2023 Magic Find, Inc. All rights reserved. Plus, whenever a land enters your field, Fury's landfall trait lets you morph a land you control into a 3/3 elemental with haste (plus trample thanks to Fury's first effect). nowadays is primarily a blue ability. It has a landfall trigger which turns target land into a 3/3 with haste until end of turn. While it can't target players or planeswalkers like the more expensive versions can, the easy lifegain combined with relative ability to remove most creatures fits the bill for a lot of decks specifically centered around life totals. Turning every land into a Swamp is extremely potent, so all it takes is a quick search for some powerhouses to help this magical land close out a game quickly. You probably already have half a dozen lands at least, so having that many 8/8s is too overwhelming to deal with. I've settled on turning them into creatures. RELATED: 10 Most Efficient Creatures In Magic: The Gathering's Modern Format. Fastbond is undoubtedly one of the best Magic cards ever made, but it ranks second because it's rightfully banned in several formats. Im a big fan of Druid Class. (US): https://bit.ly/3KmgywT (CA): https://bit.ly/3MozPzv Want to support the channel? document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Wizards of the Coast, Magic: The Gathering, and their logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast LLC. Lands 305.1. Balduvian Frostwaker is a 3-mana 1/1 that turns your lands in to 2/2 fliers. +1: Reveal the top card of your library. Few lands in the game are capable of directly winning the game, but Mazes End is the one exception that any player should fear. Im just not into these when I could play a 3-mana 4/2 instead. about Magic: The Gathering, including card images, mana symbols, and Oracle text, But I dont think thats too much of an ask. Updated February 7th by Gene Cole: In the past few years of Standard and Eternal sets, there have been tons of powerful and banned land cards. Heroic Whenever you cast a spell that targets Anthousa, Setessan Hero, up to three target lands you control each become 2/2 Warrior creatures until end of turn. 2: Mill three cards. Landfall Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, put a loyalty counter on Nissa of Shadowed Boughs. It's still a land. These are the 10 best cards for extra lands plays in Magic: The Gathering! With over 25 years of cards to parse through,Magic has a truly incredible number of special, unique, and powerful land cards. Since we here at Too-Specific Top 10 are wanting to lean away from predictable boredom whenever possible, let's just go ahead and overreact, eliminating lands . Of course, this assumes you have a sufficient amount of lands ready; try partnering with blue's draw prowess to ensure you can take full advantage of this formidable sorcery. Its still a land. Pumping mana into it will give it new counters with each activation, meaning it can be used as both a small blocker or a single-hit kill condition with enough counterspells to support it. While the attached pump effect isn't quite as excellent as being able to whittle away at your opponents' life totals while boosting your own, it can nonetheless prove valuable if you somehow manage to wipe the rest of a board. Choose one. When Titania enters the battlefield, return all land cards from your graveyard to the battlefield tapped. : https://www.patreon.com/Nizzahon_MagicCheck out my History YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwaA-6D36AiqGPCLtqOoeOQWant to see me draft live? HubPages is a registered trademark of The Arena Platform, Inc. Other product and company names shown may be trademarks of their respective owners. It makes a 2/2 flier out of a land for one mana. Thats pretty powerful for a passive, and the +1 is also good. Ask me questions. Its the best overall bang for your buck, though Im not sure theres too much bang here. Its animate land ability is its +1, which turns one of your lands into a 3/3 with menace and haste. X cant be 0. Avalanche Caller is a 2-mana 1/3 that can make one of your snow lands into a 4/4 with hexproof and haste for just two. Its still a land. Its ultimate isnt the land-animating bomb youd hope for, but it gives you plenty of card draw throughout the game. Youve likely already seen Tatyova, Steward of Tides, either in a Commander pod or in Magic Arena Cube drafts. While that isn't a blanket statement given that you may only be able to trigger this particular Nightmare once per turn in a lot of decks, and at sorcery speed to boot, the repeatable nature of Dread Presence is not to be underestimated. This is one of the best cards to have in your opening hand; for your first move, play your regular forest, cast Exploration, use its power to play another land, and then potentially cast another single-cost spell, all in round one! When you pay this cost one or more times, put that many +1/+1 counters on Primal Adversary, then up to that many target lands you control become 3/3 Wolf creatures with haste that are still lands. Last Stand deals damage to target creature equal to the number of Mountains you control. That may be too much, but youre also going down a land if your opponent has spot removal, so whos to say? The Citys Blessing was a questionable mechanic in a few regards, as its astonishingly easy to obtain regardless of your deck. The red Genju, Genju of the Spires, is a 1-mana enchantment that turns your land into a 6/1 spirit for just two mana. Mwonvuli Acid-Moss. It tutors out any number of basic lands out of your library and puts them into play as 4/4 creatures with trample. Uro is sacrificed when he enters the field unless he escapes from your graveyard by paying four mana and exiling five other cards from it. So there are cards that turn lands into creatures, but what cards turn creatures into lands? One of the land interaction strategies is to animate them, or turn them into creatures. Wind Zendikon isnt anything special, but the bar is low for these kinds of cards in blue. It also has the replicate keyword. If you control two or more other lands, Cave of the Frost Dragon enters the battlefield tapped. It also gives haste and trample, which is often what decides if these kinds of cards good or bad. Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, if you control seven or more lands, up to one target land you control becomes a 3/3 Elemental creature with haste. In much the same way as Liliana of the Dark Realms, Tendrils of Corruption will let you deal overwhelming amounts of damage to a creature of your choice and gain you the same amount of life, all at a much cheaper cost than the more old-fashioned Drain Life or Corrupt. All lands you control become 1/1 creatures until end of turn. It comes in at five loyalty for five mana and lets your Forests tap for an extra green. Sylvan Awakening is a neat but not so powerful card. It's still a land. Probably not, and for good reason. You'll win more games if you can reliably cast all your spells. This is closer to the kind of value Im looking for in these cards, but Im not too sure Id want to put mana into this. Obuun, Mul Daya Ancestor a 4-mana 3/3 that turns a land into a creature at the beginning of your combat phase. Privacy Policy. So keep it out while you have excess lands to play; when your hand is depleted, sac it to help cast a big play. Get 20% of your purchases in their store by using the following links and entering the Code \"Nizzahon\" on checkout. He started off playing in his store's Journey into Nyx league, and his favorite formats are draft and commander! This is something I can actually get behind. However, Skyshroud enjoys elf synergies; pick one based on how elf-reliant your deck is. Unfortunately, he can't attack or block until you get the city's blessing by controlling ten or more permanents. Because Wizards of the Coast use the most inclusive language available, they continue to use the term "creature land". There are certainly some massive differences in power level for animate cards, especially between colors like blue and green, but I think thats perfectly fine and intended. {2}{R}, Remove a +1/+1 counter from Ignition Team: Target land becomes a 4/4 red Elemental creature until end of turn. While she's easily removed if you don't have a means to protect her, this particular Liliana is worth the risk in any deck that can keep her alive. A 2-mana 3/2 is borderline okay in most Constructed formats and probably just bad in Commander. The day you realize you too, can triforce! If its a land card or a creature card with mana value less than or equal to the number of loyalty counters on Nissa, Steward of Elements, you may put that card onto the battlefield. : Target snow land you control becomes a 4/4 Elemental creature with hexproof and haste until end of turn. Eventually, you're getting the bonus of "Earth Surge" for half the mana alongside a 4/5 with vigilance. You may put a permanent card from among the milled cards into your hand. Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, if you control seven or more lands, up to one target land you control becomes a 3/3 Elemental creature with haste. Both are green sorceries that cost two mana and search your deck for a Forest to put in play untapped. darksteel citadel and darksteel garrison are also good for being indestructible. Stopping there, you'd have a decent card, but as long as you control six or more lands, Advocate gives himself and your land-creatures +2/+2! When I first read Life and Limb I didnt even think about what Id do with my onslaught of little plant lands. I think it still carries its weight in Commander, especially when you get to the point where youre paying the cost five or six times. However, over the years, many lands cards have been created with unique abilities that can alter the course of the game dramatically in your favor. Nine mana to take a turn and get a 6/6 is slightly better than average. This is a mono-green players dream. Until end of turn, any number of target lands you control become 1/1 Elemental creatures with vigilance, indestructible, and haste. HubPages is a registered trademark of The Arena Platform, Inc. Other product and company names shown may be trademarks of their respective owners. Its even all right on rate as a 4/3 with trample for three mana. This includes making them into a 0/0 creature and putting +1/+1 counters on them, or turning all lands of a certain type into 1/1 Saproling s. Regardless of how its done, animate land cards turn lands into creatures, plain and simple. While technically only Liliana's -3 ability qualifies here, the true reason she's made the number two slot is that she easily slots into any mono-black deck imaginable, providing a means to search for a land every turn while pumping her loyalty counters, a means to either hit for the win or remove a problem creature with her -3, or an emblem that will make sure you have the most mana at the table no matter what. All Swamps are 1/1 black creatures that are still lands. In the rare instances where it's legal, you can use Fastbond to play any number of lands each turn, suffering one damage for each extra beyond your first. where the text includes lands and the text includes still and the text includes creature. Regardless of how its done, animate land cards turn lands into creatures, plain and simple. The downside here is that Azorius has no real way to capitalize off this. Skyshroud can only do this at times you could cast sorceries (your main phases) while Sakura's effect is instant. A 3-mana removal at sorcery speed is decent overall and great in Limited, but its poor in eternal formats. keeping this particular option in decklists. One of the best dinosaurs in the game, Swordtooth offers an amazing 5/5 stats for his price. It doesnt make sense to me to make a cheap board wipe thats meant to wipe out small creatures an 8-mana spell. I wish the pump ability would put counters on the creature instead of just giving it +1/+1, but maybe that would be too good. One of my favorite ways to play Magic (when Im not playing grindy control decks) is with a land-based strategy. 0: Look at the top card of your library. Put two +1/+1 counters on each of X target lands you control. However, some of them truly stand out from the others as the best. Chief among them is the newer inclusion of the one-mana removal spell Defile, which would come in at number 11 if we continued the list, along with Corrupt in the number 12 slot. #6. CMC: 3. Simply put, Its an extremely unique win-condition that very few decks will often be ready for. Others only last for the rest of the turn. While this means you won't be able to utilize the extra resources immediately, it's still a cheap and continuous way to plow more soil. Okay, so Outburst doesn't support land-creatures so much as it punishes non-land creatures, but it's still a great pick for the theme. I personally love playing around the universal nature of Karma and Stern Judge, but I know there's got to be other folks out there with more devious schemes! There are so few ways to negatively interact with lands that it makes it tougher for your opponents to handle when you employ them as your strategy and win condition. Especially when you factor in that you pay two each time you want to use it, and it keeps a land down. This drastically reduces the biggest downside of land-creature strategies (how you can quickly lose your mana against creature wipes), letting your lands safely battle foes and dodge most removals. In the world of power creep, Nightmare Lash has largely been outshined by its pupil in the form of Lashwrithe. Colorless animate land cards suck, theres no getting around that. Kicker {3}{G} (You may pay an additional {3}{G} as you cast this spell.). Heck, youre probably already winning if the board is clear and youre soaking mana into a 6/1. This is a 1-mana enchantment that makes your land a 3/2 until end of turn for two. Slower formats like Historic Brawl and Commander will be able to use it in any deck as an emergency mana-sink, but its ability to draw at instant speed makes it just as effective in slower control decks in any format its legal in, being incredibly easy to activate with just a little time and a few land drops. This is nothing crazy, but Im a little surprised Ive never seen this in a casual Commander pod before. These are the 10 best cards for extra lands plays in Magic: The Gathering! More than that, when Tidecaller enters the field, you can return a card with awaken from your graveyard to your hand, and she automatically grants your land-creatures flying. The same is true for the overpriced Nightmare, which never quite seems to be able to swing in for the tens of damage that it promises. Theyre still lands. It took a ways down the list, but finally we have our first removal spell that cares about the number of Swamps you control. This isnt too special, especially when you consider what else you can do with that mana in green, but its that ability in conjunction with the others that makes this such a powerful value-oriented enchantment. If you haven't noticed a trend yet when it comes to cards that care about Swamps, then you may not have actually played against a mono-black deck before. Its still a land. Exploration simply offers an extra land play per turn, an amazing reward you can reap immediately. As you may have guessed the is the number of loyalty counters it comes in with. Land creatures you control have flying. Mono-black will probably always lean into Swamps matter effects, and even decks with two colors that include black may dabble if the build is right. Wayward Swordtooth. Scan this QR code to download the app now. Not a bad package, all things considered. Nailed it. Its still a land. Until your next turn, all lands you control become 2/2 Elemental creatures with reach, indestructible, and haste. With seven or more lands with different names in play, any land will create a 2/2 zombie token, something easy to do en masse with cards like Scapeshift or ramp spells like Uro, Titan of Natures Wrath. Embodiment of Fury is one of the more unique ones so far. Theyre still lands. The awaken mechanic bumps the price up to from , and it puts 3 +1/+1 counters onto a land in the process. A lot of that is the fact that it's a symmetrical effect, and really only playable in mono-black, but I would argue that a much larger reason for this lack of play is simply that people are unaware of this dollar common from way way back in Urza's Destiny that has never seen a reprint despite not being on the Reserved List. Thats great, and it works amazingly in the Golgari () landfall/recursion decks that play this card. Nature's Lore and Three Visits, unlike Exploration and Burgeoning, are effectively the same card. {1}{G}, {T}, Sacrifice a creature: Forests you control become 2/3 creatures until end of turn. Similar to Azusa, Oracle's 2/2 stats are disappointing for a four-cost creature, but she grants an extra land play each turn. Its land-animating ability is its ultimate, which costs six loyalty counters to turn two lands you control into 5/5 creatures with flying and haste until end of turn. You already have haste, so you really just need trample and some +1/+1 effects to get this going. 2 NostrilRapist 2 yr. ago A 2/2 isnt too crazy. They become 6/6 Elemental creatures. Azusa's poor 1/2 stats and lack of the elf subtype slightly restrict an otherwise amazing card that works well in both mono and multi-color builds. {1}{G}, Sacrifice an Elf: Target creature gets +3/+3 until end of turn. Mark Rosewater mentioned he liked the term "landfolk" as a gender neutral term. Since we here at Too-Specific Top 10 are wanting to lean away from predictable boredom whenever possible, let's just go ahead and overreact, eliminating lands from the equation entirely. This card, like others on the list, can be tapped for a colorless mana, but again this is not where its real power lies. You can on Patreon! Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, if you control seven or more lands, exile Nissa, then return her to the battlefield transformed under her owners control. Part the Waterveil is a 6-mana extra-turn sorcery with awaken 6. Unlike some of the worse blue animate spells, you get more than a flimsy 1/3 and some actual power from your lands. Youre almost never just casting this on-curve to make a few 2/2s for no reason. Im not a fan of making my land a 3/3 that I cant even use half of the time, especially early in the game, but this is one of the better ones in black. Thats pretty good, especially when you consider that you still have a strong value-oriented planeswalker around who can scry and then flip permanents off the top of your library. They become 3/3 green creatures with haste that are still lands. It can destroy any land, including those on this list, but it also has uses against decks that don't run nonbasic lands. It also untaps it, so you can play this on curve and have a steady board state out of almost nothing. A 6/6 for four mana is just good considering that most extra-turn spells are five mana. Eldrazi Monument (Killing Someone with indestructable flying forests is awesome AND silly.) 3. Lol! Particularly token creatures to make more use of the landfall mechanic. See rule 305, "Lands." From the Comprehensive Rules (April 14, 2023 March of the Machine) 305. Wayward Swordtooth. 4 20 20 comments Add a Comment sporkmaster5000 1 yr. ago [ [life and limb]] is the only one i know of 5 MTGCardFetcher 1 yr. ago life and limb - (G) (SF) (txt) {4}{W}: Cave of the Frost Dragon becomes a 3/4 white Dragon creature with flying until end of turn. Ignition Team enters the battlefield with X +1/+1 counters on it, where X is the number of tapped lands on the battlefield. Its great as a 2-drop, offering some lifegain throughout the game and great options to activate on two and three. Neither offer particularly strong creatures, and both are enchantments that keep coming back. Recently, I completely reworked my five-color Cycling deck, which was known to spin its wheels a bit. Mishra's Groundbreaker is a 4-mana artifact that can be sacrificed to make a land into a 3/3 artifact creature. This isnt going to do much for you in the long run. Some effects permanently turn them into land-creatures. You cant use the lands for mana if you want to get value from the creature part. <i> (A creature with hexproof can't be the target of spells or abilities your opponents control.) Life and Limb makes all Saprolings Forests. Destroying a non-basic permanent means you can take down any of the cards on this list, and replacing it with a basic in many formats can be impossible for certain decks that rely on multicolored lands. If cast for its base price, Outburst simply destroys all non-land creatures, a prime field wipe since most of your units will avoid the blast. It can tap for a colorless mana, but most players will prefer to use its second ability - paying one mana and tapping it to tap another target land. Enter Harvest Season, which searches your library for up to X basic lands and put them onto the field tapped, where X is the number of tapped creatures you control. I don't know about you, but I personally don't want the likes of Farseek at the top of our 'Swamps matter' list. Best Dual Land Cycles Color-fixing in Magic has long been a staple of all eternal formats. Lately, I feel like I want to build a new EDH deck that emphasizes lands somehow. Face Off In YouTube Crossover Match, Flesh And Blood: The 10 Best Instant Cards, Yu-Gi-Oh! Planar Outburst is beyond the most powerful card in white among these. The black Genju is Genju of the Fens, a 1-mana enchantment that can turn an enchanted Swamp into a 2/2 with a pump ability. 2023 Magic Find, Inc. All rights reserved. Guardian Zendikon is a 3-mana enchantment that turns any land into a 2/6 with defender. Okay, the Staff wasn't even in print during the early days of EDH, but versions of it that cared less about Swamps and more about black spells definitely saw play around much more casual tables (though even back then, they shouldn't have). For only three mana, you can turn an empty board into a raging army of lands that can stomp the opponent. Lands are crucial to any Magic deck as they supply mana, the resource needed for other cards. Which you've gotta respect, honestly. It becomes a 0/0 Elemental creature with haste. There are a couple aspects that make this card so powerful - mostly the ways in which blue spells synergize with artifacts that makes this feedback loop so threatening as playing artifacts gives players more mana, which leads to more artifacts. It can even give them trample if you can pay an extra red and green. What are your favorite mono-black cards not mentioned here? A staple in my own elf, land, and ally decks, Advocate's also surprisingly cheap. This is a much more traditional land destruction tool, and while there are stronger cards with this effect from earlier in Magic history, its hard to argue just how powerful this version is. You know, for inquiring minds and all that. See stores for final prices and details. Cards that turn lands into creatures in mono green? With each of its initial two triggers, Mending mills two cards from your deck into your graveyard, then returns a creature from your graveyard to your hand. Corrupted Zendikon is a 2-mana enchantment that makes a 3/3 out of a land. When Primal Adversary enters the battlefield, you may pay {1}{G} any number of times. Particularly token creatures to make more use of the landfall mechanic. Playing a land is a special action; it doesn't use the stack (see rule 116). Heres a two-way tie between Crusher Zendikon and Crackling Emergence. {2}{G}, {T}, Discard two cards: All lands target player controls become 3/3 creatures until end of turn. Library of Alexandria can be tapped to draw a card, if you have exactly seven cards in hand. Aggro decks can fill the board with tokens, control decks can use lands and planeswalkers, and many combo decks can gum up the board with all sorts of artifacts and enchantments that take opponents a while to take down. The first among Nissas is Nissa, Worldwaker, a 5-mana planeswalker that can either untap four Forests or make a 4/4 with trample out of a target land you control. Forests you control are 1/1 green Elf creatures that are still lands. Life and Limb will turn Saprolings into Forests. Theyre still lands. Destiny Spinner is the most played land-animating card, and for good reason. With your regular play, that's four lands in a single round, an insane boost that opponents have little hope of matching. You have to pay one blue and tap this creature as part of the cost, but the key fact is that the land stays a creature forever. Koth of the Hammer blows other cards out of the water. A 4-mana 7/7 is always good, and those stat lines plus the haste make casting this and giving up a land somewhat worth it. But with dozens of terrain-cultivating cards available, which spells reign supreme? Playing this after the opponent leaves no blockers means that you can easily win the game. In addition to simply attaining more mana, remember that fielding extra lands repeatedly triggers the effects of cards with landfall, forming fierce combos that quickly overwhelm your opponents. Its a 1-mana enchantment for Plains that lets you turn that land into a 2/5 spirit with lifelink for just . From Karma to Filth to Roots of Life, it doesn't take long for you to start gaining advantage and draining others' life totals, all while you have half as many "Swamps" due to the massive amounts of bounce lands you're playing. Theres nothing better than going wide other than going wide with creatures that pack a punch. 2: Create Ashaya, the Awoken World, a legendary 4/4 green Elemental creature token. All lands become 2/2 creatures until end of turn. This is why Zendikar Risings new Crawling Barrens is such a delight, as this land can always get bigger when you need it to. Lands are an essential part of any deck, and swarming them generally isn't too risky since few cards can punish them; often, games are decided by who can play lands faster. What does each color have to offer? This is honestly pretty good, especially since its also a 4/4 body for five mana. It comes back to your hand if the land dies just like the other Genjus, which is always good. Sometimes you just have to be the menace at the table. It also protects itself by making a 4/4 out of a Mountain and untaps it, so this is actually playable on four instead of a dud. Please enable JavaScript to get the best experience from this site. Additionally, we're not really looking for cards that merely mention Swamps, either, so let's try and get a bit more specific and only include cards that care about the number of Swamps you or others control. 2023 The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers on this website. This is what Koth of the Hammer wishes it were. Here's arguably the best land ramp for mono-green. The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers to this website may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. For just two mana, you get an impressive 2/3 with vigilance plus elf, druid, and ally subtypes! Whenever you tap a Forest for mana, add an additional {G}. In formats like commander with increased life, you'd have plenty of health to spare, offering an amazing advantage for a single mana. Its still a land. Titania serves as a fierce 5/3 elemental with trample, and as soon as she arrives, she plays a land from your graveyard onto the field, helping recover lost terrain. RELATED:Magic: The Gathering Arena: 10 Best New Decks From The Core 2020 Set. Its still a land. You could probably one-shot whoever might have that board wipe before they get a chance to cast it, turn cycles permitting, if you manage to give your creatures trample. Thats four mana for a 4/4 overall, and you dont even get to keep it around. Jace Beleren[/card] = Jace Beleren [card=Jace Beleren]Jace[/card] = Jace Magic CompRules Scry Rollover Popups for Google Chrome The first rule of Cursecatcher is . Whether it's shutting down powerful lands or simply shutting down basic lands, Strip Mine is a versatile threat. Add to that the extreme flexibility of being able to hit any target or just draw a card instead, and I would imagine that this particular cares-about-Swamps option will continue to climb these ranks as decklists are updated. These are the ten best land-creature supports in Magic: The Gathering! Before the days of Damnation and Toxic Deluge, there was a go-to removal spell in black. It has the awaken mechanic, so you can pay the full to get a 4/4 out of this exchange. Rakdos, Lord of Riots; or a Dead Sprint to the Finish Line. Anything with awaken or landfall also helps, but for now, as we await Wizards of the Coast's next expansion of land-empowering spells, vote for your favorite card and I'll see you at our next MTG countdown! Genju of the Fields, from Betrayers of Kamigawa, is one of the older cards here. Cookie Notice +1: Put three +1/+1 counters on up to one target noncreature land you control. In addition to today's spells, many green planeswalkers can search out creatures and lands from your deck (like "Vivien Reid" and "Nissa, Steward of Elements"), ensuring your hand never runs out. Hey, youve probably heard of this card. Other Versions Last Stand ( 5 ) Sorcery Target opponent loses 2 life for each Swamp you control. Scryfall is not produced by or endorsed by Wizards of the Coast. This is even better after the recent third visit to Ravnica, as there are tons of gates that are more than just tapped multicolor lands. In black. For those unfamiliar with what this old and expensive land does, it's much the same as the less pricey Magus of the Coffers, simply letting you pay two mana and tap it to add a black mana for every Swamp you control.