If you’ve ever stared at a decklist and whispered, “How Many Lands Should You Run,” welcome to the club. The membership fee is losing one game to mana screw, then overcorrecting into a deck that draws nothing but lands and regret. The good news: there are solid baselines, and you don’t need a spreadsheet to stop punting games before you cast your commander.
Magic is not the only tabletop game with resource anxiety. Netrunner makes you count clicks and credits, Lorcana makes you ink your cards, Pokemon makes you pray your Energy shows up. Magic just makes the embarrassment public.
Land counts at a glance
Start here, then adjust.
- Limited (40 cards): 17 lands is the default. Go 16 if your curve is low and you have cheap selection. Go 18 if your deck is clunky or full of 5-drops you actually plan to cast.
- 60-card Constructed: 24 lands is the baseline. Aggro often lives at 20 to 22, midrange around 23 to 25, control and big mana decks often 26 to 28.
- Commander: 38 to 40 lands is a strong default for most casual decks. Low-curve, high-ramp lists can go 36 to 37. Top-heavy decks often want 40 to 42.
These are starting points, not commandments. The right number is the one that lets you play Magic instead of performing interpretive dance with your mulligans.
Why land counts change from deck to deck
When people ask How Many Lands Should You Run, they usually mean: “how many lands do i need to hit early land drops without flooding out?” That depends on three boring things that win games:
- Your curve: If half your deck costs 4+, you are not a 22-land deck. You are a “please let me draw land four” deck.
- How much you see extra cards: Cantrips and cheap draw smooth out draws. They don’t replace lands, but they reduce the number of non-games.
- How many “virtual lands” you run: Ramp and mana rocks help you reach higher mana, but they often need lands to function. This is why “i have 12 ramp spells so i can run 32 lands” is a sentence that ends in sadness.
How Many Lands Should You Run in Limited
Limited decks are held together by basic lands and optimism, so the baseline is simple: 17 lands.
Go down to 16 when:
- your deck tops out at 4 (or your 5-drops are “nice if it happens”)
- you have multiple 1 to 2 mana plays and you care about curving out
- you have cheap filtering (scry, rummage, cantrips) that helps find lands
Go up to 18 when:
- you have several 5 to 6 mana spells you actually need
- you have mana sinks that reward extra mana
- you are splashing and need a little extra breathing room
Yes, 16 vs 17 feels like “one card.” It also decides whether you play the game.
How Many Lands Should You Run in 60-card Constructed
The “24 lands” rule is a practical midpoint: enough to hit land drops often, not so many that you flood every other game.
A simple, useful breakdown:
- 20 to 22 lands: low-curve aggro, lots of 1 to 2 drops, you plan to win fast
- 23 to 25 lands: midrange or tempo that wants to cast 3s and 4s on time
- 26 to 28 lands: control or big mana decks that must hit land five consistently
If your plan requires land four on time, you usually want to be closer to 25 or 26. If your plan is “one-drop, two-drop, three-drop,” you can often shave down.
Commander land counts (where decks go to lie about their curve)
A clean baseline for casual Commander is 38 to 40 lands. Missing land drops in Commander is brutal. You’re not just “a turn behind.” You’re behind three opponents who are thrilled to punish you for keeping a two-land hand with dreams.
If you want a simple rule:
- Start at 39 lands.
- Add lands if your deck is top-heavy, light on draw, or wants to cast the commander on curve.
- Cut lands only when you are genuinely low curve and you have lots of cheap draw and cheap ramp.
If you’re brewing and testing often, proxies can help you iterate faster without turning it into a finance side quest: All About MTG Proxy Cards | What They Are and Where to Get Them.
Counting MDFCs, ramp, and other “not quite a land” cards
Modern deckbuilding has a bunch of cards that blur the line between land and spell. If you ignore them, your land count will be wrong in both directions.
MDFCs
Spell-lands are great because they are lands early and spells late. The honest way to count them is “partial lands.”
- MDFCs that can come in untapped are closer to a real land.
- MDFCs that always come in tapped are less reliable as early mana.
In practice, many players treat two MDFCs as about one extra land. It’s not exact, but it beats pretending they are either “a land” or “not a land.”
Ramp
Ramp is a plan to get ahead on mana after you have mana. So ramp supports your land count. It usually does not replace it.
- Cheap ramp (1 to 2 mana) helps you keep more two-land hands.
- Expensive ramp (4+ mana) is basically a reward for already having lands.
The tapland tax
Not all lands are created equal. A mana base full of lands that enter tapped will make you feel like you have fewer lands than you do, especially in the first three turns.
If your deck runs lots of taplands:
- you may need a slightly higher land count to keep hitting land drops
- you also need to be realistic about your early plays, because you are spending turns paying the “comes in tapped” tax
And yes, you can still win with taplands. Magic players have been suffering through taplands for decades. We’re resilient. We’re also tired.
A tuning method that actually works
Play 10 games (or goldfish 10 hands). Track:
- how often you miss land 3 by turn 3
- how often you miss land 4 by turn 4 (if your deck cares)
If you miss either one more than about 2 times in 10, add a land. Not a mana rock. Not a cool utility land that enters tapped. A land that helps you cast spells.
If you flood constantly and you’re still losing, it’s usually not because you “ran too many lands.” It’s because your deck has no way to use extra mana, no card draw, or too many expensive spells that don’t stabilize. Fix those first, then consider shaving a land.
And if you want a reminder that resource systems can be clunky in any tabletop format, we also cover board game adaptations that look great on the box and then do something weird on the table: Darktide Board Game Announcement: A Closer Look.
The boring answer that wins
So, How Many Lands Should You Run? Start with the baseline for your format, then adjust for curve, draw, and ramp. If you’re torn between two numbers, pick the higher one. You will lose fewer games to “i never played Magic,” which is the most frustrating archetype in the format.
