Land cards are the backbone of the Magic deck. Dual lands are even more strongly so. With dual land cards, players can tap for one mana type or another, depending on the colors present. Dual lands offer flexibility that you can’t get with regular land cards. If you’re running a dual-type deck, having dual land is a great approach to ensure your mana usage is flexible and efficient.
What makes one dual land card better than another? Utility comes to mind, but that’s not the only factor concerning your deck. Sometimes the appearance of the card can come into play as well when it comes to a player’s favorites. While Wizards of the Coast reliably delivers splendid artwork for each card, between one identical dual land and another, some artwork is just better than others. Dual lands can be some of the most valuable kinds of cards in the game. Below we have our picks for the best ones we know of in Magic the Gathering, both in looks and utility, spanning across more than just the newest cards.
10. Lantern-Lit Graveyard
Lantern-Lit Graveyard is one of the most attractive cards out there in terms of art. Well, for a dual land card, that is. However, the backfire for such a nice piece of art seems to be a hefty cost. Every time you use the card to gain land, it doesn’t untap during the next untap step. Essentially, this makes this land slow and inefficient.
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9. Elfhame Palace
Elfhame Palace is an eight-edition dual land, one that received reprints. It isn’t much more than it looks like, being a land that taps for either white or green land. There aren’t many advantages to this card over others, because it comes in tapped with no special bonuses. The art is quite comfy and dark green-toned, however, so it does get points for having great art.
8. Akohum Refuge
The first thing to notice about Akohum Refuge is the gorgeous colors at play on the art for the card. Most black and red cards can have great art typically, but this one is especially moody with the red and purples. That being said, this card does have a solid advantage above your standard dual land. When you play Akohum Refuge, you gain 1 life. Better than nothing, for sure.
7. Bloodfell Caves
The Bloodfell Caves dual land card has a pretty stunning card design, depicting some arid caves. It enters the battlefield tapped, so nothing special in terms of getting the land out there and going. However, just like Akohum Refuge, it grants you 1 life upon being played. Getting more than a few of these can provide some extra life for your game.
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6. Simic Guildgate
If you’re running a combo deck, Simic Guildgate is a great dual land to have. It’s both green and blue, making it perfect for combo decks that run strategies based well within the verses of those colors. The art for it is finely detailed, coming in no way short of your standard MTG art quality. However, the card has no special properties other than that; no life gain, no special way of entry.
5. Calciform Pools
Calciform Pools has a bit of everything when it comes to a dual land card that is enjoyable to both use and have in a collection. This card follows storage counter rules, meaning that you can tap it to add one to the pool. Using this storage, you can add either white or blue mana to your reserves. In addition to having this mechanic attached to it, the card art is beautiful as well.
4. Brushland
Brushland is an older card in MTG, sporting the white border from Fifth Edition. While some may comparatively consider the Fifth Edition cards ugly in comparison to more modern styles, the art for Brushland specifically is quite appealing, with rolling green lands and a beautifully decorated horizon. If not for this beautiful landscape, the card might be quite a bit lower on the list, because it does one damage to you each turn.
3. Caldera Lake
Caldera Lake is another card that’s more of a beauty than an asset. Being a red-blue dual land, it has a unique design as well as use. Much like Brushland, this card does deal one damage to you per tap, so watch out.
2. Tainted Field
Tainted Field is a white and black dual land card, a pretty standard card. What stands the card apart from the others is the art. For a card that is both white and black as a land, the art does a great job of representing both.
1. Temple Garden
Temple Garden, the card at the top of our list, is a green and white dual land card. According to the instructions on the card, you can pay 2 life to un-tap the card. Not only is this a very useful dual card, but the art on Temple Garden is intimately detailed. Everything from the temple design to the background and greenery beside shows that this card is one of the best out there.
