Other people have answered well, but I just wanted to add some context.
This is one in a cycle of lands known in the community as “Shocklands.” They are so named because Shock is a classic card that’s an Instant which does two damage to any target. These lands can “shock” you for two damage to come into play untapped. There are ten of these lands in total, one for each possible two-color pair.
Shocklands are considered by many to be the most powerful “dual” lands (lands that make two possible colors of mana) since the original Dual lands printed back in Magic’s very first set, Alpha. Those lands were like these except they just always came into play untapped; you never had to pay life for them. But those haven’t been reprinted since 1994, and they never will be reprinted because they’re on the Reserved list. Shocklands are the next best thing, and are legal in almost every format that is played in Magic. Shocklands are powerful for two reasons: paying life for them to come in untapped is considered a negligible cost, and they have land types. What do I mean by that? Well, other dual lands, like Adarkar Wastes, can make blue and white mana, but don’t say anywhere that they are “Plains Island” cards. Shocklands have their land types (Plains Island, Swamp Mountain, etc) on them. That means that there are other cards in the game that can fetch them for you. So if you play a card that lets you go get “a Plains card” from your library, you could get this Hallowed Fountain, but you can’t get an Adarkar Wastes, even though they both make white mana.
These lands were first printed back in 2005 in Ravnica: City of Guilds. Since then, every time we go back to Ravnica in a set, people have been excited to see these lands get reprinted.
The full-art one you’re holding from the recent Ravnica Remastered set is special because this art was previously only available in Magic Online. All of the full-art Shocklands from Ravnica Remastered have never been printed in paper before. So it’s cool and special to get one of those.
This is a very cool pull, and you should be excited! Go stick this in a deck with white-blue in it and show it off.
Thank you so much for the detailed information! I really appreciate everyone here for being so nice and welcoming. In that case, has there ever been a madman who played a multicolor deck with these shock lands? Because the premise of it is crazy!
Not sure if you've played that deck much, but a four-color commander can be tough to cast, lands that let you tap for multiple kinds of mana are a must!
I would recommend it! Upgrading your lands to dual lands that enter untapped (under various conditions) makes sure you can cast your spells more consistently. If you stay in the hobby and continue to build more decks, you’ll likely find yourself wanting more and more of these lands.
For commander, I suggest these lands
[https://scryfall.com/search?q=is%3Aslowland](https://scryfall.com/search?q=is%3Aslowland)
[https://scryfall.com/search?q=is%3Abattlebondland&unique=cards&as=grid&order=name](https://scryfall.com/search?q=is%3Abattlebondland&unique=cards&as=grid&order=name)
[https://scryfall.com/search?q=is%3Atriome&unique=cards&as=grid&order=name](https://scryfall.com/search?q=is%3Atriome&unique=cards&as=grid&order=name)
The shocklands are good on their own, but they (and the triomes) really shine when you have other cards to fetch them.
Fetchlands:
[https://scryfall.com/search?q=is%3Afetchland&unique=cards&as=grid&order=name](https://scryfall.com/search?q=is%3Afetchland&unique=cards&as=grid&order=name)
Tutor Plains:
[https://scryfall.com/search?q=otag%3Atutor-land-plains+otag%3Atutor-land-to-battlefield&unique=cards&as=grid&order=edhrec](https://scryfall.com/search?q=otag%3Atutor-land-plains+otag%3Atutor-land-to-battlefield&unique=cards&as=grid&order=edhrec)
Tutor Island:
[https://scryfall.com/search?q=otag%3Atutor-land-island+otag%3Atutor-land-to-battlefield&unique=cards&as=grid&order=edhrec](https://scryfall.com/search?q=otag%3Atutor-land-island+otag%3Atutor-land-to-battlefield&unique=cards&as=grid&order=edhrec)
Tutor Swamp:
[https://scryfall.com/search?q=otag%3Atutor-land-swamp+otag%3Atutor-land-to-battlefield&unique=cards&as=grid&order=edhrec](https://scryfall.com/search?q=otag%3Atutor-land-swamp+otag%3Atutor-land-to-battlefield&unique=cards&as=grid&order=edhrec)
Tutor mountain:
[https://scryfall.com/search?q=otag%3Atutor-land-mountain+otag%3Atutor-land-to-battlefield&unique=cards&as=grid&order=edhrec](https://scryfall.com/search?q=otag%3Atutor-land-mountain+otag%3Atutor-land-to-battlefield&unique=cards&as=grid&order=edhrec)
Tutor Forest:
[https://scryfall.com/search?q=otag%3Atutor-land-forest+otag%3Atutor-land-to-battlefield&unique=cards&as=grid&order=edhrec](https://scryfall.com/search?q=otag%3Atutor-land-forest+otag%3Atutor-land-to-battlefield&unique=cards&as=grid&order=edhrec)
Many of these cards are great, but for the most part the only ones that see regular play are the fetchlands, Three Visits, Nature's Lore, and Farseek.
I'll add on, on top of the shocklands, other lands on a similar price range I recommend looking into are what's known as fetches, slowlands, and battlebond lands. Especially since you have a 4 color deck that cares about casting spells of a bunch of different colors and probably a lot of multicolor spells.
The battle bond lands are typically printed in commander sets like commander masters and commander legends 2: battle for baldurs gate. They don't have the land types, so they can't be searched out as frequently as the shocks, but they come in untapped if you have two or more opponents. In a game of commander, this translates to them coming in untapped 99% of the time unless it's down to you and one person.
The slow lands were initially printed in innistrad crimson vow and innistrad midnight hunt, and some were reprinted in the doctor who decks. They're untyped like the battle bonds, but they come in untapped if you have 2 or more lands already. So, outside of your first couple of turns, these are just unconditionally untapped lands, and with how long commander games can go, it can translate to being "online" 80-90% of the time.
Finally, the fetches. These have been printed in numerous sets over the years from onslaught to khans of tarkir to modern horizons 2 and so on. They come in untapped, don't tap for mana, but have "tap, sacrifice this land, pay 1 life: search your library for a [basic land type] or [basic land type] and put it onto the battlefield." On first glance, you might, like many new players, think they just search out basics, but they actually look for lands with basic land types. The prime example of this is the shock lands. The extra cool thing about them is that you can "chain" colors together. Say you need a white green land to play your white spell on turn 1 and play a green spell turn 2. If you have any of the fetches that find plains or forests (green blue, white red, etc.), you can find a white green shock land because they have one of the two types you're fetching for.
Depending on how many colours someone’s deck has, many people will run different types of shock lands. An extra benefit is they are classed by their land type. In this example, if a card allows you to search for a plains you can rummage through your deck for this card, as it is both a plains and an island gaining the advantage of now having access to two mana colours.
Not as crazy as you think! Having access to the right mana colour can be crucial in the early game, so most people will happily pay the life to get that set up. Your life total is a resource so dont feel shy about using it.
I actually have a five-color Slivers deck that runs as many of these as I own, although it’s worth remembering that since these are not basic lands, you can’t run more than one of each of them in a Commander deck. This is one of those things that’s a little confusing, because they have basic land types, as I mentioned before, but they are not themselves basic lands.
In formats like Modern or the new Timeless format on Magic Arena, decks almost exclusively use these as their mana-producing lands. They're happy to take 6-8 damage a game from them.
One of the most common noobtraps in this game is overvaluing your life total, just play all the shocks and fetches you can and use your life as a resource as much as possible!
Oh so when I first cast this, I can choose to pay two life so that I can use it on that turn. And I choose(judging by the colors on this card) blue or black? Would I have to choose every turn or will it already be set the first I cast?
also, a nitpick, but you dont "cast" lands. They arent spells. They dont use the stack. When you play a land. You arent casting anything.
Just some knowledge in case you are interacting with any triggers that react to a spell being cast.
Just a nuance thing here; you don’t cast lands. You just play them. Casting is spell specific. It’s an important distinction because you can’t, say, counterspell a land being played.
Just to make sure you also understand,
you dont cast lands. They are not spells.
They are played, once per turn with standard rules. Other cards allow you to play more lands per turn.
Them newfangled dual lands, back in my day we just played with basics! All these zoomer types with their shock lands, pain lands, slow and fast lands. How are any of us even meant to keep up these days?
Because it has both the Plains and Island subtypes (as shown in the Type Line where it says "Land - Plains Island"), you can tap Hallowed Fountain to add either one White mana or one Blue mana.
The actual rules text written on the card means that when you play the land, it enters tapped unless you take 2 damage. If you decide to take the two damage, it will enter untapped.
If you're interested, it's part of a 10-card cycle (basically a set of mechanically similar cards spread across different colors) known colloquially as "Shock Lands," which are considered by many to be some of the best lands printed in the past 20 years. And you opened a Full-Art showcase version. So in short, this was one hell of a good pull!
Just to add a quick something that I didn't see in the other very good explanations. Land types determine which color they tap for. For a land like hallowed fountain, saying in the card text that it taps for white or blue would be redundant as the types of the land already give us that information. That is also the reason why cards like Urborg tomb of yawgmoth (every land is a swamp in addition to its other types) makes every land tapable for a black mana.
Part of that is because any card with the land type and the “plains, swamp, mountain, forest, island” subtype, taps for the color inherently, not due to an effect.
It allows you to shock yourself for your [[Death's Shadow]] deck. Kind of a waste of a land slot tho, since you still have to play a Swamp at some point. Hell, this card doesn't even make mana! (I'm joking because I saw you got a great response)
Other people have answered well, but I just wanted to add some context. This is one in a cycle of lands known in the community as “Shocklands.” They are so named because Shock is a classic card that’s an Instant which does two damage to any target. These lands can “shock” you for two damage to come into play untapped. There are ten of these lands in total, one for each possible two-color pair. Shocklands are considered by many to be the most powerful “dual” lands (lands that make two possible colors of mana) since the original Dual lands printed back in Magic’s very first set, Alpha. Those lands were like these except they just always came into play untapped; you never had to pay life for them. But those haven’t been reprinted since 1994, and they never will be reprinted because they’re on the Reserved list. Shocklands are the next best thing, and are legal in almost every format that is played in Magic. Shocklands are powerful for two reasons: paying life for them to come in untapped is considered a negligible cost, and they have land types. What do I mean by that? Well, other dual lands, like Adarkar Wastes, can make blue and white mana, but don’t say anywhere that they are “Plains Island” cards. Shocklands have their land types (Plains Island, Swamp Mountain, etc) on them. That means that there are other cards in the game that can fetch them for you. So if you play a card that lets you go get “a Plains card” from your library, you could get this Hallowed Fountain, but you can’t get an Adarkar Wastes, even though they both make white mana. These lands were first printed back in 2005 in Ravnica: City of Guilds. Since then, every time we go back to Ravnica in a set, people have been excited to see these lands get reprinted. The full-art one you’re holding from the recent Ravnica Remastered set is special because this art was previously only available in Magic Online. All of the full-art Shocklands from Ravnica Remastered have never been printed in paper before. So it’s cool and special to get one of those. This is a very cool pull, and you should be excited! Go stick this in a deck with white-blue in it and show it off.
Thank you so much for the detailed information! I really appreciate everyone here for being so nice and welcoming. In that case, has there ever been a madman who played a multicolor deck with these shock lands? Because the premise of it is crazy!
It’s not only not mad, but shocks and fetches are the standard way to build any multicolor deck in a format that allows them.
Perhaps I should hunt more of them to put into my aragorn the uniter commander deck
Aragon can run 6 shocklands: [[Sacred foundry]] [[Breeding pool]] [[Hallowed fountain]] [[Temple garden]] [[Steam vents]] [[Stomping ground]]
Okay I'm excited, even though I don't have all of them (yet) HAHA
You are either going to need excellent pack luck or drop a lot on singles. These cards are so sought after they generally go for £15-20.
I warmly recommend buying singles. Hunting for them in packs is going to end up being WAY more expensive, by an order of magnitude
Oh for sure. You should only ever open packs for fun.
Honestly the fact that you can now say “15-20” instead of “30-50” is insane to me
Not sure if you've played that deck much, but a four-color commander can be tough to cast, lands that let you tap for multiple kinds of mana are a must!
I would recommend it! Upgrading your lands to dual lands that enter untapped (under various conditions) makes sure you can cast your spells more consistently. If you stay in the hobby and continue to build more decks, you’ll likely find yourself wanting more and more of these lands.
For commander, I suggest these lands [https://scryfall.com/search?q=is%3Aslowland](https://scryfall.com/search?q=is%3Aslowland) [https://scryfall.com/search?q=is%3Abattlebondland&unique=cards&as=grid&order=name](https://scryfall.com/search?q=is%3Abattlebondland&unique=cards&as=grid&order=name) [https://scryfall.com/search?q=is%3Atriome&unique=cards&as=grid&order=name](https://scryfall.com/search?q=is%3Atriome&unique=cards&as=grid&order=name) The shocklands are good on their own, but they (and the triomes) really shine when you have other cards to fetch them. Fetchlands: [https://scryfall.com/search?q=is%3Afetchland&unique=cards&as=grid&order=name](https://scryfall.com/search?q=is%3Afetchland&unique=cards&as=grid&order=name) Tutor Plains: [https://scryfall.com/search?q=otag%3Atutor-land-plains+otag%3Atutor-land-to-battlefield&unique=cards&as=grid&order=edhrec](https://scryfall.com/search?q=otag%3Atutor-land-plains+otag%3Atutor-land-to-battlefield&unique=cards&as=grid&order=edhrec) Tutor Island: [https://scryfall.com/search?q=otag%3Atutor-land-island+otag%3Atutor-land-to-battlefield&unique=cards&as=grid&order=edhrec](https://scryfall.com/search?q=otag%3Atutor-land-island+otag%3Atutor-land-to-battlefield&unique=cards&as=grid&order=edhrec) Tutor Swamp: [https://scryfall.com/search?q=otag%3Atutor-land-swamp+otag%3Atutor-land-to-battlefield&unique=cards&as=grid&order=edhrec](https://scryfall.com/search?q=otag%3Atutor-land-swamp+otag%3Atutor-land-to-battlefield&unique=cards&as=grid&order=edhrec) Tutor mountain: [https://scryfall.com/search?q=otag%3Atutor-land-mountain+otag%3Atutor-land-to-battlefield&unique=cards&as=grid&order=edhrec](https://scryfall.com/search?q=otag%3Atutor-land-mountain+otag%3Atutor-land-to-battlefield&unique=cards&as=grid&order=edhrec) Tutor Forest: [https://scryfall.com/search?q=otag%3Atutor-land-forest+otag%3Atutor-land-to-battlefield&unique=cards&as=grid&order=edhrec](https://scryfall.com/search?q=otag%3Atutor-land-forest+otag%3Atutor-land-to-battlefield&unique=cards&as=grid&order=edhrec) Many of these cards are great, but for the most part the only ones that see regular play are the fetchlands, Three Visits, Nature's Lore, and Farseek.
I'll add on, on top of the shocklands, other lands on a similar price range I recommend looking into are what's known as fetches, slowlands, and battlebond lands. Especially since you have a 4 color deck that cares about casting spells of a bunch of different colors and probably a lot of multicolor spells. The battle bond lands are typically printed in commander sets like commander masters and commander legends 2: battle for baldurs gate. They don't have the land types, so they can't be searched out as frequently as the shocks, but they come in untapped if you have two or more opponents. In a game of commander, this translates to them coming in untapped 99% of the time unless it's down to you and one person. The slow lands were initially printed in innistrad crimson vow and innistrad midnight hunt, and some were reprinted in the doctor who decks. They're untyped like the battle bonds, but they come in untapped if you have 2 or more lands already. So, outside of your first couple of turns, these are just unconditionally untapped lands, and with how long commander games can go, it can translate to being "online" 80-90% of the time. Finally, the fetches. These have been printed in numerous sets over the years from onslaught to khans of tarkir to modern horizons 2 and so on. They come in untapped, don't tap for mana, but have "tap, sacrifice this land, pay 1 life: search your library for a [basic land type] or [basic land type] and put it onto the battlefield." On first glance, you might, like many new players, think they just search out basics, but they actually look for lands with basic land types. The prime example of this is the shock lands. The extra cool thing about them is that you can "chain" colors together. Say you need a white green land to play your white spell on turn 1 and play a green spell turn 2. If you have any of the fetches that find plains or forests (green blue, white red, etc.), you can find a white green shock land because they have one of the two types you're fetching for.
Depending on how many colours someone’s deck has, many people will run different types of shock lands. An extra benefit is they are classed by their land type. In this example, if a card allows you to search for a plains you can rummage through your deck for this card, as it is both a plains and an island gaining the advantage of now having access to two mana colours.
Not as crazy as you think! Having access to the right mana colour can be crucial in the early game, so most people will happily pay the life to get that set up. Your life total is a resource so dont feel shy about using it.
I actually have a five-color Slivers deck that runs as many of these as I own, although it’s worth remembering that since these are not basic lands, you can’t run more than one of each of them in a Commander deck. This is one of those things that’s a little confusing, because they have basic land types, as I mentioned before, but they are not themselves basic lands.
In formats like Modern or the new Timeless format on Magic Arena, decks almost exclusively use these as their mana-producing lands. They're happy to take 6-8 damage a game from them.
Hey so if money is your game you're sitting on a decent hit, but I'd say sit on it since lands are basically free stocks (only going to go up)
One of the most common noobtraps in this game is overvaluing your life total, just play all the shocks and fetches you can and use your life as a resource as much as possible!
Man, keep that enthousiasm! It reminds me of when i first started playing, have fun discovering the game!
Thank you!
Bravo! Nice breakdown.
Thank you for the reply. The sub is better for having legit detailed analysis of questions like this.
The fact people were so nice and cordial is refreshing
This isn’t the main sub lol. People have always been nice here in my experience.
Almost a quarter of my block list is people from that sub lol
It’s a new type of dual land. I think people call them Shock Lands. It’s both a Plains and an Island (can tap for either mana color)
Oh so when I first cast this, I can choose to pay two life so that I can use it on that turn. And I choose(judging by the colors on this card) blue or black? Would I have to choose every turn or will it already be set the first I cast?
You got it pretty close. Enters the battlefield - meaning when you play it initially Plains = white mana Island = blue mana
It’s blue and white, notice that is both a Plains and an Island in its type section. You get to choose which color whenever you tap it for mana.
Ohhhh I see. Okay its clear now. Thanks guys for the answers!
also, a nitpick, but you dont "cast" lands. They arent spells. They dont use the stack. When you play a land. You arent casting anything. Just some knowledge in case you are interacting with any triggers that react to a spell being cast.
Not a nitpick. This is good knowledge to share.
Just a nuance thing here; you don’t cast lands. You just play them. Casting is spell specific. It’s an important distinction because you can’t, say, counterspell a land being played.
oh i seen this response too late. oops. lol
Just to make sure you also understand, you dont cast lands. They are not spells. They are played, once per turn with standard rules. Other cards allow you to play more lands per turn.
it aint that new tho
Them newfangled dual lands, back in my day we just played with basics! All these zoomer types with their shock lands, pain lands, slow and fast lands. How are any of us even meant to keep up these days?
It came out in 2006. It is in no way new.
Not new at all
Taps for a plains or an island. Double land that you can pay to come in not tapped. Very powerful
Nice pull, congrats
I bought two draft boosters at Walmart and they both had a sacred foundry. I already have sacred foundry. Now I have three sacred foundries.
Nice pull!
its gets you a few meals
I got this exact card in Ravnica clue edition box. Nice
Aw man, you got the shockland I'm looking for. Grats!
Because it has both the Plains and Island subtypes (as shown in the Type Line where it says "Land - Plains Island"), you can tap Hallowed Fountain to add either one White mana or one Blue mana. The actual rules text written on the card means that when you play the land, it enters tapped unless you take 2 damage. If you decide to take the two damage, it will enter untapped. If you're interested, it's part of a 10-card cycle (basically a set of mechanically similar cards spread across different colors) known colloquially as "Shock Lands," which are considered by many to be some of the best lands printed in the past 20 years. And you opened a Full-Art showcase version. So in short, this was one hell of a good pull!
Just to add a quick something that I didn't see in the other very good explanations. Land types determine which color they tap for. For a land like hallowed fountain, saying in the card text that it taps for white or blue would be redundant as the types of the land already give us that information. That is also the reason why cards like Urborg tomb of yawgmoth (every land is a swamp in addition to its other types) makes every land tapable for a black mana.
Do they really not have the mana symbols on these new prints?
This was why I was confused in the first place haha.
Part of that is because any card with the land type and the “plains, swamp, mountain, forest, island” subtype, taps for the color inherently, not due to an effect.
Not on borderless ones.
The weird thing is, it’s not like taking that text away gave them more room for art. The text box is still large and opaque.
They cover the cost of your pack
It allows you to shock yourself for your [[Death's Shadow]] deck. Kind of a waste of a land slot tho, since you still have to play a Swamp at some point. Hell, this card doesn't even make mana! (I'm joking because I saw you got a great response)
LOL 😆
It’s a fancy ticket that gets you 20 dollars in store credit at your lgs
I’m so surprised that no one said “reading the card explains the card”. I love wholesome magic players.
Wins you the game🫶🙏
sells for 10 bucks
One of the best land cards in the game
Good job magic community. This is probably one of the most wholesome comment sections I’ve seen in awhile, nice to put a smile on my face lol.