Magic: The Gathering - The 10 Most Valuable Shocklands

Summary

• Shocklands are powerful, often pricey lands for Magic decks due to their searchability and dual color function.
• Rare, full-art galaxy foil shocklands like Steam Vents and Watery Grave can reach triple digits in price.
• Ravnica Remastered;'s Serialised shocklands, like Breeding Pool and Hallowed Fountain, with double rainbow foiling can cost over $600.

Shocklands are some of the most useful lands you can run in a Magic: The Gathering Commander deck. These lands can tap for one of two colours, which isn't a particularly rare ability. Their power comes from how easily searchable they are thanks to having two basic Land types, and how they can enter the battlefield untapped if you lose two life to them (hence "Shock" lands).

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Because of how good they are, even the most basic printings of a shockland can be quite pricey. If you want to go bling and get a fancy version, that price can easily skyrocket into triple digits.

We're using TCGPlayer's Market rate for this list, and prices can change over time.

10 Steam Vents - $104.59

Unfinity Full-Art Galaxy Foil

Unfinity wasn't a particularly well-loved set, thanks to its introduction of stickers and blurring of the lines between silver border and regular Magic. Regardless, one of the best parts of the set was its inclusion of these outer-space styled full-art shocklands.

The cream crop, like this Steam Vents, feature an exclusive galaxy foiling treatment we've only seen since in a single Secret Lair. Adding foil stars and planets to the card makes this lava flow look even more out of this world.

9 Water Grave - $109.63

Unfinity Full-Art Galaxy Foil

Another galaxy foil from Unfinity, this version of Watery Grave features a crashed spaceship in a barren, swampy wasteland. It's no wonder these are by far the most valuable cards in the whole of Unfinity, as they're playable, gorgeous, and incredibly limited edition thanks to the set's unpopularity.

Of all the shocklands, Watery Grave tends to be one of the more valuable in any of its printings. Any Shock with black in it tends to be good thanks to Death Shadow decks in formats like Modern, and as a quick way of enabling the Tainted lands by ensuring you have a Swamp out in play.

8 Godless Shrine - $109.63

Unfinity Full-Art Galaxy Foil

Coming in at the same price as Watery Grave is the black and white shockland, Godless Shrine. This one features an enormous black hole, which makes the galaxy foiling slightly scientifically inaccurate, but still cool looking none the less.

Like Watery Grave, this shows just how much more valued black shocklands are compared to other colours. Black loves you losing life for things in a way the other colours don't, which partly explains why this, Watery Grave, and the black/red Blood Crypt all rank highly in Shockland values.

7 Temple Garden - $612.50

Ravnica Remastered Retro-Frame Serialised Double Rainbow Foil

A huge jump in price marks the difference between Unfinity and Ravnica Remastered, the reprint set released in early 2024 that focused entirely on the popular plane of Ravnica. Considering shocklands first appeared on Ravnica, it makes sense to see them pop up here as some of the most sought-after cards in the whole set.

Only 500 of these cards were produced, and feature an exceedingly rare double rainbow foiling. They were only found in Collector boosters, meaning the only way you'll get your hands on them these days is being ridiculously lucky and finding an old Collector's booster, or picking it up through the secondary market.

6 Breeding Pool - $617.80

Ravnica Remastered Retro-Frame Serialised Double Rainbow Foil

Another of Ravnica Remastered's serialised foils, each of these shocklands features the classic art by Rob Alexander, last seen in their original printings in Ravnica: City of Guilds and Dissension.

The fact shocklands have both of their basic land types on them makes Breeding Pool searchable with cards like Farseek. Considering Farseek can't normally go hunting for a Forest, it's a great way to cheat one in early on, even if it does mean you can't take two damage to have it enter untapped.

5 Sacred Foundry - $687.50

Ravnica Remastered Retro-Frame Serialised Double Rainbow Foil

Another serialised card, this time the white/red Sacred Foundry of the Boros Legion. Red decks love to go fast, so having a way to get access to both colours on turn one makes red Shocks almost as popular as black ones.

It's a shame that shocklands have you pay life instead of having it deal two damage to you. The thought of using a Deflecting Swat to redirect that damage at an opponent sounds hilarious, especially in red and white burn-focused decks. Unfortunately, as the ability doesn't target, we can only imagine.

4 Hallowed Fountain - $799.99

Ravnica Remastered Retro-Frame Serialised Double Rainbow Foil

If there are two colours you don't want to play into with untapped mana, its white and blue. With just one mana, white could be holding on to a Swords to Plowshares or Path to Exile, while blue could have a Song Song or Pongify. Now consider how bad that could be if they have access to both colours on turn one.

It's worth remembering that the market value of serialised cards can massively change depending on its number. The 001/500, 500/500, and meme-y numbers like 420/500 often tend to be priced higher than a random number like 236/500. You'll be getting a decent chunk of change no matter which serialised card it is, but a prized number can easily add an extra sum on top.

3 Blood Crypt - $800.91

Ravnica Remastered Retro-Frame Serialised Double Rainbow Foil

As mentioned, black and red shocklands have greater utility than other colours, as both are willing to pay life to go faster. With that in mind, it's no surprise why the black/red Blood Crypt is near the top of the most valuable shocklands.

Whether you're just wanting to get access to both colours as fast as possible, or are wanting to intentionally lower your life total for a Death's Shadow, Blood Crypt enables lots of different strategies. It's also great for cards like Vampire Scrivener or Vilis, Broker of Blood to get you +1/+1 counters or card draw.

2 Steam Vents - $883.33

Ravnica Remastered Retro-Frame Serialised Double Rainbow Foil

Steam Vents is the red/blue shockland, showcasing the explosive Izzet league and their many experiments into engineering. Though these two colours don't necessarily want to lose life as quickly as black, red, or black/red, having a few Steam Vents in your deck still gives you access to flexibility a basic land simply doesn't.

Critically, they're also run in decks with more than just blue and red in them. For instance, in a Grixis deck that uses black, red, and blue, having access to a Steam Vents, a Blood Crypt, and a Watery Grave in one deck gives you access to all three colours twice, and lets you take six damage for any life-loss-centric strategies.

1 Godless Shrine - $1064.20

Ravnica Remastered Retro-Frame Serialised Double Rainbow Foil

Unsurprisingly, Godless Shrine is not just the most valuable Unfinity shockland, but also the most valuable Ravnica Remastered one too. If you're opening a pack of Ravnica Remastered and stumble across this, you've hit the mother lode.

Most shocklands' popularity can also be attributed to how popular their colours are in Modern, where they are among the best lands in the entire format. Izzet Prowess uses Steam Vents, Boros Energy uses Sacred Foundry, and Orzhov Midrange uses Godless Shrine to great effect.

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