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A land type is any subtype used for the further classification of land cards.

Unlike creature types, land types don't have to appear on all lands. Instead they are only introduced for mechanical purposes.

Rules[ | ]

From the glossary of the Comprehensive Rules (September 20, 2024—Duskmourn: House of Horror)

Land Type
A subtype that’s correlated to the land card type. See rule 305, “Lands.” See rule 205.3i for the list of land types.

From the Comprehensive Rules (September 20, 2024—Duskmourn: House of Horror)

  • 205.3i Lands have their own unique set of subtypes; these subtypes are called land types. The land types are Cave, Desert, Forest, Gate, Island, Lair, Locus, Mine, Mountain, Plains, Power-Plant, Sphere, Swamp, Tower, and Urza’s. Of that list, Forest, Island, Mountain, Plains, and Swamp are the basic land types. See rule 305.6.

Basic land types[ | ]

Main article: Basic land type

The most common lands are the five colored basic lands. Each have the supertype "basic" (meaning there is no limit to how many cards of that name you can have in a constructed deck), a subtype matching its name, and a single activated ability allowing you to tap it to generate one colored mana.[1]

These basic land types and the mana they generate are:

When an effect specifically refers to "basic land type," it is referring to any or all of these five subtypes.

Ordinarily, changing a card's subtype does not automatically change its abilities, but the basic land types are an exception. If a land gains a basic land type, it also gains the ability to tap for the appropriate color of mana (and loses all other abilities, unless the type-changing effect allows it to keep its original types.)

Nonbasic land types[ | ]

There are some land types associated with nonbasic lands:

Trivia[ | ]

References[ | ]

  1. Gavin Verhey (April 20, 2017). "Tap, Tap . . . Oops!". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on July 9, 2022.
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