(orig. published Jan. 16, 2024)
[UPDATE: After playtesting, even more tri-lands were added to complete the cycle! Learn more.]

Perhaps the most powerful mana fixing in the Unwell Kingdom comes in the form of a set of tri-lands with a unique ability!

Traditionally, lands that tap for three colors of mana always come in tapped, to compensate for the powerful options they enable. These ones offer an additional option for players who just can’t wait a turn: bounce another untapped land to your hand, and the tri-land enters untapped, letting you can use the mana right away!

My hope is that this gives players some interesting decisions in play, by prompting them to evaluate the rhythm of their game plan – Is accessing a new color immediately worth stalling out a turn on building your mana base? Even if the answer is often “no,” keen players may be rewarded for spotting the rare “yes” scenarios!

It was difficult to decide on the colors to use for this batch of lands. This set is NOT a Streets of New Capenna, built to push 3-color decks above all else. I figure players will be happy enough building 2-color decks and finding their colors supported enough to splash into a third now and then, with the chance to go wild with a 4+ color brew if stars align! Here’s where I landed:

Crestfall, Unwell Capital – Esper

Shipwreck Camp – Sultai

Bran Bramble – Jund

Cobbleston – Naya

Glimmer – Jeskai

While every color and color pair are represented, these are only 5 of the 10 possible 3-color combos (frankly, between these and all the other lands, I was running out of notable locations to pull from our D&D campaign!). This means you’re twice as likely to get a tri-land containing some pairs ( | | | | ) than others ( | | | | ). This is definitely something I’ll keep an eye on during playtests.

Regardless, these will go a long way to getting players into the colors they want to play! I decided to print them as commons, meaning they won’t take up rare slots in packs and there will be four copies of each!

Mana fixing is now looking much more reliable, but that’s not all lands are designed to do…

Tomorrow on Lands Week: Discard/Sac Lands!

UWK Lands Week

• Illusory Palace
• The Tri-Lands
• Discard/Sac Lands
• Utility Lands
• Back to Basics
• [UPDATE] Even More Tri-Lands