Artifact land

Artifact Land
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Multiple Card Types
Subtypes	Artifact type Land type
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type:"Artifact Land"

Artifact lands are, as the name suggests, lands which are also artifacts and thus possess the properties of both. Artifact lands have been printed in Mirrodin, Darksteel, Modern Horizons 2, Dungeons & Dragons: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms, The Lost Caverns of Ixalan, and Murders at Karlov Manor.

List of artifact lands

Mirrodin

• Ancient Den ()
• Seat of the Synod ()
• Vault of Whispers ()
• Great Furnace ()
• Tree of Tales ()

Darksteel

• Darksteel Citadel () is also indestructible.

Modern Horizons 2

• Power Depot () first non-creature artifact with Modular.
• Bridges (indestructible dual taplands):
  • Razortide Bridge ()
  • Mistvault Bridge ()
  • Drossforge Bridge ()
  • Slagwoods Bridge ()
  • Thornglint Bridge ()
  • Goldmire Bridge ()
  • Silverbluff Bridge ()
  • Darkmoss Bridge ()
  • Rustvale Bridge ()
  • Tanglepool Bridge ()

Dungeons & Dragons: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms

• Treasure Vault () can be sacrificed for Treasures.

The Lost Caverns of Ixalan

(Note that both of Ixalan's artifact lands are Legendary and Transform from Legendary non-land artifacts.)

• Barracks of the Thousand () adds mana that creates growing Gnome tokens when used to cast artifact or creature spells.
• The Myriad Pools () adds mana that temporarily transforms a permanent into a copy of a permanent spell it was used to cast.

Murders at Karlov Manor

• Scene of the Crime () is also a Clue. Can tap for one mana of any color by also tapping a creature.

History

The Mirrodin artifact lands heavily contributed to the dominance of the affinity-based deck archetypes, and thus, in March 2005, all six were banned from Standard (Darksteel Citadel, however, was later reprinted in Magic 2015, and the ban did not carry over with the reprint.) In the Modern format, all but Darksteel Citadel were banned from the beginning.

Due to the high amount of artifact synergy in Modern Horizons 2 almost twenty years later, R&D decided to try out a cycle of dual artifact lands for color fixing and as a resource in other synergistic ways. Because the set included a higher-than-normal count of artifact-targeting removal, it was decided to make them indestructible. The cards depict pre-Phyrexian Mirrodin.

Adventures in the Forgotten Realms added another artifact land with Treasure Vault.

The Lost Caverns of Ixalan used cards that transform into impactful Legendary artifact lands to represent locations of powerful Oltec artifice.

Scene of the Crime in Murders at Karlov Manor combines the land type with the predefined Clue token.

Rules

From the glossary of the Comprehensive Rules (June 7, 2024—Modern Horizons 3)

Artifact Land

A combination of artifact and land that’s subject to the rules for both. Artifact lands can only be played as lands, not cast as spells. See rule 301, “Artifacts,” and rule 305, “Lands.”

Trivia

• The location depicted in each Mirrodin artifact land was also featured in the art of the appropriate Sun's Zenith card from Scars of Mirrodin.
• The artwork of each colored artifact land from the Mirrodin cycle was copied on a basic land from New Phyrexia, representing darker versions of the original.
  • Ancient Den matches Plains (New Phyrexia, #166)
  • Seat of the Synod matches Island (New Phyrexia, #168)
  • Vault of Whispers matches Swamp (New Phyrexia, #170)
  • Great Furnace matches Mountain (New Phyrexia, #172)
  • Tree of Tales matches Forest (New Phyrexia, #174)