MTG, The Best Lands to Proxy First: Fetch Lands, Duals, and Mana Fixing That Changes the Game

TLDR

If you want the biggest quality-of-life upgrade for MTG proxies, start with lands. Yes, lands. The vegetables of Magic.
Proxy fetch lands first if you play 3+ colors, landfall, or you just enjoy casting spells when you draw them.
Then add fetchable duals (shock lands, triomes, and similar lands with basic land types) so your fetches and ramp spells actually do something.
Round it out with Commander-friendly duals (bond lands) and a few all-star utility lands (Ancient Tomb, Command Tower, etc.) that show up in deck after deck.

The unsexy truth, lands win games you never notice

Most upgrades in Commander feel like shopping for a motorcycle. Big dragon, shiny sword, fancy engine, dopamine. Land upgrades feel like replacing the water heater.

But here’s the problem, your deck can’t cast “cool spells” if it’s stuck with a hand full of “almost the right colors.” You know the hand. Two lands, three colors, one of them is definitely wrong, and now you’re playing Draw-Go but without the “Go.”

If you are building MTG proxies to improve gameplay per dollar, the best lands to proxy first are the ones that:

fix multiple colors early,
enter untapped often,
work across lots of decks,
make your other cards better (fetches plus typed duals is the classic combo).

Let’s rank them.

A simple “what should I proxy first” land ladder

If you only read one section, make it this one.

Tier 1, Fetch lands (highest impact, most reusable)

Fetch lands are the foundation of “my deck just works.” They find whatever color you’re missing, they smooth awkward hands, and they scale with the rest of your mana base.

Proxy these first if:

you play 3+ colors
your deck cares about landfall
you run top-of-library manipulation (Sensei’s Divining Top style effects)
you like casting spells on curve more than you like “vibes”

The 10 premium fetch lands

Flooded Strand
Polluted Delta
Bloodstained Mire
Wooded Foothills
Windswept Heath
Marsh Flats
Scalding Tarn
Verdant Catacombs
Arid Mesa
Misty Rainforest

Tradeoffs (because nothing is free):

You pay life.
You shuffle a lot.
Your friends will ask you if you have a “faster way to do that” while you are actively doing that.

If you hate shuffling, skip to bond lands and shocks. You will be slightly less optimized, but you will also finish your turns in the same calendar year.

Tier 2, Fetchable duals (the lands your fetches actually want)

Here’s the key concept that makes fetch lands go from “nice” to “wow.”

A fetch land doesn’t just find a basic land. It finds any land with the right basic land types in its rules text. That means a fetch that searches for a “Plains or Island card” can grab:

a Plains
an Island
a shock land that is a Plains and Island
a triome that includes Plains and Island
an original dual land that includes Plains and Island

So once you have fetches, you want lands that:

have basic land types
give two or three colors
often enter untapped (or are worth the tap)

The big hits:

Shock lands (10)
These are the workhorse “typed duals” that go in everything.

Hallowed Fountain
Watery Grave
Blood Crypt
Stomping Ground
Temple Garden
Breeding Pool
Godless Shrine
Steam Vents
Overgrown Tomb
Sacred Foundry

Triomes (10)
Triomes are the “I will take a tapped land if it fixes everything” option, and they are fetchable.

Ikoria triomes: Indatha, Ketria, Raugrin, Savai, Zagoth
New Capenna triomes: Jetmir’s Garden, Spara’s Headquarters, Raffine’s Tower, Ziatora’s Proving Ground, Xander’s Lounge

When triomes matter most:

3+ color decks that want perfect fixing
slower pods where a tapped land is not a crime
decks that like cycling in the late game

Tier 3, Original dual lands (premium, classic, and brutally effective)

If you want “the best possible version” of a two-color land, it’s the original duals. They have basic land types and enter untapped without asking you to pay life. They are the reason fetch lands are so silly.

The 10 originals:

Tundra
Underground Sea
Badlands
Taiga
Savannah
Scrubland
Plateau
Tropical Island
Volcanic Island
Bayou

In practice, most people proxy these when they want the cleanest, most consistent mana possible, especially in higher power casual and cube.

Tier 4, Commander “bond lands” (quietly excellent)

Bond lands (also called Battlebond lands or crowd lands) are absurdly friendly in multiplayer. They often enter untapped in Commander, and they fix colors without the shuffle.

Examples:

Sea of Clouds
Morphic Pool
Luxury Suite
Spire Garden
Bountiful Promenade
Rejuvenating Springs
Training Center
Undergrowth Stadium
Vault of Champions
Spectator Seating

If your goal is a smoother mana base without the fetch shuffle routine, these are a great early pick.

Tier 5, The “make any mana” lands you keep reusing

These are the lands that show up in deck after deck, especially Commander decks.

Command Tower (Commander staple for a reason)
City of Brass, Mana Confluence (any color, some life cost)
Reflecting Pool (best when you already have good fixing)
Exotic Orchard (depends on table, often great)

If you are proxying for practical value, these lands are pure reuse. You print them once, then they live in whatever deck you are currently obsessed with.

The best lands to proxy first, based on your deck’s colors

Here’s the decision tree you actually wanted.

If you are two colors

Start with the lands that enter untapped most of the time.

Shock land for your pair
Bond land for your pair (Commander)
Pain land for your pair (fast, simple)
A couple fetch lands that can find your shock (optional, still strong)

Two-color decks do not need to be fancy to be consistent. They just need to stop playing lands that always enter tapped.

If you are three colors

This is where fetches start feeling like cheating.

6–10 fetch lands that cover your colors
3–6 shock lands that match your fetches
1–2 triomes (if your deck can tolerate tapped lands)
A couple rainbow lands (Command Tower, City of Brass, etc.)

If you are four or five colors

You are basically signing up for “mana base engineering,” whether you meant to or not.

As many relevant fetch lands as you can
A healthy mix of shock lands and triomes
Rainbow lands to cover awkward gaps
Then utility lands after your fixing is stable

If you skip good fixing in 5-color, your deck becomes a performance art piece about regret.

A real comparison table, with the tradeoffs people ignore

Land Type	Fixing Power	Speed	Reuse Across Decks	The Annoying Part
Fetch lands	Very high	High	Very high	Shuffling, life
Shock lands	High	High	Very high	Life if untapped
Triomes	High	Medium	High	Enters tapped
Original duals	Very high	Very high	High	Scarce and pricey without proxies
Bond lands	High (Commander)	High	High	Worse in 1v1
Pain lands	Medium	High	Medium	Life adds up
Rainbow lands	Medium to high	High	Very high	Often life or table-dependent

“Mana fixing that changes the game” is not just duals

Some lands are not fixing, they are just raw power. If you are proxying, these are often the next step after you stop color-screwing yourself.

A few usual suspects:

Ancient Tomb (fast mana, big downside, still everywhere)
Cavern of Souls (if your deck is tribal or your commander absolutely must resolve)
Boseiju, Who Endures (interaction stapled to a land)
Strip Mine and Wasteland (answers problem lands)
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth and Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth (turn awkward mana into functional mana, sometimes also enable nonsense)

Proxying these is less about “fixing” and more about matching the power level you want your deck to play at.

Practical proxy advice, print your mana base like you mean it

If you are going to proxy lands, do it cleanly.

Keep the style consistent. A deck with 25 different land frames looks like it was assembled during a fire drill.
Prioritize readability. Lands get checked mid-turn, mid-combat, and mid-argument about whether you have the colors to pay for that thing you definitely cast already.
Print the whole batch together when possible. You get consistent color, consistent cut, and the deck feels like one product instead of a pile of “close enough.”

If you want to browse ready-to-order proxy staples (including lands), you can do that. If you are just here for the theory, respect. Lands deserve respect. They do all the work and get none of the credit.

FAQs

How many fetch lands should I run in Commander?

A lot of 3+ color decks are happy in the 6–10 range, depending on how tuned you want the mana to be and how much shuffling you can tolerate.

Are shock lands still worth it if I am not playing fetches?

Yes. Even without fetches, shocks are strong because they give two colors and can enter untapped when you need speed.

Should I proxy triomes if my deck is fast?

If your deck wants to curve out aggressively, too many tapped lands will feel bad. One or two triomes can still be fine in 3-color decks, especially if your opening turns are setup-heavy.

What are the most reusable lands across multiple decks?

Fetch lands, shock lands, Command Tower, and the best rainbow lands tend to show up everywhere. If your goal is maximum reuse, start there.

I hate shuffling. What should I proxy instead of fetches?

Bond lands, shock lands, pain lands, and rainbow lands cover a lot of the same practical fixing without the constant library gymnastics.