The 31st Magic: the Gathering World Championship concluded on Sunday with a victory for Seth Manfield, who will now be immortalized in the game in the enviable form of an invitational card of his own design.

However, this weekend, Seth was also immortalized in the game’s history in another way: by the basic lands he sleeved up to win the game’s biggest tournament of the year.

With nearly 20% of the field playing the winning Izzet Lessons deck, there are few ways to express your personality in deck construction if you want to maintain every advantage possible. But not so with the choice of basic lands. Basic lands are the ultimate opportunity for the expression of your taste and individuality, more critical than one’s playmat or even attire (when it comes to Magic, at least!).

Before we reveal the basic lands that Sam Pardee and the rest of the top 8 rode to victory, we have an important ask: please take our survey on the new basic lands printed in 2025. We’re working on putting an infographic together like we did last year and need your help to make it happen! Without further delay, here are the basic lands that won the 31st Magic World Championship:

Sam and Seth seem to have dug into the draft box for their selections, using Jumpstart 25 basics exclusively. They’re the most available and best-selling basic lands of the year, hugely available since they came 9 to a pack for a reasonably popular release. It’s a pragmatic choice, if nothing else.

It’s nice to see a top 8 without any repeats beyond that. All the standards are here: Unhinged, Unstable, Zendikar, and Kamigawa Neon Dynasty’s ukiyo-e styled lands. And then there’s almost always one player with white border basics, which, in fairness, makes it easier to find what you need off a Bushwack or Analyze the Pollen.

My favorite of the bunch this time is second-place finisher Akira Shibata, rocking the Guild Kit lands that take the “Izzet” part of “Izzet Lessons” seriously. The Guild Kit basic cycle made up my go-to draft kit for many years, with gorgeous expanses of Ravnica represented in a traditional basic land form factor, plus the delightful complication of the guild symbols integrated into the mana symbol box. As someone who loves the form factor of traditional Magic cards, these were a novel way of using the space on the card without making it full-art.

For the full decklists, check out the official page for the World Championship.

What are your favorite lands of the bunch? Who do you think is the style winner of the world championship? Let us know in the comments or on our social channels, and thanks so much for reading! If you’ve enjoyed this article, sign up for our newsletter and be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Threads!!

Miles Atherton is the editor-in-chief of “Cardboard by the Numbers” and has been playing Magic since 2006. Since studying Agricultural Economics at UC Davis, he’s built a career as an award-winning marketing executive in the entertainment industry with a love of data journalism and now consulting for White Box Entertainment. He’s also written for Anime Trending, Anime Buscience, Anime News Network, and Crunchyroll News, serving as Executive Editor of the latter from 2016 to 2021.