Urza's
| Urza's | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Land Type | |
| (Subtype for land cards) | |
| Statistics |
9 cards
as of Modern Horizons 3 88.9%  11.1% |
| Scryfall Search | |
| type:"Urza's" | |
Urza's is a nonbasic land type originally created for the Urzatron lands in the Eighth Edition rules update when all land types were cleaned up.[1][2]
Urzatron
The Urzatron is the nickname for the card trio Urza's Power Plant, Urza's Mine, and Urza's Tower all in play, which combines to provide seven mana with three lands.[3] The suffix "-tron" is derived from "Voltron", the Western name for the Japanese animated series Go Lion, which features several small robots that combine into one large robot. The Urzatron was first printed in Antiquities[4] and has seen print in Chronicles, Fifth, Eighth, Ninth Edition[5], and Double Masters. It was also heavily featured in Masters Edition IV and was one of the themes included in Jumpstart 2022.
Urzatron, or simply 'Tron, may also be used to describe a deck that uses the Urzatron triplet. For example, Mono-Green Tron is a Modern deck that uses only Green cards but plans to assemble Urzatron to cast a plethora of expensive colorless haymakers.
There is a wide variety of decks across many formats that have used the Urza lands. Naturally, the Urzatron lands are an important part of the deck, but to give a better idea of what other cards are used such decks are often named 'Blank'tron, for example, Izzetron.
History
In the older rules, the Urzatron cards referred to each other by their name, not by their type. The use of name meant that so long as the land was still on the battlefield, it would contribute to the conditions of the other two, which made it difficult to counterplay against by using cards like Evil Presence. Hence, the types were added in the Eighth Edition printing. As a consequence, the three types are on the short list of rarest used typelines.
Mine
Mine is a nonbasic land type created for Urza's Mine in the Eighth Edition rules update when all land types were cleaned up.[1] In the older rules the Urzatron cards referred to each other by their name, not by their type.
A mine is an excavation made on the earth to extract ores, coal, precious stones, etc.
Power-Plant
Power-Plant is a nonbasic land type created for Urza's Power Plant in the Eighth Edition rules update when all land types were cleaned up.[1] In the older rules the Urzatron cards referred to each other by their name, not by their type.
A power plant is a designated location that includes the fixtures, machinery, tools, etc., and the buildings necessary for the generation of power, such as electric or nuclear power.
Tower
Tower is a nonbasic land type created for Urza's Tower in the Eighth Edition rules update when all land types were cleaned up.[1] In the older rules the Urzatron cards referred to each other by their name, not by their type.
A tower is a building or structure high in proportion to its lateral dimensions, either isolated or forming part of a building.
Others
The Urzatron lands were joined by Urza's Factory when Time Spiral was printed. It was, at the time, the only card to have Urza's as its sole land type and was designed such that the seven from the Urzatron can bring into play a 2/2 Assembly-Worker token each turn, which can then benefit from Mishra's Factory.[3][6]
In Modern Horizons 2 Urza's reappeared as a subtype on the card Urza's Saga, which is an enchantment land and also has the Saga enchantment type.[7][2]
Unfinity introduced two acorn cards with the Urza's land type: Urza's Fun House and Nearby Planet, the latter of which has said subtype due to its Rangeling ability.
Urza's Workshop, first printed as a set and collector booster exclusive in The Brothers' War Commander, can add colorless mana which scales with the number of Urza's lands controlled (reminiscent of Cloudpost), making it the first card to mechanically care about the Urza's subtype in isolation.
Urza's Construction Drone conjures the Urzatron lands into your library when it enters the battlefield and seeks an Urza's land when it attacks or dies.
In Modern Horizons 3 Urza's reappeared as a subtype on the card Urza's Cave, which also has the Cave subtype. It also had Planar Nexus, which has an ability that grants it all four types associated with Urza's.
Trivia
- The Urzatron lands were considered for inclusion in The Brothers' War but were ultimately cut by play design due to "balance concerns".[8] However, The Brothers' War did include a cycle of common Assembly-Worker creatures, each corresponding to one of the Urzatron lands, with abilities that improve if one controls all three members of the cycle.
- Urza's Hot Dog Stand is an Urza's Vehicle that was created as a Test card at the 2024 Chicago Unknown Event.[9]
- Processing Plant, a test card in Mystery Booster 2, is the second card to have the Power-Plant typeline. As a spoof, it also has the type Ulamog's, even though there is no other card referring to it by name or type.
See also
References
- ↑ a b c d Paul Barclay (July 8, 2003). "Eighth Edition Rules Update". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 2020-11-12.
- ↑ a b Mark Rosewater (June 14, 2021). "On the Horizons, Part 2". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ a b Mark Rosewater (March 15, 2021). "Time After Time Spiral". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Magic Arcana (August 8, 2006). "Towers of Urza". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 2020-11-12.
- ↑ Magic Arcana (June 15, 2015). "Urza's Art School". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 2021-04-29.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (July 25, 2022). "Magic Design A to Z, Part 3". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 2022-07-25.
- ↑ Adam Styborski (May 6, 2021). "Welcome to the Summer of Legend". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 2021-05-06.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (November 4, 2022). ""Were the Tron lands themselves ever in Brothers War?"". Blogatog. Tumblr.
- ↑ Gavin Verhey (February 24, 2024). "Today, at 12:30 in room E350 of #MCChicago is the return of something beloved from Vegas: YOU MAKE THE UNKNOWN CARD!". Twitter.
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