Okay, so today I messed around with these “pain lands” in Magic: The Gathering. Let me tell you, it was a bit of a ride.
First off, I had to figure out what these things even were. Turns out, they’re special lands that can give you either colorless mana or one of two colors of mana. The catch? If you tap them for colored mana, they deal one damage to you. Ouch, right?
So, I started by grabbing a bunch of these pain lands from my collection. I had a mix of them – some old, some new. Then, I shuffled them into my deck. My plan was simple: see how these lands actually played out in a real game.
- Decided to play a few casual games with a buddy. He’s got a pretty mean green/white deck, so I figured it’d be a good test.
- Slammed down a Rugged Highlands on turn one. Tapped it for red, took that one damage, and played a creature. Felt kinda cool, like I was living on the edge.
- My buddy was using these fetch lands and it was obvious that my one damage was nothing on his land’s abilities.
- By turn three, I was already feeling the sting. Every time I needed colored mana, it was like making a deal with the devil. One damage here, one damage there… it adds up.
I won one game, but I lost the other two. Honestly, those pain lands were a double-edged sword. They gave me the mana I needed, but they also chipped away at my life total. I felt my blood pressure rising with every point of damage!
In the end, I realized that using pain lands is all about balance. You gotta weigh the need for that colored mana against the pain you’re gonna take. I mean if your playing style is slow and you plan on winning in the later turns these lands might just cost you the game.
It was a fun experiment, though. Definitely makes you think twice about your mana base. Would I use them all the time? Probably not. But in the right deck, with the right strategy? They could be pretty powerful.
So yeah, that was my day with pain lands. A little painful, a little strategic, and a whole lot of Magic. I suggest trying to play using these, but be careful, it’s pretty easy to lose!
