MTG Filter Lands Explained: Rules, List & Uses
Filter lands work differently from every other dual land cycle in this series. They don't just produce mana on their own — they take mana you already have and convert it into something more useful. That makes them one of the more situational, and more misunderstood, land cycles in Commander.
This guide covers exactly how the conversion works, the complete cycle of ten, and where they earn their keep in a mana base.
What Are Filter Lands?
Filter lands are a ten-card cycle of dual lands: five allied-colour pairs from Shadowmoor and five enemy-colour pairs from Eventide (both 2008). Every filter land shares the same structure:
- Always enters the battlefield untapped, with no condition
- Taps for colourless mana on its own, for free
- Can also be tapped while paying one mana of either of its two colours, to instead produce two mana in any combination of those same two colours
Cascade Bluffs, for example, reads roughly: "{T}: Add {C}. {U/R}, {T}: Add {U}{U}, {U}{R}, or {R}{R}." Feed it one blue or red mana, and it hands back two mana split however you like between those colours.
The Key Rule: It Filters, It Doesn't Create From Nothing
This is the detail that trips people up. A filter land cannot produce its two-mana ability without first paying one mana of a matching colour into it — it needs input to give output. On an empty board with no other mana sources, a filter land can only ever give you colourless. It becomes genuinely powerful only once you have at least one other coloured source to feed it.
- It's mana-positive. Pay one mana in, get two mana out — a net gain of one mana, not just a conversion.
- It fixes double-pip costs. Feed it one blue, and it can hand back {U}{U} — exactly the kind of double-coloured requirement that plain dual lands can't solve on their own.
- It stacks with mana doublers. Because the ability itself produces two mana from one, effects that double mana production apply on top of that conversion, making filter lands unusually strong alongside cards like Mana Reflection.
The Complete List of 10 Filter Lands
| Land | Colours | Guild | Original Set |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mystic Gate | W/U | Azorius | Shadowmoor |
| Sunken Ruins | U/B | Dimir | Shadowmoor |
| Fire-Lit Thicket | R/G | Gruul | Shadowmoor |
| Wooded Bastion | G/W | Selesnya | Shadowmoor |
| Graven Cairns | B/R | Rakdos | Future Sight / Shadowmoor |
| Rugged Prairie | R/W | Boros | Eventide |
| Cascade Bluffs | U/R | Izzet | Eventide |
| Twilight Mire | B/G | Golgari | Eventide |
| Flooded Grove | G/U | Simic | Eventide |
| Fetid Heath | W/B | Orzhov | Eventide |
We currently stock Wooded Bastion, with the rest of the cycle being added over time. Check our full catalogue or decklist search tool for current availability across the whole cycle.
Filter Lands vs Shock Lands vs Fetch Lands
- vs Shock Lands: Shock lands always enter ready to tap for either colour, at a one-time life cost. Filter lands are free of life loss entirely, but need an existing coloured source to unlock their real value — they are situational rather than universal.
- vs Fetch Lands: Filter lands have no basic land subtypes, so fetch lands cannot search for them. Like pain lands, they have to be drawn or tutored for directly.
- Best fit: Decks with demanding double- or triple-pip costs in exactly two colours — a filter land is far less useful in a deck spread across three or more colours, since converting into only two specific colours does less work.
Are Filter Lands Good in Commander?
They shine specifically in two-colour decks with heavy colour requirements — think {U}{U} or {B}{B}{B} costs that a single-source dual land struggles to support on its own. Outside of that niche, they are noticeably weaker than shock lands or original duals, since they contribute nothing on an empty board and do less work once a third colour enters the picture.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a filter land produce mana with nothing else on the battlefield?
Only colourless. Its two-mana filtering ability requires paying one mana of a matching colour as part of the cost, so without another coloured source already available, a filter land can only tap for colourless.
Do filter lands make more mana than they take?
Yes. Paying one mana into the filtering ability returns two mana, so using a filter land is a net gain of one mana on top of the colour-fixing, as long as you have a coloured source to feed it.
Can fetch lands find filter lands?
No. Filter lands have no basic land types, so no fetch land cycle can search for them directly.
Are filter lands good in three-colour decks?
Generally not as good as in two-colour decks. Since each filter land only converts between its own two colours, it does less for a manabase that needs a third colour fixed as well.
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