One of the biggest barriers when starting to play Magic The Gatherings eternal formats is the high costs of fetch lands due to a lack of reprints. If you want to know will fetch lands be reprinted so you can avoid having to pay the high price of these sort after lands, this is what we know so far.
As a whole, the fetch lands will be reprinted. Fetch lands have been reprinted in premium products such as “Secret Lair” and as “Expedition” lands in the Battle for Zendikar, 2015 set. However, there are no official plans for fetch lands to be reprinted into a Magic The Gathering Standard set.
This isn’t the best news to hear if you are waiting for a large reprinting of the fetch lands so their high prices will start to drop.
There is a chance we may see fetch lands reprinted into a standard set in the near future, but to have a better idea of how realistic this is and when it might happen, we need to look at the current information we have availed from Wizards of the Coast.
Before jumping into the meat of this topic, If you’re reading this and aren’t 100% confident in your knowledge of “Fetch lands”, then you may want to check my beginner’s guide to Fetch Lands before going any further. It will give a clear and easy understanding of nearly everything you need to know about Fetch Lands – What Are Fetch Lands? MTG Fetch Lands: Types, Rules, List
Statement From Wizards Of The Coast Staff
On March 5th, 2020, Magic The Gathering designer, Gavin Verhey, responded on Reddit to a question about fetch lands getting reprinted.
A Reddit user promise to donate $100 to charity if Gavin Verhey answered their question on if we can expect to see fetch lands any time soon.
Do we plan to reprint the fetchlands (or Oracle of Mul Daya, or Force of Will, or Mana Drain, or Jace, or…)? Absolutely. I can pretty much guarantee you that they will show up somewhere along the line.
Gavin Verhey – Reddit Comment[2]
This was initial received as great news for Magic The Gathering players.
The statement confirmed that we can expect to see reprints for the fetch lands coming in the future, although at the time of the statement, it didn’t specify when we might be able to see them.
Some information, was still better than nothing! However, the was more to be said.
We know players need them, we aren’t bound by the reserved list, and frankly, we’d be fools to not reprint them.
So yes, we know they need to be reprinted and you will find them in a product eventually. When? Which product? Do I know yet? That I can’t say.
Gavin Verhey – Reddit Comment[2]
The word choice of Gavin in the previous statement was “product” and not “set“.
Most likely a very subtle, unintentional clue on his part that was to set the stage for what we can expect from fetch land reprints going forward.
In case you are wondering though, it appears that Reddit users did follow through on their donation to charity – You can see their post here.
Official Statement From Magic’s Website
On March 13th, 2020, Blake Rasmussen on Magic The Gathering’s official website released an article announcing the release of “Secret Lair: Ultimate Edition”.
Secret Lair: Ultimate Edition was a premium product released by Wizards of the Coast that contained the 5 enemy fetch lands in an alternate art version.
The quantity of this product was so limited that as soon as it hit the shelves of stores we saw prices spike to around $500![3]
That means if you were looking to get a playset of these alternate art enemy fetch lands, it would have made to spend almost $2000! – That’s certainly not what Magic players were hoping for when they heard a reprint was coming for fetch lands.
However, during the official announcement of this product, Magic The Gathering fans where given some hope that there might be a chance that we could see more reprints of fetch lands in the future.
this isn’t the last time you’ll see fetch lands this year, either. While they will not be entering Standard in 2020 (let’s put that rumor to rest right now—having these in abundance still isn’t a play pattern we want in Standard), there will be another way to pick up some stylized versions of fetch lands later this year that will also be in your local game store
Blake Rasmussen – “MAKING FETCH HAPPEN—SECRET LAIR: ULTIMATE EDITION”[1]
At first glance the comment looks promising for Magic The Gathering fans that are looking to get their hands on fetch lands without having to break the bank.
However, on further inspection, the statement makes a few things clear to the Magic community and what we can expect for fetch lands going forward.
- Fetch lands will be reprinted, but not in a standard set
- They will be available at your local game store in some form
- They will be stylized in some manner
The statement from Blake Rasmussen makes it very clear that Wizards of the Coast don’t plan to, or at the very least, don’t want to print fetch lands into a standard set if they can avoid it – “isn’t a play pattern we want in Standard”.
This means we shouldn’t get our hopes up about seeing a large printing of fetch lands in a Standard set to help drive the price down of fetch lands any time soon!
The bitter irony of all this is Wizards of the Coast intentionally named the fetch lands in a way that was not Plane or place-specific, so that they would be able to more easily reprint them in future sets – The extra effort they took in doing so seems to have gone to waste.
The pain lands should be jealous of the Onslaught fetch lands—the latter are very powerful, playable, and have names that will allow them to come back someday in just about any setting we desire—after all, what world can’t accommodate a place named “Polluted Delta” or “Wooded Foothills”? This was a conscious decision by the Onslaught naming team, and a good one at that.
(2005) Aaron Forsythe – Director of Magic R&D[3]
Bad news for Magic players looking to save some money!
Unfortunately, with this being the route that Wizards of The Coast appears to be set on taking, it looks as if we won’t be seeing fetch lands reprinted in the way we wish they would – at least not for some time.
If you are interested in picking up some fetch lands, but want to know if it is worth it with their current prices, check out my post here – “Why Are Fetchlands Good? Magic The Gathering [Helpful Guide]”
My advice to new Magic players looking to get into formats that use fetch lands, is to do your research.
By testing and find out if Magic’s eternal formats are really something you want to get involved with, the bitter-sweet pain of pulling out your credit card to get your hands on some fetch lands might not be as painful!