Marvel Super Heroes · Land guide
Five untapped rare duals reward keeping basics. Learn their restriction, the ten common gainlands, and artifact utility options, with swaps for Shorikai, Isshin, and Muldrotha.
Published
Paper release 2026-06-26
Prices checked 2026-10-01
Marvel Super Heroes introduces five rare duals that enter untapped without a life payment. The catch is in the colored-mana ability: it works on the turn the land enters, and on later turns only while you control a basic land.
That is attractive for budget Commander mana bases that already use basics. It is a genuine deck-building condition for lists packed with nonbasics: a shock land with two basic land types is still not a basic land. MSH supplies the main-set cycles; MSC adds Commander utility and reprints.
All five always tap for colorless. Their colored ability is available on the turn they enter or while you control a basic land. Losing your last basic can switch off colored production on later turns.
Gleaming Bastion produces white or blue; Hidden Lair produces blue or black. They can supply colored mana even as the first land of the game. After that turn, keep an actual basic in play; neither card has basic land types.
These cover the remaining allied pairs. They are especially easy to enable in two-color decks with plenty of basics. Do not count them as unrestricted colored sources in a zero-basic five-color mana base.
The MSH cycle covers every color pair: a tapped dual and one life when it enters. These are new card names for a familiar effect, not lands that accelerate your first turns.
These cover W/U, U/B, B/R, R/G, and G/W. They are inexpensive fixing or deliberate life-gain triggers. A rare dual can improve immediate mana access, but it gives up that life trigger.
These cover W/B, U/R, B/G, R/W, and G/U. Budget decks can use the colors they need. Decks trying to deploy their commander on curve should avoid filling too many slots with lands that always enter tapped.
Read the spending restrictions before counting these toward colored spell requirements.
The colored mana from Tower is for Hero spells or Hero-source abilities; Hideout similarly serves Villains. Both can still make colorless. A deck’s removal, counters, or ramp spells may be unable to use their colored mode.
Castle Doom’s colored mana casts artifacts only. The Great Mound spends three mana and a tap to create a tapped Vibranium token, a future restricted colorless source. Baxter Building’s four-for-four conversion fixes colors rather than increasing total mana; its separate draw ability needs a sufficiently tough creature.
Surveil 1 happens when it enters. Its free tap produces colorless; producing a color costs one other mana as well as tapping Room. The selection can help a graveyard deck, but its colored mode is not an extra mana source.
MSC includes established multiplayer duals, check lands, typed duals, and cycling lands. A new printing can improve availability without introducing a new ability.
With at least two opponents these enter untapped. Their condition is different from the MSH rare cycle’s basic-land requirement; pick the condition your games and mana base actually satisfy.
Specific cards. Specific reasons.
These are suggested swaps for the stated deck and board state. The examples isolate what changes; they do not claim every list should make the same swap.
01 / Shorikai, Genesis Engine
The setup: Your first land is an Island. On turn two you make this land drop.
| Before | After |
|---|---|
| Tranquil Cove enters tapped: only the Island is available, and you gain 1 life. | Gleaming Bastion enters untapped: two mana are available, with white-blue access between the lands. |
That changes whether you can deploy a two-mana rock or hold up two-mana interaction this turn. The Island also keeps Bastion’s colored ability active on later turns.
The tradeoff: You lose 1 life of incidental gain. If the basic leaves play on a later turn, Bastion may only produce colorless until another basic arrives.
This swap costs $1.38 more at this snapshot.
An illustrative starting list with one deliberate swap, not a saved player deck or a solver optimum. Prices use the linked nonfoil printings; basic lands count toward the total.
12 Island 10 Plains 1 Command Tower 1 Azorius Chancery 1 Tranquil Cove 1 Meandering River 1 Prairie Stream 1 Port Town 1 Glacial Fortress 1 Adarkar Wastes 1 Temple of Enlightenment 1 Sejiri Refuge 1 Evolving Wilds 1 Terramorphic Expanse 1 Myriad Landscape 1 Field of Ruin 1 Hall of Heliod's Generosity
12 Island 10 Plains 1 Command Tower 1 Azorius Chancery 1 Gleaming Bastion 1 Meandering River 1 Prairie Stream 1 Port Town 1 Glacial Fortress 1 Adarkar Wastes 1 Temple of Enlightenment 1 Sejiri Refuge 1 Evolving Wilds 1 Terramorphic Expanse 1 Myriad Landscape 1 Field of Ruin 1 Hall of Heliod's Generosity
02 / Isshin, Two Heavens as One
The setup: You control an untapped Plains and Mountain and play your third land. Isshin is available in the command zone without commander tax.
| Before | After |
|---|---|
| Bloodfell Caves enters tapped, leaving only two mana; you cannot cast the three-mana commander. | Dark Fortress enters untapped and can produce black immediately. Plains, Mountain, and Fortress pay W, R, and B for Isshin. |
This is a full turn of tempo in the stated opening: your commander comes down before the next attack step you want to enhance. The basics keep Fortress’s colored mode enabled afterward.
The tradeoff: A different opening may not supply all three colors. The swap also removes a life-gain trigger, and commander tax still increases Isshin’s cost on later casts.
This swap costs $2.33 more at this snapshot.
An illustrative starting list with one deliberate swap, not a saved player deck or a solver optimum. Prices use the linked nonfoil printings; basic lands count toward the total.
7 Plains 7 Swamp 7 Mountain 1 Command Tower 1 Exotic Orchard 1 Nomad Outpost 1 Evolving Wilds 1 Terramorphic Expanse 1 Ash Barrens 1 Path of Ancestry 1 Bloodfell Caves 1 Scoured Barrens 1 Wind-Scarred Crag 1 Boros Garrison 1 Rakdos Carnarium 1 Orzhov Basilica 1 Temple of Triumph 1 Temple of Malice 1 Temple of Silence
7 Plains 7 Swamp 7 Mountain 1 Command Tower 1 Exotic Orchard 1 Nomad Outpost 1 Evolving Wilds 1 Terramorphic Expanse 1 Ash Barrens 1 Path of Ancestry 1 Dark Fortress 1 Scoured Barrens 1 Wind-Scarred Crag 1 Boros Garrison 1 Rakdos Carnarium 1 Orzhov Basilica 1 Temple of Triumph 1 Temple of Malice 1 Temple of Silence
03 / Muldrotha, the Gravetide
The setup: Muldrotha is in play, you have not used your available land play, and this land is in your graveyard. You control a basic Forest.
| Before | After |
|---|---|
| Replaying Dismal Backwater gives a tapped blue-black source and 1 life. | Replaying Hidden Lair gives an untapped source that can produce blue or black this turn. |
Muldrotha can reuse a land from the graveyard, but does not untap it. Lair improves the mana available during that rebuilding turn and the Forest keeps its colored mode enabled afterward. This does not grant an extra land play.
The tradeoff: You need the land in the graveyard and an unused land play; the swap creates no automatic sacrifice loop. Backwater may still be preferable if its life-gain trigger is a deliberate payoff.
This swap costs $2.48 more at this snapshot.
An illustrative starting list with one deliberate swap, not a saved player deck or a solver optimum. Prices use the linked nonfoil printings; basic lands count toward the total.
7 Forest 6 Island 6 Swamp 1 Command Tower 1 Exotic Orchard 1 Opulent Palace 1 Path of Ancestry 1 Evolving Wilds 1 Terramorphic Expanse 1 Ash Barrens 1 Simic Growth Chamber 1 Golgari Rot Farm 1 Dimir Aqueduct 1 Thornwood Falls 1 Jungle Hollow 1 Dismal Backwater 1 Temple of Mystery 1 Temple of Malady 1 Temple of Deceit 1 Yavimaya Coast 1 Llanowar Wastes
7 Forest 6 Island 6 Swamp 1 Command Tower 1 Exotic Orchard 1 Opulent Palace 1 Path of Ancestry 1 Evolving Wilds 1 Terramorphic Expanse 1 Ash Barrens 1 Simic Growth Chamber 1 Golgari Rot Farm 1 Dimir Aqueduct 1 Thornwood Falls 1 Jungle Hollow 1 Hidden Lair 1 Temple of Mystery 1 Temple of Malady 1 Temple of Deceit 1 Yavimaya Coast 1 Llanowar Wastes
The five rare duals are the first place to look when a basic-heavy deck is slowed by gainlands. Keep enough basics to maintain colored mana after the entry turn. Add the artifact and creature-type lands only after checking which spells can actually spend their mana.
Continue with Guide to the ramp of Marvel Super Heroes →Rules and printing prices were checked against Scryfall on 2026-10-01; official Wizards references are below. Card images and rules are provided by Scryfall; illustrations belong to their credited artists and Wizards of the Coast. Card links open the exact printings used. Prices are a nonfoil USD snapshot, excluding shipping and tax, and are not historical release prices. Land and ramp costs are kept separate. Commander recommendations and turn examples are our analysis of those rules, not playtest results.