MTG Fetch Lands — Complete Guide
Fetch lands are the most powerful mana fixers ever printed. They sacrifice themselves and pay 1 life to search your library for a land with a specific basic land type. Because shock lands and original duals have basic land types, a single fetch land can find any color combination you need. Fetches also thin your deck, fill your graveyard for delve, and shuffle away bad topdecks after Brainstorm effects.
All 10 Fetch Lands
| Card | Colors |
|---|---|
| Flooded Strand | White/Blue (Azorius) |
| Marsh Flats | White/Black (Orzhov) |
| Arid Mesa | White/Red (Boros) |
| Windswept Heath | White/Green (Selesnya) |
| Polluted Delta | Blue/Black (Dimir) |
| Scalding Tarn | Blue/Red (Izzet) |
| Misty Rainforest | Blue/Green (Simic) |
| Bloodstained Mire | Black/Red (Rakdos) |
| Verdant Catacombs | Black/Green (Golgari) |
| Wooded Foothills | Red/Green (Gruul) |
Key Details
- Tier: Premium (1/3)
- Entry: Always enters untapped.
- Fetchable: No
- Life cost: 1 per use
- Cards in cycle: 10
Format Legality
| Standard | Pioneer | Modern | Legacy | Commander |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Not Legal | Not Legal | Legal | Legal | Legal |
Strategy
In Modern, start every mana base with the correct fetch lands for your colors. A blue-red deck runs Scalding Tarn and Misty Rainforest (which finds Steam Vents). In Commander, fetches are excellent but not mandatory on a budget. The Onslaught fetches (Flooded Strand, Polluted Delta, etc.) are significantly cheaper than the Zendikar fetches and are functionally identical.
Related Cycles
- Allied Fetch Lands — Pay 1 life, sac: search for a land with basic land type. Onslaught allied pairs.
- Original Dual Lands — No drawback. Two basic land types. Reserved List.
- Shock Lands — Pay 2 life or ETB tapped. Two basic land types — fetchable.
- Fast Lands — ETB untapped if you control 2 or fewer lands.
- Fast Lands (Enemy) — ETB untapped if you control 2 or fewer lands.
Build Your Mana Base
Use our Mana Base Calculator to find the right mix of Fetch Lands and other duals for your deck. Paste a Moxfield or Archidekt link and get Monte Carlo-simulated land counts. See all 48 dual land cycles in our complete Dual Land Cycles Guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are fetch lands legal in Pioneer?
No. All 10 fetch lands are banned in Pioneer. This was a deliberate choice by WotC to differentiate Pioneer from Modern and keep mana bases more constrained and affordable.
Which fetch lands should I buy first?
Buy the Onslaught cycle first (Flooded Strand, Polluted Delta, Bloodstained Mire, Wooded Foothills, Windswept Heath). They are cheaper than the Zendikar cycle and functionally identical. The Zendikar fetches (Scalding Tarn, Misty Rainforest, etc.) are more expensive due to lower reprint volume.
Do fetch lands thin your deck?
Yes, but the effect is marginal. Removing one land from a 53-card library increases your chance of drawing a non-land by less than 2%. The real value of fetch lands is color fixing, graveyard filling, and shuffle effects.