MDFCs and You - why your commander deck could be stronger with spell lands
Zendikar Rising has brought the advent of a new concept for Magic: the Gathering, one that opens up huge potential design space, as well as another big decision in deckbuilding. But are they relevant in Commander, and if so, which are the cards to consider?
The Problem With Lands
It’s no secret that Magic is an old game, and while that history and pedigree is a great strength, it has also baked in design decisions that haven’t always aged well. One of those decisions was the creation of specific cards designed solely to generate mana: basic lands. The main problem with this type of card design is that (whispier it softly) it’s essentially a boring mechanic that limits player choice during the game. You play out your land, it sits there and taps for mana. That’s it. While lands have been introduced with activated abilities over the years to spice things up, many decks remain reliant on a card type that has a single very limited function – to sit in play and generate mana. Ordinary lands also create other issues, most notably the infamous mana screw and mana flood that have ruined countless games of Magic. In other more modern trading card games, that problem has been solved with systems that slowly and reliably ramping mana each turn, meaning that every card is guaranteed to be interactive, in turn making unfun, uncompetitive games far rarer. Well, this year Wizards have decided to tackle this issue in a really bold way. Enter Zendikar Rising’s dual-faced spell lands, or ‘Modal Double Faced Cards’ (MDFCs) as is their ever-so-catchy official name. So how can we take advantage of these powerful new tools in Commander, and which MDFCs are the strongest?
The Value of Spell-Lands
MDFC Lands are modal cards, with the player selecting which mode to use as they are played. All MDFC lands can played on their land side to essentially function as a basic land, albeit one that enters tapped by default. But if their mana generation is not required, perhaps because they are drawn in the late game or in a land-glutted hand, they can be played on their reverse side as a spell.
This modality is a hugely strong effect, one whose true strength is only beginning to be explored and exploited in deckbuilding. It opens up many entirely new slots for spells, and some of the MDFCs have been cleverly designed to be reasonably costed, in-demand effects across multiple formats. The spells are of course costed to take into account the fact that you are not giving up a full spell slot in your deck to include them, but in Commander - where ramp is king - the high casting costs are far more realistic than they are in other formats. This is also true of the so-called ‘bolt lands’ like Emeria’s Call/Shattered Skyclave which can come into play untapped at the cost of 3 life, a much-reduced cost in a 40-life format like Commander.
Arguments are still going on about the exact rate at which you should include these lands in your deck, and what percentage of a land players should consider them to be. Generally, you won’t go far wrong in considering MDFC lands to be between 50% and two thirds of a land for the purposes of a standard land/spell distribution in deckbuilding. But the key point is that these cards are not taking up anywhere near a full spell slot in your deck. This is a very big deal. It can offer you access to hugely useful effects at very little opportunity cost in deck space, and at limited risk to your manabase, particularly if your deck runs only one or two colours.
MDFCs For Commander
There were 29 MDFC lands introduced in Zendikar Rising, but Commander is of course a format with access to a hugely powerful card pool, so we won’t cover the weaker or more situational spell lands here. Instead, we’ll look at ten of the best of the best, and the case for including them in your Commander Deck.
10. Glasspool Mimic/Glasspool Shore
In a deck running huge, game ending creatures like It that Betrays, Glasspool Mimic is a great additional Clone option for your own creatures. It’s also a Rogue if your deck happens to have access to any tribal Rogue synergies, or Party synergies from Zendikar Rising.
This card is a great example of the smart costing approach Wizards has taken with MDFCs. Glasspool Mimic is a more restrictive version of Clone at the same CMC, which on the face of it looks like a raw deal. But the fact that this can always function as a land where required justifies that cost, as well as offering access to a fun and useful effect that many decks would be likely to cut for more reliable options.
9. Turntimber Symbiosis/Turntimber, Serpentine Wood
The first of the so-called ‘bolt lands’, Turntimber Symbiosis can be played as an untapped land if its controller pays 3 life. An expensive cost in many formats to be sure, but not so much in Commander with a starting life total of 40. That makes the primary drawback of spell lands – the effect on a deck’s ability to curve out – even less of an issue for this and the other bolt lands.
In the right creature-heavy ramp deck, Turntimber Symbiosis will very likely hit a viable target, and in some cases will be able to cheat a hugely expensive or difficult to cast creature into play. Even if it hits a smaller creature from earlier in your curve, you’ll still get any enter the battlefield effects, and you’re compensated with three +1/+1 counters to help make whatever you find a more relevant mid to late game threat on board.
8. Valakut Awakening/Valakut Stoneforge
Perhaps no other card sums up the design purpose of modal lands as well as Valakut Awakening. If you draw this in the early game, you’ll of course play it as a land if that’s what your hand needs. But if you draw it late in a flooded hand, or if you’re digging for answers, Valakut Awakening offers a powerful way to redraw large numbers of cards without card disadvantage, and it even does it at instant speed. This is a particularly useful effect for red, which often lacks access to serious card draw. It can also be used to profitably dump cards into the graveyards, particularly in red decks that benefit from having instant and sorcery spells in the graveyard.
7. Ondu Inversion/Ondu Skyruins
Would you like an all-permanents wrath effect that doesn’t take up a full slot in your deck? You probably should! This is a tempting offer to any experienced Commander player as a land slot, even if it does cost two additional colorless mana over its functional equivalent, Planar Cleansing.Yes the mana cost is high, but the power and relevance of the effect is undeniable if you can afford an extra tap-land in your white deck.
6. Bala Ged Recovery/Bala Ged Sanctuary
The ability to recur any card from your graveyard is much-prized in Commander, where the singleton rules make returning key pieces especially important for many decks. This version of that effect comes attached to a land, and does so without a crippling mana cost price-point.
Obviously even stronger in dedicated mill decks, where (like all MDFC lands) it offers even greater recurrence value alongside cards like Crucible of Worlds and land-sacrifice abilities like that of the Gitrog Monster, which can create some really fun recurrence loops with this card in particular.
5. Hagra Mauling/Hagra Broodpit
In black decks that can take the possible tempo loss, this offers another a very flexible, unconditional targeted removal option.
If your playgroup specialises in greedy mana bases with few basics, the cost-reduction clause can actually be very relevant, at which point this becomes a Murder attached to a land.
4. Sea Gate Restoration/Sea Gate, Reborn
The second of the bolt lands on this list - which will go on to dominate our top three because of their powerful effects and additional on-curve flexibility – Sea Gate Restoration feels perhaps the most targeted for Commander. Card advantage is vital in the format, and decks have access to multiple ways to circumvent hand size restrictions or to generate a colossal hand size.
If you’ve been maintaining a large hand size all games with powerful blue card draw spells like Rhystic Study, this card can feasibly draw you seven or eight cards in the late game and let you keep them all. Things can get even crazier if you already have access to a card like Reliquary Tower, which can allow this card to draw even more massive portions of your deck. Pair with Niv-Mizzett, Parun or other card-draw matters commanders for added hilarity.
3. Emeria's Call/Emeria, Shattered Skyclave
Best in dedicated token decks that can benefit most from the beefy flying angel tokens this generates, Emeria’s Call is still going to be an effect worth having in the late game in most decks. Most importantly, like so many of the spell lands on this list will always be a relevant topdeck.
Even the indestructability effect can be relevant in a close game despite coming at sorcery speed, and can make a key attack extremely difficult for an opponent. Combine with Vedalken Orrery for the most expensive combat trick ever printed!
2. Shatterskull Smashing/Shatterskull, The Hammerpass
More bolt - land value, and more targeted removal, this time with the ability to hit multiple creatures, or to nuke Planeswalkers. Like all MDFCs, the effect is relatively expensive, but any red deck that can ramp will still be able to make good use of this card.Its usefulness in Commander is arguably higher than in other formats, giving you the ability to remove threats on two opposing boards at the same time. It can offer particularly effective reach against any Planeswalkers that are well protected by blockers.
1. Agadeem's Awakening/ Agadeem, the Undercrypt
Agadeem’s Awakening may well offer the best potential return on mana investment of any of the MDFCs if used to its full potential, offering the option to return half a dozen or more creatures. The fact that it can be played untapped at the cost of three life is icing on the cake, making it an even easier include in self-mill decks that absolutely must curve out.
Jonathan Widnall
- Jon Widnall