Cube land count is three separate numbers that owners tend to blur into one. There is the fixing count (dual lands and their relatives, which decide how many colors a deck can play), the utility land count (lands that do something besides make mana), and the basic land count (the stack you bring to the table, which is not part of the cube at all but decides whether a draft can finish). Each has its own logic.
Our companion piece on cube mana fixing covers which land cycles play best and what each fixing level does to the draft. This article is about the counts: how many of each kind, by cube size, and how the land section fits into the rest of the list.
How many fixing lands does a cube need?
Think in cycles. A cycle is ten lands, one per color pair. The number of cycles decides the draft more than which cycles you pick.
| Cube size | One cycle (strict two-color) | Two cycles (two colors plus a splash) | Three cycles (three-color decks normal) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 180 | 10 | 20 | Rarely appropriate |
| 360 | 10 | 20 | 30 |
| 450 | 10 to 15 | 20 to 25 | 30 to 40 |
| 540 | 15 | 30 | 45 |
| 720 | 20 | 40 | 60 |
The ratio is the point. Ten duals in a 360 means a drafter sees about ten per draft. Ten duals in a 540 means they see about seven, and in a 720 about five, which is barely fixing at all. When you grow a cube, grow the land section with it. When you shrink one, the land section is the last thing to cut, because fixing per draft is what drafters feel.
A useful check: count how many fixing lands a typical two-color deck ends up with. If the answer is zero or one, your fixing is decorative. If it is two or three, drafters can splash. If it is four or more, three-color decks are the norm. Pick which of those you want and set the count to produce it.
Mana rocks and mana creatures are fixing too, but they live in the colorless and green sections, not here. A cube with twelve Signets and Talismans needs fewer lands than one without, which is a reason the MTGO Vintage Cube and its many imitators lean on artifact mana as well as duals; the Vintage Cube’s full list runs the Moxen, Sol Ring, Mana Crypt and Mana Vault alongside a run of Talismans.
How many utility lands should a cube run?
Fewer than you think. A utility land is any land that does something besides fix: creature lands, Rishadan Port, Field of the Dead, Rogue’s Passage, Urza’s Saga, Strip Mine, Library of Alexandria in powered cubes. They are fun to include and quietly expensive in slots, because each one is a land that fixes nothing and a spell that nobody picks early.
House guidelines:
- 180-card cube: 2 to 4.
- 360: 5 to 8.
- 540: 8 to 12.
- 720: 12 to 16.
Prefer utility lands that enter untapped and produce colored mana, because a deck can run them without cost. Creature lands (Celestial Colonnade, Raging Ravine, Restless Vinestalk and their cousins) are the best class: they fix, they pressure control, and they are never dead. Colorless utility lands like Strip Mine or Rishadan Port are strong but tax a deck’s colored sources; cap them at a handful in a two-color cube.
The test for a utility land is the same as for any card: does it get picked, and does it get played? If a utility land is routinely a pick-thirteen hate draft, it is a slot you could give to another dual.
Where do lands fit in the overall section count?
A land section in a 540 typically runs 60 to 90 slots, which is 11 to 17 percent of the cube. Here is a worked breakdown at 80.
- 30 fixing: three cycles (fetches, shocks, pain lands, for example)
- 10 more fixing: a fourth partial cycle or a few multi-color lands
- 10 five-color and multi-color: City of Brass, Mana Confluence, triomes
- 10 utility: creature lands and a few colorless
- 20 flex: a fourth full cycle, or returned to colors
If you want something tighter, 60 is one cycle short of this and plays as medium fixing at 540. If you want more, 90 to 100 with four full cycles and a dozen utility lands is a heavy-fixing cube where three colors is the default deck. Both are common and both work. The sections and slots article shows how the land section fits against the colors and gold.
Count the land section against the total, not on top of it. If you add a third land cycle to a 540, ten other cards leave, and they should leave evenly across the colors.
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How many basic lands should you bring?
Basics are not in the cube. They sit in a separate box and every drafter takes what they need. The question is how many you need in that box so that eight people can build eight decks without running short.
A 40-card deck runs 16 or 17 lands. Subtract the duals and utility lands the drafter picked, usually two to four, and most decks want 12 to 15 basics, split across two colors. Eight drafters is around 100 to 120 basics at the table, unevenly distributed by color.
House guideline: 25 to 30 of each basic for eight players, 15 of each for four. That covers the night where three drafters are green. Owners of heavily fixed cubes get by with fewer. Pauper cube owners, whose fixing is weaker, often run more; the maintainer of The Pauper Cube notes running 40 to 50 of each basic (thepaupercube.com).
Practical notes:
- Sleeve the basics in a different color from the cube sleeves so they never mix.
- Use a single printing, or at least a single frame style, so nobody can read a deck by its basics.
- Keep a few Wastes and snow basics if any card in your cube cares, and otherwise do not bother.
- Bring at least a dozen of each basic even to a two-player grid draft. Two blue decks go through more Islands than you expect.
Should drafters be able to draft basics or land packs?
Two house rules worth knowing.
Basics are free. This is universal. Nobody drafts a Forest.
Land packs or a fixing pool. Some cubes remove fixing from the draft entirely and offer a shared pool: after the draft, every player takes one dual per color pair they are playing, or picks from a face-up stack. The MTGO Vintage Cube does not do this, but many paper cubes do, especially budget and pauper cubes where fixing is scarce. It makes two-color decks consistent and frees the land slots in the cube for spells.
The cost is that fixing stops being a drafting decision. Taking a dual over a playable in pack one is one of the real choices a cube asks of a drafter. A pool removes it. We prefer fixing in the draft, but for a new-player night or a cube with very few duals, a pool is a sound compromise. Write the rule in the primer either way.
A checklist before you lock the land section
- Count fixing lands as a ratio of cube size and ask what a typical deck ends up with.
- Cap utility lands at 2 percent of the cube and demand that each one gets played.
- Prefer untapped, colored, fetchable lands; every enters-tapped land with no upside is a slot you could use better.
- Count the land section against the total and cut evenly across colors when it grows.
- Bring 25 to 30 of each basic for eight players, sleeved differently.
- Write any pool or land-pack rule in the primer.
The game is the reason. The people are the point. The land section is where you decide how much of the game is spent casting spells and how much is spent wishing you could.
Building for Commander instead? Our Commander land count guide covers 100-card decks, ramp, and the odds at each count.
FAQ
How many lands should be in a 540 card cube?
Commonly 60 to 90 land slots: 30 to 45 fixing lands in three or four cycles, 10 five-color or multi-color lands, and 8 to 12 utility lands. Lighter fixing cubes run fewer.
Do basic lands count toward the cube size?
No. Basics are kept separately and supplied free to every drafter. A “540 cube” is 540 non-basic cards.
How many basic lands do I need for an 8-player cube draft?
About 25 to 30 of each basic type, 125 to 150 total. Heavily fixed cubes can get by with fewer; pauper and budget cubes often want more.
How many utility lands are too many?
More than about 2 percent of the cube, or any utility land that regularly goes undrafted. Prefer creature lands and other utility lands that also produce colored mana.
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