Building Your Mana Base
Your mana base is the foundation of your deck. If you can't cast your spells on time, nothing else matters. Most deckbuilding problems that feel like bad luck are actually mana base problems.
How many lands
Start with 37. This is the most common number and works for the widest range of decks.
Adjust from there:
- Low curve (avg CMC under 3.0): 35-36 lands. You need less mana, but still need to hit your first 3-4 drops.
- High curve or mana-hungry commanders: 38-39 lands. Missing a land drop with a 6-mana commander is painful.
- Heavy ramp package (12+): You can shade toward 35-36 since your ramp compensates.
Total mana sources (lands + ramp spells) should be around 47-50. If you're running 37 lands and 10 ramp spells, that's 47. That's enough to cast things on time.
Scaling by color count
The more colors in your deck, the harder your mana base needs to work.
Mono-color: Easy. Run 28-32 basics plus 5-8 colorless utility lands (Rogue's Passage, War Room, etc.). You'll never have color problems.
Two-color: You need some fixing. Run dual lands for your color pair, fill the rest with basics and a few utility lands. ~4 colorless utility lands is reasonable.
Three-color: Fixing becomes a priority. Run 37-38 lands, lean on dual lands and tri-lands. Basics drop to maybe 8-12. Utility lands drop to 2-3 at most.
Four/Five-color: Almost every land needs to produce multiple colors. Basics are minimal (maybe 2-3 of each for fetchland targets). Colorless utility lands are a luxury you mostly can't afford.
The rule: the more colors you play, the fewer lands you can waste on colorless utility.
Land quality tiers
Not all dual lands are equal. Roughly ranked:
| Tier | Type | Example | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Original duals | Underground Sea | Two types, no drawback. $200+ each. |
| 1 | Fetch lands | Polluted Delta | Find any dual with the right type. $20-50. |
| 2 | Shock lands | Watery Grave | Two types, 2 life to enter untapped. $10-15. |
| 2 | Bond lands | Luxury Suite | Untapped in multiplayer (3+ opponents). Great in Commander specifically. |
| 3 | Pain lands | Underground River | Always untapped, 1 life for color. |
| 3 | Check lands | Drowned Catacomb | Untapped if you control the right basic type. |
| 3 | Slow lands | Shipwreck Marsh | Untapped if you control 2+ lands. Bad early. |
| 4 | Filter lands | Sunken Ruins | Convert one color to another. Niche but useful. |
| 4 | Triomes | Zagoth Triome | Three types, always enters tapped. Fetchable. |
| 5 | Tap lands | Dismal Backwater | Always tapped. Budget option. Gain 1 life sometimes. |
You don't need tier 1 lands to play Commander. A mana base built from shock lands, bond lands, and pain lands is perfectly functional and costs a fraction of an optimized build.
Utility lands
Lands that do something beyond producing mana. Powerful, but they come at the cost of color fixing.
- Rogue's Passage — makes a creature unblockable. Good in creature-heavy and Voltron decks.
- War Room — draw a card at the cost of life equal to your color count. Colorless card draw.
- Reliquary Tower — no maximum hand size. Only matters if you draw a lot of cards at once.
- Command Beacon — sacrifice to put your commander in your hand, bypassing command tax. Excellent with expensive commanders.
- Boseiju, Who Endures — channel to destroy an artifact, enchantment, or nonbasic land. Can't be countered. One of the best utility lands printed.
In mono or two-color decks, run 4-7 utility lands. In three+ colors, cut to 2-3 and prioritize color fixing.
Budget mana bases
Fetch lands and original duals are expensive. You don't need them. A workable approach for any budget:
- Start with basics heavy
- Add whatever dual lands you own or can afford
- Prioritize lands that enter untapped (pain lands are cheap and always untapped)
- Use Evolving Wilds / Terramorphic Expanse as budget fetchland stand-ins
- Command Tower and Exotic Orchard go in every multi-color deck and cost almost nothing
A budget mana base will occasionally cost you a turn by entering tapped. That's a real cost, but it won't stop you from playing and enjoying the deck. Upgrade the mana base over time as you can.