Magic: The Gathering Designer Explains Why The World Tree From Kaldheim isn't A Legendary Land

Last week, Wizards of the Coast revealed one of the most unique new Magic: The Gathering cards from the upcoming Norse mythology-inspired set, Kaldheim, and it's called The World Tree, a rare land card that can tap for green mana, gives all land cards you control the ability to tap to add one mana of any color if you control six or more lands, and if you manage to pay two mana of each of the five colors of Magic, you can put any number of God cards from your library into play.

Credit: Wizards of the Coast

Many Magic players have been wondering why The World Tree wasn't printed as a legendary land, but Senior Magic Designer Gavin Verhey has provided an answer.

In a recent episode of Good Morning Magic, Verhey talked about the reasons as to why The World Tree isn't a legendary land. Since Magic was first published in 1993, only 43 single-faced legendary land cards have been printed, Verhey pointed out. There's a total of 11 legendary lands on the back of Modal Double-Faced Card (MDFC). Verhey said that legendary lands "don't play very well" since drawing multiple copies of the card can hurt your mana base because you can only play one copy of a legendary land at a time. Unlike other types of legendary permanents, legendary lands are more dificult to remove and often don't go away, so copies in your hand may be considered "dead" draws. Verhey explains that it's not ideal within tournament settings due to issues like "mana screw."

"Usually, it's a very careful power tunning knob on a card we already like but want to be a little careful with," Verhey added.

Credit: Wizards of the Coast

In regards to decision to not print The World Tree as an MDFC card, Verhey said, "Kaldheim doesn't contain any cards with land on one side and a spell on the other," said Verhey. Pathway landswere the only MFDC lands getting printed in Kaldheim, finishing the cycle Zendikar Rising started. "

Verhey also said that "design space for it [legendary lands] is small", but expect Wizards to print more legendary lands in the future. Just don't expect them often.

Watch the video below:

Kaldheim is set to release on February 5, 2021 for tabletop, and Jan. 28 on Magic Arena and Magic Online. The set will be followed by Strixhaven: School of Mages, which is set to release sometime in Spring 2021.