Best way to build a 3-color mana base?
Standard Deck Help forum
Posted on April 13, 2016, 4:49 p.m. by ninjaclevs13
Hey guys, I am building an Abzan-colored deck, and I would like to know what is the best way to go. Pain lands? Dual lands like Canopy Vista? Man Lands? Some combination of all of them? Any help is appreciated. Thanks
ComputerizedMTG says... #3
TheGreatLiar hit the nail on the head: it really depends on the dekc and how much of each color you have in the deck. Your abzan deck might be more aggressive and is primarily B/G with a splash of white, while mine might be a more mid range deck with an even split among all 3 colors. Both decks are 3 colors, both decks are the same color combination yet both are going to need different tweaks on the manabase.
As far as man lands goes, keep in mind that they are somewhat slow and are more suited for mid-range and control decks. It's fine to run in aggressive decks but I wouldn't run whole play-sets of them. Just as an example, if you were running an aggressive Abzan build I would not run 4 Hissing Quagmire and 4 Shambling Vent as you are running the risk of drawing too many of them and slowing yourself down, thus counteracting what an aggressive deck would want to do.
Hope that helps.
April 13, 2016 6:06 p.m.
ninjaclevs13,
One more thing to consider is when you want to cast spells and how hard they are to cast (i.e., how many symbols of each type you need).
An extreme example is the difference you'd see in a 
deck that needs 
for a late game Declaration in Stone vs. one that needs 
on Turn 4 for Gideon, Ally of Zendikar vs. one that needs on Turn 3 for Mardu Ascendancy.
April 13, 2016 6:22 p.m.
ninjaclevs13 says... #5
What about in this list:
It is an Honor to be Sacrificed
Standard*
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The only problems are having turn one Blisterpod and consistent double white for Gideon, Ally of Zendikar and Archangel Avacyn Flip.
TheGreatLiar says... #2
Every deck is going to have unique needs in terms of mana availability on a given turn.
If you're playing an aggressive list, you'll want untapped lands on turn 1-3, which would imply more pain lands and shadow lands. If you're more midrange or control, you can afford more tapped lands like manlands, and typically place a higher value on canopy vista which comes in untapped later in the game when you need to play your board wipe effects or larger threats.
But every deck will be different. It depends on how demanding the mana costs of your spells are, especially those you want to cast on curve. For details, i suggest reading this article from channel fireball.
April 13, 2016 5:26 p.m.