Land Tax and replacements

knight_seb
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Post by knight_seb » 2 years ago

Hello everyone,

Recently, I saw myself removing Land Tax from several decks to replace it with Tithe and/or Gift of Estates . Land tax is really good when played early in the game and is often a dead draw late. On the contrary, even if the boost is weaker, Tithe and Gift of estates are never a dead draw.

What is your opinion ? What makes you prefer to play Land Tax (or its replacements) ? Is there a replacement I missed ?

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pokken
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Post by pokken » 2 years ago

I tend to like to play both Tithe and Land Tax before Gift of Estates. But gift is real good and i can see a deck that doesn't want tax. My decks tend to like the repeatable things tax does and the pip of devotion at cost as well.

But if I only had one, Tithe is basically an autoinclude in white decks for me. You play it instead of a land and its absolute worst mode is functionally similar to an ETB tapped triland which is not the worst card to play, and its best mode is turning a 1 land hand into a slam keep.

I am running a whole extensive 'plainsramp' package in one of my decks now as an alternative to the whole signet thing, and admittedly it does take some stars aligning because you need sac outlets to enable stuf like Boreas Charger but it's still pretty lit that I seem to be able to be ramping solidly in white with no mana rocks.
And fetchlands of course Sooo far it seems to be working out pretty well. I'm able to keep up most of the time and every so often I get way ahead with a Scorched Ruins on Flagstones of Trokair into Knight of the White Orchid or similar

(I am not running solemn and kor cartographer because I just don't have room and Stoic Farmer fixes more bad hands)

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Post by Sinis » 2 years ago

My games to end to be slow and grindy, and I will typically get more than one trigger out of land tax. Second, Land Tax can find non-plains. My only current deck with white also puts itself behind with Lotus Vale, Scorched Ruins, Lotus Field and Kjeldoran Outpost making these cards more consistent (it's worth it, I promise).

IME, Land Tax making you wait a turn isn't all that bad compared to the upsides (for me, in my environment).

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Post by folding_music » 2 years ago

I think land tax''s fixing is better the deeper into extra colours you go? Your single temple garden/whatever might already be in play at which point Gift of Estates is either fetching a tapland or a $500 card, or nothing you're looking for, cos it can't grab a forest!

ps: lucky enough to have a 4th ed Land Tax and a Kaja Foglio Gift of Estates and I like to break them out in decks where I'm including shuffle effects, never had the chance to play Tithe.

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Post by TheAmericanSpirit » 2 years ago

I think Land Tax is being undersold in this discussion. If you can ever draw 6 cards with it, even if they're all basic, it's essentially the best white CA ever printed for 1 cmc. If you're only able to get three, that's less good but I've been able to get 12 off this bad boy more than once. As someone who runs about 20 basics per deck regardless of colors or other fixing, I've never run short on things to get but I have slow rolled down to 1-2 basics/turn on occasion to stretch the shuffle effect to its limits. That shuffle is no joke, even if you fail to find.
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Post by pokken » 2 years ago

Er, Gift of Estates getting Plains means it can fix significantly better than Land Tax most of the time since it can grab duals and shocks.

It's also got the niche mode of get Prairie Stream, Sunken Hollow and a basic Plains to support them which I have used more than once :)

Side note:

I do use Land Tax as a discard outlet quite a lot, and it's a very useful effect to be able to repeatedly discard fatties to handsize. So that's something to think about too.

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Post by ISBPathfinder » 2 years ago

I still run Tithe in most mono white and two color non green decks but I don't run Land Tax really anymore. There is a big reason as to why I don't run Land Tax anymore and that mostly two reasons:

1) Card Advantage - Land Tax functions like a card advantage engine making sure you have land drops and you can abuse it with a few things but more importantly to this is that the better your draw is, the worse land tax tends to be. White has had a long history of having issues with card draw and card advantage but with a lot of newer cards we have been getting card draw / card advantage in the command zone, in colorless cards, and even on occasion in white non legendary cards. The better your draw tends to be, the less important / good Land Tax tends to be. If you draw several cards a turn you probably still get to hit those lands but you also have more nonland things to play. Land Tax only ever gets you your land drops on its own. That isn't nothing but as your draw gets better it does get worse.
2) Equipment - It might seem a bit minor but in mono white you have a decent reason to run equipment. They have several very efficient equipment tutor effects and even a few means of recurring equipment via things like Sun Titan and Emeria Shepherd. Sword of the Animist, Dowsing Dagger, and Sword of Hearth and Home specifically give you ramp and white has the tutors to get them out early. Dowsing will just put you one ahead but the other two I have found to quickly disable Land Tax effects.

So, my suggestion is sort of towards the lines of a tuned and good deck doesn't need Land Tax but a budget one might. The problem is that Land Tax isn't a budget card so my suggestion is mostly to not buy them if you don't have them because at some point when you have a good ideal list together I often don't think you need Land Tax. I also think a lot of people get hung up on how good Land Tax is on turn 1 but overlook how bad it tends to be later. If you don't have lands to play to the board drawing that Land Tax doesn't give you a land or anything to impact the board right now. Its a mana commitment that doesn't pay off until the next turn. Its a card that can start out strong but tends to get weaker the later you draw it. I also think that Weathered Wayfarer far outshines it in his ability to get lands like Emeria, the Sky Ruin, Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, and Ancient Tomb to name a few. Wayfarer is ramp and utility on top of guaranteeing the same land drops every turn with the small cost of one mana a turn that it more than makes up for by getting you ramp. In my mind, the only thing I can really chalk up that Land Tax has over Wayfarer is that its harder to kill an enchantment than it is a 1/1 creature. Land Tax does also have the Scroll Rack / Brainstorm styles of card advantage but generally I like to measure the value of a card on what it does on its own or with your commander than trying to set up combos of cards in your deck that don't win you the game.

In Short: My preference tends to be towards Weathered Wayfarer and Tithe. Even when Land Tax works optimally I just find it ok and mostly redundant with having good draw plus the turn delay can really suck if you don't get it early game.
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Post by Outcryqq » 2 years ago

Isn't Gift of Estates a dead card in the same situations where Land Tax is dead card? Both do nothing unless you have an opponent that has more lands than you. They're both equally dead late game. That said, I still like Land Tax - Tithe - Gift of Estates, in that order, in most of my decks. The possibility to trigger Land Tax multiple times, and its usefulness in multi color decks, pushes it ahead for me.

In terms of other options: Archaeomancer's Map has been awesome for me. I only have one copy, which is a shame. Some of the creature versions, listed thoroughly by @pokken above, are pretty good.

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Post by Sinis » 2 years ago

TheAmericanSpirit wrote:
2 years ago
I think Land Tax is being undersold in this discussion.
Not going to mince words, when I saw that Land Tax was getting displaced by Gift of Estates, I lost it a little. "Landcestral Recall" not making the cut? REALLY?!

But, there is a timing thing to consider, here. Gift of Estates does pay you out immediately, and maybe that matters to you (especially if you flash it back, and then do weird stuff with Seismic Assault or something). It's a difference worth noting, though I think the charge that land tax is worse later in the game is false. If you need the lands immediately in later in the game, Land Tax will cost you one (presumably you will get your three lands next turn) but not get you your lands immediately. Gift of Estates will cost you two, but give you a land to play immediately, costing net-one. So, the same, unless you have additional land plays.

I think Land Tax is a better card, for sure. I once had a game that was down to 1v1, we were both topdecking, and my opponent stayed one land behind me, Turn over turn, he removed basics from his deck and eventually won on card parity. In another game, I had someone stay a land behind, pick up basics, discard them, and eventually play Planar Birth.

It's hard to overstate how bonkers Land Tax can be.

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Post by ISBPathfinder » 2 years ago

TheAmericanSpirit wrote:
2 years ago
I think Land Tax is being undersold in this discussion. If you can ever draw 6 cards with it, even if they're all basic, it's essentially the best white CA ever printed for 1 cmc. If you're only able to get three, that's less good but I've been able to get 12 off this bad boy more than once. As someone who runs about 20 basics per deck regardless of colors or other fixing, I've never run short on things to get but I have slow rolled down to 1-2 basics/turn on occasion to stretch the shuffle effect to its limits. That shuffle is no joke, even if you fail to find.
Its worth noting that it can be very hard to keep all of the cards in your hand. I often find that if I am getting more than 1-2 lands from this sort of effect that I am going beyond maximum hand size and discarding several of them. The better your draw is the more often you will just be finding a land for the turn or discarding cards due to having searched up too many lands. Sometimes you want to discard lands but I think its worth noting that because you get 6 lands over two turns it doesn't mean you can hold onto all of those.

Also I can't tell you the number of times I have disabled these effects due to ramping myself and not missing land drops. It really depends a lot on how many green ramp decks you have in your meta. Sword of the Animist and the new Sword of Hearth and Home can quickly outpace a lot of decks that aren't dedicated heavily to ramp and white equipment tutors are some of the better things white brings to commander (that and wrahts).
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Post by Sinis » 2 years ago

ISBPathfinder wrote:
2 years ago
Its worth noting that it can be very hard to keep all of the cards in your hand. I often find that if I am getting more than 1-2 lands from this sort of effect that I am going beyond maximum hand size and discarding several of them.
This isn't really a stroke against LT vs. GoE, though. If you don't have room for 3 cards in your hand, you don't have room for 3 cards in your hand. I find that's one of the reasons I find Tithe to be infinitely superior to GoE.

-----

Also, obligatory mention for Enlightened Tutor or Idyllic Tutor finding Land Tax in a pinch.

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Post by ISBPathfinder » 2 years ago

Sinis wrote:
2 years ago
ISBPathfinder wrote:
2 years ago
Its worth noting that it can be very hard to keep all of the cards in your hand. I often find that if I am getting more than 1-2 lands from this sort of effect that I am going beyond maximum hand size and discarding several of them.
This isn't really a stroke against LT vs. GoE, though. If you don't have room for 3 cards in your hand, you don't have room for 3 cards in your hand. I find that's one of the reasons I find Tithe to be infinitely superior to GoE.

-----

Also, obligatory mention for Enlightened Tutor or Idyllic Tutor finding Land Tax in a pinch.
Yea, I honestly don't think I would say that Gift of Estates is anything more than a budget substitution. The card is worse than a lot of ideal cards and its price tag tends to show that. If you are on a budget and running cheaper cards as substitutes then my suggestion has always been along the lines of run whatever you have / can cheaply get and Gift of Estates does fit that role but its far from an ideal card in a tuned non budget list.

If Gift of Estates wasn't like $0.50 I would write it off as just unplayable but its cheap enough to be budget at this point.
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Post by Dragoon » 2 years ago

ISBPathfinder wrote:
2 years ago
Its worth noting that it can be very hard to keep all of the cards in your hand. I often find that if I am getting more than 1-2 lands from this sort of effect that I am going beyond maximum hand size and discarding several of them. The better your draw is the more often you will just be finding a land for the turn or discarding cards due to having searched up too many lands. Sometimes you want to discard lands but I think its worth noting that because you get 6 lands over two turns it doesn't mean you can hold onto all of those.
Draw is draw, it doesn't matter if you can't keep the cards. Nobody is going to say Rishkar's Expertise is bad because you are likely to end up with more than 7 cards in hand. Late game, it can also filter out lands so that you are more likely to draw gas.
ISBPathfinder wrote:
2 years ago
Also I can't tell you the number of times I have disabled these effects due to ramping myself and not missing land drops. It really depends a lot on how many green ramp decks you have in your meta. Sword of the Animist and the new Sword of Hearth and Home can quickly outpace a lot of decks that aren't dedicated heavily to ramp and white equipment tutors are some of the better things white brings to commander (that and wrahts).
Equipments require you to have creatures to attack with, and they're way more vulnerable to removal (oppponents can target either the equipment itself or the creature it's attached to). Also, some decks need to ramp first then play their creatures, and those equipments don't help in that regard. Some decks will certainly be happier with the equipments, but I think it's a stretch to say that Land Tax is bad because those equipment exists. I also like Weathered Wayfarer but it is way more vulnerable and gets only one land at a time, even if it can be a utility land. I can probably keep a one-land hand with Land Tax (unless I go first), but I'll feel hesitant keeping a one-land hand with Weathered Wayfarer.

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Post by pokken » 2 years ago

Outcryqq wrote:
2 years ago
In terms of other options: Archaeomancer's Map has been awesome for me.
It's a bummer it's so pricy, I got two by preordering one and getting the other in the deck but man I am not buying anymore. They print a card that's basically white Cultivate in terms of demand and it's not super accessible which bites.

I have a feeling they are going to keep printing that kinda effect since it's so well received and it's really exciting.

I know others think white's issues are card advantage, but I think white has generally decent approaches to CA (things like sweepers, and Emeria Shepherd type stuff, etc.) but lags behind by being generally strategically at odds with artifact ramp (white likes creatures and enchantments, and things with pips), Having white be the second best ramp colors presents a ton of additional ways to build decks that do not require patching with 10 mana rocks.

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Post by ISBPathfinder » 2 years ago

Dragoon wrote:
2 years ago
ISBPathfinder wrote:
2 years ago
Its worth noting that it can be very hard to keep all of the cards in your hand. I often find that if I am getting more than 1-2 lands from this sort of effect that I am going beyond maximum hand size and discarding several of them. The better your draw is the more often you will just be finding a land for the turn or discarding cards due to having searched up too many lands. Sometimes you want to discard lands but I think its worth noting that because you get 6 lands over two turns it doesn't mean you can hold onto all of those.
Draw is draw, it doesn't matter if you can't keep the cards. Nobody is going to say Rishkar's Expertise is bad because you are likely to end up with more than 7 cards in hand. Late game, it can also filter out lands so that you are more likely to draw gas.
ISBPathfinder wrote:
2 years ago
Also I can't tell you the number of times I have disabled these effects due to ramping myself and not missing land drops. It really depends a lot on how many green ramp decks you have in your meta. Sword of the Animist and the new Sword of Hearth and Home can quickly outpace a lot of decks that aren't dedicated heavily to ramp and white equipment tutors are some of the better things white brings to commander (that and wrahts).
Equipments require you to have creatures to attack with, and they're way more vulnerable to removal (oppponents can target either the equipment itself or the creature it's attached to). Also, some decks need to ramp first then play their creatures, and those equipments don't help in that regard. Some decks will certainly be happier with the equipments, but I think it's a stretch to say that Land Tax is bad because those equipment exists. I also like Weathered Wayfarer but it is way more vulnerable and gets only one land at a time, even if it can be a utility land. I can probably keep a one-land hand with Land Tax (unless I go first), but I'll feel hesitant keeping a one-land hand with Weathered Wayfarer.
Lands lose a lot more value in duplicate in that its going to take time to deploy them to play. Deck thinning is a thing, but statistically in commander its fairly minor (100 card decks) and it takes drawing a lot of cards after thinning a bunch to noticeably find much of a difference.

Having cheap efficient creatures with a low curve is part of good deckbuilding. I am not saying you can't have six drops but having an appropriate curve with early game draw and card advantage is usually a bigger deal than slow rolling to a deck full of six drops.

I get you on Wayfarer being more susceptible to removal but I would also argue that keeping a hand with few lands relying on either Land Tax or Wayfarer living are both a bit sketch.
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Post by Sinis » 2 years ago

ISBPathfinder wrote:
2 years ago
Yea, I honestly don't think I would say that Gift of Estates is anything more than a budget substitution.
Well, there is an art consideration. Foglio fans will note the original portal art (Land Tax's original art notwithstanding), and the Mystical Archive art is genuinely very pretty:

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Post by Ruiner » 2 years ago

I know it isn't an obscure combo, but the ability to combo Land Tax with Scroll Rack has made a difference in decks that look to play the long game. Generally I'm running enough enchantments or artifacts when I'm running white to justify the inclusion of things like Enlightened Tutor which can help get that online.

Land tax filling your hand with lands that you can just discard for things like Sun Titan to ramp you if needed is also fairly useful.

Land Tax and Tithe are basically my first inclusions in a deck that is heavy on white. Budget concerns aside, it's hard to justify not running them both, just for increasing the odds of drawing some sort of effect like this.

Weathered Wayfarer is also a great slower consideration (but getting any land is a huge difference).

Gift of Estates is certainly a good cheaper alternative though, I've run it before.

In my limited experience with it so far, Archaeomancer's Map has been pretty solid as well. It's not exactly a budget card either though unfortunately. Being able to get from that 3 mana spot to 5 mana (just by essentially guaranteeing your land drops for the next two turns, forgetting the Burgeoning effect) is good in a deck that isn't green. The Burgeoning effect has been awesome as well when it is able to be utilized.

All of this goes out the window for a deck that also has green.

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Post by Sinis » 2 years ago

Ruiner wrote:
2 years ago
All of this goes out the window for a deck that also has green.
I think it goes without saying that if you have the option to play green cards instead of white ones, the green cards are almost always better.

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Post by Dragoon » 2 years ago

ISBPathfinder wrote:
2 years ago
Lands lose a lot more value in duplicate in that its going to take time to deploy them to play. Deck thinning is a thing, but statistically in commander its fairly minor (100 card decks) and it takes drawing a lot of cards after thinning a bunch to noticeably find much of a difference.
Deck thinning is rather inconsequential when it comes to fetchlands, but if you take 6-9 lands out of your deck, that's a significant change. Also, the good news about fetching multiple lands at once is that you don't need the enchantment to stay around for you to keep the value. Let's say you played Land Tax on Turn 1. If it gets blown up on Turn 2, you still have your lands in hand. If it was Weathered Wayfarer, you only got one land and you might soon miss land drops.
ISBPathfinder wrote:
2 years ago
Having cheap efficient creatures with a low curve is part of good deckbuilding. I am not saying you can't have six drops but having an appropriate curve with early game draw and card advantage is usually a bigger deal than slow rolling to a deck full of six drops.
Lowering your curve is good, but some decks do not rely on creatures at all, or only on high MV creatures. That does not mean they have a high curve, just that their creatures are not compatible with that equipment package. For some decks, this is just not feasible or not desirable. If your ramp package needs both cheap evasive creatures and equipment, and even tutor for those equipments, it will take a considerable amount of space in your deck. If there's overlap with your overall strategy, that's not a problem. If there's none though, that sucks. I prefer cards that may be less efficient but require less setup, such as Land Tax.
ISBPathfinder wrote:
2 years ago
I get you on Wayfarer being more susceptible to removal but I would also argue that keeping a hand with few lands relying on either Land Tax or Wayfarer living are both a bit sketch.
Bad hands happen all the time though, that's why mulligan exists. I want a good portion of my ramp and draw spells to be as cheap and reliable as possible, and not come in multiple pieces. What if that 1-land hand is your second mulligan already? In this case, Land Tax saved you another mulligan whereas Weathered Wayfarer did not. It is the same argument as Stoic Farmer vs Kor Cartographer for example.

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Post by ISBPathfinder » 2 years ago

Ruiner wrote:
2 years ago
Weathered Wayfarer is also a great slower consideration (but getting any land is a huge difference).
I assume you are referring to the fact that it costs you a W per turn to activate? Because otherwise you get to get your land at like the exact same time as you would with Land Tax. It can be offset to some degree by getting lands that produce more than one mana also but it does tend to consume some mana upfront. I have this really sweet opener plan in one of my mono white decks with a Wayfarer start that is along the lines of this:

T1: W producing Land, cast Weathered Wayfarer
T2: Tutor for and play Flagstones of Trokair
T3: Tutor for and play Lotus Field sacing the other two lands which triggers Flagstones of Trokair getting another plains.
T4: Tutor for and play Thespian's Stage. Copy Lotus Field.

Its a four turn setup but it leaves you with 3 lands on turn 4 and 7 mana on untap. It plays well to the whole having less lands concept and it ramps really well considering it only needs to start with a Wayfarer and a land. It takes some time and setup but usually ramping costs you mana somewhere anyways and this actually inflates your hand while you deploy it instead of costing cards and still leaves Wayfarer to get other utility / ramp after doing its thing. It plays really well to white sweepers too as it leaves you ramped but not weak to your own potential sweepers in that the ramp was all in lands.
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Post by pokken » 2 years ago

I'll keep one landers with wayfarer, tithe or land tax daily and nightly and ever so rightly :P

Wayfarer also is insanely good. acting as a signet basically by being able to get Ancient Tomb is the main use in Ephara, but I also really like being able to get Mystic Sanctuary or Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx or Emeria, the Sky Ruin, etc.
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Post by Wallycaine » 2 years ago

ISBPathfinder wrote:
2 years ago
Ruiner wrote:
2 years ago
Weathered Wayfarer is also a great slower consideration (but getting any land is a huge difference).
I assume you are referring to the fact that it costs you a W per turn to activate? Because otherwise you get to get your land at like the exact same time as you would with Land Tax.
Getting 1 land a turn as opposed to 3 lands a turn is also fairly relevant when it comes to "speed".

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Post by pokken » 2 years ago

Wallycaine wrote:
2 years ago
Getting 1 land a turn as opposed to 3 lands a turn is also fairly relevant when it comes to "speed".
In EDH "speed" is almost always talking about ramp.

EDIT: Although in the context of the discussion I see what you're meaning, I missed part of that :) Sorry!

Personally I would not think of Land Tax as ever being "fast" - it's "efficient" not "fast." Wayfarer is a much faster card, because it generates positive mana and does so at a very efficient rate.

Land tax is a very efficient draw spell, nothing fast about it since it doesn't make you do anything fast.

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Post by Dragoon » 2 years ago

It's also worth mentioning that getting more lands into your hand works great with Archaeomancer's Map, to truly turn it into bad Burgeoning :P (which is still good).

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Post by Ruiner » 2 years ago

ISBPathfinder wrote:
2 years ago
Ruiner wrote:
2 years ago
Weathered Wayfarer is also a great slower consideration (but getting any land is a huge difference).
I assume you are referring to the fact that it costs you a W per turn to activate? Because otherwise you get to get your land at like the exact same time as you would with Land Tax.
Yeah, it's two mana spread over two turns for the first payoff (unless you can give it haste). Potentially, depending on your hand, the mana cost on the following turn could make a difference versus Land Tax being "free". Tithe or Gift of Estates would get you the land immediately also.

All that said, Weathered Wayfarer is an awesome card of course, hard not to include in a heavy white deck. The line you laid out is a clear good example of that. Being able to just simply grab Ancient Tomb to play out an expensive card quicker (like top curve angels in a Bruna deck) can be super useful. Or getting Emeria, the Sky Ruin when it is crucial. The card is super versatile.

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