Branchloft Pathway // Boulderloft Pathway MTG Card

Branchloft Pathway // Boulderloft Pathway - The List

Rarity	Rare
Type	Land
Released	2020-09-26
Set symbol
Set name	The List
Set code	PLST
Number	ZNR-258
Frame	2015
Layout	Modal DFC
Border	Black
Illustred by	Titus Lunter

Key Takeaways

Dual land utility without card loss maximizes strategic options and maintains hand advantage in MTG play.
Immediate green or white mana access with Branchloft Pathway can accelerate deck performance and help outpace opponents.
Flexibility offered complements instant-speed plays, readying MTG players for varied in-game scenarios and interactions.

Text of card

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"The path is stable. It's the gusts all around it that are a bit 'whoosh—oops—bye.'" —Kreq of Sunder Bay

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Branchloft Pathway // Boulderloft Pathway offers dual land utility, ensuring you have the color of mana you need without losing card advantage. The choice inherent in the card itself allows for greater strategy without depleting your hand.

Resource Acceleration: This versatile land card serves as a powerful form of resource acceleration, granting you immediate access to either green or white mana. This rapid mana access can be crucial for deploying spells ahead of curve.

Instant Speed: While the Branchloft Pathway // Boulderloft Pathway itself isn’t played at instant speed, its flexibility complements strategies that rely on instant-speed interactions. It ensures you’re always ready with the right mana to react or capitalize on the current state of play.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: While the Branchloft Pathway // Boulderloft Pathway doesn’t have an inherent discard mechanic, players may sometimes be forced to discard it due to hand size limits, which can be particularly disheartening given its utility. This might not be a direct con of the card itself, but in gameplay, it can become a disadvantage under certain circumstances, like facing discarding effects from an opponent.

Specific Mana Cost: As a dual-faced card, the Pathway provides access to either green or white mana but not both simultaneously. This specific mana limitation commits you to one color path for the turn, and in a multicolor deck, it can be a pivotal decision that may hamper your ability to play other colored spells in the same turn.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: The mana cost itself doesn’t apply to this Land card because it can be played without spending mana. However, in a broader sense, the opportunity cost can be high. Players might compare it to other dual lands that offer both mana types upon entering the battlefield or can provide additional benefits, like those with basic land types or those that enter untapped under certain conditions.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Branchloft Pathway // Boulderloft Pathway is a dual-faced card allowing players to choose between two types of mana. This flexibility makes it a must-have for decks that utilize white and green mana, enhancing your mana base without the cost of entering the battlefield tapped.

Combo Potential: This Pathway card is an enabler for various strategies, fitting perfectly in landfall decks or with mechanics that reward you for playing lands. It ensures that you can always have the right color of mana when you need to execute your game-winning combos.

Meta-Relevance: Given the speed of the current game, having access to untapped mana can mean the difference between victory and defeat. This card will ensure that you keep up with the pace, providing you with the versatility to adapt to a rapidly changing battlefield environment.

How to beat

The Branchloft Pathway // Boulderloft Pathway card offers Magic: The Gathering players a choice that significantly impacts their gameplay strategy. This dual land is valued by players for its flexibility, allowing them to choose which side of the card to play based on their mana needs without entering the battlefield tapped. Beating this card often comes down to disrupting your opponent’s mana base and limiting their options.

An effective method to counter this card is through land destruction spells or by causing the player to sacrifice it. Land destruction cards, such as Field of Ruin, can target and eliminate Branchloft Pathway // Boulderloft Pathway, setting back the opponent’s mana development. Conversely, cards causing sacrifices, like Ghost Quarter, force the choice upon them, potentially disrupting a carefully planned mana curve. Additionally, using cards that restrict the types of lands an opponent can play or search for, such as Ashiok, Dream Render, can prevent the optimal use of such dual lands, hindering the flexibility it provides a player in constructing their battlefield.

Ultimately, focusing on an overarching strategy that limits your opponent’s access to mana or controlling the types of lands they can play will effectively weaken the strategic advantage granted by the Branchloft Pathway // Boulderloft Pathway card, turning the tide in your favor.

Cards like Branchloft Pathway // Boulderloft Pathway

The versatility of Branchloft Pathway // Boulderloft Pathway in a Magic: The Gathering deck cannot be overstated. Like other pathway cards, it offers a player the ability to choose between two types of mana, making it a close comparator to the modal double-faced cards such as Clearwater Pathway // Murkwater Pathway. Both cards provide the useful feature of a dual land without entering the battlefield tapped, which is a valuable asset for maintaining tempo in the game.

Another related card is the Fabled Passage, which offers land fixing abilities. Though it can provide any basic land type, Fabled Passage has the drawback of entering the battlefield tapped unless you control four or more lands. This can slow your momentum in the early stages of a match compared to the instant utility of Branchloft Pathway // Boulderloft Pathway.

To sum it up, one can see why Branchloft Pathway // Boulderloft Pathway is well-positioned in the current MTG landscape. It bridges the gap between variety and speed, giving players instant access to two color mana pools without the delay of coming into play tapped, making it a staple for many green-white decks in the game.

Clearwater Pathway // Murkwater Pathway - MTG Card versions

Cards similar to Branchloft Pathway // Boulderloft Pathway by color, type and mana cost

Vitu-Ghazi, the City-Tree - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Branchloft Pathway // Boulderloft Pathway MTG card by a specific set like The List, 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 Branchloft Pathway // Boulderloft Pathway and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Branchloft Pathway // Boulderloft 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 Branchloft Pathway // Boulderloft Pathway card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

Date	Text
2020-09-25	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.
2020-09-25	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.
2020-09-25	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.
2020-09-25	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.
2020-09-25	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.
2020-09-25	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.
2020-09-25	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.
2020-09-25	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.
2020-09-25	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.