Sadly, it’s no secret that land cards in MTG are expensive. Since they are so widely used, often with multiformat appeal, it’s common to see rare lands selling for steep prices. Unfortunately, this led to the price of multiple formats creeping up over the years, which is hardly ideal.
While recent rare lands have been steadily driving prices up, few lands are as iconic, and expensive, as MTG’s Fetch Lands. As true multiformat staples, these cards sell for upwards of $25 a piece, and these costs quickly mount. Since decks can easily run a dozen Fetch Lands, building decks with them gets expensive fast.
Unfortunately, even MTG Arena is not immune from the high prices of Fetch Lands. Typically, this digital game can be a have for low-cost MTG play with its compelling rewards and Wildcards. When it comes to Fetch Lands, however, these cards are surprisingly, and problematically, expensive.
Fantastically Expensive Fetch Lands
Yesterday, Wizards of the Coast shocked MTG Arena players with a surprise addition to the game. Ahead of Modern Horizons 3, Wizards released the five enemy-colored Fetch Lands onto the platform at long last. Following the re-release of Khans of Tarkir back in December, these missing cards have been highly requested, to say the least.
Unsurprisingly, considering their potential use in Timeless, many MTG players were very happy that the missing Fetch Lands finally materialized. Unfortunately, as nice as this surprise from Wizards was, there was one major problem: the price. While they can be crafted individually the enemy-colored Fetch Lands are also available in their own anthology bundle.
Priced at 8,000 gems or 40,000 Gold, this bundle is significantly more expensive than past Anthology sets. For comparison, Historic Anthology 7 only cost 4,000 Gems or 25,000 Gold. Within this Anthology set from 2023, players received four copies of 25 cards, 15 of which were mythic or rare.
While all these cards weren’t multiformat staples, or even see play today, players nonetheless got decent bang for their buck. Sadly, it’s difficult to say the same about the new Enemy Fetch Lands Anthology Wizards released. Given the price point, and the fact it only contains five cards, this bundle is pretty atrocious honestly.
If you want to buy this bundle from scratch, you’ll need to spend $49.99 on the 9,200 Gem bundle. While this will leave you with 1200 Gems left over for cosmetics or pack purchasing, this is still an immense cost. Disappointingly, there’s not a cheaper alternative, as buying Rare Wildcard Bundles would cost the same without leaving Gems left over.
Attractive Alternatives
Unsurprisingly, a fair few MTG players are pretty miffed about the price of this bundle. In fact, as u/vsushiking notes it’s pretty bold of Wizards to list this Anthology as a Bundle at all. Since there’s no price discount compared to simply buying rare Wildcards, there’s very little bundle-y about this latest Anthology.
Beyond the oddities around the bundle’s price point, u/vsushiking noted many of the alternatives you could spend your Gems on. With 9,200 Gems, you could crack 45 packs, participate in 12 Quick Drafts, or buy a mountain of cosmetics. While each of these options may be compelling to some players, sadly they won’t get you the new and exciting Fetch Lands.
Thankfully, while it’s not an option for everyone, there is a cheaper way to get the new Fetch Lands. So long as you have Wildcards laying around, you can simply craft these new lands for basically free. While you will be using your all-important crafting recourses, with a set on the horizon no less, this is still the cheapest option.
For Brawl players, crafting the new Fetch Lands is definitely the best option. Since Brawl is a singleton format, like Commander, buying the extra copies would simply be wasteful. Unfortunately, Timeless players don’t have the same luxury, especially since the format is subject to change once Modern Horizons 3 launches.
If you want to keep up with the ever-evolving Timeless metagame, you’ll effectively require playsets of each Fetch Land. Without this, you could be left behind if a new deck emerges to blow about the competition. Thankfully, while having every card at your disposal is useful, it’s not entirely mandatory for most players.
The Real Solution
If you want to be savvy about how you spend your Wildcards, you should only craft what you really need. Should you only need a few of the new Fetch Lands to start with, there’s no reason to craft all of them. If you end up needing more for a different deck in the future, you can simply craft those later.
Even if you don’t have Wildcards to spend, there’s not really any reason to buy the Enemy Fetch Land Anthology. Since the existing Rare Wildcard Buldle is basically the same price, it will remain an option, even at a later date. With this in mind, you may be wondering why on earth Wizards could sell the bundle for so much money.
Sadly, as u/DCG-MTG points out, the answer is likely “because they can charge that much.” Since Timeless fans are the only audience, Wizards can price it however they like and players have little choice but to take it. Worryingly, this could set a precedent leading to the next Anthology being sold for a similar price.
Currently, there’s no telling if a future Anthology release will see a similar price increase if one even exists. Despite this, the most sensible course of action seems to simply be spending your money, and Wildcards, wisely. If you think you’ll use each new Fetch Land, then by all means craft or buy them all. Should you only need a few, however, you may be better off saving your money for the inevitable future products.
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