The 10 Best Mana Rocks In MTG

Honestly, it’s kind of a travesty that this wasn’t the first article on MTG Rocks, but launching a website is hard, so you’ll just have to forgive us.

With mana being such an important component in MTG, it’s always good to know how best to make it.

Aside from the obvious choices (Land cards), one of the most popular ways to fuel your larger spells is using mana rocks.

So, we’ve decided to rank the best mana rocks in MTG.

The 10 best mana rocks in MTG

Now, this isn’t the list of the most competitive, nor is it format-specific, even though we all know that these are all only viable in Commander.

This is simply the list of the best, and the joy of that is that it means we can decide based on our own criteria.

With that out of the way, steel yourself and prepare to see the best mana rocks in MTG.

10 – Fellwar Stone

For a lowly two mana, Fellwar Stone can tap to add one mana of any color that a land an opponent controls can produce. While this doesn’t always mean you can produce any mana you want to, in a game with four players, you’ll most likely have access to every color.

You’ll always be able to get some mana out of it, though, and two-mana for that effect, while nowhere near the top of the list, is still worth paying attention to. Also, it’s literally got Stone in the card name, which makes it more of a rock than a lot of the other cards here.

9 – Gilded Lotus

Gilded Lotus is great, but it’s also five-mana, which can be an irksome cost when in your opening hand. That’s the only reason it’s not higher up on the list, because it taps for three mana of any one color, which is a very potent ability.

Because of this ability, Gilden Lotus can easily find a home in nearly any deck that could possibly want more mana. It allows you to immediately cast a three-mana spell after casting it and then ramps you all the way up to at least eight mana the turn after you cast it.

Read More: What Is the Storm Scale in MTG?

8 – Hedron Archive

Hedron Archive has been a bit of a powerhouse ever since it was first printed. For four-mana, you get an Artifact that can tap for two colorless mana. It’s not all that flashy on its own, but it’s also not the only ability that Hedron Archive has.

The second ability allows you to pay two-mana and sacrifice it to draw two cards. This basically means that once you’ve got enough mana in general, you can turn it into card advantage instead. This flexibility makes it one of the best man rocks in MTG, and as we go further into the list, it’ll become clear that a mana rock either needs to be incredibly explosive, or come with a little something extra to be worthwhile.

Read More: What Is the Storm Scale in MTG?

7 – Thought Vessel

On the subject of something a little extra, we’ve got Thought Vessel. Thought Vessel costs two mana and taps for one colorless mana. That’s subpar, but it also has a passive ability that means you have no maximum hand size.

While this isn’t important for something like an aggro deck, there are an awful lot of decks that love to have more than seven cards in hand. Having a Thought Vessel out not only gives you a little bump to your mana generation, but also allows you to stockpile cards in your hand like a hamster stockpiles food in its cheeks. It’s adorable when you think of it like that.

6 – Commander’s Sphere

best-mana-rocks-in-mtg-commanders-sphere

Commander’s Sphere is a three-mana Artifact that taps for one mana of any color in your commander’s color identity. It’s a strong mana rock just because of that, but the thing that makes it great is the fact that you can sacrifice it to draw a card.

As with Hedron Archive, this allows a little more flexibility if you’ve either gained enough mana or draw it later on in the game when you’d rather have something else. It’s also a fun one if you can keep it coming back from the graveyard.

5 – Arcane Signet

Arcane Signet is very much the new kid on the block. This card came about thanks to the Throne of Eldraine Brawl decks, and it’s been an essential card ever since. For two-mana, Arcane Signet taps to add one mana of any color in your commander’s color identity.

It’s not just a little bit of ramp; it’s also excellent fixing. This is an essential card in any deck with more than one color, but it’s also more than good enough to simply be in every deck that has a commander. It’s a low-level powerhouse.

Read More: What Is Domain in MTG?

4 – Grim Monolith

Grim Monolith is truly one of the best Mana Rocks the game has ever seen. Able to provide three mana at the cost of two, this Mana Rock shares a similarity to Sol Ring in the sense that it can immediately ramp upon impact. This is plagued by a rather unfortunate downside though: it cannot untap during your untap step. You can untap it for four mana at any time, but untapping and tapping Grim Monolith will net you -1 mana, which is not a winning strategy.

Astute players may already be asking themselves if there’s a way you can get a discount on Grim Monolith’s Activated ability, and there is! Cards like Power Artifact and Zirda, Dawnwaker can reduce the activated ability of Grim Monolith and turn a mana disadvantage into a mana advantage. This turns the Monolith into an infinite mana machine!

3 – Mana Vault

Mana Vault is so powerful that, alongside some of the other cards on this list, it has been banned in Legacy. Able to provide four mana for the price of one, this card offers some absolutely absurd ramp for a cheap cost.

The downside of Mana Vault, like Grim Monolith, is as soon as you tap it, it becomes a chore to untap. This is easily solved by a card like Voltaic Key, but untapping Mana Vault the old fashion way will cost more mana than the card actually taps for. That said, you can think of this as a way to invest your mana and have a big turn afterwards.

2 – Mana Crypt

Zero mana is a very easy cost to manage. It’s a shame that the real-world cost of Mana Crypt isn’t as easy to stomach, but it’s still definitely one of the best mana rocks in MTG. For the low, low cost of nothing, you get an Artifact that can tap to add two colorless mana.

However, unlike the other cards on the list which have upsides, Mana Crypt comes with a downside. At the beginning of your upkeep you have to flip a coin; if you call this flip wrong, then Mana Crypt deals three damage to you. Sometimes you’ll have entire games where this is irrelevant, but sometimes you’ll basically lose the game because you’ve been Lightning Bolting yourself ever turn.

1 – Sol Ring

Obviously Sol Ring has to be near the top of the pile when it comes to mana rocks. Sol Ring is in every Commander deck ever, and if it’s not, then you’re building your decks wrong. Well, actually, you’re not; you can do what you want; we’re not going to judge you.

Sol Ring is a one-mana Artifact that gives you two colorless mana. It basically means that you have four mana on turn two, which is just so much mana. Also, with a lot of other mana rocks costing two mana, like Arcane Signet, you can often have starts where you play Sol Ring and then use it to play another mana rock. Suddenly you’ve got even more mana on turn two. It’s absurd, but is it really the best mana rock in MTG?

0 – Meteorite

For five mana, Meteorite can tap for one mana of any color and also deal two damage to a Creature or player upon entering the battlefield. It’s a useful card for sure, and it’s definitely the best mana rock in MTG.

If you thought we wouldn’t commit to a joke hard enough to put Meteorite above Sol Ring in a list of mana rocks, then we hope you now appreciate our power. Meteorite is one of the only actual mana rocks, as in, it’s a rock. It’s not just a rock either, this is a large boulder the size of a large boulder, but it’s from space. It, much like this site, rocks, and it belongs here at the top.