For the budget player near you!
Art: Darkslick Shores
by Aaron Miller
Magic can be expensive and not everyone wants to spend 20 or 30 dollars or even hundreds on a single card, Magic has been around long enough that there are some wonderful alternatives to some of the more pricy lands that may make your deck a little slower but not by much! This list aims to help players know there options and not get overwhelmed by some of the higher priced lands and feel that they are priced out of the game! While there are top end lands that perform the best, this list shows that are awesome alternatives that have a very similar effect for much cheaper!
5. Scry Lands
The Scry lands originally printed in Theros are an awesome cycle of lands that allow you to “fix” your next draw and are dual lands, while these are not always perfect since they always entered tapped and cant be fetched they are a great budget option that can help you set up your next draw and give you access to two colors of mana overall great lands that are cheap and actively played in decks that can play them!
4. Pain Lands
The pain lands are a super sweet cycle that have duals for every single allied and enemy color combination! The biggest downside of these lands are that they are not fetchable but they do enter the battlefield untapped and can tap for either color! These lands can really go in any deck and even alongside non-budget lands for commander this cycle is perfect and is also very accessible price wise with most of these only costing a couple dollars a piece!
3. Eldraines check lands
While these lands may not have the biggest impact on the early game they can be a powerhouse in the late game, checking for three or more of the corresponding basic land type and having a cool effect happen in the case of Mystic Sanctuary returning an Instant or Sorcery to the top of your library or making a food token in the case of Gingerbread Cabin, all of these lands are great not so much in the early game but really shine in the late game when they act not only as a basic but a basic plus. Since the do have a corresponding subtype if you have fetches these can be fetched as well!
2. Fast Lands
This cycle is kind of the opposite of the Eldraine Check lands since they are much better in the early game, these are great lands to play in the first couple turns and gives you access to dual color mana with no real downside, while these do get worse as they game goes on they are great dual lands that dont fetch a very high price with most of them being 2 to 5 dollars! The fast lands cycle is in every color so you can really slot these into any deck!
1. Hideout Lands
While the main drawback of the Hideout lands from Streets of New Capenna is that the can only fetch the corresponding 3 color combo they are a great budget “fetch” land that can grab you a basic and gain you a life, this is much more powerful than your average Evolving Wilds
and if your deck is running the right colors can be a much better evolving wilds all of these lands are less than a dollar and offer a lot which is why they took the number 1 spot on this list!
In conclusion there are ton of awesome alternative land cycles for any budget conscious players who want to play the amazing EDH format, all of these land cycles are very accessible and are not really that different than their more expensive counterparts!
Thanks for reading to the end!