Too Many Lands or Too Little Lands
General forum
Posted on Sept. 18, 2010, 9:50 p.m. by NecroBane
Yeah, which is worse, or which would you prefer?
nammertime says... #4
None is worse than the other, to be honest. Not having enough lands and having too many lands leads to the same result: you're not playing out what you designed at maximum efficiency. That means that in the end, you lose anyway, unless the deck you're playing against is facing one of those two problems itself.
Too many lands = not enough cards played. You might take an early lead, but end up being outraced since your opponent would play more cards while you keep drawing lands.
Not enough lands = not enough cards played. You will probably take too much damage in the early game, and won't be able to make it up since you'd be holding too many cards in hand while only playing one every so often.
September 19, 2010 10:20 a.m.
Huh, so without the right balance its pretty bleak for you either way...
September 19, 2010 12:15 p.m.
if I had to choose, I would go with too many, since it means that at the very least you will be able to cast whatever you draw.
September 19, 2010 12:28 p.m.
...I agree with sporkife. Staring at a hand full of spells and not being able to cast them is infuriating.
September 19, 2010 3:10 p.m.
Well normally I'd go with sporkife, but the situation is what truely decides it. See, I have a Kithkin deck (not uploaded on T/O sadly) and I have won a game with literally one land for the first half of the game.
So it depends on what you're playing, high cmc cards or low. With high I'd prefer more lands, but with low cmc I'd go with too few lands.
September 19, 2010 5:41 p.m.
ilikeoldcardsbetter says... #9
I think it depends on what deck you are using. In a deck you need lots of land to do anything in, too much would be better, me thinks.
and vice versa
September 20, 2010 3:54 p.m.
nammertime says... #10
Thing is, he's just probably asking if you'd rather have too many or not enough lands in hand. Whatever your deck is, having just enough is always better than either options, and either of those two options are probably as bad as each other over the course of multiple games.
September 20, 2010 4:09 p.m.
as far as in hand...it depends on the deck. I have some decks where I'll keep a hand that curves: land, land, 2-drop, 4-drop, 5-drop, 5-drop, 6-drop if the content is solid because i'm running 25 land and the odds of not hitting land are pretty low. i also have decks where I have to mull to at least 2 solid cards playable with the lands in hand because i'm running 21 (or sometimes even less).
September 20, 2010 6:53 p.m.
nammertime says... #12
I have an elf deck with 18 lands lol... but that's pretty normal for an elf deck.
September 20, 2010 7:48 p.m.
DeckBuilder345 says... #13
Yes i would err on the high side rather than the low side. I find it much more frustrating not being able to do anything b/c you lack the lands... vs the some what comical mana flooded problem. Also mana flood can be helped if you include a few man lands, then you can still do something.
September 20, 2010 8:33 p.m.
Leonard_McCoy says... #14
But having too many lands due to a bad draw happens less and less in MTG thanks to the many fetch lands these days that have shuffling your deck as a neat side-effect.
September 21, 2010 2:32 a.m.
ToolmasterOfBrainerd says... #15
In modern, I am wondering if more people run Jace Beleren or Jace, Architect of Thought. I like beleren because of his draw but the architect has more versatility. Any thoughts? Thanks!
April 13, 2015 12:55 a.m.
TheDuggernaught says... #16
I do not play a whole lot of blue in modern... but with that being said, I would much rather play Jace Beleren unless I were playing combo. But even then, I think combo has better things to be playing than Jace, Architect of Thought.
April 13, 2015 1:12 a.m.
Competitive modern doesn't really play either Jace. If I had to choose one, I would probably choose Architect. Giving your opponents free card draw is never a good thing.
April 13, 2015 1:17 a.m.
Depending on your deck, Narset Transcendent might be your best option.
April 13, 2015 1:18 a.m.
Architect of thought is seeing quite a bit of play recently. Twin started playing it in the board now it's seeing a bit of mainboard play in various lists, it's pretty much a staple in twin sideboards now though.
April 13, 2015 1:33 a.m.
snappiestcaster says... #21
100% Architect of Thought. It's actually good in Modern, will see more play.
April 13, 2015 11:24 a.m.
ToolmasterOfBrainerd says... #22
Ok. Here's my list The Thief Lord.
What should I replace Jace Beleren with? I know it's not a very good deck, but that's why I'm here. I find I just don't draw enough cards with Jace, Architect of Thought and Thought Scour but can't find anything better besides Serum Visions but that's too expensive. Thanks!
nammertime says... #2
Just enough lands, lol.
September 19, 2010 5:41 a.m.