Scrubland MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 16 setsSee all
RarityRare
TypeLand — Plains Swamp

Key Takeaways

  1. Dual lands like Scrubland create card advantage by offering instant mana access without delays.
  2. Scrubland impacts game tactics by enabling instant speed spells through flexible mana.
  3. Despite high market cost, its undeterred accession makes Scrubland a valuable collectible.

Text of card

Counts as both plains and swamp and is affected by spells that affect either. Tap to add either o W or o B to your mana pool.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Scrubland, as a dual land card, comes into play untapped, offering immediate access to both white and black mana. This seamless integration into your mana base reduces the need to draw into additional lands, allowing your deck to focus on non-land cards that provide direct in-game advantages.

Resource Acceleration: Not only does it offer the flexibility of providing two types of mana, Scrubland accelerates your resources by requiring no additional cost to switch between mana colors. This can be a game-changer in multicolored decks where balancing the right mana at the right time is crucial to executing your strategy efficiently.

Instant Speed: While Scrubland itself is a land card and not played at instant speed, it facilitates the use of instant-speed spells by providing the necessary mana without coming into play tapped. This ensures that you have the resources available when you need to react during your opponent’s turn or at the end of their turn, thus maximizing your tactical flexibility.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: While Scrubland does not have a discard requirement itself, having it in your deck usually means you’re building around a strategy that may include card types or spells with discard stipulations. This can sometimes backfire if you’re running low on essential cards and need to maintain a full grip to assert dominance on the battlefield.

Specific Mana Cost: As a dual land card providing both white and black mana, Scrubland can be restrictive if included in a multicolored deck that doesn’t utilize these colors. It becomes a dead draw in scenarios where mana fixing for different colors is imperative, potentially hindering your game progress when you cannot cast spells due to color limitations.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Although Scrubland enters the battlefield untapped and ready to use, its cost on the secondary market is significantly high in comparison to other dual lands or mana-fixing options. This could lead to budget constraints when constructing a deck, as cheaper alternatives might provide similar utility without the financial strain, albeit sometimes at the cost of entering the battlefield tapped or with other conditions.


Reasons to Include Scrubland in Your Collection

Versatility: Scrubland effortlessly slots into various deck builds that require white and black mana. Its ability to produce either color without any penalty makes it a must-have for multicolored strategies.

Combo Potential: This land is a linchpin in combinations that hinge on having an unwavering mana base. Its presence ensures that your pivotal spells and abilities have the resources they need exactly when you need them.

Meta-Relevance: In an environment where dual-colored decks are prevalent, including Scrubland can provide a significant edge. Its inherent stability bolsters your deck’s performance against a wide array of competitive formats.


How to beat

Scrubland, as a much-coveted land card in Magic: The Gathering, offers players the convenience of tapping for both white or black mana, essential for multicolored decks in formats where it’s legal. Its dual nature makes it a staple for many strategies, but it isn’t without vulnerabilities. To effectively challenge a player using Scrubland, prioritizing land disruption is key. Utilizing cards that specifically target nonbasic lands can impede their mana flexibility. For instance, activating effects like Ghost Quarter or Field of Ruin can remove the advantage by forcing the Scrubland user to exchange it for a basic land, which could disrupt their color balance and slow them down considerably.

Cards such as Blood Moon can also turn Scrubland into a basic Mountain, removing its dual-color benefit completely. Additionally, applying pressure on the opponent’s mana base with land destruction decks can make Scrubland a liability if it becomes a repeated target for removal. While Scrubland can be a powerful resource in a player’s mana arsenal, strategic disruption and targeted land removal can effectively counteract the benefits it brings to the table.


Cards like Scrubland

Scrubland holds a firm place in MTG as an essential land card for any player looking to build an efficient dual-color deck. It stands out among other land cards by allowing you to tap for both black and white mana without the need to pay life or have it come into play tapped. In comparison, cards like Temple of Silence also provide black and white mana but with a downside, as this land comes into play tapped and only offers the secondary benefit of scrying.

Another close relative in terms of functionality is Godless Shrine. Although it can be tapped for black or white mana, the key difference lies in the option to have it come into play untapped at the cost of 2 life. This presents a strategic choice depending on the game’s pace and the player’s life total. Additionally, isolated Chapel is a worthy parallel. It shares the color combination but requires you to control a Plains or Swamp to enter the battlefield untapped, placing a conditional requirement on its immediate usability.

All in all, within the realm of mana-fixing lands, Scrubland maintains a competitive edge. Its ability to seamlessly integrate into a deck without the restrictive conditions of entry or life payment fortifies its position as a dependable and highly sought-after card in Magic: The Gathering.

Temple of Silence - MTG Card versions
Godless Shrine - MTG Card versions
Isolated Chapel - MTG Card versions
Temple of Silence - Theros (THS)
Godless Shrine - Guildpact (GPT)
Isolated Chapel - Innistrad (ISD)

Cards similar to Scrubland by color, type and mana cost

Caves of Koilos - MTG Card versions
Shattered Sanctum - MTG Card versions
Brightclimb Pathway // Grimclimb Pathway - MTG Card versions
Orzhov Basilica - MTG Card versions
Temple of Silence - MTG Card versions
Godless Shrine - MTG Card versions
Orzhova, the Church of Deals - MTG Card versions
Fetid Heath - MTG Card versions
Isolated Chapel - MTG Card versions
Orzhov Guildgate - MTG Card versions
Tainted Field - MTG Card versions
Vault of the Archangel - MTG Card versions
Salt Flats - MTG Card versions
Scoured Barrens - MTG Card versions
Forsaken Sanctuary - MTG Card versions
Concealed Courtyard - MTG Card versions
Vault of Champions - MTG Card versions
Great Hall of Starnheim - MTG Card versions
Shineshadow Snarl - MTG Card versions
Snowfield Sinkhole - MTG Card versions
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)
Temple of Silence - Fallout (PIP)
Godless Shrine - Ravnica Remastered (RVR)
Orzhova, the Church of Deals - Guildpact (GPT)
Fetid Heath - March of the Machine Commander (MOC)
Isolated Chapel - Fallout (PIP)
Orzhov Guildgate - Ravnica Remastered (RVR)
Tainted Field - Fallout (PIP)
Vault of the Archangel - March of the Machine Commander (MOC)
Salt Flats - Vintage Masters (VMA)
Scoured Barrens - Tales of Middle-earth Commander (LTC)
Forsaken Sanctuary - Shadows over Innistrad Remastered (SIR)
Concealed Courtyard - Kaladesh (KLD)
Vault of Champions - Commander Masters (CMM)
Great Hall of Starnheim - Kaldheim (KHM)
Shineshadow Snarl - The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Commander (LCC)
Snowfield Sinkhole - Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate (CLB)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Scrubland MTG card by a specific set like Limited Edition Alpha and Limited Edition Beta, 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 Scrubland and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Scrubland Magic the Gathering card was released in 14 different sets between 1993-08-05 and 2022-11-28. Illustrated by 4 different artists.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
11993-08-05Limited Edition AlphaLEA 2811993normalblackJesper Myrfors
21993-10-04Limited Edition BetaLEB 2821993normalblackJesper Myrfors
31993-12-01Unlimited Edition2ED 2821993normalwhiteJesper Myrfors
41993-12-10Intl. Collectors' EditionCEI 2821993normalblackJesper Myrfors
51993-12-10Collectors' EditionCED 2821993normalblackJesper Myrfors
61994-04-01Revised Edition3ED 2861993normalwhiteJesper Myrfors
71994-04-01Foreign Black BorderFBB 2861993normalblackJesper Myrfors
81994-06-21Summer Magic / EdgarSUM 2861993normalwhiteJesper Myrfors
92002-06-24Magic Online PromosPRM 436161997normalblackEytan Zana
102009-09-07Masters Edition IIIME3 2101997normalblackJesper Myrfors
112011-01-02Legacy ChampionshipOLGC 20182015normalblackMark Poole
122011-01-02Legacy ChampionshipOLGC 2022B2015normalblackRaoul Vitale
132011-01-10Masters Edition IVME4 2511997normalblackJesper Myrfors
142014-06-16Vintage MastersVMA 3132015normalblackEytan Zana
152022-11-2830th Anniversary Edition30A 2772015normalblackJesper Myrfors
162022-11-2830th Anniversary Edition30A 5741997normalblackJesper Myrfors

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Scrubland has restrictions

FormatLegality
OldschoolLegal
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
OathbreakerLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PredhLegal

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Scrubland card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

DateText
2008-10-01 This has basic land types, but it isn’t a basic land. Things that affect basic lands don’t affect it. Things that affect basic land types do.
2008-10-01 This has the mana abilities associated with both of its basic land types.

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