Magic: The Gathering brings back classic Pain Lands in The Brothers' War

In a recent Magic: The Gathering preview session, several very interesting reveals were made. Among these was the confirmation that some classic Pain Lands will return to the game. Each expansion these days has some flavor of multi-mana land.

While these aren’t among the most popular or valuable Pain Lands in Magic: The Gathering’s history, they come from some very interesting places, whether intentionally or not. What lands can players expect from The Brothers’ War?

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4 classic Pain Lands confirmed for Magic: The Gathering’s The Brothers’ War

During this recent preview, Four Pain Lands were revealed that will be a part of The Brothers’ War expansion. These Magic: The Gathering lands come from two very interesting parts of the game’s lore.

• Brushland (Ice Age) (Green/White)
• Underground River (Ice Age) (Black/Blue)
• Llanowar Wastes (Apocalypse) (Green/Black)
• Battlefield Forge (Apocalypse) (Red/White)

What makes the Pain Land such a special style of dual land? They do not come into play tapped, and normally, you can tap them for one colorless mana. Instead, you can do the same for one of the two colors. However, if you do, they deal one damage to you.

With this in mind, you don’t have to take damage every time you use them, and they’re also incredibly valuable on turn one since they have several options. It’s worth noting that three of these are worth less than $5 on average.

Brushland (Image via Sportskeeda)

Brushland also tends to be valued at around $10-15, but the foil can go for around $50. This may not even be all of the Pain Lands for this expansion, either. But what makes them interesting from a lore perspective?

Ice Age was a direct result of The Brothers’ War. Using the Sylex led Mishra to ultimately start the Ice Age in Dominaria, altering the landscape of the plane for years to come. It wasn’t his intent, but it still occurred.

While Apocalypse isn’t directly connected to that, it’s linked to another facet of this story - Yawgmoth and the Phyrexians. Urza led a group of planeswalkers to travel to the home realm of Phyrexia with the intent of destroying them.

This could tie neatly into the upcoming expansion, also recently revealed, Phyrexia: All Will Be One. While the inclusion of Ice Age Pain Lands does not mean a revisit to those times is on the way, it is an interesting choice, and likely not done by accident.

While there are still plenty of spoilers to go for Magic: The Gathering’s upcoming expansion, revealing the Pain Lands is still an excellent choice for this upcoming set.