My best friend Doug once said to me, “How many chances do you get to right a childhood wrong?” To be forthright with you, this is an indulgent little article. I turned 40 yesterday, and I finished my dual land quest. I’ve written about this quest before, and I’m happy to say that I’m going to finish it today. I sold off my play set of all 40 dual lands nearly 20 years ago. About ten years ago I made the decision to right that childhood wrong. I can finally say that I have fixed my childhood regret.
Doug came over to drop off a gift for me. It is one of the most thoughtful and amazing gifts I’ve ever received. I was crying as I was reading it and going through it. It was so unexpected and incredibly thoughtful. I’m posting pictures of it below so you can appreciate how special it truly is. He presented me with a little book of cards taped together using hard case sleeves. As I opened it up, it was just amazing to see. He had cut up a few Savanah Lions and a plains, and hid an amazing present inside in order to bring me one step closer to my goal. So, now I would only need a single Bayou to “right my childhood wrong”…and so I have.
It was really an incredible gift. I’m a Magic nerd, and I’m an English teacher. He gave me a book that was Magic cards turned into a haiku with a Savannah hidden in plain sight…NAILED IT!
Yesterday, I traded in a couple cards I had extras of to make the purchase a little easier on me. The current prices for dual lands are a bit higher than when I started my quest. Plateau’s were $40 a piece back in 2011. Savannah, Scrubland, Badlands, and Taiga were around or below $50. I was gifted many lands over the years from my wife and friends, and those gifts have gone a long way toward helping me rebuild the collection. In 2012 Andrew gave me an Unlimited Scrubland. I imagine the market price at the time was around $70. Looking at today’s market puts it close to $600-900. It’s worth nearly 10x what it was 10 years ago. That’s a bit mind boggling. I’m so glad that I started this quest when I did. It would be so much more expensive to rebuy them all if I started out today. I remember seeing auctions for all 40 when I first started, and those auctions would go for anywhere between $1500-$3500 for all 40. As I’m writing this I looked over at eBay to see if any auctions were up for a set of 40, and I found this:
Condition and edition influence prices an awful lot, but overall it comes down to the simple economics of what you are willing to pay. Often times you would see a couple unlimited duals thrown in with people’s mostly revised sets. My original set had at least one unlimited for each land, but I made the concession early on that I would be totally fine just getting revised copies. I have still tried snagging an Unlimited copy here and there whenever it was close in price. However, the gap between Revised and Unlimited copies has widened considerably in recent years.
This little yellow paper was my records sheet for keeping track. It isn’t fully updated, but it’s a nice artifact to symbolize how special and how meaningful this collector’s quest has been. I recorded most of it in pencil so I could update whatever the current prices were as I went. Trading cards in to acquire others has been one of best ways for me get the cards I’ve wanted without sacrificing too much of my budget. I used to love trying to trade my way up to more and more value. I have found that most of the time I can manage to trade away cards at their peaks and snag others at their lows. That’s not to say I haven’t made a few foolish trades, because of course I have. Trading away my Gaea’s Cradle for a Berserk a long time ago was one such instance. I also traded away my Shaharazad and Ali from Cairo too I don’t remember what I traded them for, and that means it wasn’t anything with lasting value. The best items for me to unload were easily the foil basic lands and promo cards that I had functional replacements for. I didn’t lose any play value. Even if I had lost a little collector’s value (which I didn’t) it would have been worth it for the amount of play value dual lands have given me. Seeing the old dual land text box is something that has always brought me joy. I never should have sold them the first time, but I’m happy to say I have them back.
The final card I needed was a Bayou. Today I went to my LGS, and I picked up a Bayou. I traded one of my Serra’s Sanctums to ease the price tag a bit. I had bought four Serra’s Sanctums quite some time ago. It was shortly after someone managed to top 16 a Legacy tournament with a Leyline’s deck that used Serra’s Sanctum to cast Opalescence on turn 1. It was a silly deck, and I played it at a few Legacy tournaments, but overall I figure I’m probably not going to play that deck again. If I do, then I will probably run it with just three Sanctums or perhaps I’ll actually play a “real” Legacy deck. I have all the pieces for quite a few Legacy decks that are far more competitive than the Leylines deck. It just makes good sense to take something I only paid $25 for and use it to buy a dual land at more or less half the price.
When I started this quest I prioritized getting the blue duals, because they were the most expensive. I figured they were the most likely to go up in price first. I wasn’t wrong, and I’m glad I decided to take that path. Looking back, I was able to purchase 3 Tropical Islands for $250 in July of 2011 and the 4th was a gift from my wife. I think she basically stole it for around $45. Compare that to the current cheapest price of $610 for a heavily played Tropical Island, and I did pretty well. The NM Unlimited Tundra I picked up for store credit trade in (foil lands and a foil Jace Beleren book promo) was totally worth it, because that same Tundra is worth more than 10x what I traded for it. Blue duals have long been the best, but the others have all crept up in value too. I also figured that picking up the cheapest ones whenever I saw them was a good idea as well. I always made a point of trading for them if people were willing. Yet, when I began this quest in earnest it was 2011 and most people were either unwilling to trade duals or would only trade duals for duals. Basically, no offers were worth taking. It seems likely to me that trading for duals is not an easy task. Buying them is also difficult, but can easily be worth it if you prioritize your mana base or just simply want the best lands ever made. I know that I enjoy playing with them, and they can certainly be the type of card that is appreciated by all. The fluctuations in the prices among the lands have usually correlated with whatever Legacy decks were best. With Legacy on the decline and Commander on the rise I wonder if that will no longer be the case. It’s certainly possible. Either way, I suspect that duals will probably just keep increasing in price. They are on the reserved list, so collecting them seems pretty safe to me. I can’t say that I’ve ever regretted a single moment on this path to reacquire them.
This quest has been a special one for me. I always loved playing gold/multi-color spells. I have loved legendary creatures since I first got swampwalked by the king himself–Sol-Kanar the Swamp King. So, it’s no wonder that I regretted shipping off those cards. I say this, because I’m not sure I would want to try and buy back every card I once owned. I used to own an Unlimited Black Lotus, a Beta Mox Jet, and an Unlimited Time Walk. I bought those for their going rates and sold them each for a slight profit around the same time I shipped off the dual lands. I miss them more as collectible pieces than as play pieces. It would be cool to still have power, but I’m not certain I’d be playing with them anywhere outside my cube. Actually, I would probably not even put them in the cube, because they’re just worth too darn much. It’s great to be able to play with the old cards, but I don’t have a burning desire to own them just yet. Perhaps that will change, but for now I’m supremely satisfied to have all my duals in decks, and another collector’s quest complete. Next up is probably finishing my original legends from Legends, but with a fun little twist to make it even more of a challenge. Best wishes and happy shuffling my friends!
Magictations 
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