How many sources for a double-pip cost?

Double- and triple-pip costs are what actually pin your mana base. Getting two blues in your first eight cards is a much taller ask than getting one blue in eight, and the numbers below explain why.

Why intensive costs are the real problem

Land counts get most of the attention because they are one number and easy to talk about. Colored source counts get less attention because they are harder to think about. But the truth is: your land total decides whether you hit your land drops, and your source-of-each-color total decides whether those lands actually let you cast your spells.

A single-pip cost like asks a lenient question: "did you draw at least one blue source?" A double-pip cost like asks a much stricter one: "did you draw at least two blue sources, and did you have room in your mana development to play both?" That second question grows a lot faster in difficulty than intuition suggests.

Concrete targets: 60-card, on the play, 90% threshold

These are the numbers players ask about most often. The calculator above is pre-set to double-pip; you can move the turn and threshold to see how the required source count shifts.

• Turn 2 double pip: the hardest common case, and the one that surprises people. You need two colored sources in your first eight cards and both of them in play. That takes 24 sources — 40% of the deck. At 22 sources you are at 87.2%, at 20 sources 82.4%.
• Turn 3 double pip: more forgiving. Nine cards seen and three land drops to hit: 22 sources. (18 sources, a common real-world number, is only 82.6%.)
• Turn 4 double pip: 20 sources, one third of the deck. 16 sources gets you 81.7%, not 90%.
• Turn 4 triple pip: 26 sources — 43% of the deck, and genuinely hard outside a mono-color build.

The honest summary: a turn-2 double pip is a mono-color commitment in disguise. 24 of 60 cards producing one color does not leave room for a real second color, which is why the cards that demand it show up in mono-red and mono-blue decks and rarely anywhere else. If you cannot get there, the fix is not to shave a source or two — it is to move the spell later or accept a lower bar. Dropping to an 85% threshold buys back real slots: 22 sources on turn 2, 19 on turn 3, 18 on turn 4.

These are 60-card numbers, and Commander is markedly harder because the same requirement is spread over 99 cards. A turn-2 double pip in a 99-card deck wants 40 sources; on turn 4 it still wants 33, and a turn-4 triple pip wants 44. That is more mana than most Commander decks run in total — which is exactly why heavy-double-pip commanders stay in one or two colors. The reference chart on the hub page lays all three deck sizes side by side.

What "sources" means

A source is any card that can produce mana of the color you are checking, on the turn you want to cast the spell. That includes basic lands of the color, dual lands, shock lands, check lands, pain lands, on-color triomes, and mana rocks and dorks that make that color. Tapped lands still count — they just do not count for the turn they enter play.

Two subtleties matter. First, a tapped dual on turn 1 is essentially half a source for the purpose of a turn-2 cast. Second, mana rocks let you double-count a turn: a Signet on turn 2 can act like an extra green source for a turn-3 double-green spell. The calculator does not know about these nuances directly, so err on the side of not counting slow lands or rocks toward the earliest turn goals.

The splashing question

If you are asking whether you can splash a double-pip card, the answer is almost always no, and the calculator will show you why. Put the two numbers next to each other in a 60-card deck on turn 4: a genuine single-pip splash wants 12 sources, while the double-pip version of the same card wants 20. Twenty sources is not a splash by any definition — it is a main color that happens to be supporting one card.

There are exceptions — a delayed double-pip cost, a deck with heavy fixing, a card so powerful it is worth accepting a reliability hit. But the default answer is: promote the splash to a full color, or cut the card.

FAQ

How many sources for a turn-2 double-pip spell?

In a 60-card deck at a 90% reliability threshold on the play, a turn-2 double-pip cost wants 24 sources — 40% of the deck, which in practice means a mono-color or strongly one-color-dominant build. In a 99-card Commander deck the same threshold wants 40 sources. If those numbers are out of reach, the realistic options are to cast the spell a turn later (22 sources on turn 3, 20 on turn 4) or to accept an 85% bar, which asks for 22 on turn 2. Use the calculator to lock in the exact number for your list.

Can I splash a double-pip card?

In most cases no. In a 60-card deck on turn 4, a single-pip splash wants 12 sources at a 90% bar; the double-pip version of the same card wants 20. Running 20 sources — a third of the deck — for one card means you have promoted that color out of splash territory whether you meant to or not. Either commit to it as a real second color, delay the spell, or cut it.

What about triple-pip costs?

Triple-pip is a serious constraint, and the numbers are steeper than most players guess. In a 60-card deck a turn-4 triple-pip cast wants 26 sources at a 90% bar — 43% of the deck. In Commander the same cast wants 44 sources out of 99, which is more mana than a typical 37-land, ten-rock deck runs in total, and colorless rocks produce none of it. In practice, building around a triple-pip card commits you to a monocolor or one-color-dominant deck.

Does one extra tapped land count as a source?

Yes for later turns, no for the turn it comes in. If you are checking a turn-2 double-pip cost, count only lands that can produce that color untapped on turn 2. For a turn-4 cast, most tapped duals are fine.