Honestly, when Three Tree City MTG was first spoiled during the Bloomburrow preview season, the collective "aha!" moment from the community was deafening. It wasn't just because the art was cute. People saw the card and immediately thought of Gaea’s Cradle. Now, let’s be real for a second—it isn't Gaea’s Cradle. That’s a Reserved List powerhouse that costs more than some used cars. But for anyone playing a deck built around a specific creature type, this land is the closest thing we’ve seen in years to that level of explosive mana production.
It’s a legendary land. That’s the first thing you notice. You can't just jam four of them into every deck without thinking about the "legend rule" flavor fail of drawing two in your opening hand. But in the right shell? It's terrifying.
The mechanic is straightforward. You choose a creature type when it enters the battlefield. You can tap it for a colorless mana, or you can pay two generic mana and tap it to add an amount of mana of a color in your commander's color identity (or any color in Standard) equal to the number of creatures you control of the chosen type.
Math. It's basically a math problem that ends with you casting a massive spell way earlier than you should.
The Power Trip of Type-Based Mana
The genius—or the frustration, depending on which side of the table you're on—of Three Tree City MTG lies in its scalability. In a vacuum, paying two mana to get mana back sounds like a bad deal. If you only have two Elves, you’re just filtering mana. You spend two, you get two. Net zero.
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But Magic: The Gathering is a game of breaking parity.
Once you hit three creatures of your chosen type, the land becomes a Sol Ring on a stick. At four creatures, it’s a Worn Powerstone that doesn't enter tapped. By the time an Elf player or a Soldier player has seven or eight tokens on the board, Three Tree City is tapping for six or seven mana by itself. That’s how games end. It turns a wide board state into a "tall" mana pool.
There's a specific reason Bloomburrow was the perfect home for this. The set is literally built on "kindred" (formerly tribal) archetypes. Rabbits, Birds, Rats, Lizards—they all want to go wide. In a Standard environment, we’ve seen this card do work in Selesnya Rabbits. You play a Finneas, Ace Archer, you dump some tokens with Caretaker’s Talent, and suddenly your Three Tree City MTG is fueling a massive internal engine that your opponent can't keep up with.
Why Standard Players are Fuming (or Cheering)
In the current Standard meta, consistency is everything. Most competitive decks are looking for ways to bridge the gap between the early game and their "I win" button. For Boros Convoke or Selesnya shells, this land acts as a late-game insurance policy. If the game drags on, you stop being a "weenie" deck and start being a "big mana" deck.
It’s a weird transition.
Usually, aggro decks fall off a cliff if they don't win by turn five. Three Tree City changes that. It allows a deck that should be out of gas to suddenly cast a Breach the Multiverse or a massive x-spell that they have no business casting.
However, it isn't perfect. The "Legendary" tag is a massive balancing factor. If you run four copies, you will have games where you draw two and one just sits in your hand like a dead weight. This has led to a lot of debate among pro players on whether the correct number is two, three, or the full four. Most "go-wide" decks are settling on three copies. It’s the "Goldilocks" zone—you want to see it, but you don't want to see it twice.
Commander: The Natural Home for Three Tree City
Let’s talk EDH. If you play Commander, you know that Kindred decks are some of the most popular themes in the history of the format. Dragons, Goblins, Slivers, Zombies.
Three Tree City MTG is an auto-include in almost all of them.
Think about a Wilhelt, the Cleaver-Dancer Zombie deck. You’re already making tokens when things die. You’re already flooding the board. In that deck, Three Tree City isn't just a land; it’s a ritual. You tap it for eight or nine mana, cast a Rooftop Storm, and the game is basically over.
But there’s a nuance here that people miss. It’s the "color identity" clause. Unlike Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, which cares about devotion, Three Tree City cares about the number of creatures. This makes it significantly better in decks that use tokens rather than just high-cost permanents with lots of pips.
- Token Decks: Adore this card. One Deeproot Pilgrimage can turn Three Tree City into a mana geyser.
- Tall Decks: Not so much. If you’re playing "Dragon Stompy" and only have two massive dragons out, this card is actually worse than a basic Forest.
It's a "win-more" card in some scenarios, but in others, it's the only way to recover after a board wipe. If you have a way to protect your board—think Teferi’s Protection or Heroic Intervention—Three Tree City becomes an untouchable resource.
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The Price Tag and Accessibility
We have to address the elephant in the room. Or the rabbit in the room?
The price of Three Tree City MTG has been a rollercoaster. Because it’s a rare in a high-demand set, and because it has multiple "booster fun" treatments (like the seasonal variants), the price stayed high even months after release. The "Autumn" and "Winter" versions are particularly sought after by collectors.
Is it worth the $20 to $30 (depending on the market swing)?
If you play one deck and that deck is a Kindred deck, yes. Absolutely. It’s a functional upgrade that you will feel every single time you play it. If you’re a brewer who switches decks every week, it’s a harder pill to swallow. But history shows that lands that tap for more than one mana—Ancient Tomb, Nykthos, Cabal Coffers—rarely lose their value. They are the blue-chip stocks of the Magic world.
Common Mistakes When Using the Card
I've seen players misplay this card more times than I can count.
First mistake: Playing it as your first land. Don't do that. It taps for colorless unless you pay into it. If your hand is full of color-intensive spells, Three Tree City is a trap. It’s your turn four or turn five play. You want to establish your board first.
Second mistake: Naming the wrong type. This sounds stupid, but in multi-type decks (like Changelings or "Party" mechanic decks), you have to be careful. If you have three Wizards and two Clerics, and you accidentally name Clerics because you were thinking about a different card in your hand, you just lost mana efficiency.
Third: Forgetting it’s a legendary land. You cannot use one Three Tree City to pay the activation cost of another Three Tree City and keep both. You'll lose one to the legend rule. Use the mana first, then play the second one if you absolutely have to cycle them.
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Comparing Three Tree City to Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
This is the big comparison. Nykthos cares about Devotion (the mana symbols in the casting costs of permanents you control). Three Tree City MTG cares about Body Count.
Nykthos is better for "Stompy" decks. If you have a Steel Leaf Champion, that’s three mana for Nykthos off one creature. For Three Tree City, that’s only one mana.
However, Three Tree City is king in token decks. A "Scute Swarm" player gets zero benefit from Nykthos because tokens usually have a mana cost of zero. But for Three Tree City? Each of those hundreds of insects is a mana source. That is a massive distinction that makes Three Tree City the premier land for any deck that plans on winning with a literal army of small creatures.
How to Maximize Your Value
If you're looking to actually win games with this card, you need to build with it in mind. It isn't just a "tack-on" card.
- Low-Cost Typal Synergy: You want creatures that come down fast. Think 1-drops and 2-drops. The faster you get to "three creatures of the same type," the faster this land becomes better than a basic land.
- Untap Effects: In Commander, cards like Seedborn Muse or Voyaging Satyr turn Three Tree City into a nightmare for your opponents. Being able to tap it for 10 mana on every person's turn is how you cast those massive "X" spells like Finale of Devastation.
- Land Tutors: If your deck relies on this mana spike, run Expedition Map or Sylvan Scrying. In a deck where Three Tree City is your primary engine, you want to find it every single game.
Honestly, the card is just fun. There's a primal satisfaction in tapping one land and adding twelve mana to your pool. It feels like you're breaking the rules of the game, even though you're playing exactly as Richard Garfield intended. Sorta.
The impact of Three Tree City MTG on the meta isn't going away. As long as Wizards of the Coast keeps printing cool creature types—and let's be honest, that's all they do—this land will remain a staple. It bridges the gap between casual "flavor" decks and high-powered "optimization" decks. It lets the person playing "Squirrels" actually compete with the person playing "Top-Tier Control." And that’s a good thing for the game.
Next Steps for Your Deck:
Go through your favorite Kindred deck and count how many creatures share a type. If more than 60% of your creatures are the same (e.g., Elves, Goblins, Vampires), swap out one of your basic lands for a Three Tree City. If you're playing Standard, test a 2-of or 3-of in any Selesnya or Boros shell that uses the "Offspring" mechanic from Bloomburrow. The Offspring tokens count toward your total, making the land significantly more explosive than it looks on paper. Once you've added the card, focus your mulligan strategy on hands that can put at least three creatures on the board by turn four to ensure the land is "online" when you need it most.