“How many lands should your MTG Commander deck run?” sounds like it should have one clean answer. It does not. Commander is a four-player format with 99 cards plus a commander, and Wizards still describes it as roughly 20 minutes per player, which means your deck needs to function through a longer, swingier game than a 60-card deck usually does. That alone makes land counts harder to fake.
The bad answer is “37, always.” The better answer is that most normal Commander decks should start somewhere in the high 30s, then move up or down based on curve, colors, ramp, and how much your commander costs. EDHREC’s current building guide recommends starting around 36 to 38 lands and going a little higher if your commander costs five or more. Culture of Gaming’s newer mana-base guide starts a little higher, at around 38 to 40 for typical casual Commander decks, while another EDHREC mulligan piece says the author rarely goes below 36 and prefers 38-plus lands. Put those together, and the honest baseline is that most casual Commander decks belong somewhere around 37 to 39 lands, with 38 being a very safe default.
That is not exciting advice, but it is good advice. A lot of Commander mana problems are not really “mana base problems.” They are land-count problems wearing a disguise. If you start too low, every other part of your deck gets worse. Your ramp becomes harder to cast, your opening hands get riskier, and your commander tax starts feeling like a personal attack instead of a known part of the format.
Start with your curve, not your ego
The cleanest way to pick a land count is to ask when your deck actually needs to start working. Culture of Gaming’s mana-base article puts it nicely: if your deck needs to reliably cast a three-mana commander or start chaining two- and three-mana plays, you want to hit three lands naturally most games. If your plan really starts at five or six mana, you want to keep making land drops through turn five, not just “eventually.” That sounds obvious, but a shocking number of Commander decks are built like they want to start playing on turn three and sleeved like they are okay waiting until turn five.
So if your deck is full of early setup, cheap interaction, or a commander you want to cast on curve, start higher than your pride wants to. A lean land count only works when the whole deck is built to support it. It does not work because you read a list online and liked how disciplined 34 looked in the deck editor. 34 looks disciplined right up until your opening hand is two four-drops, one tapland, and a small crisis.
When you should play more lands
The easiest time to add lands is when your commander is expensive. EDHREC’s deckbuilding guide says this directly: if your commander costs five or more, you should lean heavier on lands. That makes sense, because your deck is not just trying to cast its spells once. In Commander, you should assume your commander may need to be cast again, which means the practical cost of your deck’s centerpiece is often higher than the printed mana value.
You also want more lands if your deck is three or more colors, if your mana base uses a lot of lands that enter tapped, or if you are spending a bunch of land slots on utility lands that do not help cast your spells. Culture of Gaming calls out this exact trap: utility lands are great until your opening hand is two utility lands and a dream. That is funny once. After that it becomes deckbuilding feedback.
Big-mana decks should obviously go up as well. If your list is built to ramp into haymakers, then part of that job is simply hitting normal land drops. Ramp supports land drops. It does not replace them. That point shows up in both Culture of Gaming’s mana-base piece and EDHREC’s broader land-count discussion, and it is one of the most common Commander mistakes people still make.
When you can trim lands
You can trim lands when the deck is genuinely low to the ground and actually built that way. Culture of Gaming explicitly says very low-curve, high-cheap-ramp lists can shave below the 38-to-40 casual baseline. EDHREC’s build guide also gives you room to start closer to 36 if the deck is streamlined and your commander is not expensive. The key word there is “streamlined.” Not “optimistic.” Streamlined.
That usually means your deck has a low curve, plenty of cheap card draw, and enough early ramp that your first few turns are still productive if you miss a natural land somewhere later. It also means your colored mana is clean enough that your lands and cheap rocks actually cast each other. If your deck is low land, high greed, and full of awkward color requirements, you are not being efficient. You are just scheduling your bad draws in advance. PrintingProxies
A practical Commander land-count baseline
If you want the simple version, this is the baseline I would use.
For a typical casual two-color or three-color Commander deck, start at 38 lands and adjust after real games.
Go to 39 or 40 if your commander costs five or more, your curve is heavy, or your mana base is slower.
Drop toward 36 or 37 only if your deck is truly lower curve, has strong cheap ramp, and consistently functions in testing.
That recommendation is not pulled from the air. It is basically where current Commander advice keeps clustering once you line up Wizards’ rules context, EDHREC’s building advice, and Culture of Gaming’s more practical “stop lying about your deck” curve test.
Test the deck, not the theory
The best answer is still the one your deck gives you after a few games.
Culture of Gaming’s deck-testing workflow suggests running a batch of opening hands and asking whether your mana cooperated and whether you advanced your plan by turn three or four. That is a good sanity check because it gets you out of theory mode fast. If you consistently keep hands that only work if you draw one land in the next two turns, your land count is probably too low or your mana is too cute. Either way, the deck is telling you something.
That is why land count is not really a badge of honor. It is a functional setting. The correct number is the one that lets your deck be the deck it claims it is.
Final thoughts
So, how many lands should your MTG Commander deck run?
For most casual decks, the honest answer is probably 38. Not because 38 is sacred, but because current Commander advice keeps converging on the high 30s unless your deck is either very streamlined or very top-heavy. Start there, move up if your deck is slow or expensive, move down only if your list has truly earned it, and stop treating “fewer lands” like a personality trait.
