<p>They have a special rarity other than common because they don't appear in the same places/frequency as regular commons in random packs like boosters. Instead, they appear as often as basic lands. From the <a href="https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/kaldheim-product-overview-2021-01-25" rel="noreferrer">Wizards website</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>As always, Kaldheim comes in Draft Boosters. These are by far the best way to play any Limited format. This is the classic Magic booster, and the contents are pretty straightforward:</p>
<ul>
<li>1 Rare or mythic rare</li>
<li>3 Uncommons</li>
<li>10 Commons</li>
<li><strong>1 Snow land (basic or dual land)</strong></li>
<li>1 Token/ad card</li>
<li>1 in 3 packs have 1 common card replaced by a foil card of any rarity</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
<p>(emphasis mine)</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-10-08T14:35:16.820Z
2021-10-08T14:35:16.820Z
Glorfindel
<p>Basic lands are a special case in a number of ways. While they're given the common set symbol, their rarity doesn't exactly correspond to “common” because of the way they're included in draft boosters: they almost always have a dedicated slot at the back of the booster, and not mixed in with other commons.</p>
<p>Woodland Chasm isn't a basic land, but it <em>was</em> included in the basic land slot for Kaldheim—hence it gets basic land's rarity, apparently!</p>
<p>They even have a unique rarity mark in the lower left of the card. If you look at the bottom left of cards since M15, they'll have a letter in the lower left explaining their rarity: M, R, U, or C—for Mythic, Rare, Uncommon, or Common respectively.</p>
<p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/9e0Bs.png" alt="mythic" />
<img src="https://i.sstatic.net/e4AGN.png" alt="rare" />
<img src="https://i.sstatic.net/ATrtn.png" alt="uncommon" />
<img src="https://i.sstatic.net/CHpZG.png" alt="common" /></p>
<p>Basic lands meanwhile just have an L for Land:</p>
<p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/mctug.png" alt="land" /></p>
<p>Some sites like Scryfall opt to just call it “close enough” and file them as common, but Gatherer has opted to be more specific.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-10-08T14:38:20.497Z
2021-10-08T16:00:43.143Z
2021-10-08T16:00:43.143Z
doppelgreener
<p>For example, in <a class="mtg-autocard" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer" href="https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Woodland%20Chasm">Woodland Chasm</a>'s Gatherer page, you can see the following:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/8WlU4.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/8WlU4.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
<p>I am pretty sure Woodland Chasm is not a basic land, for it is not among its types, but what that &quot;rarity&quot; tag means then? Why not just put &quot;common&quot;?</p>

<magic-the-gathering><card-rarity>
What does "Rarity: Basic land" mean?
Kira
# What does "Rarity: Basic land" mean?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-10-08)

For example, in [Woodland Chasm](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Woodland%20Chasm)'s Gatherer page, you can see the following:

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/8WlU4.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/8WlU4.png)

I am pretty sure Woodland Chasm is not a basic land, for it is not among its types, but what that "rarity" tag means then? Why not just put "common"?

**Tags:** magic-the-gathering, card-rarity


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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2021-10-08. Score: 17 | Accepted answer

Basic lands are a special case in a number of ways. While they're given the common set symbol, their rarity doesn't exactly correspond to “common” because of the way they're included in draft boosters: they almost always have a dedicated slot at the back of the booster, and not mixed in with other commons.

Woodland Chasm isn't a basic land, but it *was* included in the basic land slot for Kaldheim—hence it gets basic land's rarity, apparently!

They even have a unique rarity mark in the lower left of the card. If you look at the bottom left of cards since M15, they'll have a letter in the lower left explaining their rarity: M, R, U, or C—for Mythic, Rare, Uncommon, or Common respectively.

![mythic](https://i.sstatic.net/9e0Bs.png)
![rare](https://i.sstatic.net/e4AGN.png)
![uncommon](https://i.sstatic.net/ATrtn.png)
![common](https://i.sstatic.net/CHpZG.png)

Basic lands meanwhile just have an L for Land:

![land](https://i.sstatic.net/mctug.png)

Some sites like Scryfall opt to just call it “close enough” and file them as common, but Gatherer has opted to be more specific.


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### Answer by username_1 on 2021-10-08. Score: 13

They have a special rarity other than common because they don't appear in the same places/frequency as regular commons in random packs like boosters. Instead, they appear as often as basic lands. From the [Wizards website](https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/kaldheim-product-overview-2021-01-25):

> As always, Kaldheim comes in Draft Boosters. These are by far the best way to play any Limited format. This is the classic Magic booster, and the contents are pretty straightforward:
>
> * 1 Rare or mythic rare
> * 3 Uncommons
> * 10 Commons
> * **1 Snow land (basic or dual land)**
> * 1 Token/ad card
> * 1 in 3 packs have 1 common card replaced by a foil card of any rarity

(emphasis mine)


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