Welcome to the long-awaited part two of this series. And there was much rejoicing.

Let me put my design hat on here for a minute. The reason I separated these two at this point was the story that Randy Buehler told before years ago on DailyMTG.com. At this point in the history of the game (Invasion block), Wizards wanted people to play multiple colors in their decks. They decided the best way to do this was to make better dual lands (the original ones were unprintable because of their inclusion on the dreaded Reserved List).

Before this point, there were a few great sets of dual lands (original, pain, City of Brass), and a large number of not-so-hot sets of dual lands. If you wanted to play decks with multiple colors, you had to choose something that was suboptimal, or pony up $20 for the Alpha duals (Ah, that price is so quaint, ain't it?). WotC decided to push the envelope a little bit with the design of the first lands of this new era in hopes that it wouldn't be too much.

It wasn't.

You'll see that there was a heavy influence of the first lands on this list with a majority of the other good dual lands that have been printed since. This is not a mistake or lazy design; it just works. The overall quality of the lands since Invasion has been much better, and people have been playing multiple colors ever since.

Anyway, you might figure out how many licks it takes to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop before finishing this. Take a breather, and dive in.

Invasion Tap Lands

Set: Invasion

Rarity: uncommon

Color Combinations: Coastal Tower (W/U), Elfhame Palace (G/W), Salt Marsh (U/B), Shivan Oasis (R/G), Urborg Volcano (B/R)

Demand: moderate

Notes: The first of the new lands that ushered in the new design era. Have been the inspiration for many lands since their printing. Almost completely overshadowed in the years preceding it; doesn't mean that they still don't see play. Two-colored decks are where they shine and can sometimes be awkward in three-plus colors. As uncommons, great for budget/new players.

Works Well With: Amulet of Vigor, Wake Thrasher

Rating: worth owning

Other Sets: Eighth Edition, Duel Decks: Phyrexia vs. The Coalition (Elfhame Palace and Shivan Oasis Only), Planechase (Shivan Oasis only)

Invasion Sac Lands

Set: Invasion

Rarity: common

Color Combinations: Ancient Spring (W/U/B), Geothermal Crevice (B/R/G), Irrigation Ditch (G/W/U), Sulfur Vent (U/B/R), Tinder Farm (R/G/W)

Demand: none

Notes: Taps to provide main color and its two allied colors if sacrificed. The thing that really hinders this cycle is the "enters the battlefield tapped" phrase. The banning of Fastbond (with the combination of Amulet of Vigor and Crucible of Worlds) doesn't allow this to become broken or even used. Too much restriction (what types of decks it can fit into) for too little effect.

Works Well With: Amulet of Vigor, Crucible of Worlds

Rating: ignore

Other Sets: none

Archaeological Dig

Set: Invasion

Rarity: uncommon

Color Combinations: five-color land

Demand: none

Notes: Sacrificing a land to get one color instead of two isn't much better. While it doesn't have the "enters the battlefield tapped" clause, it's not abusable because of Fastbond's banning. Not powerful enough for inclusion in your deck.

Works Well With: Terravore

Rating: skip

Other Sets: none

Planeshift Lair Lands

Set: Planeshift

Rarity: uncommon

Color Combinations: Crosis's Catacombs (U/B/R), Darigaaz's Caldera (B/R/G), Dromar's Cavern (W/U/B), Rith's Grove (R/G/W), Treva's Ruins (G/W/U)

Demand: some

Notes: These were the best three-colored lands until Alara. The trade-off of just entering play is that you have to return a land to your hand, which can be tapped or untapped. Great way to reset lands that have counters on them. It does set you back a turn for a land drop, but access to three colors on turn two can be pretty enticing. Always worth taking a look when building Shard-colored decks.

Works Well With: cards with Landfall, Gemstone Mine

Rating: staple

Other Sets: none

Forsaken City

Set: Planeshift

Rarity: rare

Color Combinations: five-color land

Demand: none

Notes: Unless there are more cards that open up design space in the exiled zone, this is not powerful enough. Since it doesn't discard the card, can't be abused.

Works Well With: the Judgment Wishes

Rating: bad

Other Sets: none

Meteor Crater

Set: Planeshift

Rarity: rare

Color Combinations: five-color land

Demand: low

Notes: Need to have a colored card on the battlefield before you can use it; artifacts and lands are colorless. Great for five-colored decks that need heavy colored mana costs. If a deck is filled with more spells than permanents, not very useful. If all you have on the battlefield is this plus Reflecting Pool, you have no mana.

Works Well With: Scuttlemutt, multicolored cards.

Rating: niche

Other Sets: none

Terminal Moraine

Set: Planeshift

Rarity: uncommon

Color Combinations: five-color land

Demand: moderate

Notes: Mostly seen in Karn/colorless decks. Most of the time, cards like Temporal Expanse/Shards fetch lands will take the place of this one. Not bad, just more expensive to sacrifice to get the land you want; there are better options.

Works Well With: cards with Landfall

Rating: all right, but can do better

Other Sets: none

Apocalypse Pain Lands

Set: Apocalypse

Rarity: rare

Color Combinations: Battlefield Forge (R/W), Caves of Koilos (W/B), Llanowar Wastes (B/G), Shivan Reef (U/R), Yavimaya Coast (G/U)

Demand: high

Notes: Remember all the things I said about the Ice Age pain lands? Apply them here. Long-awaited, much-loved, and very useful. Again, don't be scared because they deal damage to you; most of the time, you'll be fine. Because the enemy ones have been printed fewer times than the Ice Age versions, they are a little rarer and more sought-after.

Works Well With: 40 life

Rating: staple

Other Sets: Ninth Edition, Tenth Edition

Odyssey Filter Lands

Set: Odyssey

Rarity: rare

Color Combinations: Darkwater Catacombs (U/B), Mossfire Valley (R/G), Shadowblood Ridge (B/R), Skycloud Expanse (W/U), Sungrass Prairie (G/W)

Demand: some

Notes: Great if a good portion of your cards are multicolored. They don't tap for mana on their own, so don't miscount when you're playing more than one spell a turn. The fact that they don't tap on their own for mana might be why they don't see much play, which is a shame.

Works Well With: multicolor cards, off-mana kickers

Rating: good

Other Sets: none

Crystal Quarry

Set: Odyssey

Rarity: rare

Color Combinations: five-color land

Demand: low

Notes: Because of the mana symbols, can only be used in five-colored decks. That's not a bad thing since your Commander most likely will be five colors. Obvious final design of the rest of the filter lands from the set. This is part of a nice synergy with Fist of Suns to cast whatever you want.

Works Well With: Sunburst cards

Rating: niche

Other Sets: none

Tarnished Citadel

Set: Odyssey

Rarity: rare

Color Combinations: five-color land

Demand: none

Notes: If you don't like City of Brass, you shouldn't like this. Only two cards I can think of that work with this card are Darien, King of Kjeldor and Purity. All right, they might not be that bad to include within that deck, but still. The 3 life is too much when there are much better options out there.

Works Well With: what I said above

Rating: not very good

Other Sets: none

Odyssey Sac Lands

Set: Odyssey

Rarity: common

Color Combinations: five-color lands

Demand: none

Notes: A cycle of all five colors here. These face the same issue as the Apocalypse sac lands, except they only produce one color when sacrificed. Because you can't generate colored mana your Commander isn't the color of, these see no play. The issue of not enough effect for the card creeps up here again.

Works Well With: Crucible of Worlds

Rating: ignore

Other Sets: none

Tainted Lands

Set: Odyssey

Rarity: uncommon

Color Combinations: Tainted Field (W/B), Tainted Isle (U/B), Tainted Peak (B/R), Tainted Wood (B/G)

Demand: none

Notes: The number of swamps you need in your deck to make these lands work isn't worth including these lands. Yes, there's Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, but there are other lands that you can use instead of this cycle. There's no way to fetch them easily, and other cards are more viable if you want the same effect.

Works Well With: Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

Rating: ignore

Other Sets: none

Krosan Verge

Set: Judgment

Rarity: uncommon

Color Combinations: Green/White

Demand: moderate

Notes: This is the only fetch land printed so far that gets two lands. Because it doesn't say "basic", it can go get dual lands. It's going to be slow (enters the battlefield tapped, fetched lands enter the battlefield tapped), but the ability to fetch two lands at the end of the turn can be a huge boost since you'll be up one land instead of just trading one land for another.

Works Well With: Landfall, Ravnica Duals

Rating: useful

Other Sets: Archenemy

Riftstone Portal

Set: Judgment

Rarity: uncommon

Color Combinations: Green/White

Demand: low

Notes: This was better before the wide prevalence of graveyard-removal cards. Since it only works in your graveyard, it doesn't actually count as a land. You can either sacrifice the land or discard it to an effect; I wouldn't wait for an opponent to destroy it. It's extremely fragile, and be quite devastating when you lose it.

Works Well With: discard effects

Rating: mostly ignore

Other Sets: none

Grand Coliseum

Set: Onslaught

Rarity: rare

Color Combinations: five-color land

Demand: low

Notes: This works just like City of Brass, but you can tap it for colorless without getting damaged. The tradeoff is that it has to enter the battlefield tapped, which, as we've seen, is not a completely bad thing. If you need another version of City of Brass in your deck, I would suggest this one. If used in Karn/colorless Commander decks, it won't cause you pain.

Works Well With: cards that want colored mana

Rating: good

Other Sets: none

Onslaught Fetch Lands

Set: Onslaught

Rarity: rare

Color Combinations: Bloodstained Mire (B/R), Flooded Strand (W/U), Polluted Delta (U/B), Windswept Heath (G/W), Wooded Foothills (R/G)

Demand: high

Notes: Because of their interaction with the original and Ravnica duals, these are the third most sought-after dual lands in Commander. They're better in almost all ways than the Mirage fetch lands, since these enter the battlefield untapped. Yes, you trade a point of life for that, but it's worth it. There's still some interesting discussion if these cards are worth it in monocolored decks. Because the fetch lands don't have mana symbols on them, they can be used in any Commander deck.

Works Well With: dual lands with basic land types, Landfall, Crucible of Worlds

Rating: must own

Other Sets: judge promos

Glimmervoid

Set: Mirrodin

Rarity: rare

Color Combinations: five-color land

Demand: low

Notes: It needs artifacts to work, which can be a drawback. Karn/colorless decks can use this card, but it will only produce colorless mana. The clause says "At the beginning of the end step," so it's not just yours but any player's as well. Be warned.

Works Well With: artifacts

Rating: niche

Other Sets: none

Mirrodin's Core

Set: Darksteel

Rarity: uncommon

Color Combinations: five-color

Demand: moderate

Notes: Here's your painless City of Brass. Of course, you have to tap it to add counters, and can only get that every other turn. You can add as many counters as you want to it; to activate it for colored mana, you only remove one. This can be especially useful for decks with wedge mana colors where mana can be hard to get.

Works Well With: cards with Proliferate

Rating: worthwhile

Other Sets: none

Forbidden Orchard

Set: Champions of Kamigawa

Rarity: rare

Color Combinations: five-color land

Demand: moderate

Notes: Another painless City of Brass, only the trade-off this time is an opponent gets a 1/1 token. This is a great politics card if you like playing those types of games. Be careful; an opponent can Skullclamp that token and draw two cards. If that happens, I'm sure you won't target that opponent again with the token. The 1/1 usually isn't a big deal in Commander.

Works Well With: Soul Warden, Brooding Saurian

Rating: very playable

Other Sets: none

Champions Tapped Lands

Set: Champions of Kamigawa

Rarity: uncommon

Color Combinations: Cloudcrest Lake (W/U), Lantern-Lit Graveyard (B/R), Pinecrest Ridge (R/G), Tranquil Garden (G/W), Waterveil Cavern (U/B)

Demand: none

Notes: Remember last time when I complained about the lands from Tempest that are way too slow and don't untap if you use them for color? Yeah, these are the same lands, but with different names. WotC didn't learn from their earlier mistakes of designing bad lands. Avoid them.

Works Well With: Just don't put them in your deck, please.

Rating: horrible, horrible, horrible

Other Sets: none

Tendo Ice Bridge

Set: Betrayers of Kamigawa

Rarity: rare

Color Combinations: five-color land

Demand: moderate

Notes: The obvious flaw in this card is its limited use, way less than Gemstone Mine. Of course, the best way to abuse it is to keep adding counters to it or keep resetting it. One of my favorite uses is Trade Routes, but cards with Proliferate work well, too. This is clearly more of a Johnny land.

Works Well With: Ravnica Karoo lands, Proliferate

Rating: gets the job done

Other Sets: none

Ravnica Karoo Lands

Set: Ravnica: City of Guilds/Guildpact/Dissension

Rarity: common

Color Combinations: Azorius Chancery (W/U), Boros Garrison (R/W), Dimir Aqueduct (U/B), Golgari Rot Farm (B/G), Gruul Turf (R/G), Izzet Boilerworks (U/R), Orzhov Basilica (W/B), Rakdos Carnarium (B/R), Selesnya Sanctuary (G/W), Simic Growth Chamber (U/G)

Demand: moderate

Notes: I've combined the whole block together in one section.

Nicknamed from the Visions card Karoo, these are most-used common dual lands in Commander. They have two "drawbacks" of entering the battlefield tapped and retuning a land. Amulet of Vigor can help negate the first drawback, while the second one can be used as a way to "reset" counters on lands. Because the land taps for two separate colors, it goes great with Mana Reflection and you don't really miss a land drop, you just don't get it the turn it enters play.

Works Well With: Gemstone Mine, Landfall, Mana Reflection

Rating: near staple

Other Sets: none

Ravnica Shock Dual Lands

Set: Ravnica: City of Guilds / Guildpact / Dissension

Rarity: rare

Color Combinations: Ravnica – Overgrown Tomb (G/B), Sacred Foundry (W/R), Temple Garden (G/W), and Watery Grave (U/B); Guildpact – Godless Shrine (W/B), Steam Vents (/U/R), and Stomping Ground (R/G); Dissension – Blood Crypt (B/R), Breeding Pool (U/G) and Hallowed Fountain (W/U)

Demand: very high

Notes: I've combined the whole block together in one section. These are the second most sought-after collection of dual lands for Commander, after the original dual lands, because of the basic land types they possess. Remember, just because they have the basic land types doesn't mean they are basic lands (they aren't). The issue of losing 2 life to untap them means very little when you start out with 40 life. Works well with the Onslaught and Zendikar fetch lands. If a set of "true" duals were going to be printed again, my money is on these.

Works Well With: Mirage, Onslaught, Zendikar fetch lands, everything that relies on basic land types

Rating: must own

Other Sets: none

Pillar of the Paruns

Set: Dissension

Rarity: rare

Color Combinations: five-color land

Demand: low

Notes: Another five-color variant; this time, the drawback is that you can only use the mana for multicolored spells. How many multicolored spells you have in your deck will determine whether you can even consider this card. Sometimes, you'll love it; other times, you'll hate it. It does work with hybrid cards because they are multicolored by default; split cards (unless each half is multicolored) do not work. Cards with off-color kickers do not work since the card is one color.

Works Well With: hybrid cards, Cascade spells (all Cascade spells are multicolored)

Rating: niche

Other Sets: none

Coldsnap Tap Lands

Set: Coldsnap

Rarity: uncommon

Color Combinations: Arctic Flats (G/W), Boreal Shelf (W/U), Frost Marsh (U/B), Highland Weald (R/G), Tresserhorn Sinks (B/R)

Demand: medium

Notes: Exactly like the Invasion tap lands, only these produce snow mana as well. Great for another allied tap land in your deck if needed or if building a snow theme deck. Works well in combination with Into the North and Mouth of Ronom for land-fetching and near-uncounterable Commander kill.

Works Well With: snow-based cards

Rating: near staple

Other Sets: none

Storage Dual Lands

Set: Time Spiral

Rarity: uncommon

Color Combinations: Calciform Pools (W/U), Dreadship Reef (U/B), Fungal Reaches (R/G), Molten Slagheap (B/R), Saltcrusted Steppe (G/W)

Demand: medium

Notes: They're a great place to store your unused mana at end of turn. Remember, they can tap themselves to remove their own counters. Be wary of bounce and pinpointed destruction. They are seen in decks that can constantly untap its lands to abuse the mana storage.

Works Well With: Sword of Feast and Famine, Proliferate, Seedborn Muse

Rating: great for combo decks

Other Sets: none

[Card Image – Gemstone Caverns, Align Right]

Gemstone Caverns

Set: Time Spiral

Rarity: rare

Color Combinations: five-color land

Demand: none

Notes: It only produces colored mana if you have it in your opening hand and you're not playing first. The odds are too low to have those circumstances hit with consistency.

Works Well With: not being in your deck

Rating: very poor

Other Sets: none

Terramorphic Expanse

Set: Time Spiral

Rarity: common

Color Combinations: five-color land

Demand: good

Notes: This is a great option for budget players. It can also been seen in monocolored decks to help get mana on the battlefield and thin out the deck. I wouldn't be hesitant to have it make the final cut in almost every Commander deck I build.

Works Well With: Landfall, basic lands

Rating: staple

Other Sets: Tenth Edition, Magic 2010, Planechase, Premium Deck Series: Slivers, Duel Decks: Phyrexian vs. The Coalition, Archenemy, Magic 2011

Grove of the Burnwillows

Set: Future Sight

Rarity: rare

Color Combinations: Red/Green

Demand: medium

Notes: Will cover each of the Future Sight lands differently (Graven Cairns will be covered in Shadowmoor). Red and Green are known for their fat beats and burn spells, so having each opponent gain a life when you tap this isn't a big deal. This is a clear mirror opposite of the pain lands. It can be seen as a politics card; it can help save an opponent from exact lethal damage.

Works Well With: Punishing Fire, Kavu Predator

Rating: great

Other Sets: none

Horizon Canopy

Set: Future Sight

Rarity: rare

Color Combinations: Green/White

Demand: high

Notes: This is a great card to see in the late game because it can cycle away to draw you a card. As we've learned, the pain suffered is not that significant given your starting life total. It doesn't tap for colorless, so you're going to get pinged no matter what.

Works Well With: Knight of the Reliquary, Terravore, Crucible of Worlds

Rating: staple

Other Sets: none

Nimbus Maze

Set: Future Sight

Rarity: rare

Color Combinations: White/Blue

Demand: low

Notes: I personally don't like this card for Commander because you need both off-colored lands of the basic type to get this to work fully. Yes, if you have a fetch land and get one of the original or Ravnica duals, it works fine. But for my tastes, I don't think you'll see it consistently enough to get its full use. If you've had success with it, sound off in the comments. This is completely different than the M10 duals.

Works Well With: Tundra, Hallowed Fountain

Rating: ignore

Other Sets: none

River of Tears

Set: Future Sight

Rarity: rare

Color Combinations: Blue/Black

Demand: small

Notes: Gets the colored mana when you want it: Blue on opponent's turns to counter, bounce, and draw, and Black to discard, destroy, and tutor. It says "played" a land this turn, so the fetch lands don't combo with this. Remember your timing, as you can tap it for Blue before you play a land.

Works Well With: playing lands, Black sorceries, Blue instants

Rating: solid

Other Sets: none

Vivid Lands

Set: Lorwyn

Rarity: uncommon

Color Combinations: five-color lands

Demand: high

Notes: There are five different lands, one for each color. Reflecting Pool helps make these some of the best two five-colored lands in the game. Obviously, they work great with color-intensive decks. As always, any time you can bounce or add counters on these lands to reset them, it's a bonus.

Works Well With: Proliferate, Reflecting Pool, Ravnica Karoo lands

Rating: staple

Other Sets: Premium Deck Series: Slivers (Vivid Creek and Vivid Grove only)

Tribal Tap Lands

Set: Lorwyn

Rarity: rare

Color Combinations: Ancient Amphitheater (R/W – Giant), Auntie's Hovel (B/R – Goblin), Gilt-Leaf Palace (B/G – Elf), Secluded Glen (U/B – Faerie), Wanderwine Hub (W/U – Merfolk)

Demand: low to high depending on the land

Notes: Don't let the "reveal a creature type" clause scare you away. If you don't have it, they are exactly like the Invasion tap lands. And because of this—this is the only time (to date) that Red/White and Black/Green have had lands like that—the demand of these two cards is increased. While it is great to have the tribal of that card in your hand as you play it, it's only a bonus. Just don't feel that you need those creature types to put the lands in your deck.

Works Well With: cards with the appropriate creature type

Rating: solid

Other Sets: none

Shimmering Grotto

Set: Lorwyn

Rarity: common

Color Combinations: five-color land

Demand: small

Notes: It's great for budget or pauper players who don't want or need the Odyssey filter lands. Shimmering Grotto can be used in Karn decks. It's a pretty straightforward card.

Works Well With: cards that want colored mana

Rating: all right

Other Sets: none

Murmuring Bosk

Set: Morningtide

Rarity: rare

Color Combinations: Green/White/Black

Demand: higher side of medium

Notes: At first glance, it seems just like the Lorwyn tribal lands, except there are two big differences. First, you get pinged if you want to add White or Black mana to your mana pool, which isn't a big deal. Second, it's a Forest. That second part is what makes this card amazing. Adding Green mana doesn't cost anything and you can search for it with fetch lands. This is mostly seen in Doran decks—for good reason.

Works Well With: Doran, fetch lands of all sets, cards that care about Forests

Rating: amazing

Other Sets: none

Primal Beyond

Set: Morningtide

Rarity: rare

Color Combinations: five-color land

Demand: small

Notes: The colored mana is only good if you're playing with elemental spells. There are a few elemental Commanders (Horde of Notions), and this fits perfectly in there. If you're not playing a heavily elemental-themed deck, ignore.

Works Well With: Elemental cards. I think that I mentioned that, right?

Rating: niche

Other Sets: none

Hybrid Lands

Set: Shadowmoor/Eventide

Rarity: rare

Color Combinations: Shadowmoor – Fire-Lit Thicket (R/G), Graven Cairns (B/R), Mystic Gate (W/U), Sunken Ruins (U/B), Wooded Bastion (G/W) Eventide – Cascade Bluffs (U/R), Fetid Heath (W/B), Flooded Grove (G/U), Rugged Prairie (R/W), Twilight Mire (B/G)

Demand: high

Notes: Besides the original/Ravnica duals and the fetch lands, these are the most desired lands. Because of their flexibility, they are better suited for more types of decks than the Odyssey filter lands. As a bonus, they can tap for colorless mana if you wish. Helping smooth out your mana, they can give you access to one color that you hardly use except for your Commander and two other cards in your deck.

Works Well With: color-insensitive mana costs; basically anything

Rating: must own

Other Sets: none

Springjack Pasture

Set: Eventide

Rarity: rare

Color Combinations: five-color land

Demand: small

Notes: One of the hidden gems that almost no one plays. No one really knows what you're doing with the 0/1 Goat tokens until you sacrifice them to play an awesome spell. It doesn't say Goat tokens, so if you can make some of your creatures Goats—boom, there you go. It's not going to take over games, but it'll be a nice role-player.

Works Well With: Unnatural Selection, Changeling creatures, Artificial Evolution

Rating: has uses

Other Sets: none

Alara Tri-Tap Lands

Set: Shards of Alara

Rarity: uncommon

Color Combinations: Arcane Sanctum (W/U/B), Crumbling Necropolis (U/B/R), Jungle Shrine (R/G/W), Savage Lands (B/R/G), Seaside Citadel (G/W/U)

Demand: high

Notes: They're amazing for Shard-colored Commanders and five-colored decks. Strictly better than the Invasion tap lands, they're going to work for you unless you're only playing two colors. These are good, and should see play in those decks that can use them. Luckily, there are more foils of these lands because they were in the foil Shards of Alara packs, making them cheaper and easier to acquire.

Works Well With: three-colored Commanders, Amulet of Vigor

Rating: staple

Other Sets: none

Shard Panorama Lands

Set: Shards of Alara

Rarity: common

Color Combinations: Bant Panorama (G/W/U), Esper Panorama (W/U/B), Grixis Panorama (U/B/R), Jund Panorama (B/R/G), Naya Panorama (R/G/W)

Demand: low

Notes: They're slightly different than Terramorphic Expanse but with a drawback. They can tap for colorless (which means Karn and such decks can use these), but there's a drawback: They can only fetch one of three basic lands. Yes, basic. No, you can't go get a Ravnica dual, but they're still useful. They're great for budget players and those who want to play with basic lands.

Works Well With: Crucible of Worlds

Rating: useful

Other Sets: none

Ancient Ziggurat

Set: Conflux

Rarity: uncommon

Color Combinations: five-color land

Demand: medium

Notes: Drawback: It can only be used to cast creatures. You can't use it for creature abilities, or spells that create creatures. There will be times you'll love this and others where you'll grab that card off the table and yell at it for being so lazy. It has to fit into certain decks, which means it's not an auto-include.

Works Well With: creatures

Rating: niche

Other Sets: Premium Deck Series: Slivers, FNM Promo

Exotic Orchard

Set: Conflux

Rarity: rare

Color Combinations: five-color land

Demand: low

Notes: It's completely dependent on what your opponent is playing. If your Commander isn't the color(s) that your opponents are playing, you can't produce those colors. If you steal something and your Commander isn't of that color, you can't produce mana of that color with Exotic Orchard. As with several of these other lands, sometimes you'll love them, but sometimes you'll want to scream.

Works Well With: five-color Commanders

Rating: fringe

Other Sets: none

Rupture Spire

Set: Conflux

Rarity: common

Color Combinations: five-color land

Demand: low

Notes: It does set you back on the first turn you play it, then it's open game. If you play with people who ramp quickly, this might not be the best choice. Otherwise, this always gets serious consideration when I build multicolored decks.

Works Well With: same as any other five-colored land

Rating: near staple

Other Sets: Premium Deck Series: Slivers

M10 Duals

Set: Magic 2010

Rarity: rare

Color Combinations: Dragonskull Summit (B/R), Drowned Catacomb (U/B), Glacial Fortress (W/U), Rootbound Crag (R/G), Sunpetal Grove (G/W)

Demand: low

Notes: If you don't have the basic land type on the battlefield, they're just like the Invasion tap lands. There's nothing wrong with that, but I don't feel like I need to completely alter my mana base to play these untapped.

Works Well With: basic land types

Rating: Nice, but how many of these same types of cards do you need in your deck?

Other Sets: Premium Deck Series: Slivers (Rootbound Crag only), Magic 2011

Zendikar Refuge Lands

Set: Zendikar

Rarity: uncommon

Color Combinations: Akoum Refuge (B/R), Graypelt Refuge (G/W), Jwar Isle Refuge (U/B), Kazandu Refuge (R/G), Sejiri Refuge

Demand: medium

Notes: They're just like the Invasion tap lands, but when they enter the battlefield, you gain a life. So, I guess, they're better than them? Redundancy is never a bad thing in Commander.

Works Well With: Sanguine Bond

Rating: another repeat, but staple

Other Sets: none

Zendikar Fetch Lands

Set: Zendikar

Rarity: rare

Color Combinations: Arid Mesa (R/W), Marsh Flats (W/B), Misty Rainforest (G/U), Scalding Tarn (U/R), Verdant Catacombs (B/G)

Demand: high

Notes: This finishes the ten-card cycle from Onslaught. They're great with all the things that those lands are great with. Again, they can be used in almost any deck (sorry, Karn players) because they don't have colored mana symbols in the text box. The 1-life loss is so worth it.

Works Well With: original duals, Ravnica duals, any card with the basic land type, Crucible of Worlds, Landfall

Rating: must own

Other Sets: none

Worldwake Man Lands

Set: Worldwake

Rarity: rare

Color Combinations: Celestial Colonnade (W/U), Creeping Tar Pit (U/B), Lavaclaw Reaches (B/R), Raging Ravine (R/G), Stirring Wildwood (G/W)

Demand: high

Notes: They're just like every other Invasion tap land knockoff, only they become creatures. Just like Transformers, they're amazing. They will replace any of those extra tap lands that just don't do anything. Because everyone's cracked so many boxes to get Jace 2.0, there are many of these on the market. Find some, put them in your decks, and profit.

Works Well With: Terra Eternal

Rating: must own

Other Sets: none

Evolving Wilds

Set: Rise of the Eldrazi

Rarity: common

Color Combinations: five-color land

Demand: medium

Notes: It's a functional repeat of Terramorphic Expanse, so just reread what I said in that section. Redundancy is never a bad thing in Commander.

Works Well With: Landfall

Rating: staple

Other Sets: none

Scars Dual Lands

Set: Scars of Mirrodin

Rarity: rare

Color Combinations: Blackcleave Cliffs (B/R), Copperline Gorge (R/G), Darkslick Shores (U/B), Razorverge Thicket (G/W), Seachrome Coast (W/U)

Demand: low

Notes: If you don't get this in your opening hand, you know what this turns into? Yep, another Invasion tap land. They're great for fast, constructed decks that don't follow the Highlander rules. Otherwise, they're pretty much the same thing. Redundancy is never a bad thing in Commander.

Works Well With: not a whole lot more

Rating: ignore

Other Sets: none

Wrap-Up

There. That's all the dual lands in the game of Magic. I left off a few that really don't count as dual lands (Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth and Flagstones of Trokair), but that doesn't mean that they're not good. Have opinions? Leave them below.

That's it for lands for now. Next time, we'll skip lists. Promise.