Say you’re sitting down to build a new Magic: The Gathering Commander deck, where do you start? Depending on what you’re building, rounding up some solid mana rocks might be a good place to start.
We all know the best mana rocks you can jam into your commander decks. Stuff like Sol Ring, Mana Vault, Arcane Signet, and many more. But have you ever considered something a little spicier?
The Celestus
Are you ready to do some work? The Celestus does two things: adds mana of any color and turns your game into a stressful game of counting how many spells players are casting thanks to the day and night mechanic.
That said, there are some payoffs that might make it worth it. Anytime it switches from day to night, you gain a life and loot a card. Is that enough to worry about making sure you’re tracking who and how many spells are cast in a turn? That’ll be up to you.
The Celestus does well on Magic: The Gathering Arena, where the system tracks the day/night cycle for you.
Strixhaven Stadium
Lots of these little mana rocks have some sort of gimmick to help them stand out, but few can win you the game all on their own. Adding mana with Strixhaven Stadium lets you put a point counter on it, while taking a hit from a creature has you removing counters from the Stadium.
If you deal combat damage to an opponent with a creature, you also add a point counter to the Stadium, and once you get to ten counters this way, you can force an opponent to lose the game.
If you’re lucky and have a few ways to proliferate, you could potentially sneak in a win when no one is looking.
Crystal Skull, Isu Spyglass
Whether it is because the Assassin’s Creed Universes Beyond was stuffed into the ill-fated Beyond Boosters or simply because it was released between Modern Horizons 3 and Bloomburrow, there are plenty of overlooked gems in this little set.
The Crystal Skull, Isu Spyglass card comes in at a slightly awkward four mana, but gives a rather unique ability. You can both look at the top card of your deck at any time, and then play historic lands and cast historic spells from the top. If your deck is loaded up with artifacts, legendary cards, and Sagas, then the Crystal Skull might just find a slot in the 99.
Dungeon Map
Giving mana rocks some type of ability instantly bumps it up in playability, and a card like Dungeon Map has plenty of potential to generate a fair bit of value over the course of a drawn out game.
You can pay three mana and tap the Map to venture into the dungeon. This silly little mechanic lets you pick one of three different dungeon tracks to explore, each with a unique set of perks. If you have a way to get multiple activations in a turn and Dungeon Map can generate a good amount of value.
Sonic Screwdriver
The Sonic Screwdriver comes from the Doctor Who Universes Beyond set and is loaded up with all the utility that you would expect from the main tool of the Doctor. The Sonic Screwdriver comes with three abilities, though your milage from them might vary depending on your build:
- Untap another artifact for one mana
- Scry 1 for two mana
- Target creature can’t be blocked this turn for three mana
Being able to sneak in your commander for some game-winning damage is nice, or to protect anything with an attack trigger when attacks aren’t favorable. Being able to scry anytime you want is nice too, helping to smooth out mid to late game draws.
Gatewatch Beacon
Perhaps the most niche rock on this list, the Gatewatch Beacon is a neat little three-mana rock with some fun interactions. When it enters the battlefield, you get to put three loyalty counters on it, you know, the things planeswalkers almost exclusively use.
The next time you have a planeswalker enter the battlefield under your control, you can move one those counters onto your planeswalker. If you have a healthy number of planeswalkers in your deck, or a planeswalker as your commander, like Aminatou, the Fateshifter, you get one loyalty counter closer to their most powerful ability.
Misleading Signpost
A bit of a weird mana rock in that you don’t really want to get it on the battlefield as soon as you can, even though it has flash. Misleading Signpost instead benefits from some strategic timing thanks to a rather unique ability tacked on to this mana rock.
When Misleading Signpost enters during the declare attackers step, you can redirect an attacking creature to something else. Another player, a planeswalker, a battle, whatever you really want. This card sees a fair amount of play, but isn’t always the first mana rock people gravitate to.
Laser Screwdriver
If you’re in a lower bracket game, you can generally expect games to take a few extra turns to end than, say, a cEDH match, making it the perfect place to slot in something a little different like the Laser Screwdriver. This Doctor Who card adds mana of course, while also giving you three fairly strong utility abilities. You can:
- Tap an artifact for one mana
- Surveil 1 for two mana
- Goad any creature for three mana
The goading ability is perhaps the most unique here, as you can send problematic creatures at your opponent’s turn after turn, or force creatures like Esper Sentinel to enter combat.