All 4 Mardu Lands in Magic Ranked

Savai Triome | Illustration by Titus Lunter

Greetings, guys! Khans of Tarkir finally gave the red, white, and black color combination a name: Mardu . Paying homage to the Tarkir Mardu clan, red, white, and black usually team up in strong, aggressive decks powered by tokens, direct damage, and sacrifice.

Mardu has received excellent support in Commander precons with the likes of Edgar Markov and Kaalia of the Vast, but not that great of  support in the lands section. Decks need lands, so we’re taking a look at the few Mardu lands out there, and ranking them from worst to best. Let’s go!

What Are Mardu Lands in MTG?

Nomad Outpost | Illustration by Kamila Szutenberg

Mardu lands are lands that can generate red, white, and black mana. We'll be considering only lands that fall in line with all three colors, not ones that touch only one or two colors, like Boros lands (), for example.

Many of the dual and tri-color lands enter tapped as a downside to compensate for mana fixing, so these are usually better in midrange or control decks. Which tends to be a bit of a problem for Mardu aggro decks.   

#4. Tournament Grounds

Tournament Grounds is perfect if you’re playing knights or equipment, and pretty lame otherwise. It’s ideal for Mardu commanders that are also knights, like Edgar Markov or Shanid, Sleepers' Scourge. If you’re playing an EDH deck like Syr Gwyn, Hero of Ashvale, it should be perfect. Regardless, this card doesn’t enter tapped, so treat it as a colorless utility land with upside.

#3. Shattered Landscape

Shattered Landscape isn’t the best mana fixer, but it’s one of the better budget fetch lands. You can generate mana when the land enters play right away, and it’s fairly easy to cycle for Mardu mana. It only fetches basics, though, and it’s color identity means you can only play it in Mardu.

#2. Nomad Outpost

Nomad Outpost should be easy to include in most Mardu EDH decks considering the lack of lands that generate these three colors. It’s just an uncommon, so you aren’t paying that much to access the card. It’s probably the best cost-to-benefit option for budget players, and an easy card to include in Cubes, especially low-powered ones.

#1. Savai Triome

Like Nomad Outpost, this should be a fairly easy card to include in your Mardu decks, your four-color decks, and more. Savai Triome is so much better than Nomad Outpost or other lands, and you can play this land outside of EDH as well. It has the three basic land types, and you can fetch it early in the game. Later, you can cycle it to draw a card if you’re flooded. All of this flexibility has a problem: It’s a rare land with a limited printing, easily reaching 15-20 bucks.

Wrap Up

Tournament Grounds | Illustration by Cristi Balanescu

There aren’t many Mardu lands in MTG. Wedge lands focusing on enemy colors aren’t that abundant in MTG, and only Khans of Tarkir and Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths cared about these enough to print tri-color lands. We’re seeing some moves from WotC to complete incomplete land cycles using supplemental material like Commander precons, so here’s hoping that a new Mardu EDH precon can give us a new tri-color land. Or reprint the Triomes, which would also be a good move.

What’s your favorite way to fix mana in Mardu colors? Do you think a tri-color pain land in these colors would be a welcome addition? Let me know in the comments section below, or leave us a message at Draftsim Twitter/X.

Thanks for reading, and until the next time!