Fast Lands in MTG: Full List and FAQ

Last updated on October 15, 2026

Blackcleave Cliffs | Illustration by Richard Wright

In a world of mana bases with fetches, typed dual lands, and lands that draw you a card, the fast lands of MTG are often overlooked and forgotten. They can be useful tools for the right deck’s mana base in multiple formats, though.

As the name may suggest, these dual lands are meant for decks that want to gain advantage or mana early without the downside of shock and check lands. You get the chance to play an opening Thoughtseize into a turn-2 Wrenn and Six and still be able to play Liliana of the Veil on-curve on the third turn. All without the downsides of other mana bases.

What Are Fast Lands?

Razorverge Thicket | Illustration by Randy Gallegos

Fast lands enter untapped as long as you control two or fewer other lands lands. Basically, they’ll enter untapped so long as they’re your first, second, or third land.

The Allied Fast Lands

The allied fast lands were originally printed in Scars of Mirrodin. They consist of:

• Seachrome Coast                  
• Darkslick Shores                 
• Blackcleave Cliffs               
• Copperline Gorge
• Razorverge Thicket  

The allied fast lands were originally printed in 2010. They were part of the Zendikar Expeditions but didn’t get a proper, main-set reprint until 2023 with Phyrexia: All Will Be One. There have also been scattered reprints of individual fast lands in different Commander precons. They see play in Modern and especially Pioneer.

The ONE reprint did wonders for their availability and thus price; they range from less than a dollar to up to $5, making them good budget lands.

Magic: The Gathering Singles Copperline Gorge (225) Scars of Mirrodin SOM

$3.99

Buy on Amazon

Magic: The Gathering Singles Copperline Gorge (225) Scars of Mirrodin SOM

$3.99

Buy on Amazon

The Enemy Fast Lands

The enemy fast lands were printed in Kaladesh. These include:

• Concealed Courtyard
• Spirebluff Canal                 
• Blooming Marsh                   
• Inspiring Vantage
• Botanical Sanctum                

Like the allied fast lands, these were an instant hit and held a high price point for several years until Outlaws of Thunder Junction increased the supply and dropped the price. These weren’t included in Zendikar Expeditions but have enjoyed the same scattered precon reprints as the allied fast lands. The enemy fast lands run a little more expensive than their allied counterparts, with none of them dropping below $1. They cap at around $5 though, so they’re still good budget lands.

History of the Fast Lands, Pre-Kaladesh

Fast lands made an immediate impact on Standard, easily outperforming Zendikar’s fetch lands given a lack of good fetchable lands. Worlds 2010 was the first major event post-Scars of Mirrodin, and seven of the top eight decks ran fast lands, the only exception being a mono-green deck that needed no fixing.

Fast lands mattered less when Modern was created because the new format had the shock lands from Ravnica: City of Guilds. Most decks preferred the fetch-shock mana base, though Jund () was an exception that ran Blackcleave Cliffs as a one-of. Jund would gradually add more fast lands after the banning of Punishing Fire made Grove of the Burnwillows obsolete, and the other fast lands would pick up traction as the format developed. By the time Kaladesh completed the cycle in 2016, all the non-blue fast lands saw reasonable amounts of play.

Fast Lands in Modern

The allied-color blue fast lands—Seachrome Coast and Darkslick Shores—saw no play in Modern because no deck in their colors wanted them.

The fast lands work well in the early turns and poor late, so Seachrome Coast had no place in Azorius () control decks that need lands 4+ to enter untapped to play cards like Cryptic Command or Snapcaster Mage plus a second spell on curve.

The big Dimir () tempo deck of the time, Death’s Shadow, didn’t run Darkslick Shores because it depended on the fetch-shock paradigm to lower its life total.

While early-game-oriented blue lists existed, they were in the wrong colors since decks like Izzet Storm () and Simic Infect () needed enemy lands.

If you want to know more about the history of mana bases in Modern, check out Reid Duke’s Spikes Academy course, which has an entire module dedicated to the subject.

The Fast Lands, Post-Kaladesh

The enemy-colored fast lands had a major impact on Modern because they filled specific gaps. Spirebluff Canal and Botanical Sanctum saw immediate play in their respective archetypes, making mana bases more consistent and less painful. Not taking a Lava Spike to play Glistener Elf or Baral, Chief of Compliance gave these decks breathing room against aggressive strategies. Blooming Marsh gave Jund and more traditional Rock decks a boost of consistency, Inspiring Vantage made Burn better, and Death and Taxes flourished with Concealed Courtyard.

The enemy fast lands were also critical to Pioneer following the format’s inception in 2019. With the Khans of Tarkir fetch lands (rightfully!) banned at the start of the format, the fast lands were the second-best option behind the shock lands, so they defined the format for a time.

Playing Fast Lands

Fast lands work best in decks that have high color requirements and develop their board in the earliest turns of the game. For example, Pioneer Greasefang decks want to play Thoughtseize into Fleeting Spirit, and Modern Boros Aggro () needs red on turn 1 for Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer while being able to play Ajani, Nacatl Pariah on turn 2. When you’re developing an early board presence and trying to win fast, these are excellent color fixers.

However, there are a few downsides to these lands. Their lack of basic land types renders them unfetchable, meaning you have to draw them. Also, in decks that curve out above 4 mana or want to play multiple answers a turn, coming in untapped later in the game is a massive downside and pretty unfavorable.

Here’s a handy flowchart I made to help you figure out if these lands are for you:

Where Fast Lands See Play

The fast lands have always seen play when available in Standard, but they also see widespread play in Pioneer. Their stock in Modern has fallen as surveil lands and sac lands claim slots in decks. Here’s a quick list of prominent decks in each format that play multiple copies of the fast lands:

Pioneer

• Izzet Aggro
• The Rock
• Dimir Kaito
• Jund Sacrifice

Modern

• Boros Aggro
• Pinnacle Affinity
• Emry-Cam Combo
• Burn

Where Can You Find Fast Lands?

Scars of Mirrodin

Scars of Mirrodin yields the original printings of the allied-color fast lands. If you’re dead set on having original printings, you’re better off finding singles, but you could test your luck at boosters.

Magic The Gathering Scars of Mirrodin Booster Box Includes 36 Packs

• Magic the Gathering - MTG: Scars of Mirrodin Booster Box (36 Packs)
• Each Booster Box of Scars of Mirrodin contains 36 booster packs
• PACK: 15-Cards including 1 Rare/Mythic Rare plus a tip/token card
• Scars of Mirrodin is the first set in the Scars of Mirrodin block
• NOTE: This product can ONLY be shipped the United States, Puerto Rico, APO/FPOs and USVI.

$997.97

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Kaladesh

Kaladesh is easy. A lot of stores stock these boxes and you can find them on eBay for around twice the price of a Standard booster box. As long as you’re willing to invest a bit more, this draft format is fun and very artifact themed, if that’s what you’re into. The lands are, as always, not guaranteed in the box.

Magic The Gathering: Kaladesh Sealed Booster Box

• Release: 30.09.2016
• Age: 13+
• The new expansion: Kaladesh

Buy on Amazon

Phyrexia: All Will Be One

Phyrexia: All Will Be One has more modernized reprints of these duals, as well as some borderless alternate-art foils you could chase after.

MTG Phyrexia: All Will Be One Set Booster Box | 30 Packs (360 Magic Cards)

• 30 Phyrexia: All Will Be One Set Boosters—the best MTG boosters to open just for fun
• 12 Magic: The Gathering cards + 1 Art Card in each booster
• At least 1 Showcase Ichor card and 1 Traditional Foil card in every pack
• 1 Phyrexianized Land or Panorama Full-Art Land in every pack—Traditional Foil Land in 20% of packs
• 1–4 cards of rarity Rare or higher in every pack

$399.99

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Outlaws of Thunder Junction

Outlaws of Thunder Junction gives you another crack at enemy-colored fast lands. Thesee packs are generally great between the Breaking News bonus sheet and shots at The Big Score, so there’s plenty to open beyond the dual lands.

MAGIC THE GATHERING: Outlaws of Thunder Junction Play Booster Pack (1 Pack)

• SADDLE UP FOR A WILD RIDE—Join Oko’s crew of deadly desperados as they plot a brazen heist in the frontier world of Thunder Junction, Magic’s first western-themed setting
• FUN TO OPEN. FUN TO PLAY—Get the best of Draft and Set Boosters, combined into one! Play Boosters are great for Limited play and fun to open, with a possibility of Art cards, Showcase cards, additional Rares, and a foil card in every pack
• THE BEST OF THE WEST—Each Play Booster contains 1–5 cards of rarity Rare or higher, including the possibility of a Borderless Mythic Rare card from Magic’s history
• BREAKING NEWS CARD IN EVERY PACK—Every Play Booster contains at least 1 Breaking News card, a reprint featuring new art and a front page news-style frame reporting the spell as a crime; do you dare become that spell-casting outlaw?
• SHINING FOIL IN EVERY PACK—Every booster also includes at least 1 shining Traditional Foil card of any rarity; in 20% of packs you’ll also find a Traditional Foil Land card (which may even feature a Full-Art Western Landscape).MAY CONTAIN ART CARDS, A PLAY BOOSTER EXCLUSIVE—Now found only in Play Boosters, some packs also contain an Art card showcasing a piece of art from the Outlaws of Thunder Junction set, sometimes with a foil signature from the artist.

$239.78

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Fast Land Alternatives

Maybe you can’t afford fast lands. Maybe they don’t fit into your deck as intended. That’s okay! There are some lands that follow the same philosophy, but better.

The Future Sight land cycle is full of lands that are similar to fast lands but with weird effects. Some are cheaper and some are more expensive. River of Tears is my favorite out of the bunch and I’m hoping they’ll print more like it. It acts as a productive black land on your first few turns and then lets you have reactive blue spells for the rest of the game, which lets you also use fetches if you need to trigger the black mana clause.

Another functional cycle are the allied snarls like Furycalm Snarl and Choked Estuary. These will usually come in untapped on turn 1. They’re good for super budget decks with a lot of typed lands but unfortunately reveal some info to your opponent.

Wrap Up

Seachrome Coast | Illustration by Lars Grant-West

Fast lands are excellent nonbasics. They give aggressive and tempo-oriented decks good enough color fixing to compete with slower decks that can take time to drop a Triome or surveil land without being so good that they crowd other lands out of the decks. They’re especially important to Pioneer as support for decks without access to fetch lands.

What do you think of the fast lands? Do you enjoy playing with them? Let me know in the comments below or on the Draftsim Discord! If you want more Draftsim, check out our YouTube channel and newsletter, both called The Daily Upkeep!

Stay safe, and thanks for reading!

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