If you take a close look at my Commander Cube, you'll notice that the original dual lands are missing.
There's a reason for that.
I'm building the cube to be casual(ish). Yes, I see that Jace, the Mind Sculptor, is on the list. I'm light on Planeswalkers overall, so he's holding place for Tezzeret the Seeker. Plus, he's not bonkers in this format, in my experience.
But, the original dual lands are another story.
The are the best at what they do, but the game designers have clearly demonstrated that these lands are simply too good. The closest card(s) that have been printed in recent memory are the shock lands.
In a strange turn of events, I never bothered to collect every shock land because I have a play set of the original dual lands. There was no point. I don't play Standard or Modern. I figured I'd pick them up if I ever needed them. Well, it looks like that time is here.
Using prices on TCGPlayer.com (2/3/2015), Tropical Island is available for $130, lightly played. Breeding Pool is available for $9, lightly played. Is Tropical Island objectively better? Yes. Is it $121 better? Ignoring all other formats, I'd say no. In Commander format, the $9 Breeding Pool is similar enough that it isn't worth the extra money for Tropical Island.
Think of it this way: If I build a three-color deck for Nicol Bolas, I could include one copy each of Underground Sea, Volcanic Island, and Badlands. Along with fetch lands, these three cards pretty much solve all my color-fixing problems.
They also add $600 to the price of the deck.
But if I use, Watery Grave, Steam Vents, and Blood Crypt instead, I'd be adding about $25 to the price of the deck.
If the folks in your play group routinely run the original dual lands, then I say go for it. But otherwise, it's just not worth it.
Mark my words.
Only bad can come of it.
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