TLDR: Start an exactly 60-card Constructed Magic deck with 24 or 25 lands. Test fewer only when the deck has a genuinely low curve and can function on two or three lands. Test more when it needs repeated land drops, expensive spells, or useful ways to spend excess mana. Then audit colored and untapped sources separately; the correct total does not help if those lands cannot cast your important spells on time.
If you are asking how many lands should you put in a 60-card Magic deck, 24–25 is the most reliable general starting point, not an unbreakable rule. Wizards’ mana guidance uses that baseline while emphasizing that the answer changes with the mana curve, color requirements, and other mana production in the deck. Wizards’ overview of mana and land counts provides the official starting framework.
The useful question is not simply whether 24 lands is normal. It is whether your deck can make the land drops and produce the colors required for its important turns. A deck can play 25 lands and still stumble because too many enter tapped or produce the wrong color. Another deck can run 22 successfully because almost every spell is cheap and its game plan remains functional after missing a later land drop.
How many lands should you put in a 60-card Magic deck?
Use the following ranges as starting points for testing, not universal prescriptions. Formats, individual card choices, alternative mana sources, and the speed of opposing decks can all change the final number.
| Starting land count | Deck profile | What to verify |
|---|---|---|
| 20–22 | Very low-curve, proactive deck | The deck functions on two lands, has few costly cards, and does not need repeated land drops. |
| 23–24 | Low-curve deck with some three- or four-mana plays | Missing the third land is survivable, while drawing excess lands has a real cost. |
| 24–25 | Typical creature, tempo, or midrange starting point | The deck wants its first several land drops and has a moderate curve. |
| 25–27 | Control, expensive midrange, or a deck with mana sinks | The deck needs later land drops and can use additional mana after stabilizing. |
| 28 or more | Unusual, highly mana-intensive construction | Specific card interactions, land payoffs, or an exceptionally expensive plan justify the total. |
Do not begin by choosing the smallest number you think you can get away with. Begin near the appropriate range, identify which land drop matters most, and adjust from actual failures. Cutting a land because one game produced seven lands is as unreliable as adding three because one opening hand had none.
Your curve matters more than the average mana value
Average mana value compresses the deck into one number and can hide what actually matters. Two decks can have the same average while placing very different demands on their mana bases. One might contain mostly one- and two-mana spells plus a few expensive finishers. The other might need to cast a three-mana spell on turn three and a four-mana spell on turn four to stay competitive.
Instead, sort the deck by the turn on which each spell needs to be cast. Ask three questions:
- What can the deck accomplish with only two lands?
- Which land drop unlocks its most important play: the third, fourth, fifth, or later?
- How badly does the game plan suffer when that land drop is missed?
A low-curve aggressive deck may have four-mana cards but still function on two or three lands for much of a game. Its costly cards are finishers rather than structural requirements. A midrange deck might technically have many cheap cards but still need four lands to sequence two spells or deploy its strongest threat. The midrange deck therefore has a stronger reason to remain near 24–25 lands.
Control and other expensive decks usually need more land because they want to keep making land drops after the opening turns. They can also tolerate drawing additional lands more easily when they have activated abilities, card selection, or other mana sinks. The cost of an extra land depends on whether it becomes useless or continues enabling stronger turns.
Total lands and colored sources are different counts
After choosing a tentative land total, count how many sources produce each required color. A source is a land or other dependable mana producer that can provide the color in question. A 24-land two-color deck does not automatically have 24 sources for either color.
Wizards’ general guidance gives 15–16 sources as a baseline for a color needed early in a 60-card deck, with 17–18 offering a safer range. The exact need still depends on how early the color is required and how demanding the colored costs are. A single colored symbol on a late spell is not equivalent to a double-colored cost that must be paid on turn two or three.
Audit each important spell by both color and timing. If your plan depends on casting a double-red spell on turn two, lands that produce only your secondary color do not help that job. A three-color deck needs the same analysis for all three colors, which can expose a mana problem even when the overall land count appears generous.
Official mana-base guidance likewise emphasizes whether a multicolor deck can produce the required colors and cast spells on time, rather than judging the base only by its total land count.
Untapped sources deserve a separate audit
A land can count as a colored source but still be too slow for a specific turn. If it normally enters tapped, it may cast a late spell perfectly well while failing to support an essential turn-one play.
Label the spells you want to cast on turns one, two, and three. Then count the lands that can actually produce the required colors untapped on those turns. This catches a common diagnosis error: adding another dual land may improve color access in general while making the deck slower if that land cannot be used immediately.
Ramp does not replace lands one for one
Mana creatures, artifacts, and other accelerants can let a deck reach expensive spells sooner, but they are not automatically direct replacements for lands. Wizards’ guidance explicitly cautions against treating mana acceleration as a one-for-one land substitute.
Most accelerants must themselves be cast. A two-mana mana source does nothing when the opening hand contains no lands, and a one-mana accelerator still needs an appropriate first-turn source. Nonland mana can also be easier to remove than a land, depending on the card and matchup.
When evaluating ramp, separate two questions:
- How much mana does the deck want to reach?
- How reliably can it produce the first one or two mana needed to deploy its acceleration?
A deck with several accelerants may reach five mana quickly while still requiring enough lands to cast those accelerants consistently. Cut lands only after testing shows that the deck reliably starts functioning and does not collapse when an early mana producer is unavailable.
Examples of sensible starting points
A very low-curve proactive deck
Suppose nearly every spell costs one or two mana, the deck can execute its core plan on two lands, and only a few cards cost three. Starting around 21–22 lands may be reasonable. The test is not whether the deck occasionally wins on one land; it is whether it keeps enough opening hands and still deploys spells efficiently when the second or third land arrives late.
A typical two-color midrange deck
Start with 24–25 lands. Then count the sources needed for early colored spells and check whether enough of those sources enter untapped. If the deck frequently holds castable-in-theory cards while lacking the correct color, replacing lands may help more than increasing the total.
A control deck or expensive creature deck
Start around 25–27 lands when the plan depends on making the fourth, fifth, and later land drops. The higher end becomes easier to justify when excess lands fuel activated abilities, enable multiple spells in one turn, or support other mana-intensive effects.
A three-color deck
Do not assume that adding colors automatically means adding many more lands. It usually means the composition of the mana base deserves more scrutiny. Begin with the range suggested by the curve, then count sources for each early requirement and identify which lands provide multiple needed colors without delaying key turns.
Test the mana base without chasing single-game variance
Individual games naturally produce unusually low or high land draws. Diagnose patterns instead of reacting to the most frustrating example. Record what happened across multiple games, especially whether the deck missed the land drop required for its planned turn.
Track failures in specific categories:
- Kept a reasonable hand but missed the next essential land drop.
- Had enough lands but could not produce the required color.
- Had the correct colors, but too many lands entered tapped for the planned sequence.
- Drew more lands than the deck could use because it lacked mana sinks or card selection.
- Could not cast a mana accelerator because the opening mana base was inadequate.
Change one land at a time whenever possible. Adding or removing several lands while also changing spells and colors makes it difficult to identify what fixed the problem. A one-card adjustment also reveals whether you are near the correct balance or whether the deck has a deeper structural issue.
If the list contains cards you do not yet own, build a proxy playtest deck before spending money on the final cards. That lets you test the curve, color requirements, and land sequencing before committing to a completed mana base.
Do not use mulligans to excuse a weak mana base
Under the normal mulligan procedure, a player draws a new seven-card hand for each mulligan and, after keeping, puts one card on the bottom of the library for each mulligan taken. Mulligans help manage occasional bad hands, but repeatedly throwing back hands because the deck rarely produces workable mana indicates a construction problem.
When testing, note why each hand was rejected. Too few lands may suggest the total is low. Plenty of lands but no usable colors points to source composition. Hands containing only slow lands suggest a timing problem. Those diagnoses call for different changes.
The practical answer
For most exactly 60-card Magic decks, begin with 24–25 lands. Move lower only when the deck is cheap, functional on few lands, and meaningfully punished for drawing extras. Move higher when later land drops are essential, the curve is expensive, or excess mana remains useful.
Your next step is simple: identify the land drop required for the deck’s most important turn, count the colored and untapped sources that support it, and test the list. If the deck repeatedly misses that land drop, add one land or improve the relevant sources. If lands repeatedly stop contributing and the deck has no expensive plays or mana sinks, test one fewer. The right number is the one that makes the deck’s plan happen consistently—not the number that merely looks conventional.