In Magic: the Gathering, it’s certainly no secret that the game can be tremendously expensive. This is partly thanks to iconic cards such as Black Lotus which have fetched upwards of $800,000! Unfortunately, alongside these beloved collectible staples, even casual MTG decks can cost a pretty penny.
Regardless of which MTG format you’re playing to build a competitive deck, you’ll often need to spend hundreds, if not thousands of dollars. This staggering price is in large part thanks to powerful lands, which almost every deck wants access to. Thanks to this, these cards are in incredibly high demand, pushing up their prices.
Speaking of prices, for each major MTG format, there are a variety of exceptionally powerful and expensive lands. Whether you’re building a deck, opening packs, or just curious, throughout this article we’ll be detailing them all. Before we dive into that, however, there are a few important details to cover.
First and foremost, throughout this article, we’ll be using prices from TCGplayer, specifically their listed Market Price. Alongside this, we’ll be the cheapest print of each card on this list, otherwise, we’d be looking at an awful lot of basic lands.
Now, without any more waffling or caveats, let’s dive right into the list! Here are the most expensive lands in MTG for each format!
The Most Expensive MTG Land in Standard
5 | Raffine’s Tower
Price: $8.19
To kick off our list, we have a true multiformat staple, Raffine’s Tower. Released in Streets of New Capenna, this entire cycle of cycling Tiome lands has been incredibly popular thanks to the fixing it provides. Easily enabling five color decks, and obviously supporting Esper decks, this land is an obvious choice for many decks.
Thanks to the prevalence of Esper control and Domian in Standard right now, there’s a huge amount of demand for Raffine’s Tower. As a result of this, the price of the card is rather expensive, being worth around $8 each. While this definitely a decent sum for a Standard card, thankfully, the card isn’t a true Commander staple.
In the right multicolor deck, Raffine’s Tower is undeniably a good inclusion in the 99. For better or worse, however, not every Commander deck is Esper or more. Subsequently, the price of this card has been kept rather low, as only Standard, Pioneer, and a few Moderns decks need this card.
4 | Haunted Ridge
Price: $9.22
Known as Slow Lands, the entire cycle of rare land from Innistrad: Midnight Hunt and Crimson Vow see consistent play. Out of all the cards in the cycle, however, the second most popular is Haunted Ridge. If you’ve played competitive Magic recently, you may well know the reason for this popularity already. Rakdos is an incredibly powerful archetype right now.
Thanks to powerhouse cards such as Sheoldred, the Apocalypse and Fable of the Mirror-Breaker Rakdos has been utterly devastating, even outside of Standard. As a result of this, there has been a lot of demand for the best lands for this deck. Subsequently, prices for Rakdos lands such as Haunted Ridge have remained consistently expensive for some time.
Recently, while Rakdos decks have been incredibly popular in competitive formats, they are slowly falling out of favor. Standard, for instance, had some of the deck’s best cards banned, and the Pioneer variant is losing its luster. Following this, the demand, and price, of Haunted Ridge has been slowly falling over recent weeks. While previously priced at around $13, Haunted Ridge is now worth just $9 each.
3 | Stormcarved Coast
Price: $11.38
Beating out Haunted Ridge by some margin, Stormcarved Coast is the most expensive Slow Land of the cycle. Curiously, however, this card isn’t nearly as widely played as the previous card on this list. Despite that, Stormcarved Coast still manages to fetch a somewhat surprising $11 on the secondary market.
To explain the reason for this, Stormcarved Coast is predominantly played in Pioneer, specifically Izzet Creativity and Pheonix decks. Adding to its popularity, this Slow Land also sees play in Grixis Midrange Standard decks, however, these aren’t exceptionally popular.
Ultimately, since Izzet decks tend to be faster than Rakdos Midrange lists, the Innistrad Slow Lands have less utility. Thankfully for fans Stormcarved Coast, however, it does still see a fair amount of play in Commander. Somewhat surprisingly, considering its price, however, Stormcarved Coast isn’t the most popular Commander card in the cycle. That honor instead goes to Shipwreck Marsh.
2 | Otawara, Soaring City
Price: $
To begin closing out the list of the most expensive Standard lands in MTG, we have another recently released cycle. Debuting in Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty, each of these lands is incredibly powerful, providing a variety of useful Channel effects. As if they weren’t good enough alone, these lands also enter the battlefield untapped. Thanks to this, there’s practically no reason not to use these lands in your deck!
Well, that would be the case, at least, if these lands weren’t so expensive. Priced at roughly $12 a card, Otawara, Soaring City is the second most expensive land in the cycle. Seeing play in Commander, Pioneer, Modern, Standard, and even Legacy, this card is undoubtedly hugely popular in MTG.
If you’re wondering why, look no further than the Channel effect which we alluded to earlier. Allowing you to return an artifact, creature, enchantment, or planeswalker to its owner’s hand, this Legendary Land doubles up as a useful piece of removal. This stops additional copies of this card from being dead weight in your hand, which is always incredibly useful.
1 | Boseiju, Who Endures
Price: $29.47
Last but not least, we have the almost $30 Boseiju, Who Endures. Similarly to Otawara, Soaring City this card is a true multiformat staple thanks to its versatile Channel ability. Once again, whether you’re playing Commander, Pioneer, Modern, Standard, or Legacy, you’ll often be running into this powerhouse land.
While Boseiju, Who Endures can’t target as much as Otawara, Soaring City, it can destroy an artifact, enchantment, or nonbasic land. As you might expect, this makes Boseiju, Who Endures incredibly useful removal, especially in formats like Commander, Modern, and Pioneer.
To make Boseiju, Who Endures even better, its Channel ability only costs two mana. This can be reduced even further by owning Legendary Creatures, which most decks do nowadays anyway. Thanks to this, Boseiju, Who Endures is incredibly well costed, and practically always useful to draw. Subsequently, it’s no wonder that so many decks want to use this powerhouse land, leading to immense demand.
The Most Expensive MTG Land in Pioneer
5 | Mana Confluence
Price: $26.88
Kicking off our list of the most expensive lands in the Pioneer MTG format, we have Mana Confluence. Priced at a respectably expensive $26 this card is obviously a mana-fixing all-star. Regardless of what color you need, Mana Confluence can provide it for you! So long as you don’t mind paying with your precious life total.
Thanks to the sheer efficiency of its mana-fixing, unsurprisingly, Mana Confluence is an incredibly popular card, especially in Commander. According to statistics on EDHREC, the card is used in over 220,000 decks! As a result of this, it’s no surprise the demand for Mana Confluence keeps the price rather high!
Alongside being predominantly played in Commander, Mana Confluence also sees a decent amount of play in Pioneer. In this format, the Abzan Greasefang combo deck is the most likely to use this card, as its speed mitigates the loss of life.
4 | Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
Price: $27.19
While it is not always the best option for every deck, Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx is one of my favorite land in MTG. Potentially providing an insane amount of ramp, this Legendary Land does require the right deck to pull off some shenanigans. Should you manage that, however, ho boy this card can be a lot of fun!
While creating a boatload of mana is definitely a lot of fun, this effect is always seriously powerful. So much so, that Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx is rather popular in both Pioneer and Commander. In the latter of these formats, Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx is core to the Green Devotion deck. In case you’re unfamiliar with Pioneer, this is one of the most powerful and popular decks in the entire format. Using untapping shenanigans, its easy to go infinite with Nykthos in the Pioneer format.
Alongside its strong showing in this competitive format, Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx is also a dream in Commander. Considering the format’s love for ramping into casting massive spells, this might not come as too much of a surprise. Thanks to its strength, there’s evidently a fairly high demand for Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx. Couple this with the fact the card hasn’t been reprinted outside of The List and a Pro Tour promo, and you’ve got a recipe for an expensive card!
3 | Sliver Hive
Price: $27.79
Out of all the cards on this list, Sliver Hive is probably the strangest inclusion. As, unlike the other cards on this list, Sliver Hive doesn’t get played in Pioneer at all. In fact, the card is barely played in any constructed format! Despite this, Sliver Hive has somehow still managed to be the third most expensive card in the Pioneer format.
Thankfully, there is a rather simple explanation for why Sliver Hive is so expensive: Commander Masters. In this set, four preconstructed Commander decks were released, each containing new cards to excite players. One of these decks, Sliver Swarm, focused on all things Slivers, as you might expect. Bafflingly, however, the deck didn’t contain a copy of Sliver Hive.
Due to this unusual exclusion, the price of Sliver Hive has skyrocketed recently. Previously, this land was worth only around $11, however, now Near-Mint copies are selling for around $30 at least! For better or worse, it seems likely the inflated price of this card won’t stick around for long, as interest in the new Sliver deck will slowly fade.
2 | Boseiju, Who Endures
Price: $29.47
At the number two spot on this list, we have a card that feels very familiar… Oh yeah, we just spoke about it a few moments ago since it’s the most expensive Standard land in MTG! Since we already covered it there, we won’t be going into great detail here, but it’s safe to say this card is seriously powerful.
1 | Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Price: $29.60
Last but not least, again, Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth is the next most expensive land in the MTG Pioneer format. First released in 2007’s Planar Chaos, this Legendary Land is undeniably iconic in MTG and definitely on the expensive side. Played competitively in Pioneer, and en masse in Commander, it’s not rare to see this card on the battlefield.
To explain why you’ll be seeing it often in these formats, Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth is just good. Simply making all lands Swamps in addition to their usual selves, Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth provides efficient and useful fixing. Beyond that, this card also has some interesting combo potential with Kormus Bell and Cabal Coffers.
While the niche Kormus Bell combo is hardly the most popular use for Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth it’s nevertheless a lot of fun. After all, throwing a Make Obsolete into the mix can destroy all your opponent’s lands! As you’ll know if you’ve ever been Armageddon-ed, this can be rather hard to come back from.
The Most Expensive MTG Land in Modern
5 | Wooded Foothills
Price: $29.61
Moving onto the most expensive MTG land in Modern, prices are getting more expensive once again. That being said, however, Wooded Foothills only pips Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth to the post by a single cent. As a result, there’s a high chance these two cards may swap places multiple times a week, if not daily!
With that brief aside out of the way, let’s talk about Wooded Foothills properly. First printed all the way back in Onslaught, Wooded Foothills, and the entire cycle of Fetch lands are undoubtedly iconic. Played extensively in Modern, Commander, and even Legacy, these lands are some of the best in MTG. This is thanks to them being able to find other lands, provided they have the relevant basic land type.
On their own, should you only fetch a basic Forest or Mountain, Wooded Foothills would only be a decent rare land. What makes Fetch Lands great, however, is that you don’t need to find a Basic Land. Nonbasics such as Indatha Triome or Breeding Pool for instance, can be found with Fetch Lands. This makes these cards incredibly versatile and useful beyond their core colors.
Thanks to this incredible utility, each one of the ten Fetch Lands is hugely powerful and useful in a variety of formats. As a result, each of these cards is rather expensive, with the cheapest being worth $10. On the opposite end of the spectrum, we have cards like Wooded Foothills, which is worth considerably more at $29.61!
4 | Bloodstained Mire
Price: $30.47
In somewhat of a theme for the most expensive land in Modern, Bloodstained Mire is another Fetch Land. Considering we already went on about why Fetch Lands are so good, there’s not much to say about Bloodstained Mire. After all, this card is basically just Wooded Foothills but in a different color.
While this may be a small change, the color of cards is obviously hugely important in MTG, even with Fetch Lands’ versatility. Thanks to this, Bloodstained Mire is played with more competitive formats and decks. Within Modern, for instance, this card is used within Rakdos Scam, as well as Four Color Creativity. Bloodstained Mire also sees a decent amount of play within Legacy Reanimator decks, which keeps prices high.
3 | Polluted Delta
Price: $35.20
Last but not least for the Fetch Land section of this list, we have Polluted Delta. Surpassing the other Fetch Lands by almost 5 dollars, this card is undoubtedly the most popular in the cycle. Played in Modern, Legacy, Commander, and even Vintage, Polluted Delta is a true multiformat staple.
In case you’re wondering just how popular Polluted Delta actually is, according to EDHREC, this card is currently played within over 320,000 decks Commander decks. For reference, this means the card is included within 11% of all decks within Dimir colors. As a result, it really shouldn’t be any surprise that Polluted Delta is the most expensive of the Fetch Lands!
2 | Gemstone Caverns
Price: $ 42.46
Unlike many cards on this list, Gemstone Caverns is not always a good card. In fact, if it’s not in your opening hand, this card is honestly quite bad, as it’s essentially just a Wastes without looking as cool. Thankfully, when Gemstone Caverns is in your opening hand, the card is significantly better, and that’s putting it lightly.
So long as you’re not the starting player, Gemstone Caverns starts the game on the battlefield if it was in your hand in exchange for exiling an additional card from your hand. Additionally, it can tap for one mana of any color, making it Mana Confluence without the unnecessary pain. Providing mana-fixing and easy ramp, it’s no wonder that Gemstone Caverns is such a powerful and popular card.
Somewhat remarkably Gemstone Caverns isn’t actually as popular as cards such as Polluted Delta. Sure, it does see play in Modern and Commander, however, it’s no multi-format all-star. Instead, to explain its price, Gemstone Caverns is rarer rare, having only recently been reprinted in Tales of Middle-earth. Thanks to this, copies of the card are still rather scarce, resulting in higher-than-expected prices.
Interestingly, the cheapest version of Gemstone Caverns isn’t actually called that in the main text box. Instead, the cheapest print of the card is known as Glittering Caves of Aglarond. Printed in The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth, this Universes Beyond card is merely a rebranded card and a surprisingly cheap reprint. This means that in the eyes of the almighty Oracle text, they’re the same card.
1 | Cavern of Souls
Price: $43.01
Last but not least, the most expensive MTG land in Modern is the Cavern of Souls. Played in moderation in Modern, Legacy, and Vintage, Cavern of Souls definitely has its fans in competitive formats. The real home of this card, however, is typal decks in Commander.
Should your entire deck only contain one creature type, Cavern of Souls can effectively generate any color of mana. Admittedly, this can only be used to cast creature spells, however, this is nonetheless an incredibly powerful ability. Thankfully, to make Cavern of Souls even better, it has an extra ability.
When casting a creature of the type you chose, Cavern of Souls will prevent it from being countered. As we noted when being awe-struck by Delighted Halfling this is an exceptionally powerful effect. Whether you’re looking to win games or just have fun with your cards, Cavern of Souls allows for both. As a result, it’s no wonder it’s so expensive, even with it being reprinted so much!
The Most Expensive MTG Land in Commander
5 | Volcanic Island
Price: $696.50
Just as we’ve seen before, moving from looking at Modern to Commander cards presents another huge jump in price. This is all largely in part thanks to the Reserved List, which ensures select cards will never be reprinted. Protecting investments and the power level of MTG, many cards on the Reserved List are exceptionally expensive, as you’ll soon see.
First printed in Limited Edition Beta, Volcanic Island is one of the ten Dual Lands in MTG. As the name suggests, these lands simply allow you to generate one of two colors of mana. Additionally, these land also have the relevant basic land types, allowing them to be found by Fetch Lands.
Despite not offering any additional ramp or added abilities, the Dual Lands in MTG are all just simply good. After all, unlike many other multicolored lands, they don’t come into play tapped or require any other shenanigans. Once you play them, you’re ready to start generating mana, that’s it.
Ultimately, despite being powerful, and undeniably iconic, Dual Lands may not be the greatest land in Commander. Thanks to the reserved list, however, they are some of the most expensive land in MTG, as they’re incredibly rare.
4 | Gaea’s Cradle
Price: $949.11
Speaking of the best land in MTG, Gaea’s Cradle is our pick for the best land in Commander. Unfortunately for players looking to use this incredibly powerful card, however, it doesn’t come cheap. Thanks to being on the Reserved List, and only being printed twice, Gaea’s Cradle currently costs around $950!
Able to generate one green mana for each creature you control, Gaea’s Cradle is absolutely exceptional in Commander. Regardless of if you’re playing a go-wide deck or just a have a few creatures on the board, Gaea’s Cradle is always useful. Thanks to this, the card sees a decent amount of play in Legacy and Premodern.
Ultimately, since Gaea’s Cradle is one of the most expensive land cards in all MTG, it’s rather hard for players to use. After all, not everyone has almost $1000 laying around just to spend on a single card, even if it is exceptional. Despite this detail, the price of this card likely won’t be going down anytime soon, thanks to the Reserved List keeping it out of print.
3 | Mishra’s Workshop
Price: $1,575.00
Moving on up with another incredible price jump, Mishra’s Workshop is another fantastically powerful land. Offering three colorless mana for the price of one, Mishra’s Workshop is an outstanding and reliable ramp engine. Unfortunately, however, there is a catch. Beyond only creating colorless mana, this mana can only be spent on artifact spells.
Should you be playing an artifact-themed deck, with threats like Blightsteel Colossus this ramp is obviously incredibly useful. In almost any other deck, however, this land is significantly less useful. In fact, depending on what you’re trying to cast, Mishra’s Workshop could be literally useless in many situations.
Despite this somewhat limited use case, Mishra’s Workshop is still obviously incredibly expensive. Once again, this is all thanks to the Reserved List which prevents this card rare. Having only been printed during 1994’s Antiquities, rare is a very fitting description for this ultra-expensive card.
2 | The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
Price: $ 2,500.00
Unlike many cards on the Commander section of this list, copies of The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale were actually released recently. This was thanks to the Lost Legends promotion in Dominaria United. To celebrate this set, Wizards placed cards from Legends into select Dominaria United Collector Boosters.
Thankfully, this unusual promotion didn’t break the rules of the Reserved List, as Wizards didn’t print any new cards. Instead, the aptly named Lost Legends cards were found in a warehouse, rather than being deliberately reprinted. Unfortunately for fans looking to own a copy of The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale, this promotion is unlikely to ever happen again.
To talk about the card itself, The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale is a classic Stax card. Forcing players to pay one mana each turn for each creature, lest they be destroyed, The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale is incredibly oppressive to play against. For better or worse, this means that The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale is also a very good MTG card. Subsequently, this card sees a moderate amount of play in Legacy, Vintage, and Commander decks,
Like the other expensive Commander-legal lands on this list, The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale is on the Reserved List. As a result, copies of the card are phenomenally expensive, even despite new copies being found fairly recently. Currently, on TCGplayer, a copy of The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale will set you back around two and a half thousand dollars.
1 | Bazaar of Baghdad
Price: $2,789.99
Last but not least, we finally have the most expensive land in all of MTG: Bazaar of Baghdad. Released as part of 1993’s Arabian Nights, this card is undoubtedly one of the most unique on this entire list. Unlike everything else we’ve seen so far, Bazaar of Baghdad doesn’t tap for mana, instead, it taps to draw and discard cards.
Typically, cards like Faithless Looting are almost always useful as they allow you to find the good and get rid of the bad. Bazaar of Baghdad, however, doesn’t have a perfectly even effect as after drawing two cards, you must discard three. While this effect can still be useful, this uneven effect does change the use case of this ultra-expensive land.
Rather than looting through your deck to find the good stuff, Bazaar of Baghdad is all about its discard effect. Through this, you can get discard cards like Basking Rootwalla, trigging Madness, effectively casting it for free. Alongside this useful effect, there are also countless graveyard synergies that Bazaar of Baghdad excels at facilitating.
Thanks to this powerful effect, Bazaar of Baghdad is currently the most expensive land in all of MTG. If you want to pick up a copy, you’ll need to drop almost $2,800. That’s Black Lotus money!
The Most Expensive Basic Land in MTG
Price: $885.99
As a final note, in case you were wondering, the most expensive Basic Land in MTG is the Guru Island. Printed in 1999 and priced at just under $900, as you might expect, these lands were incredibly hard to get ahold of. Due to this rarity, these lands are the most expensive in MTG today.
If you’re wondering about their history, the Guru Lands were originally creatures for Wizards of the Coast’s Guru Program. Designed to introduce new players to MTG, this program allowed players to sign up as Gurus and earn points by helping teach players Magic. After doing that, those points could be exchanged for prizes. Given the name, it should come as no surprise that these lands were one of the prizes available.
Unfortunately for players looking to obtain these lands, the Guru Program was rather short-lived. Running from only 1999 to 2001, the program would eventually be replaced by the Magic Academy. Thanks to the short availability of these cards, each one of the Guru Lands is phenomenally expensive. So much so, in fact, that the most expensive Plains, Island, Swamp, Mountain, and Forest, are all Guru Lands.
Out of all the Guru Lands that were printed, the Island is by far the most expensive, as is often seen with unique MTG lands. In case you’re curious, here’s a quick rundown of all the prices of Guru Lands in MTG to close out this article.
- Guru Plains | $415.45
- Guru Island | $885.99
- Guru Swamp | $688.75
- Guru Mountain | $609.95
- Guru Forest | $505.99
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