Why is Exotic Orchard Good? The Power of Adaptive Mana in Magic: The Gathering
Exotic Orchard is a seemingly simple land card, but its strength lies in its adaptability. It’s good because it provides access to a variety of mana colors based on the lands your opponents control. This makes it a powerhouse in multiplayer formats like Commander, and a solid choice for decks that need flexible mana fixing. Unlike many color-fixing lands, Exotic Orchard does not enter the battlefield tapped, nor does it require life payment or deal damage to use. This offers consistent, painless mana and makes it a strong option for decks that need a multitude of colors, without the downsides of other multicolor fixing lands. It is very strong, because it taps for any color mana an opponent’s land can produce.
The Advantages of Flexibility
Color Fixing in Multiplayer
The primary appeal of Exotic Orchard is its ability to provide you with access to almost any color of mana. In Commander, where you’re often facing 2-3 opponents or more, this translates to a high likelihood that at least one opponent has a land capable of producing a color you need. This makes the card far more reliable than it would be in a two-player setting.
Untapped Mana
Many multi-color lands enter the battlefield tapped, slowing down your early game. Exotic Orchard bypasses this drawback, allowing you to use it immediately for mana. This is crucial for maintaining tempo and casting spells when you need them.
No Drawbacks
Unlike pain lands or lands that require you to pay life or sacrifice another card, Exotic Orchard has no downsides. It simply taps for mana. This makes it an easy inclusion in nearly any multi-colored deck. There is no additional cost for this effect, which increases its value in a format with lots of other card types that may have additional costs.
Consistency in Color Identity
While Exotic Orchard relies on your opponents, it is relatively consistent. Most opponents will run at least a few different color lands. This means you can often rely on Exotic Orchard to fix your mana, which can be particularly useful when your deck’s mana base isn’t ideal.
Affordability
Exotic Orchard is, in general, an affordable card. You don’t have to break the bank to include one of these in your deck, and its relatively affordable price makes it even more appealing for budget-conscious players.
Key Considerations
It’s important to remember that Exotic Orchard is not a completely foolproof source of mana. There are a few things to be mindful of:
- Dependence on Opponents: Its reliability is directly linked to the colors being played by your opponents. If your opponents are primarily playing mono-color decks, or the same mono-color, Exotic Orchard will become less helpful.
- Colorless Mana: Exotic Orchard cannot produce colorless mana, even if an opponent’s land is capable of doing so. This can be a minor limitation in certain decks.
In Conclusion
Exotic Orchard is a highly useful land card in most multi-colored decks, particularly Commander decks, because of its ability to tap for mana of any color an opponent’s land can produce, and enters the battlefield untapped with no other negative drawbacks. The fact that it’s affordable also makes it a good choice for all players.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. How does Exotic Orchard work?
Exotic Orchard checks the mana-producing abilities of lands your opponents control. It can tap for any color of mana that a land an opponent controls can produce, but it does not check for costs. So if an opponents land could tap for a mana of any color, so could your Exotic Orchard.
2. Can Exotic Orchard produce colorless mana?
No, Exotic Orchard cannot produce colorless mana. Even if an opponent controls a land that produces colorless mana, Exotic Orchard will not tap for colorless mana.
3. How does Exotic Orchard interact with Command Tower?
Command Tower produces mana of your commander’s color identity. If an opponent controls a Command Tower, Exotic Orchard can produce any color within that opponent’s commander’s color identity.
4. What happens if an opponent plays no lands?
If your opponents control no lands, Exotic Orchard can only tap for colorless mana. This is a rare situation, but possible. In most commander games, this will not be an issue.
5. Is Exotic Orchard good in a two-player game?
Exotic Orchard is less effective in a two-player game because it only checks the mana of one opponent. However, it can still be useful if your opponent is running multiple colors. Its power is maximized in multiplayer games.
6. Can I use Exotic Orchard to generate mana for mana abilities with additional costs?
Yes, Exotic Orchard only cares about the end result of lands’ abilities. The cost to activate them does not affect Exotic Orchard’s ability to copy the mana output.
7. If an opponent has a land that can produce any color, can my Exotic Orchard produce any color?
Yes, if an opponent has a land that can produce any color of mana, like a “Chromatic Lantern” Exotic Orchard will then be able to also produce any color of mana.
8. Does Exotic Orchard count mana that opponents are adding for triggered abilities?
No, Exotic Orchard only looks at the mana-producing abilities of lands your opponents control. It does not consider triggered abilities or effects adding mana from non-land sources.
9. Can my opponent stop me from using Exotic Orchard by tapping their lands?
No, Exotic Orchard does not care if your opponents’ lands are tapped or untapped. It cares about the mana-producing abilities of lands in play and that ability is not altered by a land being tapped or untapped.
10. Is Exotic Orchard better than a dual land?
That depends on your deck. Dual lands give you consistent mana fixing for specific colors, while Exotic Orchard offers flexibility, but is reliant on your opponents. However, since Exotic Orchard does not enter the battlefield tapped like some duel lands, it can be a better option.
11. Should I always include Exotic Orchard in my multicolor Commander deck?
Generally, yes. The flexibility it provides, with no downsides, makes it a strong addition to most decks. There may be niche cases where you have enough mana fixing, but in most cases it is worth including.
12. How does Exotic Orchard work with lands that have conditional mana abilities?
Exotic Orchard will produce whatever mana your opponent’s lands could produce. If your opponent’s land only produces certain colors, depending on certain conditions, and those conditions are met, Exotic Orchard will have the ability to produce those same colors.
13. Can Exotic Orchard copy abilities that are not standard colors?
No, mana-producing abilities on opponent’s lands must produce White, Blue, Black, Red or Green mana. If it produces other types of mana it cannot copy that ability.
14. What is the difference between Exotic Orchard and Forbidden Orchard?
Exotic Orchard does not provide your opponent with any benefits. Forbidden Orchard gives your opponent a creature token, but it can tap for any color mana you need. Exotic Orchard requires your opponent to have a land that produces a certain color of mana, Forbidden Orchard does not.
15. Is Exotic Orchard a budget-friendly land?
Yes, Exotic Orchard is typically a budget-friendly card. Its cost is relatively low for a card with such high utility. It can often be found for less than a dollar, making it very accessible to the average player.