Flood Plain MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 6 setsSee all
RarityUncommon
TypeLand

Key Takeaways

  1. Provides strategic card advantage and thins the deck to improve draw quality over time.
  2. Offers flexibility in mana resources, though with constraints to specific deck types.
  3. Essential for mana consistency but challenging tempo trade-offs must be considered.

Text of card

Flood Plain comes into play tapped. oc T, Sacrifice Flood Plain: Search your library for a plains or island card. Put that land into play. Shuffle your library afterwards.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: A key aspect of Flood Plain is its ability to set up card advantage in the long run. Once activated, it not only fetches a land directly to the battlefield but also thins the deck, marginally increasing the chance to draw non-land cards in subsequent turns.

Resource Acceleration: Flood Plain is a dual land card that provides crucial resource acceleration. Upon usage, it filters through the deck and puts a vital land into play, ensuring you get access to the colors needed for key spells without missing a land drop.

Instant Speed: Despite the card entering the battlefield tapped, its search ability is not constrained to sorcery speed. This offers flexibility, allowing players to end their turn without committing to a particular mana color, potentially bluffing instant-speed interaction to keep opponents guessing.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Flood Plain demands sacrificing the land itself upon activation, potentially setting you back a land drop, which can be detrimental in the early to mid-game when developing your mana base is crucial.

Specific Mana Cost: This land specifically searches for an Island or a Plains card, which restricts its role to decks that are based around or can accommodate these two types of mana, potentially limiting its versatility in multicolored decks that do not use these colors.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Flood Plain enters the battlefield tapped, effectively delaying its utility by a turn. This can be a significant drawback in fast-paced games where tempo is key, as players may opt for lands that provide immediate mana access or have a lower opportunity cost.


Reasons to Include Flood Plain in Your Collection

Versatility: Flood Plain offers deck-building flexibility for multi-colored strategies. The ability to search for an Island or Plains ensures you get the mana you need when you need it, fitting into control, combo, or midrange decks with ease.

Combo Potential: This card can set up your deck for powerful plays in subsequent turns. By fetching the specific dual lands or shock lands required for a combo, it effortlessly increases the consistency of pulling off your game-winning moves.

Meta-Relevance: In a game where mana consistency can make or break a match, having access to the right colors at the right time is critical. Flood Plain remains relevant in formats where mana fixing is essential to keeping pace with the ever-evolving competitive landscape.


How to beat

Flood Plain, a land card in the realm of Magic: The Gathering, carries a unique function as a dual land searcher, but this ability comes with a downside – the land enters the battlefield tapped. This feature slightly delays your mana curve, providing an opportunity for opponents. To effectively work around this, tactics would focus on land destruction or stifling your opponent’s mana base. Utilizing an aggressive land destruction strategy can be particularly powerful against decks that rely on lands like Flood Plain for a varied mana base.

Another method involves employing card effects that punish tapped lands or inhibit their utility. Cards like Opposition and Stifle can severely limit the advantages offered by Flood Plain. Speed is also a key factor. Opting for a fast-paced deck can sometimes overwhelm the slower tempo induced by tapped lands, ensuring you’re ahead before Flood Plain’s impact is fully realized. In essence, taking strategic measures to either disrupt the utility of such lands or outpacing the delayed setup can turn the tide to your favor against decks with Flood Plain.


Cards like Flood Plain

Flood Plain joins a niche but vital group of lands in the plane of Magic: The Gathering. It shares similarities with lands such as Bad River, which also fetches a land of two different types – Island or Swamp. Flood Plain, however, seeks out either a Plains or Island, which is indispensable for decks looking to stabilize their mana base with white or blue mana specifically.

In the course of exploring analogous options, Grasslands emerges as another relative with the same basic functionality. Like Flood Plain, Grasslands lies dormant for a turn but then fetches a Plains or Forest, serving green-white decks. Much like its counterparts, Terramorphic Expanse is another version that offers even more flexibility by allowing the search for any basic land type not restricted to two.

Diving deeper into MTG’s landscape of fetch lands, we find Flood Plain’s value becomes clear. Its strength lies not just in mana fixing, but also in enabling landfall abilities and shuffling the library, which can be critical strategies for certain decks. Despite entering the battlefield tapped, it provides long-term advantages for deck consistency, making it a noteworthy consideration for players looking to optimize their mana flow.

Bad River - MTG Card versions
Grasslands - MTG Card versions
Terramorphic Expanse - MTG Card versions
Bad River - Mirage (MIR)
Grasslands - Mirage (MIR)
Terramorphic Expanse - Salvat 2005 (PSAL)

Cards similar to Flood Plain by color, type and mana cost

Mishra's Factory - MTG Card versions
Griffin Canyon - MTG Card versions
Ice Floe - MTG Card versions
Ghost Town - MTG Card versions
City of Brass - MTG Card versions
Bloodstained Mire - MTG Card versions
Zoetic Cavern - MTG Card versions
Grixis Panorama - MTG Card versions
Rupture Spire - MTG Card versions
Terramorphic Expanse - MTG Card versions
Tectonic Edge - MTG Card versions
Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx - MTG Card versions
Buried Ruin - MTG Card versions
Wasteland - MTG Card versions
Eldrazi Temple - MTG Card versions
Maze of Ith - MTG Card versions
Homeward Path - MTG Card versions
Arid Mesa - MTG Card versions
Field of Ruin - MTG Card versions
Arcane Lighthouse - MTG Card versions
Mishra's Factory - Dominaria Remastered (DMR)
Griffin Canyon - Visions (VIS)
Ice Floe - Fifth Edition (5ED)
Ghost Town - Tempest (TMP)
City of Brass - World Championship Decks 2002 (WC02)
Bloodstained Mire - World Championship Decks 2003 (WC03)
Zoetic Cavern - Future Sight (FUT)
Grixis Panorama - Commander 2013 (C13)
Rupture Spire - Magic Online Theme Decks (TD0)
Terramorphic Expanse - Commander 2018 (C18)
Tectonic Edge - Zendikar Expeditions (EXP)
Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx - Theros (THS)
Buried Ruin - Commander 2014 (C14)
Wasteland - Zendikar Rising Expeditions (ZNE)
Eldrazi Temple - Duel Decks: Zendikar vs. Eldrazi (DDP)
Maze of Ith - Eternal Masters (EMA)
Homeward Path - Judge Gift Cards 2017 (J17)
Arid Mesa - Modern Masters 2017 (MM3)
Field of Ruin - Innistrad: Midnight Hunt (MID)
Arcane Lighthouse - Commander Anthology Volume II (CM2)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Flood Plain MTG card by a specific set like Mirage and Duel Decks: Venser vs. Koth, 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 Flood Plain and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Flood Plain Magic the Gathering card was released in 6 different sets between 1996-10-08 and 2023-08-04. Illustrated by Pat Lewis.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
11996-10-08MirageMIR 3261997normalblackPat Lewis
22012-03-30Duel Decks: Venser vs. KothDDI 342003normalblackPat Lewis
32014-06-16Vintage MastersVMA 2962015normalblackPat Lewis
42021-07-23Forgotten Realms CommanderAFC 2372015normalblackPat Lewis
52022-09-09Dominaria United CommanderDMC 2102015normalblackPat Lewis
62023-08-04Commander MastersCMM 9942015normalblackPat Lewis

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Flood Plain has restrictions

FormatLegality
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
OathbreakerLegal
PremodernLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PredhLegal
PennyLegal

Rules and information

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

DateText
2004-10-04 Because the “search” requires you to find a card with certain characteristics, you don't have to find the card if you don't want to.

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