Land destruction has been something of a controversial mechanic in Magic: The Gathering going all the way back to the classic card Armageddon, which simply reads, “Destroy all lands.” And not just because that wording had to be changed with the addendum “in play,” but because it is a card that was a hard, hard reset that many players and decks simply couldn’t recover from. As someone that loved land destruction back in the day because my whole overarching MTG strategy was usually “keep the other player from actually playing the game”, and as someone that really like extremely capricious, punitive board games (big Talisman and DungeonQuest player here), I think some of the hue and cry over land destruction over the years has been a little overblown but with Disney’s Lorcana introducing its first card with a land destruction mechanic in Archazia’s Island, it’s time to take a look at what this could mean for the game and whether or not the sky truly is falling.
WOTC/Disney
Land destruction can be a problem because it interferes with pacing, development curve, and economic parity. In a game system where you are increasing your resources by one per turn (barring any special effects), losing said resources especially en masse can be devastating, giving the opponent an advantage that often can not be mitigated if the victim hasn’t teched to deal with it. Many feel that playing against land destruction decks isn’t fun, and I’ve got to admit that it really isn’t when the deck you are up against goes hard against your resources. Strategically, it’s a brilliant idea but it does mess with the game in an unwelcome and untoward way.
Ink Geyser is one of the new dual ink cards in Archazia’s Island and it packs a mighty wallop straight to the Inkwell. It’s not as brutal as Armageddon was back in the day if only because it forces both players to reduce down to three ink instead of a complete wipeout. The ink cards taken out of the inkwell go back into the hand, not discard. And this whole thing goes down for 3 ink.
Ravensburger
When I first saw Ink Geyser, I texted my best Lorcana buddy Neuromorph and was like “bro.” But then we got to thinking about this card a little more critically beyond the shock and awe of “land destruction comes to Lorcana.” I think there is a very compelling card design here, albeit one that I think could easily be abused – especially because those lunatics at Ravensburger made this card Emerald Sapphire.
The positioning in these ink colors makes total sense as it has both that roguish green element going on as well as inkwell manipulation common in blue. I get it. But where I think this could get abusive is simply because the card may be too good to not abuse in this color combination. Given all the ramping available to Sapphire dinging back down to three ink really isn’t a big deal if you are Quilling or whatever to double ink on the next turn. And ideally, you are then going to use Emerald discard actions and abilities to divest your opponent of the ink that the geyser just returned.
And then there’s the knock-on effect this card has on ramping builds- you can get your inked cards back. This is really kind of a tremendous thing for Sapphire. Anything you dunk early game because it’s too expensive, anything you randomly put into inkwell…all of it has a chance now to come back to your hand to play. I can think of many situations where I wish that I had a card late game that I inked in the first couple of turns. Ink Geyser is a way to get them back.
With the card coming in on turn 3 and after, I can see it really hitting the late game hard when suddenly you can’t play that Be Prepared turn 7 because you’ve just been set back three whole turns worth of ink, and you are now looking at a turn 10 drop. This is where I’m concerned about how the card may affect pacing, dragging games out and really just kind of extending it unnaturally. I have a feeling that many players will play this card the same way they did A Whole New World – which is to say, just to watch the world burn.
But more savvy players will understand that this card is actually quite multifaceted and although it has clear value and benefits, it can also cause some self-inflicted damage as its effect is mutual. It was smart work on the designer of this card to make it a parity play, but even then the cards brought back to hand could skew advantage one way or the other so it’s sort of naturally unbalanced. Which is fine; it is a TCG after all. If you are playing against Emerald Sapphire you are going to have to be ready for this card.
It remains to be seen, with the new set just releasing the very day that I’m writing this piece, what impact land destruction will ultimately have on the meta and the game as a whole. Given how sweaty the game has become in some quarters, I don’t think it will be long before someone figures out an abusive, terminally un-fun build with it but it’s completely unknown how that would fare against hard aggro, bounce, Steelsong, or other staple decks in the game. I wouldn’t be surprised if Ink Geyser turns out to be the first restricted card, but they’ve let A Whole New World and Be Prepared go on unrestricted to this point so it’s probably not likely unless it severely disrupts the game.
Next time- the best of Archazia’s Island!
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