MTG Checklands: Complete List, Rules, and Where to Find Them

TLDR

This post helps Magic: The Gathering players find a complete MTG checklands list, understand how checklands work, and decide when they belong in a mana base.

The most comprehensive searchable checklands list is on Scryfall using the is:checkland tag.
MTG Lands is a strong visual reference if you want a clean land-cycle gallery.
The core checkland cycle has 10 rare dual lands, one for each two-color pair.
Checklands care about land types like Plains, Island, Swamp, Mountain, and Forest, not land names.
They work especially well with basics, shock lands, surveil lands, triomes, and other typed lands.

MTG checklands are the “do you know a guy?” lands of Magic. They enter untapped if you already control a land with one of the right basic land types. If not, they enter tapped and quietly judge your mana base for not networking better.

They are also called buddy lands, because apparently “conditional rare dual lands that reward you for controlling typed lands” did not fit neatly into casual conversation. Whatever you call them, checklands are still useful in Commander, Cube, Pioneer, casual decks, and budget-conscious mana bases where you want fixing without taking damage every time you need colors.

Where to Find the Most Comprehensive MTG Checklands List

The best place to find the most comprehensive MTG checklands list is Scryfall.

Use this search:

is:checkland

That search pulls together cards tagged as checklands across printings. If you want the cleanest list of the 10 unique core lands, use Scryfall’s unique card view rather than every printing. Otherwise, you may see multiple versions of the same card, which is great if you enjoy scrolling through reprint history like it owes you money.

MTG Lands is also excellent for browsing land cycles visually. It groups checklands under “Check Lands” and notes their common nickname, buddy lands. That makes it useful when you are comparing checklands against shocks, fetches, pain lands, fast lands, slow lands, pathways, and the other 47 land cycles Magic has accumulated like a dragon hoarding real estate.

Use Scryfall when you want precision. Use MTG Lands when you want clean browsing. Use both if you are building a Commander mana base and have accepted that your evening belongs to land math now.

What Are Checklands in Magic: The Gathering?

Checklands are dual lands that enter the battlefield tapped unless you control a land with one of two listed basic land types.

For example, Glacial Fortress says:

“Glacial Fortress enters the battlefield tapped unless you control a Plains or an Island.”

That does not mean you need a card named Plains or Island. It means you need a land with the Plains subtype or Island subtype. A basic Plains works. A Hallowed Fountain works because it is a Plains and an Island. A Raffine’s Tower works for the same reason, since it has multiple basic land types.

That distinction is the whole mechanic. Checklands are not checking card names. They are checking land subtypes. Magic is very literal until it is not, but in this case, it is literal in a useful way.

Complete List of Core MTG Checklands

The core checkland cycle has 10 cards, one for each two-color pair.

Color Pair	Card	Enters Untapped If You Control
White/Blue	Glacial Fortress	Plains or Island
Blue/Black	Drowned Catacomb	Island or Swamp
Black/Red	Dragonskull Summit	Swamp or Mountain
Red/Green	Rootbound Crag	Mountain or Forest
Green/White	Sunpetal Grove	Forest or Plains
White/Black	Isolated Chapel	Plains or Swamp
Blue/Red	Sulfur Falls	Island or Mountain
Black/Green	Woodland Cemetery	Swamp or Forest
Red/White	Clifftop Retreat	Mountain or Plains
Green/Blue	Hinterland Harbor	Forest or Island

The allied-color checklands first appeared as a cycle in Magic 2010. The enemy-color checklands followed in Innistrad. Together, those 10 cards are what most players mean when they say “checklands.”

There are other lands with similar “check” patterns, like mono-color utility lands that check for a basic land type, but the classic checklands are the 10 duals above.

How Checklands Work

When a checkland enters the battlefield, it checks what lands you already control.

If you control the right land type, it enters untapped. If you do not, it enters tapped.

Simple examples:

You control an Island. Glacial Fortress enters untapped.
You control a Steam Vents. Sulfur Falls enters untapped because Steam Vents is an Island and Mountain.
You control a basic Forest. Hinterland Harbor enters untapped.
You control Command Tower and no other lands. Drowned Catacomb enters tapped because Command Tower has no basic land type.
You control a Plains and a Swamp. Isolated Chapel enters untapped, because it only needs one of the listed types, not both.

That last point matters. Checklands do not require both land types. Glacial Fortress does not need both Plains and Island. It needs Plains or Island. Magic players are already doing enough algebra. We can let them have this one.

Checklands Care About Types, Not Names

This is the most important rule.

A checkland looks for the land subtype. It does not care whether the land is basic.

That means these can help checklands enter untapped:

Basic lands
Shock lands
Triomes
Surveil lands
Original dual lands in formats where they are legal
Any land with one of the relevant basic land types printed on the type line

These usually do not help checklands enter untapped:

Command Tower
Exotic Orchard
Pain lands
Filter lands
Pathways
Most utility lands
Basic-looking lands without the actual subtype

A land can produce white mana without being a Plains. A land can produce blue mana without being an Island. Checklands do not care about what mana a land can produce. They care about the type line. Because apparently even your lands need paperwork.

Are Checklands Good?

Yes, but they are context-dependent.

Checklands are good when your deck has enough typed lands to turn them on consistently. They are weaker when your mana base is mostly lands without basic land types.

In two-color decks, checklands are often reliable because you can run a reasonable number of basics and typed duals. In three-color decks, they can still be strong, but they need more support from shocks, triomes, surveil lands, or basics. In five-color decks, they get more awkward unless the mana base is built carefully.

Checklands also get better as the game goes longer. Fast lands are great early but worse later. Checklands are the opposite. They can be clunky on turn one, but once you have a typed land on the battlefield, they usually start behaving like responsible adults.

Checklands Compared to Other Dual Lands

Here is the practical comparison.

Land Type	Strength	Weakness	Best Use
Checklands	Often enter untapped after turn one	Need typed lands already in play	Two-color and three-color decks with basics or typed duals
Shock lands	Enter untapped when needed and have basic land types	Cost 2 life if untapped	Competitive mana bases and decks with fetch lands
Triomes	Fix three colors and have basic land types	Usually enter tapped	Commander and slower multi-color decks
Fast lands	Great early	Enter tapped later	Aggressive decks
Pain lands	Enter untapped and fix immediately	Cost life for colored mana	Tempo, aggro, and budget mana bases
Slow lands	Strong after two lands	Bad early	Midrange and Commander
Pathways	Enter untapped	Only choose one side	Two-color decks that value speed

Checklands are not always the best lands. They are not always the cheapest. They are not always the flashiest. They are just quietly useful, which means they are exactly the kind of card Commander players forget until their mana base starts losing games while pretending it is “just variance.”

When to Play Checklands

Play checklands when:

Your deck is two colors and runs basics.
Your deck has shock lands, triomes, surveil lands, or other typed duals.
You want dual lands that do not cost life.
Your deck can tolerate a land entering tapped on turn one.
You are building Commander, Cube, casual, or Pioneer mana bases.

Be careful with checklands when:

Your deck has very few typed lands.
You need untapped colored mana on turn one.
Your deck is extremely aggressive.
Your mana base is mostly utility lands.
You are playing a format where better untapped options are available and budget is not a concern.

A simple rule: if at least one-third of your lands have relevant basic land types, checklands start to look reasonable. If your deck is almost all untitled utility lands and rainbow lands, checklands become little tapped rectangles of disappointment.

Checklands in Commander

Checklands are solid in Commander, especially in two-color and three-color decks.

In two-color Commander, they are easy to support. You likely have basics, maybe a shock land, maybe a surveil land, maybe a typed dual. A checkland will usually enter untapped after the first turn or two.

In three-color Commander, they are still useful, but you need to think about color coverage. A card like Hinterland Harbor is much better in a green-blue deck with several Forests and Islands than in a three-color deck where most lands are colorless utility pieces and rainbow lands without subtypes.

In five-color Commander, checklands are usually not the first lands I would reach for. They can work, but they ask for more structure than many five-color mana bases want to give. Five-color decks often prefer lands that produce many colors without needing a typed land already on the battlefield. Mana bases have limits. Some of them are emotional.

Checklands and Proxy Testing

Mana bases are one of the best things to test with proxies because they affect every game. A flashy finisher might show up once every few rounds. Your lands show up constantly, usually when you are trying to decide whether a hand is keepable or a mulligan dressed as hope.

If you are building a casual deck, Cube, or Commander list, it can make sense to test checklands before buying or trading for a full mana base. ProxyKing has a live Land MTG Proxy Cards category where you can browse land proxies, including several checklands. If you want to print a larger playtest list from a decklist, the Print MTG Proxies page is the better place to start.

PrintMTG is also useful for full-deck proxy testing when you want to upload a list and quickly test whether your mana works before committing to changes. This is especially helpful for Commander and Cube, where “just test the mana base” can somehow involve 38 lands, 14 ramp pieces, and a minor identity crisis.

Keep the proxy use clean. Proxies are for casual games, testing, accessibility, and kitchen table play where the group agrees. Sanctioned events require authentic tournament-legal cards, with narrow judge-issued exceptions. Do not try to pass proxies as real cards. That is not playtesting. That is how you turn a mana base article into a policy lecture, and nobody came here for that.

Best Way to Build With Checklands

Use this checklist when deciding whether to include a checkland.

Count your typed lands.
Look for lands with Plains, Island, Swamp, Mountain, or Forest on the type line.
Check your early color needs.
If you need one color on turn one, make sure your land mix supports that without relying too heavily on checklands.
Pair checklands with typed duals.
Shock lands, triomes, surveil lands, and similar lands make checklands much better.
Do not overload on tapped lands.
A few tapped lands are fine. Too many will make your deck feel like it is buffering.
Test real opening hands.
Goldfish 20 hands and see how often your checklands enter untapped by turns two and three. Theory is nice. Actual hands are rude but honest.

Final Verdict

The most comprehensive list of MTG checklands is on Scryfall using is:checkland, while MTG Lands is the cleaner visual reference for browsing the cycle. The core list is 10 cards, covering every two-color pair.

Checklands are still useful because they reward typed lands without charging life. They are not perfect, and they are rarely the first land you want on turn one, but they fit many casual, Commander, Cube, Pioneer, and budget mana bases.

The real lesson is simple: check your type lines. If your deck has enough Plains, Islands, Swamps, Mountains, and Forests, including nonbasic lands with those types, checklands will usually do their job. If not, they will enter tapped at the worst possible time, because lands are apparently capable of comic timing.

FAQs

What is the most comprehensive MTG checklands list?

Scryfall is the best searchable source. Use is:checkland to find checklands and use unique card view if you only want the core 10 rather than every printing.

Are checklands and buddy lands the same thing?

Yes. “Buddy lands” is a common nickname for checklands because they enter untapped when they have a matching land type already on your side of the battlefield.

Do checklands require basic lands?

No. Checklands require land types, not basic lands. A nonbasic land with the right subtype, like a shock land or triome, can let a checkland enter untapped.

Does Command Tower turn on checklands?

No. Command Tower can produce colored mana, but it does not have land subtypes like Plains, Island, Swamp, Mountain, or Forest.

Are checklands good in Commander?

Yes, especially in two-color and three-color decks with enough typed lands. They are less reliable in mana bases full of utility lands and rainbow lands without basic land types.

Are checklands good for aggressive decks?

Sometimes, but they are not ideal if your deck needs untapped colored mana on turn one. Aggressive decks often prefer lands that enter untapped immediately, even if there is a life cost or drawback.

References

SEO Pack

SEO Focus Keyphrase:
MTG checklands

SEO Title:
MTG Checklands: Complete List and Rules

Meta Description:
Find the complete MTG checklands list, learn how buddy lands work, and see when to use them in Commander, Cube, and casual mana bases.

Slug:
mtg-checklands-list-rules

Excerpt:
MTG checklands are dual lands that enter untapped if you control the right basic land type. Here is the full list, rules, and deckbuilding advice.

SEO Tags:
MTG checklands, buddy lands, dual lands, mana base, Commander lands, land types, MTG proxies

done Yoast SEO best practices