All 25 Play Additional Land Cards in Magic Ranked

Last updated on October 11, 2023

Kiora, the Crashing Wave | Illustration by Scott M. Fischer

We could all use extra resources in our life. Who couldn’t do with a few more bucks, or even more time in the day to do what you love?

In Magic, one of those resources is lands, and today we get to look at cards that let you play an extra land on a single turn. You have a good chance of controlling the game if you can gain a land advantage over your opponent.

Aside maybe card draw advantage, land advantage is one of the better ways to start affecting the game. Which cards let you do that, and how can you use them in your playstyle? Let’s dive right in!

What Are Play Additional Land Cards in MTG?

Dryad of the Ilysian Grove | Illustration by Scott Murphy

Playing additional land cards means letting you play one or more extra lands on top of the usual land drop you have.

I’m focused on the text “play additional land(s) this turn” for these rankings. I'm also not looking at mana-producing spells or cards that allow you to place a land onto the battlefield, just the cards that allow you to play more than one land per turn.

Best Red Play Additional Land Card

#1. Nahiri’s Lithoforming

Nahiri's Lithoforming is a win-con kind of card for landfall decks. The idea is to have powerful landfall cards like Guardian of Tazeem or Moraug, Fury of Akoum and play as many land cards as you can in a single turn. This is a hyper-specific card that has its interesting win-con, but it doesn’t have enough versatility to be rostered in many decks.

Best Green Play Additional Land Cards

#13. Scale the Heights

Scale the Heights is a ramp card for all occasions. You draw a card, give a counter, play an additional land, and gain life. The downside is that the 3-cost and sorcery speed make it clunky in most games. The upside here is in Limited play.

#12. Rites of Flourishing

With Rites of Flourishing, you can ramp up your land playing and drawing cards. You unfortunately also give these advantages to your opponent. This isn’t so much of an advantage as you both get the effects. I guess the thought here is that you’re confident that you can crush your opponent with more speed.

#11. Journey of Discovery

The options and entwining ability of Journey of Discovery can be great for speeding up and stabilizing your mana options. In my opinion, if you’re going to spend six mana on this spell, you have enough mana for many other options. Journey of Discovery is a ramp card for decks with the highest curves.

#10. Enter the Unknown

Many times one mana spells have some sort of value in decks. Enter the Unknown can be a pump to a smaller creature or draw you a land card that you can then play.  There isn’t too much excitement surrounding this card, but it’s a cheap way to get an additional land onto the battlefield.

#9. Azusa, Lost but Seeking

With Azusa, Lost but Seeking you can play two additional lands each of your turns. This kind of ramp can get you to creatures like Elder Gargaroth or planeswalkers like Wrenn and Seven way ahead of schedule. This card provides nothing else but the chance to get a ton of lands out quickly.

#8. Oracle of Mul Daya

Oracle of Mul Daya is a ramping card through and through. It allows you to play additional lands each turn and play lands from the top of your deck. This card won’t offer you much in combat, but it can stabilize your gameplay so you get the cards you need quickly.

#7. Druid Class

The second level of Druid Class allows you to play an additional land each of your turns. As far as the class cards go, Druid Class has some nice synergy with landfall and giant land creatures.

#6. Explore

Explore is a wonderful example of a cheap spell for mana ramping and cantripping. This card can give you multiple slight advantages, which hopefully leads to greater advantages down the road.

#5. Azusa’s Many Journeys / Likeness of the Seeker

There are many sagas that transform into creatures from the Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty set that can fit into competitive decks, especially in Standard. Azusa's Many Journeys is worth consideration for green decks in Standard and some other formats. You have a chance to get to three lands on turn two, and a 3/3 creature isn’t so bad later.

#4. Wayward Swordtooth

Wayward Swordtooth is a cheap and big creature with a hindrance. It can’t attack unless you get the city’s blessing (which means controlling ten or more permanents). Luckily for you and the rest of your strategy, Wayward Swordtooth allows you to play an additional land on each of your turns. This card is good for dinosaur, city’s blessing, and midrange big creatures decks.

#3. Exploration

Exploration is a wonderful ramp card for many kinds of decks. The 1-mana value and continuing effects gives this card a ton of value. Make sure to draw loads of cards or benefit from your lands to maximize Exploration.

#2. Dryad of the Ilysian Grove

Not only does Dryad of the Ilysian Grove allow you to play additional lands, but your lands can now produce any color you need. This is a solid stabilizer and ramp card for any deck with green mana. You can benefit from the enchantment creature type, but be wary of removal spells. The ups and downs of MTG.

#1. Summer Bloom

Who needs one additional land when you can play three? Summer Bloom is a wonderful ramp card that you hope to have in your opening hand. It can give a player such an advantage that it has been banned in Modern. However, you can still take advantage of this wonderful land ramp spell in Eternal and Oathbreaker formats.

Best Multicolored Play Additional Land Cards

#8. Urban Evolution

Urban Evolution is a nice card for gaining the draw and land advantage. The problem here is the 5-mana value. There may be better options for this later-game draw like Memory Deluge. This card isn’t bad in the least, but it feels clunky.

#7. Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait

Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait is an expensive Simic creature that can lead to a great draw advantage in the later game. You have played many lands to get to the 6-mana value, but now you can play additional lands and draw cards from the landfall trigger. This card is only legal in the Eternal and Oathbreaker formats, but it feels well into these longer play style formats.

#6. Escape to the Wilds

Escape to the Wilds allows you to cast some cards from the top of your library and play an additional land. This is always a wonderful strategy to gain a card advantage over your opponent. I believe that this card had a ton of value for cards with adventure and may be slightly less valuable now.

#5. Song of Creation

Song of Creation is a wonderful enchantment to create a way to quickly get through your deck and get the cards you need. You can’t keep a hand, but you can play additional lands and draw cards every time you play a spell. This can create a cascading effect that powers you to victory.

#4. Mina and Denn, Wildborn

Mina and Denn, Wildborn fits well into aggressive Gruul land decks and works well with other ally creatures. The additional land plays each of your turns allow you to build your board presence. With the ramp and activated ability, you should trample over your opponent with your allies.

#3. Kiora, the Crashing Wave

Finally, a planeswalker on this list to help you get additional land plays. Kiora, the Crashing Wave has a controlling plus loyalty ability and land and draw ramp minus ability. Not to mention if you can get to five loyalty points from the starting two, you have that chance to make massive creature tokens each turn. This is a wonderful Simic planeswalker for Pioneer, Modern, Eternal, and now Oathbreaker formats.

#2. The Gitrog Monster

The Gitrog Monster! This is a beloved MTG creature and for good reason. It’s a massive creature that allows you to draw cards and play additional lands. It comes with the cost of sacrificing lands, but you should have plenty with your additional land plays. It’s curve-friendly and can ramp up your play immensely.

#1. Thalia and the Gitrog Monster

The March of the Machine set shows many team-ups of fan-favorite characters. Thalia and the Gitrog Monster combine the taxing effects of Thalia with the land and draw advantages of The Gitrog Monster.

For a reasonable four mana in the Abzan colors, you get a wonderful combat creature that has a crazy amount of static abilities (and a good commander, too). Be aware this card doesn’t say “may sacrifice,” so have some lands or creatures to sacrifice if you want to attack.

Best Colorless Play Additional Land Cards

#3. Ghirapur Orrery

I’m not a fan of these cards that give you and your opponent the same benefits. Ghirapur Orrery lets both you and your opponent play additional lands and draw cards if that player has none in their hand during their upkeep. If you can get the lands you need and control the game, the added benefit for your opponent may not be enough to best you.

#2. Storm Cauldron

Storm Cauldron has such interesting interactions. On its face, it seems to be a boost for both you and your opponent and a hindrance to your mana pool. You can greatly slow down your opponent’s mana production abilities with certain builds, though: if you can benefit from playing lands, Storm Cauldron could be a massive value.

#1. Sword of Forge and Frontier

The dual color themed swords always have value in the right decks. Sword of Forge and Frontier gives a stat boost and protection from red and green. On top of that, if an equipped creature deals combat damage, you can top deck two cards and play an additional land. This isn’t the most powerful of the swords, but it has its place.

Best Play Additional Land Card Payoffs and Synergies

Additional lands are going to help you speed up your play and can benefit many styles of play.

We all love massive creatures like Ghalta, Primal Hunger and Dragonlord Dromoka. With additional land plays, you can get them out even quicker.

Planeswalkers like Nissa, Who Shakes the World and Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes can change your match if you can get them out ahead of schedule.

Cards like Omnath, Locus of Creation, Avenger of Zendikar, and Scute Swarm can create massive synergies from multiple land plays a turn.

Additional land plays can give you more opportunities to make land creatures with cards like Destiny Spinner and Sylvan Awakening. Also, cards that benefit from the number of lands like Allosaurus Rider and Beanstalk Giant synergize with playing more of them.

Some of the cheaper play additional land cards can greatly benefit cards like Dragonsguard Elite and Monastery Swiftspear. You can even get cards like Questing Beast and Ulvenwald Oddity out faster than your opponent can handle.

The play additional land cards can help stabilize and benefit Commanders like Tatyova, Benthic Druid, Lord Windgrace, and Titania, Protector of Argoth.

Can You Play Any Number of Lands in MTG?

Every player has the opportunity to play one land on each of their turns. You may not play more than one land each of your turns unless a spell or ability specifies additional lands may be played. Cards that “put” lands on the battlefield aren’t the same as playing a land and therefore can allow you to get more than one land on the battlefield in a turn.

Can You Play Multiple Lands in a Turn?

The only way to play multiple lands in a turn is to have some spell or ability that specifies that you can. “Put a land…” and “play” work differently. With spells you can put as many lands on the battlefield as your spells or abilities allow. You may only play one land on each of your turns unless an effect allows you to play additional lands. The cards above are some of the best ways to enable you to play multiple lands per turn.

How Many Artifact Lands Can You Play Per Turn?

Artifact lands possess the properties of both artifacts and lands. This means that they’re subject to the rules of playing lands. Lands aren’t put onto the stack and immediately ETB, and you may only play one land per turn. So, you may play one artifact land each of your turns, unless you have play additional lands effects.

Do “Play Additional Land” Abilities Stack?

Yes, play additional land abilities are cumulative. If you play multiple spells or have multiple effects that allow you to play additional lands, they allow you to play even more lands. If you play Explore while Druid Class is on the battlefield, you can play a total of three lands that turn.

How Do You Play More Than One Land in MTG?

You can play more than one land during a turn if you play spells or have effects that allow you to play additional lands during a turn, like a “play additional land” effect or “put a land on the battlefield” effect.

Can You Play a Land and an Artifact Land in One Turn?

No. The artifact land has the same rules as basic or other nonbasic lands. You can only play one land during each of your turns unless you have some effect that allows you to play additional lands.

Wrap Up

Exploration | Illustration by Mark Poole

We have come to the end of our additional land plays. There are no more lands to play and it’s time to look back and admire our victory. You now have many cards that can help you circumnavigate the one land for one turn rule. Any advantage you can gain over an opponent is useful, and land advantage is arguably one of the most important.

I hope you enjoyed all the information on play additional land cards. Please take a moment and leave a (hopefully positive) comment below and follow us on Twitter. The views, comments, and likes are all helpful.

I’ll see you all next time. Hopefully I'm not compleated by then!