Will this impact your scoring on The Doctor Who Precon products? While its true mana bases have drastically improved, the majority of these decks were locked in well over a year ago and a handful of your recommendations are based upon lands that didn't exist a year ago. Gavin even noted the absence of the Triome cycle due to the New Cappy ones having Proper Noun names. (I personally was not happy to see the remaining five not be provided with Triome names... let alone anime/comic art.) With the restrictions and set cut off point, I initially believed that the new precons had decent land bases but now looking at this video... I am unsure so this video makes me more curious how the final product reviews will shape up.
Dear Professor, I really loved this one. Not only does it update my mana knowledge to the current meta, but it's also very clear, instructive, and helpful. A true professor's work, one of the best guides you've ever made!
while i like prof, his videos and his overall positive attitude a lot i must admit i find it hard to trust in his opinons about anything related to deckbuilding. on SUP he plays decks build by someone else and clearly admits he sucks at deckbuilding 😂
Tbh my mama base tends to be my biggest hole in multicolored decks. That’s why for higher power level games I tend to run mono colored decks. I’m really excited for baylen the haymaker so this sorta helps a lot for that
@@Just_som_Otturthere's actually a brawl deck that almost does this with Crucias, Titan of the Waves and Caldera Breaker lol. The rest of the deck is 98 lands and it apparently has like a 75% win rate bc it's so dumb
It definitely gave me a new perspective. As someone who just got back into MtG in recenyears and plays exclusively causal commander with friends/family, even a decent mana vase can be overly expensive. Even the idea of just 2-4/5 proxies could make a huge difference in the way our decks play.
A full set of the cheapest prints of OG duals will run you over $2k. A $200 barrier to entry for the first step in an “optimum” mana base would be funny if it weren’t so demoralizing. In short, HP Masters gang rise up
@@quegs I only really use fetches and shocks as the foundation of my manabase and I still proxy, why would I spend money on cards when I can buy 100s of hours of fun for 60-70 bucks with starfield or tears of the kingdom. lol
@@derekgarcia3069I have built a lot of good mana bases budget style that are very good without proxying a thing. Part of the reason I don't proxy is because I don't have the equipment to be able to do that. The other part is that I believe when you are proxying a card you should have at least one physical copy of it in your collection
He would NEVER advocate for proxying. He might subtly hint at it, but as someone making money off Magic videos, Wizards would surely frown on him suggesting that anyone who is not them produce proxies. 🤣🤣🤣
The only thing I'd add to this is that you should slightly skew your mana base towards the colors of your 1-3 drops so you are less likely to have the wrong mana available on your first few turns. It is possible you can draw a land or fixer for your other colors before you will need them so you won't need as many mana sources for your high cost colors.
This! If you're running WUBGR with ramp, even if those ramp cards are the only greens you have you should so your best to have at least around a quarter of your base be green so you can reliably ramp early. Feels bad when you have ramp early and nothing but the other lands in your hand
was going to say the exact same thing. My Garth deck is skewed towards green these days for exactly this reason. I very RARELY have issues getting all 5 colors by turn 4 now.
I've got a friend who is notorious for getting all his lands out in a five color deck, and then being unaffected by a Blood Moon. His trick? "Just draw all your basics." Uncanny.
Is he aggressively fetching for his basic lands? I know I've been caught fetching out nothing but duals when basics would have been fine then getting stuck under Blood Moon.
For any 3-5 color decks, there are 3 lands that I personally think are amazing budget options for color fixing. These three lands essentially all do the same thing, give one mana of any color one time, and produce colorless mana every other time, but they enter untapped- Aether Hub, Crumbling Vestige, and Tendo Ice Bridge. These three lands are auto includes in all of my 3+ color decks. My reasoning for valuing these lands is that one, they are cheap AF, but the longer a game goes on, the more likely you will have access to the colors you need, so you can use that one colored mana to cast a spell, and then the lands still provide colorless mana later. As a game goes on, you draw more cards, cast more spells, do more ramp, etc, so you will see more color producers. These three lands all come in untapped, aside from Crumbling Vestige which essentially comes in untapped since it produces a mana on enter, and they each provide one use of rainbow mana, and every other use is colorless. Crumbling Vestige is the worst of the bunch, but I still like to include it. Aether Hub and Tendo Ice Bridge are better because you can tap them for colorless mana on the turn they come down and can tap for a color later if needed, so they aren't quite as limited. In my eyes, these lands help a deck get started. Unless you run spells with a lot of color pips, these lands can make it so you always have the right color for at least one spell, and ideally that spell and more turns in the game will let you access those colors permanently. Of course Mana Confluence, City of Brass, and even Forbidden Orchard are better than these, but those are waayyy more expensive. Aether Hub and Crumbling Vestige cost pennies, and last time I checked, Tendo Ice Bridge was $2 Edit; I realized I typed "Crumbling Visage" instead of the actual card name, "Crumbling Vestige," and fixed it, lol
Perhaps its because I'm a pretty heavy budget player, but I still love at least a couple of temples in my 3 color plus decks, and definitely the one a 2 color deck can run. When you dont have a turn 1 play, or when you're flodding, seeing the next card and being able to put it on the bottom if its not needed is just nice Honestly id love to see a budget guide one day. As helpful as this guide is, I dont run most of the lands suggested if I don't already have them due to cost
Same here. Most of the lands listed I can't afford and those that I can I don't want to order 10+ copies for each deck. I know I can proxy but I personally don't like to do so but I run what lands I have access too. Could they be more optimal? Yes but are they fine? Yes. I really wish there could be a more budget version of these videos as it can feel alienating.
@matthewbreach1426 I don't enjoy proxying either, but with my commander experience, I can safely say that stuff like filter lands, check lands, and other budget duals can work perfectly fine, even if they aren't technically optimal
Theres nothing wrong with running the slower duals, its just not ideal. What the professor ment to communicate I believe is that ideally you should be running the faster stuff, not that its manditory. The mana base outline he gives simply states dual lands in general, nothing specific. Also he does gives budget alternatives to the fetch lands.
Just wanted to say thanks for making this. I'm starting to get back into magic after seeing the Shuffle Up & Play videos getting me interested in Commander, and I've been fully out for 20 years and back when only really played casual kitchen table stuff with friends, and trying to parse through all these new lands and figure out what a mana base should even look like for 3 colors or more has been perhaps the single most daunting part of it as I'm thinking about it.
This is a great tool, and even as a seasoned MTG player, I learned some things. However, my more unpopular opinion: This is not budget friendly. For a first time MTG player looking to build their own decks, or even someone who has been playing a ton, the mana bases shown even without the OG's are still pretty expensive and can add up when someone is trying to build more than 1 deck. I currently own 10+ EDH decks, all ranging within $100-200 because of budget restrictions. I probably spend a fraction of that on mana, and all of them run without issues. Adding a similar manabase to what you described can easily add $100 extra, and thats just not something I can generally afford. Not to mention, many tables don't see kindly to proxies so that may eliminate the "just print the cards" option. Again, absolutely love the video. I would love to see a budget alternative video to follow up for folks who can't afford a lot of the lands suggested.
I do agree. I found this video helpful, but I am definitely aiming for a waaaaay more low-budget base, and put a lot of his 2-color picks into my 3-color decks and put even more basics in my 2-color decks which is usually ok unless they have a lot of spells with multiple of the same mana symbol. I also don't know how to print proxies and make them look good, and I super care about them looking good. Half the fun of magic is the pretty cards!. So I too would like to see what a truly budget guide looks like.
Also (and I really only play casual, but) sometimes you can get away with a bit of a crappier mana base in multiplayer, because then you are not viewed as an early threat 😅
I agree completely. Out of all my decks, I only have one proper fetchland, and one prismayic vista/fabled passage. And if I had a dedicated playgroup I'd advocate for proxies, but I don't want to have to discuss and ask for permission every time I play with new people. So I can't include the autoincludes in all my decks either, because they tend to be pricey! I respect this setting a great baseline for optimal play, if you don't mind proxies, but my baseline is a lot lower than that.
Fascinating, definitely interesting to hear your thoughts on this Professor! The approach I've settled on, however, is: 50 mana sources, of which ~2/3rds are lands and the rest are rocks, dorks, or land tutors (to field, not hand). I have some slight adjustments to that for niche decks, like landfall decks get more lands of course, but I have found that this helps give an accelerated early game which I tend to like for my playstyle.
I love these series of videos Prof. Even I, someone who has played for about a decade now in casual and pro circles, adore videos like these! There is always something to learn, even in something as simple as the lands we need to play the game with! You're the best Prof! Appreciate all you do for this community, man!
9:38 - Another good reason to run fetch lands in a mono-color deck is for graveyard strats, either recurring land from the grave or using them to accelerate things like delve/escape.
Thankfully my playgroup is a little more casual. Our land bases get pretty janky. My Niv-Mizzet Reborn deck is FILLED with tapped lands and it's still a lot of fun to play.
Yep. My table doesn't need anything more than Temples and +1 life lands lol, we're just chillin and playing a game. It's not that serious that we're gonna spend 300$ on LANDS of all things, not even considering money spent on the cards that actually do the fun stuff lol
Yeah. They should do it to get demoralized by the fact that they not own 50% of those lands and go play Pokemon instead... Let us kill low power decks all along.
I know you said you shouldn't run fetch lands in mono color decks, but I actually like playing a couple in mono-blue, since it lets you fetch for Mystic Sanctuary to recycle a key instant/sorcery.
If you run brainstorm, you can use them for shuffling. Don't use them for "deck thinning". 1 life is almost useless, but it's more useful than the increase of odds of not drawing a land (aka literally irrelevant)
Its SO SO helpful in mono blue minn because it ramps out basics so i can get a mystic sanctuary trigger for a helpful drawspell or time twister/windfall to be recurred. I use one fetch i can afford in izzet spellslinger/absurd extra turns/ magecraft doubling and it is SO key to slam the fetch and grab mystic to throw time warp or stretch back to the top of deck
Surprised Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle wasn’t mentioned for Mono-Red decks. The red, green, and white hideaway lands are also very good for any 1-2 color deck that can include them and reliably meet their activate condition.
@@toastman3421This isn’t always true, but isn’t wrong either. If you’re in a go tall deck, you’re trading a green tap land for card advantage, and quite possibly cheating out something massive. If you look at the total cost as being 1 mana for the turn it comes in tapped, then two mana to activate and tap the land to cast the spell, if the hideaway card is more than 3 mana then you’ve both drawn an extra card and cheated something into play. But, you’re right in saying its not worth it if a- the requirement isn’t directly part of your gameplan and b- you can’t reliably hit something 3 or more mana. If you meet those requirements its perhaps worth including though.
I saw this and INSTANTLY clicked! I have SO much trouble with Mana Bases! Especially cuz I range from 1-4 colors in all my decks (and I have a Jodah 5 Color in mind as well, that I want to use to make Phyrexian Praetor based)
If you like 4-5 color decks and don't like spending a lot of money on lands. I can't recommend Gate lands enough. They can cover ever color while having cards that specifically tutor them out vs just basics. Gond gate let's them all come into play untapped and if you start with it early can make your start much quicker. Prices bounce up and down but I love 5 color decks and gates have always been a cheaper effective land base for me.
Masterpiece of a guide! I feel very validated since I do all of these things on my own. I'm so proud! But fear not Professor, you did teach me something. I should consider replacing a few of my shock lands in my 5c deck. 🤔 All 10 aren't necessary when I can lean into my most used color pairs.
Just gotta say. These videos is what got me into magic the gathering and even showed me what it was. Super interesting and well informed videos. I knew exactly what I was getting into. Enjoyed the game a lot these past couple years
Professor I'm brand new to Magic but this video and so many more of yours have been absolutely invaluable to me. Thank you so much for the service you do for this game and it's community.
"This video was meant to be a helpful guide for players who find the process of building a mana base daunting." That's me! That's exactly me! I'm so out of the game I don't know the first thing about the mana base and I just need a guideline to follow so I can properly test a deck! Videos like this are some of my favorite because it is always such a boon to get suggestions and guidelines from people who are both smarter than me and have more time than me to focus on this kind of thing.
I like playing 3+ color commands, so I also like using the CLB Gate lands, as they come in with one color and a second color you choose. Unfortunately they always enter tapped, but the "Gond Gate" land means all gates enter untapped, and the "Baldur's Gate" land generates mana equal to the number of gates you control, providing a lot of value!
If the baldurs gate gates weren’t so expensive (for a budget deck) I would hail them as secret tech! Replace your usual cultivates and rampant growth with gate specific ramp (and maybe a gate specific card or two) and it’s the perfect 5 colour mana base. Tutor up Gond gate and everything is a dual, and if you get baldurs gate, you have a coffers in any colours. Massively slept on as a general mana bass minus mazes end imo
Super agree. I had to figure out Urtet on a budget and thanked my lucky stars for getting a Gond Gate on the cheap. Some of my ramp ain't the cheapest in mana, but with a deck full of dorks searching up that Gond Gate rules and it's smooth sailing.
I have a 5 colour deck that I love which uses gates for this exact reason. still much cheaper than a bunch of fetch lands, triomes and shock lands, and comes with an extra wincon!
I tried gates on a whim when I realized I could buy all of them for the same price of a shock land. I've never hand a more consistent mana base and the utility ones like baldur's and Basilisk are very good for having explosive turns.
As someone trying to poke into MTG and hearing you mention the poor mana bases of many precons as an issue, I'm really glad to see a video addressing and explaining that!
I really wish they would print more lands into oblivion. The fact that 3/4 of my budget atleast goes into getting an optimal land base in a 3 color+ deck is crazy
Given we have so many "staples" that are so powerful for a commander and they cost pennies (command tower, sol ring ) that I feel like if the original Dual lands for example were first created and printed today with Commander in mind, they'd be reprinted like crazy and would be hella cheap because of it.
@@MatisyahuwuThose cards were designed to be printed into oblivion tho, and Sol ring still soldily sits at 1 dollar, despite being printed in every single pre-con WotC just hates making the game affordable, which sucks
This came just in time. I've been looking to update my Shorikai deck and start playing MTG again. Updating the manabase will probably be the more expensive part of the rebuild, but having such a guide will definitely help keep costs down as I won't be buying unnecessary things.
Your original mana base videos were the first ones I watched when I started playing in 2018. Thank you so much for giving such a useful and relevant update!
Woo! The old vids definitely needed updating, very happy to see you revisit the land bases in commander, I will definitely be referencing this video for years to come. My only complaint is not including budget options for fetches especially or even some of the more expensive duals like bonds or shocks. Not everyone can afford the big mana bases and some people don't like proxies for numerous reasons. I think excluding scrys and cycling lands altogether was a mistake, I would have definitely mentioned them for players on a budget as alternatives to some of the others. Great vid tho, I'll be back to view it again every so often :)
Time Stamps: He Said it Guys, He said the thing! 0:07 The Basics 3:45 -Build to Your Curve 3:45 -Consider your Costs 4:50 (^general land count examples) More Colors Higher Standars 5:40 -General Count of Mono Lands 5:49 -General Count 2 Color Lands 5:59 -General Count 3 Color Lands 6:07 -General Count 4/5 Color Lands 6:14 -More color Higer standars 6:27 (^How to select lands and why) -Tap lands bad 😠 6:50 -Except this ones! 😲 7:11 Evaluating Dual Lands 7:46 -Command Tower and Rainbow Lands 7:50 -Original Dual Lands and Substitutes 8:20 -Fetch Lands and their General count 9:09 -General Fetch Land 2 Color Count 9:48 -General Fetch Land 3 Color Count 10:04 -General Fetch Land + Color Count 10:13 -Dual Lands Budget Fixers 10:22 -Shock Lands 11:13 -General Shock Count 2-3 Color 11:30 -General Shock Count 4-5 Color 11:35 -Battle Bond Lands 12:06 -Horizon Lands 12:24 -Triome Lands 12:50 2-3 Color Decks 13:26 -Pain and Slow Lands 13:44 -Pathways, Check and Filter Lands 14:08 -Fast Lands and Reveal Lands Bad 😠 14:24 -Creature Lands and Temples Bad 😠 14:36 -Every Other Dual Land Bad 😠 14:46 -Yes! Even that one! 15:51 -Also that one!! 15:01 -Yes that one too!! 15:02 Utility Lands 15:04 -Channel Lands 15:26 -Sokenzan bad!! 😲 15:37 -Modal Double Face Lands 15:46 -Other notable Utility Lands 16:05 -Auto-Include Utility Lands 16:20 -Black Auto-Include 16:26 -Blue Auto-Include 16:33 -Green Auto-Include 16:36 -White Auto-Include 16:40 -Red Auto-Include 16:45 -Speciall Auto-Includes 16:50 -Utility Lands and Mono deck 17:10 -Utility General Counts 17:30 Mana Acceleration 17:43 -Bad Joke about mana rocks 17:45 -Need Less mana rocks now 17:55 -When to mana rock and why 18:10 -3 cost mana rocks Bad 😠 18:24 -2 cost mana rocks arent ubiquitous 18:28 (Today I Learned a new word ^) -Arcane Signet Good 🥰 18:32 -Talismans as mana rocks 18:37 -Thanks Modern Horizons! 😲 18:46 -Signets and colorless mana rocks 18:51 -Sol Ring Good 🥰 18:58 -1-0 mana accelerants 19:01 -Mana rocks 2 color general count 19:17 -Mana rocks 3 color green-less count 19:30 -Multicolor green deck count 19:40 Building the Manabase 19:55 (Probably the timestamps youre looking for) -Mono Color General Count 20:06 -2 Color General Count 20:14 -3 Color General Count 20:40 -4/5 Color General Count 21:08 -He told me to time code this stuff 21:33 This Video is just a General guide so think for yourself a little bit 🙄 21:40 Self Shilling 22:22 You are gorgeous if youre bald! He said it! 22:48 Cute Outro Song 23:23 Interupting my Outro Song Vibing 23:40
This was great Prof thanks. One thing that wasn't covered that I did want to ask about is when should you use the Medallion cycle of artifacts such as Sapphire Medallion? Should they only be used in mono-colored decks, can they be used in 2-color decks?
Great video, I took screenshots. One thing I’d suggest as a green mage: replace rampant growth with Sakura tribe elder. It does the same thing for the same cost, but Steve can trigger greens etb draw effects, fuel cradle/itlimoc, add to craterhoof count, chump block, and can be more easily recurred from the graveyard.
Not bad, and super helpful! The one thing I'm trying to do more often is to never run Sol Ring in my deck as I personally do not like the card. I understand how important it can be, and how strong it is, but I don't find it necessary. One thing I'm finding way more necessary with lands is to have at least one utility land that is 100% land destruction. There are too many powerful lands that a non-basic lands that should be destroyed. I highly recommend running at least one of the following: Wasteland, Ghost Quarters, Field of Ruin, or Demolition Field.
I thought there was no way to cover the topic in 20 minutes, but this was excellent. I've watched hour long podcasts on the topic that are put to shame by this concise breakdown.
I'm so happy to announce that I've obtained my PhD on mana base construction. It was a long and challenging journey, but I learned a lot, and I'm proud of myself. Also, I would like to thank the professor for his guidance and wisdom throughout this process.
A few (usually) untapped utility lands that often make the cut for me: Demolition Field (every single deck), Minas Tirith (mono-white creatures), Barad-Dur (black sac), Terrain Generator, Shire Terrace, Ash Barrens (1-2 colors, non-green)
There is one thing I would point out and that is statements like "In Commander today tap-lands are to slow". I do not agree that there is a "Commander today". There are many. I play at my local store and it is pretty casual. I know when to use a bad decks and when to use a better one. There is almost no proxying and I have seen the original dual lands once the last years. The tap lands work just fine at most of the tables. I am happy that this is my Magic today and not a magic where I have to invest in expencive cards to compete. (yes you could proxy but I don't) Usueful video anyway as it is useful even if you use cheaper cards.
I know you advocated for proxies when it comes to the OG dual lands, but still when you started going down the list of land bases at the end of the video, and just the idea of running all 10 original Duals in my 4 & 5 color decks gave me a tiny conniption. I think my play group will likely just stick to super casual Commander....
If you were paying closer attention to him mentioning printer ink, it would've become obvious that the professor is telling you that its okay to proxy the lands and rare cards you don't have. There's also some amazing proxy sellers on etsy who sell entire sets of duals or fetches etc with beautiful art for like 30 bucks. Most people aren't gonna give you a hard time about proxies. Get a red sharpie, draw a line on a basic island and call it volcanic island. Boom. I just saved you 500 dollars AND printer ink.
I must add this is very interesting to look back at your previous videos on this subject and to see the upgrade of precision and quality in your work. Very inspiring! ☺️
9:45 ... Playing fetchlands in a mono-colour deck is also useful if you can play lands from your graveyard. If you can do that, you essentially get a land drop every single turn.
Thank you so much for this video Professor! I stopped playing for a few years and I'm getting back into MTG this year. This video was very instructive and needed for old players like us who has a lot of catchup to do!
please include alternatives to OG duals for colors other than 3 as well and I would love a lot more corner cases covered every mana base up until 4 colors with and without green and your thoughts on color specific duals like nimbus maze, the tainted lands and so would be cool for a separate video
Hey dawg, coast on down the tier list. It's not a bad guide when you've gotta take that budget down a few pegs. And if it's a few more oegs, my personal suggestion is basics > tapped in fewer colors, basics < tapped in more colors.
If you have the Triome+Fetches suite for your 3+ color deck/s Check Lands are pretty phenomenal. Basically on-par with True Duals, and Shocklands since a single Triome lets 9/10 Check Lands come into play untapped.
I usually play at least 10 mana accelerators, up to 17 in my Gishath deck. Also kinda sad felwar stone wasn't mentioned especially for 3+ color decks. Another allstar in mono red decks is liquimetal torque since it turns your arrifact removal into creature removal. Nontheless a very nice and informative video. You're doing a great service for the community prof!
Love the encouragement to proxy mana base cards. It's always a shame to have a friend run terrible mana because they're unable to afford even a basic manabase.
I was surprised to hear you say not to run temples. Yesterday's video of Dr Who collector box opening you and Gavin said temples were still good. They are the only tapped land I'm ok with
Surveil Lands are technically superior since they are tutorable. And if you are running a Paradox engine (Thirteenth Doctor/Yasmin/Ryan Sinclair), Spectral Deluge has been a favorite of mine to splash in. And I have Thundering Falls and Hedge Maze (and Ketra Triome) in place of the Temples since Farseek can tutor them and they up the Island count in my deck for Spectral Deluge to do its job. So Temple Lands really have been power crept out at this point as far as I can tell.
If your playgroup/LGS don't want you to have a land base consisting entirely of proxies, the recommendations in this video are practically useless. If I were to apply these recommendations to my current decks, 50-75% of the total deck cost would be spent on lands :) It is fine to play with a cheaper (and slower) mana base as long as you are playing 3 or fewer colors, if you deck build reasonably it doesn't have that much of an impact on your power level. (as long as you're not playing cEDH lol)
The Profs ad read for Keeps is legitimately my favorite. I’ve said it in a past video but he does it in a fun way. I may not be bald but hey I’d use it after hearing him call us all gorgeous. Also crazy well done video that I’m sending to friends with terrible mana bases in their deck
It IS limited to decks that are running both selesnya colors. If you're only fetching 1 land, Krosan verge isn't worth paying 2 and tapping fot the land coming in tapped.
Thanks for including us happy baldies in your Keeps ad! Lots of people who use them as a sponsor tend to make it seem like being bald is a worrisome or gross thing when it’s just part of the natural aging process for a lot of people. Even creators who try to not make it sound that way tend to stumble. Excellent job!
Coming into the guide I was't expecting a CEDH guide to building mana bases. Original duals, Fetch, shock lands are basically out of budget for most people and out of a cedh deck if i have one of those lands in a deck of mine is one too many. Unless you expect to run the whole mana base with proxies, I would like to see from you a guide for budget mana base for 1,2,3,4,5 colors.
Great video! Been brewing a lot of potential decks lately and I always struggle with the mana base so this is an excellent resource. Personally I still run temples sometimes, but only in decks that have specific synergies related to manipulating the top card of the library. Maybe I'm deluding myself and the scry still isn't worth the hit to the curve, but it has come in handy for setting up certain combos.
As I just purchased cards for my only commander deck, don't play ot very often, and was never my thing, I appreciate this video alot as mana base has always been a weak point for me, especially with utility lands. Since my brother had passed two years ago, I have been working on a selvala heart of the wilds deck and am now happy with it
what a informative Video, i am pretty new to Commander and i was on Google to see what i need for my 3 Color Deck, but i was not rly happy what i did so i was working on it. Here is a little help for those who are still unsure if you have enough Lands in your Commander Deck. Just shuffle your Deck and do some test draws. Draw seven and see if you have some lands, then draw one or you draw seven again. Do this 5 times or so and see what happens, if you think you are sure to have always some Lands in your Hand and after this then you can feel good to go. but ofc you can always work on your deck, like me as a little maniac
I love videos like this, especially when you both lay out the logic for a lands inclusion or not, and say that these rules are flexible. I found myself both agreeing with basically everything said, but also having a deck that is the exception to every rule, as I know certain decks operate differently through play. For example, I have a Laezel Master Chef deck that needs to get both pieces out ASAP for the gameplan to get rolling, and in which colour requirements are heavy, so I run more mana dorks and less artifacts, as I can get them down turn 1 to play one of my commanders turn 2, and they can turn into beaters later. Similarly, I run the fast land in the deck, because I have slightly cut mana due to higher numbers of dorks and because I really need an untapped land on turn 1 most of the time. Conversely, I’m not running as many fetches and check lands, as I don’t play quite as many basics due to colour requirements. But I would never recommend for other decks, where such assumptions aren’t met! The long and short of it, this is a great guide to build from, I hope newer players take note!
All jokes aside I appreciate the Professor doing an updated mana base guide. I took a break from MTG just before Strixhaven and needed to know what I missed since then
Head to keeps.com/tolarian to get a special offer!
You had to know what kind of reaction this would garner.
Will this impact your scoring on The Doctor Who Precon products? While its true mana bases have drastically improved, the majority of these decks were locked in well over a year ago and a handful of your recommendations are based upon lands that didn't exist a year ago. Gavin even noted the absence of the Triome cycle due to the New Cappy ones having Proper Noun names. (I personally was not happy to see the remaining five not be provided with Triome names... let alone anime/comic art.)
With the restrictions and set cut off point, I initially believed that the new precons had decent land bases but now looking at this video... I am unsure so this video makes me more curious how the final product reviews will shape up.
Dear Professor, why do you mix Mana Rocks with Rampspells?
Here's the bookmarks if you want to come back just for the numbers!
Monocolour: 20:05
Two Colour: 20:13
Three Colour 20:41
Four/Five Colour: 21:08
Thank you
tyty
Absolute madlad
I shall name my next dog after you good sir.
Someone give this man a pin
Dear Professor,
I really loved this one. Not only does it update my mana knowledge to the current meta, but it's also very clear, instructive, and helpful. A true professor's work, one of the best guides you've ever made!
while i like prof, his videos and his overall positive attitude a lot i must admit i find it hard to trust in his opinons about anything related to deckbuilding. on SUP he plays decks build by someone else and clearly admits he sucks at deckbuilding 😂
Tbh my mama base tends to be my biggest hole in multicolored decks. That’s why for higher power level games I tend to run mono colored decks. I’m really excited for baylen the haymaker so this sorta helps a lot for that
Mom! That kid is being nice to the Professor to get better grades! Call the principal!
run EVERY fetch land!? what am i, made of printer ink?
Let's hope the fetch lands are too, proxy go brrr
Back in the day all you needed was a sharpie and a basic land. Times are a changing.
Draw It on a Mountain 😂
my job let's me use the printer for whatever. want me to send you 5 printer-ink fetch lands of every type?
@@hendor2885I would appreciate it, since I'm getting back into MTG 😂😂
look, it's called COMMANDER, and i'll be damned if i cast anything else, 99 lands
You can now do this with Cruelclaw :3
@@Just_som_Otturthere's actually a brawl deck that almost does this with Crucias, Titan of the Waves and Caldera Breaker lol. The rest of the deck is 98 lands and it apparently has like a 75% win rate bc it's so dumb
Created Zurgo with this mindset, one creature and everything else is just suport for him !! xD
I love how the prof advocates proxying for edh... what a lad
It definitely gave me a new perspective. As someone who just got back into MtG in recenyears and plays exclusively causal commander with friends/family, even a decent mana vase can be overly expensive.
Even the idea of just 2-4/5 proxies could make a huge difference in the way our decks play.
A full set of the cheapest prints of OG duals will run you over $2k. A $200 barrier to entry for the first step in an “optimum” mana base would be funny if it weren’t so demoralizing.
In short, HP Masters gang rise up
@@quegs I only really use fetches and shocks as the foundation of my manabase and I still proxy, why would I spend money on cards when I can buy 100s of hours of fun for 60-70 bucks with starfield or tears of the kingdom. lol
@@derekgarcia3069I have built a lot of good mana bases budget style that are very good without proxying a thing. Part of the reason I don't proxy is because I don't have the equipment to be able to do that. The other part is that I believe when you are proxying a card you should have at least one physical copy of it in your collection
He would NEVER advocate for proxying. He might subtly hint at it, but as someone making money off Magic videos, Wizards would surely frown on him suggesting that anyone who is not them produce proxies. 🤣🤣🤣
35 mana rocks. The answer is always 35 mans rocks.
Makes mono green a little though to play, but I think you could get away with 34 mana rocks
when you say 35 mans rocks, do you mean 35 individual man rocks or 70 mans rocks? asking for a friend
My Urza has 19 lands and 40 something artifacts. They're not mana rocks til Urza hits the battlefield
MAN ROCKS!!! 🥁 🎸
Nope I always use 70 mana
I freakin love whenever The Professor does gameplay/deckbuilding analysis like this
Thank you for putting this together. Should be a fantastic resource for many Magic: the Gathering players. ❤
The only thing I'd add to this is that you should slightly skew your mana base towards the colors of your 1-3 drops so you are less likely to have the wrong mana available on your first few turns. It is possible you can draw a land or fixer for your other colors before you will need them so you won't need as many mana sources for your high cost colors.
This! If you're running WUBGR with ramp, even if those ramp cards are the only greens you have you should so your best to have at least around a quarter of your base be green so you can reliably ramp early. Feels bad when you have ramp early and nothing but the other lands in your hand
was going to say the exact same thing. My Garth deck is skewed towards green these days for exactly this reason. I very RARELY have issues getting all 5 colors by turn 4 now.
I've got a friend who is notorious for getting all his lands out in a five color deck, and then being unaffected by a Blood Moon. His trick? "Just draw all your basics." Uncanny.
You may want to ask your friend to shuffle his deck for him next time…
Is he aggressively fetching for his basic lands? I know I've been caught fetching out nothing but duals when basics would have been fine then getting stuck under Blood Moon.
I have a much simpler trick I use in my Sliver deck, it's called "interaction"
What a gigachad
Chromatic Lantern **cough** 👀
Fellwar Stone is a pretty good 2 mana rock that you left out. I'd include it in any deck that's 3+colors. And it's not terribly expensive either
Yeah fellwar stone is a good include.
For any 3-5 color decks, there are 3 lands that I personally think are amazing budget options for color fixing. These three lands essentially all do the same thing, give one mana of any color one time, and produce colorless mana every other time, but they enter untapped- Aether Hub, Crumbling Vestige, and Tendo Ice Bridge. These three lands are auto includes in all of my 3+ color decks. My reasoning for valuing these lands is that one, they are cheap AF, but the longer a game goes on, the more likely you will have access to the colors you need, so you can use that one colored mana to cast a spell, and then the lands still provide colorless mana later. As a game goes on, you draw more cards, cast more spells, do more ramp, etc, so you will see more color producers. These three lands all come in untapped, aside from Crumbling Vestige which essentially comes in untapped since it produces a mana on enter, and they each provide one use of rainbow mana, and every other use is colorless. Crumbling Vestige is the worst of the bunch, but I still like to include it. Aether Hub and Tendo Ice Bridge are better because you can tap them for colorless mana on the turn they come down and can tap for a color later if needed, so they aren't quite as limited. In my eyes, these lands help a deck get started. Unless you run spells with a lot of color pips, these lands can make it so you always have the right color for at least one spell, and ideally that spell and more turns in the game will let you access those colors permanently. Of course Mana Confluence, City of Brass, and even Forbidden Orchard are better than these, but those are waayyy more expensive. Aether Hub and Crumbling Vestige cost pennies, and last time I checked, Tendo Ice Bridge was $2
Edit; I realized I typed "Crumbling Visage" instead of the actual card name, "Crumbling Vestige," and fixed it, lol
Very interesting to see how things have evolved since your previous videos on the subject. Thanks for the update.
Perhaps its because I'm a pretty heavy budget player, but I still love at least a couple of temples in my 3 color plus decks, and definitely the one a 2 color deck can run. When you dont have a turn 1 play, or when you're flodding, seeing the next card and being able to put it on the bottom if its not needed is just nice
Honestly id love to see a budget guide one day. As helpful as this guide is, I dont run most of the lands suggested if I don't already have them due to cost
Same here. Most of the lands listed I can't afford and those that I can I don't want to order 10+ copies for each deck. I know I can proxy but I personally don't like to do so but I run what lands I have access too. Could they be more optimal? Yes but are they fine? Yes. I really wish there could be a more budget version of these videos as it can feel alienating.
@matthewbreach1426 I don't enjoy proxying either, but with my commander experience, I can safely say that stuff like filter lands, check lands, and other budget duals can work perfectly fine, even if they aren't technically optimal
Theres nothing wrong with running the slower duals, its just not ideal.
What the professor ment to communicate I believe is that ideally you should be running the faster stuff, not that its manditory. The mana base outline he gives simply states dual lands in general, nothing specific. Also he does gives budget alternatives to the fetch lands.
@matthewbreach1426 it's absolutely alienating
agree! if your turn 1 isn't a sol ring, it SHOULD be a temple.
Just wanted to say thanks for making this. I'm starting to get back into magic after seeing the Shuffle Up & Play videos getting me interested in Commander, and I've been fully out for 20 years and back when only really played casual kitchen table stuff with friends, and trying to parse through all these new lands and figure out what a mana base should even look like for 3 colors or more has been perhaps the single most daunting part of it as I'm thinking about it.
This is a great tool, and even as a seasoned MTG player, I learned some things. However, my more unpopular opinion: This is not budget friendly.
For a first time MTG player looking to build their own decks, or even someone who has been playing a ton, the mana bases shown even without the OG's are still pretty expensive and can add up when someone is trying to build more than 1 deck. I currently own 10+ EDH decks, all ranging within $100-200 because of budget restrictions. I probably spend a fraction of that on mana, and all of them run without issues. Adding a similar manabase to what you described can easily add $100 extra, and thats just not something I can generally afford. Not to mention, many tables don't see kindly to proxies so that may eliminate the "just print the cards" option.
Again, absolutely love the video. I would love to see a budget alternative video to follow up for folks who can't afford a lot of the lands suggested.
I do agree. I found this video helpful, but I am definitely aiming for a waaaaay more low-budget base, and put a lot of his 2-color picks into my 3-color decks and put even more basics in my 2-color decks which is usually ok unless they have a lot of spells with multiple of the same mana symbol. I also don't know how to print proxies and make them look good, and I super care about them looking good. Half the fun of magic is the pretty cards!. So I too would like to see what a truly budget guide looks like.
Also (and I really only play casual, but) sometimes you can get away with a bit of a crappier mana base in multiplayer, because then you are not viewed as an early threat 😅
I agree completely. Out of all my decks, I only have one proper fetchland, and one prismayic vista/fabled passage. And if I had a dedicated playgroup I'd advocate for proxies, but I don't want to have to discuss and ask for permission every time I play with new people.
So I can't include the autoincludes in all my decks either, because they tend to be pricey! I respect this setting a great baseline for optimal play, if you don't mind proxies, but my baseline is a lot lower than that.
@@SUPERC0W7 I'm over here with my Terramorphic Expanses and I'm okay with that lol
I'm someone with 10+ commander decks and half of them are full proxy. I've never had a complaint about the proxies over 3+ years.
Fascinating, definitely interesting to hear your thoughts on this Professor! The approach I've settled on, however, is: 50 mana sources, of which ~2/3rds are lands and the rest are rocks, dorks, or land tutors (to field, not hand). I have some slight adjustments to that for niche decks, like landfall decks get more lands of course, but I have found that this helps give an accelerated early game which I tend to like for my playstyle.
I love these series of videos Prof. Even I, someone who has played for about a decade now in casual and pro circles, adore videos like these! There is always something to learn, even in something as simple as the lands we need to play the game with!
You're the best Prof! Appreciate all you do for this community, man!
9:38 - Another good reason to run fetch lands in a mono-color deck is for graveyard strats, either recurring land from the grave or using them to accelerate things like delve/escape.
As a brand new player to both Magic and Commander, this video is absolutely invaluable! Thank you!
As someone who plays at a lgs that has people that religiously follow profs advice, i cant wait to play back to basics diring my next commander night!
I always put in a lot of counter spells specifically for board wipes and land destruction
2:33 Prof, you just made my day! I really needed to hear that.
This is the first time I'm liking a video for the AD read 😆
Thankfully my playgroup is a little more casual. Our land bases get pretty janky. My Niv-Mizzet Reborn deck is FILLED with tapped lands and it's still a lot of fun to play.
All the nonbasics in my newest theme deck are taplands, but that's okay by me since they're on theme. Janky lands can make for some fun games!
exactly what I thought while watching the video. all my commanders are stuffed with temples.
For sure. If everyone you're playing with is on the same page, tap lands aren't really slowing you down.
Yep. My table doesn't need anything more than Temples and +1 life lands lol, we're just chillin and playing a game. It's not that serious that we're gonna spend 300$ on LANDS of all things, not even considering money spent on the cards that actually do the fun stuff lol
Same here.
You rock man. I was just looking for information on this the other day. I really appreciate everything you do for the community.
It's just a masterpiece. Every commander player, especially a new one, should watch this video. Thank you a lot, Professor.
Yeah. They should do it to get demoralized by the fact that they not own 50% of those lands and go play Pokemon instead... Let us kill low power decks all along.
@@Wolan.people actually play pokemon?😅
oh my god i needed this, its one of the MAJOR hangups i have when deckbuilding! thank you so much prof
I know you said you shouldn't run fetch lands in mono color decks, but I actually like playing a couple in mono-blue, since it lets you fetch for Mystic Sanctuary to recycle a key instant/sorcery.
If you run brainstorm, you can use them for shuffling. Don't use them for "deck thinning". 1 life is almost useless, but it's more useful than the increase of odds of not drawing a land (aka literally irrelevant)
Its SO SO helpful in mono blue minn because it ramps out basics so i can get a mystic sanctuary trigger for a helpful drawspell or time twister/windfall to be recurred. I use one fetch i can afford in izzet spellslinger/absurd extra turns/ magecraft doubling and it is SO key to slam the fetch and grab mystic to throw time warp or stretch back to the top of deck
I like running fetch lands in mono color because I like to shuffle and remix up my cards.
Building my first deck from scratch (been playing for about 3 months) this video is gonna help a ton!!! Thanks!
I've been waiting for an updated video so long. Thank you so much.
Your OG videos on this subject helped me SO much when I was a brand new player. I can’t even express to you how thankful I was for those videos
Surprised Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle wasn’t mentioned for Mono-Red decks. The red, green, and white hideaway lands are also very good for any 1-2 color deck that can include them and reliably meet their activate condition.
They're all just way too slow now.
@@toastman3421This isn’t always true, but isn’t wrong either. If you’re in a go tall deck, you’re trading a green tap land for card advantage, and quite possibly cheating out something massive. If you look at the total cost as being 1 mana for the turn it comes in tapped, then two mana to activate and tap the land to cast the spell, if the hideaway card is more than 3 mana then you’ve both drawn an extra card and cheated something into play. But, you’re right in saying its not worth it if a- the requirement isn’t directly part of your gameplan and b- you can’t reliably hit something 3 or more mana. If you meet those requirements its perhaps worth including though.
This is so great. Thank you! As a kitchen-table-commander player this is so useful!
I saw this and INSTANTLY clicked! I have SO much trouble with Mana Bases! Especially cuz I range from 1-4 colors in all my decks (and I have a Jodah 5 Color in mind as well, that I want to use to make Phyrexian Praetor based)
If you like 4-5 color decks and don't like spending a lot of money on lands. I can't recommend Gate lands enough. They can cover ever color while having cards that specifically tutor them out vs just basics. Gond gate let's them all come into play untapped and if you start with it early can make your start much quicker. Prices bounce up and down but I love 5 color decks and gates have always been a cheaper effective land base for me.
I've already come back to this video three times now, this is a much needed and very helpful update to an already useful series!
Masterpiece of a guide! I feel very validated since I do all of these things on my own. I'm so proud!
But fear not Professor, you did teach me something. I should consider replacing a few of my shock lands in my 5c deck. 🤔 All 10 aren't necessary when I can lean into my most used color pairs.
Just gotta say. These videos is what got me into magic the gathering and even showed me what it was. Super interesting and well informed videos. I knew exactly what I was getting into. Enjoyed the game a lot these past couple years
Thank you for this been waiting to play commander for a while, but I wasn't sure where to start
Professor I'm brand new to Magic but this video and so many more of yours have been absolutely invaluable to me. Thank you so much for the service you do for this game and it's community.
Very excited to share this with friends who are just getting into brewing :)
"This video was meant to be a helpful guide for players who find the process of building a mana base daunting."
That's me! That's exactly me! I'm so out of the game I don't know the first thing about the mana base and I just need a guideline to follow so I can properly test a deck! Videos like this are some of my favorite because it is always such a boon to get suggestions and guidelines from people who are both smarter than me and have more time than me to focus on this kind of thing.
I just started playing two weeks ago and this was invaluable
So glad you have a new one! Been trying to help and direct new folks to your mana videos
I like playing 3+ color commands, so I also like using the CLB Gate lands, as they come in with one color and a second color you choose. Unfortunately they always enter tapped, but the "Gond Gate" land means all gates enter untapped, and the "Baldur's Gate" land generates mana equal to the number of gates you control, providing a lot of value!
If the baldurs gate gates weren’t so expensive (for a budget deck) I would hail them as secret tech! Replace your usual cultivates and rampant growth with gate specific ramp (and maybe a gate specific card or two) and it’s the perfect 5 colour mana base. Tutor up Gond gate and everything is a dual, and if you get baldurs gate, you have a coffers in any colours. Massively slept on as a general mana bass minus mazes end imo
Super agree. I had to figure out Urtet on a budget and thanked my lucky stars for getting a Gond Gate on the cheap. Some of my ramp ain't the cheapest in mana, but with a deck full of dorks searching up that Gond Gate rules and it's smooth sailing.
I have a 5 colour deck that I love which uses gates for this exact reason. still much cheaper than a bunch of fetch lands, triomes and shock lands, and comes with an extra wincon!
I tried gates on a whim when I realized I could buy all of them for the same price of a shock land. I've never hand a more consistent mana base and the utility ones like baldur's and Basilisk are very good for having explosive turns.
Do you have a decklist you can share? :)@@grantmurdock7385
As someone trying to poke into MTG and hearing you mention the poor mana bases of many precons as an issue, I'm really glad to see a video addressing and explaining that!
I really wish they would print more lands into oblivion. The fact that 3/4 of my budget atleast goes into getting an optimal land base in a 3 color+ deck is crazy
Given we have so many "staples" that are so powerful for a commander and they cost pennies (command tower, sol ring ) that I feel like if the original Dual lands for example were first created and printed today with Commander in mind, they'd be reprinted like crazy and would be hella cheap because of it.
@@MatisyahuwuThose cards were designed to be printed into oblivion tho, and Sol ring still soldily sits at 1 dollar, despite being printed in every single pre-con
WotC just hates making the game affordable, which sucks
This came just in time. I've been looking to update my Shorikai deck and start playing MTG again. Updating the manabase will probably be the more expensive part of the rebuild, but having such a guide will definitely help keep costs down as I won't be buying unnecessary things.
Your original mana base videos were the first ones I watched when I started playing in 2018. Thank you so much for giving such a useful and relevant update!
Woo! The old vids definitely needed updating, very happy to see you revisit the land bases in commander, I will definitely be referencing this video for years to come.
My only complaint is not including budget options for fetches especially or even some of the more expensive duals like bonds or shocks. Not everyone can afford the big mana bases and some people don't like proxies for numerous reasons. I think excluding scrys and cycling lands altogether was a mistake, I would have definitely mentioned them for players on a budget as alternatives to some of the others.
Great vid tho, I'll be back to view it again every so often :)
Time Stamps:
He Said it Guys, He said the thing! 0:07
The Basics 3:45
-Build to Your Curve 3:45
-Consider your Costs 4:50
(^general land count examples)
More Colors Higher Standars 5:40
-General Count of Mono Lands 5:49
-General Count 2 Color Lands 5:59
-General Count 3 Color Lands 6:07
-General Count 4/5 Color Lands 6:14
-More color Higer standars 6:27
(^How to select lands and why)
-Tap lands bad 😠 6:50
-Except this ones! 😲 7:11
Evaluating Dual Lands 7:46
-Command Tower and Rainbow Lands 7:50
-Original Dual Lands and Substitutes 8:20
-Fetch Lands and their General count 9:09
-General Fetch Land 2 Color Count 9:48
-General Fetch Land 3 Color Count 10:04
-General Fetch Land + Color Count 10:13
-Dual Lands Budget Fixers 10:22
-Shock Lands 11:13
-General Shock Count 2-3 Color 11:30
-General Shock Count 4-5 Color 11:35
-Battle Bond Lands 12:06
-Horizon Lands 12:24
-Triome Lands 12:50
2-3 Color Decks 13:26
-Pain and Slow Lands 13:44
-Pathways, Check and Filter Lands 14:08
-Fast Lands and Reveal Lands Bad 😠 14:24
-Creature Lands and Temples Bad 😠 14:36
-Every Other Dual Land Bad 😠 14:46
-Yes! Even that one! 15:51
-Also that one!! 15:01
-Yes that one too!! 15:02
Utility Lands 15:04
-Channel Lands 15:26
-Sokenzan bad!! 😲 15:37
-Modal Double Face Lands 15:46
-Other notable Utility Lands 16:05
-Auto-Include Utility Lands 16:20
-Black Auto-Include 16:26
-Blue Auto-Include 16:33
-Green Auto-Include 16:36
-White Auto-Include 16:40
-Red Auto-Include 16:45
-Speciall Auto-Includes 16:50
-Utility Lands and Mono deck 17:10
-Utility General Counts 17:30
Mana Acceleration 17:43
-Bad Joke about mana rocks 17:45
-Need Less mana rocks now 17:55
-When to mana rock and why 18:10
-3 cost mana rocks Bad 😠 18:24
-2 cost mana rocks arent ubiquitous 18:28
(Today I Learned a new word ^)
-Arcane Signet Good 🥰 18:32
-Talismans as mana rocks 18:37
-Thanks Modern Horizons! 😲 18:46
-Signets and colorless mana rocks 18:51
-Sol Ring Good 🥰 18:58
-1-0 mana accelerants 19:01
-Mana rocks 2 color general count 19:17
-Mana rocks 3 color green-less count 19:30
-Multicolor green deck count 19:40
Building the Manabase 19:55
(Probably the timestamps youre looking for)
-Mono Color General Count 20:06
-2 Color General Count 20:14
-3 Color General Count 20:40
-4/5 Color General Count 21:08
-He told me to time code this stuff 21:33
This Video is just a General guide so think for yourself a little bit 🙄 21:40
Self Shilling 22:22
You are gorgeous if youre bald! He said it! 22:48
Cute Outro Song 23:23
Interupting my Outro Song Vibing 23:40
This comment needs more likes
This should be upvoted and stickied
This needs a pin 🧷
Thanks 👍🏻
Sent this to my play groups and will use to help new players alike! Thank you!
This was great Prof thanks. One thing that wasn't covered that I did want to ask about is when should you use the Medallion cycle of artifacts such as Sapphire Medallion? Should they only be used in mono-colored decks, can they be used in 2-color decks?
Great video, I took screenshots. One thing I’d suggest as a green mage: replace rampant growth with Sakura tribe elder. It does the same thing for the same cost, but Steve can trigger greens etb draw effects, fuel cradle/itlimoc, add to craterhoof count, chump block, and can be more easily recurred from the graveyard.
Not bad, and super helpful! The one thing I'm trying to do more often is to never run Sol Ring in my deck as I personally do not like the card. I understand how important it can be, and how strong it is, but I don't find it necessary.
One thing I'm finding way more necessary with lands is to have at least one utility land that is 100% land destruction. There are too many powerful lands that a non-basic lands that should be destroyed. I highly recommend running at least one of the following: Wasteland, Ghost Quarters, Field of Ruin, or Demolition Field.
Yeah if Commander is getting so powerful that even fast lands are getting powercrept, I think it's time we get over the taboo of alnd destruction.
I thought there was no way to cover the topic in 20 minutes, but this was excellent. I've watched hour long podcasts on the topic that are put to shame by this concise breakdown.
Why no mention of Fellwar stone instead of thought vessel or mind stone?
Love the vid Prof.!! Excellent breakdown for the more modern deck building techniques I'm definitely gonna recommend to others.
Always a pleasure to see your content prof! ❤️
Thanks Prof! I always used your old mana base vids and was wondering recently if you'd make another! This will be very helpful!
I love the bits where you mentioned printer ink *hint hint* (it's okay to proxy guys. Wizards said so)
I'm so happy to announce that I've obtained my PhD on mana base construction. It was a long and challenging journey, but I learned a lot, and I'm proud of myself. Also, I would like to thank the professor for his guidance and wisdom throughout this process.
A few (usually) untapped utility lands that often make the cut for me: Demolition Field (every single deck), Minas Tirith (mono-white creatures), Barad-Dur (black sac), Terrain Generator, Shire Terrace, Ash Barrens (1-2 colors, non-green)
Demo field and Minas tirith are auto includes for me too. Too good not to use
This video is timed beautifully! Right as I'm getting serious about my new favorite commander, Pantlaza.
There is one thing I would point out and that is statements like "In Commander today tap-lands are to slow". I do not agree that there is a "Commander today". There are many.
I play at my local store and it is pretty casual. I know when to use a bad decks and when to use a better one. There is almost no proxying and I have seen the original dual lands once the last years. The tap lands work just fine at most of the tables.
I am happy that this is my Magic today and not a magic where I have to invest in expencive cards to compete. (yes you could proxy but I don't)
Usueful video anyway as it is useful even if you use cheaper cards.
I have been waiting on this one for a long time! Thank you!
I know you advocated for proxies when it comes to the OG dual lands, but still when you started going down the list of land bases at the end of the video, and just the idea of running all 10 original Duals in my 4 & 5 color decks gave me a tiny conniption. I think my play group will likely just stick to super casual Commander....
Video seemed pretty clear about alternatives when budget comes up.
If you were paying closer attention to him mentioning printer ink, it would've become obvious that the professor is telling you that its okay to proxy the lands and rare cards you don't have. There's also some amazing proxy sellers on etsy who sell entire sets of duals or fetches etc with beautiful art for like 30 bucks. Most people aren't gonna give you a hard time about proxies. Get a red sharpie, draw a line on a basic island and call it volcanic island. Boom. I just saved you 500 dollars AND printer ink.
Thank you Professor for this complete, precise and ressourceful work. I will follow this update guide to check at all my commander decks right away 😉
I must add this is very interesting to look back at your previous videos on this subject and to see the upgrade of precision and quality in your work. Very inspiring! ☺️
9:45 ... Playing fetchlands in a mono-colour deck is also useful if you can play lands from your graveyard. If you can do that, you essentially get a land drop every single turn.
You should only be playing crucible if your mono color deck is also a landfall/lands matter deck, for some reason.
Great stuff
I did this for my Breya deck. Most fun I’ve had in like 7 years with it. Thank you prof for helping a lowly scrub such as me
“Proxies” and then twenty-four minutes of credits
Thank you so much for this video Professor!
I stopped playing for a few years and I'm getting back into MTG this year. This video was very instructive and needed for old players like us who has a lot of catchup to do!
How to Build Every Commander Mana Base:
-Every fetch in your colours
-Strip Mine
-Everything else a basic
-Blood Moon
thank you for making this! I can't tell you how much I've hated building decks cause I don't know what to do about the land base. this has help heaps
please include alternatives to OG duals for colors other than 3 as well and I would love a lot more corner cases covered every mana base up until 4 colors with and without green and your thoughts on color specific duals like nimbus maze, the tainted lands and so would be cool for a separate video
Hey dawg, coast on down the tier list. It's not a bad guide when you've gotta take that budget down a few pegs.
And if it's a few more oegs, my personal suggestion is basics > tapped in fewer colors, basics < tapped in more colors.
If you have the Triome+Fetches suite for your 3+ color deck/s Check Lands are pretty phenomenal. Basically on-par with True Duals, and Shocklands since a single Triome lets 9/10 Check Lands come into play untapped.
i was needing one of these! thanks
I usually play at least 10 mana accelerators, up to 17 in my Gishath deck.
Also kinda sad felwar stone wasn't mentioned especially for 3+ color decks. Another allstar in mono red decks is liquimetal torque since it turns your arrifact removal into creature removal.
Nontheless a very nice and informative video. You're doing a great service for the community prof!
Let me guess:
10 old duals
10 fetches
10 shocks
For 5 color? Yea basically lol
Don't forget the battlebond lands lol
Only if you got enough printer ink apparently
@@Negative_NBG battlebond don't have land type
That's actually deck dependant. My 5c dragon deck actually benefits from triomes over 20 duals because the mana costs are super greedy
Opened up youtube whilst tuning my commander decks to look up one of prof's mana base videos, and this video is waiting for me!
Love the encouragement to proxy mana base cards. It's always a shame to have a friend run terrible mana because they're unable to afford even a basic manabase.
So glad the professor came out with this video right when I was going to make my first 4 color deck. c:
I was surprised to hear you say not to run temples. Yesterday's video of Dr Who collector box opening you and Gavin said temples were still good. They are the only tapped land I'm ok with
Surveil Lands are technically superior since they are tutorable. And if you are running a Paradox engine (Thirteenth Doctor/Yasmin/Ryan Sinclair), Spectral Deluge has been a favorite of mine to splash in. And I have Thundering Falls and Hedge Maze (and Ketra Triome) in place of the Temples since Farseek can tutor them and they up the Island count in my deck for Spectral Deluge to do its job. So Temple Lands really have been power crept out at this point as far as I can tell.
@@Magus12000BC true, however those lands where not released when I made the original post.
This is a Masterclass .
Thank you, and your team, for this lesson.
If your playgroup/LGS don't want you to have a land base consisting entirely of proxies, the recommendations in this video are practically useless. If I were to apply these recommendations to my current decks, 50-75% of the total deck cost would be spent on lands :) It is fine to play with a cheaper (and slower) mana base as long as you are playing 3 or fewer colors, if you deck build reasonably it doesn't have that much of an impact on your power level. (as long as you're not playing cEDH lol)
The Profs ad read for Keeps is legitimately my favorite. I’ve said it in a past video but he does it in a fun way. I may not be bald but hey I’d use it after hearing him call us all gorgeous. Also crazy well done video that I’m sending to friends with terrible mana bases in their deck
Krosan Verge gets any Forest and Plains so it isn't limited to Selesnya.
It IS limited to decks that are running both selesnya colors. If you're only fetching 1 land, Krosan verge isn't worth paying 2 and tapping fot the land coming in tapped.
Thanks for including us happy baldies in your Keeps ad! Lots of people who use them as a sponsor tend to make it seem like being bald is a worrisome or gross thing when it’s just part of the natural aging process for a lot of people. Even creators who try to not make it sound that way tend to stumble. Excellent job!
Coming into the guide I was't expecting a CEDH guide to building mana bases. Original duals, Fetch, shock lands are basically out of budget for most people and out of a cedh deck if i have one of those lands in a deck of mine is one too many. Unless you expect to run the whole mana base with proxies, I would like to see from you a guide for budget mana base for 1,2,3,4,5 colors.
IDK, based on the number of times Prof said "printer ink" I'd imagine it's pretty clear what the stance is on proxied manabases.
Taking a moment to appreciate the fact that you stuck Toggo and Thrasios together at 4:45. "Rocks Fall, Everybody's Land" is a fun deck :3
Great video! Been brewing a lot of potential decks lately and I always struggle with the mana base so this is an excellent resource. Personally I still run temples sometimes, but only in decks that have specific synergies related to manipulating the top card of the library. Maybe I'm deluding myself and the scry still isn't worth the hit to the curve, but it has come in handy for setting up certain combos.
Your style and knowledge makes you perfect for these kind of videos.
As I just purchased cards for my only commander deck, don't play ot very often, and was never my thing, I appreciate this video alot as mana base has always been a weak point for me, especially with utility lands. Since my brother had passed two years ago, I have been working on a selvala heart of the wilds deck and am now happy with it
what a informative Video, i am pretty new to Commander and i was on Google to see what i need for my 3 Color Deck, but i was not rly happy what i did so i was working on it. Here is a little help for those who are still unsure if you have enough Lands in your Commander Deck.
Just shuffle your Deck and do some test draws. Draw seven and see if you have some lands, then draw one or you draw seven again. Do this 5 times or so and see what happens, if you think you are sure to have always some Lands in your Hand and after this then you can feel good to go.
but ofc you can always work on your deck, like me as a little maniac
Great information, I typically start my build with 37 lands and then 15 peices of ramp and then go from there depending on the mana curve.
Wow today, I learned a lot more about to evalue lands! You helped me out a lot with my 4 color manabase.
Also hoping to see a colorless guide
I love videos like this, especially when you both lay out the logic for a lands inclusion or not, and say that these rules are flexible. I found myself both agreeing with basically everything said, but also having a deck that is the exception to every rule, as I know certain decks operate differently through play. For example, I have a Laezel Master Chef deck that needs to get both pieces out ASAP for the gameplan to get rolling, and in which colour requirements are heavy, so I run more mana dorks and less artifacts, as I can get them down turn 1 to play one of my commanders turn 2, and they can turn into beaters later. Similarly, I run the fast land in the deck, because I have slightly cut mana due to higher numbers of dorks and because I really need an untapped land on turn 1 most of the time. Conversely, I’m not running as many fetches and check lands, as I don’t play quite as many basics due to colour requirements. But I would never recommend for other decks, where such assumptions aren’t met!
The long and short of it, this is a great guide to build from, I hope newer players take note!
This has been my biggest problem and having this video helped A LOT thank you professor.
All jokes aside I appreciate the Professor doing an updated mana base guide. I took a break from MTG just before Strixhaven and needed to know what I missed since then
Love these kinds of videos. Glad that we’ll soon see Prof. get to 1M views, very much well deserved.