Last updated on March 22, 2024
Plains (Dominaria United) | Illustration by Johannes Voss
Dominaria United released in early September, and we can finally take a look at the land department now that it’s here. The set returns to the plane of Dominaria where the story began, and it’s an area of particularly intense mana.
The set’s lands reflect that, with everything from the return of some old-school pain lands to beautiful stained-glass full-art basic lands. Today I’ll be giving you the rundown on what the set includes, and where you can get them.
Let’s jump in!
Pain Lands
Dominaria United brings back the pain lands, a mixed cycle of allied and enemy versions this time, which haven’t seen the printing presses since back in Tenth Edition. This is a big reprint, most notably due to the fact that these puppies are going into Pioneer. The format has had trouble building certain kinds of mana bases thanks to the lack of fetch lands until now.
These lands have a big role to play in Standard, too. Rotation brings out multiple cycles of pain lands including the Pathways and Strixhaven campuses, which takes a large tole on the 3-color mana bases (even with the tri-lands from New Capenna).
Tapped Dual Lands
A new cycle of lands is coming in DMU as well, and they’re dual lands! But unlike the originals these babies enter the battlefield tapped. They can be fetched with fetch lands and count towards the domain keyword coming alongside them in the set, though.
If you’re an EDH player and looking for some proxies, then a quick sharpie will turn these into some original dual lands in no time!
Gold Dual Lands
Alongside the exciting return of the pain lands and various new duals, we’ve got a few new other gold nonbasic duals to talk about.
The first is Plaza of Heroes, a new legendary spell-based land that gives you mana for legendary spells, or one color from a legendary permanent you control. It’s a neat little land that has little use outside Commander in the legendary decks, but it’s still a neat edition to pick up.
Thran Portal is the other one. This new gate enters untapped if it’s one of your first three lands and lets you choose a basic land type for it to take on when it enters the battlefield. But I catch here is that you’ll have to pay one life to activate it. It’s basically a worse Mana Confluence.
Last but not least is Crystal Grotto. It allows you to scry when it enters and can fix your mana. I don’t particularly like this land, not even in Draft, and I’d recommend you stay away from this unless you’re absolutely dying for some fixing.
Stained Glass Basic Lands
Some of the first previewed Dominaria United cards were the beautiful stained glass basic lands. These are absolutely stunning full-arts that feature the most prominent characteristics of each color, and I’ve got to have them.
Where to Get Them
One of the best places to get the basic lands, from any set, is going to be the Dominaria United bundles. They’re a bundle of packs, a deck box, and a die, but they also come with plenty of basic lands from the set. Inside you’ll find 20 of each basic land in normal quality, and 20 in foil!
As for the others like the nonbasics, I’d suggest buying these individually. It’s never worth it to go for packs when looking for specific cards, though the basic lands being so readily available in bundles makes them a convenient exception. I’d suggest looking over at TCGPlayer for basically any singles needs.
- 8 Dominaria United Set Boosters
- 1 foil alt-art promo card
- 40 basic land cards (20 foil + 20 nonfoil)
- Spindown life counter + card storage box
- Return to Magic’s home plane in a set full of your favorite MTG legends and heroes
Wrap Up
Leyline Binding (Dominaria United) | Illustration by Cristi Balanescu
That wraps up everything about the lands in Dominaria United! It’s certainly got more than an average set when it comes to nonbasics, and I’m more than impressed with these basics too.
What do you think of the lands, and the set overall, so far? Are you excited to get testing with the pain lands and see how the mana bases hold up? Let me know in the comments below or over in the official Draftsim Discord.
Until next time, stay safe and stay healthy!
Note: this post contains affiliate links. If you use these links to make a purchase, you’ll help Draftsim continue to provide awesome free articles and apps.
Follow Draftsim for awesome articles and set updates:
Add Comment