Plains (Original Art)

A detail shot of Library of Alexandria, the 2 versions of Plains by Fred Fields for Portal feature Library of Alexandria as a subject matter on a card for the only time since Library of Alexadria's the original printing for Arabian Nights in 1993. Plains represents white mana – the color of order, justice, and community. Its art and name evoke calm, open landscapes that serve as the foundation for civilization. Mechanically, Plains defines white’s mana base. It’s simple, elegant, and eternal – the blueprint for every basic land printed since Alpha (1993). Because it’s a basic land, it can appear in any number, making it one of the few truly unlimited resources in deck construction. In gameplay, it does exactly what white decks need: provides consistent access to white mana, enabling everything from Swords to Plowshares to Wrath of God to Serra Angel and beyond. One of the main strengths of Plains is its consistency, it always comes into play untapped and is immune to non-basic hate cards (e.g. Wasteland, Blood Moon, Price of Progress). Because Plains is a basic land card it’s legal in any format and a core part of nearly every successful white deck ever printed – from White Weenie to UW Control to Death and Taxes. All these decks owe their existence to the humble Plains. Plains is not on the Reserved List since basic lands are always reprintable.