Wastes was a fairly pointless addition, however it set a precedent that new basic lands are not untenable. In addition, land prices are obscene and make magic unaffordable and there are so many formats out there that building a deck tailored for yet another format that is unplayable outside that format is a huge ask.
This suggestion was posted in the MTG Arena community forum and was right on point:
Name: Highland
Type: Basic Land
Text:
Tap - Add one colorless mana.
Tap - Add one mana of any color. You may use this ability only if your deck contains no more than a single copy of any card other than basic lands.
For the first time ever, You could play your brawl deck in standard, or your edh deck in legacy and not have an inconsistent manabase.
This one card would instantly shake up the meta completely. Suddenly so many new unique varied strategies would make an appearance in standard, modern, legacy and vintage. It would add so much variety to the game that I'm blown away the Wizards already hasn't printed such a land.
Of course, it should be a common, as widely available as wastes atleast, but lets think about how it would impact magic as a whole.
You can play a traditional consistent deck with 4 opt, 4 fumigate, and 4 teferi for control, 4 bomat courier and 4 lightning strike and 4 goblin chainwhirler for aggro etc.
Or you can forgeo consistency by playing only a single copy of each card, to be able to play cards of any color you want.
Those decks become a lot less predictable, decks would feel more similar to draft decks, with tons of possible starting hands and variety of game play. No two games would feel the same.
It would make deck building a lot more fun too. You can use the most powerful cards you have, regardless of color, but you only get to play one copy of them.
You could play your brawl deck in standard, or your edh deck in legacy and not have an inconsistent manabase.
Here is an alternative route to go:
Ravnica Land - Basic Land
Ravnica Land comes into play tapped
Tap: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool.
As far as competitive play goes, this would not make any impact. Decades of experience demonstrated that comes into play tapped lands are a nonstarter in competitive gameplay, especially in a world where fetchlands and duallands exist.
Where this would make a HUGE impact is casual/kitchen table play. The cost of manabases is insane. Its what makes magic so obscenely expensive, and its a barrier to the game that Wizards can and should address by printing a land like the above.
Its actually a fairly significant addition to the game that would make Magic far more affordable for beginners and casual players everywhere.
Its well past time that Wizards do something about the ridiculous price of manabases.
No you wouldnt need to call a judge when this land gets played.
Do you call a judge at the start of every brawl or EDH game? Do standard players automatically assume their opponents are playing 5 Goblin Chainwhirlers and call the judge preemptively to check?
If your opponent ever plays a second copy of a card they already played, and their deck plays Highland, thats when you call the judge.
If your opponent never reveals/casts the same card twice, why would call a judge?
The real question is, how many brawl players wish they could play their brawl deck in standard and not have the deck automatically suck due to having a horribly inconsistent manabase?
No you wouldnt need to call a judge when this land gets played.
Do you call a judge at the start of every brawl or EDH game? Do standard players automatically assume their opponents are playing 5 Goblin Chainwhirlers and call the judge preemptively to check?
If your opponent ever plays a second copy of a card they already played, and their deck plays Highland, thats when you call the judge.
If your opponent never reveals/casts the same card twice, why would call a judge?
The real question is, how many brawl players wish they could play their brawl deck in standard and not have the deck automatically suck due to having a horribly inconsistent manabase?
Well, you’re Singleton brawl deck will “suck” against the standard field regardless of the manabase because, you know, you’re playing Singleton and they aren’t.
I don’t understand this in the slightest. Throw out the custom cards, as that’s the least of the issues here. You are asking for a land to fix consistency issues when going Singleton against against constructed decks, but the lands aren’t the problem. The problem is playing Singleton, lol, not the manabase.
This suggestion was posted in the MTG Arena community forum and was right on point:
Name: Highland
Type: Basic Land
Text:
Tap - Add one colorless mana.
Tap - Add one mana of any color. You may use this ability only if your deck contains no more than a single copy of any card other than basic lands.
For the first time ever, You could play your brawl deck in standard, or your edh deck in legacy and not have an inconsistent manabase.
This one card would instantly shake up the meta completely. Suddenly so many new unique varied strategies would make an appearance in standard, modern, legacy and vintage. It would add so much variety to the game that I'm blown away the Wizards already hasn't printed such a land.
Of course, it should be a common, as widely available as wastes atleast, but lets think about how it would impact magic as a whole.
You can play a traditional consistent deck with 4 opt, 4 fumigate, and 4 teferi for control, 4 bomat courier and 4 lightning strike and 4 goblin chainwhirler for aggro etc.
Or you can forgeo consistency by playing only a single copy of each card, to be able to play cards of any color you want.
Those decks become a lot less predictable, decks would feel more similar to draft decks, with tons of possible starting hands and variety of game play. No two games would feel the same.
It would make deck building a lot more fun too. You can use the most powerful cards you have, regardless of color, but you only get to play one copy of them.
You could play your brawl deck in standard, or your edh deck in legacy and not have an inconsistent manabase.
Here is an alternative route to go:
Ravnica Land - Basic Land
Ravnica Land comes into play tapped
Tap: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool.
As far as competitive play goes, this would not make any impact. Decades of experience demonstrated that comes into play tapped lands are a nonstarter in competitive gameplay, especially in a world where fetchlands and duallands exist.
Where this would make a HUGE impact is casual/kitchen table play. The cost of manabases is insane. Its what makes magic so obscenely expensive, and its a barrier to the game that Wizards can and should address by printing a land like the above.
Its actually a fairly significant addition to the game that would make Magic far more affordable for beginners and casual players everywhere.
Its well past time that Wizards do something about the ridiculous price of manabases.
Do you call a judge at the start of every brawl or EDH game? Do standard players automatically assume their opponents are playing 5 Goblin Chainwhirlers and call the judge preemptively to check?
If your opponent ever plays a second copy of a card they already played, and their deck plays Highland, thats when you call the judge.
If your opponent never reveals/casts the same card twice, why would call a judge?
The real question is, how many brawl players wish they could play their brawl deck in standard and not have the deck automatically suck due to having a horribly inconsistent manabase?
Well, you’re Singleton brawl deck will “suck” against the standard field regardless of the manabase because, you know, you’re playing Singleton and they aren’t.
I don’t understand this in the slightest. Throw out the custom cards, as that’s the least of the issues here. You are asking for a land to fix consistency issues when going Singleton against against constructed decks, but the lands aren’t the problem. The problem is playing Singleton, lol, not the manabase.
@_kaburi_ on Twitter
Special thanks to Serrot_29 for Catbug'mrakul!