MTG: 23 Cards to Search and Get Non-Basic Lands from your Deck

Do you know what ramp is?

Known by this name thanks to Rampant Growth, "ramp" is a way to increase the amount of mana you have available on your board to speed up the game. You can do this with spells or abilities that allow you to play more lands during your turn, or even cards that give you a good amount of mana, like Cabal Coffers, Dark Ritual, Songs of the Damned, or Mana Geyser.

There are countless cards that increase how much mana you have, particularly if you play green and can use classic cards like Kodama's Reach and Cultivate.

In this article, we gathered 23 spells that will help you look for your non-basic lands so you can speed up your game rhythm even more - or just fix your mana in general. We considered mainly the spells that let us put lands in play directly, but we'll also list, at the end of this article, some other cards that look for lands and add them to your hand.

This article isn't meant to be a "top 23 non-basic ramp cards" ranked from worst to best, but rather a list with several options you can consult and use as best as you can inside the limits of the colors you use in your deck and the format you play.

Let's do it!

There are several ways to build your deck's mana base considering the interactions between your cards, and even the money you have available to invest - and if you play Commander, you can take this opportunity to check out our article about "The Top 10 Best Budget Manabases" for this format.

Usually, if your deck has more than one color, it is common to save a few slots for lands that will help you fix the mana colors you have available and that can create more than one type of mana.

Some iconic lands that can create more than one color are:

These lands are known as "non-basic lands" because they don't have "basic land" written on them like, for instance, a Plains or Forest has.

You can't use a Cultivate to get one of these lands from your deck, but there are other options that can get them for you.

In this case, Guildgates have the "gate" type; you can use Open the Gates to get one of them from your deck and add it to your hand.

Non-basic lands are welcome in several decks; for some of them, your strategy might even depend on them intrinsically. So, let's see the 23 spells that will help you look for your lands in your deck.

Skyshroud Claim

How about putting two forests on your board at the same time?

As this spell only interacts with the "forest" type, you'll be able to put in play a Jetmir's Garden or a Hedge Maze by only using this spell.

Hunting Wilds

Unlike Skyshroud Claim and others in this list that allow us to put the land in question on our board untapped, Hunting Wilds allows us to put two forests on the board, but tapped. However, if you pay for this spell's Kicker cost, you'll be able to untap these forests, and also have 3/3 creatures with Haste on the board until the end of your turn.

Crop Rotation

Crop Rotation doesn't care whether the land in question is a forest, mountain, gate, or similar - nor even if the land has this type.

To this instant, what's important is sacrificing a land to get another land from your deck that might be, for instance, a Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, or even a classic Reliquary Tower.

Three Visits and Nature's Lore

At first, I was going to add these cards separately, but as they're both sorceries with the same mana cost that look for one single forest and put it on the board, I thought it was fair they shared a spot in this list.

Cheap and able to look for any forest in your deck, these two cards are practically a must for those who enjoy decks with a lot of colors.

Sylvan Scrying

Sylvan Scrying is a sorcery that helps you look for any land in your deck, but the difference is that this card will go to your hand, and not to the board.

It is an option to recover the land drop you missed out on.

Reap and Sow

This sorcery allows you to destroy a target land or look for any land and put it in play. If you pay its Entwine cost, you can use these two effects when you cast this spell. Cool, isn't it?

Farseek

Farseek covers everything Three Visits and Nature's Lore don't. That is, everything that isn't a forest.

With this sorcery, you can look for plains, an island, a swamp, or a mountain from your deck and put this land on your board tapped.

Spoils of Victory

With an effect similar to Farseek, we can also use Spoils of Victory to get forests that will go on the board later on. Keep in mind that, as this spell (and others in this list) don't specify that this land will go onto the board tapped, you can use it to get a Cinder Glade, which will go onto the board untapped if you control two or more basic lands. It will go on the board untapped as long as you meet its requirement.

Into the North

Let's not forget snow lands!

This sorcery gets just snow lands for you, and they can be basic or not.

Some lands with the snow supertype are:

Scapeshift

Scapeshift is similar to Crop Rotation because it also requires you to sacrifice lands. However, this sorcery allows you to sacrifice any number of lands, get that same number of lands from your deck, and place them on your board tapped.

Tempt with Discovery

A sorcery that always sparks a lot of discord when someone uses it is Tempt with Discovery.

This card allows you to look for any land in your deck and put it on the board, but your opponents can also do the same. For each opponent that "was tempted" and looked for a land this way, you'll get an extra land and put it on the board.

Using this card is a bet because you can get great lands, like The World Tree, get four lands total (considering Commander), or pay and get just one land.

Traverse the Ulvenwald

To look for a non-basic land, this card requires a certain number of card types in your graveyard. It is easier to use it in decks that use self-mill, for instance, than in decks that use other strategies.

Still, this card is costs very little, and in the worst-case scenario will help you look for a non-basic land that you will then add to your hand.

Expedition Map

This is one of my favorite cards. We can sacrifice Expedition Map to look for a land and add it to our hand. As it is colorless, we can use it in decks that interact with cards like Cabal Coffers, Boseiju, Who Endures, Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire, Phyrexian Tower, Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, and many others.

Knight of the Reliquary

Were you beginning to wonder where the creatures were? Meet Knight of the Reliquary!

With it, you can sacrifice forests or plains to look for lands that will go on your board; the lands that are in your graveyard will increase this creature's stats.

Weathered Wayfarer

This card is another favorite of mine!

Even if he just puts cards in your hand, he also allows you to get any land; so, we can use it constantly without sacrificing a land to get another every time.

He's particularly efficient early on, even with the limitation of "only activating if your opponent controls more lands than you".

Tithe

Tithe is a instant that allows you to get plains and put it in your hand. So, if you control fewer lands than an opponent, you'll be able to look for another plains and put it in your hand as well. Isn't it cool to use just and get a Savai Triome and a Raugrin Triome?

Archdruid's Charm

Archdruid's Charm has several abilities, but, for this article, what we're looking at is its ability to look for a land that will go on the board tapped at instant speed.

Gem of Becoming

Gem of Becoming looks for an island, swamp, and a mountain, which don't need to be basic, and puts them in your hand.

The cost to cast this spell and activating its ability is a bit expensive, but, in Grixis decks, this artifact can be excellent.

Gift of Estates

This is another card that will look for lands and add them to your hand, but this one only interacts with plains and allows you to look for three plains if your opponent controls more lands than you.

Hour of Promise

Hour of Promise allows you to look for up to two lands and place them on the board tapped. As a bonus, if you control more three or more deserts, you'll create two Zombie tokens.

Mwonvuli Acid-Moss

This is another option that can destroy one of your opponent's lands to get you a forest from your deck, which will go on the board tapped.

Nylea's Intervention

This is another option that will bring lands to your hand. Nylea's Intervention's limit is how much mana you want to (or can) use as its "X".

This was our list with 23 spells that look for non-basic lands and put them in your hand and/or board.

Did we miss any cards? Let us know in the comment section. We're always on the lookout and your suggestion can help us write a part 2 of this article.

Oh, and why not take this opportunity to tell us in which deck you'd use, or currently use these spells, and why?

See you in the next article!