Weathered Wayfarer

[The Golgari Guy]

What is your opinion on Weathered Wayfarer in white sans-green decks (like Boros)?

The ability to fetch any land seems very strong, but if you go first it may be a dead card (like all catch-up ramp), and it is a bit slow to get going. Especially in the first turns, unless you really need the mana, I'm not sure you want to activate this instead of playing some rocks... Really don't know what to think!

[Devix]

What is your opinion on Weathered Wayfarer in white sans-green decks (like Boros)?

The ability to fetch any land seems very strong, but if you go first it may be a dead card (like all catch-up ramp), and it is a bit slow to get going. Especially in the first turns, unless you really need the mana, I'm not sure you want to activate this instead of playing some rocks... Really don't know what to think!

It's determined by the context for sure... If you are creating a pro deck i think it's a card that can be avoided, if you creating a casual multiplayer deck maybe this can be very useful!
In my case, i play this card in my aurelia angel-tribe deck but not in my merieke or oloro deck. Different approches and different "priorities"...

The advantage is that you can choose any kind of land, even something that could fix some of your problems, that because the combination of colors of your choice, you can't solve. Some examples:
homeward path if you know that the opponent play something like bribery(i can't stop bribery, except with pyroblast, so fetching this land could solve it),
or scavenging grounds if the opponent plays something like meren(i can solve the meren/spore frog problem with scavenging ground or lion sash),
or kor haven if it's a voltron deck with some color protections,
or maze of ith,
or glacial chasm,
o the new kamigawa lands,
or cavern of souls,
or strip mine/wasteland

If i start with this in my opening hand of Aurelia deck i always let the opponent go first.
I play it with expedition map(but i have a deck a bit slow...) too. https://deckstats.net/decks/17013/1748956-aurelia-condottiera-di-oloro-

I don't play it in my merieke/oloro because i can solve some of those problems with many other cards/tutor(playing black is a great difference), and i prefer play something else in my first turns.

I hope this can be useful for you.

Sorry for the bad english.

[CleanBelwas]

I once dropped it turn one, playing second, and assembled the Tron lands on turn 4.

Therefore, like any card that allows you to reach Magical Christmas Land, it has permanently secured itself as a favourite of mine.

My real answer is that I still think this card is fine outside of Magical Christmas Land.

If you're not playing green, your likelihood of being able to activate it is pretty high, and the ability is incredibly powerful if you have any non basic worth looking for. Even if you don't, 1 mana a turn to guarantee a land drop still seems worth while to me.

I agree that if you don't have anything specific you want to tutor for, you're probably better off playing a rock on the early turns, but that's fine. You're allowed to do that too.

In the right situation, this is crazy good with the new channel lands too.

Like most creatures with an activated ability, the floor is pretty meh if the game isn't in a position to take advantage of it, but the ceiling of this one in particular is very high. Worth the small cost of inclusion in my opinion. If you don't need it, it can just die to a skullclamp or block a big idiot anyway.

FWIW, all of this is looking through a casual lens.

[The Golgari Guy]

If you're not playing green, your likelihood of being able to activate it is pretty high, and the ability is incredibly powerful if you have any non basic worth looking for. Even if you don't, 1 mana a turn to guarantee a land drop still seems worth while to me.

I agree that if you don't have anything specific you want to tutor for, you're probably better off playing a rock on the early turns, but that's fine. You're allowed to do that too.

In the right situation, this is crazy good with the new channel lands too.

Like most creatures with an activated ability, the floor is pretty meh if the game isn't in a position to take advantage of it, but the ceiling of this one in particular is very high. Worth the small cost of inclusion in my opinion. If you don't need it, it can just die to a skullclamp or block a big idiot anyway.

FWIW, all of this is looking through a casual lens.

These are all very good points. I'm currently testing it in my Ardeen / Rograkh deck, where I have some utility lands that may be worth getting (Axgard Armory, Scavenger Grounds, Slayers' Stronghold etc.). However, I still have to draw it in a game so I'm not sure how good it really is.

Also thanks to Devix for the additional insight.

[ApothecaryGeist]

I love Weathered Wayfarer.  Fetches up whatever utility land I need.  Fetches up mana lands if I don't.  I've generally got it in a mono-white or Boros deck.  I've never tried it in a deck with green for fetching up Maze of Ith or Gaea's Cradle or such.

[Bonethor]

Agreed on using it mainly in a sans green decks. I feel it's sort of a repeatable more vulnerable expedition map. I tend to play expedition map in decks that have Cabal Coffers, Ancient Tomb or Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx in them and don't have green so I can see Weathered Wayfarer being useful in similar cases but it can be hard to find a deck where you can pair it with coffers, although it's one of the few cards that can potentially get both Urborg and that.

Anyway I think it sort of lives in an interesting spot where it's good as a toolbox thing and a fixer in casual decks but requires some expensive cards to be great.. and then when you jam in "too many" expensive cards it starts to be too slow to be included. So I'd say there's definitely a sweet spot for it somewhere around higher mid powered or lower high powered decks

[anjinsan]

If you're not playing green, your likelihood of being able to activate it is pretty high ...

I dunno... you're playing White, still, by definition. Wouldn't you rather run some of White's brilliant "actually get ahead" cards like Stoneforge Mystic or Cosmic Intervention? It's kind of hard to quantify. WW only needs one player to be ahead of you, but sometimes even the green decks get unlucky and miss their drops or their ramp pieces.

The effect, however, is quite powerful, allowing you to tutor up whatever land suits you best (as well as hitting your land drops, fixing your mana, etc). This is one of the few "catch-up" pieces I'd be tempted to run alongside other land ramp, since it does so much more than just catching up.

In a deck which is planning to be on fewer lands, it seems like a dead cert. Which reminds me, I should probably go and put it in my Tameshi, Reality Architect deck.

[The Golgari Guy]

Thanks everyone for the replies. You convinced me to test the Wayfarer in my Boros deck. Let's see how it performs!

[anjinsan]

Pretty late reply, but I’ve had this guy out T1 a couple of times now (in my Tameshi deck) and he’s been pretty brilliant. I’m still not sure if I want to put him in every white deck, as I’m often trying to get ahead on lands, so he’d still probably be good T1 (at least 75% of the time, anyway) but maybe dead later. However this particular deck is essentially built around a lower land count. I can even use him to grab a bounceland early to keep the land count low enough to use him again. I also have many important utility lands there like Urza’s Saga, artefact lands, and Oboro, Palace in the Clouds. He can even get you some form of card draw via e.g. War Room.

Having to wait to activate him, and having to pay 1, means he’s a little slow. However I’ve found it well worth it in order to be able to fix mana completely and essentially get the perfect manabase out.

[12aptor1nfinity]

I love this guy, he is in my Cleric deck with Liesa, Forgotten Archangel as my commander.

I get Orzhov Basilica first so I can stay a land behind but be on track with mana per turn. Usually get Reliquary Tower next, then Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth unless I am desperate for plains in which I will get Command Tower.

I also have Land Tax, but the thing I like about Weathered Wayfarer instead is that I can get Reliquary Tower at some point and avoid discarding my excess lands. I also have Crypt Ghast, so getting Urborgs rocks.

[WWolfe]

I'm actually debating it for my Shadowborn Apostle deck even though the deck has green (Karador is currently the commander- though there's the outside possibility I cut it to Orzhov). I like the thought of being able to search up my Reliquary Tower or Urborg or Crypt of Agadeem. It's a plus that it's a Cleric so Edgewalker would make it free to cast. It seems like a gem in the early game but I'm not sure how I would feel drawing it late in the game.

[AlltheTokens]

Speaking of magical Christmas land.  I knew a guy who played this in a Bant landfall deck.  If he got it early he would skip his land drops to get behind, then use it to grab reliquary tower and try to build a huge hand.  He had a few creatures that were power based on cards in hand, but his main idea was to drop a bunch of extra land per turn spells late in the game and get a ton of landfall triggers.  It almost never worked, but the deck was so slow and non-threatening that sometimes he could float under the radar long enough to pull off some silly turns.