Make your lands work for you!
Elite Ramp
I've mentioned before, Urza's block is considered to be the most broken block of all time. With all three of these lands coming from Urza's Saga, it was no doubt a powerful set. These cards are so powerful that Tolarian Academy is banned in the commander format. All three of these cards are on the reserved list and are cost prohibitive. But, they are a good start to show just how much power you can get out of your land slots.
Ramp That Hurts
All four of these lands are incredibly strong, but they come at a price. There are certainly effects that can make these costs not quite as painful, but those will take up an additional slot in your deck. I would look to add Crucible of Worlds in a deck containing the last three. Ancient Tomb will hurt throughout the course of a game but in a format with a starting life total of 40, it is well worth it.
Lands That Prevent The Hurt
Few things feel better than a Crop Rotation for a Glacial Chasm during an alpha strike from one of your opponents. I do try and put a Maze of Ith in every deck, but please do not put this in a land slot.
Bounce Lands
Bounce lands are popular with many content creators, I never subscribed to them until recently. With the introduction of MDFC bounce lands became significantly stronger. That doesn't necessarily help us since there are (at the time of writing) no MDFC printed in retro frames. However, I love these lands in decks with graveyard synergies. Often times, the land returning to your hand will cause you to have to discard at your end step. Because of this you get a free discard outlet for a turn. The other thing I like a lot about these cards is when you are running Land Tax, which is one of the most important cards in retro decks if you are not using green. It can help to put you behind on land count so that you get the Land Tax trigger. These lands are not currently available in retro frames for all color combinations.
Land Destruction
If there is one thing you have seen so far from this post is that lands can be a big problem and can determine the winner of a commander game. For this reason, it is important to have a couple of pieces of land removal in every deck. I try to fill these land removal slots with...lands. The first three in this list can be pricy, but Field of Ruin can fill this slot nicely in a deck on a budget. For other land removal options consider Beast Within, Chaos Warp, or Generous Gift. Don't let the "land destruction is frowned upon in commander" stop you from running single target land destruction. I've never seen someone get upset when they get one of their lands blown up that needed blown up... They know what they did.
Lands That Save You
These lands don't have a slang name, but they are worth running when you're able to fit them in. Volrath's Stronghold is on the reserved list and as a result can command a hefty price tag. There is a blue land called Academy Ruins that is on my list of cards I want printed in retro frames and would fit particularly well in Urza. One of my favorite things to do in commander is to turn someone's commander into something like a land with cards like Imprisoned In The Moon. The best way to save your commander from similar cards is by having a sacrifice outlet in your mana base. I try to squeeze High Market into most decks I build.
Cycling Lands
Cycling is a fantastic mechanic. Early in the game, these guys will serve as land drops and you can cycle them away later to ensure you are not getting mana flooded. Use caution though, I try to only run 2-4 lands that enter tapped. Lands entering tapped is a good way to effectively become several turns behind the rest of the table. I typically run these in mono colored decks only. The good thing about these is they are dirt cheep. I would absolutely pick these 10 lands up to add to your collection.
More Extremely Playable Lands
There are so many lands out there, even with the extreme limitation I place on myself for deck building of only using retro cards and there are sure to be. many more printed in the future. Lands, in my opinion, are one of the best ways to tune a deck and can have a drastic impact on power level. Some of the above lands are extremely niche but are amazing in their specific set of circumstances. Most of these go into any deck that I make where it would make sense. Rainbow Vale may have you scratching your head, but it's fun in a group hug deck. Tower of the Magistrate is great if you are against one of those pesky equipment decks that run rampant. Thespian's Stage & Dark Depths pair up to cheat out a 20/20 flying indestructible Marit Lage. Ghost Town almost seems unfair when you are playing it in a retro Tatyova deck with a Burgeoning in play. Fetch lands are able to conveniently search for a Mystic Sanctuary to grab that Instant or Sorcery you will need soon. Cabal Coffers is another one that should not typically be played in a true land slot, instead think of it more like a ramp spell. Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth goes in decks that contain cards like Cabal Coffers, Dark Depths, Maze of Ith, & Glacial Chasm so that you don't have to deal with the downside of them not tapping for mana. Hopefully one day, we will get an Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth printed in retro to have the same effect. Remember, you can play a Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth in any color deck even if your commander does not have green in it's color identity due to the lack of color pips.
Last but not least, I leave you with some basic land swag. The Unglued basic lands were way ahead of their time. They were first printed in 1998 and it would be 11 years until Wizards printed another full art land in the original Zendikar set. For this reason, these are the basics I use (unless i'm building a mono colored deck, they are too cost prohibitive in that situation). Remember, Commander is a format where you can express yourself!
For basic mana fixing, see this article I wrote previously on Investing In Real Estate.
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