There have been other attempts at these types of lands over the years. Adding a significant mana cost to the activation prevented it from being used too early to lock players down, and the repeatability meant it could be used in the mid to late game to answer multiple problematic lands, making it a mainstay in midrange and control decks of the era, though largely too slow for current Legacy play. The next attempt, Dust Bowl, threaded the needle a bit more closely. Wasteland still ended up being incredibly powerful, and to this day is a defining feature in Legacy. Restricting Wasteland to hitting non-basic lands made it harder to completely land-lock the opponent. Of course, Strip Mine itself ended up being a large problem itself, and ended up being restricted and then banned in Standard, banned in Legacy from its inception, banned in Extended at its creation, and restricted in Vintage.Ī few years later, Magic took another crack at this with Wasteland. Mishra's Factory, and the UrzaTron lands, as well as Strip Mine as a handy, universal answer to all these powerful lands popping up. Antiquities took this even further, with cards like Mishra's Workshop. Magic's initial set, Alpha/Beta/Unlimited had only basic lands and the original Dual Lands, but by Arabian Nights, non-basic lands with powerful abilities like Library of Alexandria and Bazaar of Baghdad were introduced. The earliest iteration was Strip Mine, appearing in Magic's second ever expansion. Historyįield of Ruin comes from a long pedigree of land destruction on lands. With a reprint in Innistrad: Midnight Hunt, the upcoming Standard will still have this safety valve after Theros: Beyond Death rotates out the previous printing of the card. It's a card that's easy to main-deck and provides an eventual out to an Exalted Haven, and as it requires only colorless mana to use, any deck can make use of this. Without round time limits or personal timers like in paper tournaments and MTG Online, nor the ability to draw a game intentionally, the Arena software does not have a graceful way to resolve this stalemate.Įnter Field of Ruin. As there are few answers to lands in Standard, and even fewer when Throne of Eldraine, Theros: Beyond Death, Ikoria, Lair of Behemoths, and Core Set 2021 are removed from the mix, this combination can make it impossible for a player to lose, which can result in a stalemate on Arena if both players can set up this combination or if the Exalted Haven player cannot close the game out themselves. Once the land has the ability preventing you from losing the game, it maintains that ability even when it ceases being an Angel creature. Because Faceless Haven gains all creature types, that includes Angel, making it an eligible target for the Book's activated ability. In this case, the problem card in question is Faceless Haven, specifically in combination with The Book of Exalted Deeds. That's right, Field of Ruin! Field of Ruin is an important safety outlet, providing a flexible answer for problematic lands that might otherwise threaten the stability of the format.
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