Everyone knows at least one player who has a Commander deck that’s almost entirely made of land cards. If you’ve not had this experience yet, either give it time, or maybe take this opportunity to become that person.
It’s a strange way to build a deck, but it can also be a lot of fun to mess around with. It’s worth it not just to surprise people, and also become the person this article is based on, but also because there’s a lot of power in lands.
Why would you?
Ultimately, the main reason to do this is that it’s fun, but also because you want to win. For that reason, there is one main Commander to go with here, and they’re mono-green. It is, of course,
Azusa, Lost but Seeking
Azusa, Lost but Seeking
You may play two additional lands on each of your turns.
. The ability to play three lands a turn is obscene, and it fits into our plan of having a lot of lands nicely.
Three-mana is also a low cost for this kind of ability, and while the ability is powerful, you can always include cards like
Whispersilk Cloak
Whispersilk Cloak
Equipped creature can't be blocked and has shroud. (It can't be the target of spells or abilities.)
Equip {2}
to make sure you’re keeping Azusa out of the line of fire.
From here, the main thing you need is enough reasons to commit to having mostly land cards in your deck, and the best one among those is probably
Lost in the Woods
Lost in the Woods
Whenever a creature attacks you or a planeswalker you control, reveal the top card of your library. If it's a Forest card, remove that creature from combat. Then put the revealed card on the bottom of your library.
. This is a five-mana enchantment that reads, “Whenever a creature attacks you or a planeswalker you control, reveal the top card of your library. If it’s a Forest card, remove that creature from combat. Then put the revealed card on the bottom of your library.” So, if we’ve got lots of Forests in the deck, you’re probably never getting hit.
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What else could you use?
That’s good and all, but we obviously need more. Horn of Greed[/tooltips] lets players draw cards when they play land cards, and you’ll probably be doing that more than anyone else, so that’s good. You’ve then also got the likes of
Cultivator Colossus
Cultivator Colossus
Trample
Cultivator Colossus's power and toughness are each equal to the number of lands you control.
When this creature enters, you may put a land card from your hand onto the battlefield tapped. If you do, draw a card and repeat this process.
and
Nissa, Who Shakes the World
Nissa, Who Shakes the World
Whenever you tap a Forest for mana, add an additional {G}.
+1: Put three +1/+1 counters on up to one target noncreature land you control. Untap it. It becomes a 0/0 Elemental creature with vigilance and haste that's still a land.
−8: You get an emblem with "Lands you control have indestructible." Search your library for any number of Forest cards, put them onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle.
to make sure you can keep pulling out land cards and getting use out of them.
However, while those are both good, it’s also nice to have a proper win condition hidden away in amongst the trees. That’s why you need cards that can do something with all of these land cards, because it’s very likely that you’ll not only be making use of them in your deck, but also flooding the board with them as well. Our two favorite cards for the land-based finisher are
Liege of the Tangle
Liege of the Tangle
Trample
Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, you may choose any number of target lands you control and put an awakening counter on each of them. Each of those lands is an 8/8 green Elemental creature for as long as it has an awakening counter on it. They're still lands.
and
Sylvan Awakening
Sylvan Awakening
Until your next turn, all lands you control become 2/2 Elemental creatures with reach, indestructible, and haste. They're still lands.
.
Liege of the Tangle
Liege of the Tangle
Trample
Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, you may choose any number of target lands you control and put an awakening counter on each of them. Each of those lands is an 8/8 green Elemental creature for as long as it has an awakening counter on it. They're still lands.
is an 8/8 for eight mana with trample that can turn your land cards into 8/8 creatures if it hits the opponent, which is obviously great.
Sylvan Awakening
Sylvan Awakening
Until your next turn, all lands you control become 2/2 Elemental creatures with reach, indestructible, and haste. They're still lands.
, on the other hand, is a three-mana sorcery that turns all of your lands into 2/2 Elemental creatures with reach, haste, and indestructible. This allows you to not only swing in and finish off one or two people, but also protect yourself from troublesome flyers too. Sounds fun, doesn’t it?
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