The 48 Best Untap Land Cards in Magic Ranked

Last updated on April 18, 2026

Wilderness Reclamation | Illustration by Tyler Walpole

Lands are the crucible within which games of Magic are forged; decks revolve around putting extra lands into play, and making your land drop every turn is one of the best game actions you can take in Magic, especially in Commander.

Since lands are so crucial, untapping to use them multiple times a turn gives you a massive advantage. Garnering a mana advantage is one of the best ways you can win a game of Magic, plus there are plenty of lands with powerful activated abilities you can double down on when you untap them.

What Are Untap Land Cards in MTG?

Pore Over the Pages | Illustration by Magali Villeneuve

Untap land effects allow you to untap your lands. These are predominately green card effects, but blue cards and colorless cards get in on the untapping fun too. The best of these effects cost no mana, because costing mana impairs the whole ramp thing, but some untap cards that cost mana are still worth highlighting. I primarily considered these rankings for Commander, though some of these cards have seen play in other formats.

#48. Hydro-Man, Fluid Felon

As a card that becomes a land and untaps itself, I put Hydro-Man, Fluid Felon on this list because I've been brain ninja-ed by blue players before and an untapped gives me trust issues.

#47. Shriekwood Devourer

Shriekwood Devourer provides powerful top-end for green decks; in practice, this often costs less than 7 mana, assuming you have a good attack the turn you play it. Recouping some mana the turn it comes down and generating more later gives this a role in green decks, even if the big green monster slot is highly competitive.

#46. Xolatoyac, the Smiling Flood

Xolatoyac, the Smiling Flood untaps some lands at the end of your turn, and often some creatures. You can get flood counters from Xolatoyac and cards like Aquitect's Will and Eluge, the Shoreless Sea, though you have to go through quite a few hoops for those untapped lands.

#45. Nissa, Worldwaker

Nissa, Worldwaker gives mono-green decks a massive mana boost, which effectively makes it a 1-mana planeswalker. It’s not the most impressive planeswalker given how easily you opponents can attack it down, but that’s a respectable amount of mana production.

#44. Rude Awakening

Rude Awakening plays out like a green ritual, allowing you to tap more than five lands and untap everything for a slight mana buff. It works well in decks dedicated to ramp with cards like Reshape the Earth, but it’s rather inefficient otherwise.

#43. Saryth, the Viper’s Fang

Untap effects that cost mana are dicey since they prevent you from ramping, which makes Saryth, the Viper's Fang suspect. But it has its uses; the card has lots of valuable text, and the untap ability works well with lands that tap for multiple mana or have good activated abilities.

#42. Ley Druid + Juniper Order Druid + Blossom Dryad

The trifecta of Ley Druid, Juniper Order Druid, and Blossom Dryad are effectively the same card: a begrudgingly playable ramp spell. Though you can do better, these are worth running if you need a lot of redundancy or if you need mana dorks with activated abilities you can copy.

#41. Deserted Temple

Deserted Temple slips into your land base and typically pairs best with lands like Gaea's Cradle and Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, or perhaps Arena of Glory.

#40. Lost Jitte

Lost Jitte must have undergone some rough treatment from the Fomori since it’s not close to Umezawa's Jitte, but it’s still a respectable equipment and notable as one of the best colorless tools to untap your lands.

#39. Innocuous Researcher

Innocuous Researcher provides an interesting land untap ability that comes with a restriction. It was printed in the disguise-themed Deadly Disguise precon, but it has much wider applications. Commanders like Kenrith, the Returned King and Zacama, Primal Calamity use this well, as does anything that makes Clue or Food tokens.

#38. Rewind

Rewind is perhaps the worst free counterspell you can play since it requires mana upfront, and I find it generally unimpressive, but it has its uses; like many blue untap land spells, cost reduction makes them into rituals—though Rewind’s particularly hard to leverage in that regard.

It’s also handy since lots of control decks fall back on 4-mana draw 2s for card advantage; countering a spell and still getting your Glimmer of Genius or its equivalent can be handy.

#37. Twiddle

Twiddle is a fine tool if you can copy it, or if you have cards like Orvar, the All-Form that care about targeting your lands. But I wouldn’t run this without an exploit.

#36. The Wandering Minstrel

All the text and the expensive activated ability lead me to forget that The Wandering Minstrel can come down turn 2 and let you use far more than towns right away.

#35. Kelpie Guide

Kelpie Guide exists in a similar space to Ley Druid, but it’s far superior, both for its greater flexibility and because blue just gets this ability less often.

#34. Avatar Kyoshi, Earthbender

Avatar Kyoshi, Earthbender is massive and the combat triggered ability is massive earthbending. Oh yeah, and it untaps a land per turn—solid!

#33. Mind Over Matter

Mind Over Matter has a well-earned reputation as a busted combo card; in the context of this list, it effectively makes excess cards into Lotus Petal for great ramp while synergizing with cards like Splendid Reclamation and The Gitrog Monster.

#32. Stone-Seeder Hierophant

Though Stone-Seeder Hierophant comes at a hefty rate, the landfall triggers justify it since it can untap multiple lands—or perhaps the same, great land multiple times.

#31. Horizon Explorer

Horizon Explorer is a sweet card to help your tapped lands overcome their drawback. I rank this highly because it vastly speeds up your ramp by improving the lander tokens it makes.

#30. Earthcraft

Though Earthcraft’s best known for its infinite combo with Squirrel Nest, this card boasts powerful potential as an effect adjacent to Cryptolith Rite—though it’s infinitely more expensive thanks to the Reserved List.

#29. Voyaging Satyr + Sculptor of Winter

Voyaging Satyr and the slightly harder to use Sculptor of Winter are totally fine mana dorks that are particularly handy in enchantress decks loaded down with aura-based ramp à la Utopia Sprawl.

#28. Snap

Snap does its best work in decks that can play it for free and that generally want to cast a bunch of spells. It’s a small but meaningful spell that pairs nicely with commanders like Niv-Mizzet, Parun and Narset, Enlightened Exile.

#27. Spelunking

Spelunking is useful on far more than caves, and really only takes a land or two that would've entered untapped to be worth playing.

#26. Nissa, Who Shakes the World

Nissa, Who Shakes the World doesn’t have the most impressive untap ability all things considered, but the static makes it much more impressive, not to mention getting a slew of threatening lands.

#25. Reset

Reset is a strange little untap spell that finds a home in combo decks that win at instant speed. You need to jump through a lot of deckbuilding hoops for this, but that’s reasonable considering the potential within this card.

#24. Amulet of Vigor

Amulet of Vigor might be the game’s most famous untap effect thanks to the prominence of Amulet Titan decks in Modern. This functions differently than other land untapping cards, but it's still worth highlighting for its unique applications, often alongside cards that put tapped lands into play, and the lovely Karoo land synergies.

#23. Candelabra of Tawnos + Magus of the Candelabra

Candelabra of Tawnos and its lesser cousin Magus of the Candelabra are useful with lands that tap for lots and lots of mana. Tolarian Academy’s the classic pairing in Vintage Cube, and Legacy players use it alongside Urza lands. Commander players can use tools like Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, Three Tree City, and Cabal Coffers for a similar effect.

#22. Zacama, Primal Calamity

Zacama, Primal Calamity would be really impressive if its land untap ability weren’t tied to casting it, which kills possible flicker shenanigans. As is, it’s still a popular Naya commander (), and it does the thing pretty well, with decent abilities to pour that extra mana into.

#21. Peregrine Drake

There are several creatures that pay for themselves by untapping lands, including prominent examples like Cloud of Faeries and Palinchron. Peregrine Drake sees the most play among them, primarily as a combo piece to generate infinite mana or just a valuable card to play alongside flicker effects—it pairs especially well with Displacer Kitten.

#20. Krosan Restorer

Decks that consistently enable threshold leverage Krosan Restorer to great effect; if you can’t do it, it’s just another Ley Druid and should be rated accordingly.

#19. Kiora, Master of the Depths

Kiora, Master of the Depths is close to the perfect planeswalker in terms of power: It gives you a genuine advantage, especially if that uptick untaps a land and a mana dork. Kiora eventually wins the game with the ultimate, but it does so without the oppression of Oko, Thief of Crowns or by locking players out like Teferi, Time Raveler.

#18. Beledros Witherbloom

Beledros Witherbloom can be an imposing mana doubler, but there’s a hard limit on how often you can use it. It also costs a lot of mana upfront, which keeps it from being the best of the best… though I love pairing it with Vilis, Broker of Blood.

#17. Teferi, Who Slows the Sunset

Teferi, Who Slows the Sunset generates an impressive amount of mana for an Azorius card (); that uniqueness is a huge point in its favor. Simultaneously generating mana via a land untap and protecting itself by untapping a creature gives it a lot of game.

#16. Bumi, Unleashed

Bumi, Unleashed is crazy since it enters and gives you a whopping 9 power on the board. The combat damage triggered ability is on par with Sword of Feast and Famine, and I love how land creatures includes Dryad Arbor and any lands you animated in addition to earthbending.

#15. Frantic Search

Frantic Search has held together many a powerful combo deck, often alongside cost reducers or mana doublers like High Tide. It provides such power and consistency to these decks, almost always storm deck variants, that it’s caught bans in Pauper and Legacy.

#14. Early Harvest

Early Harvest shines as a powerful green ritual. It does best in mono-green, of course, but I could see running it in a 2-color deck. The massive burst of mana seems particularly useful with X spells like Genesis Wave and Finale of Devastation.

#13. Arbor Elf

Though only untapping Forests is a tight restriction, the value of a 1-mana accelerant is hard to match. Arbor Elf has seen a fair amount of competitive play, often alongside Utopia Sprawl.

#12. Awakening

Awakening is a marvelously powerful untap tool… provided you don’t mind playing group hug. That gives it a distinct weakness, though you could try playing around it with cards like Teferi, Time Raveler to minimize the value your opponents get.

#11. Argothian Elder + Ley Weaver

Argothian Elder and Ley Weaver provide powerful mana boosts, and they offer strong combo potential with cards like Wirewood Lodge and Freed from the Real.

#10. Prophet of Kruphix

Prophet of Kruphix lost its Commander privileges due to its overwhelming strength. Not only did it naturally double your mana, but it also gave you a guaranteed use for it! This card was insane, and it certainly deserved the ban.

#9. Teferi, Hero of Dominaria

Any time you find ramp and card draw packaged together in a single card, you have something powerful. Teferi, Hero of Dominaria takes this ludicrously far by bundling them into the same ability! This is one of the strongest control win conditions in Pioneer, and it’s generally one of the stronger planeswalkers you can play.

#8. Garruk Wildspeaker

Of the five original planeswalkers from Lorwyn, Garruk Wildspeaker has aged the best, largely due to the relevance of untapping two lands—a mana advantage has always been busted—and how achievable the ultimate is. Garruk only needs to survive one turn before you can Overrun for a powerful finishing move.

#7. Nature’s Will

It takes aggression to properly leverage Nature's Will, but the rewards are incredible. You can often double your mana by tapping out in your main phase, or you can attack first to force a player you suspect to be holding countermagic to tap out.

#6. Bear Umbra

Bear Umbra is one of the best versions of this effect. Needing a creature holds it back, but this umbra armor protects that creature and provides a substantial stat boost. It’s an incredible aura, even in decks that don’t care about enchantments.

#5. Wilderness Reclamation

Wilderness Reclamation might be the simplest mana doubler in the format of untapping your lands. You need to build around an instant-speed game plan since you only get the mana in your end step, but it takes little effort.

#4. Time Spiral

The traditional weakness of the draw-seven is that your opponents get the first crack at seven fresh cards with all their mana, while you invested some amount of your mana into Timetwister or whatever.

Time Spiral solves this elegantly, by making the wheel “free” for a tremendous advantage: a fresh hand and likely all, or at least most of your mana.

#3. Seedborn Muse

This is among the best land untap effects (really permanent untap effects) in Commander because you get three extra untap steps. Seedborn Muse plays best in decks with lots of activated abilities and card draw to sink all that mana into—Kenrith, the Returned King quickly comes to mind.

#2. Turnabout

Turnabout is an easily broken combo card often seen alongside High Tide, though other mana doublers like Heartbeat of Spring and Mirari's Wake offer similar power. One of its best features is its versatility, as you can use it as a defensive tool to prevent lethal attacks or sorcery-speed plays.

#1. Sword of Feast and Famine

While there are more effective land untaps, Sword of Feast and Famine is notable as the best colorless land untapper by a pretty wide margin; this is great news for Commander players, as it gives incredible mana generation to non-green colors that otherwise wouldn’t have such a tool. That kind of mana advantage warps games, and some decks will struggle to handle a threat with protection from green and black.

Best Untap Lands Payoffs

The single best payoff for untapping lands is one that taps for multiple mana; many of these effects are designed to ramp, and that just makes it more effective! These can be lands that innately tap for a bunch of mana, like Gaea's Cradle, Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, and Urza's Workshop.

Another group of lands that are great in a wide range of decks are Sol lands, named for their ability to give you with one . City of Traitors, Temple of the False God, and Arid Archway fit this part of your mana acceleration beautifully.

Alternatively, you can force the issue with aura-based ramp like Utopia Sprawl, Wild Growth, and Buried in the Garden; these are often must-haves in decks regularly untapping their lands.

Lands that have powerful activated abilities also benefit from this effects; cards like Arena of Glory, Urza's Saga, and Academy Ruins all benefit from untap effects letting you use them multiple times.

Can Players Untap Only One Land Per Turn?

Players untap all lands they control in their untap step each turn, not just one at a time.

There are some cards that force players to untap one at a time, however, like Winter Orb, Hokori, Dust Drinker, and Winter Moon.

Do You Untap Lands Before Upkeep?

Yes! You untap lands, along with other permanents like creatures and artifacts, during the untap step, before your upkeep; untapping permanents is the first thing that happens in a turn, and your opponents can’t respond to it.

Mana the Hour

Prophet of Kruphix | Illustration by Winona Nelson

Untapping your lands provides a tangible mana advantage, which is one of the best advantages you can get in Magic, as well as offering additional utility from lands with game-warping abilities. Though they’re mostly green, a couple of colorless options spread the ramp potential well beyond Magic’s most fecund color so that anybody has a chance for explosive turns.

What’s your favorite way to untap lands? Do you prefer dorks that untap your lands or add mana in your ramp decks? Let me know in the comments or on the Draftsim Discord!

Stay safe, and thank you for reading!