Birds of Paradise and Shivan Dragon are two of the most expensive Alpha cards, ahead of many of the dual lands, and these cards have been reprinted infinite times, to the point where Shivan Dragon now shows up in precon decks given away to new players for free
#2: The Mycosynth Gardens When it comes to seeing competitive play lands have a natural advantage, because basically every deck needs to run a bunch of them to be able to cast their spells, which greatly lowers the opportunity cost of playing non-basic lands with special abilities
My favorite was flavor hit Catacomb Dragon
Especially when facing the likes of Fairy Godmother - Mystic Armorer or Pacha - Village Leader, a difficult-to-answer evasive character can make all the difference, allowing you to race towards 20 unopposed
Those Lairs really make me hesitate on passing over the Gale and Shadowheart Lairs, which is why Im fine with some bundles and then just a couple extras