius before Rakdos, and Azorius Chancery before Flood Plain)
1 Color (by color (WUBRG) and then alphabetically (Bojuka Bog before Oran-Rief, the Vastwood, but not before Halimar Depths))
Colorless (alphabetically, doesn't have to produce mana, so Maze of Ith counts, as does Mishra's Workshop (obviously))
EDIT: Lands with abilities that cost colored are sorted the same way. Alchemist's Refuge goes in the Simic section of the Guilds section.
My method has worked really well for me. Good luck!
* For lands like the Vivid cycle, group them with nonbasics of just that color. They can make mana of any color, but how often are you really looking to do that?
Who runs Vivid Lands and doesn't use them for mana of any color? Just run a basic...
Who runs Vivid Lands and doesn't use them for mana of any color? Just run a basic...
Truth be told, if there's a part of my post I'm iffy about, it's that one. I figured I'm more likely to be looking for splash assistance with a deck centered on one color than to be looking for five-color lands. Though maybe pairing them with Reflecting Pool in the sort order might be the best thing to do!
Perhaps I should also mention that I don't use many dividers. Someone who has lots of dividers or uses labels on their dividers can kind of bypass the "brute force is sometimes faster than sorting" gist of my post.
It would be neat to hear from anyone who runs a singles shop on how they sort their inventory.
My LGS has a set of display cases for Standard-legal cards, and another set for everything else. Cards are sorted by color (WUBRG/Colorless/Multicolor/Land), and sorted alphabetically within each. Foil and altered art copies of cards in each category are put on the top shelf and sorted alphabetically. Cards which aren't worth putting in display cases are stored in 5000-count boxes behind the counter, available on request. Overstock and/or unsorted cards are stored at the owner's home, which can be pulled by request (by email) as soon as he's able.
Remember to only use as much sorting as you're willing to maintain. If you build and dismantle decks frequently, having a complex sorting scheme becomes very tiresome.
This is probably some of the best advice I've seen in a long time. A lot of why I'm looking to revamp a bit is because of what it takes to take a deck apart and put a new one together. I also play a lot of EDH so that means looking though non-basics a lot and that's why I'm not going to alphabetize anything let alone lands.
* Group ability lands with the color(s) required to activate their abilities. Most people won't ever have a reason to look for colorless lands specifically, and would only use these over basics if they can activate the color-specific ability. Nephalia Drownyard goes in the same pile as Watery Grave.
This is something I've debated doing in the past and I might try it.
Truth be told, if there's a part of my post I'm iffy about, it's that one. I figured I'm more likely to be looking for splash assistance with a deck centered on one color than to be looking for five-color lands. Though maybe pairing them with Reflecting Pool in the sort order might be the best thing to do!
Honestly when it comes to things like Vivids, Reflecting Pool, and Mirrodin's Core I've looked at them as cards that have potential to create 5 colors so I put them with the 5 color lands so I know where they are.
@Rhinoflipper
No there are no 4 color lands, I've looked because I've wondered the same thing.
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There's no proof she's being chased
by ninja squirrels either. - Dr. Wilson
Honestly when it comes to things like Vivids, Reflecting Pool, and Mirrodin's Core I've looked at them as cards that have potential to create 5 colors so I put them with the 5 color lands so I know where they are.
That's what I do. And yes, sort to your limit, not beyond.
Also, my reasoning behind alphabetical sorting is that I can look at any card in the group and know approximately where the card I want is instantly. Doing it by cycle may not work as well since you have to remember which cycles come before others.
The problem with sorting by color is often it's subjective. You need to make a decision on where to file Kessig Wolf Run...colorless or RG? Also, there are 10 2 color combinations, and even more that have 3 colors, plus fetches which sometimes have to be off color because no allied in modern, etc.
Alphabetical is just easy...no qualitative decisions necessary. You just have to know the names of cards when you're looking for them. If I were really brewing (something I rarely do anymore, since I don't really play casually), I would just look up the cards I wanted using one of the online tools that shows the lands within a shard or whatever, and then looking alphabetically to see if they are there.
Having 25 sections/groups of lands by color/shard/etc. seems about the same as sorting by alphabet in terms of the number of groups (though you don't need labels for the groups if you go alphabetical unless you have >one box of non basics), and I would be worried about missing stuff that was filed in another section because I misapplied a qualitative label.
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Ability lands (swarmyard)
5 Color
3 color - by cycle
2 color - by cycle
1 color - by cycle
This works really well when I'm filling in missing cards with singles but it makes it really hard to make decks so I'm thinking of switching to
Ability lands
5 color
Wedge
Arc
Pairs
WUBRG
and I'm just wondering what the rest of you think of that or if you have any better ideas?
Also before ideas get too grand my lands only take up a little more then 2/3 of a holiday gift box so going though all of them doesn't take that long if I ever have to.
There's no proof she's being chased
by ninja squirrels either. - Dr. Wilson
Sorting by color is insane....too many color combinations.
Say I'm building a BW deck. Sorted by color I would only have to go though 2/5 of the 1 color lands, 1/10 of the two color, skip the 3 and 5, and then go though the ability lands.
There's no proof she's being chased
by ninja squirrels either. - Dr. Wilson
Two Score, Minus Two or: A Stargate Tail
(Image by totallynotabrony)
Some tips:
* Keep basics separate from nonbasics. Sort basics by WUBRG and leave it at that unless you're prone to building block-based theme decks or something.
* Group ability lands with the color(s) required to activate their abilities. Most people won't ever have a reason to look for colorless lands specifically, and would only use these over basics if they can activate the color-specific ability. Nephalia Drownyard goes in the same pile as Watery Grave.
* Group ability lands that are entirely colorless with the 5-color lands. In both cases, you're not looking for any specific color(s).
* There's no need to come up with a way to order all the ten-color pairs. You can thumb through your stack of cards from that section faster than you can recall a given pair's place in the sequence.
* Don't bother separating individual arcs and wedges unless you have a ton of lands like that (most people will have a handful of Alara trilands and/or lairs and maybe a Murmuring Bosk or two and that's it).
* For lands like the Vivid cycle, group them with nonbasics of just that color. They can make mana of any color, but how often are you really looking to do that?
* For cards you use often, keep those in a separate area. Got a favorite basic land art? Pull them from the basic box and put them here. That way when you need those cards, you don't have to spend much time at all looking for them. Don't put too many cards in this section though or it becomes less useful!
Basically, only sort to the extent that it'll help you find cards. Going beyond that will just have you coming up with excuses to put off the sorting until later.
It would be neat to hear from anyone who runs a singles shop on how they sort their inventory.
5 Color (alphabetically)
4 Color (alphabetically - do 4 color lands even exist? anyways, if they do, this is how I do it)
Shards/Wedges (alphabetically within each shard alphabetically, for example: Bant lands come before Grixis lands, no matter what letters, but Bant Panorama comes before Treva's Ruins)
Guilds (same as the shards, Azorius before Rakdos, and Azorius Chancery before Flood Plain)
1 Color (by color (WUBRG) and then alphabetically (Bojuka Bog before Oran-Rief, the Vastwood, but not before Halimar Depths))
Colorless (alphabetically, doesn't have to produce mana, so Maze of Ith counts, as does Mishra's Workshop (obviously))
EDIT: Lands with abilities that cost colored are sorted the same way. Alchemist's Refuge goes in the Simic section of the Guilds section.
My method has worked really well for me. Good luck!
Who runs Vivid Lands and doesn't use them for mana of any color? Just run a basic...
Truth be told, if there's a part of my post I'm iffy about, it's that one. I figured I'm more likely to be looking for splash assistance with a deck centered on one color than to be looking for five-color lands. Though maybe pairing them with Reflecting Pool in the sort order might be the best thing to do!
Perhaps I should also mention that I don't use many dividers. Someone who has lots of dividers or uses labels on their dividers can kind of bypass the "brute force is sometimes faster than sorting" gist of my post.
Two Score, Minus Two or: A Stargate Tail
(Image by totallynotabrony)
This is probably some of the best advice I've seen in a long time. A lot of why I'm looking to revamp a bit is because of what it takes to take a deck apart and put a new one together. I also play a lot of EDH so that means looking though non-basics a lot and that's why I'm not going to alphabetize anything let alone lands.
This is something I've debated doing in the past and I might try it.
Honestly when it comes to things like Vivids, Reflecting Pool, and Mirrodin's Core I've looked at them as cards that have potential to create 5 colors so I put them with the 5 color lands so I know where they are.
@Rhinoflipper
No there are no 4 color lands, I've looked because I've wondered the same thing.
There's no proof she's being chased
by ninja squirrels either. - Dr. Wilson
That's what I do. And yes, sort to your limit, not beyond.
Also, my reasoning behind alphabetical sorting is that I can look at any card in the group and know approximately where the card I want is instantly. Doing it by cycle may not work as well since you have to remember which cycles come before others.
Alphabetical is just easy...no qualitative decisions necessary. You just have to know the names of cards when you're looking for them. If I were really brewing (something I rarely do anymore, since I don't really play casually), I would just look up the cards I wanted using one of the online tools that shows the lands within a shard or whatever, and then looking alphabetically to see if they are there.
Having 25 sections/groups of lands by color/shard/etc. seems about the same as sorting by alphabet in terms of the number of groups (though you don't need labels for the groups if you go alphabetical unless you have >one box of non basics), and I would be worried about missing stuff that was filed in another section because I misapplied a qualitative label.