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Rules AnswersTurn Structure & Phases

Does a land played via Cultivate count as your land drop for the turn?

Short answer
No. Cultivate puts lands onto the battlefield directly — it does not use your land drop. Your land drop remains available.

Cultivate (and similar spells like Kodama's Reach) instruct you to search your library for two basic land cards, put one onto the battlefield and put the other into your hand. Crucially, the land entering the battlefield is the result of a spell effect, not you playing a land from your hand.

CR 305.2 defines what it means to 'play a land': a player plays a land by moving it from the zone it is in (typically the hand) to the battlefield as a special action. This special action is what uses your land drop for the turn (CR 305.2, 116.2a). A card or spell that simply instructs you to 'put a land onto the battlefield' bypasses this process entirely.

Because Cultivate's land-to-battlefield effect is a one-shot instruction on the spell, not the special action of playing a land, it does not consume your land drop. You may still play one land from your hand normally that turn.

Example: On your main phase you cast Cultivate. You find a Forest and a Plains; the Forest goes onto the battlefield and the Plains goes to your hand. You have not yet played a land this turn, so you may still play the Plains (or any other land from your hand) as your land drop for the turn.

Relevant rules: CR 305.2 (playing a land as a special action), CR 116.2a (special actions that use your land drop), and the text of Cultivate itself which says 'put one onto the battlefield' rather than 'play' it.

HIGH confidence CR 116.2a CR 305.2
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