Back to Basics
Enchantment
Nonbasic lands don't untap during their controllers' untap steps.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Secret Lair Drop
- Price
- $8.50
- EDHREC rank
- #5000
Back to Basics shuts off every nonbasic land on the board the moment it resolves — fetch lands, shocks, utility lands, all of it tapped and useless until someone answers a three-mana enchantment. Blue decks that run basic-heavy mana bases, like Urza, Lord High Artificer lists that lean on Islands anyway, lose almost nothing while the rest of the table scrambles.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Urza, Lord High Artificer
Urza, Lord High Artificer runs Islands by default, so Back to Basics is effectively one-sided — opponents' greedy manabases lock up while Urza's artifact engine keeps firing without interruption.
Lavinia, Azorius Renegade
Lavinia, Azorius Renegade is already taxing and restricting opponents on every axis; Back to Basics layers a mana denial effect on top, pushing the deck from annoying to genuinely hard to play against.
Grand Arbiter Augustin IV
Grand Arbiter Augustin IV slows opponents through cost increases, and Back to Basics compounds that by cutting off the nonbasic lands most greedy manabases rely on to hit multiple colors efficiently.
Jorn, God of Winter
Jorn, God of Winter untaps snow permanents — including snow-covered basics — so Back to Basics punishes opponents' nonbasic-heavy builds while Jorn's controller loses almost nothing in the exchange.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | not legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Commander is where Back to Basics earns its reputation: the format's four-color and five-color manabases are stuffed with nonbasics, making a three-mana enchantment that taps all of them a backbreaking asymmetric effect. Legacy is the other serious home, where greedy dual-land manabases are universal and a resolved Back to Basics can end games on the spot. Vintage is technically legal but the format moves too fast for a three-mana enchantment to reliably matter before Moxen and fast mana close things out. Modern, Pioneer, Standard, and Pauper are all off the table.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Budget Alternatives
Cheaper options that do most of the same work
Ruination hits nonbasics at sorcery speed and destroys them outright rather than just tapping them, which is stronger in some spots but costs four mana in red — a different color identity entirely. Blood Moon is the closest functional substitute in mono-red or red-inclusive shells, converting nonbasics to Mountains rather than locking them; it costs roughly the same or more and doesn't overlap in blue decks where Back to Basics fits naturally.
Price Context
Current price
$8.50 mid tier
At $8.50, Back to Basics sits in the mid tier — not a trivial pickup, but well within range for the effect it delivers in blue stax or control builds. The price has stabilized after multiple reprints and is unlikely to spike further, making it a reasonable buy-in for any deck that can reliably run basics.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Urza, Lord High Artificer
- Lavinia, Azorius Renegade
- Grand Arbiter Augustin IV
- Jorn, God of Winter
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.