Perhaps some of them were whisked off to Dominaria in the distant past. Stranger things have happened there, so why not?
Mtenda Megaloceros 4W
Creature - Elk 3/4
Whenever Mtenda Megaloceros becomes blocked, you may untap it and remove it from combat.
Plainsbound (Exile this card from your hand: You may play a basic Plains you own from outside the game. It enters the battlefield tapped. Use this ability only if you could play a land.)
Benthic Archelon 4U
Creature - Turtle 2/3
Benthic Archelon gets +0/+3 as long as it’s untapped.
Islandbound (Exile this card from your hand: You may play a basic Island you own from outside the game. It enters the battlefield tapped. Use this ability only if you could play a land.)
Nakaya Titanoboa 4B
Creature - Snake 4/3
Whenever a creature dealt combat damage by Nakaya Titanoboa this turn dies, put a +1/+1 counter on Nakaya Titanoboa.
Swampbound (Exile this card from your hand: You may play a basic Swamp you own from outside the game. It enters the battlefield tapped. Use this ability only if you could play a land.)
Zerapa Entelodont 4R
Creature - Beast 4/3
Whenever Zerapa Entelodont attacks, you may have it fight target creature defending player controls. If it fights, it deals no combat damage to creatures blocking it this turn.
Mountainbound (Exile this card from your hand: You may play a basic Mountain you own from outside the game. It enters the battlefield tapped. Use this ability only if you could play a land.)
Argothian Sasquatch 4G
Creature - Yeti 4/3
Whenever Argothian Sasquatch blocks, it gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
Forestbound (Exile this card from your hand: You may play a basic Forest you own from outside the game. It enters the battlefield tapped. Use this ability only if you could play a land.)
Imo the landbound ability needs at least an 1 in the cost. I appreciate how these cards gives you a extra creature when you are flooded or a land when you you are missing one but I think in both stances the card must be worse then what it is substituting.
Yeah... these would just be straight busted in Belcher, Storm, LEDless Dredge... Basically any deck that wants to run as few lands as possible to jam more gas into the 60. You'd probably have to limit it to something along the lines of "exile the top x cards of your deck,this turn you may play a (land type) exiled this way." (I'm thinking the x would likely be either 3 or 5). This would lead to some unintended synergy with Misthollow Griffin, Squee, the Immortal, and Eternal Scourge, but I don't think there is anything inherently degenerate, considering those cards are pretty crap if you draw them naturally (outside of Food Chain).
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Using landbound gives you the basic land tapped, so there are situations in which you would rather just have the appropriate basic land in hand instead of one of these creatures. These creatures are slightly below par for their mana cost, but the inherent flexibility of being able to exchange them for lands makes them very solid cards, at least for limited.
Wishing is indeed a much less common occurrence than searching the library, due to cards like Evolving Wilds, landcyclers, and those annoying big $$$ fetchlands. But I think that even though searching the library is more traditional, wishing is better for three reasons:
1. No need to shuffle your library, which saves time.
2. Because you don't shuffle, you can't abuse this mechanic with stuff like Jace the Mind Sculptor, Brainstorm, Scroll Rack.
3. The whole process is one action, whereas landcycling is two -- searching your library, then playing a land.
These were created first and foremost for draft, and secondarily for Standard. They might be abused in legacy, but then again they might not. I don't play Legacy, but do know Legacy is blazing fast. Since the likelihood that these spells actually get cast (instead of exchanged) in Legacy is probably at most 10%, then the question becomes this: is it worth putting a land into play tapped (instead of untapped) on up to three turns worth being able to cut my land count down to like 3 or 4 lands? I don't know if these cards would out-compete the other available options.
Your suggestion is very much like another card I designed a little while ago:
Mana Scales
Artifact
Mana Cost: 0
T: Reveal the top three cards of your library. Put a revealed land card on top of your library if able and the rest on the bottom of your library in any order. Activate this ability only if you control fewer lands than an opponent.
1, T, Sacrifice Mana Scales: Draw a card.
I missed they ETB tapped, sorry ! With that said I think this is fine, just a slight upgrade over land cycling.
Totally agree wishing for basic lands beats searching for then in your library. Either this or creating basic land tokens. Anything to minimize shuffling time is welcome imo. Just keep in mind the abilities are different: by wishing for lands you remove a deck restriction of actually playing the land, which facilitates splashes (which is probably a feature in this case).
With that said I think this is fine, just a slight upgrade over land cycling.
In most contexts, yes, the upgrade is slight, but the corner-case decks this enables are worrisome. Oops All Spells and Belcher, for example.
Now maybe bad cards making degenerate decks more degenerate is a lot like bad cards making bad cards less bad. WotC shouldn't stop printing monster mythic 10CMC+ fatties because they're good reanimator targets, for example. But any ability that adds consistency with no card or mana commitment has to be carefully managed.
I really like what you did here. A while back I made a card that was essentially Terramorphic Expanse except it used the "Wish" ability to circumvent searching/shuffling the library. I love that your version also helps minimize mana flood/screw by allowing you to choose either creature or land.
Maro said many times that they tried many times to use similar mechanic to this or land tokens instead of Evolving Wilds. It failed. The main reason is having to have something on you besides deck, trying to shuffle lands into library after game and (for tokens) inability to tap beads. Of course, some of those aren't problems in cube environment.
One card that uses this mechanic is Sovereign's Realm. It was designed so you can't have basic lands outside of those played by this, and it is in environment where there is no card asking about basic land type (Choke, Invigorate), so they can easily be reploaced by playing cards from your hand face down. Just a food for thought.
My landbound cards don't involve the use of tokens, so that's not a problem. But what about the potential problem of players shuffling exchanged landbound cards AND the basic lands they have fetched into their decks after games?
If this is an issue, I could make any one of the following changes:
1. Landbound cards replace the word "Exile" with "Reveal this card and put it outside the game", which indicates putting it into your sideboard.
2. The Landbound ability reads as: "If you could play a land, you may reveal this card from your hand. If you do, play a basic {land type} from your library tapped, then shuffle this card into your library." (Unfortunately, this mandates shuffling, which I wanted to avoid.)
3. Landbound cards are two-sided cards with the back side being a basic land, and the landbound ability reads as: "If you could play a land, you may play this card as a land. If you do, it enters the battlefield transformed and tapped."
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Mtenda Megaloceros 4W
Creature - Elk 3/4
Whenever Mtenda Megaloceros becomes blocked, you may untap it and remove it from combat.
Plainsbound (Exile this card from your hand: You may play a basic Plains you own from outside the game. It enters the battlefield tapped. Use this ability only if you could play a land.)
Benthic Archelon 4U
Creature - Turtle 2/3
Benthic Archelon gets +0/+3 as long as it’s untapped.
Islandbound (Exile this card from your hand: You may play a basic Island you own from outside the game. It enters the battlefield tapped. Use this ability only if you could play a land.)
Nakaya Titanoboa 4B
Creature - Snake 4/3
Whenever a creature dealt combat damage by Nakaya Titanoboa this turn dies, put a +1/+1 counter on Nakaya Titanoboa.
Swampbound (Exile this card from your hand: You may play a basic Swamp you own from outside the game. It enters the battlefield tapped. Use this ability only if you could play a land.)
Zerapa Entelodont 4R
Creature - Beast 4/3
Whenever Zerapa Entelodont attacks, you may have it fight target creature defending player controls. If it fights, it deals no combat damage to creatures blocking it this turn.
Mountainbound (Exile this card from your hand: You may play a basic Mountain you own from outside the game. It enters the battlefield tapped. Use this ability only if you could play a land.)
Argothian Sasquatch 4G
Creature - Yeti 4/3
Whenever Argothian Sasquatch blocks, it gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
Forestbound (Exile this card from your hand: You may play a basic Forest you own from outside the game. It enters the battlefield tapped. Use this ability only if you could play a land.)
Imo the landbound ability needs at least an 1 in the cost. I appreciate how these cards gives you a extra creature when you are flooded or a land when you you are missing one but I think in both stances the card must be worse then what it is substituting.
BGU Control
R Aggro
Standard - For Fun
BG Auras
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1. No need to shuffle your library, which saves time.
2. Because you don't shuffle, you can't abuse this mechanic with stuff like Jace the Mind Sculptor, Brainstorm, Scroll Rack.
3. The whole process is one action, whereas landcycling is two -- searching your library, then playing a land.
Your suggestion is very much like another card I designed a little while ago:
Mana Scales
Artifact
Mana Cost: 0
T: Reveal the top three cards of your library. Put a revealed land card on top of your library if able and the rest on the bottom of your library in any order. Activate this ability only if you control fewer lands than an opponent.
1, T, Sacrifice Mana Scales: Draw a card.
Totally agree wishing for basic lands beats searching for then in your library. Either this or creating basic land tokens. Anything to minimize shuffling time is welcome imo. Just keep in mind the abilities are different: by wishing for lands you remove a deck restriction of actually playing the land, which facilitates splashes (which is probably a feature in this case).
BGU Control
R Aggro
Standard - For Fun
BG Auras
In most contexts, yes, the upgrade is slight, but the corner-case decks this enables are worrisome. Oops All Spells and Belcher, for example.
Now maybe bad cards making degenerate decks more degenerate is a lot like bad cards making bad cards less bad. WotC shouldn't stop printing monster mythic 10CMC+ fatties because they're good reanimator targets, for example. But any ability that adds consistency with no card or mana commitment has to be carefully managed.
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
One card that uses this mechanic is Sovereign's Realm. It was designed so you can't have basic lands outside of those played by this, and it is in environment where there is no card asking about basic land type (Choke, Invigorate), so they can easily be reploaced by playing cards from your hand face down. Just a food for thought.
My landbound cards don't involve the use of tokens, so that's not a problem. But what about the potential problem of players shuffling exchanged landbound cards AND the basic lands they have fetched into their decks after games?
If this is an issue, I could make any one of the following changes:
1. Landbound cards replace the word "Exile" with "Reveal this card and put it outside the game", which indicates putting it into your sideboard.
2. The Landbound ability reads as: "If you could play a land, you may reveal this card from your hand. If you do, play a basic {land type} from your library tapped, then shuffle this card into your library." (Unfortunately, this mandates shuffling, which I wanted to avoid.)
3. Landbound cards are two-sided cards with the back side being a basic land, and the landbound ability reads as: "If you could play a land, you may play this card as a land. If you do, it enters the battlefield transformed and tapped."