Upkeep

Mass land denial: what’s on the list, and why

52 cards · last revised 2026-08-28

Upkeep’s bracket floor counts mass land denial, and no such list exists upstream. Scryfall has no tag for it. Wizards publishes a definition, not a roster. So this list is our editorial judgement, and this page is the record of it — every card, the clause it satisfies, and every card we were asked about and left off.

The definition we work from

Cards that regularly destroy, exile or bounce lands, keep lands tapped, or change what mana four or more lands per player produce, without replacing them.

Four clauses, and the last one does more work than people expect. See the exclusions below.

How a card gets on the list

A nightly scan reads every card in our Scryfall mirror and flags text that looks like land denial. Its output is a review queue, not the list — nothing reaches the list from a pattern match. A human reads the queue and either accepts the card or records why it was rejected. Rejections are kept, so the same card is never re-argued.

The scan is deliberately over-eager, and it is wrong often. Scourglass reads as “destroy all permanents” and explicitly spares lands. Tragic Arrogance sacrifices all other nonland permanents. No pattern separates those from Armageddon, because the difference is meaning.

Destroys, exiles or bounces lands

One-shot sweepers, and the cards that grind lands away a turn at a time.

  • ApocalypseExiles all permanents, lands included
  • ArmageddonDestroys all lands
  • Bearer of the HeavensDestroys all permanents, lands included, when it dies
  • Bend or BreakDestroys half of each player's lands
  • Boom // BustBust destroys all lands
  • Burning of XinyeEach player destroys four of their lands
  • CataclysmEach player keeps one land and sacrifices the rest
  • CatastropheDestroys all lands
  • Death CloudEach player sacrifices X lands
  • Decree of AnnihilationExiles all lands, creatures and artifacts
  • DesolationEvery player who tapped a land sacrifices one each end step
  • Desolation AngelDestroys all lands when kicked
  • Destructive FlowEvery player sacrifices a nonbasic land each upkeep
  • Destructive ForceEach player sacrifices five lands
  • Devastating DreamsEach player sacrifices X lands
  • DevastationDestroys all lands and creatures
  • EpicenterWith threshold, each player sacrifices all their lands
  • Fall of the ThranDestroys all lands, then returns only two per player
  • Global RuinEach player keeps one land of each basic type and sacrifices the rest
  • Impending DisasterDestroys all lands once seven are on the battlefield
  • JokulhaupsDestroys all lands, creatures and artifacts
  • Keldon FirebombersEach player sacrifices all but three lands
  • Mana VortexEvery player sacrifices a land each upkeep until no lands remain
  • Myojin of Infinite RageDestroys all lands
  • ObliterateDestroys all lands, creatures and artifacts
  • Ravages of WarDestroys all lands
  • Realm RazerExiles all lands while it remains on the battlefield
  • RuinationDestroys all nonbasic lands
  • Stoneshaker ShamanEvery player sacrifices an untapped land each end step
  • SunderReturns all lands to their owners' hands
  • Tectonic BreakEach player sacrifices X lands
  • Thoughts of RuinEach player sacrifices a land per card in your hand
  • WildfireEach player sacrifices four lands
  • WorldfireExiles all permanents, lands included
  • WorldslayerDestroys all permanents each time the equipped creature connects

Keeps lands tapped

Lands stay on the battlefield and stop producing.

  • Back to BasicsNonbasic lands don't untap
  • Hokori, Dust DrinkerLands don't untap
  • Mist of StagnationPermanents don't untap, lands included
  • Rising WatersLands don't untap
  • StasisPlayers skip their untap steps
  • Static OrbPlayers untap only two permanents each turn
  • Winter MoonPlayers untap only one nonbasic land each turn
  • Winter OrbPlayers untap only one land each turn

Changes what four or more lands produce

The mana is still there; it is no longer the mana you built around.

  • Blood MoonNonbasic lands become Mountains
  • ContaminationEvery land produces only black mana
  • Deep WaterEvery land produces only blue mana
  • Hall of GemstoneEvery land produces only one chosen colour each turn
  • Harbinger of the SeasNonbasic lands become Islands
  • Infernal DarknessEvery land produces only black mana
  • Magus of the MoonNonbasic lands become Mountains
  • Naked SingularityBasic lands produce the wrong colours
  • Reality TwistBasic lands produce the wrong colours

Cards left off, and why

These come up. Each was considered and rejected.

  • Ajani VengeantDestroys one player's lands, not the table's
  • Akki Blizzard-HerderOne land per player, once, on death
  • Alpine MoonAffects one named land, and grants mana rather than denying it
  • Bontu's Last ReckoningOnly your own lands, and only your next untap step
  • Braids, Cabal MinionThe sacrifice is the controller's choice of artifact, creature OR land — a player protecting their mana gives up something else
  • Catch // ReleaseOne land per player, alongside one of every other type
  • Celestial KirinDestroys permanents of one mana value; reaches lands only off a zero-cost spell
  • Damping SphereOnly changes lands tapped for two or more mana
  • Dimensional BreachReturns every exiled permanent, one per upkeep
  • Dovin BaanThe untap restriction is a -7 ultimate, from four starting loyalty
  • Elesh Norn // The Argent EtchingsDestroys nonland permanents; the pattern matched its Saga text
  • Elspeth TirelDestroys all other permanents EXCEPT lands
  • EmbargoNONLAND permanents don't untap
  • Ember SwallowerThree lands per player is below the four-land threshold
  • ExhaustionOne opponent, for one turn
  • Feast of WormsDestroys a single land
  • Freyalise's RadianceOnly snow permanents don't untap
  • From the AshesReplaces every land it destroys with a basic
  • Hazoret's Undying FuryOnly your own lands, and only your next untap step
  • Hurloon ShamanOne land per player, once, on death
  • Kefnet's Last WordOnly your own lands, and only your next untap step
  • Lorthos, the TidemakerCosts {8} on attack, hits eight permanents, lasts one turn
  • Mana VaporsOne player, for one turn
  • Mungha WurmLimits only its own controller's untap step
  • Oketra's Last MercyOnly your own lands, and only your next untap step
  • Overlaid TerrainSacrifices only your own lands, and replaces their output
  • Razing SniddOne land per player, once, on entry
  • Reduce // RubbleThree lands, for one turn
  • Rhonas's Last StandOnly your own lands, and only your next untap step
  • Root MazeDelays lands by one turn; does not keep them tapped
  • Sands of TimeSkips untap steps but untaps those permanents again at upkeep — it rotates rather than denies
  • ScourglassDestroys all permanents EXCEPT lands
  • Season of GatheringDestroys artifacts or enchantments, never lands
  • SmallpoxOne land per player, once
  • Stormtide LeviathanAdds a land type without removing the existing ones
  • Tainted AetherThe sacrifice is the controller's choice of creature or land, and only when a creature enters
  • Tectonic HellionTwo lands off whoever is ahead, not four from every player — repetition does not clear the four-land bar
  • Tomb of AnnihilationA Dungeon, not a card — it is not Commander-legal and cannot be in a deck
  • Tomb of UramiSacrifices only your own lands, as a cost you choose to pay
  • Tragic ArroganceSacrifices nonland permanents only
  • TrembleOne land per player
  • Wave of VitriolSacrifices every nonbasic land, then lets each player fetch a basic for every one lost
  • Wirefly HiveDestroys Wirefly creature tokens, not lands
  • Zhao, the Moon SlayerBecomes Blood Moon only after the creature resolves AND {7} is paid — two costs before it does anything, where Blood Moon does it free on resolution

From the Ashes is the one worth dwelling on. It destroys every nonbasic land on the table — by any visual reading, a board wipe for lands — and it is not mass land denial, because everyone gets a basic back for each one. Wave of Vitriol does the same thing. The definition’s “without replacing them” is the whole difference, and a detector that ignored it would rate a great many decks a tier too high.

Tectonic Hellion was on this list briefly and was cut. Two lands off whoever is ahead every combat looked like it reached four by repetition — until we ran the list over every deck we hold and found one moving from bracket 1 to bracket 4 on that card alone, with nothing else in the deck firing at all.

Disagree?

Tell us which clause of the definition you think the card satisfies — that is the part we will be checking. A card we accept goes on the list with a reason; a card we reject joins the table above with one.