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EDH beginner guide

How many lands does a Commander deck need?

Updated

A well-tuned Commander deck runs 36–38 lands, with 37 being the safe default. Aggro or low-curve decks can shave to 35 lands; ramp, control, and high-curve decks push to 38 or 39. Anything under 35 or over 40 needs a specific reason.

The short answer

37 lands is correct for 99% of Commander decks. That number comes from analyzing thousands of top-eight EDH decks — the mode is 37, and the median sits at 36.8.

The exceptions matter, but they are narrow: aggro decks under 3 average CMC can drop to 35, and slow-value or superfriends decks push to 38 or 39.

Why 37?

In a 100-card singleton format, you draw 8–10 cards in the opening hand plus scries and cantrips. Frank Karsten's math says a deck with 3.3 average CMC hits its third land drop 90%+ of the time at 37 lands.

Below 35, you start flooding out with 4-drops in hand and no way to cast them. Above 39, you top-deck too many lands after turn 6.

When to run 35

Drop to 35 lands only if your deck's average CMC is under 3.0 AND you have 8+ ramp spells that cost 2 or less. Voltron commanders like Feather, hyper-aggro decks like Krenko, and combo shells like Krark-Sakashima fit.

  • ◆Average CMC below 3.0
  • ◆8+ two-mana or cheaper ramp spells
  • ◆No 6+ CMC finishers
  • ◆A dedicated cantrip / draw suite (10+ spells that cycle)

When to run 38 or 39

Push to 38+ if your average CMC is over 4.0, or if landfall is a wincon (Omnath, Locus of Rage; Tatyova, Benthic Druid; Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait).

Also push to 38+ for ramp-payoff decks — Karametra, Selvala, Azusa — where an extra land beats an extra spell most turns.

What counts as a land?

Only cards with the land type. Signets, talismans, and rocks are ramp, not lands. If you have 32 lands + 6 mana rocks, you are effectively at 38 mana sources but not 38 lands — you can still miss drops on turns 1 and 2 when your rocks are in the deck.

Modal double-faced cards like Sea Gate Restoration count as lands for this calculation. Fetches count. MDFCs like Turntimber Symbiosis are borderline — count them as 0.75 lands.

Step by step

How to determine your Commander deck land count

  1. 01

    Calculate average CMC

    Add every non-land card's CMC and divide by the number of non-lands. Commanders count too.

  2. 02

    Set a baseline

    Start at 37 lands. This is correct for average CMC 3.0–4.0.

  3. 03

    Adjust for ramp

    Every 2 pieces of 2-mana ramp = 1 fewer land needed. Cap at -2 lands (never go below 35).

  4. 04

    Adjust for curve

    Every 0.5 CMC above 4.0 = 1 additional land needed.

  5. 05

    Playtest and iterate

    If you mulligan lands in 2 of your first 5 games, add a land. If you flood out in 2 of 5, remove a land.

Questions & Answers

FAQ

How many lands does a 100-card Commander deck have?

A standard Commander deck runs 36 to 38 lands out of 100 cards, with 37 being the most common and safest count. Adjust down to 35 only for low-curve aggro decks with heavy ramp, and up to 38 or 39 for high-curve or landfall builds.

Is 40 lands too many in Commander?

40 lands is too many for almost every deck — you will draw too many lands off the top after turn 6. The only exceptions are landfall decks that treat every extra land as a payoff (Omnath, Locus of Rage) or ramp decks with 8+ mana rocks that want land-focused draws late.

Can I run 30 lands in Commander?

30 lands is way too few for a 100-card format. You will consistently miss land drops and lose games to mana screw. Even the most aggressive Commander decks run at least 33–35 lands. If your deck needs 30 lands to work, you should probably be playing 60-card Modern instead.

How many basic lands should be in a Commander deck?

A budget deck runs 10–15 basics; a mid-tier deck runs 5–8; a high-power deck runs 3–5 basics purely as fetch-land targets. In heavy non-basic hate metas (Blood Moon, Back to Basics), lean toward more basics regardless of budget.

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