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by David S. Wilson Stretching Dominia Dollars, Part VI Land. It's the most basic need in any M:TG deck. Without the mana your land generates your deck is useless. This month we are going to list the 12 best lands released by the wizards...so far. To make this month different we are not going to even worry about price limits. Better land is the key to winning hands and you should beg, borrow or trade to get these lands. Without anymore chit-chat, here's my favorite lands: 1)        Dual Lands Lands that produce one of two color mana. A great advantage over basic lands since we all play duel color hands. Selling for about $10.   2)        Strip Mine Strip Mine produces 1 mana until you want to sacrifice it and destroy any land of your opponent. Keep them short on one of their colors. Only $3 or $4.   3)        Diamond Valley Sacrifice a creature and gain life equal to it's toughness. Some creatures were made to be sacrificed! Like most good Arabian Nights cards it's priced high, at around $40. I wish I had one of these!   4)        Maze of Ith You can tap it to untap an attacking creature so it neither deals nor receives damage. Use it when being attacked or when you're attacking depending on the circumstances. Can be found for less then $10, but worth the $10 if that's what you have to pay. One of my most played cards.   5)        Island of Wak-Wak Tap it to reduce the power of one flying creature to zero until end of turn. Can be a great card but I feel it's overpriced even for Arabian Nights at $35. Pay $5 more and get Diamond Valley instead.   6)        Mishra's Factory Lets see... you can tap it for 1 mana. Or tap it to give an Assembly Worker +1/+1 until end of turn. Or pay 1 and turn it into a 2/2 Assembly Worker. Once you get used to it a great card for only $3 or $4.   7)        Undiscovered Paradise Sure you have to return it to your hand but it only after it produces 1 mana of any color you needed! My favorite land in a long time they were already selling for high as $10. Buy Vision boosters and keep your fingers crossed you get one.   8)        City of Brass Produces one of any color, but you take 1 damage when it gets tapped. Even the Chronicles version is around $7 and climbing.   9)        Karakas Tap it to produce 1W or to return a target legend to the owners hand. I like to have my legends protected and keep yours outta play! A great Legends card for as low as $5. Get em when ya kin.   10)        Pain lands When these came out in Ice Age I didn't like them. Then I saw how many other people were playing them and realized they worked a little like the City of Brass. It's worth 1 point of damage to get one of two colors when they're needed. Otherwise you can always tap them for 1 colorless mana. selling for around $5.   11)        Kjeldoran Outpost You have to sacrifice a plains to put it in play but after that it can produce 1W or you can pay 1W to bring out a 1/1 white creature. A must have for weenie decks. I've seen them priced as HIGH AS $15! That's too much, only pay it if it's something you absolutely have to have.   12)        Pendelhaven Tap it to generate 1G or to make a target 1/1 creature a 2/3 creature till end of turn. Since I play Black/Green most often it was my most played...until it ...disappeared. Wish I had it back. A $5 Legend.   13)        Thawing Glaciers Comes in tapped then pay 1 and search your library for any basic land, put the land into play and return the Glacier to your hand. Do it all again and again and again. They can be found for around 7 bucks.   Well there they are... my bakers dozen of the best lands. Remember it's all a matter of opinion. Maybe you love your Arena or Mishra's Workshop or Library of Alexandria or Soldeli Excavation or Lake of the Dead or Balduvian Trading Post or Bazaar of Baghdad or Safe Haven or Elephant Graveyard or whatever. All deserve special mention and I understand....except for Sorrow's Path. If that's your favorite land, you need help, quickly. Finally, award for best artwork goes to ... City of Brass. See ya next month and we'll look at those Artifacts. Since there's so many, we will limit it to Type II artifacts. Ones you can afford. Until then... Shake it easy.       Thank you - Dave [ Back to June 1997 Table of Contents ] [ Back to Beyond Dominia ] Magic: the Gathering is a Registered Trademark of Wizards of the Coast