MTG Fallout includes a reprint of one of the priciest MTG cards outside of the Reserved List. Ravages of War, originally printed in Portal Three Kingdoms, is a four mana spell that destroys all lands. Perhaps because mass land destruction is super unpopular, Wizards of the Coast has never reprinted the card again. The closest it’s come is a judge promo released in 2016.
That promo is now the cheapest version of this expensive MTG card, valued at $130 on MTG Goldfish. The Portal Three Kingdoms version from 1999 is double that, at over $300. It perhaps would not be quite right to call this a ‘much-needed’ reprint, however. Play this card in one casual MTG Commander game and you will immediately be everybody’s least favorite person in the room.
In case you didn’t twig, the main spot for this card will be in dedicated land destruction decks which can get their own lands back swiftly using cards like Crucible of Worlds, or protect them with something like Heroic Intervention.
Those Commander decks will probably also be running Armageddon, which is functionally identical to Ravages of War, right down to casting cost and MTG color identity. The main difference is that instead of a price tag in the hundreds, Armageddon costs $5, which just goes to show how mad the secondary markets of trading card games can get.
Fans can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that Wizards were not so bold as to place this odious card inside an MTG precon deck. No, the new version of Ravages of War will only be found in the Fallout Collector Boosters, for the high rollers to fish for.
Ravages of War was revealed on February 20, 2024 alongside a bunch of other MTG Fallout spoilers. With all the cards shown off so far, we’re starting to get a real sense of how these Fallout Commander decks are going to function.