Cycling land

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The card Drifting Meadow from Commander 2015.
Drifting Meadow (Commander 2015), an example of a cycling land.

A cycling land is a land with cycling. Cycling lands which produce colored mana are taplands. As lands are the resource players are most likely to have an excess of (mana flood), cycling lands are often slow as mana sources but powerful in later stages.

Examples

Example 1

Drifting Meadow
Land
Drifting Meadow enters the battlefield tapped.
The tap symbol.: Add White mana.
Cycling 2 generic mana (2 generic mana, Discard this card: Draw a card.)

Example 2

Secluded Steppe
Land
Secluded Steppe enters the battlefield tapped.
The tap symbol.: Add White mana.
Cycling White mana (White mana, Discard this card: Draw a card.)

Mono-colored cycling lands

2 cycling lands

Cycling lands were introduced in Urza's Saga with the Cycling 2 generic mana ability.

M cycling lands

Later in Onslaught, were introduced another variant with the Cycling M ability, where M is the associated color of each land. They were reprinted in Modern Horizons and are therefore Modern legal.[1]

Cycling Deserts

Hour of Devastation added the Godless Deserts, another variant with the Cycling 1 generic manaM ability, were M is the associated color of each land. They are Deserts.

Dual-colored cycling lands

Amonkhet added allied colored dual lands (also known as bicycle lands[2]) with cycling 2 generic mana. Unlike previous cycling lands these have basic land types.[3]

Since Fallout's Commander decks, Design has begun a program to complete the ten color-pair cycles of lands that aren't viable for Standard legality.[4] The bicycle lands began getting this treatment with the Edge of Eternities Commander decks.[5]

The three remaining two-color pairs have yet to be printed.

  • (Green manaBlue mana)
  • (Blue manaRed mana)
  • (White manaBlack mana)

Triome lands

Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths' introduced a cycle of wedge-colored cycling lands (also known as tricycle lands) that each have the Cycling 3 generic mana ability. Like the bicycle lands, these lands have basic land types.

Streets of New Capenna completed the cycle with the shard-colored versions, though not named Triomes, rather themed as the base of power of the Capennan gang crime lords ("hideouts").

Landscapes

Ten Landscapes were printed in Modern Horizons 3 and are also fetch lands; they tap for Colorless mana, can be sacrificed to find three different basic land types, and can be cycled for the cost of one mana from each of the three types. As the fetching ability is wordy, the adjective in the names interchangeable, and the cards have a colorless border, the cycling ability was given to put the color identity onto the card without increasing the power level significantly.

Other lands

Besides the cycles there are three other lands, which enter the battlefield untapped and produce Colorless mana.

One other enters tapped and taps for a chosen color.

References

  1. Brian Braun-Duin (May 29, 2019). "Hitting for the Cycle". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 2019-05-29.
  2. Unfinished Land Cycles in Commander Decks?? A Mana Chat! (Video). Good Morning Magic. YouTube (April 23, 2024).
  3. Sam Stoddard (March 31, 2017). "Cycling Duels". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 2017-12-11.
  4. Gavin Verhey (July 10, 2025). "Last year, we finally made enemy Odyssey filterlands.". Bluesky.
  5. Gavin Verhey (July 11, 2025). "Why are New Dual Lands in Edge of Eternities Commander Decks?? (Video)". Good Morning Magic. YouTube.