Utility lands: What are your favorites and why?
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on May 8, 2016, 8:40 p.m. by MagicalHacker
Hey everyone! Okay, so everyone has their favorite utility lands, so what are some you continually come back to over and over? (Utility lands are lands that do something a basic land doesn't, other than tap for multiple colors of mana.) For me, Strip Mine, Myriad Landscape, and Ancient Tomb go into ever single deck (except 5-color decks). I also really the cycling lands in mono color, the bounce lands and the temples in two-color, and a colorless deck would finally be able to abuse cards like Mirrorpool and Sea Gate Wreckage. What about you? Any utility lands you absolutely love and try to fit into almost every deck you build? Or are there any that you are thinking about? I've been pondering over Mikokoro, Center of the Sea, Command Beacon, and Mystifying Maze in particular...
Volrath's Stronghold and Phyrexian Tower go in every black deck I play. I always try to squeeze in High Market, Cavern of Souls and Mikokoro, Center of the Sea into every deck possible.
May 8, 2016 9:50 p.m.
griffstick says... #4
When I first started playing magic my friend who had been collecting for a while, had like 5 Cabal Coffers. I told him black was my favorite color. so he gave me 4 of them. So it's a auto include for all my black decks.
Dimir Aqueduct aka bounce lands
Temple of Abandon aka scry lands
May 8, 2016 10:07 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #5
Maybe it's just me, but I don't consider a land a "utility land" unless it has a relevant non-mana ability. E.g., Ancient Tomb and Temple of the False God don't really count in my book.
May 8, 2016 11:22 p.m.
CastleSiege says... #6
I'm rather fond of Deserted Temple, Command Beacon, and Drownyard Temple.
May 8, 2016 11:24 p.m.
The mighty Eye of Ugin in its respective deck, naturally.
I know mana lands generally aren't to be considered here, but let's be real, the artifact lands are utility simply by being artifacts in the decks that care about that.
May 8, 2016 11:35 p.m.
Very true, artifact lands are great in any deck with Trinket Mage. It just gives you another option.
May 8, 2016 11:37 p.m.
My personal favorite is Cavern of Souls. It goes in every deck I build in which the commander is an active part of the strategy.
Other 'utility' lands that I commonly use are Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, Ancient Tomb, Gemstone Caverns, Academy Ruins, Gaea's Cradle, Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, Strip Mine, and Dryad Arbor.
May 9, 2016 12:38 a.m.
I really like Homeward Path because I hate things like Bribery or Insurrection
May 9, 2016 12:40 a.m.
MirranTitan says... #12
Honestly a lot of my favorite lands are the X/Y ability lands, for instance Desolate Lighthouse makes it into all my U/R decks, and so does Kessig Wolf Run for G/R, you know that kind of thing.
Emeria, The Sky Ruin is definitely one of my favorite lands, period. Not in all my white decks, but it is whenever it's relevant.
Krosan Verge simply because it gets forests, and plains. so you can get Overgrown Tomb and Hallowed Fountain which is crazy.
Bojuka Bog is kind of an auto include in black decks for me. When is it not relevant? (that's rhetorical, of course.)
Also, honorable mention to cycling lands.
May 9, 2016 1:52 a.m.
Nocturnal Outcast says... #13
Arcane Lighthouse, stealing creatures is VERY popular in my playgroup, every blue player is running bribe..esh
Rogue's Passage is great for decks that focus on commander damage.
May 9, 2016 2:09 a.m.
Nocturnal Outcast says... #14
Oops, wrong card on first link!
Arcane lighthouse I'd still very good though!
Homeward Path is the one i was thinking of
May 9, 2016 2:13 a.m.
PepsiAddicted says... #15
Sorrow's Path is clearly the best utility land ever!
May 9, 2016 2:24 a.m.
Springjack Pasture is one of my favourite utility lands. The ability to make tokens (in any colour) on a land is not something to scoff at.
Other than that, Mikokoro, Center of the Sea is good in any deck which natively struggels for card draw.
Kessig Wolf Run is very good at closing games and provides a very nice mana sink. Those would have to be some of my favourite.
May 9, 2016 2:36 a.m.
MirranTitan says... #17
enpc It was funny, because I had a commander deck with Sidisi, Undead Vizier as the commander, and it was super flavorful to use Springjack Pasture to make goats, to sacrifice to sidisi.
May 9, 2016 2:52 a.m.
Ohthenoises says... #18
How on earth has Alchemist's Refuge not been mentioned yet? It's amazing. Everything gains flash for (technically) 3 mana? Lord have mercy.
May 9, 2016 5:40 a.m.
I don't run that many utility lands (most are underwhelming), but I'm a huge advocate for Reliquary Tower. Boseiju, Who Shelters All is also crazy good and definitely one of the best utility lands. Can't believe no one said Boseiju yet. Nothing says fuck you like an uncounterable Tooth and Nail.
May 9, 2016 6:24 a.m.
I run Buried Ruin in basically every deck. Rarely do I have few enough rocks for it to be irrelevant.
May 9, 2016 7:11 a.m.
Kessig Wolf Run is an absolute beast, Volrath's Stronghold is epic, i really love Yavimaya Hollow and Kor Haven. They seem criminally underplayed. Reliquary Tower has to be top spot for me. Back when they had one printing i found like 9 for a fraction of the then current price. Needless to say, I snapped them up. I think all of my decks apart from 5 colour has one in!
May 9, 2016 8:32 a.m.
UpperDeckerTaco says... #24
I'm going to add something that no one has mentioned yet. If you're not playing a U/G deck, and you want a similar effect as Alchemist's Refuge, the perfect card for you is Winding Canyons. Yes it gives creatures flash essentially and not your spells, but you'd use this in a creature based deck. Or you can use it as a "2nd" Alchemist's Refuge
May 9, 2016 9:27 a.m.
MagicalHacker says... #25
Awesome discussion everyone! Two more open questions:
Are there any utility lands mentioned by anyone else that you are now considering?
What utility lands do you like the least or what utility lands do you think are unnecessarily overplayed?
(I realize that when a thread becomes less of a discussion and more of a poll, that it's common for people to unsubscribe, so I am tagging everyone who has contributed thus far. If you don't care to comment more, please don't feel pressured to!)
sirbar NecroPony griffstick Epochalyptik CastleSiege kanokarob NarejED EmblemMan MirranTitan Nocturnal Outcast PepsiAddicted enpc Ohthenoises vault Jay K34 maiden77 UpperDeckerTaco
May 9, 2016 10:22 a.m.
Epochalyptik says... #26
Just a note: Yeago recently banned the practice of mass tagging people; if someone unsubscribes, please honor that choice unless they explicitly request to be tagged.
Not a big deal; just don't make a habit of it.
May 9, 2016 11 a.m.
I can't stand the community's obsession with Academy Ruins. From my experience of using the card for something like a year of heavy play, I practically never use it. There are few artifacts I consider worth recurring and the opportunity cost of running this over a colored source or a better utility land is notable. I feel like I always seem to have better things to do with my mana.
May 9, 2016 11 a.m.
Just throwing in some honorable mentions that I thought people may enjoy :) Oran-Rief, the Vastwood, Thespian's Stage, Dark Depths, Thawing Glaciers, Hall of the Bandit Lord, Flamekin Village, Slayers' Stronghold, Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion. All of these have a special place in one or more of my decks!
May 9, 2016 12:06 p.m.
MagicalHacker says... #29
TheDevicer, I never thought about it like that, but yeah, Academy Ruins only really fits for me into a deck I know will eventually have artifacts in the graveyard. Currently, my only blue commander is Talrand, which doesn't care for artifacts at all. If I were building Arcum Dagsson for example, then it'd be a no-brainer.
I am thinking more about Kessig Wolf Run and Buried Ruin now, thanks to the previous comments. Oh and definitely Sorrow's Path (hopefully it gets banned soon).
As for cards I don't like, Reliquary Tower and Temple of the False God are definitely not worth playing in my opinion. No maximum hand size is as win-more as you can get, and I tend to have way more 2-, 3-, and 4-drops than 6-, 7-, or 8-drops, so the downside of doing literally nothing as a land early game is too big.
May 9, 2016 12:21 p.m.
asasinater13 says... #30
I'm a big advocate of Reliquary Tower. I play a lot of simic draw-cards EDH decks, so I find myself always wanting it. on top of that, I'm often playing against group-hug or other similar deck types that cause al players to draw cards. Lastly, it just feels bad to discard your board state to an end-step cyclonic rift. if I can afford to run tower without ruining my mana, I will.
Sea Gate Wreckage is awesome to me. At worst it's an untapped land, at best it's drawing cards. I run it in any deck where getting to all my colors isn't a big concern and I have at least 3-4 other sources of colorless mana. I don't expect to turn it on, but it's always been a low-risk high-reward kind of card in my mind.
also I'm surprised Westvale Abbey Flip hasn't been brought up yet. That land is really really good.
May 9, 2016 1:26 p.m.
I play blue in some form or another pretty much exclusively. I can't imagine any deck I'd make that wouldn't have a Reliquary Tower in it. My decks all have the potential to draw lots of cards and being able to keep all of them feels damn good.
If I had to nominate my favorite utility land, I'd say Wasteland/Strip Mine because of their versatility and low activation cost.
May 9, 2016 1:46 p.m.
In reply to MagicalHacker's new questions.
Not really. I spend way more time than I should on EDH. I'm not saying I know every heavily-played card in the format, but I haven't seen anything 'new' mentioned here.
Yes. One in particular jumps to mind: Reliquary Tower. I've seen players try to stick it in all kinds of odd places. Kaalia of the Vast stax, Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord midrange, even mono white (O_o). It's one of those cards that some players think should go in every deck.
May 9, 2016 2:02 p.m.
I have an edh cube and 25 decks so there arent any lands i dont play that i would want to tbh. Apart from mishras workshop lol. But we are casual so it would be a dick move for me to play it tbh. I dont see many lands overplayed to be honest. I think i tend to fun the most utility lands. I suppose im sick of emeria. It taps for white so its opportunity cost is practically zero. Whereas alot of others tap for colourless or dont tap for mana at all. And its really annoying when horrible creatures keep getting recurred for free
May 9, 2016 2:17 p.m.
I consider myself to be a rather experienced EDH player. Nothing that has popped up here is new to me. If I had to name a few undervalued EDH lands, I'd probably say things like Minamo, School at Water's Edge, Dust Bowl, Rishadan Port, and The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale qualify. Each of those appears to see less play than what I think they're worth.
Take Dust Bowl, for example. Sure, there are much more efficient ways to control single lands available in EDH. Hell, I'd rather play a Ghost Quarter in most decks. Still, there are dedicated ramp strategies like Azusa, Lost but Seeking that don't mind the high activation cost that Dust Bowl has and the comparative impact of losing a land of your choice to axe off a target nonbasic seems minor. Not only that, these decks are even known for running the Strip Mine+Crucible of Worlds interaction to turn off someone's mana anyways. I have no idea why so few Azusa players chose not to run Dust Bowl.
The lands I presented above aren't auto-includes by any means, but I feel like they make for very strong choices in some decks. Regardless, from my personal perspective of playing with friends, at shops, and seeing decks here on TO, few people seem to run them.
May 9, 2016 2:21 p.m.
Not sure how often it's played, but Arcane Lighthouse is terrible.
May 9, 2016 2:29 p.m.
MagicalHacker says... #36
Rant about "No maximum hand size":
While I agree that not having to discard cards feels good, I disagree with the idea that it offers any significant advantage for most decks. Now if your deck is trying to play lots of Maro cards, then it makes sense why you don't want to discard. Honestly, if you have the seven best cards out of fourteen, the seven worst cards are rarely necessary. If you're playing colorless, then it's great. But if you're playing one or more colors, there are so many utility lands that are good that could or should be played first!
Sorry, rant over...
May 9, 2016 2:51 p.m.
MagicalHacker says... #37
vault, I actually haven't built a deck with a large amount of creature removal or a commander that acts as creature removal, but it seems pretty good for a deck like that. Ashling, the Extinguisher and Toshiro Umezawa come to mind first as examples
May 9, 2016 2:58 p.m.
asasinater13 says... #38
all of this is about Reliquary Tower
the "best 7" argument is one I mostly agree with. It isn't that discarding down to 7 is going to lose a game, but rather that I don't always know which 7 to keep. Like if I have half of a combo deciding if it's worth keeping, deciding which if any removal spells to keep when there are multiple in hand, deciding which if any creatures to keep, assuming they have effects beyond just being a beater (like whether to keep Reclamation Sage or Hornet Nest isn't always obvious, whether I want to have a Disdainful Stroke or a Negate, Beast Within or Rapid Hybridization for mana efficiency). I 100% agree that it gets played in some weird places where it doesn't belong, but in decks that it's good in (such as Prime Speaker Zegana) it can be a very important card to have in play. (I similarly have it become relevant in Ezuri, Claw of Progress with a Fathom Mage or just a string of Elvish Visionary type effects).
TL;DR: I know it shouldn't be in every deck, but don't discount how good it is because some people misplay it.
May 9, 2016 2:59 p.m.
asasinater13 says... #39
I run Arcane Lighthouse in a deck dedicated to using Switcheroo effects. it's pretty important against some people.
I totally agree with High Market and Buried Ruin though. they're awesome.
I haven't seen Blighted Cataract or Blighted Woodland brought up yet, and I've found both of those to be very helpful. woodland should just be in every green deck, and cataract I feel slots well into any deck with blue that can afford to have the colorless source present. Blighted Fen I similarly feel is good whenever it's able to be included, but I feel much less strongly about that one because it's not good against someone playing tokens and I'm against a lot of token decks in my group. Definitely good around more voltron players.
May 9, 2016 3:05 p.m.
MirranTitan says... #40
Regarding Reliquary Tower I personally only play it when the deck draws stupid amounts of cards, people often forget that discarding a card can be good. "Yes, I drew 3 extra cards this turn, and I really don't need these lands anymore, discard them, go back down to 7." Tower is not in every one of my decks, I dislike it because it offers less and less synergy with many of my tri color decks, and if I have reliquary tower and jazz hands, then, it doesn't do anything for me.
Also, regarding MagicalHacker's additional questions, I have been playing for a few years now, and none of these lands are new. I always keep up on the spoilers for new sets, making note of anything important.
As for overplayed? Well (don't hate me please) I think Maze of Ith is overplayed. Yes, it protects you from creatures, but without the aid of another card, it doesn't produce mana, so it's terrible early game. Additionally, it gets less and less good the more players there are, and the more creatures there are. So not only does it provide 0 mana, it cannot defend you from everything. (Again, this is just opinion, and I feel a lot of the decks that play Maze of Ith are really playing it for the "well, I have one, so I have to play it.")
May 9, 2016 4:24 p.m.
I dunno about overplayed, but a utility land that is definitely underplayed is Tower of the Magistrate. Card's fantastic.
May 9, 2016 4:30 p.m.
00xtremeninja says... #42
Crumbling Vestige a land that gives me a free color choice when I need it, the fact it enters tapped doesn't slow it down and then colorless on out is fine for paying generic costs.
May 10, 2016 12:21 a.m.
MagicalHacker says... #43
Does anyone have experience with Myriad Landscape and/or Command Beacon? I am considering playing a copy of each of them in my decks, but I wanna know what to expect before I dish out the cash for them.
May 10, 2016 10:35 a.m.
00xtremeninja says... #44
IMO, landscape takes a while to setup for it's sac ability for two basic lands. works well with any deck, but in the late game it sucks. get it early on when play is developing and you can get the basics you need in a pinch. now if you could luck out and get it on a t1 landscape--> sol ring, t2 land, tap sol ring, sac landscape, 5 lands out on t2 is pretty nice.
I like Beacon a lot. no draw backs when entering, colorless is fine for the generic costs and if you have a commander that is consistently getting removed or countered, kind of a nice last effort to get it on to the battlefield at it's original cost.
May 10, 2016 11:07 a.m.
00xtremeninja says... #45
wait, you couldn't t1 sol ring with landscape because it comes into play tapped, so you'd really only get the 5 lands by t3 with it. still nice to be two turn land drops ahead
May 10, 2016 11:09 a.m.
MagicalHacker says... #46
Sorry, not Myriad Landscape, I meant to ask about Mystifying Maze... But thanks so far for the responses!
May 10, 2016 11:35 a.m.
00xtremeninja says... #47
I think most would agree that if you are running any land with maze in it, Maze of Ith is going to be ith............yeah I'll see myself out.
Mystifying Maze looks like a nice budget option for Maze of Ith and it does actually tap for a mana unlike ith, but having to tap 4 to blink something is a bit on the expensive side for me. Now, if you are running green which has no problem ramping, then it would be easy to do. I guess mana rocks could also be used to fuel Mystifying Maze like Sol Ring and Grim Monolith or even the signets, but then you are having to tap one to be able to utilize the signet.
Really depends on the build I suppose. Blue is really the only thing that will want to leave mana open during an opponents turn for counters and the such, then maybe red for their instants of copying sorceries or instants. but I would always feel like I am having to hold back on 4 mana on my turn in anticipation of having to blink someone's giant creature or Lord.
May 10, 2016 12:16 p.m.
Wolfsbane706 says... #48
I'm personally very fond of Thespian's Stage for its copying ability. I usually use it on one of my tap-for-two lands, but if I see something interesting on my opponent's board, I'll copy that instead.
May 10, 2016 1:32 p.m.
jandrobard says... #49
Homeward Path and Urza's Factory are my favorites so far.
May 10, 2016 6:06 p.m.
Mystifying Maze is a decent budge option, however you do have to be careful about which creature you bounce. While it can have some upsides (hitting a creature with a bunch of +1/+1 counters), you can also get into the tricky situation where you might have to bounce something like a Rune-Scarred Demon or an Avenger of Zendikar. But at a $20+ price difference, it's still a decent budget card.
sirbar says... #2
I personally love Maze of Ith. That may be because I play slower decks in commander. Also Strip Mine and never the bounce lands because the rest of my play group plays Strip Mine.
May 8, 2016 8:59 p.m.