Mountain
(47 arts reprinted more than once)
Not only is Karl Kopinski's artwork on Magic 2010 #244 the most frequently reprinted piece of art on a Mountain, it's the most frequently reprinted piece of art on any basic land in the history of Magic. I don't know if it's the snow-covered peaks, the mist in the valley below, the flock of winged creatures to the right, or the band of adventurers to the left, but something about this gorgeous landscape got it reprinted a whopping 14 (fourteen) times! And that's only counting paper sets in English - a search on Scryfall will show you a Spanish version (Montaña) from Salvat and a Magic Online theme deck version, in addition to the original printing. Next on the list for Mountains, and tied for third overall amongst basic lands, is Magic 2012 #242, whose majestic yet topple-worthy rock formation by Cliff Childs has been reprinted ten times. Maybe the folks who decide which lands get reprinted really like traversable mountains from Core Sets, as this one also features a staircase. Mountain is the only Tierra básica not to feature art from an expert level expansion in its top three most reprinted artworks, as we have yet another entrant from M10 finishing in third place. The most stereotypical of landmasses, Nils Hamm's #242 shows a plethora of jagged red-orange peaks, which have appeared nine other times throughout Magic's illustrious history of sets.
Forest
(46 arts reprinted more than once)
Boy, there was just something about those basic lands from Magic 2010, wasn't there? Steven Belledin's classic nature scene that found its way onto #248 in that set - with its single large-trunked tree dominating the right side of the frame, flanked by several smaller varieties (including a fern!) on a leaf-strewn floor - leads all Forests (the same set that leads all Mountains), and comes in second overall in basic land art reprintings with 12 instances. Next, we have a two-way tie with eight reprints each. The earlier of these is Glen Angus's bird-swarmed treetop village from #350 in the Invasion expert level expansion. Not only is Invasion from the pre-modern era (notice the older card frame?), but it's also very important to Magic lore, having been the culmination of the iconic Weatherlight Saga. Like Mountain, Magic 2010 lands occupy two of the top three most commonly reprinted artworks on Forest cards: the second one being Jim Nelson's single giant tree from #249.
Swamp
(45 arts reprinted more than once)
The most-reprinted Swamp artwork - tied for third most amongst all basic land reprints with Cliff Childs's M12 Mountain - is from a set that takes place on the same plane as Magic's most recent expert level expansion, War of the Spark: Ravnica: City of Guilds. While it's not explicitly stated in the set itself that Richard Wright's sprawling, towered, bridged, underground cityscape on card #298 represents one of the city-plane's ten two-colored guilds, there is evidence that it depicts a dwelling place of the Black/Red Cult of Rakdos. Like Forest, we have a two-way tie for second place in Swamp, and also like Forest, they are tied with eight reprintings apiece. ALSO like Forest, the earlier one is also from a pre-modern expert level expansion, this one from the second Otaria-focused block called Onslaught. Dan Frazier, the artist of pale, pink-flower-including pale bog on #341, has the distinction of also being the illustrator for the very first ever printed Swamp. Like Mountain, there is also a Magic 2012 land art in Swamp's top three, and it's the third land so far to feature a flock of birds, this one flapping over some green brackish water and in front of some dead gray trees. I'm assuming that Jung Park, the illustrator of #240, pronounces his name like Jung Ho Kang (or, more appropriately, as in Jund), rather than Carl Jung, given that both Park and Kang are Korean names, but I might be making an ass out of you and me by jumping to that conclusion.
Island
(45 arts reprinted more than once)
Picture a beach, with waves gently lapping against the shore, which is strewn with sharp hooked poles, sticking out of... dark rocks, with a foreboding giant outcropping looming in the distance. That's the scene on John Avon's #336 from the above-mentioned Invasion set, which I didn't mention before focuses on the Phyrexian invasion of Dominaria. Now imagine you're on a somewhat different beach, the orientation of which is the same, only this time the waves aren't gently lapping at the shore: they're spilling over from a humongous bowl-like rock formation that towers over you, seems to have its own weather patterns, and obstructs all view of the horizon. That's what you'd be seeing if you imagined Cliff Childs's artwork from #235 from the Magic 2012 Core Set. Also, both of those pieces of art have been reprinted nine times.
Plains
(43 [REALLY!? SKIPPING ONE!?!?] arts reprinted more than once)
We're here at the end, because the co-leaders in Plains art reprints are the smallest among all basic land types, appearing in just seven sets each beyond their original printings. The earlier of the two aforementioned original printings was from Invasion, a set that featured top-two art reprints for three of the five basic lands. John Avon's art for Plains #331, depicting a low angle shot of a field of wheat, conjures up images from the film Gladiator. However I imagine this is merely a coincidence, since the Ridley Scott-helmed Best Picture winner was released just five months before Invasion's print run, which means the artwork must have been commissioned long before that. While the overly-represented Magic 2010 was the first ever Core Set to include new art printings of basic lands, it wasn't until four years later that we got a Core Set Plains with real sticking power. Plains #233 from M14 features art by Andreas Rocha, which does a great job of conveying the expansiveness associated with prairie, steppe, and grassland, while also giving us a sense of perspective of the surrounding landscapes.
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