The cost of lands in MTG has long been a contentious topic in the community. Considering that you need lands to play your other spells in MTG, the ones that are core to playing a deck, like fetches, shocks, and other dual lands, really shouldn’t be expensive.
Of course, that’s far from reality in MTG, with optimized manabases commonly costing thousands of dollars in Commander. Because of this, when Wizards of the Coast announces an exciting land reprint, MTG players take notice.
One example is today’s Good Morning Magic short, where MTG designer Gavin Verhey announced some Commander precon reprints for next year. With some potential exceptions, all Universes Beyond precons will have a Battlebond land reprint, while in-universe ones will feature Turbulent lands.
Appearing at about one land per precon, these lands should be consistent highlights for Commander Precon decks next year. For many players, including myself, however, these reprints aren’t enough.
Battlebond Land Reprints in Every Universes Beyond 2027 Commander Precon
As far as exciting land reprints go, little beats the Battlebond land cycle for MTG Commander players. Printed as a half-cycle in Battlebond that was completed in Commander Legends, these lands enter untapped if you have at least two opponents.
For Commander players, these lands have basically no downsides, making them among the best lands to play. Unfortunately, that also makes these lands quite expensive on the secondary market.
With most Battlebond lands, like
Morphic Pool
Morphic Pool
This land enters tapped unless you have two or more opponents.
{T}: Add {U} or {B}.
and
Training Center
Training Center
This land enters tapped unless you have two or more opponents.
{T}: Add {U} or {R}.
, priced at $10 or more, it’s great to see them reprinted in so many MTG Commander precons next year. As
Rejuvenating Springs
Rejuvenating Springs
This land enters tapped unless you have two or more opponents.
{T}: Add {G} or {U}.
‘ $5 secondary market price proves, if these cards get reprinted enough, these lands can become cheaper for everyone.
The Turbulent lands, on the other hand, are a bit disappointing as featured land reprints for in-universe Commander precons, but they may be needed. Secondary market prices for these lands range from $1.50 to $8, depending on when they were printed. Reality Fracture’s Turbulent lands are cheaper and Secrets of Strixhaven’s are more expensive.
At those prices, Turbulent lands are genuinely terrible, entering untapped only if your opponents have eight lands. That means that these lands will rarely ever enter untapped on turns one and two, which are the most important turns for untapped mana in any Commander bracket.
Yes, you can fetch Turbulent lands or find them with
Farseek
Farseek
Search your library for a Plains, Island, Swamp, or Mountain card, put it onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle.
effects since they have Basic Land Types, but in my book, that’s still not worth more than a $1 price tag. In that sense, while these reprints aren’t the most exciting, getting them to $1 will unlock a new, playable cycle of duals for budget players, which is incredibly important.
This Isn’t Good Enough
Regardless of your opinion on land prices, getting these cards consistently reprinted in next year’s Commander precons is a good thing. That said, as Signets,
Sol Ring
Sol Ring
{T}: Add {C}{C}.
, and
Command Tower
Command Tower
{T}: Add one mana of any color in your commander's color identity.
prices prove, these lands could be significantly cheaper with enough reprints.
Many MTG players feel that any dual land outside the Reserved List that Commander decks need to function should be reprinted into the ground, and I’m definitely here for that. This includes Surveil Lands, Shocks, Battlebond lands, and, honestly, even Fetches in my opinion. To be frank, this means that none of the cards in these two-colored land cycles should cost over a dollar.
The cards players need to buy to play their actual spells shouldn’t require spending a significant chunk of change. Instead, the game’s expensive cards should be the exciting spells that players cast.
With enough reprints, Battlebond lands and Turbulent lands could be more $1 budget staples that Commander players add to every deck. It’s not impossible for Wizards to reprint several of these lands in a Commander precon, either, which Multiverse Reforged proved by printing three Turbulent lands.
It’s not like there won’t be any chase lands to grab, either. Reserved List aside, utility lands like
Field of the Dead
Field of the Dead
This land enters tapped.
{T}: Add {C}.
Whenever this land or another land you control enters, if you control seven or more lands with different names, create a 2/2 black Zombie creature token.
or
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Each land is a Swamp in addition to its other land types.
are add-ons, not a necessary part of an optimized mana base, and make sense as chase lands.
From that perspective, the fact that these reprints are newsworthy at all is unacceptable. These lands should be reprinted as heavily as possible in every precon without fail.
Ideal, but Unlikely
Unfortunately, as nice as this would be, the chances of shock lands, fetch lands, and other chase cycles being reprinted in Commander precons consistently are incredibly low. Magic: The Gathering is a business, after all, and making these lands easy to come across could hurt sales.
Wizards of the Coast keeps the game’s more powerful land cycles sparse to drive player demand and excitement for a new set. It simply doesn’t make sense for them to make lands more affordable, even though that would be in MTG players’ best interest.
So, while players feel that these Battlebond and Turbulent land reprints aren’t enough, they are at least a step in the right direction. Maybe one day, these lands will stop feeling special and truly become budget inclusions, making Commander just a little cheaper for players everywhere.
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