Islandhome and Landhome in MTG: Rules, History, and Best Cards

Steve Vrooman January 15, 2024 Collecting, MTG Cards, MTG Rules

Island (Unstable) | Illustration by John Avon

For newer players, the most likely entry point for the question of “Huh?” when they see the rules for landhome is when they get pulled into a game of Dandân. There’s some odd text on that card, a remnant of a now obsolete mechanic which prioritized flavor over power.

Perhaps those days are largely gone from MTG, but there are still about 35 cards with some form of landhome on them, and they do see a bit of play.

Understanding this stuff might be helpful next time someone across the EDH table plops down a Pirate Ship for flavor in their Ixalan pirates deck and you swing it around to read it. Even more, there’s a forced draw using islandhome cards. That sounds super boring, but there’s a way to utilize that politically in games of EDH.

Time to go back in time to when the game was young and the inkfirst cooled on the Magic cards.

Table of Contents show

How Do Islandhome and Landhome Work?

Barbarian Outcast | Illustration by Mark Tedin

Creatures with landhome need the correct land type to survive, or else you sacrifice them. The idea is that these creatures live in a particular biome, originally the water. Take a look at early favorite Island Fish Jasconius. Can you imagine that thing living in a forest?

Most of the first cards with this ability, even before it was keyworded, were sea creatures. That makes some sense in that they can only live in the water, but also not, as an island isn’t water and I breathe air on top of one.

The full rules for this are expressed on the Island Fish card: “Island Fish Jasconius can’t attack unless defending player controls an Island. When you control no Islands, sacrifice Island Fish Jasconius.”

However, there are cards with only the first part of that, like Armored Galleon and there are cards with only the second, like Barbarian Outcast.

The History of Islandhome and Landhome in MTG

This mechanic in Alpha on Sea Serpent and Pirate Ship, and it appears on about 35 cards from then until the last newly printed islandhome card, Serpent of the Endless Sea in Magic 2010. A few partial callbacks, like on Sealock Monster in Theros, were to follow, but not many.

It was keyworded for Kukemssa Serpent in Mirage, and that keyword was added to reprints in Fifth Edition, but by the Sixth Edition, it was gone.

Since then, elements of this mechanic have been altered and expanded. Attack limits have been shifted to other triggers, as on cards like Bontu the Glorified, Chained Throatseeker, and Goblin Goon. And the sacrifice clause has been moved to various criteria, as on Covetous Dragon, Emperor Crocodile, and Tethered Griffin.

Do Dual and Tri-Lands Work With Landhome?

Yes, as long as they have the correct land type. Breeding Pool and Xander's Lounge work fine, but Mystic Monastery and Shivan Reef do not.

Are Islandhome and Landhome Triggered Abilities?

Partly. The first part of classic landhome and islandhome is that the creature can’t attack if certain conditions aren’t met. That’s static. The second ability, that the creature must be sacrificed if the correct home lands aren’t present, is triggered when those conditions are met, say with a classic Armageddon.

Why Were Islandhome and Landhome Removed?

This is difficult to trace clearly, but the best answer seems to be that the design space was too limited, resulting in too few creatures to justify continuation of cards that did landhome, much less keywording.

Certainly, these cards were flavorful but not powerful or popular, and that’s got to be a part of it.

Gallery and List of Islandhome and Landhome Cards

Remember, some of these cards only have one of the two elements of true landhome.

Best Islandhome and Landhome Cards

#5. Skeleton Ship

Skeleton Ship is just about boomer flexing. There are better commanders for a -1/-1 counters deck, so this is mostly because this was someone’s favorite card as a kid with its funky Pirates of the Caribbean vibes and the wicked cool art by Amy Weber & Tom Wänerstrand. The real flex is to use this for skeletons, which is an awful deck, but it’s so tempting to try when you see Corpses of the Lost and Skeleton Crew.

#4. Floodchaser

Floodchaser is below rate, sure. But it’s one of only eight cards in the game that come into play with six +1/+1 counters. You’d rather have a Hexavus, but if you’re doing The Ozolith and/or moving counters things, there could be a home, especially if you’re cheating it into play and/or blinking it.

#3. Dreamwinder + Kukemssa Serpent

I know, we’re really trying here! Both Dreamwinder and Kukemssa Serpent can sacrifice land for you, and there are decks that want that, like Slogurk, the Overslime. These are still likely not good enough, but maybe some builds want some chonky blockers?

#2. Merchant Ship

This one is brutal. But Merchant Ship is the cheapest landhome card we’ve got. That matters because it allows you to force a draw with Jon Irenicus, Shattered One. At your end step, you give any islandhome creature to an opponent who controls no islands. They have to sac it, but they can’t, so there’s an unfinishable game loop there that keeps triggering and never stops.

Can you leverage this forced draw for a time in a game of Commander? Induce player into attacking someone else the next turn or you’ll do the nuclear option and destroy the game? I guess so, but that seems pretty salt-inducing. Still, if I was running Jon as a commander, I’d absolutely put a few of these cards in the deck just to try it out to see how the table responds. I’m sure I’d immediately unsleeve them after the game, but it’s for science!

#1. Seasinger

There are more efficient ways to seal creatures these days than the Seasinger model of keeping the creature tapped down, which you likely recognize from Rubinia Soulsinger. But if you’re really going for that idea, the ability to untap and grab something else is very appealing.

Wrap Up

Slipstream Eel | Illustration by Mark Tedin

Like most folks who’ve played Magic since the ‘90s, I have boxes of old cards I can’t bear to part with. I tell myself it’s because sometimes old cards, especially those with drawbacks, can become good cards when new abilities and rules happen. I keep them because when I’m flipping through them to find the 99th card for some Commander deck I’m brewing, I’ll come across these old favorites, like Marjhan, which looks sick. It’s gonna eat a whale whole! I can look at it and remember all the times I tried to figure out how to break that untap ability, and it reminds me why I still play this game.

Landhome is a piece of that history. And even though it’s mostly gone from the game now, I love to remember where Magic was and how far it's come. And if that means Irenicus combo or humming “A Pirate’s Life for Me” while playing the dead boat, well, sometimes that’s how it goes!

Any islandhome cards still in your boxes, fellow boomers? What are the obsoleted mechanics you miss? Let us know in the comments or on the Draftsim Discord, me ‘earties, yo ho!

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Steve Vrooman

A casual MTG warrior since Ice Age, Steve would have liked to have seen at least one card with cumulative upkeep in Kaldheim. He likes to think he'd be in Lorehold, but it's probably Silverquill.