Land drop

A land drop is an opportunity to play one land during a game of Magic: The Gathering. The default game rules allow a player one land play on each of their turns, but some effects allow playing more. Playing a land normally counts against this total, but other effects get around this limit by putting lands onto the battlefield without "playing" them.

Strategically, land drops can be thought of as a resource which players should strive to use efficiently. "Missing a land drop" can seriously disrupt a player's game plan.

In game mechanics, the total allowance of land plays is calculated and checked as a single number rather than tracking individual "land drops".

Description

During the main phase of a turn while the stack is empty, the active player may "play" a land from their hand, immediately placing it onto the battlefield. This is a special action which does not use the stack, and is the default way to bring lands into play, happening numerous times in most games. Each player is normally restricted to doing this once per turn, but some effects can increase this limit.

Less commonly, a resolving spell or ability may state that a player "may play a land" (or "play a card") as part of its effect. In this case that player may play the land at that time, rather than as a separate special action. This still counts against the total number of plays for the turn, and a player may not exceed the total allowance this way.

The term "land drop" is actually slang, a variant of the term "drop" used for other spells. The Comprehensive Rules give no specific term for the player's capacity to play lands, instead generally describing it as "the number of lands the player can play this turn".

It is important to distinguish playing a land from "putting" or "returning" a land to the battlefield. Only the specific action of "playing" is restricted by the land drop limit and "uses up a land drop". Other effects involving lands simply do as the text instructs and do not limit subsequent land plays.

Playing additional lands per turn

One early card, Fastbond, states "you may play any number of lands on each of your turns". This allows the player to ignore the land play limit entirely. It is extremely powerful, resulting in Fastbond's banning in all official formats except Vintage.

A number of other cards state "you may play an additional land on each of your turns" or "you may play [number] additional lands on each of your turns." This ability is printed sparingly and, as with many land-related effects, is most common in green. Informally, it may be thought of as "granting more land drops", but is better understood as increasing the limit used to determine if a land play is allowed. At the time the active player wishes to play a land, a single number of total allowed land drops for the turn is determined, taking into account all effects active at that moment. This number is compared to the number of lands they have already played that turn. If the total allowance is higher, another land may be played, otherwise it cannot.

This means that there is no connection between specific effects increasing the land play limit and specific land plays. If a source of such an effect is destroyed, there is no possibility that the player "already used the land drop from that source" - the total allowance is simply reduced appropriately. For example:

• If a player has played one land already while they had The Gitrog Monster on the battlefield granting an additional land drop, and then The Gitrog Monster is killed, their total land drop allowance is now back to the default of one. They may not play any more lands since they have already played one. They may not claim that their first land play "used the land drop from The Gitrog Monster" and that they still have their normal land drop remaining.
• If a player has Azusa, Lost but Seeking in play and has already played three lands in the turn, and then she is killed, the total land drop allowance is then down to one. If they subsequently play Summer Bloom, their land drop allowance is then up to four. They may play one more land, since their allowance is four and they have already played three.

Rules

From the Comprehensive Rules (July 25, 2025—Edge of Eternities)

• 305.1. A player who has priority may play a land card from their hand during a main phase of their turn when the stack is empty. Playing a land is a special action; it doesn’t use the stack (see rule 116). Rather, the player simply puts the land onto the battlefield. Since the land doesn’t go on the stack, it is never a spell, and players can’t respond to it with instants or activated abilities.

From the Comprehensive Rules (July 25, 2025—Edge of Eternities)

• 505.6b During either main phase, the active player may play one land card from their hand if the stack is empty, if the player has priority, and if they haven’t played a land this turn (unless an effect states the player may play additional lands). This action doesn’t use the stack. Neither the land nor the action of playing the land is a spell or ability, so it can’t be countered, and players can’t respond to it with instants or activated abilities. (See rule 305, “Lands.”)

Rulings

• represents an additional cost, not a mana symbol. {D} can be paid for by giving up one potential land play you have remaining this turn. Boulder Jockey's mana value is 3.
• To determine how many land drops you have remaining this turn, compare the number of lands you can play (which is normally one but can be increased by other effects) with the number of lands you've played and land drops you've given up this turn. If the number of lands you can play is greater, you can play a land or give up a land drop. You can't give up a land drop you don't have. You can never pay for when it's not your turn.

Strategy

Playing lands is part of developing a player's board, increasing their power over the course of a game. Each land played provides one more mana every turn for the rest of the game, which in turn powers spells and abilities. This allows play on later turns to be more powerful, with wilder tempo swings as the game progresses. Being unable to use a turn's land drop ("missing the land drop") can be devastating, more so the earlier it happens in the game: The player immediately has less mana available compared to the opponent, and will continue to have less on subsequent turns, making it harder to regain the loss of tempo.

History

The very first edition of Magic included Fastbond, removing the land drop limit at the cost of life. This proved extremely powerful, and no more land drop-modifying cards were printed for several years.

The modern form of land drop increases was first used on Storm Cauldron (Alliances). This had a severe downside regarding use of lands, but shortly thereafter Summer Bloom (Visions) was printed, providing the first increase of land plays with no downside, albeit for just one turn. Summer Bloom still holds the record for highest non-variable, non-infinite number of land plays granted by one effect. This was followed by Exploration (Urza's Saga), the first permanent to increase the land play limit on each turn with no downside. This effect has continued to appear on a trickle of cards over many years, both on permanents and one-time spells.

For Zendikar, a "lands matter" set, R&D played around with the land drop as a cost or explicit resource. What if a spell was much cheaper than normal and the additional cost was you had to use your land drop for the turn? The problem they quickly ran into is that the times you want the cheaper spells are the same time you need to be playing land. Players who opted to use the mechanic had slower mana development and tended to get beaten by the players with more mana. They then tried a kicker variant where the land drop didn't make it cheaper but increased the effect. They assumed early in the game you'd cast the cards for their smaller effect and later when you didn't have land to play, you could get the free upgrade. In playtesting, they found players were greedy and kept upgrading the spells even when they needed the land development more. Thus, Landfall became the primary land-related mechanic of the set instead of directly interacting with land drops.

In Zendikar Rising, a new variant of "additional land drops" was printed as a one-off with Nahiri's Lithoforming. This allowed for a potentially very high number of increased land drops on one turn, but only after sacrificing the same amount, creating the flavor of "reforming" the land.

In 2024, the Mystery Booster 2 test card Boulder Jockey further explored the "drop as a resource" idea from Zendikar design. It introduced , a cost that can be paid by giving up a land drop:

Example

Boulder Jockey
Creature — Goblin
4/4
( is a land drop. You may give up one potential land drop this turn to pay for .)
Whenever Boulder Jockey attacks, you may pay . If you do, create a 3/3 colorless Construct artifact creature token named Boulder that’s tapped and attacking. Sacrifice that token at the beginning of the next end step.

The "additional land drop" effect finally appeared on a non-green, non-artifact card in the Final Fantasy set with Zell Dincht.