How Many Lands Should a Commander Deck Run? (With a Simple Formula)

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Few questions come up at a Commander table more often than this one: how many lands should I actually play? Run too few and you spend the game discarding expensive cards while everyone else builds their board. Run too many and you draw nothing but lands while your opponents cast spells.

The good news is that you do not have to guess. With a little math and a simple rule of thumb, you can land on a number that fits your deck instead of copying someone else’s.

The short answer: 35 to 38 lands

For a typical casual Commander deck, somewhere between 35 and 38 lands is the sweet spot. That assumes you also run around 8 to 12 pieces of ramp, like mana rocks or spells that fetch lands.

If you are brand new and not sure where your deck falls, start at 37 lands. It is a safe middle ground, and you can adjust after a few games. It is also worth knowing that the newest preconstructed decks from Wizards of the Coast ship with 38 to 40 lands, so you are in good company.

The exact number depends on three things: how expensive your spells are, how much ramp and card draw you play, and whether your deck actively wants extra land drops.

Why Commander needs so many lands

Commander games are long and grindy. You usually want to hit a land drop every turn until at least turn five or six, because the format is full of powerful four-, five- and six-mana spells.

Unlike a 60-card deck, you cannot play four copies of your best ramp spell. Every card is a singleton, so your deck needs a bigger base of lands just to stay consistent. Your commander also sits in the command zone, which means you always have something to spend mana on. Missing land drops directly delays your best card.

Here is a number that surprises many players. We ran the probabilities for a 99-card deck with 37 lands and no ramp or card draw at all. Drawing at least four lands by your fourth turn (on the draw) happens only about 65 percent of the time. That is exactly why ramp and card draw are part of the land conversation, not a separate topic.

A simple formula for your land count

Mathematical analyses of Commander decks have found a strong relationship between three numbers: your land count, your average mana value, and how much cheap ramp and card draw you run. We simplified that into a rule of thumb you can do on the back of a napkin:

Lands = 31 + (3 × average mana value) − (cheap ramp and draw ÷ 4)

Here is how to fill in each part:

• Average mana value: Add up the mana value of every nonland card in your deck, including your commander, and divide by the number of nonland cards. Most deckbuilding sites calculate this for you automatically.
• Cheap ramp and draw: Count every card that costs two mana or less and either makes mana or draws cards. Think Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, Rampant Growth or a two-mana card draw spell.
• Round sensibly: Round to the nearest whole number. Round up if your commander costs five or more, and add two if your deck is built around landfall.

As a safety rail, we do not recommend going below 33 lands in a casual deck, even if the formula says you can. Ramp pieces can be destroyed, and a land in hand is never a dead draw in a long game.

Worked examples

Let us run the formula on three very different decks.

Example 1: A low-curve, aggressive deck

Imagine a goblin tokens deck with an average mana value of 2.6 and 12 cheap ramp and draw pieces.

31 + (3 × 2.6) − (12 ÷ 4) = 31 + 7.8 − 3 = 35.8, so about 36 lands. This deck wants to deploy cheap creatures quickly and does not need its sixth land drop very often.

Example 2: A typical three-color midrange deck

Now picture a three-color deck with an average mana value of 3.1 and 10 cheap ramp and draw pieces.

31 + (3 × 3.1) − (10 ÷ 4) = 31 + 9.3 − 2.5 = 37.8, so about 38 lands. This is the most common shape for a casual deck, which is why 37 or 38 is such a common answer.

Example 3: A big dragons deck

Finally, a dragon deck full of five- and six-drops, with an average mana value of 3.6 and only 8 cheap ramp pieces.

31 + (3 × 3.6) − (8 ÷ 4) = 31 + 10.8 − 2 = 39.8, so 39 to 40 lands. Expensive decks need to keep hitting land drops deep into the game, and running out of mana is the main way they lose.

Quick reference table

Use this table as a starting point if you do not want to do the math yourself.

Deck style	Average mana value	Cheap ramp and draw	Suggested lands
Fast, low-curve (tokens, aggro)	2.4 to 2.7	12 or more	34 to 36
Typical casual midrange	2.9 to 3.2	9 to 11	36 to 38
Big spells and battlecruiser	3.4 to 3.8	7 to 9	38 to 40
Landfall and lands-matter	Any	Any	38 to 42
Five-color	3.0 to 3.4	9 to 11	37 to 39

How your curve and ramp change the number

Your average mana value is the single biggest lever. Every full point of average mana value adds roughly three lands, so a deck that averages 3.5 needs about one and a half more lands than one that averages 3.0.

Ramp works in the other direction, but more gently. Four cheap ramp or draw spells replace about one land, not four. A mana rock helps you accelerate, but it cannot be played as your land for the turn, and it is vulnerable to artifact removal.

A few practical tips:

• Two-mana rocks are the best value. Cards like Arcane Signet and Fellwar Stone come down early and fix your colors.
• Land-based ramp is sturdier. Spells like Cultivate put real lands onto the battlefield, which survive board wipes that destroy artifacts.
• Expensive ramp does not count. A five-mana spell that makes mana is a late-game card, so leave it out of the formula.
• Card draw matters too. Drawing extra cards helps you find lands, which is why cheap draw spells count in the formula.

Colored sources for two- and three-color decks

Having enough lands is only half the job. You also need the right colors at the right time. A “source” is any land or mana rock that can produce a given color. A dual land counts as a source for both of its colors, and Command Tower counts for every color in your deck.

We calculated how often you see at least one source of a color by turn three or four in a 99-card deck. With 20 sources of a color, you see it by your fourth turn about 93 percent of the time. With 15 sources, that drops to about 85 percent, and with 12 sources it falls to about 78 percent.

Spells with two symbols of the same color are much harder. With 24 sources, you have two of them by your fourth turn only about 80 percent of the time.

Situation	Sources of that color to aim for
Main color with lots of cheap spells	20 to 24
Commander with two pips of one color, like {1}{W}{W}	22 or more
Secondary color	15 to 18
Light splash for a few late-game cards	10 to 12

Two-color example

Here is a 37-land white-black deck that hits those targets easily:

• Command Tower, Isolated Chapel, Caves of Koilos, Shattered Sanctum, Temple of Silence, Scoured Barrens, Orzhov Guildgate and Evolving Wilds
• Two colorless utility lands, such as Rogue’s Passage and Reliquary Tower
• 14 Plains and 13 Swamps

That gives 22 white sources and 21 black sources from lands alone. Add Arcane Signet and Talisman of Hierarchy and you are at 24 and 23.

Three-color example

Three colors are trickier, because each dual land only helps two of your three colors. Here is a 38-land white-blue-red base:

• Four lands that make all three colors: Command Tower, Mystic Monastery, Evolving Wilds and Terramorphic Expanse
• Three duals for each color pair: Glacial Fortress, Adarkar Wastes, Temple of Enlightenment, Sulfur Falls, Shivan Reef, Temple of Epiphany, Clifftop Retreat, Battlefield Forge and Temple of Triumph
• One utility land and 24 basics: 9 Plains, 8 Islands and 7 Mountains

That works out to 19 white, 18 blue and 17 red sources. Two fixing rocks push every color to around 19 or 20. For more on picking affordable dual lands, see our guide to building a budget Commander mana base.

A simple trick for splitting basics: count the colored mana symbols in your deck and split your basic lands in roughly the same proportion. Then shift one or two basics toward whichever color your cheapest spells need.

MDFCs and cycling lands

Modern Magic gives you a few ways to blur the line between land and spell. They are great for reducing flood, but they do not count the same way.

Modal double-faced cards

MDFCs are cards with a spell on one side and a land on the other, like Bala Ged Recovery or Fell the Profane. Analyses of land counts suggest an MDFC whose land side enters untapped is worth about three-quarters of a land. If the land side enters tapped, it is closer to a third or half of a land.

Our rule: count two untapped MDFCs as about one and a half lands, and do not replace more than three or four real lands with them. They are a bonus, not a foundation.

Cycling lands

Lands with cycling, like Secluded Steppe or Irrigated Farmland, are full lands. You can always play them as a land drop. The bonus is that late in the game you can pay a small cost to swap them for a fresh card. They usually enter tapped, so do not overload on them, but two to four is a nice way to smooth out long games. Each of the new mono-color Foundations Commander decks includes one of these lands for exactly that reason.

Signs your land count is off

After a handful of games, your deck will tell you whether your number is right. Watch for these patterns:

• Too few lands: You often keep two-land hands and miss your third or fourth land drop. Your commander regularly comes down two or more turns late.
• Too many lands: You frequently have five or more lands on the battlefield and nothing to spend the mana on. You draw lands in the late game while opponents draw threats.
• Wrong colors: You have plenty of lands but cannot cast the spells in your hand. That is a source problem, not a land-count problem.

Change one or two lands at a time and play a few more games before adjusting again.

Check your deck in seconds

Want a second opinion? Paste your list into our free Deck Checker. It counts your lands, ramp and card draw, calculates your average mana value and flags common mana base problems, so you can see right away whether your land count matches your curve.

Frequently asked questions

Do mana rocks count as lands?

No. Rocks like Sol Ring help you accelerate, and they reduce how many lands you need, but only a little. Four cheap rocks replace about one land. Keep counting them separately.

Should I cut lands from a preconstructed deck?

Usually not right away. Recent precons ship with roughly 38 to 40 lands, which is reasonable for their curves. Once you add more cheap ramp or lower your curve, you can trim one or two lands.

How many lands should a five-color deck play?

About the same total as any other deck, 37 to 39, but far more of them need to produce multiple colors. Five-color decks also lean harder on ramp spells that fetch basic lands of any type.

Do landfall decks need more lands?

Yes. If your deck rewards you for playing lands, extra land drops are part of your game plan. Most landfall decks are happy at 38 to 42 lands plus spells that put extra lands onto the battlefield.

Is 40 or more lands ever too many?

For a casual deck with a normal curve, going above 40 usually means flooding. It makes sense only for landfall decks or decks with very expensive commanders and lots of ways to use extra mana.

What about utility lands that only make colorless mana?

They are great, but each one is a land that does not help you cast colored spells. In a two-color deck, two to four colorless utility lands is plenty. In a three-color deck, keep it to one or two.