Waste Land MTG Card
2019-11-07 - Number 121
2021-08-20 - Number 121
| Card sets | Released in 2 setsSee all |
| Rarity | Rare |
| Type | Land |
Key Takeaways
- Waste Land can shift gameplay by constraining your opponent’s nonbasic land resources, gaining you a strategic edge.
- Given its versatility and meta relevance, Waste Land is a valuable inclusion in any player’s collection for control or aggression.
- Its distinctive ability for nonbasic land destruction sets it apart, though it’s pivotal to weigh its cost against similar cards.
Text of card
: Add . , Sacrifice CARDNAME: Destroy target nonbasic land. That land's controller creates a Wastes token. (It's a land with : Add .)
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Waste Land offers indirect card advantage by potentially denying your opponent access to critical lands, which can set them behind on resources and give you an upper hand in the game.
Resource Acceleration: Its ability to destroy non-basic lands can disrupt an opponent’s mana base, accelerating your position relative to theirs. This can be particularly effective against decks that rely heavily on multi-colored or utility lands.
Instant Speed: As a land with an ability that can be activated at any time, Waste Land can be utilized at instant speed. This allows you to keep mana ready for other spells or abilities and use Waste Land opportunistically, perhaps in response to an opponent’s land-based strategy or in-between their casting phases.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: While Waste Land doesn’t directly require discarding, its lands-destruction strategy can often lead to card disadvantage, as you’re trading one resource — your land play — for a potentially equal one from your opponent, rather than advancing your own board state.
Specific Mana Cost: Waste Land comes with a specific mana cost which, although colorless, still requires a commitment of one land drop to use. This can delay the development of your own mana base and restrict the pace at which you can execute your strategy.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: The utility of Waste Land in a game is undeniable, but its role in land destruction can be less efficient compared to other land or mana disruption options that either cost less or offer additional benefits on top of the land disruption. Players must evaluate if the strategic benefit of Waste Land’s effect is worth the slot in a deck when considering the opportunity cost of including it versus other utility lands or cards.
Reasons to Include Waste Land in Your Collection
Versatility: Waste Land is a powerful tool in multiple formats, capable of dealing with pesky nonbasic lands that are ever-present in numerous strategies. It’s effective against everything from dual lands to utility lands, making it a valuable asset in both aggressive and control decks.
Combo Potential: This card can serve as a combo enabler by disrupting an opponent’s mana base, paving the way for your own combo pieces to dominate the game. It also fits seamlessly into land destruction decks, supplementing the strategy by taking out key lands.
Meta-Relevance: In metas where lands like Rishadan Port or Maze of Ith are common, having access to Waste Land can significantly tilt the balance in your favor. It ensures you have a response to some of the most troublesome nonbasic lands that could otherwise compromise your path to victory.
How to beat
Understanding your opponent’s strategies is a cornerstone of mastering Magic: The Gathering. The Waste Land MTG card is a potent tool capable of disrupting mana bases by targeting nonbasic lands. Its impact on games can be immense, particularly in formats where nonbasic lands are prevalent.
To combat the effects of Waste Land, consider diversifying your land base with a robust mixture of basic lands that are immune to Waste Land’s ability. Running spells or abilities that can counter land destruction or quickly recover destroyed lands also helps mitigate the setback. Cards such as Crucible of Worlds, which allows you to play lands from your graveyard, can turn the tables on Waste Land users by letting you reuse the very resources they aimed to eliminate.
Adapting to opponents’ tactics by including land destruction counters or land retrieval ensures that Waste Land’s disruptive potential is kept in check. In so doing, you maintain a more resilient mana base, keeping your game plan on track and edging you closer to victory against those intent on destroying your lands.
Cards like Waste Land
Waste Land is an iconic card in the realm of land destruction in MTG that serves as a strategic tool for players to interrupt land bases. it is often compared to Strip Mine, another formidable land-destroying card. Waste Land allows players to target a nonbasic land and destroy it, hindering opponents’ crucial color fixing or utility lands. However, unlike Strip Mine, which can destroy any land without restriction, Waste Land cannot target basic lands, offering a sliver of relief to opponents playing with a fundamental land structure.
Ghost Quarter enters the conversation as a similar utility. It can destroy any land but grants the opponent an opportunity to replace the destroyed land with a basic land from their library, adding a nuanced strategy to its use. Tectonic Edge serves a similar purpose to Waste Land, but it imposes a condition that the opponent must control four or more lands, making it less optimal for early disruption.
Each of these cards provides a different strategic layer to MTG games, but Waste Land’s balance of restriction and potential for nonbasic land disruption makes it a staple choice for players looking to control the tempo and resource accessibility of their opponents.
Cards similar to Waste Land by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Waste Land MTG card by a specific set like Mystery Booster Playtest Cards 2019 and Mystery Booster Playtest Cards 2021, 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 Waste Land 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
See MTG Products
Printings
The Waste Land Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 2019-11-07 and 2021-08-20. Illustrated by Patrick Kuhlman.
| # | Released | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2019-11-07 | Mystery Booster Playtest Cards 2019 | CMB1 | 121 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Patrick Kuhlman | |
| 2 | 2021-08-20 | Mystery Booster Playtest Cards 2021 | CMB2 | 121 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Patrick Kuhlman |
