House Cartographer
Creature — Human Scout Survivor
Survival — At the beginning of your second main phase, if this creature is tapped, reveal cards from the top of your library until you reveal a land card. Put that card into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order.
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- G
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Duskmourn: House of Horror
- Price
- $0.12
- EDHREC rank
- #12713
House Cartographer enters and puts a land from your hand onto the battlefield tapped — card-neutral, but it front-loads mana acceleration without costing you a draw. The cost is real: three mana for a 2/2 that doesn't replace itself is below rate everywhere except decks that care about the creature type or the trigger itself, which is exactly why Balthier and Fran runs it in over half of all builds.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Balthier and Fran
Balthier and Fran triggers off creatures entering, and House Cartographer's land-drop ability turns that loop into free mana acceleration — the creature type and the ETB both matter here, making it an auto-include at 52% adoption.
Katilda, Dawnhart Prime
Katilda, Dawnhart Prime wants as many Humans as possible to generate mana, and House Cartographer slots in as a Human that also smooths your land drops, giving the deck both a body for the engine and an extra land on arrival.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
House Cartographer is legal in every major constructed format but sees essentially no play outside Commander — a three-mana 2/2 that puts a land onto the battlefield tapped is far too slow for Modern, Pioneer, or Legacy, where land acceleration needs to come cheaper and faster. In Commander, the card earns its slot only in specific homes: ETB-value decks, Human tribal, or any commander that rewards the land-drop trigger directly. Outside those niches, there are strictly better options at the same mana cost that either draw a card or unconditionally ramp.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.12 bulk tier
At $0.12, House Cartographer is deep bulk — buy it without thinking if your deck wants it. Price stability is essentially guaranteed by its low floor; there's no meaningful demand spike coming unless a major Commander precon features it prominently.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.