Check land

The cycle of allied color check lands from Magic 2011.

Check lands (or checklands) are a 10-card cycle of dual lands.

Their name stems from the fact that they check if the player controls a land with a basic land type that corresponds with either color the land can produce. If this condition is not met, they enter the battlefield tapped.

Examples

Example

Glacial Fortress
Land
Glacial Fortress enters the battlefield tapped unless you control a Plains or an Island.
: Add or .

History

The first lands that checked for other lands were the Tainted lands in Torment, all of which checked for Swamps. Future Sight, as one of the Futureshifted lands, brought Nimbus Maze, which checked for Plains or Islands. While all of these entered untapped and could tap for two colors of mana, they are poor in multiples and are not conducive to three or higher-color mana bases.

Allied color check lands were introduced summer 2009 in Magic 2010. They have since been reprinted four times, namely in each of the three subsequent Core Sets up to Magic 2013 and in Ixalan.

Enemy color check lands were introduced fall 2011 in Innistrad. They have been reprinted in Dominaria and Dominaria Remastered.

Much later, mono-color check lands were printed in Throne of Eldraine, with a revisit in Modern Horizons 3. These lands only tap for one color and check for their matching subtype, but they produce a powerful utility effect if the conditions are fulfilled. The Horizon checklands all reuse an old mechanic as part of their utility.

Original check lands

Allied colored

• Glacial Fortress (/)
• Drowned Catacomb (/)
• Dragonskull Summit (/)
• Rootbound Crag (/)
• Sunpetal Grove (/)

Enemy colored

• Isolated Chapel (/)
• Sulfur Falls (/)
• Woodland Cemetery (/)
• Clifftop Retreat (/)
• Hinterland Harbor (/)

Utility Checklands

Eldraine Castles

• Castle Ardenvale
• Castle Vantress
• Castle Locthwain
• Castle Embereth
• Castle Garenbrig

MH3 Mechanic Lands

• Monumental Henge , Historic
• Archway of Innovation , Improvise
• Spymaster's Vault , Connive
• Arena of Glory , Exert
• Shifting Woodland , Delirium

Notes

• Check lands work with nonbasic lands that have basic land types. This makes them popular for budget players in Modern as one-of or two-of in decklists that otherwise only run shock lands and fetch lands as nonbasics, as this mana base usually offsets their potential drawback.
• Throne of Eldraine also featured a cycle of typed commons that require three others of their type to enter untapped; if they did, they also grant a bonus.
• The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth has a cycle of "legend check lands" which check for legendary creatures. They are monocolored utility lands much like the Castles.

Trivia

• Allied color check lands have the same artwork in each of their Core Set printings.