I love putting this in decks just to mess with people. It's really just a "because I can" card.
gasimakos1
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(3 votes)
banding. hah.
Gilgiga
★★★★☆ (4.9/5.0)(16 votes)
Someone should build some sort of academy here. It's got a great view, students won't go away during spring break, and it just might break the damn game.
Teotanek
★★★☆☆ (3.7/5.0)(3 votes)
Will old banding ever return?
achilleselbow
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(3 votes)
The most useless card in this cycle, especially compared to Pendelhaven. But at least it doesn't come into play tapped, so most of the time it's just as good as an Island.
GainsBanding
★★★★☆ (4.3/5.0)(3 votes)
Most of the time it's just as good as an island... except when your opponent shows you Blood Moon, Price of Progress, Wasteland, Anathemancer, Magus of the Moon, Ruination, etc etc.
izzet_guild_mage
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(4 votes)
So...this site appears on 4 cards and a plane. The hell.
mikluemp
★★★★☆ (4.7/5.0)(3 votes)
I don't see why this card is rated so low. Sure the effect might only be useful once in a thousand casual games, but since it doesn't come in tapped it's really just as good as an Island. Sure being non-basic it can be destroyed more easily than an Island, but then you've probably got more threatening non-basics in your deck whose loss would hurt more than an Island anyway.
Guest1162619373
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(4 votes)
If anyone has ever dealt with a deck that has banding in it, you know how useful the effect this card has would be.
Your attacker has Trample and the defender has 2 blockers, one with Banding? You will get to kill the one the defender assigns ALL of the damage to. Under the new damage system, Banding breaks trample, and makes combat damage and effects a mess.
From the rules on Ayesha Tanaka: If a creature in combat has banding, it's controller assigns damage for creatures blocking or blocked by it. That player can ignore the damage assignment order when making this assignment.
They won't (most likely) make anymore creatures that have banding or any effect that gives banding to creatures in the future.
aznxknightz
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Nope, it's actually worse than an island because at least the island is a basic land, this card has a useless second ability that isn't used much or at all in whatever gaming format anyway and can't be searched by the majority of all land fetchers. This is most likely the worst land out of the cycle of these legendary lands.
Kryptnyt
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(6 votes)
Still kills any creature with a tap in a horobi deck.
Superllama12
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(2 votes)
Wow...hoses a great ability...wouldn't want to be versing THIS guy!
ElMikkino
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(4 votes)
Well, it's still better than just a regular Island, obviously. 3/5.
MisterAction
★★★★☆ (4.1/5.0)(4 votes)
I just bought one of these and replaced an island in one of my decks. I'm well on my way to becoming an ironic Magic hipster.
ShakaUVM
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(2 votes)
I use all the legendary lands in a 5-color Sisay deck.
sonorhC
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(2 votes)
@GainsBanding: Or if your opponent shows you Boil or Acid Rain. Back in the day, a lot of color-hate took the form of basic land hate, so it was really handy to have nonbasic lands that gave colored mana without drawbacks.
And Banding was always a lot more powerful than folks nowadays appreciate. Sure, it was essentially only found in white, so most decks wouldn't have it, but still, it doesn't cost you much to put this in just in case, and at worst you could sideboard it.
Bands with Other, of course, was a joke, since there was only ever one card anyone would ever consider using that involved it. But they just mentioned that here for the sake of completeness.
syrazemyla
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(3 votes)
I'm not surprised @GainsBanding hates this card.
DarthParallax
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(3 votes)
lol- the entire island of Tolaria seems considerably worse than one little schoolhouse built on it....;)
DacenOctavio
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I'd rather have the academy, the ruins of said academy, or even the real estate on the west coast of the landmass. You know, since those places actually do something.
NoFatWizards
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
this card DESTROYS skyknights.
GlassJoetheChamp
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(3 votes)
Hey, if anything, it helps on the off chance your opponent is running Phantasmal Image
themicronaut
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
*** your banding!
kajillion
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I assume everyone who is giving this more than 2 stars thinks they're rating the Academy.
Aquillion
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
Its second ability is sort of useless now for obvious reasons, but it's still strictly better than an island; and Banding is actually a very powerful ability.
SeriouslyFacetious
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Pretty nifty old land. Very flavourful, and like a lot of people have mentioned already it still has relevant uses. I run this and two other Tolaria lands (Ruins and West, alas Academy is banned) in my "Esper Lich" EDH deck with Halfdane (he's from Tolaria) as the commander. Flavour city!
BlazeB75
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
They printed a bunch of vanilla legends to take advantage of the 5 "bands with other" lands. But THAT would be pretty busted, so we'd better hose those.
mbarker1776
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I have this in my main deck as an alternate to a basic island, on the off chance someone is 'hating' my islands. You lose nothing for running if over a basic, so why not? :)
Comments (27)
Your attacker has Trample and the defender has 2 blockers, one with Banding? You will get to kill the one the defender assigns ALL of the damage to. Under the new damage system, Banding breaks trample, and makes combat damage and effects a mess.
From the rules on Ayesha Tanaka: If a creature in combat has banding, it's controller assigns damage for creatures blocking or blocked by it. That player can ignore the damage assignment order when making this assignment.
They won't (most likely) make anymore creatures that have banding or any effect that gives banding to creatures in the future.
And Banding was always a lot more powerful than folks nowadays appreciate. Sure, it was essentially only found in white, so most decks wouldn't have it, but still, it doesn't cost you much to put this in just in case, and at worst you could sideboard it.
Bands with Other, of course, was a joke, since there was only ever one card anyone would ever consider using that involved it. But they just mentioned that here for the sake of completeness.