Your chances of hitting your first two drops are almost perfect – 99.8% – and your chances of hitting your fifth go up to over three out of five, or 63.8%. Now, if that is the case, then if we ran 20 ramp cards that can generate our mana, then 85% of the time we will effectively have 52 mana sources in the deck. This means we have a 92% chance of being able to have 4 mana sources for our commander on turn 4.
This is called “overbuilding,” and it’s a method to keep urban sprawl in check. Civilization 7 looks and sounds great, but that doesn’t mean much if it doesn’t play like a Civ game. I can’t cover everything due to the sheer scale of the mechanics inside; I’ll do my best to nail the big stuff.
Cards like Mulldrifter and Night’s Whisper draw you cards thus increasing the chance to see more lands. Competitive Commander decks are built to win, and nearly all of them do that with combos. Multi-card combos that immediately win the game are the heart of every cEDH deck. Essentially, they are decks that break the normal rules of the game and require permission from the table to allow them. Some examples of Rule 0 possibilities include using banned cards and silver-bordered or acorn stamped cards, or adding a mechanic that does not appear on the card (but probably should). To do this, we used deckstats probability calculator to show how your land count will look.
The color diversity of a Commander deck affects the number of lands needed. Control decks aim to disrupt your game plan and prevent you from executing your strategy. Opponents may be hesitant to attack or use removal spells when they see the Quicksilver Amulet on the board, fearing that I may have a powerful creature waiting to be played. This can be especially useful in situations where my mana base is limited or when I need to quickly establish board presence. As a Commander player, I am always on the lookout for innovative ways to enhance my deck.
Deckbuilding
We’ll cover Control Decks, Aggro Decks, and Themed Decks as sub-sections. As you fine-tune your Commander deck, always remember to test and adjust your card strategies to achieve the best performance. Keep exploring various card synergies and interactions to make your deck as competitive and enjoyable to play as possible.
Ramp and Card Draw
And I do get flooded sometimes; not every Commander has an Activated Ability, and sometimes I’m just going to draw nothing but land. Players running fewer lands are playing a high risk/high reward game, and sometimes with high risk you’re going to lose your gamble. Only you can decide what concessions you’re willing to make. While the number of lands you include in your deck will depend on your Commander and the strategy you’re using, most Commander decks run between 33 and 40 lands [1][3]. This gives you a good chance of drawing enough lands to cast your spells without flooding out and being unable to cast spells.
What Kind of Decks Run Lots of Lands?
In addition to the specific abilities of your Commander, there are other factors that can influence the number of lands you should include in your deck. When choosing artifacts for a Commander deck, I focus on finding ones that provide synergy with my commander or other cards in my deck. Here are some factors to consider when determining your land count.
Also if you’re gonna go for the atraxa, kaalia, and other obvious hate generals don’t forget to build up protections in your deck and don’t get mad if you get aimed. When building your Commander deck, pay attention to the mana curve. The mana curve represents the distribution of cards based on their mana value (formerly converted mana cost). Look to have a mix of low, medium, and high-cost cards to ensure a balance of early, mid, and late-game plays.
You’re going to have unlucky draws and you’re going to have fantastically lucky draws. Don’t use one unlucky play session as evidence to add or remove lands. Your color ratio of spells will usually feature one color more than another if you’re in a combo. Or one color in your deck might have a ton of spells that cost double or even triple of that color.
In this section, I will discuss two strategies that have proven to be effective in my experience. One of the key considerations when building a Commander deck is the abilities and requirements of your Commander. Determining your land count requires balancing several factors. In this section, we’ll explore a few example decks and themes for different gameplay styles.
Competitive EDH (cEDH) players usually have a deeper understanding of the mulligan process, ensuring they have combos edh the best chance for a strong opening. Ultimately, the specific land count and types in your Commander deck will depend on your individual deck’s needs and strategies. Take time to analyze your deck’s composition to ensure a smooth and enjoyable gameplay experience.
Since this allows for more greedy mulligans, I changed the mulligan strategy as well. This leads to fewer lands being required and overall better chances of hitting your landdrops. If you want to play around with the numbers or have a better look at my calculations here is the link to the Excel Sheet. Aggro isn’t the strongest in EDH but there are ways to make it work, and that needs to have a lot of mana, fast.
