A midrange Magic: The Gathering (MTG) deck should run about 24-25 lands, with 16-17 lands being the ideal ratio for heavy lifting. The ideal land to spell ratios for midrange are 16-18 lands to maximize opening hand (7 cards) and turn 3. A better rule of thumb for land is 40, meaning 24 lands in a 60-card deck.
The exact makeup of the deck depends on the gameplan, with an aggressive deck primarily focusing on creatures and mana producers/nonlands. A good formula for the number of lands in a 99-card deck is 31.42 + 3.13 * average mana value of spells – 0.28 * number of cheap card draw or mana.
The optimal mana curves suggest that the two, three, and four-mana slots should be where the majority of your spells should be. A limited number of one-mana and five-plus-mana spells are also good. For example, if your average mana value is three, you should start with 25 or 26 lands and cut one land for each.
For most Constructed decks, a good starting point is 33-40 lands, while for Limited decks, 40-45. In a 60-card Magic: The Gathering deck, it’s smart to include 24 lands for balanced mana access, following a 40 ratio. Decks that rarely see the mana value of their spells go above 3-4 pack lands more towards the 33-35 range.
For a beginner, the answer is simple: 40. Put 40 lands in your deck after choosing your Commander and build with only 59 slots.
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What is the ideal plot size ratio?
Vastu suggests that rectangular plots with a 1:2 ratio of length and width are suitable for land selection, bringing good health, wealth, and prosperity. Triangular plots are not suitable due to their susceptibility to fire and damage, while oval plots are not suitable for house construction and may bring bad luck to the owners. Overall, Vastu’s guidance is crucial in selecting suitable land for various purposes.
Is 40 lands too much?
If the average mana value is three, it is recommended to begin with 40 or 41 lands and eliminate one land for each three or four inexpensive card draw or mana ramp spells present in the deck.
What is the best land ratio in magic?
In a 40 card deck, play 17-18 lands, while 24 lands in a 60 card deck. If playing cards with five or higher mana costs, increase the number of lands. For example, if the critical cards cost four mana and you want to cast them on turn four, you need to hit your first four land drops. To draw four lands in ten cards, you need to play at least 40 lands, which means 16 lands in a 40 card deck. If your important cards are five drops and you want to play them on turn five, you need five lands in your first eleven cards, or 45 lands, which means slightly over 18 lands in your deck. With 17 lands in your 40 card deck, you have a 42. 5 chance of a randomly drawn card being a land.
What is the perfect building ratio?
In order to ascertain the rectangle with the most aesthetically pleasing proportions, one must first multiply the length of the shorter side by the golden ratio approximation of 1. 618. This will result in a longer side with a length of 1. 618.
How many lands should I bring to draft?
Booster Draft rules allow players to add as much basic land as they want to their deck, with a standard number of 17-18 lands. Starting with Mirrodin Besieged, block booster drafts began with the most recent set, a change from the previous drafting order. After the introduction of Two-Block Paradigm, starting with Oath of the Gatewatch, drafting for each second set of a block consisted of two packs of the small set with one of the large (BBA instead of AAB).
How many lands should you have in a 40 card deck MTG?
Traditional knowledge suggests that lands should make up a touch over 40 of a deck, which means 17-18 lands for a 40-card deck and 24-25 lands for a 60-card deck. This structure has been successful for many players for years, but small adjustments may be necessary. Consider nonland ways to produce mana, such as Elvish Mystic and Voyaging Satyr, which can impact the number of lands needed for a deck to function.
The correlation isn’t one-to-one, as they cannot be cast unless lands are already available, are less reliable, and are typically played to jump ahead in mana. However, these cards shouldn’t be counted directly as lands, but three copies of Elvish Mystic can be a good reason to play sixteen lands instead of seventeen or eighteen in a 40-card Limited deck.
What is the optimal amount of lands in MTG?
Tempo decks aim for 18 lands, while aggressive decks require 22 to 23 lands. Midrange decks have an average of 24 lands, while control decks run between 26 to 27 lands. Modern decks, with cards like Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer, Lightning Bolt, and Preordain, move swiftly with a 1-mana cost. Most decks cap their curves at 3 mana, but some cards like Fury or Force of Negation are often cast for free, affecting land count.
Modern decks typically run between 18 to 23 lands, depending on their blue-based, aggressive, or midrange/control decks. Pauper decks feature low curves and rarely exceed a 3-mana cost, with decks ranging from 18 lands up to 23 for more expensive ones.
What is a good average number of lands in opening hand?
Cantrips and card draw are two types of card draw that can be used in decks. Cantrips are ways to draw cards when playing cheap spells, while card draw involves drawing cards and potentially drawing into a land. A full hand usually has a land or two to play, but it’s important not to play a ridiculously low amount. Cycling, which involves drawing cards and potentially drawing into a land, is sometimes better than card draw, but it’s important to differentiate between the two.
What is the best land to building ratio?
The average ratio of new realtors to other professionals in the real estate industry is 2. 5:1 to 3. 5:1. To become a more knowledgeable and well-rounded real estate professional, it is essential to familiarize oneself with various topics. This will help them share their knowledge with different types of clients with different buying and selling prerogatives. Real Estate Leads offers an online real estate lead generation system to help realtors maximize their client prospecting efforts.
By using the internet to connect with interested and ready buyers, realtors can build their business. Today’s topic is calculating the land-to-building ratio, which is useful for working with commercial or investment real estate buyers.
How many lands are in a 100 card deck?
In contemplating a 100-card deck, players frequently inquire as to the requisite number of lands. In a Commander deck, it is generally recommended that 36 to 38 lands be included. However, decks that include mana dorks and inexpensive lands may require fewer.
📹 Next Level Commander: 3 Simple Tips To Power Up Your Magic: The Gathering Decks
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I played M:tG as a kid back in the days of 7th Edition (I believe I favored the Silver Deck from the 7e starter set mainly for aesthetic reasons) and I recently got the urge to get back into it. I was a little too young to be up to date on strategies, and these days I may as well be a newbie. Your website is helping me to review what little I remember and catch up on the things that have changed (I don’t think Planeswalkers were a thing.) I appreciate the mellow, welcoming vibe. I hope I can find more folks like you to play with.
It is also important to take into consideration the mana costs of cards in your deck, not only your commander’s color identity. I used to have a bunch of boros lands in my Edgar vampire tribal deck until I realized that most of my bity boys ask for black mana, now i only run orzhov and rakdos lands apart from the ones giving any color ofc.
Thank you professor for getting me into commander. I’ve been a skeptic for years about it. But after learning from you about the different facets of the gameplay and how fun it can be from you, I gave in and got into commander when AFR came out and now I have 9 decks and I can’t get enough. So thank you, from the bottom of my heart.
A few more things to add to the Professor’s list of win cons (when riding the 1-trick pony) is counters to counters (going for direct damage in red, run Red Elemental Blast and Pyroblast), ways to limit spells (Silence or City of Solitude), return from graveyard to hand/play, or be able to play from the graveyard. For example of that last one, if there’s an artifact that can end the game (Walking Ballista, for example), run Burred Ruin… have an artifact that get’s countered a lot and you want to repeatedly use it as a finisher (let’s say to multiple opponents), also play Crucible of Worlds to repeatedly be able to get back Buried Ruin. I own over 100 Commander decks and when I am deck building, I think about back-up plans & ways to recoup a combo killer.
One thing about the ratio of what cards to play to add is how accessible they are in your overarching gameplan. An artifact deck that can easily tutor out removal artifacts don’t need anywhere as much single target removal, but could still benefit from removal that’s more flexible or efficient, based on how you access them Having some cards with niche effects can be really nice if they happen to coincide with what you can tutor should your deck be very toolbox heavy And one thing I love incorporate into the decks I make are engines: understanding what engines your deck can play and what they offer, should they be a win condition, value, interaction, or a pseudo form of value is heavily reliant on the deck’s structure Not every deck with black should play torment, though one that establishes urborg and cabal coffers easily should certainly consider it. Artifact decks with blue have access to Artificer’s intuition, but it’s only truly good if the 1 mana or less artifacts you have in the deck are really worth it Having some mana sinks can be really good in your deck, but not all decks can play mana sinks. Control decks that keep their mana open all the time especially love sinks, yet decks aiming to make the most use out of their mana every turn would have a hard time ever activating a 4 mana activated ability There’s so so so much that goes into commander deck building, and as a deckbuilding fanatic that loves making everything from scratch by looking over all the cards in magic’s history several times, I’ve been working on refining my deck building for years to reach a point where I can beat my friends playing netdecked cedh decks (though my decks aren’t as powerful as those decks, they can definitely win games and not just through sheer luck) I love discussing deckbuilding strategies with others as well as techs and upgrades, for commander is so unique that everyone can have valuable input Very often do I give people my decks and ask them what I can improve, especially after a game, to get some insight.
Can always count on the Prof to make articles that I now don’t have to explain certain concepts to newer players! I use your land articles all the time as I know how I want my mana bases, but I struggle to explain things to a newer player. Magic gets complex and even the basics can be a bit of a battle to explain so having these as a option or choice is great.
I think it’s also important to consider options for protecting your critical pieces as well as yourself sometimes. Sometimes a Greaves or Boots are enough, but it always pays off to have options. White and green both have myriad options for protection. Blue of course relies on counters but has options like Lazotep Plating as well. Black has plenty of reanimation like Kaya’s Ghostform as well. Red probably the hardest time with protection, it’s best options being either artifacts that offer it, pairing with other colors, or of course Deflecting Swat.
I do like having a set of cards with a similar goal (Say, help my creatures survive combat) but that explore different spaces. For instance one effect regenerates a creature repeatedly, another one prevents my opponents creatures from dealing damage, and a third is a flash creature that mass buffs my creatures. That way they solve my primary problem, but also contribute additional utility.
I’ve found that if your bread and butter cards arrive turns 4 and onwards anyway, playing a lot of tapped lands rarely slows you down much since you get to play them early on. I used to obsess over untapped mana for my 3+ color decks spending a pretty penny, but a curve that’s not super low isn’t severely handicapped by a few slow lands in the first couple turns. one and two mana acceleration is best, but switching some for more powerful 3 and four mana ramp that produces extra mana can take you to even more powerful midgame in the same time and potentially launch you way ahead. For example my Sidisi deck has a couple of one mana dorks which help smooth out the early game but the deck is looking for 8+ mana to start double spelling and really taking over. This is where more expensive ramp like Krosan Restorer and Splendid Reclamation will shine because they can add a lot more than just one extra. tl dr; untapped lands and 0,1 and 2 mana ramp gets you faster to 3 and 4 mana, but to go bigger you’re better off with the more powerful 3+ mana options that don’t mind some slow lands earlier
Liked, subscribed, bell hit, and this is a comment. Great article! Keep putting out useful and informative content like this, please. Your reviews and buying guides have been invaluable in helping me make better purchasing decisions and resisting that impulse to buy product in sets I really don’t care all that much for but nonetheless feel the “buy the box, crack those packs” compulsion. Thanks, Professor.
Can you do a article on how to power down your deck? I’ve tried cutting my tutors, I already don’t run combos, but I’m having a tough time playing a deck that’s appropriately powered for the table without deliberately ignoring basics building blocks like having less lands than optimal, not running spot removal or board wipes, having low card advantage etc. Basically, How can you power down your deck while maintaining the necessary tools to function?
I was send here by request from the professor from this future… to watch another article instead of leaving a ‘for the algorithm’ comment, i just picked a article, so you will likely have to subtract one view from this article yourself when evaluating content engagement. This was a service message for your convenience… though do note, i wouldn’t mind more Commander content on this website
Good article and useful pieces of advice. However, I think that what the general EDH community should aim for is actually to power DOWN their decks: the arms race in Commander has gone out of control in the last couple of years, to the point that it often looks more like singleton Legacy and there is little room left for casual and flavourful decks. (not writing this out of saltiness: while I own a couple of mean stax or T3 combo win decks, I would rather play slower decks, splashier cards and less optimal tribes and still have a chance to play Magic if not winning, but I feel like this attitude is dying out due to more and more spikes joining the format)
“3 types of cards nearly all commander decks have” Is this a joke about Simic value engines without win cons? On a serious note, I don’t remember a single deck without lands(MDFC’s are technically lands) or removal, even extremely narrow and focused combo decks have answers, such as counterspells or board protection.
I am going to to be that one guy. Some people can’t afford those Shocklands, Painlands, or Triomes because they can get pretty pricey so you do have to consider what your budget is when trying to power up your decks. I personally don’t like Shocklands and other lands like that using only whatever I pull not actively seeking them.
I think the big thing you’re missing is CMC vs synergy, and lowering the curve of your deck. You will generally be better suited towards playing more lower CMC cards that have higher synergy than playing one giant bomb. Resolving two four or five mana cards that put you way ahead is much easier than resolving a single eight or nine mana spell, and it’s both more resilient and open to more redundancy for the effect.
100 singleton format? Sure, but then why are so many games ended by T3 or earlier? cEDH is leaking into regular EDH and I can’t count the number of games I’ve played where… I never really got to play at all. T1: drop land, maybe play a spell or cheap artifact. T2: drop land and ramp or play something small. T3: drop land, play my commander or get 1-2 creatures into play. T4: never got a turn four. Personally, I don’t think a 4 player EDH game should end before turn 10.
Commander was a format to be played casually and lightly, but now everyone just talk about power and efficiency. Sometimes I fell like I’m the only guy thinking about building a deck with a story, instead choosing cards because they are better for this or for that. My last deck was about a bad cleric, Whisper, Blood Liturgist, using the blood and life from your subordinates to summom powerfull demons.
The best way to play with really powerful cards and not spend a lot of money is to play against people with really powerful decks and just copy everything lol. I built my deck such that I can get an enjoyable game in with anyone, winning is a potential side effect of fun. I really think that winning being the main goal is kind of a failure to understand what the point of a game is. People dont decide to play a game to win, they decide to play a game to have something fun to do, therefore fun is the primary goal and if winning overshadows it then winning is a problem. The goal of the game is to win, but that doesn’t mean the goal of the player is to win. The goal of the player is to play the game Singleton formats discourage fringe strategies though, this makes me sad because silly jank is the best lol Yeah decks that run a lot of tutors generally make games pretty boring. I mean theyre not like insanely unbeatably good unless their stupid commander gives them free tutors every turn. Theyre just boring. Its like, they have a specific game plan and they carry it out every time. It’s like they didnt even want to play edh
Win conditions? Ha. Ha. How about pillow fort derevi where the whole deck is exile removal, pillow fort cards such as propaganda effects, and field wipes. Be the only person with a creature in play all the time and even if your opponents play a creature they have to pay oodles of mana to even attack you. Win conditions? Penny punch people for 30 turns with derevi. Make them know pain.
When are the players going to stop bowing to WotC and making their own rules? WotC stole commander from us, and made it a terrible experience with new cards “made for commander”, just like they screwed up modern with Modern Horizons. The best formats are the organic formats. We should create a new set of rules for EDH, ban all reserved list cards, ban auto-include cards such as Rhystic Study, Sylvan Library, Sensei’s Top, Sol Ring…. and all cheap tutors with no drawbacks.