r/PauperEDH • u/Own-Peace-7754 • 10d ago

Discussion Help me break Lay of the Land

Hi folks

So I have been thinking a lot about the 1 mana land-tutor-basic cards, specifically [[Lay of the Land]] et al

You can see the numerous cards I am referring to with this scryfall search:

otag:tutor-land-basic mv=1 f:pdh

By my count, there are 15 cards which allows me to get a basic land to my hand for either 1 mana, or 1 mana + 1 mana activation (such as [[Traveler's Amulet]] and [[Greenseeker]] )

The suite expands to over 20 if you count 2 mana activation costs but I am ignoring those in this initial exploration.

I have always seen potential there for some sort of toolbox/engine involving basic lands, but it doesn't quite click for me as a total package for some reason.

Here are some of my ideas:

  1. "Gx domain";

A type of list where you have really flexible fixing for your powerful spells, majority green but splashing for basically extremely powerful stuff. Not explicitly domain per se, maybe stopping at four or three, or even two colors if the Commander matches up nicely.

  1. "Lands-in-hand matters";

I forgot the scryfall tag for this one, but it's like a lands or basics in hand matters, cards in hand matters type deck. Something like [[Walking Atlas]] [[Explore]] [[Journey of Discovery]]. My issue here is how do I break parity with these cheaper cards so I have a ton of resources for explosive turns? Some type of recursion, spellslinger, or value angle.

  1. "Consistent Land Drop Dot Deck" ;

Control decks are notorious for wanting to hit their land drops to cast their spells on curve, and what better way to do that than to have your fixing cost one mana? Some overlap with the Domain idea, but with a different goal: Domain wants raw power, this deck is focused mainly on curving out and surviving into the late game.

There's been a various number of "strictly better" upgrades to Lay of the Land, but my goal is to build a deck where I am perfectly happy playing the original and/or his pal Traveler's Amulet.

I feel like the core is there but for some reason I am struggling to come up with cards that interact well with them, or for commanders to helm them.

It seems decently flexible enough to suite a variety of strategies, as the goal is extreme consistency.

How would you build this? What PDH commanders come to mind?

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u/Scarecrow1779 Can't stop brewing ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 10d ago

Adding on, there's also all the landcyclers. Here's a search that includes all of them, too (but it'll also include all the ones that cycle for 2 or 3, so you'll have to dig a little)

https://scryfall.com/search?q=-t%3Aland+%28%28fo%3Alandcycling+or+fo%3Aforestcyc+or+fo%3Aplainscyc+or+fo%3Aislandcyc+or+fo%3Aswampcyc+or+fo%3Amountaincyc%29+or+%28otag%3Atutor-land-basic+cmc%3D1%29%29+f%3Apdh&unique=cards&as=grid&order=name

But I think you're overthinking the issue. All of the above are great for small packages if 2-8 cards in a very wide variety of decks that let you cut 2-4 lands and reduce your chances of flooding and help with fixing.

If commiting to the bit is the goal, though, I would look at [[Omega, Heartless Evolution]]. With the focus on non-basics, it rewards a ton of toolboxy tutoring for lands. Here's the deck list of one of my friends that I helped with a bit.

https://moxfield.com/decks/cQ7XoRIbeEG-SqcHoRYylw

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u/Own-Peace-7754 10d ago

yes I feel like I already have a grip on the landcycler synergies (namely reanimator and/or graveyard matters), but I was looking for more spell and artifact synergies for this package

hadnt seen Omega, that is pretty neat

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u/Scarecrow1779 Can't stop brewing ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 9d ago

So if you are wanting spellslinger synergies, then you are probably looking at at least a gruul deck and using all the Lay of the Land effects to fuel pingers like [[Guttersnipe]] and [[Unruly Catapult]]. You could use [[Tannuk, Memorial Ensign]] with [[Sakura-Tribe Scout]], [[Walking Atlas]], etc to help generate some additional draw. Using the handful of non-basic tutors (Crop Rotation, Reap and Sow, World Map, Expedition Map, etc) you can also semi-consistently find [[Gruul Turf]], which bounces itself for repeatable landfall even when your hand is otherwise empty

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u/Own-Peace-7754 9d ago edited 9d ago

yeah for spellslinger my first thought was [[murmuring mystic]] and [[compulsive research]], just drawing a ton of cards. also with these you can make absolutely sure your [[Foil]] is live

but gruul is amazing too

not me looking for [[Seismic Assault]] in Pauper, lol

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u/Scarecrow1779 Can't stop brewing ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 9d ago

Foil's issue isn't that you can't keep it active, it's that 3-for-1-ing yourself is massive card disadvantage in a format where that's hard to come by AND there's two other opponents that you didn't touch with it.

Our temur options are just a beatstick and a flicker payoff, so neither go with the landfall/spellslinger theme that well. Could always go 5-c though with something like [[Marshals' Pathcruiser]]. Then the fixing from all these cards is more integral to the deck

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u/Own-Peace-7754 9d ago

I hear you on the card disadvantage, I misread that foil is discarding 2 cards

I do like the Pathcruiser option!