Filter lands convert one mana of any kind plus a tap into two mana in a chosen combination of their two colours. That conversion solves the ...
Filter lands convert one mana of any kind plus a tap into two mana in a chosen combination of their two colours. That conversion solves the specific problem of double-coloured costs in multicolour decks: a hand full of the wrong lands still casts the spell that needs two of one colour. Filters are at their best in two- and three-colour decks with demanding costs, and at their worst when a deck is mostly colourless or single-coloured spells that never need the conversion. They enter untapped, which keeps them honest early, but they cannot fix a hand with no coloured source at all — they transform mana, they do not create colour from nothing.
Real lands discussed here
Sunken Ruins (Land; rarity: rare; most recent printing listed by Scryfall: Reality Fracture Commander): {T}: Add {C}.
{U/B}, {T}: Add {U}{U}, {U}{B}, or {B}{B}. Graven Cairns (Land; rarity: rare; most recent printing listed by Scryfall: Duskmourn: House of Horror Commander): {T}: Add {C}.
{B/R}, {T}: Add {B}{B}, {B}{R}, or {R}{R}. Fire-Lit Thicket (Land; rarity: rare; most recent printing listed by Scryfall: Double Masters): {T}: Add {C}.
{R/G}, {T}: Add {R}{R}, {R}{G}, or {G}{G}.
Build and check your list with the MTGBrew card database, and browse every card mentioned here in the MTGBrew AI deck builder on MTGBrew.
Putting it into practice
Protect the plan, but do not smother it. A small protection package earns its keep when your commander or engine is the target; beyond that, extra protection dilutes the very strategy it guards. Run enough answers to stop a game-ending threat, and spend the remaining slots moving your own plan forward.
If this topic is on your bench, keep going with Mana Base Guide: Lands That Ramp — Myriad Landscape, Blighted Woodland, and Krosan Verge — it covers the neighbouring decisions from a different angle, and the two pieces together give you a fuller picture than either one alone.
Keep reading
Keep reading: Mana Base Guide: Lands That Ramp — Myriad Landscape, Blighted Woodland, and Krosan Verge and Kess, Dissident Mage Commander Guide: How the Deck Actually Wins.
The bottom line
Ask what the deck looks like when it is merely fine. A resilient build still develops its board, still draws extra cards, and still threatens something through an average opening hand. The spectacular draws take care of themselves; spend your card choices making the average draw functional, because you will see far more average draws than perfect ones.
Build your mana base on purpose, count it on paper, and test it in real games — and when you want a starting list that respects both your colours and your budget, the MTGBrew AI deck builder treats both as hard rules.
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