From MTG Salvation Wiki
Lands represent locations under the player's control, most of which can be used to generate mana. Because mana is needed to use almost any card or ability, most decks need a high number of mana-producing lands (typically between 33-40% of the total deck) in order to function effectively.
Lands are played on the player's own main phase, when the stack is empty, and only once per turn (though there are spells that can alter how many lands you can play a turn, like Exploration). Playing a land is not like playing a spell; it is a special action that does not use the stack, and does not require passing priority in order for it to resolve. When a player wants to play a land and has the opportunity, he or she simply puts it into play. Likewise, the activated abilities of lands to add to your mana pool do not use the stack, and cannot be responded to. Although many lands generate specific colors of mana, lands are colorless on their own.
The most common lands are the five basic lands. Each have the supertype "Basic" (meaning there is no limit to how many cards of that name you can have in a constructed deck,) a subtype matching its name, and a single activated ability allowing you to tap it to generate one colored mana. The basic lands and the mana they generate are: Plains — white, Island — blue, Swamp — black, Mountain — red, and Forest — green. When an effect specifically refers to "basic land type," it is referring to any or all of these five subtypes.
Ordinarily, changing a card's subtype does not automatically change its abilities, but the basic land types are an exception. If a land gains a basic land type, it also gains the ability to tap for the appropriate color of mana (and loses all other abilities, unless the type-changing effect allows it to keep its original types.)
From the Comprehensive Rules (February 1, 2009)
- 212.6. Lands
- 212.6a Playing a land card is a special action (see 408.2d). To play a land card, the player simply puts it into play. The land card doesn’t go on the stack, and is never a spell, so players can’t respond to it with instants or activated abilities.
- 212.6b A player who has priority may choose to play a land card from his or her hand during a main phase of his or her turn, when the stack is empty. Continuous effects may allow the player to play land cards from other zones this way, or to play land cards at other times.
- 212.6c A player may normally play only one land card during his or her turn; however, continuous effects may increase this number. If any such effects exist, the player announces which effect, or this rule, applies to each land play as it happens.
- 212.6d A player can’t play a land, for any reason, if it isn’t his or her turn. Ignore any part of an effect that instructs a player to do so. Similarly, a player can’t play a land, for any reason, if that player has used all of his or her land plays for that turn. Ignore any part of an effect that instructs a player to do so.
- 212.6e Effects may also allow players to “put” lands into play. This isn’t the same as “playing a land” and doesn’t count as a player’s one land played during his or her turn.
- 212.6f Land subtypes are always a single word and are listed after a long dash. Land subtypes are also called land types. Lands may have multiple subtypes.
- Example:
“Basic Land — Mountain” means the card is a land with the Mountain subtype.
- 212.6g The basic land types are Plains, Island, Swamp, Mountain, and Forest. If an object uses the words “basic land type,” it’s referring to one of these subtypes. A basic land type implies an intrinsic ability to produce colored mana. (See rule 406, “Mana Abilities.”) An object with a basic land type is treated as if its text box included “
 : Add [mana symbol] to your mana pool,” even if the text box doesn’t actually contain text or the object has no text box. Plains produce white mana; Islands, blue; Swamps, black; Mountains, red; and Forests, green.
- 212.6h If an effect changes a land’s subtype to one or more of the basic land types, the land no longer has its old land type. It loses all abilities generated from its rules text and its old land types, and it gains the appropriate mana ability for each new basic land type. Note that this doesn’t remove any abilities that were granted to the land by other effects. Changing a land’s subtype doesn’t add or remove any card types (such as creature) or supertypes (such as basic, legendary, and snow) the land may have. If a land gains one or more land types in addition to its own, it keeps its land types and rules text, and it gains the new land types and mana abilities.
- 212.6i Any land with the supertype “basic” is a basic land. Any land that doesn’t have this supertype is a nonbasic land.
- 212.6j If an object is both a land and another card type, it can be played only as a land. It can’t be played as a spell.
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