How many lands should a Commander deck run?

Short answer: 37 lands for most two-color decks, plus enough sources of each color to hit your hardest spell on curve. Longer answer — and the exact numbers for your deck — below.

Why Commander mana bases are their own problem

Everything about Commander pushes the mana base in a different direction than 60-card formats. The deck is 99 cards instead of 60, so the same land ratio actually pulls fewer colored sources per drawn card. It is singleton, which rules out the four-of consistency trick that 60-card decks lean on. There is no sideboard and no post-board configuration, so you cannot solve a bad mulligan with a Game 2 adjustment. And color identity determines what your commander can drag along, which quietly caps the fixing you have access to.

The result is that Commander lists tend to sit at higher land counts than newer players expect, and those lands need to be doing more work per slot — producing more colors, coming in untapped more often, and pulling double duty as fixing.

How many lands: the 36 to 38 window and what moves it

For a standard four-player Commander game, most decks want to be in the 36 to 38 land range. That is the honest window; you can find good lists both above and below it, but they usually have a reason. Here is what pushes you inside that window:

• Ramp count. Every mana rock or ramp spell you run is effectively worth about half a land for the purpose of hitting your third and fourth land drops. Ten-plus ramp pieces gets you down to 36; four ramp pieces pushes you up to 38.
• Average mana value. A deck averaging 3.5 mana value wants more lands than a deck averaging 2.5. If your commander wants seven-mana finishers, you need to reach seven mana on time.
• Number of colors. Two colors is easier than three, and three is easier than five. You do not necessarily need more lands for more colors — you need more fixing lands, which means fewer basics and more duals, triomes, and rainbow lands.
• Cheap card draw. Every cheap draw spell effectively shrinks your deck for the turns that matter. Rhystic Study or Sylvan Library moves you toward the low end of the land range.

If you have no idea where to land, start at 37 with about 10 ramp pieces and adjust from playtest data. That is a boring answer, but it is the correct boring answer.

How many sources of each color you need

This is where the calculator earns its keep. Once you know your land count, the follow-up question is: of those 37 lands, how many produce each color? For a mono-colored spell, more sources is always better, but there is a threshold beyond which the added slot is not paying for itself.

Some practical starting targets for a 99-card deck at a 90% reliability threshold on the play:

• A turn-1 single-pip spell (U) wants roughly 20 sources of that color.
• A turn-2 double-pip spell (UU) wants around 30 sources.
• A turn-3 double-pip spell (BB) wants around 24 sources.
• A turn-4 triple-pip spell (GGG) is a real strain on a 99-card list — expect 28 or more sources.

These are ballpark starting points. Punch your specific spell into the calculator above and you will get the exact source count for your target turn and threshold.

Multicolor commanders demand more fixing, not more lands

The common mistake with a three- or four-color commander is to keep the land count at 37 and stuff in more basics. The land count is fine. The land composition is what needs to change. Every basic in a three-color deck is a slot that produces one color; every triome produces three. Shocklands, fetches, on-color check lands, and pain lands do work that basics cannot in a multicolor list.

A useful test: pull your slowest, tightest spell (typically a double-pip cast on turn 4 or 5) and check the calculator. If a two-color deck says you need 24 blue sources for UU on turn 4, you need 24 lands that actually produce blue. That includes triomes, shocks, fetches, and rocks that make blue. If you only have 18, either add fixing or cut the double-pip spell.

Worked example: a Simic (UG) commander

You are building a two-color Simic list at 37 lands. Your commander is UG and you want to cast it on turn 3. That is a double-pip spell across two colors; but each individual color is a single pip, so you need to hit at least one blue source and at least one green source by turn 3. Easy: with 18 to 20 sources of each color you are comfortably above 95%.

The harder spell in the deck is a turn-4 GG creature. Set the calculator to deck size 99, pips 2, turn 4, and iterate on sources until you hit your threshold. Then make sure your green source count in the actual deck matches or exceeds that number.

FAQ

How many lands should I run in a 2-color EDH deck?

For a two-color Commander deck with a normal curve and modest ramp, 37 lands is a solid default. Push to 38 if your ramp is light or your curve is high; drop to 36 if you are running ten or more mana rocks and cheap draw.

Do mana rocks count as sources of a color?

Sol Ring and Arcane Signet count for the colors they produce, and generic two-mana rocks that fix count too. A rock only counts for the colors it can actually generate. Signets, talismans, and on-color triomes stack up faster than you would guess.

How many of each color for a WUBRG deck?

Even with fetches and triomes, five-color builds want at least 14 to 16 sources of each color if that color has a double-pip spell you want to cast on curve. Single-pip splashes can survive on 10 to 12 sources. Use the calculator to test the toughest spell of each color.

Should I run more lands if my commander costs six or more?

Yes, or run more ramp. A six-drop commander that you want on turn 5 (with a ramp piece) needs you to actually be at 5 lands by turn 5 more than 80% of the time. That usually means 38 lands and 10-plus ramp pieces, not 37 lands and 6 ramp pieces.