Commander Oracles: Land to Stand on
Welcome once again! It’s me, Brandon. Don’t fret, though, because this one is quite spicy. About as spicy as topdecking a Bolt when your opponent was about to whirlwind slam your head into the table with a board of elfy boys. Were talking lands. Which lands? Well, lands in commander; mostly lands that no one else talks about because they aren’t as pretty per se. Anyways let get right into it:
10. Arch of Orazca
Arch of Orazca, one of the few lands that go into every single one of my decks, well except decks with a lot of draw power. Sometimes you have nothing to do on a turn and you leave all your mana untapped. Utility lands, in general, are good for this but this one does the most powerful effect in Magic the Gathering…. it draws you a card.
9. Thawing Glaciers
I hear you whine to me all the time: “But sir, red has no ramp, neither does blue.” Well, complain no more. Thawing Glaciers will keep you thinning your deck and grabbing lands out like no tomorrow. Yes, it’s technically not ramping but it is deck thinning and will definitely make your opponent stop for a second and go… wait, what? So, play this card in any non-green deck for thinning goodness.
8. Emergence Zone
If you do not know of this card I’d be quite amazed. It gives stuff Flash. But what makes it even flashier (see what I did there?) is the fact that it Flashes its cards from anywhere. So your Commander can get flash. Imagine the potential, especially in any deck that has land recursion. It’s just value.
7. Homeward Path
I know this card was printed in a Commander set, but no one plays it. Come on, guys; if you don’t run this card then you shouldn’t complain when the mono-blue player steals all your stuff with Agent of Treachery and a flicker effect. Trust me, it happens more than you’d think. Don’t you worry, because I forgive you. Let us bring those thieves to justice.
6. Halimar Depths
What do you do with your tap lands? Gain a life? Scry 1? Wrong! You need to rearrange the top 3 cards of your library! This land gives you half a Ponder. If that’s not wonderful, I have no idea what is. Knowledge is power!
5. Grim Backwoods
If you play a BGx deck you usually like things dying. Dying to scry with an effect from Viscera Seer is one thing but once per turn drawing a card and killing your stuff sounds wonderful. If you recall the number 10 card, drawing cards is the most powerful effect in Magic!
4. Karn’s Bastion
Proliferate is one of those effects that in any deck with counters is just plain great. You never complain about it. Hell, you can even do it to your buddy, give him another +1/+1 counter, he will probably smile, not gonna lie. Or give your opponent another infect counter. Planeswalkers also love this; make ’em big, make ’em chunky, and you can give Karn a big hug afterward.
3. Bojuka Bog
I still love/hate this card so much, as an avid black player I enjoy my 2nd hand… I mean my graveyard so much… but sometimes the vile foe sees this and on their land drop take all your pleasures away. No mana, just an ETB trigger. They enjoy it, even if it seems like they don’t.
2. Westvale Abbey
Ever wanted to sacrifice your soul to a Demon? Well, how about 5 other souls? Well, you’re in luck. Summon the demon of absolute carnage with only 5 mana and 5 souls. If you don’t have any souls to sacrifice, then this wonderful land will make them for you. So go ahead beat down with that Ormendahl, it has Haste.
1. Vault of the Archangel
Do you know what feels better than swinging all out? Swinging all out with Deathtouch and Lifelink. End him rightly and glare at your next victim as you restore back up to 300 life. Deathtouch is just the cherry on top, it makes blocking so awkward. Everything becomes a chump blocker if you coat everything in poison.
I hope you liked this article because you are wonderful and deserve to crush your opponents in glorious Commander fashion. Thanks for reading.