More powerful: Shocklands or fetchlands?

Russell_Nash · Joined: 05 Jan 2006 Posts: 645 Location: Burn Ward

What do you guys think: what is a more powerful land shock or fetch? Feel free to take this out of ext. Lets just ignore the fact that fetch can get shocks cause thats pretty much a point for both.

I feel like fetchlands are a little more powerful, the shuffle effect on a land, it beefs up graveyard, and it thins decks.

Don’t forget: we can include other formats then extended. I just put it here cause they are being played heavy each in extended and I though this forum would be a good start.

TD · Joined: 19 Jul 2006 Posts: 103

Fetchlands are far more powerful; their deck thinning properties and extremely low life cost are what makes them so powerful. Moreover, from now until the end of time, any card with the subtype "forest" or "island" or what have you is fetchable with these cards, making them all the more powerful. Their only downside is their pithability, but if they're pithing your lands, you're either screwed or have no other activated abilities in your deck, so it isn't much of a disadvantage.

thisone88 · Joined: 17 May 2006 Posts: 5

Don't forget that if you play a fetchland on your first turn and your opp is playing ld it works like a flagstones because u evade their sorcery-speed LD spell Very Happy

Fetchlands are the most beautiful/effective lands magic has every come out with

MeddlingMatt · Joined: 09 Mar 2006 Posts: 73

...just for arguments sake

Fetchlands are certainly more powerful than Shocklands in the context of the game, but in a vacuum Shocklands would be better. What I mean is that the part of the power of fetchlands comes from tutoring up your perfect mana base of Shocks/Duals. If you didn't have Shocklands available and could only fetch basics then the power level decreases dramatically. In a deck with only fetchlands and basics the shuffling, graveyard padding, and the myriad other small things fetchlands do well would not be as powerful as Shocklands would be in a deck with Fetchlands unavailable.

I hope that made sense. If we only had access to one or the other then Shocklands would be better. Since we have access to both, Fetchlands are better.

CHRONICBL · Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Posts: 40

fetch are by far better. the manipulation of your library is insane in extended. i heard free shuffle effects are good with sensie top Smile

psu42 · Joined: 14 Sep 2005 Posts: 37

from what i hear they are insane in t1....

seems good with brainstorm much

aldaryn · Joined: 02 Sep 2004 Posts: 444

What's ironic is that shocklands make fetchlands better. Even though I hate bolting myself, it allows for decks in extended to run things like WW creatures (Soltari Priest, Silver Knight) and follow them up with turn 3 1RR Molten Rain / Pillage. But fetchlands thin the deck, enabling graveyard things like grim lavamancer, thin out land, not to mention that it costs half as much life. It gets even more obvious in 1.5 that fetchlands are better, grabbing the original duals for a measly 1 life.

Russell_Nash · Joined: 05 Jan 2006 Posts: 645 Location: Burn Ward

One good thing shocklands can do that fetchs cant is help enemy colors, since fetches are for only allied colors.

The way I see it Shocklands do 1 thing (fixing mana) really well. I would say that single aspect is more powerfull then any other single aspect of the fetchlands BUT because fetchlands do so much(as stated above already) that tips the overall powerlevel in favor of the fetchlands.