Non-basics give your deck extra utility at a very low cost. Many players do not run effects that destroy lands. Those who do can only run a few of them before it starts hurting their own mana base. This is where the power of non-basic lands begin. You can get additional effects that are hard to deal with!

Everything I have said so far applies to all decks, including multicolored. However, mono-colored decks are especially well poised for non-basic lands. The mana base does not need to worry about Dual Lands and Triomes. This frees up space to run more non-basics without hurting your mana base!

Effects such as Blood Moon, or Back to Basics are particularly nasty against non-basics. But, as a mono-color deck, we are much better suited to recover from these effects because we naturally play more basic lands anyway.

With some of the more generic points out of the way, let’s take a look at some non-basic lands and how we can take advantage of them!

MDFCs lands are my favorite cards in recent memory! These cards feature a spell on one side, and a land on the other. If the idea of running more lands makes you nervous, then MDFCs are your best friend! Best of both worlds! MDFCs come in two flavors. They either always enter tapped, or can sometimes enter untapped. I generally prefer the ones that can enter untapped. These include the mono-colored MDFCs from Modern Horizons 3 and the mythic cycle from Zendikar Rising.

These cards are all excellent. Some are certainly better than others. In a slow game where you do not need the mana, you can play these as tap lands. No big deal. In games where you are in a rush, pay some life, and you’re good to go. Finally, if you are flooding out, just cast them for their spell side!

The Zendikar Rising Cycle is the more expensive set. The blue and black cards cost €30 and €20 respectively. The others are around €5 each or more. The effects are solid but quite mana-intensive. They are powerful, but for the money, I would suggest buying the Modern Horizons 3 MDFCs first!

MH3 brought us two cards in each color. All of these are playable in their own right. Black has two solid options in Boggart Trawler and Fell the Profane. Every color has one MDFC that acts as a removal spell. Sink into Stupor bounces a spell/permanent, Witch Enchanter for artifacts/enchantments, Sundering Eruption hits lands, and Bridgeworks Battle fights something!

The secondary option in each color is a little weaker. However, I’d say they are respectable inclusions for the amazing utility they offer.

These are the best of the best in utility lands for any deck. If you learn one thing from this article, please pick up these lands!

We also have the MDFCs that always enter tapped. These are much weaker both as a land and a spell. Consider these if they particularly fit the theme of your deck.

Glasspool Mimic is a respectable clone for only three mana. Hagra Mauling is much worse than Fell the Profane, but if you really want another removal spell, this isn’t the worst. Valakut Awakening feels legitimately strong. It is a one-sided re-draw effect. You can put as many cards as you want on the bottom of your deck, then draw that many plus one. This is a solid option for any red deck.

Some lands have additional utility outside the battlefield. The Neon Dynasty Channel lands come to mind. They share some DNA with the MDFCs we discussed prior. They act as a spell or a land. These cards are incredibly hard to interact with. Channel abilities are not spells.

An opponent will struggle to counter these effects outside of Stifle. All of these lands enter the battlefield untapped. This makes them an easy swap for a basic land. Boseiju, Who Endures sees play in Legacy and Vintage for its power! Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance is the weakest of the bunch. However, for such low risk, it is worth including! I am personally fond of Takenuma, Abandoned Mire for the card selection it offers.

Tolaria West is a much more niche example of a similar effect. It enters tapped, a big downside. However, for three mana you can discard it and search your deck for a zero mana card. I think this effect is a bit too narrow for serious consideration unless you really need a way to tutor your Walking Ballista.

Dakmor Salvage does not have a spell effect like these other lands, but it has dredge 2. This means if Dakmor Salvage is in the graveyard, we can mill two cards and return it to our hand whenever we draw a card. This is an amazing piece for any self-mill deck. Syr Konrad, the Grim loves this effect! You can leverage this land, and a discard outlet, to give yourself extra mill at no cost.

Fetchlands are strange at first glance. If you are building something lower power, or budget is a concern do not bother with Fetchlands. But, if you are looking to optimize your deck Fetchlands can give you that final edge!

Consider this, there are 40 lands in your deck. You draw a Fetchland, and you use it to find a basic. You now have 38 lands in the deck. It is a small optimization, but over time it helps. Throughout a game playing four on color Fetchlands and Prismatic Vista, you have trimmed 5 cards! It is an invisible advantage. In the middle of a game, it is hard to feel the effect of it. However, it is a real, measurable advantage!

Outside statistical edge cases, Fetchlands still have utility! Artifact decks leveraging Sensei’s Divining Top, or Bolas’s Citadel can use a Fetchland to get rid of unwanted topdecks.

Fetchlands also give us additional landfall triggers. These mainly find a home in green decks running Lotus Cobra and Avenger of Zendikar. If you want to get some real power out of your Fetchlands consider Titania, Protector of Argoth. Every Fetchland comes with a free 5/3!

Finally, Fetchlands can also grab non-basic lands! This is a pretty limited use in mono color. Blue and Black have the best non-basic Fetchables with Mystic Sanctuary and Witch’s Cottage. Green has the classic Dryad Arbor for a sneaky surprise blocker! I hope we see more lands like this soon!

Here I’m going to fire through some of my favorite options in each color in no particular order. These all have a low cost to your deck while still offering strong effects to sink your mana into.

Monumental Henge comes in tapped unless you control a Plains. In mono-white, no issue! For four mana, you can look at the top five cards for a historic card. I have been incredibly impressed with this effect. It is hard to miss. Voltron decks can find key equipment. Artifact decks can find ramp or combo pieces. Or maybe you just want to find a powerful legendary creature! Give this a try in your next white deck.

Minas Tirith can be found with Monumental Henge! It enters tapped unless you control a legendary creature. For two mana, you can draw a card as long as two or more creatures attacked this turn. What a great reward in a color that has no issue going wide and attacking! Play this in an aggressive strategy like Adeline, Resplendent Cathar for a continuous source of card advantage!

Blue has some awesome combo potential with its utility lands. Minamo, School at Water’s Edge comes into play untapped. It’s an Island with upside! You can pay a blue and tap it to untap a legendary creature! The sky is the limit with this one. Double up on your favorite tap effects. Untap Arcum Dagsson to search your deck for a second artifact. Maybe a Rings of Brighthearth and Chromatic Orrery! Do this on your opponent’s end step, for a surprise combo!

Besides comboing off, use this land to for value. Untap Emry, Lurker of the Loch, and cast an extra artifact from your grave! Turn the grave into a source of card advantage.

Black has an easy time generating mana thanks to Cabal Coffers and Cabal Stronghold. Black lacks good lands as outlets. That’s not to say you shouldn’t try some black utility lands. However, maybe take some greater care here.

Minas Morgul, Dark Fortress, and Barad-dûr come to mind, but they are much more restrictive than some of our other mana sinks. The shadow counters are a lot of fun in an aggressive deck, even if it risks leaving yourself open. I also like Tomb Fortress. It enters tapped, but you get a once-off reanimate for four mana! This could be incredibly powerful, but I have not personally gotten to test it out. If you have experience with this one, let me know how it has performed!

Flamekin Village is a great land even if you are not playing elementals. For one mana, it can give a creature haste. If attacking is the aim of the game, give this land a try. I love having access to haste on a land. Entering tapped is a downside, but the momentary loss of tempo is often worth it in the long run.

Hall of the Bandit Lord and Hanweir Battlements grant haste too, but they cannot produce red mana. This can be tough for decks like Torban, or Kiki-Jiki that require lots of red mana to cast.

Shifting Woodland has given me amazing results! It enters taped unless you control a forest. As long as you have Delirium, it can become a copy of any permanent in your graveyard until the end of turn. It reminds me of The Mycosynth Gardens, another stellar card from the past few years. Turning a land into a real threat is powerful!

Shifting Woodland is unique as it can change its role depending on whose turn it is. With eight mana you could turn Woodland into The Great Henge on your turn, draw some cards, and then on your opponent’s turn change it into a Ghalta to keep attackers away.

Up to now, I have focused on utility lands that add colored mana. These can be incredibly powerful in a mono-color deck. They function as a “better” basic land.

Now I want to shift gears. Lands that produce only colorless mana also have a place in Commander. But, these are riskier to include. You cannot cast Necropotence with a Strip Mine!

There is a whole host of lands that destroy other lands. These are amazing at stopping a greedy five-color deck or removing a Glacial Chasm that’s locking you down.

The classics are Wasteland and Strip Mine, especially in Vintage and Legacy. However, I think these are not as powerful in Commander. In multiplayer formats, Strip Mine is setting you and one opponent behind, meanwhile, the other two players are now ahead.

For this reason, I prefer Demolition Field and Volatile Fault. Both these cards give you and the opponent a replacement for the land you lose. This makes them worse for cutting people off of colors, but they are excellent at removing lands with abilities.

We have plenty of card advantage in colorless lands. This gives you a mana sink and keeps you ahead on cards. War Room is particularly powerful in mono-color decks.

If you lean into reanimator try Geier Reach Sanitarium. You can bin your big monsters while digging for reanimate spells.

Other lands have multiple effects in one. Fountainport makes tokens that can be sacrificed for card draw. I have had great success with this in Food/Clue decks. So many cards come with incidental tokens, you’re sure to get value with this!

Some lands are not a home run in every deck, but they’re still incredibly powerful!

Riptide Laboratory is an awesome land for any Wizards deck. Use it with Emry to mill more cards! You do not need a Wizard kindred deck for this to be good. Play it in Talrand, Sky Summoner to keep them safe from removal!

If it suits your deck there is a partial cycle of lands that put a card from your graveyard on top of your deck.

Hall of Heliod’s Generosity, Academy Ruins, Volrath’s Stronghold, and Unholy Grotto are great if you can support them. The black ones are particularly powerful. You can leverage self-mill to dig through your deck and use Stronghold to set your good cards on top!

We now come to the hardest question. How many of these non-basics can we run? I’d say there are a couple factors to keep in mind, as no one size fits all.

This is a meta call. If you are playing in a highly optimized environment, especially one with Stax effects you will need to temper your expectations. Blood Moon or Commanders like Thalia and The Gitrog Monster will make non-basics more risky. My local group is 20+ people, each with two or more decks. This variety means I tend to run more non-basics as my odds of a bad game are lower.

This also ties into the power level. In more optimized meta’s folks are more likely to run land destruction. This could punish your non-basics. To use the new ‘bracket system’ if you find yourself playing against lots of bracket four and five decks, be more cautious.

This refers to the number of colored mana you need on each turn. Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon needs double black to cast it, an additional black for haste, and two more to regenerate it. This deck thrives on black mana. You could argue the Blight Dragon wants three to five black mana to consider casting it. I have seen this frustration bear out firsthand when a Blight Dragon pilot could not generate enough black to keep their Commander safe.

Consider key cards in your deck too. Circle of Dreams Druid, Tribute to the World Tree has a steep green demand. How vital are these cards to your plan, and how likely are you to be stranded if your mana does not line up?

Your own deck’s makeup will define this better. Ultimately, you need to consider what is right for you. Let’s say you play Necropotence in your deck. You want to always be able to cast Necro on turn three.

• Say we run 40 lands. What is the probability of hitting three black mana by turn three?
• In a deck with 40 basics, we have an 85% chance.
• Now say we swap some basics out for colorless lands. The utility is going to cost us some consistency. Swapping five basics for colorless lands drops our odds of Necro on turn three by almost 10%!

This is of course just one example. Each deck will have a different intensity of color. Additionally, mana rocks and card draw effects can smooth some of these rough edges. But, I hope this illustrates my point, colorless lands are not completely free. Consider closely if the cost of adding colorless is making your deck worse. Make good use of on-color utility lands where possible, and be more sparing with colorless lands.

The exact number of colored vs colorless sources to run is a complicated exercise and will no doubt vary based on your deck. But, by reflecting on how much mana you need and when, you’ll build better decks.

With all of that said, I do hope you enjoyed this look at non-basic lands in mono-colored decks. It is a great source of added utility that you often do not get in multicolored decks. You definitely do not need to be a mono-green deck to take advantage of lands! You can find all the cards we discussed today at Three For One Trading. Be sure to share with us on social media your favorite non-basic lands.