Dual Land Advice

Commander Deck Help forum

Posted on Feb. 13, 2019, 11:39 a.m. by RohanDragoon

I'm building a superfriends deck right now, and I was wondering what the advantages of using certain dual lands over others are. Right now I am just using the ones I have, but I'm looking to rework and use better dual lands.

Here's the deck: Superfriends and their Friends

I'm looking to add all of the tri-lands but I just don't know what to do about dual lands. Thanks for any advice!

pskinn01 says... #2

Originals are best, but expensive.
Shocks are prob next best.
Fetches are good when you have lands are not basic but have basic land types.
The lands that came from battle bond.
Filter lands.
Ping land.

Any land that cones into play tapped needs to add more benefits other than fix mana.

If more budget oriented, use mainly green, and use green ramp package of Birds of Paradise and the spells that fetch lands (those that look for a land type better than those that look for basics).

February 13, 2019 12:36 p.m.

Caerwyn says... #3

Generally, I would rank the mana lands lands into a couple different tiers (within these tiers there might be some striation--this is just a general overview).

At the top are your original Duals, like Tundra for obvious reasons. They enter untapped, they can be fetched, and they have no downside other than being nonbasic lands.

The second tier are your shock lands, like Hallowed Fountain . These can be fetched and have the option of entering untapped, though there is a slight downside. The downside, however, is mitigated some by the fact it only has to be paid once.

The next tier are the lands that enter untapped but have a downside or other restriction to use. These include your filter lands ( Skycloud Expanse , Mystic Gate ), check lands ( Glacial Fortress ); pain lands ( Adarkar Wastes ); etc.

There are a couple lands that enter untapped that I would not include in this tier, such as mana batteries ( Calciform Pools ) or lands that have restrictions on their being untapped ( Thalakos Lowlands ; Land Cap ; etc.).

Finally we get to lands that enter tapped. If you are on a restrictive budget, you can use these, but you are going to have significant problems with hitting your curve. Ideally, everyone in your meta will have a similar mana base, as otherwise you will be perpetually a turn behind in terms of mana generation.

The tri-lands would fall into this lowest tier. While having three colours is nice, they are still too slow for all but the most casual of tables. There are plenty of decent rainbow options, such as Mana Confluence , that would be a preferable choice.

February 13, 2019 12:36 p.m. Edited.

Rzepkanut says... #4


Best 100$ Budget "Tier-1 Styled" 5 Color Mana Base

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February 13, 2019 1:52 p.m.

Rzepkanut says... #5

Oops double post. Yeah check out that list above, it has my suggestions.

February 13, 2019 1:53 p.m. Edited.

Cloudius says... #6

Since you run a 5C deck, I'd recommend the following:

1) Run all 10 Fetchlands

2) Run all 10 ABUR Dual lands. You can replace them with Shock lands for more budgetary options.

Doing the above would mean that any Fetchland can grab you mana of any color. It'll help tremendously with color fixing.

The rest of the slots, I favor lands that enter untapped over those that ETB tapped.

Hope these helps.

February 13, 2019 2:04 p.m.

Cloudius says... #7

I run a 5C Ramos Spellslinger deck. I'm not saying that it's the best configuration but perhaps you can use the mana base as reference and tweak it to your preference/budget.


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February 13, 2019 2:07 p.m.

RohanDragoon says... #8

Hey everyone, thanks so much for the help! I think I've decided to run the 10 shocks, the 10 checks, and then I think I'm going to run the 10 tris (Since my mana curve peak is like 4-5 I usually find I'm okay playing a couple of tapped lands, especially if they're early in the game. But they're just helpful for casting the 4cmc and 5cmc walkers). I don't have the budget to run the fetchlands, but I did manage to pull of 2 of them back in Tarkir so I might run those as well! Once again, thanks for all the help!

February 13, 2019 3:59 p.m.

Caerwyn says... #9

With that mana base, your check lands are usually going to enter tapped, particularly in the critical early stages of the game. The odds that you (a) have a shock land on the field, and (b) the shock land is an appropriate type for your check land are not great.

Instead of running the 10 tri lands, consider some of the following:

  • Aether Hub - an inexpensive land that provides fast colour fixing in the early game (when hitting your colours matters most), and still provides mana in the later game.

  • City of Brass and Mana Confluence both fix your mana for a fairly insubstantial tax.

  • Exotic Orchard - another budget land that, while a bit unpredictable, can usually be sufficient in a multiplayer game.

  • Gemstone Mine - colour fixing that sticks around a few turns.

  • Meteor Crater - your curve is a bit high, so you might want to forego this one, but I figured I would put it on your radar.

  • Reflecting Pool - another land that can usually get you the colours you need. Works particularly well if you have other rainbow lands.

  • Tarnished Citadel - emergency colour fixing for 3 life, with the option to simply tap for colourless if you do not have specific colour requirements.

February 13, 2019 4:48 p.m.

Cloudius says... #10

I agree with cdkime above. Trilands while useful, enters the battlefield tapped and that cause you to lose quite a bit of tempo.

You may wish to also consider playing some of the Filter Lands (e.g. Cascade Bluffs ) as recent reprints make them pretty affordable.

If you can't play the full set of fetches, a more budget alternative is the Panorama Lands (e.g. Jund Panorama ). While they only fetch basic lands which enters tapped, they can be tapped for generic mana at the onset and you can always crack them at end of turn to fetch the much needed basic for color fixing.

I'd also consider playing the Pain lands (e.g. Underground River ) over the trilands.

Hope this helps.

February 14, 2019 1:57 a.m.

Joe_Ken_ says... #11

The vivid lands like Vivid Grove aren't that bad since they are very budget oriented, but the enter in tapped with 2 charge counters on them that can be used for a mana of any color.

February 14, 2019 10:34 a.m.

A good source I like to use is Mana Base Crafter

It very neatly lists and separates each genre of land and lists their names and pictures for each color you decide to search for.

February 14, 2019 10:17 p.m.

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