Port Town MTG Card
2016-04-08 - Number 278
2016-04-08 - Number 278s
2021-07-23 - Number 255
2021-11-19 - Number 178
2022-02-18 - Number 174
2022-04-29 - Number 420
2022-10-07 - Number 289
2022-10-07 - Number 289★
2023-03-21 - Number 273
2023-04-21 - Number 419
2023-06-23 - Number 323
2023-08-04 - Number 1019
2023-10-13 - Number 1098
2023-10-13 - Number 885
2023-10-13 - Number 507
2023-10-13 - Number 294
2002-06-24 - Number 88400
| Card sets | Released in 17 setsSee all |
| Rarity | Rare |
| Type | Land |
Key Takeaways
- Port Town aids deck efficiency with potential for untapped entry, impacting early mana curve and game tempo.
- Revealing a card requirement helps maintain land draws later but may also signal your strategy to opponents.
- While it excels in blue-white decks, its utility may be limited in other color-based strategies, affecting versatility.
Text of card
As Port Town enters the battlefield, you may reveal a Plains or Island card from your hand. If you don't, Port Town enters the battlefield tapped. : Add or to your mana pool.
A haunted fog known as the Nebelgast shrouds the cities along Nephalia's coast.
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Entering the battlefield tapped unless you reveal a Plains or Island card from your hand can streamline your strategy, offering an early game advantage. This ensures that in the later stages of the game, you’re more likely to draw into action rather than additional lands.
Resource Acceleration: Port Town allows for swift mana availability tailored to specific deck needs. It supports two of the most pivotal colors in MTG, enabling quicker casting of impactful spells and establishing a robust mana base.
Instant Speed: While not an instant itself, Port Town facilitates instant speed plays by smoothing out your mana curve. This enables a more efficient and reactive game plan, letting players respond to their opponent’s threats effectively with countermagic or instant-speed interaction.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: Port Town presents the challenge of revealing another land card from your hand to enter the battlefield untapped. This can telegraph your plays to opponents and be a drawback if your hand runs low on lands.
Specific Mana Cost: As a dual land tailored for blue and white mana, Port Town can be situational and is not an optimal choice for decks that are centered around different color combinations, potentially restricting its versatility.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: Although not directly related to casting cost, the entry cost in terms of deckbuilding—namely the need to have a high volume of islands and plains—can be considered high. There are other dual lands in the game that may require less stringent conditions for coming into play untapped.
Reasons to Include in Your Collection
Versatility: Port Town excels in its ability to serve as a dual land in decks that require both white and blue mana. Its flexibility to come into play untapped if you reveal a Plains or Island makes it a reliable choice for a variety of deck builds focusing on speed and efficiency.
Combo Potential: As a land with the capacity to provide two colors of mana, Port Town has inherent synergy with cards that benefit from land type manipulation or require specific mana colors to activate powerful combos and abilities.
Meta-Relevance: In a metagame teeming with multicolored decks that demand a stable mana base, Port Town offers a competitive edge. Its place in a collection hinges on its ability to consistently provide essential mana without the drawback of entering the battlefield tapped when properly planned.
How to beat
Port Town is a land card that finds its place in many decks within Magic the Gathering for its capacity to streamline mana production. Part of its strength lies in its potential to provide players with white or blue mana from the get-go. However, the caveat that comes with Port Town is the requirement to reveal a Plains or Island card from your hand in order to have it enter the battlefield untapped.
When facing an opponent utilizing Port Town, a key strategy is applying pressure early in the game. Cards that disrupt your opponent’s land base, such as Ghost Quarter and Field of Ruin, can be crucial. These provide the ability to target and destroy Port Town, forcing it into the graveyard before your opponent can fully benefit from its mana-fixing capabilities. Furthermore, land-hate spells like Blood Moon can render Port Town ineffective by essentially transforming it into a simple Mountain, depriving your opponent of crucial blue or white mana at a critical moment in the match.
Overall, by anticipating the reveal requirement and incorporating land disruption or transformation tactics, you can mitigate the advantages Port Town offers and maintain the upper hand in your matches.
Cards like Port Town
Port Town is an interesting land card in Magic: The Gathering that shares similarities with a number of other dual lands. It has the distinctive characteristic of revealing another Plains or Island from your hand to have it enter the battlefield untapped. This feature is reminiscent of the check lands like Glacial Fortress, which also requires a player to reveal a land of a specific type or have it already in play for it to come into play untapped.
Centuries-old issues with lands entering the battlefield tapped have been cleverly addressed by cards like Prairie Stream as well, which comes untapped if you control two or more basic lands. Although Prairie Stream meets this condition more easily in a two-colored deck, it doesn’t provide the immediate benefit of producing mana the turn it is played unless the condition is met. Both Port Town and Prairie Stream are valuable in different scenarios and deck compositions, especially considering the speed of the deck and the mana base consistency requirements.
When evaluating utility and deck synergy, Port Town stands out in environments where revealing a card isn’t a downside, and playing on curve is critical. It’s particularly useful in ensuring your game starts off without the delay of a tapped land, positioning it as a strong option for dual-colored decks.
Cards similar to Port Town by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Port Town MTG card by a specific set like Magic Online Promos and Shadows over Innistrad, 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 Port Town 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 Port Town Magic the Gathering card was released in 13 different sets between 2016-04-08 and 2023-10-13. Illustrated by 5 different artists.
Show/hide all sets| # | Release | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Magic Online Promos | PRM | 88400 | 2015 | normal | black | Kamila Szutenberg | ||
| 2 | 2016-04-08 | Shadows over Innistrad | SOI | 278 | 2015 | normal | black | Noah Bradley | |
| 3 | 2016-04-08 | Shadows over Innistrad Promos | PSOI | 278s | 2015 | normal | black | Noah Bradley | |
| 4 | 2021-07-23 | Forgotten Realms Commander | AFC | 255 | 2015 | normal | black | Kamila Szutenberg | |
| 5 | 2021-11-19 | Crimson Vow Commander | VOC | 178 | 2015 | normal | black | Kamila Szutenberg | |
| 6 | 2022-02-18 | Neon Dynasty Commander | NEC | 174 | 2015 | normal | black | Kamila Szutenberg | |
| 7 | 2022-04-29 | New Capenna Commander | NCC | 420 | 2015 | normal | black | Kamila Szutenberg | |
| 8 | 2022-10-07 | Warhammer 40,000 Commander | 40K | 289 | 2015 | normal | black | Eliz Roxs | |
| 9 | 2022-10-07 | Warhammer 40,000 Commander | 40K | 289★ | 2015 | normal | black | Eliz Roxs | |
| 10 | 2023-03-21 | Shadows over Innistrad Remastered | SIR | 273 | 2015 | normal | black | Kamila Szutenberg | |
| 11 | 2023-04-21 | March of the Machine Commander | MOC | 419 | 2015 | normal | black | Kamila Szutenberg | |
| 12 | 2023-06-23 | Tales of Middle-earth Commander | LTC | 323 | 2015 | normal | black | Marina Ortega Lorente | |
| 13 | 2023-08-04 | Commander Masters | CMM | 1019 | 2015 | normal | black | Kamila Szutenberg | |
| 14 | 2023-10-13 | Doctor Who | WHO | 1098 | 2015 | normal | black | Alexander Gering | |
| 15 | 2023-10-13 | Doctor Who | WHO | 885 | 2015 | normal | black | Alexander Gering | |
| 16 | 2023-10-13 | Doctor Who | WHO | 507 | 2015 | normal | black | Alexander Gering | |
| 17 | 2023-10-13 | Doctor Who | WHO | 294 | 2015 | normal | black | Alexander Gering |
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Port Town has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Historicbrawl | Legal |
| Historic | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Gladiator | Legal |
| Pioneer | Legal |
| Commander | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Explorer | Legal |
| Penny | Legal |
| Timeless | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Port Town card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2016-04-08 | If a Plains or Island is entering the battlefield from your hand at the same time as Port Town, you may reveal the other land to have Port Town enter untapped. |
| 2016-04-08 | If an effect instructs you to put Port Town onto the battlefield tapped, it will still enter the battlefield tapped even if you reveal a land card from your hand. |
| 2016-04-08 | Lands don't have a subtype just because they can produce mana of the corresponding color. Port Town itself is neither a Plains nor an Island, even though it produces white and blue mana, so you can't reveal one to satisfy the ability of another. |
| 2016-04-08 | You may reveal any land card with either or both of the appropriate subtypes. It doesn't have to be a basic land. For example, you could reveal Canopy Vista from the Battle for Zendikar set to satisfy the ability of Port Town. |
