Basic is a card supertype. It is only found on the basic land cards.
Comprehensive Rules[]
Comprehensive Rules Glossary (August 7, 2020)
- Basic
- A supertype that’s normally relevant on lands. Any land with this supertype is a basic land. See rule 205.4, “Supertypes.”
Comprehensive Rules (August 7, 2020)
- 205.4c Any land with the supertype “basic” is a basic land. Any land that doesn’t have this supertype is a nonbasic land, even if it has a basic land type.: Cards printed in sets prior to the Eighth Edition core set didn’t use the word “basic” to indicate a basic land. Cards from those sets with the following names are basic lands and have received errata in the Oracle card reference accordingly: Forest, Island, Mountain, Plains, Swamp, Snow-Covered Forest, Snow-Covered Island, Snow-Covered Mountain, Snow-Covered Plains, and Snow-Covered Swamp.
Comprehensive Rules (August 7, 2020)
- 305.6. 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. An object with the land card type and a basic land type has the intrinsic ability “
: Add [mana symbol],” even if the text box doesn’t actually contain that text or the object has no text box. For Plains, [mana symbol] is ; for Islands, ; for Swamps, ; for Mountains, ; and for Forests, . See rule 107.4a. See also rule 605, “Mana Abilities.”
: Add [mana symbol],” even if the text box doesn’t actually contain that text or the object has no text box. For Plains, [mana symbol] is 
; for Islands, 
; for Swamps, 
; for Mountains, 
; and for Forests, 
. See rule 107.4a. See also rule 605, “Mana Abilities.”Comprehensive Rules (August 7, 2020)
- 305.8. Any land with the supertype “basic” is a basic land. Any land that doesn’t have this supertype is a nonbasic land, even if it has a basic land type.
Comprehensive Rules (August 7, 2020)
- 100.2a In constructed play (a way of playing in which each player creates their own deck ahead of time), each deck has a minimum deck size of 60 cards. A constructed deck may contain any number of basic land cards and no more than four of any card with a particular English name other than basic land cards.
Comprehensive Rules (August 7, 2020)
- 305.5. 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. See rule 205.3i for the complete list of land types.
Example: “Basic Land — Mountain” means the card is a land with the subtype Mountain.