When building a Magic: The Gathering deck, your choice of which lands to include can have a significant impact. In addition to producing various colors of mana, lands are capable of offering a wide range of abilities for often negligible mana costs, providing a deck with an additional layer of flexibility through land-based utility.Each color has access to its own unique and potent lands that lean into a color's given strengths. So whether you're building a new Commander, Modern, or Legacy deck, we're going to explore the best lands that you are capable of including in Blue decks.

7 Tolaria West

Tolaria West by Khang Le
Tolaria West by Khang Le

First printed in Future Sight, Tolaria West is a land that enters the battlefield tapped and can be used to produce Blue mana. While a tapped land is far from great in most cases, Tolaria West has the unique benefit of having a Transmute cost of three mana. This allows it to be discarded, then letting its controller tutor for a card with a mana value equal to that of Tolaria West, putting that card in their hand.

As Tolaria West has a mana value of 0, this effect can be used to tutor for any other land or potent spells with mana values of 0 such as Chalice of the Void. The flexibility of this tutoring effect is often worth the potential cost of a tapped land in the right deck.

6 Academy Ruins

Academy Ruins by Zoltan Boros & Gabor Szikszai
Academy Ruins by Zoltan Boros & Gabor Szikszai

Academy Ruins is an excellent land that is a solid inclusion in any Blue deck that features many artifacts. Entering the battlefield untapped and capable of producing colorless mana, at the cost of two mana, Academy Ruins may be tapped to allow its controller to put an artifact card from their graveyard on top of their library.

This can function as a solid insurance policy against artifact removal or a way to gain repeated use out of an artifact with a self-sacrificing ability.

5 Soldevi Excavations

Soldevi Excavations by Liz Danforth
Soldevi Excavations by Liz Danforth

Soldevi Excavations is a great and somewhat underrated land that has only been printed in Alliances. Upon entering the battlefield, this land must be sacrificed unless its controller sacrifices an untapped Island. Luckily, this doesn't actually put a player down in regards to how much mana they can produce, as Soldevi Excavations can be tapped to simultaneously produce one Blue mana and One colorless mana.

In addition to potentially offering solid mana ramp when paired with a means of untapping a permanent such as a Kiora's Follower, at the cost of one mana, this land may be tapped to allow its controller to Scry one. This can help a player smooth out their draws or manipulate the top of their library, making it an excellent inclusion in an Aminatou, the Fateshifter Commander deck.

4 Otawara, Soaring City

Otawara, Soaring City by Alayna Danner
Otawara, Soaring City by Alayna Danner

The Blue representative of the cycle of Channel lands in Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty, Otawara, Soaring City is an incredible legendary land that can provide a deck with an additional level of flexibility. Entering the battlefield untapped and capable of being tapped to produce one Blue mana, in some cases, Otawara can provide comparable value to an Island with no downside.

However, if discarded at the cost of its four-mana Channel ability, its controller can bounce an artifact, creature, enchantment, or Planeswalker to its owner's hand, meaning it can function as either a mana source or temporary removal.

3 Oboro, Palace In The Clouds

Oboro, Palace in the Clouds by Rob Alexander
Oboro, Palace in the Clouds by Rob Alexander

While Oboro, Palace in the Clouds may not seem like much at first glance, it's a powerful combo piece that can serve as a potent asset with the right support. As a legendary land that can produce Blue mana and enters the battlefield untapped, Oboro is much like Otawara in that it can often function comparably to a basic land, though with an additional upside.

In the case of Oboro, it has an activated ability that for one mana, allows this land to be returned to its owner's hand. Not only can this ability be used to help trigger landfall abilities even if its controller has no lands in hand, but when paired with the cards, Retreat to Coralhelm and Sakura-Tribe Scout, Oboro can be used to infinitely trigger landfall abilities.

2 Minamo, School At Water's Edge

Minamo, School at Water's Edge by Jeremy Jarvis
Minamo, School at Water's Edge by Jeremy Jarvis

Yet another Legendary land that enters the battlefield untapped and can be used to produce Blue mana, Minamo is a land that often is a strict upgrade from an Island. In addition to offering the same value as an Island, for the cost of one Blue mana, Minamo may be tapped to untap target legendary creature.

This not only provides offense-based legendary creatures with pseudo-vigilance, but it can also be used to double the value of legendary creatures with tap-based activated abilities.

1 Tolarian Academy

Tolarian Academy by Stephen Daniele
Tolarian Academy by Stephen Daniele

By and large the strongest land capable of producing Blue mana, it isn't hard to see why Tolarian Academy is currently banned in every format save for Vintage, in which it's restricted. A legendary land that enters the battlefield untapped, Tolarian Academy may be tapped to produce one Blue mana for each artifact its owner controls.

When paired with free-to-cast artifacts such as those that see play in Cheerios decks this land is capable of providing impressive mana ramp from the word go. Tolarian Academy makes any player using a Blue artifact deck that isn't including this over-powered land feel as though they're bringing checkers to a chess match, leading to the card's banning.

Next: Magic The Gathering: The Best Kraken Creatures