Most archetypes in Magic: The Gathering are tied to one specific color in particular. Burn decks are red, Control decks are blue, Reanimator decks are black, and so on and so forth. Landfall very much falls into this category, generally existing only in green, or requiring it to function well, at the very least. Nissa, Leyline Tamer flips this dynamic on its head, presenting a new MTG Landfall Commander that lets you play with every color but green, resulting in a unique deckbuilding puzzle.
Nissa, Leyline Tamer MTG

While it’s pricey to cast, Nissa, Leyline Tamer offers one of the best Landfall abilities we’ve ever seen in exchange. At a base line you’re getting “Landfall – Draw a card” here, which puts it on par with archetype powerhouses like
Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait
Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait
You may play an additional land on each of your turns.
Landfall — Whenever a land you control enters, you may draw a card.
and
Tatyova, Benthic Druid
Tatyova, Benthic Druid
Landfall — Whenever a land you control enters, you gain 1 life and draw a card.
. On top of this, Nissa also gives you a free
Polymorph
Polymorph
Destroy target creature. It can't be regenerated. Its controller reveals cards from the top of their library until they reveal a creature card. The player puts that card onto the battlefield, then shuffles all other cards revealed this way into their library.
effect for its first trigger each turn, opening up the potential for explosive value.
Though these abilities are simple, they allow Nissa to be built in a variety of different ways. If you want to commit to a traditional Landfall playstyle, for example, the reliable draw here makes that more than doable. While you lack access to many of green’s great tools for this game plan, you can still make additional land drops with cards like
Zell Dincht
Zell Dincht
You may play an additional land on each of your turns.
Zell Dincht gets +1/+0 for each land you control.
At the beginning of your end step, return a land you control to its owner's hand.
and
Ghirapur Orrery
Ghirapur Orrery
Each player may play an additional land on each of their turns.
At the beginning of each player's upkeep, if that player has no cards in hand, that player draws three cards.
. Add in the classic
Crucible of Worlds
Crucible of Worlds
You may play lands from your graveyard.
and
Zuran Orb
Zuran Orb
Sacrifice a land: You gain 2 life.
land engine, which is fully available in colorless, and you’ll have triggers for days.
With a ton of Landfall triggers at your disposal, you’ll have ample fuel for many of the best payoffs out there, including bangers like
Felidar Retreat
Felidar Retreat
Landfall — Whenever a land you control enters, choose one —
• Create a 2/2 white Cat Beast creature token.
• Put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control. Those creatures gain vigilance until end of turn.
and
Moraug, Fury of Akoum
Moraug, Fury of Akoum
Each creature you control gets +1/+0 for each time it has attacked this turn.
Landfall — Whenever a land you control enters, if it's your main phase, there's an additional combat phase after this phase. At the beginning of that combat, untap all creatures you control.
. This Landfall-focused build of Nissa works best as a creature-focused beatdown brew due to the tools available, so aggressive pieces like
Bloodghast
Bloodghast
This creature can't block.
This creature has haste as long as an opponent has 10 or less life.
Landfall — Whenever a land you control enters, you may return this card from your graveyard to the battlefield.
and
Emeria Angel
Emeria Angel
Flying
Landfall — Whenever a land you control enters, you may create a 1/1 white Bird creature token with flying.
are ideal here.
Another way to build this new Nissa is to focus on the Polymorph side of its ability instead. If you keep your deck deliberately creature-light, running token producers like
Retreat to Emeria
Retreat to Emeria
Landfall — Whenever a land you control enters, choose one —
• Create a 1/1 white Kor Ally creature token.
• Creatures you control get +1/+1 until end of turn.
to shore up this gap, you can essentially tutor up your key creatures with Nissa’s ability. This works best with game-ending finishers like
Hullbreaker Horror
Hullbreaker Horror
Flash
This spell can't be countered.
Whenever you cast a spell, choose up to one —
• Return target spell you don't control to its owner's hand.
• Return target nonland permanent to its owner's hand.
and
Blightsteel Colossus
Blightsteel Colossus
Trample, infect, indestructible
If Blightsteel Colossus would be put into a graveyard from anywhere, reveal Blightsteel Colossus and shuffle it into its owner's library instead.
, since Nissa’s hefty mana cost means you’ll likely be in the late game before you can start tutoring them out.
Speaking of Nissa’s mana cost, that’s one of the biggest hurdles you’ll need to overcome when building this deck, no matter which play style you opt for. Without access to green’s suite of ramp staples, your best bet is to lean on white, with catch-up ramp like
Land Tax
Land Tax
At the beginning of your upkeep, if an opponent controls more lands than you, you may search your library for up to three basic land cards, reveal them, put them into your hand, then shuffle.
and
Weathered Wayfarer
Weathered Wayfarer
{W}, {T}: Search your library for a land card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle. Activate only if an opponent controls more lands than you.
. You can trigger these cards more consistently by running bounce lands like
Orzhov Basilica
Orzhov Basilica
This land enters tapped.
When this land enters, return a land you control to its owner's hand.
{T}: Add {W}{B}.
, and lands that sacrifice for abilities like
Silent Clearing
Silent Clearing
{T}, Pay 1 life: Add {W} or {B}.
{1}, {T}, Sacrifice this land: Draw a card.
.
The Ley of the Land

Nissa, Leyline Tamer is more than capable of winning a fair game of Commander, but it also has some juicy combo lines available for those who prefer that approach. Paired with either
Retreat to Coralhelm
Retreat to Coralhelm
Landfall — Whenever a land you control enters, choose one —
• You may tap or untap target creature.
• Scry 1. (Look at the top card of your library. You may put that card on the bottom.)
and
Ruin Ghost
Ruin Ghost
{W}, {T}: Exile target land you control, then return it to the battlefield under your control.
, for example, it can generate infinite Landfall triggers, and thus infinite draw. Simply use Ghost’s ability to flicker one of your lands, and untap it with Retreat’s enters trigger. You can then use the same land to pay for Ghost’s ability again, establishing a loop.
This is a powerful combo in itself, but it’s particularly notable for how much redundancy it has. You can sub out Retreat for
Elven Raft-Steerer
Elven Raft-Steerer
Landfall — Whenever a land you control enters, choose one —
• Tap target creature an opponent controls.
• Untap target creature you control.
, and Ruin Ghost for cards like
Walking Atlas
Walking Atlas
{T}: You may put a land card from your hand onto the battlefield.
and
PuPu UFO
PuPu UFO
Flying
{T}: You may put a land card from your hand onto the battlefield.
{3}: Until end of turn, this creature's base power becomes equal to the number of Towns you control.
. If you opt for one of these creatures, this combo actually generates infinite mana as well, or at least mana equal to the number of cards left in your library.
While drawing your whole deck is great for win conditions like
Thassa’s Oracle
Thassa’s Oracle
When this creature enters, look at the top X cards of your library, where X is your devotion to blue. Put up to one of them on top of your library and the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order. If X is greater than or equal to the number of cards in your library, you win the game. (Each {U} in the mana costs of permanents you control counts toward your devotion to blue.)
and
Doctor Doom, Unrivaled
Doctor Doom, Unrivaled
Lifelink
{T}: You draw a card and lose 1 life. Then if your library has no cards in it, you win the game. (You win even if you have 0 life or didn't draw a card.)
, Nissa’s mandatory draw can actually get in the way of winning through more traditional means. Infinite Landfall can get you an instant win with
Sabotender
Sabotender
Reach
Landfall — Whenever a land you control enters, this creature deals 1 damage to each opponent.
damage, for instance, or you can use the infinite mana line above to fuel a
Walking Ballista
Walking Ballista
This creature enters with X +1/+1 counters on it.
{4}: Put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.
Remove a +1/+1 counter from this creature: It deals 1 damage to any target.
victory. For this reason, it’s a good idea to include a way to remove Nissa from the board, such as the Modern Horizons 3 Flare spells, so you can transition to these more definite wins once you draw into them.
Overall, Nissa, Leyline Tamer is a very interesting new MTG Commander indeed. While losing green means you lose some of the more traditional Landfall lines, the options Nissa’s other colors and Polymorph ability add more than make up for it. If you’re looking for a new Reality Fracture Commander with serious depth, this is almost certainly your best bet.
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