Free mana base tools
MTG mana base tools that show their math
Free calculators and guides for the question every deckbuilder eventually hits: how many sources of each color do I actually need, and how many lands is that? They all run on the same engine. Exact hypergeometric probability, computed in your browser, with no account and no lookup tables.
- Free, no account
- Exact math, not a table
- Runs in your browser
The six people use most
Pick a tool
The guides further down apply the same math to a specific deck type or format.
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Mana Base Calculator
Enter deck size, pip count and the turn you want to cast a spell, and get the number of sources it actually takes. Every input exposed, plus a reference chart for the common cases.
Open the calculator → -
Deck Mana Audit
Paste a real decklist and get it graded card by card: which colored costs your current sources support, and which ones are quietly at risk.
Audit a decklist → -
Bracket Checker
Not a mana tool, but the other question a pod argues about. Paste a Commander list and see the bracket it can honestly claim, and why.
Check a bracket → -
Card Search
Find cards by color identity, type, set, rarity, mana value, price and format legality, then open any result for its full text, every printing and current prices.
Search for a card → -
Playtester
Play a deck out solo in your browser, on a real board with every zone, on a phone as well as a desktop. Load a deck link, pick a precon, or paste a list. No account needed.
Play a deck → -
Life Counter
One phone flat on the table for two to six players: life, commander damage per opponent, poison, undo, and a screen that stays on. The finished game saves straight to your game log.
Start a game →
Choosing
Which one do I need?
They answer different questions, and picking the wrong one is the usual reason people bounce off mana math:
- You have a finished list and something feels off. Use the Deck Mana Audit. It works from your actual cards, so it names the specific spells your mana can't reliably support instead of giving you an average.
- You are still building and want a target. Use the Mana Base Calculator, and enter the hardest cost you genuinely intend to cast on curve, not your average card. Mana bases are built for the demanding spells, not the median one.
- You want the number without entering anything. The colored sources chart and the land drop odds page write the calculator's answers out for the common cases, so you can read yours off a table.
- You want to understand the number, not just get it. Read the guide that matches your deck. Each one works through a real example and explains where the figure comes from.
- You want to know if your deck is too strong for the table. That's the Bracket Checker, which is a different axis entirely.
- You want to know whether the deck actually does anything. Use the Playtester. Every other tool here answers a question with a number. This one is for the question a number cannot reach: whether the draws connect, whether turn five does something, whether the deck is fun to pilot. You find that out by playing it, not by computing it.
- You are at the table, not at a desk. The life counter is the one tool here that is not about deckbuilding at all. It tracks the game in front of you and hands the result to your game log when it ends.
- You are running a game night for more than one table. The pod generator splits the room into tables of two to six, draws each one in turn order, and seats people with new opponents every round.
- You are looking for a card, not a number. Use Card Search. It filters all of Magic by color identity, type, mana value, price and legality, which is how you find the on-color two-drop or the budget ramp piece a mana base fix usually needs.
The engine
How these tools calculate
Every recommendation on this site is an exact hypergeometric probability, not an estimate and not a table someone published years ago. The inputs are deck size, how many sources of the colour you run, the turn you want to cast the spell, and whether you are on the play or the draw. The output is the chance you have what you need by then.
That matters because the widely repeated source counts are often wrong in a specific direction. They tend to be quoted for 60-card decks and reused for Commander, where a 99-card deck sees a much smaller fraction of itself by turn three. Where our numbers disagree with the common advice, the calculator's math is what we go with, and the guides say so explicitly rather than quietly matching the consensus.
None of it needs an account, and nothing is stored. If you want the site to remember your decks, track your collection or log your pod's games, that lives behind a free account, but the tools on this page never require one.
FAQ
Which of these mana tools should I start with?
If you already have a decklist, start with the Deck Mana Audit. It reads the real list and grades every colored cost in it, so you get specific problems instead of general advice. If you are still building, start with the Mana Base Calculator and enter the hardest cost you intend to cast on curve. The written guides are for when you want the reasoning rather than a number.
Are The Pod Companion tools free?
Yes. Every calculator and guide on this page is free and needs no account. Signing in is only required for the parts of the site that store your own data: the game log, deck builder and collection tracker.
Where do the numbers in these calculators come from?
Every source recommendation is an exact hypergeometric probability, computed in your browser from deck size, source count, the turn you want to cast the spell, and whether you are on the play or the draw. Nothing is a lookup table or a rule of thumb, which is why the answers sometimes disagree with commonly repeated advice.
Do these tools work for formats other than Commander?
Yes. The calculator takes any deck size, so it covers 60-card Constructed and 40-card Limited as well as 99-card Commander. The guides that are Commander-specific say so in their titles. The rest apply to any format.