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how many lands should be in a commander deck

For a typical 100-card Commander deck, most players end up between 36 and 38 lands for a “normal” midrange build, with a broader safe band of 33 to 41 lands depending on your deck’s speed, colors, and ramp package.

How Many Lands Should Be in a Commander Deck?

Fast rule-of-thumb

If you just want a number to start with:

  • Start at 37 lands for a generic, casual Commander deck.
  • Adjust down if:
    • Your average mana value is low (lots of 1–3 drops).
    • You run 10+ cheap ramp pieces (mana dorks, rocks, land ramp).
  • Adjust up if:
    • Your curve is high (lots of 5–8 mana spells, big commander).
    • You’re in colors with weak ramp (e.g., Boros without many rocks).
    • You often want to recast an expensive commander.

In practice, this means:

  • Low side (lean, ramp-heavy, tuned): 33–35 lands (rare; risky in casual).
  • Average casual decks: 36–38 lands.
  • Mana-hungry / battlecruiser: 39–41 lands.

What the community and articles say

Recent Commander articles and forum discussions all circle around a similar range:

  • One recent guide suggests 33–37 lands as the usual band, warning not to go under 33 unless you have extreme ramp.
  • Data-based templates and EDHREC-style analyses put the typical average at about 36 lands.
  • Some experts advocate 40 lands as a baseline , especially for newer builders, and then trimming once you see the deck in action.
  • Forum players often report that 38 feels better than 36 for consistency, especially in slower pods where missing land drops is painful.

So if you’re unsure, 37–38 is a very safe “set it and forget it” starting point.

How to tune your land count (step-by-step)

You can think of land count as a small puzzle:

  1. Start at 38–40
    • Use 40 if you’re new to EDH or your curve is high.
 * Use **38** if your list already has a decent number of ramp spells or rocks.
  1. Count your ramp (excluding lands)
    • Land ramp like Cultivate, rampant growth variants, etc.
    • Mana rocks like Signets, Talismans, Sol Ring, etc.
    • Mana dorks like Llanowar Elves.
    • If you have 8–10+ ramp pieces , you can usually trim 2–3 lands safely.
  1. Check your curve and commander
    • If your commander costs 6+ mana and you plan to cast it multiple times, lean higher (38–41).
 * If your deck is basically “low-curve tempo/combo,” you can live at **34–36** with solid ramp.
  1. Look at your colors
    • 3–5 color decks don’t always need more lands, but they often want at least 37–38 to reliably fix colors.
 * Monocolor with lots of ramp and low curve can be comfortable at **34–36**.
  1. Playtest and adjust
    • Flooded often? Trim 1–2 lands or add more card draw/spell-like lands.
 * Screwed often or missing third/fourth land drops? Add 1–3 lands and/or more ramp.

A quick “template” to copy

You can treat this like a loose checklist when building:

  • Battlecruiser / big spells / casual mid-power
    • 38–40 lands
    • 6–10 ramp sources
    • Goal: Make every land drop until turn 6–7.
  • Typical midrange EDH
    • 36–38 lands
    • 8–12 ramp pieces
    • Goal: Hit first 4–5 land drops, then rely on ramp and draw.
  • Low-curve / synergy / some cEDH shells
    • 30–34 lands (often 29–32 in tuned cEDH, with heavy fast mana).
* 15–20+ mana sources total including rocks and dorks.

Mini example story

Imagine you’re building a 3-color, mid-power dragon deck :

  • Dragons and your commander mostly cost 5–7 mana.
  • You include 9 ramp cards (Cultivate, Kodama’s Reach, a couple of Talismans, etc.).
  • Good starting point: 38–39 lands because your curve is high and you want to reliably cast big dragons.

After 5–10 games:

  • If you often end the game with 3+ lands stuck in hand, trim down to 37.
  • If you miss your 4th land drop too often, go up to 40 or add another land + ramp.

SEO-style notes (for your “Quick Scoop” post)

  • Focus keyword: “how many lands should be in a commander deck”
  • Meta description suggestion:
    • “Wondering how many lands should be in a Commander deck? Most decks run 36–38 lands, with 33–41 as the wider range depending on ramp, curve, and colors.”

You can honestly answer the question in one line for readers:

For most players, 36–38 lands is the sweet spot in a Commander deck, with 37 as a great default starting point before you tune.

TL;DR: Start at 37 lands , then go up for big, slow decks or weak ramp, and down (but rarely below 34–35 in casual) if your curve is low and you run lots of ramp.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.