Summary
One of the most rewarding color combinations to play inMagic: The Gatheringis the complementary blue and green union of Simic. Ramping up in lands to cast massive spells gives you an advantage over your opponents that can swing the game in your favor.
The Modern Horizons 3 preconstructed Commander deck Tricky Terrain takes this to a whole new level, letting you manipulate the battlefield to your heart’s content. Whether you’re looking for the best singles to pick up or want to make sure you’re gonna get your money’s worth from the deck, we’ve pulled the best cards you can find from the deck.
10Yavimaya, Cradle Of Growth
Everyone Is Playing Green Now
One of the most unique lands in the history of Magic, Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth is a fascinating land that transforms every land in play into a Forest in addition to its other types.
Most of the time, Yavimaya doesn’t do a whole lot in a game to be honest, other than fixing everyone’s mana base since it hits all lands in play, not just yours. But if you have any creatures with Forestwalk or spells that synergize with your Forests, like Nissa, Who Shakes The World, or Lifetap, you can make good use of all those lands.
9Copy Land
I’ll Take That One Please
Speaking of lands, why have one copy of a land when you can have two? Copy Land is a fascinating little enchantment, letting you turn it into a copy of any land in play, either yours or your opponents, all for just three mana.
Effectively, this a blue ramp spell, since it does put you ahead of curve if you cast it on your third (or even second turn thanks to a turn one Sol Ring). Copy Land will likely be one of those cards you’ll beat yourself up for not picking one up when it’s on the cheaper end.
8Aggressive Biomancy
Only A Little Aggressive
Since the Tricky Terrain Commander deck is all about generating a ton of mana, you’re going to want to do something with it. Aggressive Biomancy is a fantastic card that’s just begging you to pour 10+ mana into it.
You get to create X tokens that are acopy of a creature you control, but that’s not all. Each one of those tokens has an extra ability that lets them fight another creature you don’t control when it enters the battlefield. While the double X cost in the mana value might prevent you from using this spell earlier in the game, don’t let that stop you from making a few copies of your favorite creature in a pinch.
7Vesuva
More Lands Are Better
If you want a more permanent way to copy your opponents cards, you’ll want to try Vesuva out for size. This land doesn’t really do anything on its own, but when Vesuva comes into play you can have it enter as a copy of any land in play, yours or your opponents.
Vesuva is a land that’s only as good as the best land in play, so more often than not you’re going to want to hang on to it until later in the game rather than using it to hit your land drops. This deck even has a built-in, two-card combo with another land, Dark Depths, giving you an instant 20/20 Marit Lage token.
6Jyoti, Moag Ancient
Get Your Tokens Ready
The alternate commander for the Tricky Terrain deck, Jyoti, Moag Ancient pulls a lot of work in a deck, especially if you have tricks up your sleeve. When Jyoti enters the battlefield, you get to make a 1/1 green Forest Dryad land creature token for every time you have cast your commander from the command zone specifically.
These Forest Dryad tokens are both creatures and lands, so you can’t use them for mana on the turn they’re created. But if you have some way to blink Jyoti a few times, retriggering that enter the battlefield effect a few times, and you’ll have an army of lands in no time.
5Talon Gates Of Madara
Those Horns Look Familiar…
This deck has a few new lands in it, but one of the more fascinating ones is Talon Gates of Madara. When it comes into play, you’re able to phase out one creature of your choice. Phasing effectively removes that card and everything attached to it from the game, only for it to return at the beginning of its controller’s untap step.
As a land, you normally can only utilize the Talon Gates at sorcery speed,but thanks to a little ability on it, you can pay four mana to put it directly into play at instant speed, letting you dodge removal spells or to temporarily get rid of a problematic card heading your way.
4Rampant Frogantua
Frog’s Revenge
A very strange card that grows the longer the game goes on, Rampant Frogantua rewards you for outlasting your opponents by getting a massive boost in its stats. For each player that has lost the game, Rampant Frogantua gets +10/+10.
Combined with its built-in trample ability, you’re able to all but be sure that this Frog is going to connect with an opponent or two over the course of the game. As if all those abilities weren’t enough, you also get to mill cards equal to the amount of damage it deals, then putting any number of lands from among the milled cards back into play.
3Mana Reflection
Double The Mana
There aren’t a ton of ways to multiply the amount of mana you generate when you tap something for mana, but with Mana Reflection, the world is your leyline. While it costs a hefty six mana to get online, once it is in play you get to add twice as much mana when you tap any permanent for mana.
That means all your Treasure tokens now count for two, all your mana creatures are twice as efficient, and your lands can catapult you from 6-7 mana up to 12-14 in just one turn.
2Uro, Titan Of Nature’s Wrath
Nature Is Angry
One of the best creatures released in Magic’s recent history comes in the Tricky Terrain deck, Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath. This three-mana creature has to be sacrificed when it comes into play if you didn’t cast it with its escape cost, but that’s totally fine.
When Uro comes into play, or when it attacks, you get to gain three life and then draw a card, putting a land from your hand directly onto the battlefield. This powerful trifecta can keep you ahead in the game and gives you a repeatable creature you can bring back a few times later in the game.
1Apex Devastator
A Five-For-One Creature
Ten mana is nothing for a deck like Trick Terrain, and Apex Devastator is perhaps one of the most devastating creatures in Magic. For that ten mana you get a 10/10 creature thatcascades four times when you cast it.
While it can be a little tricky to pull off the ordering on what spell is being cascaded into next, but that’s a fine challenge to face when you get four bonus spells for your one. Combine it with a card like Aggressive Biomancy and you’ll have yourself a brutal little battlefield to win the game with.
