In Magic: The Gathering (MTG), lands are the essential resource that fuels everything from casting spells to activating abilities. While basic lands like Plains, Island, Swamp, Mountain, and Forest form the backbone of most decks, nonbasic lands offer far more complexity and strategic depth. These lands often provide multiple types of mana, special abilities, or synergies that enable advanced deck-building and gameplay strategies. Understanding all nonbasic lands in MTG can help players build more flexible, powerful, and unique decks tailored to their playstyle and format preferences.
What Are Nonbasic Lands?
Nonbasic lands are any lands in MTG that are not one of the five basic land types. They come in many varieties, each with unique rules text and strategic roles. Nonbasic lands are especially crucial in multi-colored decks, combo strategies, control builds, and Commander format decks where versatility is key. Some nonbasic lands enter the battlefield tapped, some deal damage when used, and others offer card advantage, creature boosts, or special mechanics.
Main Categories of Nonbasic Lands
- Dual and Multi-color Lands
- Fetch Lands
- Shock Lands
- Utility Lands
- Manlands (Creature Lands)
- Modal Double-Faced Lands (MDFCs)
- Artifact Lands
- Legendary Lands
Dual and Multi-color Nonbasic Lands
These lands can produce more than one color of mana and are essential for mana-fixing in decks with two or more colors. Some of the most popular subtypes include:
- Shock Lands: Like Hallowed Fountain or Watery Grave, they can enter untapped if you pay 2 life and are also basic land types.
- Check Lands: Like Glacial Fortress, which enters untapped if you control a basic land of a specific type.
- Filter Lands: Such as Mystic Gate, which convert one mana into two specific colors.
- Fast Lands: Like Blackcleave Cliffs, enter untapped if you control fewer than three lands.
- Pain Lands: Like Underground River, tap for colorless or deal damage when tapping for colored mana.
- Bond Lands: Like Training Center, which enter untapped if you have two or more opponents (popular in Commander).
- Scry Lands: Like Temple of Enlightenment, which let you scry 1 when they enter the battlefield tapped.
Fetch Lands
Fetch lands allow you to search your library for a land with a basic type, making them excellent for mana fixing and thinning your deck. Common examples include:
- Polluted Delta
- Windswept Heath
- Misty Rainforest
- Bloodstained Mire
- Flooded Strand
These lands are staples in competitive formats like Modern and Legacy due to their versatility and synergy with shock lands and other typed lands.
Utility Lands
Utility lands are nonbasic lands that provide additional abilities besides mana production. Some offer card draw, removal, or creature buffs, making them invaluable support pieces.
- Bojuka Bog: Exiles a player’s graveyard when it enters the battlefield.
- Field of Ruin: Destroys an opponent’s nonbasic land and lets both players search for a basic land.
- Blast Zone: A scalable board wipe against low-cost permanents.
- Reliquary Tower: Removes the maximum hand size limit.
- Maze of Ith: Prevents a creature from dealing damage or attacking.
These lands are especially common in control decks and Commander builds focused on resource management and interaction.
Creature-Generating Nonbasic Lands
Also known as Manlands, these are lands that can temporarily become creatures, often used to pressure opponents without spending spells. Examples include:
- Celestial Colonnade: Becomes a flying 4/4 creature with vigilance.
- Mutavault: Becomes a 2/2 creature with all creature types.
- Lavaclaw Reaches: A Red/Black land that becomes a fire-breathing attacker.
- Den of the Bugbear: A Standard-legal land that creates goblin tokens when attacking.
These lands are great in control or midrange decks as they don’t require a card from hand to become a threat.
Modal Double-Faced Lands (MDFCs)
Introduced in Zendikar Rising, MDFCs are lands with a spell or another land on the other side. These cards increase flexibility and reduce the risk of being mana-flooded or mana-screwed.
- Shatterskull Smashing / Shatterskull, the Hammer Pass
- Sejiri Shelter / Sejiri Glacier
- Agadeem’s Awakening / Agadeem, the Undercrypt
- Bala Ged Recovery / Bala Ged Sanctuary
These are highly valued for their utility in both aggressive and control strategies.
Artifact Lands
Artifact lands count as both lands and artifacts, enabling synergies in artifact-based decks. Common examples are:
- Seat of the Synod
- Vault of Whispers
- Great Furnace
- Darksteel Citadel Indestructible and colorless.
- Treasure Vault Can be sacrificed to create treasure tokens.
These lands are often used in affinity, metalcraft, and combo decks built around artifacts.
Legendary Lands
These lands have the legendary supertype, meaning only one copy can be on the battlefield at a time per player. They often provide strong or unique effects:
- Boseiju, Who Endures: Channel ability destroys an artifact, enchantment, or nonbasic land.
- Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers: Buffs legendary creatures with power boosts.
- Shinka, the Bloodsoaked Keep: Grants first strike to legendary creatures.
- Minamo, School at Water’s Edge: Untaps legendary creatures or planeswalkers.
Because of their limitations and strengths, legendary lands are ideal in decks built around legendary creatures, especially in Commander.
Special Nonbasic Lands
Some nonbasic lands don’t fit neatly into a single category but are essential for specific deck archetypes or format metas:
- Cabal Coffers: Generates massive amounts of black mana when paired with multiple Swamps.
- Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx: Taps for large amounts of mana based on devotion to a color.
- Maze’s End: A win condition for gates-based decks.
- Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle: Deals damage whenever Mountains enter the battlefield under your control.
- Thespian’s Stage: Copies any other land on the battlefield.
These lands are often central to specific deck strategies and can define win conditions or resource engines.
Considerations When Using Nonbasic Lands
While nonbasic lands offer great flexibility, they come with trade-offs. Some spells and effects punish the overuse of nonbasic lands:
- Blood Moon: Turns nonbasic lands into Mountains, shutting down mana fixing.
- Back to Basics: Forces nonbasic lands to remain tapped, slowing decks heavily reliant on them.
- Field of Ruin and Ghost Quarter: Specifically destroy nonbasic lands.
To mitigate risks, players should balance their mana base with a mix of basic and nonbasic lands, especially in formats with land hate or resource denial strategies.
All nonbasic lands in MTG offer rich variety, powerful mechanics, and deck-building flexibility across every format. Whether you’re looking to stabilize your mana, create utility advantages, or execute unique win conditions, nonbasic lands are foundational to strategy and success. With hundreds of options available, players can customize their land base to support aggressive, control, combo, or tribal decks across Standard, Modern, Commander, and more. Understanding how to choose and utilize nonbasic lands effectively can dramatically improve both consistency and power level in any deck you build.
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