So, after years away from the game, I've been slowly rebuilding my dual land collection. I stopped shortly before Onslaught, so I remember the duals being 4-ofs in their respective color combos. Fetches obviously change that equation to the point where I suspect that the full 40 duals are not really needed anymore.
So what I'm wondering is what dual land collection would be needed to have the flexibility to build most any legacy deck that would be remotely viable in a tournament setting. For reference I looked at the average number of each run in decks in the past few months on mtgtop8, and came up with:
It depends a lot on the deck in question. Optimized two colour decks generally run 4x their relevant dual and 4x the double-on-colour fetchland plus some number of single-on-colour fetchlands. 3+ colour decks may run only one copy of each double-on-colour Revised dual or may run something quite different.
It depends. As a rule of thumb, I think you're generally OK with 3 of's on volcs, seas, tundras, and trops. Deathblade style decks may occasionally play the 4th usea, you'll see the 4th tundra in some stoneblade lists/UWR delver lists, you'll see the 4th volc in some UR delver lists, and apart from that you generally get away with 1 or 2 of each relevant dual.
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Primary Decks:
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Legacy: RUG Lands
EDH: Sidisi turn-3 storm
Infect wants the 4th Tropical, UR decks usually want all 4 Volcanics, Deadguy wants all 4 Scrubs, and sometimes UWR Delver needs 4 Tundras. Some BUG and Esper lists max out on Seas and Scapewish wants 4x Taiga and Badlands. But generally speaking you can build solid lists with no more than 3 of anything in particular.
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That will definitely do. Mapping out an efficient order of acquisition can be an interesting challenge for anyone not conquering the whole dual land nonsense in one go.
3 of the relevant duals can even work fine in a 2-color deck, just running an extra basic or an extra fetchland in the slot. If one really likes the deck, I could see picking up the fourth Tundra, Volcanic, or U-Sea. Maybe I'd break it down like this.
I'm only going to mention the decks I know well and skip the others, rather than try and pretend to be exhaustive.
Tundra: with 2 you can play Esper, do a good Miracles impression, and 3 opens full Miracles as well as WUR Delver
U Sea: 2 for Esper, 3 for Deathblade, 4 for Reanimator... there's a lot of stuff that runs some number of Seas
Volcanic: 1-2 for Miracles, 3 for Sneaky Show, 4 for UR Delver
Tropical: 1 for Deathblade splash, 2+ for RUG, 4 for Cloudpost
Savannah: 1 for Elves splashing the color or sometimes Deathblade, 2 for Junk, 3 for Dark Maverick, 4 for Maverick
Bayou: 1 for Deathblade (option with Savannah), 1 for Dark Maverick, 1 for Spanish Inquisition, 2+ for Elves and Jund
Taiga: 1 for Goblins splashing green, Belcher
Badlands: 1 for Goblins splashing black, 2+ for Jund
Scrubland: 1 for Esperblade and Deathblade, 3+ for Deadguy Ale
Plateau: 1 for Goblins splashing white, Parfait
The stuff you really want to be long in, if you're playing blue, is Tundra and U Sea. The decks that run this are almost never light in those colors. Volcanic Islands, on the other hand, find a good home in Miracles even if you only have 1 of them. There are decks that run large numbers of Volcanics as well. Tropical Island is similarly positioned, but in less popular and numerous decks. The 1 Trop finds a home in decks that want to splash for Abrupt Decay and/or the DRS ability.
This thread makes me glad I play on MTGO, where a (40 card) playset of Revised duals is presently USD 272.84 if my maths are correct. Less than a single moderately played Underground Sea is sold by SCG...
Just skimming the tier decks thread, I don't see any deck that 1) uses dual lands, 2) attacks the format from a radically different angle than a deck you can make using the above duals base, and 3) is actually any good.
Personally, I opted to acquire 2x of each dual. As you point out, most 3+ color decks don't run more than 3x of any dual (and if they do, it's only of ONE dual). 2-color decks generally run 4x duals, but you could get by on 3 with an extra fetch or even a basic and not have problems. In cases where I need more than 2 of a specific dual, I just run the 1-2 copies of the shock. I can tell you that I VERY RARELY have to shock myself with this setup. Basically, it only happens if I have one in my opening hand, and even then a lot of times there is a turn where I can play it tapped. A lot of times I will fetch EOT and grab my singleton shock and then I don't have to worry about it the rest of the game. I literally can not remember a single game where my shocklands were the reason I lost.
As stated by others, depending on your preferences, you may not need copies of every dual. I opted for 2x of each because I like options and no dual is a bad investment. If you're dedicated to a couple of legacy decks, you could probably skip some of them entirely.
If you only have three of one, you can get away with running an extra fetch in its place without causing any noticeable issues in gameplay.
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So what I'm wondering is what dual land collection would be needed to have the flexibility to build most any legacy deck that would be remotely viable in a tournament setting. For reference I looked at the average number of each run in decks in the past few months on mtgtop8, and came up with:
Volcanic Island 2.3
Tropical Island 2.1
Bayou 1.8
Underground Sea 3.0
Tundra 2.9
Scrubland 1.3
Savannah 1.1
Taiga 1.3
Badlands 2.2
Plateau 2.0
Any input would be appreciated!
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Yes, I am a local area mod.WELP. GOOD LIFE CHANGES ALL HAPPEN AT ONCE AND SOME ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVEPrimary Decks:
Modern: Esper Draw-Go
Legacy: RUG Lands
EDH: Sidisi turn-3 storm
Thanks to Gabgabdevo for the awesome sig image!
I'm always looking for foil Madcap Skills and Ghitu Fire-Eater, [trade thread link forthcoming]
I'm thinking:
3 Tundra
3 Trop
3 Sea
3 Volcanic
2 Bayou
2 Scrubland
2 Savannah
2 Taiga
2 Badlands
0 Plateau? (Is it used anywhere except Goblins that splash Thalia?)
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3 of the relevant duals can even work fine in a 2-color deck, just running an extra basic or an extra fetchland in the slot. If one really likes the deck, I could see picking up the fourth Tundra, Volcanic, or U-Sea. Maybe I'd break it down like this.
I'm only going to mention the decks I know well and skip the others, rather than try and pretend to be exhaustive.
Tundra: with 2 you can play Esper, do a good Miracles impression, and 3 opens full Miracles as well as WUR Delver
U Sea: 2 for Esper, 3 for Deathblade, 4 for Reanimator... there's a lot of stuff that runs some number of Seas
Volcanic: 1-2 for Miracles, 3 for Sneaky Show, 4 for UR Delver
Tropical: 1 for Deathblade splash, 2+ for RUG, 4 for Cloudpost
Savannah: 1 for Elves splashing the color or sometimes Deathblade, 2 for Junk, 3 for Dark Maverick, 4 for Maverick
Bayou: 1 for Deathblade (option with Savannah), 1 for Dark Maverick, 1 for Spanish Inquisition, 2+ for Elves and Jund
Taiga: 1 for Goblins splashing green, Belcher
Badlands: 1 for Goblins splashing black, 2+ for Jund
Scrubland: 1 for Esperblade and Deathblade, 3+ for Deadguy Ale
Plateau: 1 for Goblins splashing white, Parfait
The stuff you really want to be long in, if you're playing blue, is Tundra and U Sea. The decks that run this are almost never light in those colors. Volcanic Islands, on the other hand, find a good home in Miracles even if you only have 1 of them. There are decks that run large numbers of Volcanics as well. Tropical Island is similarly positioned, but in less popular and numerous decks. The 1 Trop finds a home in decks that want to splash for Abrupt Decay and/or the DRS ability.
Overall record: 139-98-15
Total number of matches: 252
Win percentage ignoring draws: 58.649789
Win percentage including draws: 55.158730
Current decks of choice:
Vintage: Shops.
Legacy: Lands.
Modern: Lantern.
Just skimming the tier decks thread, I don't see any deck that 1) uses dual lands, 2) attacks the format from a radically different angle than a deck you can make using the above duals base, and 3) is actually any good.
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As stated by others, depending on your preferences, you may not need copies of every dual. I opted for 2x of each because I like options and no dual is a bad investment. If you're dedicated to a couple of legacy decks, you could probably skip some of them entirely.
MTG finance guy- follow me on Twitter@RichArschmann or RichardArschmann on Reddit