The Finest Vintage: Ravager Shops
ConstructedBy OdinFK (2021-01-19)
The world of competitive Vintage broadly splits up into the trifecta of blue decks, Bazaar decks, and decks based on another overpowered land from the early days of Magic … Let's enter Mishra's Workshop, impede our opponents' game plan, and cast artifacts fast—possibly faster than usual, or at least bigger artifacts!
At the time of printing, the difference in power between Karakas and the "other 4" (Hammerheim, Tolaria, Pendelhaven, Urborg) was not as big as it is today. In those times, Karakas would mainly be used to protect your own Legends from being destroyed or stolen with Control Magic. And playing Legends was clunky, as you needed multiple colours of mana and there were no fetchlands then. In later additions, many Legends were added with new combos (eg Dark Depths/Thespian's stage), so Karakas became more versatile and valuable. On the other hand, abilities like Banding and the individual landwalk abilities (like swampwalk) became outdated with the introduction of more and better creature abilities. So the Legendary lands drifted apart over the years.
I wonder if it's going to be reprinted in Eternal Masters. Would like it, I'm getting a weenie into legacy, and this staple is very expensive.
Actually Pendelhaven is playable although only in berserk stompy deck, and of course Tabernacle but I guess it wasn't in those "other 4" you mentioned
it's really incredible how the legendary lands cycle from legends ended being so unbalanced: The other 4 lands are totally unplayable, and this one is a legacy white staple.