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Landwalk
Duels Landwalk symbol
Keyword Ability
Type Evasion
Introduced Alpha
Last used Assassin's Creed
Reminder Text [Type] Landwalk (This creature can't be blocked as long as defending player controls a [type].)
Storm Scale 9[1]
Statistics
41 swampwalk cards
{W} 4.9% {B} 61% {G} 24.4% {U/B} 2.4% {B/R} 2.4% {B/G} 2.4% {M} 2.4%

31 islandwalk cards
{U} 61.3% {R} 3.2% {G} 22.6% {W/U} 3.2% {U/B} 6.5% {G/U} 3.2%

28 forestwalk cards
{B} 3.6% {R} 3.6% {G} 78.6% {U/B} 7.1% {G/W} 3.6% {B/G} 3.6%

17 mountainwalk cards
{W} 11.8% {R} 82.4% {G} 5.9%

4 plainswalk cards
{W} 50% {R} 25% {G} 25%

2 legendary landwalk cards
{G} 50% {R/G} 50%

2 desertwalk cards
{R} 50% {M} 50%

1 snow swampwalk card
{B} 100%

1 snow forestwalk card
{G} 100%

1 snow landwalk card
{B} 100%

1 nonbasic landwalk card
{G} 100%
Scryfall Search
keyword:"Landwalk"

Landwalk is a former evergreen keyword ability on creatures that makes the creature unblockable if the defending player controls at least one land with a certain characteristic.

Description[ | ]

Landwalk was introduced in Alpha.[2] The keyword always appeared in conjunction with a subtype or supertype to denote the appropriate characteristic, and in most cases did not actually appear as "Landwalk", but instead "Islandwalk", "Desertwalk", "Snow Forestwalk" and so on. "Denimwalk" was used in Unglued. Exceptions to the rule were "Nonbasic landwalk" (Dryad Sophisticate, Trailblazer's Boots), "Legendary landwalk" (Livonya Silone, Ayumi, the Last Visitor), and "Snow landwalk" (Zombie Musher).

Typically, green could get any type of landwalk, while red, black and blue could get the landwalk associated with their respective basic land (mountainwalk, swampwalk, and islandwalk, respectively). "Plainswalk" has always been the least used basic landwalk type (only 5 cards) because it's not a great fit for its color mechanically, nor has particularly strong flavor.[3] Also, the fact that "planeswalk" became an important concept in the game made "plainswalk" confusing.[4]

In the course of time, landwalk fell out of favor with R&D and was not getting used very often. The issue that it held was the opposite of Intimidate, but with more extreme issues - whereas Intimidate got an evasive creature that became overcosted in a few matchups, Landwalk gets a vanilla creature that performs far above the curve in a few matchups. The lack of counterplay was another significant issue - changing a deck's manabase to remove a type of basic is not a change most decks can perform. It was declared obsolete altogether with the release of Magic Origins.[2][5] An exception was made for the supplemental set Modern Horizons 2, which also introduced "artifact landwalk" (landwalk for artifact lands) with Vectis Gloves.

Supplemental sets and Universes Beyond sets may occasionally use landwalk for flavor reasons.

Rules[ | ]

From the glossary of the Comprehensive Rules (September 20, 2024—Duskmourn: House of Horror)

Landwalk
A generic term for a group of keyword abilities that restrict whether a creature may be blocked. See rule 702.14, “Landwalk.”

From the Comprehensive Rules (September 20, 2024—Duskmourn: House of Horror)

  • 702.14. Landwalk
    • 702.14a Landwalk is a generic term that appears within an object’s rules text as “[type]walk,” where [type] is usually a land type, but it can also be the card type land plus any combination of land types, card types, and/or supertypes.
    • 702.14b Landwalk is an evasion ability.
    • 702.14c A creature with landwalk can’t be blocked as long as the defending player controls at least one land with the specified land type (as in “islandwalk”), with the specified type or supertype (as in “artifact landwalk”), without the specified type or supertype (as in “nonbasic landwalk”), or with both the specified type or supertype and the specified subtype (as in “snow swampwalk”). (See rule 509, “Declare Blockers Step.”)
    • 702.14d Landwalk abilities don’t “cancel” one another.

      Example: If a player controls a snow Forest, that player can’t block an attacking creature with snow forestwalk even if they also control a creature with snow forestwalk.

    • 702.14e Multiple instances of the same kind of landwalk on the same creature are redundant.

Examples[ | ]

Example

River Bear {3}{G}
Creature — Bear
3/3
Islandwalk (This creature can't be blocked as long as defending player controls an Island.)

Cards that grant Landwalk[ | ]

Plainswalk
Islandwalk
Swampwalk
Mountainwalk
Forestwalk
Artifact Landwalk
Nonbasic Landwalk
Landwalk of the chosen type
Multiple (potentially)

Anti-landwalk[ | ]

Anti-landwalk cards allow creatures with a given landwalk ability to be blocked as though they didn't have that ability. The cards are listed below:

Enchantments

  • The Aura Street Savvy permits enchanted creature block creatures with landwalk abilities as though they didn't have those abilities.
  • The World Enchantment Mystic Decree causes all creatures to lose islandwalk.

Creatures

Artifacts

Gallery[ | ]

References[ | ]

External links[ | ]

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