Underground Sea

Underground Sea was originally printed in the Alpha set of Magic: The Gathering in 1993, representing one of the ten dual lands that allow players to tap for either blue or black mana. The 'Summer Magic' version, often referred to as the Edgar set due to its internal codename, was a limited promotional reprint produced in 1994. It was intended to correct various errors from the Revised Edition, such as misprints and inconsistent art, but the batch was largely recalled and destroyed due to a high volume of new printing errors, making the few surviving copies some of the rarest cards in the game's history.

The card features the iconic artwork by Christopher Rush, who illustrated several of the most influential cards in the game's infancy. His design focused on a stark, atmospheric depiction of a darkened coastline, intended to convey the dual nature of the swamps and islands that provide the card's mana. While the initial release of the game was experimental, the artistic direction provided by Rush and his contemporaries helped establish the high-fantasy aesthetic that defined Magic: The Gathering for decades, earning this specific card a reputation as a cornerstone of competitive deck-building.