The Most Valuable Lands In MTG

Summary

• Expensive land cards like Gaea’s Cradle, Mutavault, and Library of Alexandria offer unique abilities and mana generation.
• Some lands are part of the Reserved List, limiting reprints and driving up prices due to rarity and demand.
• Dual lands like Volcanic Island, Tundra, and Savannah provide flexibility and mana fixing, crucial for high-powered decks.

Lands are perhaps the most crucial element to build a Magic: The Gathering deck. You use them to cast spells, draw cards, or even swing in at your opponents.

That said, some of them can get pretty darn pricey, especially for the older cards. If you are looking to take your Commander deck to the maximum power or found some old cards in the attic, you might want to check this list for the most valuable land cards in the game.

Serialized cards will fluctuate wildly and often are hard to buy, so we left those out. The prices are from TCGplayer.com’s Market Value.

10

Gaea’s Cradle

Urza’s Saga – $812.63

Easily one of the most explosive lands in the game, Gaea’s Cradle can produce more mana from a single land than most other lands, and because of it, is highly valued in any green deck.

The other issue driving the price of this older land up is that it was printed in 1998, so it’s pushing 30 years old now. It’s also a part of the Reserved List, a special collection of cards that will never be functionally reprinted by Wizards of the Coast ever again. There have been cards printed that are similar, but never near as efficient.

9

Mutavault

Champs Promo – $1179.95

It is pretty common when you’re participating in an event to earn some type of promo card. Oftentimes, it’s a foil version of a popular card in whatever format you’re playing. If you do well, you might earn yourself another promo if you’re among the top percentile of players, especially if you’re in the top eight players in an event.

Such is the case with this promo Mutavault, given away for the 2007 Champs tournament, the first major series of tournaments worldwide. As a curious choice, only the top two players of each Champs event were rewarded with this version of Mutavault. It’s unknown exactly how many of this promo exist, but the number is likely well below 1,000.

8

Volcanic Island

Unlimited – $1257.03

Old dual lands are almost always going to hold their value, with a few of them miles ahead of the others. Three main dual lands are most commonly played across multiple decks, with the first of them being Volcanic Island.

These lands are nicknamed ‘duel lands’ since they provide two colors of mana and have since become a common cycle.

This land counts for both an Island and a Mountain, and is fetchable by most, making them an essential part of any Legacy deck that runs either of these colors.

7

Library Of Alexandria

Arabian Nights – $1851.53

Sometimes you don’t play lands because of the mana they provide, but instead for the extra abilities they have. The very strong Library of Alexandria is perhaps one of the best lands ever printed, and despite being banned in practically every format it is legal in, remains a very expensive card.

You can tap the Library to draw a card, though you need seven cards in your hand to activate the ability. If you drop a Library on your first turn, you can almost guarantee a you’ll have the advantage over your opponent for the majority of the game.

6

Savannah

Beta – $1,500.00

The second of the original dual lands to end up on this list, Savannah is the green and white version. Combining both a Forest and a Plains into one basic land type.

Much of what makes these lands so valuable is that there is no drawback to playing them, letting them enter the battlefield untapped and ready to be used for your next spell. The most popular cycle of dual lands after the original are the Ravnican shock lands, which require you to lose two life in order for them to come into play untapped.

5

Bazaar Of Baghdad

Arabian Nights – $1851.53

A curious land in that it doesn’t actually produce any mana, the Bazaar of Baghdad is another incredibly powerful utility land that pulls a lot of weight. You can tap the Bazaar to draw two cards, then discarding three cards.

While willingly putting yourself at a disadvantage might seem terrible, when played in the right deck it is crucial. Decks in the Vintage format like Dredge and Reanimator all play Bazaar of Baghdad thanks to its ability to discard lots of cards or fill up the graveyard quickly. Being down a mana at the start of the game means nothing when you have a turn two unstoppable creature out.

4

Tundra

Beta

The last of the original dual lands to make it on this list is Tundra, the white and blue dual land. Specifically, the Beta edition of the card is the higher version. Some find the black border to be a nice aesthetic choice in a deck since the white bordered Unlimited version of the dual lands can be off-putting to look at.

Tundra is a partially popular dual land since many of the most powerful spells in Magic cost blue mana, making the need to have untapped blue mana ready at the drop of the hat incredibly important for your deck.

3

Gaea’s Cradle

Judge Promo

Back on this list is Gaea’s Cradle, though it is looking a bit different than before. This promo version of the mana engine was the first time that Gaea’s Cradle was given the foil treatment, since foils wouldn’t enter the game until the Urza’s Legacy set.

Also known as Judge Gift cards, these cards were given to Magic judges for helping to oversee various events, though some cards were harder to get than others. Gaea’s Cradle was among the earliest of the Judge Promos to be handed out, combined with a relatively small print run, which means there aren’t many around.

2

Mishra’s Workshop

Antiquities – $2,450.00

While there are some very strong mana-producing lands in Magic, perhaps none of them compare to that of Mishra’s Workshop. This ancient land produces three mana when you tap it, though you can only spend that mana on artifacts.

Turns out, that’s just enough mana to utterly control the battlefield and give your opponent very little to do in response. Once again, much of the value of this card comes from the fact that it is on the Reserved List, so there will never be another printing of the card again.

1

The Tabernacle At Pendrell Vale

Legends – $2,939.99

An incredibly weird and powerful card, The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale is perhaps one of the best utility lands ever printed. Rather than producing mana, the Tabernacle instead gives all creatures a new ability.

All players, yourself included, have to pay one generic mana at the start of their upkeep otherwise, they will have to sacrifice the creature. In a deck where someone is playing a lot of creatures, they’ll have to pick and choose which creatures are worth paying the mana for.