Barkchannel Pathway // Tidechannel Pathway MTG Card
2021-02-05 - Number 251
2021-02-05 - Number 290
2021-02-06 - Number 251s
2020-09-26 - Number KHM-251
| Card sets | Released in 4 setsSee all |
| Rarity | Rare |
| Type | Land |
Key Takeaways
- Dual-functionality enables resource consistency, crucial for executing multicolored deck strategies efficiently.
- Choosing one land form is permanent, requiring strategic decision-making to maximize long-term benefits.
- Despite lacking extra abilities, its quick access to green or blue mana defines its competitive edge.
Text of card
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"Trust in the path, and it will bear you to safety." —Inga Rune-Eyes
Card Pros
Card Advantage:The Barkchannel Pathway // Tidechannel Pathway card serves as two lands in one, enabling you to have access to different colors of mana without losing card economy. This dual nature provides a significant advantage, ensuring that you always have the right mana source when you need it.
Resource Acceleration: With the capacity to tap for green or blue mana respectively, this modal double-faced card accelerates your mana resources efficiently. It’s especially useful for multicolored decks that value quick and consistent mana access to cast spells on curve.
Instant Speed: While the card itself does not operate at instant speed, its flexibility allows players to make strategic land drops at the most opportune times. This keeps options open and can indirectly affect the pace of the game, putting you in a better position to respond to an evolving board state with instant-speed spells in your hand.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: While the dual nature of Barkchannel Pathway // Tidechannel Pathway offers deck flexibility, it does not provide card advantage. Unlike other lands that might draw or recycle cards, selecting one side of this modal double-faced card means the other is discarded from use for the rest of the game. This can be a hindrance if the match draws out or your strategy requires different mana late in the game.
Specific Mana Cost: The lands are restricted to providing only one type of mana at a time—either green or blue—which may present a challenge in multicolored decks that require diverse mana solutions or when facing mana disruption from an opponent.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: While there’s no mana cost involved in playing Barkchannel Pathway // Tidechannel Pathway as a land, its opportunity cost comes into play when considering other utility lands available. Lands that can transform or offer additional abilities may afford your strategy greater versatility or late-game value.
Reasons to Include Barkchannel Pathway // Tidechannel Pathway in Your Collection
Versatility: This double-faced card offers flexible mana options, making it extremely useful in Simic, Bant, or other multicolor decks that need consistent access to both blue and green mana.
Combo Potential: Being able to choose between two mana types without entering the battlefield tapped enables quick execution of combos, making these pathways crucial for decks that aim to go off without a hitch.
Meta-Relevance: Ensuring you have the right mana at the right time is vital in competitive play. Whether you’re up against aggressive or control archetypes, Barkchannel Pathway // Tidechannel Pathway ensures your mana base isn’t a hindrance, aligning perfectly with a range of current meta decks.
How to beat
The Barkchannel Pathway and Tidechannel Pathway card duo serves as a versatile land choice in Magic: The Gathering. Its double-faced nature allows players to choose between a green mana source with Barkchannel Pathway and a blue mana source with Tidechannel Pathway at any land play. To counter the flexibility it grants, disrupting your opponent’s mana base is key. Utilizing land destruction cards or those that hinder land abilities can impede the utility that these dual lands provide.
Utilizing spells that restrict land usage such as Blood Moon can greatly diminish the effectiveness of these transformable lands, forcing the opposition into a position of mana scarcity and inhibiting their strategic plays. It’s crucial to anticipate the moment your Opponent plays these lands and respond accordingly, as timing can be decisive in gaining the upper hand. By incorporating an appropriate land interaction strategy into your deck, you can diminish the impact that Barkchannel Pathway and Tidechannel Pathway have on the game.
In essence, by focusing on disrupting or altering the lands in play, players can effectively “beat” the advantage that Barkchannel Pathway and Tidechannel Pathway present, leveling the playing field and positioning themselves for victory.
Cards like Barkchannel Pathway // Tidechannel Pathway
In Magic: The Gathering, Barkchannel Pathway // Tidechannel Pathway shines as a modal dual-faced card, providing strategic flexibility compared to other land cards. When evaluating the likes of Branchloft Pathway // Boulderloft Pathway, both cards allow a choice between two types of mana. Nevertheless, Barkchannel Pathway // Tidechannel Pathway caters specifically to blue and green mana needs, supporting decks centered around those colors. The absence of the need to enter the battlefield tapped, if a player opts for either side, puts them on par with the untapped entry of the Zendikar Rising pathway lands.
Similarly, Clearwater Pathway // Murkwater Pathway also offers this seamless mana transition without the drawbacks of coming into play tapped. It’s different in the sense that it focuses on blue and black mana alignment instead, underlining the importance of having the right color combination according to your deck’s strategy. Another notable counterpart is Riverglide Pathway // Lavaglide Pathway, which again provides uninterrupted mana access but serves red and blue mana needs this time.
All things considered, the Barkchannel Pathway // Tidechannel Pathway card proves to be a valuable asset in green and blue decks, emphasizing immediate mana availability without sacrificing tempo, a characteristic essential for any competitive deck in Magic: The Gathering.
Cards similar to Barkchannel Pathway // Tidechannel Pathway by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Barkchannel Pathway // Tidechannel Pathway MTG card by a specific set like The List and Kaldheim, there are several reliable options to consider. One of the primary sources is your local game store, where you can often find booster packs, individual cards, and preconstructed decks from current and some past sets. They often offer the added benefit of a community where you can trade with other players.
For a broader inventory, particularly of older sets, online marketplaces like TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom and Card Market offer extensive selections and allow you to search for cards from specific sets. Larger e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon also have listings from various sellers, which can be a good place to look for sealed product and rare finds.
Additionally, Magic’s official site often has a store locator and retailer lists for finding Wizards of the Coast licensed products. Remember to check for authenticity and the condition of the cards when purchasing, especially from individual sellers on larger marketplaces.
Below is a list of some store websites where you can buy the Barkchannel Pathway // Tidechannel Pathway and other MTG cards:
- eBay
- TCG Player
- Card Kingdom
- Card Market
- Star City Games
- CoolStuffInc
- MTG Mint Card
- Hareruya
- Troll and Toad
- ABU Games
- Card Hoarder Magic Online
- MTGO Traders Magic Online
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Printings
The Barkchannel Pathway // Tidechannel Pathway Magic the Gathering card was released in 3 different sets between 2021-02-05 and 2021-02-06. Illustrated by 2 different artists.
| # | Released | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The List | PLST | KHM-251 | 2015 | Modal DFC | Black | Daniel Ljunggren | ||
| 2 | 2021-02-05 | Kaldheim | KHM | 251 | 2015 | Modal DFC | Black | Daniel Ljunggren | |
| 3 | 2021-02-05 | Kaldheim | KHM | 290 | 2015 | Modal DFC | Borderless | Grady Frederick | |
| 4 | 2021-02-06 | Kaldheim Promos | PKHM | 251s | 2015 | Modal DFC | Black | Daniel Ljunggren |
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Barkchannel Pathway // Tidechannel Pathway has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Commander | Legal |
| Historic | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Explorer | Legal |
| Gladiator | Legal |
| Brawl | Legal |
| Pioneer | Legal |
| Timeless | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Barkchannel Pathway // Tidechannel Pathway card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2021-02-05 | A modal double-faced card can’t be transformed or be put onto the battlefield transformed. Ignore any instruction to transform a modal double-faced card or to put one onto the battlefield transformed. |
| 2021-02-05 | If an effect allows you to play a land or cast a spell from among a group of cards, you may play or cast a modal double-faced card with any face that fits the criteria of that effect. |
| 2021-02-05 | If an effect allows you to play a specific modal double-faced card, you may cast it as a spell or play it as a land, as determined by which face you choose to play. If an effect allows you to cast (rather than “play”) a specific modal double-faced card, you can’t play it as a land. |
| 2021-02-05 | If an effect instructs a player to choose a card name, the name of either face may be chosen. If that effect or a linked ability refers to a spell with the chosen name being cast and/or a land with the chosen name being played, it considers only the chosen name, not the other face’s name. |
| 2021-02-05 | If an effect puts a double-faced card onto the battlefield, it enters with its front face up. If that front face can’t be put onto the battlefield, it doesn’t enter the battlefield. |
| 2021-02-05 | In the Commander variant, a double-faced card’s color identity is determined by the mana costs and mana symbols in the rules text of both faces combined. If either face has a color indicator or basic land type, those are also considered. |
| 2021-02-05 | The mana value of a modal double-faced card is based on the characteristics of the face that’s being considered. On the stack and battlefield, consider whichever face is up. In all other zones, consider only the front face. This is different than how the mana value of a transforming double-faced card is determined. |
| 2021-02-05 | There is a single triangle icon in the top left corner of the front face. There is a double triangle icon in the top left corner of the back face. |
| 2021-02-05 | To determine whether it is legal to play a modal double-faced card, consider only the characteristics of the face you’re playing and ignore the other face’s characteristics. |