Quick Links
InMagic: The Gathering, there’s no more important card type than lands. Most decks wouldn’t be able to do anything at all without lands to support them, and yet, most Magic players forget about lands as perhaps the least dynamic card type in the game.
Modern Horizon 3’s Tricky Terrain Commander deck aims to change that. By using some of Magic’s most interesting lands and supporting them with spells and creatures to find them, Tricky Terrain eventually amasses enough power that nobody will ever look at lands the same way again. All you need to do is open their eyes with a few tricks.
Magus of the Candelabra
Sage of the Maze
Curse of the Swine
Desert of the Indomitable
Desert of the Mindful
Lair of the Hydra
Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth
Tricky Terrain Commander Deck Themes
Tricky Terrain isall about getting the most out of your many, many lands. Many of those lands are looking for specific types of land for their ability to function, such as Cloudpost looking for ‘Locus’ and Lazotep Quarry looking for ‘Desert’. The more of these types of lands you have, the better.
Omo, Queen of Vesuvaplaces ‘everything’ counters on both lands and creatures. This provides that land or creature with every type possible in Magic, thus making a regular Island into a Forest, a Desert, a Locus, a Cave, and every other land type it could be.
AsOmo places more everything counters on your lands, yourlands get better and better. Your Basilisk Gate sees more Gates and consequently creates an enormous temporary buff for a target creature, for example. Or, your Glimmerpost sees more Locuses and causes you to gain more life.
But the biggest benefit probably comes from the Urzatron (Urza’s Mine,Urza’s Power Plant, andUrza’s Tower) as well asCloudpost, which produce more mana when they see more of their associated land types. This will allow you tocast massive X-cost spellslikeNissa, Steward of Elements,Aggressive Biomancy, andHydroid Krasisto hopefully win the game.
You’ll want toplay Tricky Terrain more defensivelythan the other Commander decks from Modern Horizons 3. Omo should attack to create tokens wherever possible, but otherwise, you should try to stay off everyone’s radar so you can live long enough to amass a bunch of lands.
We’ve been talking a lot aboutOmobecauseshe’s the linchpinto the deck, but there are three other potential commanders.Jyoti, Moag Ancientcreates Forest Dryad land tokens every time it’s cast from the command zone and buffs land creatures every combat, but Tricky Terrain doesn’t have too many land creatures and Jyoti’s token-creating ability really only works if they’re your commander.
The other two areUro, Titan of Nature’s WrathandTatyova, Benthic Druid. Both are better choices of commander for Tricky Terrain than Jyoti, but they don’t have the ability to make every land into every other type of land.
It’s highly recommended tostick with Omo as Tricky Terrain’s commander.
Tricky Terrain Commander Deck Analysis
Tricky Terrain is a solid deck out of the box. You’ve got a few instant-speed answers (Pongify,Beast Within,Arcane Denial), a decent number of board wipes (Evacuation,Oblivion Stone,Blast Zone), plenty of card draw (Tatyova,Harmonize,Treasure Cruise), and lots and lots of land.
In fact,almost half of Tricky Terrain’s deck is either land or an artifact that produces mana. This would be a problem in most decks, but because Tricky Terrain wants a lot of land, it’s actually a benefit in this case.
A lot of Tricky Terrain is designed to suck lands out of the deck and get them onto the playing field.Satyr Wayfinder,Elvish Rejuvenator,Sylvan Scrying, andHour of Promiseall search out lands from your deck to either put into your hand or directly into play. Some even tutor specific lands to reliably execute Tricky Terrain’s game plan.
Ramunap Excavatorwill even let you play lands from your graveyard, whichworks well with cycling landslikeDesert of the Mindfulordiscoverlands likeHidden Nursery.
You’ve got a few big creatures that allow you to go in for the kill (most notablyApex Devastator), but a lot of your early-game creatures are centered on defense or utility.Fog BankandFloriferous Vinewallare actual Walls, andPoison Dart Frogis really just there to make mana or scare people away with deathtouch.
While the deck is great without alterations, there’s still room for improvement.Without Omo, the deck can flounder, so it’d be helpful to have even more spells that search for specific lands to continue Tricky Terrain’s strategy while Omo is in the command zone.
Likewise, there aresome lands and creatures that would be very helpfulto Tricky Terrain and couldreplace some underperforming cards. We’ll discuss those in the next section.
Hashpep Oasis
Island
Our cuts are going to bring more focus onto Tricky Terrain’s land strategy, which meansFog Bank,Poison Dart Frog, andSkullwinderare all out. Playing defense is fine, but another good way to defend yourself is to get your strategy activated ahead of schedule.
Don’t worry about Skullwinder leavingas we’ll replace it with another card that can also do some graveyard shenanigans.
Mirage Mirrorcan turn into a duplicate land, but a lot of the time you’ll want that land to be producing mana, and the mana cost on Mirrage Mirror’s ability doesn’t leave much profit.Seer’s Sundialis similarly expensive for what it does, and we’ll be getting better card draw sources anyway.
Jyotiis a lovely card that deserves to have their own deck, but unless they’re your commander, there’s not much reason to run Jyoti.Terrastodonis just a big elephant that can blow up a few non-creature targets but doesn’t otherwise care about Omo’s land strategy.
Hour of Promiseis fine, but we will replace it with something that does better than just searching for two lands and making a few zombie tokens.Summary Dismissalis an expensive counterspell, and expensive counterspells are bad.Replication Techniquetechnically puts you ahead, but you’re better off not giving your opponents anything.
Of the lands we’ll get rid ofThornwood Fallsisn’t a gate or a desert,Hashpep Oasishas an ability that will likely never see use, and since we’re getting rid of a couple of blue spells, we can safely toss anIslandfor something better.
Tricky Terrain Commander Deck Budget Upgrades
A fewland swaps, a few moreland search spells, and somesupporting creaturesround out our upgrades for Tricky Terrain.
Reason
Animist’s Awakening
Tricky Terrain has enough instants and sorceries for there a reasonable chance at triggering its spell master condition. But even if you don’t, Animist’s Awakening is a great way of getting a lot of lands into play quickly.
Aven Courier
Omo could use some help getting those tokens on every land you play. Enter Aven Courier. This Bird can even help distribute Omo’s everything tokens even if she’s not in play, provided she’s at least placed on token for Aven Courier to copy.
Azusa, Lost But Seeking
Azusa is pricey enough that we’re stretching the definition of budget, but if you can find her for under five dollars, she’s an excellent way of getting more lands out of your hand and onto the table.
Baldur’s Gate
You’ll need a lot of Gates to get the most out of Baldur’s Gate, but Omo is great at making gates. Throw this in with Cloudpost and the Urzatron for even more mana in the bank.
Colossal Rattlewurm
With Omo around, this 6/5 Wurm has flash, trample, and can exile itself from the graveyard to search out and put a Desert into play. The perfect monster for Tricky Terrain.
Cosmium Confluence
We’ve got two Caves coming later in this list that make Cosmium Confluence a great addition to Tricky Terrain. Plus, you’re able to turn a single Cave into a 9/9 or just blow up an enchantment. Now that’s flexibility!
Courser Of Kruphix
Play lands from the top of your library and gain life whenever a land comes into play. And with four toughness, Course of Kruphix is an excellent defensive creature.
Dune Chanter
Dune Chanter helps Omo by turning everything into Deserts and also fixing your mana so you’re able to get green or blue out of Yavimaya Coast without it dealing damage to you. You can even mill cards to gain life if you find yourself without the need for more lands (or if you’ve got Ramunap Excavator in play).
Echoing Deeps
Echoing Deeps becomes any land that’s already in your graveyard, pairing well with Dune Chanter’s mill effect or if Satyr Wayfinder finds more land than you can put in your hand.
Multani, Yavimaya’s Avatar
You’re going to have a lot of lands. Multani loves lands, whether they’re in play or in your graveyard. Return a few to your hand and you can even resurrect Multani.
Nissa, Who Shakes The World
Since all your lands are Forests with a little help from Omo, this version of Nissa can pump your mana production into overdrive. She can also turn a land into a deadly threat and create an indestructible army of Forests, too.
Omenpath Journey
Omenpath Journey tutors five lands and puts them into play over the course of five turns. A fantastic card for Tricky Terrain, ensuring you get every land you want.
Sunken Citadel
Tricky Terrain has a lot of land-activated abilities, so Sunken Citadel helps out a lot. It’s also a Cave, which would be great to search out with Cosmium Confluence.
