How To Build Every Commander Mana Base | The Definitive Guide | Magic: The Gathering 

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run EVERY fetch land!? what am i, made of printer ink?

Here's the bookmarks if you want to come back just for the numbers! Monocolour: 20:05 Two Colour: 20:13 Three Colour 20:41 Four/Five Colour: 21:08

35 mana rocks. The answer is always 35 mans rocks.

I love how the prof advocates proxying for edh... what a lad

Dear Professor, I really loved this one. Not only does it update my mana knowledge to the current meta, but it's also very clear, instructive, and helpful. A true professor's work, one of the best guides you've ever made!

The only thing I'd add to this is that you should slightly skew your mana base towards the colors of your 1-3 drops so you are less likely to have the wrong mana available on your first few turns. It is possible you can draw a land or fixer for your other colors before you will need them so you won't need as many mana sources for your high cost colors.

I've got a friend who is notorious for getting all his lands out in a five color deck, and then being unaffected by a Blood Moon. His trick? "Just draw all your basics." Uncanny.

This is a great tool, and even as a seasoned MTG player, I learned some things. However, my more unpopular opinion: This is not budget friendly. For a first time MTG player looking to build their own decks, or even someone who has been playing a ton, the mana bases shown even without the OG's are still pretty expensive and can add up when someone is trying to build more than 1 deck. I currently own 10+ EDH decks, all ranging within $100-200 because of budget restrictions. I probably spend a fraction of that on mana, and all of them run without issues. Adding a similar manabase to what you described can easily add $100 extra, and thats just not something I can generally afford. Not to mention, many tables don't see kindly to proxies so that may eliminate the "just print the cards" option. Again, absolutely love the video. I would love to see a budget alternative video to follow up for folks who can't afford a lot of the lands suggested.

Thank you for putting this together. Should be a fantastic resource for many Magic: the Gathering players. ❤

I freakin love whenever The Professor does gameplay/deckbuilding analysis like this

Fellwar Stone is a pretty good 2 mana rock that you left out. I'd include it in any deck that's 3+colors. And it's not terribly expensive either

Very interesting to see how things have evolved since your previous videos on the subject. Thanks for the update.

Your original mana base videos were the first ones I watched when I started playing in 2018. Thank you so much for giving such a useful and relevant update!

You rock man. I was just looking for information on this the other day. I really appreciate everything you do for the community.

As someone who plays at a lgs that has people that religiously follow profs advice, i cant wait to play back to basics diring my next commander night!

Thankfully my playgroup is a little more casual. Our land bases get pretty janky. My Niv-Mizzet Reborn deck is FILLED with tapped lands and it's still a lot of fun to play.

I love these series of videos Prof. Even I, someone who has played for about a decade now in casual and pro circles, adore videos like these! There is always something to learn, even in something as simple as the lands we need to play the game with! You're the best Prof! Appreciate all you do for this community, man!

Just wanted to say thanks for making this. I'm starting to get back into magic after seeing the Shuffle Up & Play videos getting me interested in Commander, and I've been fully out for 20 years and back when only really played casual kitchen table stuff with friends, and trying to parse through all these new lands and figure out what a mana base should even look like for 3 colors or more has been perhaps the single most daunting part of it as I'm thinking about it.

Perhaps its because I'm a pretty heavy budget player, but I still love at least a couple of temples in my 3 color plus decks, and definitely the one a 2 color deck can run. When you dont have a turn 1 play, or when you're flodding, seeing the next card and being able to put it on the bottom if its not needed is just nice Honestly id love to see a budget guide one day. As helpful as this guide is, I dont run most of the lands suggested if I don't already have them due to cost

So glad you have a new one! Been trying to help and direct new folks to your mana videos

Fascinating, definitely interesting to hear your thoughts on this Professor! The approach I've settled on, however, is: 50 mana sources, of which ~2/3rds are lands and the rest are rocks, dorks, or land tutors (to field, not hand). I have some slight adjustments to that for niche decks, like landfall decks get more lands of course, but I have found that this helps give an accelerated early game which I tend to like for my playstyle.

I've been waiting for an updated video so long. Thank you so much.

As a brand new player to both Magic and Commander, this video is absolutely invaluable! Thank you!

Your OG videos on this subject helped me SO much when I was a brand new player. I can’t even express to you how thankful I was for those videos

oh my god i needed this, its one of the MAJOR hangups i have when deckbuilding! thank you so much prof

Thank you for this been waiting to play commander for a while, but I wasn't sure where to start

Thank you so much for this video Professor! I stopped playing for a few years and I'm getting back into MTG this year. This video was very instructive and needed for old players like us who has a lot of catchup to do!

Building my first deck from scratch (been playing for about 3 months) this video is gonna help a ton!!! Thanks!

Not bad, and super helpful! The one thing I'm trying to do more often is to never run Sol Ring in my deck as I personally do not like the card. I understand how important it can be, and how strong it is, but I don't find it necessary. One thing I'm finding way more necessary with lands is to have at least one utility land that is 100% land destruction. There are too many powerful lands that a non-basic lands that should be destroyed. I highly recommend running at least one of the following: Wasteland, Ghost Quarters, Field of Ruin, or Demolition Field.

I like playing 3+ color commands, so I also like using the CLB Gate lands, as they come in with one color and a second color you choose. Unfortunately they always enter tapped, but the "Gond Gate" land means all gates enter untapped, and the "Baldur's Gate" land generates mana equal to the number of gates you control, providing a lot of value!

Professor I'm brand new to Magic but this video and so many more of yours have been absolutely invaluable to me. Thank you so much for the service you do for this game and it's community.

This is so great. Thank you! As a kitchen-table-commander player this is so useful!

Masterpiece of a guide! I feel very validated since I do all of these things on my own. I'm so proud! But fear not Professor, you did teach me something. I should consider replacing a few of my shock lands in my 5c deck. 🤔 All 10 aren't necessary when I can lean into my most used color pairs.

I just started playing two weeks ago and this was invaluable

I've already come back to this video three times now, this is a much needed and very helpful update to an already useful series!

As someone trying to poke into MTG and hearing you mention the poor mana bases of many precons as an issue, I'm really glad to see a video addressing and explaining that!

Very excited to share this with friends who are just getting into brewing :)

I know you said you shouldn't run fetch lands in mono color decks, but I actually like playing a couple in mono-blue, since it lets you fetch for Mystic Sanctuary to recycle a key instant/sorcery.

2:33 Prof, you just made my day! I really needed to hear that. This is the first time I'm liking a video for the AD read 😆

Sent this to my play groups and will use to help new players alike! Thank you!

It's just a masterpiece. Every commander player, especially a new one, should watch this video. Thank you a lot, Professor.

Surprised Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle wasn’t mentioned for Mono-Red decks. The red, green, and white hideaway lands are also very good for any 1-2 color deck that can include them and reliably meet their activate condition.

Thanks Prof! I always used your old mana base vids and was wondering recently if you'd make another! This will be very helpful!

Just gotta say. These videos is what got me into magic the gathering and even showed me what it was. Super interesting and well informed videos. I knew exactly what I was getting into. Enjoyed the game a lot these past couple years

i was needing one of these! thanks

I saw this and INSTANTLY clicked! I have SO much trouble with Mana Bases! Especially cuz I range from 1-4 colors in all my decks (and I have a Jodah 5 Color in mind as well, that I want to use to make Phyrexian Praetor based)

Love the vid Prof.!! Excellent breakdown for the more modern deck building techniques I'm definitely gonna recommend to others.

This came just in time. I've been looking to update my Shorikai deck and start playing MTG again. Updating the manabase will probably be the more expensive part of the rebuild, but having such a guide will definitely help keep costs down as I won't be buying unnecessary things.

Always a pleasure to see your content prof! ❤️

Time Stamps: He Said it Guys, He said the thing! 0:07 The Basics 3:45 -Build to Your Curve 3:45 -Consider your Costs 4:50 (^general land count examples) More Colors Higher Standars 5:40 -General Count of Mono Lands 5:49 -General Count 2 Color Lands 5:59 -General Count 3 Color Lands 6:07 -General Count 4/5 Color Lands 6:14 -More color Higer standars 6:27 (^How to select lands and why) -Tap lands bad 😠 6:50 -Except this ones! 😲 7:11 Evaluating Dual Lands 7:46 -Command Tower and Rainbow Lands 7:50 -Original Dual Lands and Substitutes 8:20 -Fetch Lands and their General count 9:09 -General Fetch Land 2 Color Count 9:48 -General Fetch Land 3 Color Count 10:04 -General Fetch Land + Color Count 10:13 -Dual Lands Budget Fixers 10:22 -Shock Lands 11:13 -General Shock Count 2-3 Color 11:30 -General Shock Count 4-5 Color 11:35 -Battle Bond Lands 12:06 -Horizon Lands 12:24 -Triome Lands 12:50 2-3 Color Decks 13:26 -Pain and Slow Lands 13:44 -Pathways, Check and Filter Lands 14:08 -Fast Lands and Reveal Lands Bad 😠 14:24 -Creature Lands and Temples Bad 😠 14:36 -Every Other Dual Land Bad 😠 14:46 -Yes! Even that one! 15:51 -Also that one!! 15:01 -Yes that one too!! 15:02 Utility Lands 15:04 -Channel Lands 15:26 -Sokenzan bad!! 😲 15:37 -Modal Double Face Lands 15:46 -Other notable Utility Lands 16:05 -Auto-Include Utility Lands 16:20 -Black Auto-Include 16:26 -Blue Auto-Include 16:33 -Green Auto-Include 16:36 -White Auto-Include 16:40 -Red Auto-Include 16:45 -Speciall Auto-Includes 16:50 -Utility Lands and Mono deck 17:10 -Utility General Counts 17:30 Mana Acceleration 17:43 -Bad Joke about mana rocks 17:45 -Need Less mana rocks now 17:55 -When to mana rock and why 18:10 -3 cost mana rocks Bad 😠 18:24 -2 cost mana rocks arent ubiquitous 18:28 (Today I Learned a new word ^) -Arcane Signet Good 🥰 18:32 -Talismans as mana rocks 18:37 -Thanks Modern Horizons! 😲 18:46 -Signets and colorless mana rocks 18:51 -Sol Ring Good 🥰 18:58 -1-0 mana accelerants 19:01 -Mana rocks 2 color general count 19:17 -Mana rocks 3 color green-less count 19:30 -Multicolor green deck count 19:40 Building the Manabase 19:55 (Probably the timestamps youre looking for) -Mono Color General Count 20:06 -2 Color General Count 20:14 -3 Color General Count 20:40 -4/5 Color General Count 21:08 -He told me to time code this stuff 21:33 This Video is just a General guide so think for yourself a little bit 🙄 21:40 Self Shilling 22:22 You are gorgeous if youre bald! He said it! 22:48 Cute Outro Song 23:23 Interupting my Outro Song Vibing 23:40

This is a Masterclass . Thank you, and your team, for this lesson.

I have been waiting on this one for a long time! Thank you!

I love the bits where you mentioned printer ink *hint hint* (it's okay to proxy guys. Wizards said so)

Great stuff

thank you for making this! I can't tell you how much I've hated building decks cause I don't know what to do about the land base. this has help heaps

Thank you Professor for this complete, precise and ressourceful work. I will follow this update guide to check at all my commander decks right away 😉

Why no mention of Fellwar stone instead of thought vessel or mind stone?

A few (usually) untapped utility lands that often make the cut for me: Demolition Field (every single deck), Minas Tirith (mono-white creatures), Barad-Dur (black sac), Terrain Generator, Shire Terrace, Ash Barrens (1-2 colors, non-green)

This is extremely helpful and concise, and I've been playing for years!

Thank you for this. I'm absolutely sending it to my friend that I'm trying to get into deck building.

There is one thing I would point out and that is statements like "In Commander today tap-lands are to slow". I do not agree that there is a "Commander today". There are many. I play at my local store and it is pretty casual. I know when to use a bad decks and when to use a better one. There is almost no proxying and I have seen the original dual lands once the last years. The tap lands work just fine at most of the tables. I am happy that this is my Magic today and not a magic where I have to invest in expencive cards to compete. (yes you could proxy but I don't) Usueful video anyway as it is useful even if you use cheaper cards.

This was great Prof thanks. One thing that wasn't covered that I did want to ask about is when should you use the Medallion cycle of artifacts such as Sapphire Medallion? Should they only be used in mono-colored decks, can they be used in 2-color decks?

Great video! Been brewing a lot of potential decks lately and I always struggle with the mana base so this is an excellent resource. Personally I still run temples sometimes, but only in decks that have specific synergies related to manipulating the top card of the library. Maybe I'm deluding myself and the scry still isn't worth the hit to the curve, but it has come in handy for setting up certain combos.

This video is timed beautifully! Right as I'm getting serious about my new favorite commander, Pantlaza.

“Proxies” and then twenty-four minutes of credits

please include alternatives to OG duals for colors other than 3 as well and I would love a lot more corner cases covered every mana base up until 4 colors with and without green and your thoughts on color specific duals like nimbus maze, the tainted lands and so would be cool for a separate video

Thank you professor for this great guide, as someone that basically started playing EDH this summer and is starting to look in other places than the only precon i have, i can't wait to build a new deck using this knowledge. Altough i'll go lighter on fetch lands as i prefer keeping it both as a budget (ink is expensive as you said) and second the power level of my group isn't that high. I'm looking forward to it tho!

Great information, I typically start my build with 37 lands and then 15 peices of ramp and then go from there depending on the mana curve.

I know you advocated for proxies when it comes to the OG dual lands, but still when you started going down the list of land bases at the end of the video, and just the idea of running all 10 original Duals in my 4 & 5 color decks gave me a tiny conniption. I think my play group will likely just stick to super casual Commander....

Let me guess: 10 old duals 10 fetches 10 shocks

I did this for my Breya deck. Most fun I’ve had in like 7 years with it. Thank you prof for helping a lowly scrub such as me

Woo! The old vids definitely needed updating, very happy to see you revisit the land bases in commander, I will definitely be referencing this video for years to come. My only complaint is not including budget options for fetches especially or even some of the more expensive duals like bonds or shocks. Not everyone can afford the big mana bases and some people don't like proxies for numerous reasons. I think excluding scrys and cycling lands altogether was a mistake, I would have definitely mentioned them for players on a budget as alternatives to some of the others. Great vid tho, I'll be back to view it again every so often :)

How to Build Every Commander Mana Base: -Every fetch in your colours -Strip Mine -Everything else a basic -Blood Moon

Love the encouragement to proxy mana base cards. It's always a shame to have a friend run terrible mana because they're unable to afford even a basic manabase.

Thanks I really appreciate all the help and advice over the years.

Great stuff as always, thanks Professor!

I was surprised to hear you say not to run temples. Yesterday's video of Dr Who collector box opening you and Gavin said temples were still good. They are the only tapped land I'm ok with

Very nice timing, as I've recently planned the mana bases for some new Commander decks based on your old 2 colour video (with a few edits to fit in newer lands), but haven't bought any of the cards yet. The recommendations here are quite different to my first drafts, so I'll give the decks another look!

Your style and knowledge makes you perfect for these kind of videos.

look, it's called COMMANDER, and i'll be damned if i cast anything else, 99 lands

If your playgroup/LGS don't want you to have a land base consisting entirely of proxies, the recommendations in this video are practically useless. If I were to apply these recommendations to my current decks, 50-75% of the total deck cost would be spent on lands :) It is fine to play with a cheaper (and slower) mana base as long as you are playing 3 or fewer colors, if you deck build reasonably it doesn't have that much of an impact on your power level. (as long as you're not playing cEDH lol)

Thank you for this video. Printed screen caps for each mana base.

So glad the professor came out with this video right when I was going to make my first 4 color deck. c:

Krosan Verge gets any Forest and Plains so it isn't limited to Selesnya.

Coming into the guide I was't expecting a CEDH guide to building mana bases. Original duals, Fetch, shock lands are basically out of budget for most people and out of a cedh deck if i have one of those lands in a deck of mine is one too many. Unless you expect to run the whole mana base with proxies, I would like to see from you a guide for budget mana base for 1,2,3,4,5 colors.

Excellent video, it's made me consider some changes to my manabases - I'll propably keep running all the triomes that're Forests for my 5c Dragon deck, they let me get all my colours real early with low manacurve Forest fetch spells.

Thank you for the great video (again!) I would've loved a segment about ritual-type or Treasure-making accelerants when they are needed/recommended/to be avoided.

Such a coincidence, I've watched your guide yesterday (old ones) for mana and bought on cardmarket the lands. I don't think I made a huge mistake anyways, the adjustments I made thanks to your guides are already highly visible when I play my decks

This has been my biggest problem and having this video helped A LOT thank you professor.

Waoh this is soooo on point! Nothing to add, this is how I build my manabase nothing to say or add... Bravo Proff!

Great video, I took screenshots. One thing I’d suggest as a green mage: replace rampant growth with Sakura tribe elder. It does the same thing for the same cost, but Steve can trigger greens etb draw effects, fuel cradle/itlimoc, add to craterhoof count, chump block, and can be more easily recurred from the graveyard.

I love the Professor! This so helpful, thank you!

Very helpful video Professor, thank you!

Opened up youtube whilst tuning my commander decks to look up one of prof's mana base videos, and this video is waiting for me!

This was super helpful. I almost want to screenshot these and print them out even tho I've been building decks for almost 5 years now.

Thank you. I needed this.

9:38 - Another good reason to run fetch lands in a mono-color deck is for graveyard strats, either recurring land from the grave or using them to accelerate things like delve/escape.

I thought there was no way to cover the topic in 20 minutes, but this was excellent. I've watched hour long podcasts on the topic that are put to shame by this concise breakdown.

This was awesome thank you!