To Fetch land or not.

[Caveman Clay]

  At what point does running fetch lands in commander really make a difference.  In mono color really I didn't see a difference, Same with two color deck. Now  I'm running a 4 color deck it has saved my butt a many of times.  Currently I'm running six fetch lands  and six shocks, one for each color combo. I also run a Chromatic Lantern for when I can't search my deck.  Felidar retreat and Evolution sage makes for a good time also.   

Any though on this.

[Slyvester12]

I find fetches are basically a necessity in five colors. My Scion of the Ur-Dragon deck functions on a completely different power level after improving the mana base. I've loosely managed four without, but fetches would certainly improve fixing. For three or fewer colors, I don't think they're necessary in most metas. Especially if one of your colors is green.

[CleanBelwas]

In terms of colour fixing, I'd say 3+ colours is where it starts to add up. Being able to crack an Arid Mesa to go and find Godless shrine in my mardu Aristocrats deck is super useful.

Fetches also have a lot of additional utility though.

They're great in any deck that cares about landfall triggers, regardless of the number of colours they are running.

They're also great anywhere that runs brainstorm/scroll rack type effects. Being able to shuffle on command can be very useful in the right place. For example, I run a couple in my Yuriko deck almost entirely for this effect. It rarely needs colour fixing, but the ability to shuffle still makes them worthwhile.

Not to mention, they can fuel things like delerium, delve, threshold, revolt etc.

Basically, in 3+ colours or anywhere that the additional utility is part of the gameplan, I think they're worth it.

[The Golgari Guy]

I think that fetches are unnecessary in 1 and 2 colors, whereas they can really help (in combination with duals with basic land types) in 3 color decks.

On the other hand, I have built a perfectly fine 3-color manabase for my Doran deck without any fetchland (although it's ammittedly easier when you have access to Three Visits, Nature's Lore, Farseek ans Skyshroud Claim), so it can be done.

I've never tried to build a 4 or 5-color deck, but I can imagine that that's where fetchlands can really start to make the difference, since any fetchland basically gives you access to all of your colors (depending on what you need the most at the moment).

Of course, as CleanBelwas noted, they are a must in landfall decks.

I should also mention that some people think that fetchlands can also help "thin your deck": whereas this may be true in 60-cards formats, the effect is completely negligible in EDH (just try to do some calculation and you'll see for yourself).

[Morganator 2.0]

I should also mention that some people think that fetchlands can also help "thin your deck": whereas this may be true in 60-cards formats, the effect is completely negligible in EDH (just try to do some calculation and you'll see for yourself).

I have done the math behind this and it's true, they really don't do anything for deck thinning.

[Kelly]

I should also mention that some people think that fetchlands can also help "thin your deck": whereas this may be true in 60-cards formats, the effect is completely negligible in EDH (just try to do some calculation and you'll see for yourself).

I have done the math behind this and it's true, they really don't do anything for deck thinning.

Generally true, but in a Muldrotha deck for instance, replaying fetches to pull out lands adds up, as well as providing a recurring sac trigger.  To the OP, bottomline, fetches are expensive for good reasons, but only put them in for those good reasons    

[Aetherium Slinky]

Agreeing with everyone here: three colours is the threshold. Above that and it's a necessity, fewer than that and they're not that important. Three you can still manage without but it's significantly tougher than with fetches.

[Caveman Clay]

We have a lot of great minds here. But I can lie. I do run a few fetch in my mono and two color decks not so much as to fetch, but sometime I run in to mana flooding on mono color decks and I save my fetches to shuffle my deck and break a bad cycle.


Thanks everyone for the input. I feel better about my choices in setting up my mana. 

[terminalgeek]

Depends if I have very restrictive color costs or have some specific synergies (i.e. landfall / revolt / delve / delirium). I don't think they're really that necessary outside of cEDH and can drag the game out.

[robort]

I should also mention that some people think that fetchlands can also help "thin your deck": whereas this may be true in 60-cards formats, the effect is completely negligible in EDH (just try to do some calculation and you'll see for yourself).

I have done the math behind this and it's true, they really don't do anything for deck thinning.

LOL this coming from the guy who has them in his Krenko primer deck

[Morganator 2.0]

LOL this coming from the guy who has them in his Krenko primer deck

Yes, and in the single-card discussion of that same primer I had this to say about it:

Fetch-lands: Literally just in here for when you need to reshuffle your deck after using Sensei’s Divining Top and seeing that the top 3 cards are crap. Deck thinning is irrelevant.

[WWolfe]

I'm late to the party here but of my current decks, I only have them in two- Sidisi, Brood Tyrant and Sliver Overlord. I really don't worry about them in 2 colors or less. In 3 colors or more, it depends on the decks mana base. In my Karador Shadowborn Apostle deck it really doesn't matter because the deck is so heavily black I'm never sad to pull a black land. I've had other 3 color decks and sometimes they helped while other times they were ok.

One of the biggest things I like about them is the shuffle effect. That is so underestimated.

[anjinsan]

The primary reason for the fetches is colour fixing, so obviously they are basically another untapped dual in two colours (assuming fetchable duals, of course) and essentially pointless - for this purpose - in one.

Of course there are other benefits, but the deck thinning is pretty negligible and most other things are deck dependent. For example I have a White deck where I run a lot of them so I can use recursion as makeshift ramp.

Also worth noting that they can fetch the triomes, which is really good for fixing (especially because you can choose to get something else when you need untapped).