Once Upon a Time vs Land Grant

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maeos
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Post by maeos » 4 years ago

Im running a Captain Sisay deck which only runs 30 lands.
I recently pulled a Once Upon a Time. Looking at the card, I feel that this could be used instead of Land Grant.

Pros for Once Upon a Time
- It doesn't require you to reveal your hand
- It also allows me to grab lands that aren't forests.
- Can grab creatures if I do not need lands

Cons for Once Upon a Time
- Only looks at the top 5 cards
- Only free if its the first spell I cast during the game.

What are your thoughts on the cards?

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void_nothing
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Post by void_nothing » 4 years ago

Once Upon a Time's hardcast version is usually better for the cost, which makes me think it has an edge in Commander. However, if you're going to be able to freecast a Land Grant on a lot of different turns, that's something to consider. Being that this is Commander, why not run both for a bit of redundancy?
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Sinis
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Post by Sinis » 4 years ago

void_nothing wrote:
4 years ago
Being that this is Commander, why not run both for a bit of redundancy?
This is pretty much my thinking on it. If these are the kinds of cards you want to run, both is just fine.

[mention]maeos[/mention]: If I had to pick one, it would be Once upon a Time for Captain Sisay. Searching a non-basic Forest with Land Grant isn't a big deal when you're only two colours, and Once Upon a Time is much better later. Land Grant is good as a forest replacement, but Once Upon a Time does much, much better later.

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SocorroTortoise
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Post by SocorroTortoise » 4 years ago

I'd definitely go for Once Upon a Time. It helps with the early mana development you're looking for and is much high impact later in the game once you have established mana. Spending 2 mana to dig 5 cards at instant speed is a good rate even if it's restricted on what it can find.

If you're just worried about opening hand, odds are pretty low that it would whiff as the first spell as well. Assuming that you're keeping a hand with 2-4 lands and that you have 30 lands in the deck, you're still at 80+% to hit a land off of it as the first spell of the game.
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darrenhabib
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Post by darrenhabib » 4 years ago

It's hard to evaluate cards like Once Upon a Time in Commander as they just have such a different scope than 60 card/4 of a card decks. Obviously there is a bit of hype around it for those constructed formats, because it's ability to find you exact cards you need are extremely high, where in Commander it's literally pretty random.
Same reason why Ancient Stirrings or Collected Company isn't a real thing in Commander, but are powerful options elsewhere.

So for me I wouldn't put much stock into Once Upon a Time being a particular good card.

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Post by Hawk » 4 years ago

I agree with Darren - I'd be reluctant to run Once in most decks in Commander and in your super low land count deck in particular, it seems to me that you'd be better served by Land Grant possibly alongside Ancient Stirrings or Oath of Nissa if you are in the market for cheap cantrips - Stirrings is one less and can hit artifacts, while Oath has some fringe upside and can be tutored by Sisay if you really want it. I think the fail rate of having to pay 2 isn't worth instant speed and the extremely small chance of it being free.

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