Explore
Sorcery
You may play an additional land this turn.
Draw a card.
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- G
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Duel Decks: Elspeth vs. Kiora
- Price
- $0.27
- EDHREC rank
- #232
Explore replaces itself, drops an extra land into play, and costs two mana — that's a full land's worth of acceleration stapled to a cantrip. It's a staple in any deck that cares about land count, and Nine-Fingers Keene decks in particular run it at over 55% inclusion for good reason.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Nine-Fingers Keene
Nine-Fingers Keene's cipher mechanic rewards encoding spells onto creatures and re-casting them for free, so Explore pulls double duty: it ramps you into Keene on curve and becomes a repeatable land-drop engine once encoded.
Haldan, Avid Arcanist // Pako, Arcane Retriever
Haldan, Avid Arcanist // Pako, Arcane Retriever exiles opponents' spells for Haldan to cast, but you still need your own early plays to develop — Explore fills that role cleanly, advancing your land count while keeping Pako's attack triggers profitable.
Yuma, Proud Protector
Yuma, Proud Protector cares about deserts hitting the graveyard, but the underlying engine is just landing more land drops per turn — Explore accelerates that baseline and the card draw smooths the hand Yuma needs to sustain momentum.
Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait
Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait draws a card whenever a land enters under your control, so Explore's extra land drop isn't just ramp — it's a free card off Aesi, making a two-mana spell functionally cost zero in the right board state.
Hazezon, Shaper of Sand
Hazezon, Shaper of Sand counts deserts for its Sand Warrior tokens, so every extra land drop Explore generates can translate directly into a wider board — the cantrip ensures Explore never costs card equity doing it.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Commander is where Explore does its best work: the singleton format's long games reward incremental land advantages, and any commander that cares about land drops, landfall, or spell recursion treats Explore as a near-automatic inclusion. In Pauper, it's a legitimate piece of ramp in green midrange and land-matters shells, competing with similar two-mana cantrip-ramp options at the same cost tier. Legacy and Vintage have access to it but rarely want it — those formats move too fast for a two-mana sorcery that doesn't immediately impact the board or protect you. Modern has better options at the same price point that either cost less mana or put lands directly into play unconditionally. Stick to Commander and Pauper for real Explore mileage.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.27 bulk tier
At $0.27, Explore is deep bulk — you'll find it in any dollar-bin or grab it as a throw-in without thinking twice. That price is stable; it's been widely printed and there's no scarcity pressure that would move it in either direction.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Nine-Fingers Keene
- Haldan, Avid Arcanist // Pako, Arcane Retriever
- Yuma, Proud Protector
- Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait
- Hazezon, Shaper of Sand
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.