The 35 Best Replay Land Effects in Magic Ranked

Last updated on April 30, 2024

Splendid Reclamation | Illustration by Uriah Voth

Lands are among the game’s most vital resources. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could have even more of them? Replay land effects that get lands back from the graveyard can maximize your mana base.

Plenty of strategies can exploit replay land effects. Landfall decks would do anything to get more triggers, some cards need you to sacrifice lands, and you can even use them to assemble combos like Dark Depths and Maze's End!

Let’s Explore the best replay land effects.

What Are Replay Land Effects in MTG?

Crucible of Worlds | Illustration by Ron Spencer

Replay land effects allow you to put lands from your graveyard onto the battlefield. These effects call under two broad categories: cards that return lands from the graveyard to the battlefield as part of a spell or activated ability (Tato Farmer, Splendid Reclamation) and cards that allow you to play lands from your graveyard (Crucible of Worlds).

Both serve similar functions. The first category often needs more work than the second; when you only get one shot at replaying your lands, filling your graveyard with self-mill or discard effects is a must while the latter category can do plenty with a single fetch land.

This is a Commander-oriented list. I’m not considering any cards that return lands from the graveyard to your hand or any game zone other than the battlefield but I have included a variety of cards that return permanents with mana value X or less—which includes lands as they have a mana value of 0.

#35. Eye of Duskmantle

Only getting lands you surveilled is a hefty restriction, especially on a 7-drop. But a strategy filled with surveil cards is where you want to replay your lands. Eye of Duskmantle doesn’t have a home in every deck, but a handful use it to great effect.

#34. Deeproot Wayfinder

Deeproot Wayfinder would rank higher on a purely Constructed list as it’s a powerful effect; in Commander, though, a 2/3 can struggle to attack. I’d run this in any deck with enough buffs or evasion enablers to push the merfolk through.

#33. Restore

Restore is arguably the most concise version of this effect. There’s nothing wrong with a janky Rampant Growth, but you can find more impactful cards. I’d run this green sorcery in a landfall deck with plenty of fetch lands.

#32. Relive the Past

Relive the Past needs to be in a deck capable of returning all three card types to play. 15 power and toughness for 7 mana can have a huge impact, especially considering the abilities these elemental creatures might have.

#31. Renegade Rallier

Renegade Rallier basically requires you to replay fetch lands, but who doesn’t love extra fetches? This human warrior also works alongside a variety of lands that sacrifice themselves, from Crystal Vein to Strip Mine.

#30. Brought Back

Brought Back needs specific criteria but comes with the benefit of doing much more than just replaying lands; this white instant easily becomes a combo piece that happens to help hit land drops.

#29. Annie Flash, the Veteran

Annie Flash, the Veteran has powerful abilities for the cost, but using it to replay lands tends to be underusing a 6-mana spell. It’ll be correct sometimes, especially if you want to get it into play for the tap ability, but getting lands is more of an upside than a goal here.

#28. Trove Warden

It takes effort for Trove Warden to dump lands into play. You need to fill the graveyard and trigger landfall and kill the thing (though your opponents might help with the last one). But getting an army of landfall triggers can help rebuild post-wrath, especially with payoffs like Zendikar's Roil.

#27. Worldsoul’s Rage

Worldsoul's Rage pulls double duty as a ramp spell and ramp payoff. Getting cards from the graveyard is a nice bonus. Recurring this seems especially potent, with the first Rage ramping to make the second game-ending.

#26. Faith’s Reward

Float 8 mana, cast Armageddon, cast Faith's Reward. We can do all kinds of land-based combos with Faith's Reward, like Zuran Orb + Titania, Protector of Argoth. This white instant works better as a combo piece than a general value card, but the work is worth the reward.

#25. Wreck and Rebuild

Released as part of the Outlaws of Thunder Junction Commander precons, Wreck and Rebuild is promising. I always appreciate a good modal spell. An interactive mode lets this skirt ramp’s traditional weakness of doing nothing in the late game. Milling five cards can be awfully close to drawing five cards in the right deck.

#24. Carmen, Cruel Skymarcher

The synergy between Carmen, Cruel Skymarcher and fetch lands can’t be overlooked. This vampire soldier gives self-mill decks plenty of value as one of Orzhov’s scant forms of land ramp and a potent reanimator card.

#23. Vengeful Regrowth

I quite like the combination of ramp and board presence Vengeful Regrowth offers. Having flashback gives it needed utility for self-mill decks. It feels rather expensive; this is never an early accelerant. It’s best alongside Garruk's Uprising and other cards that draw when the Plant Warriors enter.

#22. Wrenn and Realmbreaker

Wrenn and Realmbreaker’s emblem cracks games wide open, especially in grindy matches. But you must account for the challenge of ultimating a planeswalker. Cards like Doubling Season and Carth the Lion help get there, but the high requirements must be considered before slotting this into a deck.

#21. Erinis, Gloom Stalker

Deathtouch makes Erinis, Gloom Stalker playable. It forces your opponents to decide between trading off a better creature or letting you get land after land. It plays well in the 99; if you want to play this as a green commander, I recommend pairing it with Street Urchin for deathtouch synergies.

#20. Sun Titan

The classic Sun Titan recurs much more than lands, but the promise of a land drop if you don’t have anything in your graveyard gives this white creature a more robust ability than if it only reanimated creatures. The sunny giant plays beautifully with fetch lands of course, but also cards like Aura of Silence and Selfless Spirit that sacrifice themselves for the greater good.

#19. Bonny Pall, Clearcutter

A busted Simic legend that produces an incredible amount of power, card advantage, and ramp! What a novel, interesting design!

Jokes aside, Bonny Pall, Clearcutter is a beast of a card. Beau is always huge, and the free Growth Spiral you get on attack is supercharged by getting lands from your graveyard or hand.

#18. Grolnok, the Omnivore

Grolnok, the Omnivore provides self-mill decks with a powerful draw engine. This card greatly overlaps with what replay land effects want you to do. That said, only Grolnok can use the cards it mills, which fiercely restricts this frog’s potential.

#17. Perennial Behemoth

While Perennial Behemoth does exactly what the archetype wants, it does so at a high mana cost. Unearth synergizes with self-mill strategies, but that gives you one land drop. Decks that care about replaying lands and artifacts can get some use out of this artifact creature, but it suffers from being the fifth-best version of this effect (though fifth place is still pretty good!).

#16. Aftermath Analyst

Aftermath Analyst offers a huge burst of lands into play and even fuels itself! It’s basically Splendid Reclamation on a stick. While the “stick” adds to the casting cost, this elf detective also lets you exploit cards like Sun Titan, Lurrus of the Dream-Den, and Muldrotha, the Gravetide that don’t interact with sorceries.

#15. Fall of the Thran

My hottest Commander take is that we should normalize mass land destruction. Lands aren’t sacred. Fall of the Thran is a neat little engine; not only does it replay your lands, but it also ensures you have plenty in the graveyard to get back! This can be a great way to slow the game down and bring it to your pace. You could go further by pairing it with cards that exile opposing graveyards so only you reap the benefits of the next two chapters.

#14. World Shaper

World Shaper requires a means to sacrifice it, especially as it gets later in the game and your opponents keep track of how many lands it brings back. On the other hand, refusing to block would make World Shaper a cheap source of damage and self-mill each turn. It’s a very neat green card.

#13. Tato Farmer

Tato Farmer impresses me more and more each time I read it. You’ll never play this outside of self-mill decks, but it does all the work you could want. It’s ramp, a payoff, and an enabler for a mere 3 mana. Many decks should look to this one-card engine to fill a ramp slot.

#12. Undergrowth Recon

Undergrowth Recon can’t fuel itself but has lots of potential. Enchantments tend to stick around longer than other permanent types. In a deck with consistent self-mill or fetch lands, this green enchantment puts you ahead a mana every turn.

#11. Blossoming Tortoise

Blossoming Tortoise offers a powerful attack trigger if you can get it in, though flickering it works as well. Reducing the cost of land’s activated abilities is kind of crazy. It goes infinite with Lavaclaw Reaches and makes cards like Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx and Cabal Coffers even stronger.

#10. Angel of Indemnity

I like Angel of Indemnity much more than Sun Titan, which strikes me as the closest comparison. You lose out on the repeatability of Sun Titan’s attack trigger, but white has enough flicker effects like Teleportation Circle to make up for it. Encore is what makes this angel warrior for me since it offers so much value, especially later in the game when one explosive effect is all you need to tip a game in your favor.

#9. Sevinne’s Reclamation

Sevinne's Reclamation strikes a lovely balance between flexibility and efficiency. It’s even a three-for-one since you can copy this white sorcery after flashing it back! Three mana seems like a lot for a land drop, but white takes any land ramp it can get, especially when it becomes a potent draw spell later in the game.

#8. Titania, Protector of Argoth

Getting just one land back isn’t super impressive, but Titania, Protector of Argoth makes up for it by flooding the board with 5/3s. It combos with cards like Zuran Orb and Sylvan Safekeeper that naturally encourage replay land effects.

#7. Lord Windgrace

Lord Windgrace can be slow since it takes time to get back your lands, but coming into play untapped does a turn of work. Paired with an ultimate that can end the game and card draw that fuels the -3 plus other graveyard strategies makes this a well-rounded planeswalker for decks interacting with lands and the graveyard. It can even serve as a solid lands commander.

#6. Splendid Reclamation

Splendid Reclamation is the card to mass-reanimate your lands. You only get one shot, but decks willing to run this card typically double their mana by casting it. You get a near-unfathomable number of landfall triggers and so much more.

#5. Soul of Windgrace

Soul of Windgrace offers a suite of powerful abilities to go with its replay effect. I can’t pretend gaining life is all that impressive, but cycling through lands and keeping the cat in play are worth investing mana into, especially if those lands find their way back to the battlefield.

#4. Muldrotha, the Gravetide

Expensive spells must justify their costs with impact and power. Muldrotha, the Gravetide more than justifies its existence with incredible card advantage. Replaying lands is just the tip of this value-oriented iceberg that can draw up to seven cards a turn if you have the mana to pay, plus it goes infinite with Displacer Kitten and a stiff breeze.

#3. Ancient Greenwarden

The Venn diagram of decks that want replay land effects and landfall decks overlaps greatly, nearly as a circle. Ancient Greenwarden gives those decks the Panharmonicon treatment, doubling all your landfall triggers. I hope you have a way to keep track of all those Scute Swarm copies.

#2. Conduit of Worlds

Replaying lands already feels like drawing cards, so Conduit of Worlds makes things better by adding a recursive ability. Restricting yourself to a single spell the turn you cast it is often better than casting nothing.

#1. Crucible of Worlds + Ramunap Excavator

One might argue that Crucible of Worlds and the more vulnerable Ramunap Excavator do much less than Conduit of Worlds, which is hard to argue with. But efficiency really matters, especially with an effect like this that doesn’t directly affect the game but sets up incredibly powerful strategies. These cards allow you to replay lands every single turn. They’re the gold standard; any lands deck begins with at least one of, if not both, of these cards.

Best Replay Land Effects Payoffs

Landfall decks benefit greatly from these kinds of effects, largely because they let you replay fetch lands to double trigger busted cards like Scute Swarm, Lotus Cobra, and Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait.

Decks interested in sacrificing lands also love these cards. Commanders like Titania, Protector of Argoth, Yuma, Proud Protector, and The Gitrog Monster want to throw lands into the graveyard for additional value. These replay land effects give you plenty of fodder while ensuring that you don’t fall too far behind by saccing your mana sources.

Finally, self-mill decks love these effects as ramp sources and ways to utilize more of the milled cards. A few cards like Court of Cunning and Mesmeric Orb set up explosive turns for mass-replay effects like Splendid Reclamation and Aftermath Analyst.

What Counts as Playing a Land?

Playing a land is a special game action you can perform once during each of your turns, during your main phase, if you have priority and the stack is empty. You may play lands from your hand. Playing a land does not use the stack and may not be responded to with spells or abilities. Playing a land is different than putting a land into play with an effect like Growth Spiral or Three Visits.

Some card effects affect your ability to play lands. Exploration and similar cards allow you to play additional lands during your turn. Like your first land drop, these don’t use the stack and can’t be responded to. The zones you play cards from can be expanded. Several cards on this list let you play lands from your graveyard; cards like Courser of Kruphix let you play lands from the top of your library.

Can You Play a Land at Any Time In MTG?

No. You can only play lands during your turn, when you have priority and the stack is empty during your main phase. This is what's otherwise known as “sorcery-speed”, or “play as a sorcery”.

Wrap Up

Sun Titan (Magic 2011) | Illustration by Todd Lockwood

Many archetypes benefit from replay land effects. Some build around them while others just benefit from getting extra mana in play. Heck, you could even try some to get that one player who insists on putting Armageddon into every deck. The recursive power shouldn’t be overlooked for decks that put cards in the graveyard.

What’s your favorite replay land effect? Do you build around them or play them incidentally? Let me know in the comments below or on the Draftsim Discord!

Stay safe and keep those lands coming!