Scoured Barrens MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 16 setsSee all
RarityCommon
TypeLand

Key Takeaways

  1. It’s a solid option for mana fixing in black and white decks, aiding in casting diverse spells.
  2. While it enters tapped, Scoured Barrens provides a bump in life that can be crucial in drawn-out battles.
  3. Lacks immediate utility upon play, making it less favored for fast-paced aggressive deck strategies.

Text of card

Scoured Barrens enters the battlefield tapped. When Scoured Barrens enters the battlefield, you gain 1 life. : Add or to your mana pool.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Scoured Barrens offers a subtle form of card advantage upon entering the battlefield. While it doesn’t allow you to draw additional cards, it does provide a life gain, which can be crucial in outlasting opponents, essentially giving you more leeway and sustenance in longer games.

Resource Acceleration: As a dual land card, Scoured Barrens helps in resource acceleration by tapping for either white or black mana. This dual utility makes it a valuable inclusion in multicolored decks, ensuring your mana base is flexible enough to cast a variety of spells efficiently.

Instant Speed: While Scoured Barrens doesn’t function at instant speed, it allows for strategic mana usage. You can play it at a time when slowing down your tempo has the least impact, such as during a turn where instant speed isn’t required, thus optimizing your gameplay tempo for when instant-speed actions are pivotal.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: None present; Scoured Barrens offers no drawback in terms of discarding cards, making it a stable option for decks that can accommodate its color identity.

Specific Mana Cost: Enters the battlefield tapped, which means you won’t be able to use it right away. This delayed access can sometimes be an obstacle if you’re aiming for an aggressive mana curve or if you depend on speed to outpace your opponents.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: While it doesn’t have a mana cost itself, the requirement of entering tapped can be likened to a “cost” of tempo. Faster decks often prefer lands that are immediately available. There are alternative dual lands in the MTG universe that enter untapped, although they might come with other conditions or life payments.


Reasons to Include Scoured Barrens in Your Collection

Versatility: Scoured Barrens is a land card that can be a seamless addition to any white and black deck, providing both color fixing and a small cushion with its life gain ability.

Combo Potential: Its ability to enter the battlefield tapped and bolster your life total by one can synergize with cards that thrive on life gain or utilize life as a resource.

Meta-Relevance: In a game where the battlefield often becomes a showdown of attrition, the consistent life gain from lands like Scoured Barrens can be the edge you need, especially in prolonged matches.


How to beat Scoured Barrens

Scoured Barrens is a common mana-fixing land in MTG that finds its way into many two-color decks, particularly in limited formats or budget-conscious constructed play. As a land that enters the battlefield tapped, Scoured Barrens can be a speed bump for aggressive strategies that rely on quick, efficient mana development. This comes into play tapped disadvantage is a reliable angle to pressure an opponent who might be relying on Scoured Barrens for their mana fixing.

To effectively beat the strategic deployment of Scoured Barrens, consider using land destruction cards or aggressive plays that exploit the tempo loss of your opponent. Running cards that can remove Scoured Barrens from the battlefield prevent the life gain and disrupt your opponent’s mana base, especially if they’re depending on it for color fixing. Additionally, leveraging an aggressive deck that puts pressure on opponents from the get-go can capitalize on the slowdown Scoured Barrens imposes. By overwhelming your opponent in the early game, the additional life point and eventual mana provided by Scoured Barrens might end up being too little, too late.

Ultimately, remember that while Scoured Barrens offers a steady resource in the form of life gain and mana fixing, its greatest weakness lies in its lack of immediacy, making it vulnerable to fast-paced strategies and targeted disruption.


Cards like Scoured Barrens

Scoured Barrens is an insightful pick for players looking to balance their mana in a White-Black deck in Magic: The Gathering. It serves a similar purpose to other dual lands like Orzhov Guildgate, which also enters the battlefield tapped and can be tapped for either white or black mana. What sets Scoured Barrens apart is its small life gain, an addition that can be pivotal in longer games.

Comparatively, Temple of Silence provides a similar color utility, but with a scry ability instead of life gain. Scrying upon entry allows for better deck manipulation, which can be crucial for setting up future draws. Unlike Scoured Barrens, Temple of Silence does not offer a life gain, a trade-off to consider for deck building strategies.

Additionally, looking at the basic dual lands, like Isolated Chapel, reveals a land that enters the battlefield untapped under the right conditions—specifically if you control a Plains or a Swamp. This can significantly speed up the gameplay, offering immediate mana availability. While Isolated Chapel doesn’t grant life nor does it provide deck manipulation through scrying, its accessibility of mana can be decisive.

In summary, dual lands such as Scoured Barrens find their niche in MTG decks focusing on sustainability and endurance, especially when compared to other options that offer different advantages like deck filtering or speed.

Orzhov Guildgate - MTG Card versions
Temple of Silence - MTG Card versions
Isolated Chapel - MTG Card versions
Orzhov Guildgate - Gatecrash (GTC)
Temple of Silence - Theros (THS)
Isolated Chapel - Innistrad (ISD)

Cards similar to Scoured Barrens by color, type and mana cost

Scrubland - MTG Card versions
Caves of Koilos - MTG Card versions
Shattered Sanctum - MTG Card versions
Brightclimb Pathway // Grimclimb Pathway - MTG Card versions
Orzhov Basilica - MTG Card versions
Isolated Chapel - MTG Card versions
Tainted Field - MTG Card versions
Orzhov Guildgate - MTG Card versions
Vault of the Archangel - MTG Card versions
Salt Flats - MTG Card versions
Fetid Heath - MTG Card versions
Forsaken Sanctuary - MTG Card versions
Concealed Courtyard - MTG Card versions
Godless Shrine - MTG Card versions
Temple of Silence - MTG Card versions
Vault of Champions - MTG Card versions
Shineshadow Snarl - MTG Card versions
Sunlit Marsh - MTG Card versions
Restless Fortress - MTG Card versions
Shadowy Backstreet - MTG Card versions
Scrubland - 30th Anniversary Edition (30A)
Caves of Koilos - Dominaria United Promos (PDMU)
Shattered Sanctum - Innistrad: Double Feature (DBL)
Brightclimb Pathway // Grimclimb Pathway - From Cute to Brute (PCTB)
Orzhov Basilica - Ravnica: Clue Edition (CLU)
Isolated Chapel - Fallout (PIP)
Tainted Field - Fallout (PIP)
Orzhov Guildgate - Ravnica Remastered (RVR)
Vault of the Archangel - March of the Machine Commander (MOC)
Salt Flats - Vintage Masters (VMA)
Fetid Heath - Zendikar Expeditions (EXP)
Forsaken Sanctuary - Shadows over Innistrad Remastered (SIR)
Concealed Courtyard - Kaladesh (KLD)
Godless Shrine - Ravnica Remastered (RVR)
Temple of Silence - Fallout (PIP)
Vault of Champions - Commander Masters (CMM)
Shineshadow Snarl - The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Commander (LCC)
Sunlit Marsh - Dominaria United (DMU)
Restless Fortress - Wilds of Eldraine Promos (PWOE)
Shadowy Backstreet - Murders at Karlov Manor Promos (PMKM)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Scoured Barrens MTG card by a specific set like Khans of Tarkir and Fate Reforged, 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 Scoured Barrens and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Scoured Barrens Magic the Gathering card was released in 15 different sets between 2014-09-26 and 2023-06-23. Illustrated by 6 different artists.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12014-09-26Khans of TarkirKTK 2422015normalblackEytan Zana
22015-01-23Fate ReforgedFRF 1712015normalblackEytan Zana
32015-11-13Commander 2015C15 3032015normalblackEytan Zana
42016-06-10Eternal MastersEMA 2442015normalblackEytan Zana
52017-08-25Commander 2017C17 2762015normalblackEytan Zana
62018-08-09Commander 2018C18 2762015normalblackEytan Zana
72019-07-12Core Set 2020M20 2512015normalblackEytan Zana
82019-11-07Mystery BoosterMB1 16862015normalblackEytan Zana
92020-04-24Ikoria: Lair of BehemothsIKO 2542015normalblackCliff Childs
102020-07-03Core Set 2021M21 2502015normalblackEytan Zana
112020-09-26The ListPLST C18-2762015normalblackEytan Zana
122022-02-18Kamigawa: Neon DynastyNEO 2742015normalblackJulian Kok Joon Wen
132022-10-07Warhammer 40,000 Commander40K 293★2015normalblackTeodora Dumitriu
142022-10-07Warhammer 40,000 Commander40K 2932015normalblackTeodora Dumitriu
152023-04-21March of the MachineMOM 2722015normalblackRobin Olausson
162023-06-23Tales of Middle-earth CommanderLTC 3292015normalblackSamuele Bandini

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Scoured Barrens has restrictions

FormatLegality
StandardLegal
HistoricbrawlLegal
HistoricLegal
LegacyLegal
PaupercommanderLegal
OathbreakerLegal
GladiatorLegal
AlchemyLegal
PioneerLegal
CommanderLegal
ModernLegal
PauperLegal
FutureLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
ExplorerLegal
BrawlLegal
PennyLegal
TimelessLegal

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