What are your favorite utility lands?

[The Golgari Guy]

The title says it all: what are your favorite utility lands in EDH?

I'd like to know which lands you often include in your commander decks and why. Some of my favorites, apart from the Zendikar Rising MDFC lands (e.g. Bala Ged Recovery, Agadeem's Awakening), which I consider as taplands(*) with upside, are:

• Scavenger Grounds/ Bojuka bog : Graveyard hate is always useful, and I like to have one way to deal with graveyards in every deck.
• Ghost Quarter / Tectonic Edge: While Strip Mine and Wasteland are certainly better, these budget versions will do the job and get rid of those pesky Gaea's Cradle / Cabal Coffers.
• Mystic Sanctuary: Powerful recursion attached to a land that can be fetched and often enters untapped: what's not to like?
• Field of the Dead: The incidental value this land produces in 3+ colors decks is just incredible.
• Thespian's Stage: There is always a good land to copy on the field!
• Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth: Everyone knows Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth and its combo with Cabal Coffers, but this land also provide amazing color fixing for little opportunity cost. It also turns on Forestwalk for you!
• War Room: Very solid card in most 1 and 2-color decks, especially white, red and Boros.

I'm also asking this because I've recently put down a list of those I think are the best utility lands for EDH, and I'm looking for cards I may have missed. You can find the list here:

https://deckstats.net/decks/149180/2371618-best-utility-lands-for-edh


(*) And the mythic ones can even enter untapped!

[robort]

I am starting to like witch’s clinic. Nothing wrong with some life gain.

[CleanBelwas]

In addition to your great list, I'm also a fan of the cycling lands (barren moor, polluted mire, desert of the glorified). I rate cycling very highly as a utility mechanic and will usually include at least a couple of these in my one or two colour decks, especially those that care about things like drawing cards, filling up graveyards, different card types in graveyards etc. Even without additional synergy, I'll still include the cycle that only cycles for one of their colour as they are great in the mid to late game when you draw them and can just churn them into something else.

I'm also partial to the "sac to add two" cycle (ebon stronghold etc.). Though I don't use these nearly as ubiquitously, I have found certain decks that can really make use of the potential burst of mana. Usually the black and blue ones for removal/counter spells respectively.

I'll play creature lands sometimes too. Again, it needs to be in the right place, but decks that care about number of creatures, dealing combat damage, certain equipment decks, can make real use of them, especially in conjunction with board wipes. I've had a deck that's nothing but creature lands, vehichles and board wipes floating around in my head for a while. The only thing stopping me is that it sounds kind of miserable to play against.

[The Golgari Guy]

In addition to your great list, I'm also a fan of the cycling lands (barren moor, polluted mire, desert of the glorified). I rate cycling very highly as a utility mechanic and will usually include at least a couple of these in my one or two colour decks, especially those that care about things like drawing cards, filling up graveyards, different card types in graveyards etc. Even without additional synergy, I'll still include the cycle that only cycles for one of their colour as they are great in the mid to late game when you draw them and can just churn them into something else.

Happy you like my list! 

I've tried the Onslaught cycling lands (those with the cheapest cycling cost) in several decks, but was always disappointed with them. I guess that for me the upside of being able to cycle them in the late game is not worth the risk of hitting a tapland in the early game. But this may be also due to the fact that I love the Zendikar Rising MDFCs, and I play a lot of them, so I already have a lot of taplands in my decks.

I'll play creature lands sometimes too. Again, it needs to be in the right place, but decks that care about number of creatures, dealing combat damage, certain equipment decks, can make real use of them, especially in conjunction with board wipes. I've had a deck that's nothing but creature lands, vehichles and board wipes floating around in my head for a while. The only thing stopping me is that it sounds kind of miserable to play against.

Creature lands can definitely be useful! There is at least one commander that can make excellent use of them: Ardenn, Intrepid Archaeologist. Assuming you don't have a haste-granting equipment on the field, being able to just replay Ardenn after a board wipe, attach all of your equipments to a Mishra's Factory and attack for the win seems very powerful indeed!

I have also added Lair of the Hydra to my Xenagos deck for a similar reason: being able to attack with a huge beater after a board wipe seems very relevant!

[Bonethor]

That's a good list for sure! I think the only one I could quickly think of that I use that wasn't on it is Halimar Depths, it's pretty nice in decks where you can shuffle and can "replace" a turn 1 play. The MDFCs are obviously great and some of them feel like fairly autoincludes, depending a bit on what the deck is trying to do. I have to admit that I use Mystic Sanctuary a lot but then again I rarely go 3 colors or higher, restrictions are nice and non-basic land hate is scary

I usually try to go for untapped lands and try to avoid only colorless ones as well unless heavily in artifacts so I probably play a bit too few of them.. but then again I really don't like clunky starts.

[Slyvester12]

I'm a big fan of Glimmervoid and Spire of Industry in artifact decks with multiple colors.

Actually, I'm confused by your definition of a utility land. Why Gaea's Cradle and Deserted Temple, but no Command Tower? I would count access to any color along the lines of utility, but I would discount the big lands if you're only counting "lands that do something besides make mana."

[fire5167]

Most of the utility lands in the Kamigawa block are pretty cool. A lot of them are expensive, but some are cheap like Tomb of Urami

https://scryfall.com/search?as=grid&order=name&q=type%3Aland+block%3Achk

Although I would say that in order for a land to be a utility land, it would have to provide some upside other than mana production.

[The Golgari Guy]

That's a good list for sure! I think the only one I could quickly think of that I use that wasn't on it is Halimar Depths, it's pretty nice in decks where you can shuffle and can "replace" a turn 1 play.

Glad you like the list! I have tried Halimar Depths in my mono-blue deck (Braids) and I have to say I was never impressed. It can probably be useful in decks where topdeck manipulation is important or where you can reliably shuffle, as you said!

[ApothecaryGeist]

I like the uncommon legendary land cycle from Legends.  It's not that they're stellar.  But they don't enter tapped.  They are fun, if only mildly strategically relevant.



The white one is so good that it is banned in Commander.


Pendelhaven is ok.  It can pump a 1/1 for some early damage.


Tolaria is meh since banding doesn't show up very much.


Hammerheim is great as it removes a landwalk ability.  This has saved me a few times.


Urborg is fun.  No not that Urborg.  It removes swampwalk.  And first strike.  I've never used it to remove first strike.  But the swampwalk removal has saved me a few times.  It's also really fun to drop it and declare that I'm playing Urborg but you don't have swamps now.


There's no real down side.  They make colored mana.  They enter untapped.  And it's really fun to lay one down and have the whole table as what in the world that land does.  If your deck isn't concerned about having basic lands, I recommend them.  If only for the fun factor of everyone asking about your bizarre old lands.

[The Golgari Guy]

Actually, I'm confused by your definition of a utility land. Why Gaea's Cradle and Deserted Temple, but no Command Tower? I would count access to any color along the lines of utility, but I would discount the big lands if you're only counting "lands that do something besides make mana."

For me, a utility land is a land that does something more than fixing your mana. Thus, Command Tower is not a utility land, but Gaea's Cradle is, since it can ramp you if you control more than one creature (incidentally, Cradle is a utility land also according to EDHREC: https://edhrec.com/top/utility-lands). Glimmervoid and Spire of Industry would also be mana fixing lands with this definition.

Of course, there are some lands that are both fixing and utility, such as Sliver Hive in a Sliver deck, or The World Tree in a Gods deck. Also Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth can be both fixing and utility, by giving you easy access to B mana and comboing with Cabal Coffers.

[The Golgari Guy]

I like the uncommon legendary land cycle from Legends.  It's not that they're stellar.  But they don't enter tapped.  They are fun, if only mildly strategically relevant.



The white one is so good that it is banned in Commander.


Pendelhaven is ok.  It can pump a 1/1 for some early damage.


Tolaria is meh since banding doesn't show up very much.


Hammerheim is great as it removes a landwalk ability.  This has saved me a few times.


Urborg is fun.  No not that Urborg.  It removes swampwalk.  And first strike.  I've never used it to remove first strike.  But the swampwalk removal has saved me a few times.  It's also really fun to drop it and declare that I'm playing Urborg but you don't have swamps now.


There's no real down side.  They make colored mana.  They enter untapped.  And it's really fun to lay one down and have the whole table as what in the world that land does.  If your deck isn't concerned about having basic lands, I recommend them.  If only for the fun factor of everyone asking about your bizarre old lands.

I also really like these old lands! I actually have Pendelhaven, Hammerheim and Urborg in the Maybeboard of my list. Thing is, I'm not sure the upside they offer is enough to justifying the risk of falling victim to a Back to Basics, Ruination, Blood Moon etc. However, I have to admit that I don't see these cards often in my playgroup, so this may be meta-dependent!

[anjinsan]

The Hideaway lands can be pretty crazy.

The cycling lands are so-so on their own but also work well with Crucible of Worlds, Life from the Loam, etc.

It is disturbing that Tower of the Magistrate has not yet been mentioned.

[The Golgari Guy]

It is disturbing that Tower of the Magistrate has not yet been mentioned.

I've tried it in some decks, but it always felt like the effect was a bit too niche. However I can see how removing all equipment from a Voltron commander could be extremely satisfying!

[Morganator 2.0]

Protection doesn't work that way. A permanent with "protection from [property]" cannot be targeted by, blocked by, enchanted by, or dealt damage by anything with [property]. So that's why a creature that gains protection from white would have all of it's white enchantments fall off. It can't be enchanted by anything white.

Equipment don't work that way though. The creature in question couldn't be targeted by new equipments until end of turn, but equipment already on would stay on.

EDIT: This is the old way things were done. I did not notice that it changed.

[ApothecaryGeist]

Actually Morg, It DOES work that way.  The 'E' in the DEBT mnemonic was expanded to be enchanted/equipped.  So a creature with protection from artifacts can't have an equipment attached to it in any way.  Any equipment currently attached to that creature when it gains protection from artifacts would indeed fall off.