Lands are the best part of Magic. Sure the other cards allow you to “do things” but the foundation is the land. Whether the humble basic land or the most ridiculous source of multiple colors ever, I’ve always enjoyed basic lands. And my first collection was of dual lands. Sure this was MAYBE spurred by some insider trading allegations (i.e., I read the episode of the Duelist and my friends hadn’t) but I got em! One of each! They are now known as Lil Chandra’s college fund!

And in my original trade binder, I put together a very nice 3×3 with a clear center square.

Ahhhh, so elegant. But then I got a new trade binder that is a bifold and now has a 4×3 layout! Must… reorganize… cards!

There is no longer a clear center square. There are two center squares, but are we really going to sully majesty of the OG dual land by putting it with a Fetch or–god have mercy–a shock land? Not on my watch! But upon reflection, the answer is clear: chronological!

It’s actually pretty neat seeing the shifts in design, the long drought (1995-2002) between Ice Age duals and the Fetch lands in Onslaught block, and the tinkering with subtypes. Of course, we don’t quite get to 12 rare dual lands this way. Why? Because Wizards is a tease!

Kissing your cousin, aka tapped lands

While staples of Limited play, they just lack that je ne sais quoi of a true dual land sitting in the rare slot. Meandering River tried to get there with being uncommon, but despite fantastic art just doesn’t get there. And don’t think I don’t see the Temples masquerading up there; they will be the first pitched overboard when I get to 13 choices.

incomplete cycles

There are a trio of incomplete cycles. Earlier sets have printed five of them, but not the other half. Allied colors for the cycling and flip-pathway lands while enemy colors got the Horizon Canopy series in Modern Horizons. The cycling land is neat, but also ETB tapped. I don’t love how the pathways only show one color of mana on each side (the footnote doesn’t count) as it will look like a mono-land amongst the true duals. The Horizon lands are clear frontrunners and frankly can’t come soon enough.

Weird stuff

Again, I respect these. But I don’t love them. Out you go!

In conclusion, lands are the best and I look forward to chasing down both the first printing of each (replace Khans fetch lands with the originals) and whatever Wizards cooks up next.