Gate
| Gate | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Land Type | |
| (Subtype for land cards) | |
| Statistics |
28 cards
as of Modern Horizons 3 3.6%  3.6%  3.6%  7.1%  3.6%  3.6%  3.6%  3.6%  3.6%  3.6%  3.6%  3.6%  3.6%  3.6%  3.6%  3.6%  39.3% |
| Scryfall Search | |
| type:"Gate" | |
Gate is a nonbasic land type that was introduced in the Return to Ravnica block.
Description
Gates are lands which usually enter the battlefield tapped. They can tap for one mana, typically from a selection of two colors. The subtype "Gate" means nothing on its own, but many cards from Ravnica sets and the Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate set have cards that care about the player controlling Gates. The subtype appears on 21 cards, as well as 5 Alchemy cards.
The original ten Gates are the Guildgates, representing each of the Ravnican guilds. Each of the ten Guildgates can tap for one of the two colors associated with its respective guild. The 11th Gate was the Gateway Plaza, which represents the plaza connecting the Guildgates. Unlike the Guildgates, it is sacrificed unless its controller pays 
when it enters the battlefield and taps for one mana of any color.
Role
According to Mark Rosewater the Gates weren't supposed to pull focus early, so there were just enough cards mentioning Gates to keep players from asking why the Gate subtype even existed.[1] Their purpose in lore became clear in Dragon's Maze and Maze's End, though gameplay-wise they remained as primarily mana fixing with minor benefits when certain commons or uncommons were drafted.
History
Doing a return set meant fixing things R&D had done incorrectly the last time we visited. One of those things was that in the original Ravnica block, the mana production hadn't been strong enough to properly support multiplayer play. For Return to Ravnica, R&D wanted a common cycle of dual lands and the return of the rare cycle of shock lands. This presented a problem because they wanted common taplands, and they felt "strictly worse" than the rare shock lands. The solution to this problem was to add a new land subtype, Gate, to the common dual land cycle. This allowed the designers to build a light mechanical theme around them, which gave them a secondary purpose.[2]
The Gates associated with the five guilds featured in Return to Ravnica were first printed in that set. The Gates of the other five guilds were first printed in Gatecrash. All ten of which got a new artwork in Dragon's Maze.[3][4]
Five of the original Gates were reprinted in Guilds of Ravnica, and the other five in Ravnica Allegiance.[5][6][7] Each is featured in two common slots, each with different art, much like Wastes in Oath of the Gatewatch, but unlike Wastes the Gates appear in the land slot of every pack.[8] Additionally, the Orzhov and Simic Guildgates were reprinted for the planeswalker decks in War of the Spark.
In addition to the reprinted Guildgates, Guilds of Ravnica introduced a new land with the Gate subtype; Gateway Plaza. It was reprinted in both following sets, Ravnica Allegiance and War of the Spark, featuring two new flavor texts and new art in the latter.
Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate added nine gates (seven common, one uncommon, and one rare).[9][10] Five common Gates are functional reprints of the Thriving lands but with the added subtype. They tap for one fixed color and another color of your choice. The rare gate is legendary, and represents the eponymous Baldur's Gate. The set also has several Gate rewards which you can draft around, of which two of them are the other common Gates.
Alchemy Horizons: Baldur's Gate introduced a reimagined cycle of Gates based on the ones from Baldur's Gate. These gates are mono-colored with a basic land subtype and an ability for 
to seek a nonland card, but only once.
Dominaria United added a one-off with Thran Portal, as did The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth/Commander decks with The Black Gate.
Examples
Example 1
Golgari Guildgate
Land — Gate
Golgari Guildgate enters the battlefield tapped.
: Add or .
Example 2
Gateway Plaza
Land — Gate
Gateway Plaza enters the battlefield tapped.
When Gateway Plaza enters the battlefield, sacrifice it unless you pay .
: Add one mana of any color.
Example 3
Gatecreeper Vine
Creature — Plant
Defender
When Gatecreeper Vine enters the battlefield, you may search your library for a basic land card or a Gate card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle your library.
0/2
List of Gate cards
Allied colored
- Azorius Guildgate (, )
- Dimir Guildgate (, )
- Rakdos Guildgate (, )
- Gruul Guildgate (, )
- Selesnya Guildgate (, )
Enemy colored
- Orzhov Guildgate (, )
- Izzet Guildgate (, )
- Golgari Guildgate (, )
- Boros Guildgate (, )
- Simic Guildgate (, )
5 colored
- Gateway Plaza (, )
- Baldur's Gate (, )
- Gond Gate (, )
- Heap Gate (, )
- Planar Nexus (, )
- Thran Portal (, )
- Talon Gates of Madara (, )
- Planar Nexus (, ) (every non-basic land type)
Colorless
- Basilisk Gate (, )
Thriving
- Citadel Gate (, )
- Sea Gate (, )
- Black Dragon Gate (, )
- Cliffgate (, )
- Manor Gate (, )
Monocolored
- Gate to the Citadel (Alchemy) (, )
- Gate to Seatower (Alchemy) (, )
- Gate of the Black Dragon (Alchemy) (, )
- Gate to Tumbledown (Alchemy) (, )
- Gate to Manorborn (Alchemy) (, )
- The Black Gate (, )
Associated cards
The "Gate" subtype allows R&D to make these cards mechanically relevant. The following non-gate cards care about Gates:[11]
- Maze's End
- Opal Lake Gatekeepers
- Saruli Gatekeepers
- Smelt-Ward Gatekeepers
- Sunspire Gatekeepers
- Ubul Sar Gatekeepers
- Circuitous Route
- District Guide
- Gatekeeper Gargoyle
- Garrison Sergeant
- Glaive of the Guildpact
- Guild Summit [11]
- Archway Angel
- Gate Colossus
- Gatebreaker Ram
- Gates Ablaze
- Gateway Sneak
- Open the Gates
- Plaza of Harmony (a land, but not a gate)
Gate message
Each gate of the Return to Ravnica block has several letters in the flavor text that are slightly elevated higher than the rest, revealing a message.[12]
Return to Ravnica
| T | I | F | I | Azorius |
| H | L | R | C | Izzet |
| E | D | A | A | Rakdos |
| G | S | V | Golgari | |
| U | O | N | Selesnya |
"The guilds of Ravnica"
Gatecrash
| W | E | Y | O | Orzhov |
| I | S | E | T | Dimir |
| L | T | A | H | Gruul |
| L | R | C | E | Boros |
| D | O | H | R | Simic |
"Will destroy each other"
Dragon's Maze
Order of the Guilds as depicted in Tablet of the Guilds
| U | A | D | L | R | Azorius |
| N | Z | A | D | N | Orzhov |
| L | E | N | P | Dimir | |
| E | I | D | A | Izzet | |
| S | S | T | C | Rakdos | |
| S | S | H | T | Golgari | |
| T | O | E | R | Gruul | |
| H | L | G | E | Boros | |
| E | V | U | B | Selesnya | |
| M | E | I | O | Simic |
"Unless the maze is solved and the Guildpact reborn"
References
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (October 8, 2012). "City Mail". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (March 18, 2024). "Looking Back, Part 2". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Trick Jarrett (April 17, 2013). "Zoomed Guildgates". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Luis Scott-Vargas (September 18, 2015). "Building a Better Battle". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Andrew Brown (September 11, 2018). "Opening the Guildgates". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (September 17, 2018). "Guild to Order, Part 2". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (January 2, 2019). "Building Allegiances, Part 1". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Chris Gleeson (September 26, 2018). "Ravnica Guildgate Art Descriptions". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (May 17, 2022). "First Out of Baldur's Gate". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Jess Dunks (May 18, 2022). "Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate Mechanics". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ a b Mark Rosewater (October 1, 2018). "More Stories from the City". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Trick Jarrett (May 24, 2013). "Embedding Puzzle". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
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