In SOI we have uncommon dual lands with no benefit that come into play tapped, yet in khans we had common dual lands that came into play tapped AND gained you 1 life
Am I missing something that happened recently in magic or is this just the new thing?
I think it has more to do with the needs of the set in draft format and less to do with the innate power level of those lands. Khans was focused around cards with three colors in their mana cost. Most people who drafted Khans needed access to multiple color enablers to play some of the commons and uncommons. SOI is not focused on mana constraints in the same way. Far fewer cards have two colors in the cost, so the need for fixing is less.
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+1 Roland does 1 damage to up to 6 target creatures, players or plainswalkers.
-2 Roland twirls a bullet casing. Tap all opponents creatures.
-11 Reset life totals to 20 x the number of activations of this ability. Begin a new game shuffling all cards into owners decks except for Roland who remains in play.
The motivations behind the Highland Lake cycle just got a bit clearer, for those playing along at home: the Planeswalker decks that are replacing intro decks have unique cards, and their contents are standard legal with their parent block. The uncommon no-perks cycle are designed to be staples of those decks, so they won't be rotating out of standard in the near future, even when BFZ/SOI rotate. The Khans lifegain cycle contribute to a slowing down of the format, so they wrote up a batch of ten that wouldn't mess with the tempo they want to build in any given environment. The ally color ones are even functional reprints; they just didn't want to bump into the problem of "whoops, how do we do an Elfhame Palace on Innistrad, a plane with no elves".
The rarity of sub-rare mana fixing is largely determined by how important access to mana fixing is in the limited format. Khans of Tarkir and Return to Ravnica blocks were multi-color blocks where it was common to play three colors or more. One of Mark Rosewater's design mantras is "If your theme isn't at common then it isn't your theme", and that rings true here. The Guildgates and Khans of Tarkir taplands were at Common because it was necessary for deck building with the multicolor themes of those blocks. Without easy access to mana fixing, the themes would not have played out well in limited formats. For Battle For Zendikar and Shadows Over Innistrad blocks, we've returned to the two-color paradigm where people are mostly playing two colors at most, only occasionally splashing for a third color. When we eventually visit another multicolor-themed world such as Alara or Ravnica again, it's all but assured that we'll once again be back to taplands at the Common rarity.
Dual coloured lands are usually uncommon at least. As noted, Tarkir and Ravnica are special cases with special needs for draft, where you need the colourfixing more often than in Innistrad. Look at cards like Coastal Tower or Lantern-Lit Graveyard for examples of how it used to be. The original refuges (Akoum Refuge and pals) were also uncommon.
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My Commander decks:
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
Khans and RTR were the anomalies, not SoI. Multicolor tap land cycles were printed at uncommon way back in Invasion, later in Coldsnap, again in Zendikar, and now in OGW and SOI. The common cycles have only been printed in multicolor centric blocks, and even then not every multicolor block gets them (see Alara).
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Am I missing something that happened recently in magic or is this just the new thing?
-2 Roland twirls a bullet casing. Tap all opponents creatures.
-11 Reset life totals to 20 x the number of activations of this ability. Begin a new game shuffling all cards into owners decks except for Roland who remains in play.
(Also known as Xenphire)
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.