Grasslands MTG Card
1996-10-08 - Number 327
2011-04-01 - Number 35
2014-06-16 - Number 299
2017-08-25 - Number 252
2021-07-23 - Number 242
2022-09-09 - Number 214
2023-08-04 - Number 1002
| Card sets | Released in 7 setsSee all |
| Rarity | Uncommon |
| Type | Land |
Key Takeaways
- Grasslands allows for advanced mana fixing, making it pivotal in multicolor deck strategies.
- Despite its advantages, Grasslands may slow play, requiring a meticulously planned mana base.
- Its utility as a fetch land often outweighs any negatives, enhancing landfall and combo decks.
Text of card
Grasslands comes into play tapped. oc T, Sacrifice Grasslands: Search your library for a forest or plains card. Put that land into play. Shuffle your library afterwards.
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Grasslands offers a strategic edge by essentially replacing itself in your hand when it fetches another land, ensuring you don’t lose card presence on the board.
Resource Acceleration: Though it enters the battlefield tapped, this card immediately ramps up your mana resources once it’s active, by fetching an untapped Plains or Forest, contributing to your land-based synergies and mana curve efficiency.
Instant Speed: Grasslands sets up future plays beautifully. While it doesn’t operate at instant speed, it prepares you for subsequent turns where you can unleash spells without missing a land drop, keeping the pressure on your opponents constantly.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: Carrying a discard requirement, Grasslands can put you in a tight spot if you’re pressed for card choices or trying to maintain a full hand for strategic depth.
Specific Mana Cost: Demanding a specific combination of mana types, it necessitates precise mana base configuration which might not align with all deck themes or the broader strategy you’re aiming for.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: While tapping for dual lands is enticing, the higher mana cost associated with Grasslands can slow your tempo, especially when pitted against low-cost utility lands offering similar or faster benefits.
Reasons to Include in Your Collection
Versatility: Grasslands serves as a dual land that can be tapped for two types of mana, making it a flexible choice for multicolored decks, ensuring smoother mana curves and improved gameplay consistency.
Combo Potential: This land’s capability to search for a Plains or Forest card when it’s sacrificed allows it to synergize with landfall abilities or other effects that trigger upon lands entering the battlefield, supporting intricate and powerful combinations.
Meta-Relevance: As decks become more complex and the meta shifts towards multicolored strategies, the inclusion of Grasslands can substantially enhance a deck’s ability to keep pace and compete effectively, adapting to the diverse and evolving competitive environment.
How to Beat
The Grasslands card often finds its place in MTG decks that focus on mana-fixing and land development strategies. As a dual land, it allows players to fine-tune their mana base and crucially, it enters the battlefield tapped, which means there is a one-turn delay before it can be utilized. This delay can be capitalized upon, particularly in formats where speed is of the essence.
Aggressive decks, which aim to apply early pressure, can take advantage of this by establishing a strong board presence before the Grasslands’ controller can make full use of their diversified mana. Land destruction or land denial strategies can be especially effective here, disrupting the player’s mana base and forestalling their plans. Additionally, countering key spells in the early game can hinder decks that rely on Grasslands, as they may struggle to recover from a slowed-down start.
Ultimately, while Grasslands provides great utility in terms of mana flexibility, its Achilles’ heel lies in its initial dormancy on the field. By pushing for an early advantage or disrupting the opponent’s land base, you can mitigate the benefits that Grasslands brings to the table in MTG.
Cards like Grasslands
Grasslands stands as an intriguing land card in Magic: The Gathering, allowing players to tap, sacrifice, and search for a Forest or Plains card to put onto the battlefield. This parallels the function of other land-fetch cards like Krosan Verge, which can search for a Forest and Plains card simultaneously. However, Krosan Verge requires two lands to be sacrificed, thereby offering a bigger immediate landfall impact albeit at a higher activation cost.
Then there’s Farseek, a spell which permits the search of the library for a Plains, Island, Swamp, or Mountain card and puts it on the battlefield tapped. While not fetching Forests, Farseek allows for more flexibility in mana fixing given it can fetch the nonbasic lands with the mentioned types too. Another comparison is with Terramorphic Expanse, a land with the ability to be sacrificed for any basic land card, offering versatility but only allowing the land to come into play tapped and not untapped as Grasslands once it’s fetched.
Each of these cards provides a distinct approach to land searching, and while they share similarities, Grasslands’ specificity in fetching forest/plains types can be seen as both a limitation and a specialized asset within certain deck builds in Magic: The Gathering.
Cards similar to Grasslands by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Grasslands MTG card by a specific set like Mirage and Duel Decks: Knights vs. Dragons, 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 Grasslands 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 Magic products
Printings
The Grasslands Magic the Gathering card was released in 7 different sets between 1996-10-08 and 2023-08-04. Illustrated by John Avon.
| # | Release | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1996-10-08 | Mirage | MIR | 327 | 1997 | normal | black | John Avon | |
| 2 | 2011-04-01 | Duel Decks: Knights vs. Dragons | DDG | 35 | 2003 | normal | black | John Avon | |
| 3 | 2014-06-16 | Vintage Masters | VMA | 299 | 2015 | normal | black | John Avon | |
| 4 | 2017-08-25 | Commander 2017 | C17 | 252 | 2015 | normal | black | John Avon | |
| 5 | 2021-07-23 | Forgotten Realms Commander | AFC | 242 | 2015 | normal | black | John Avon | |
| 6 | 2022-09-09 | Dominaria United Commander | DMC | 214 | 2015 | normal | black | John Avon | |
| 7 | 2023-08-04 | Commander Masters | CMM | 1002 | 2015 | normal | black | John Avon |
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Grasslands has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Commander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Premodern | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Predh | Legal |
| Penny | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Grasslands card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2004-10-04 | You do not have to find a plains or forest card if you do not want to. |
