Mana rocks are some of my favorite cards in Magic. I can’t really explain why. Maybe it’s the collector in me, or maybe it’s the fact that I’m like a tiny little gremlin who likes shiny rocks. There’s more to mana than Sol Ring and Arcane Signet, and value doesn’t always come in the form of a Mox or a Crypt. Value comes in many shiny forms, some more expensive than others. I love these alternatives so much, I thought I’d share with y’all some of my favorite utility mana rocks.
Strixhaven Stadium
Strixhaven Stadium is a great intro to utility artifacts because it provides the ultimate utility: winning. Yes, Strixhaven Stadium provides players an alternate win condition (wincon) through tapping for mana and attacking. But how? The Stadium deals in point counters. When dealing combat damage to an opponent pushes the Stadium to ten counters, the Stadium loses all those counters… and that opponent loses the game.
What makes this wincon stand out from others is that it encourages combat, which many commanders largely ignore nowadays. It also makes an opponent lose the game, which, while not the same as Laboratory Maniac or Mirrodin Besieged, is fun because it makes you work harder for the win. It’s a fun way to add mana to your pool and put pressure on your opponents.
Midnight Clock
Words cannot describe how much I love Midnight Clock. This card is, like the others, a mana rock, and yet the paragraph beneath it is far more interesting. This mana rock functions like a ticking clock…literally. Once cast, you’re on the clock, and when the counters strike twelve, you exile it, shuffle your graveyard into your library, and get a brand-new grip of seven cards. Wheel of Fortune-style effects are always fun and welcome in Commander, and yet tacking it onto a mana rock makes me even more enamored with the ability.
Cursed Mirror
It took me a while to be sold on Cursed Mirror. I think the reason why is because of how temporary it is. Cursed Mirror is a red mana rock that lets you have it become a copy of any creature on the battlefield until end of turn. Of course, it gives it haste, but the fact that it’s temporary really dampens my excitement. Sure, I’ve had this come in handy a couple of times, but thankfully we see a revisitation of this design in the form of our next card.
Machine God’s Effigy
Machine God’s Effigy redeems the flaw I see in Cursed Mirror with its creature copying ability. Like Cursed Mirror, Effigy is a mana rock that also becomes a copy of any creature on the battlefield. There are key differences, however. Effigy taps for blue mana, has a mana value of four, and remains a copy of the creature you chose. I find the one-mana difference in its cost to be well worthwhile. This is one of the newer cards on this list that I hope people will test out more in their commander brews.
Liquimetal Torque
I will forever scream from the rooftops about how much I love Liquimetal Torque. This one was originally sold to me by my friend Joey, from EDHREC. But why? What makes this card stand out is the fact that it makes your removal a bit more flexible. Torque turns nonland permanents into artifacts, which allows you to remove them with pieces like Abrade, Vandalblast, or Artifact Mutation. Making your removal more flexible can ramp up your deck’s power level and ultimately make your opponents wary of casting spells. If you aren’t running Liquimetal Torque, I implore you to give it a try.
Decanter of Endless Water
I got roasted alive on Twitter for talking about how much I love Decanter of Endless Water. People called it a strictly worse Thought Vessel. Me? I call it a better one. Sure, both give you no maximum hand size (an ability I feel people often underappreciate in the format nowadays); however, there is a slight difference between the two. The casting cost of Decanter is one more mana than Vessel. The other key difference lies in the text box: the Decanter allows you to add one mana of any color to your mana pool, not the one colorless mana of Thought Vessel. Personally, I find this higher cost to be worth it.
Relic of Legends
Relic of Legends is another fun and new mana rock that acts as a variation on Honor-Worn Shaku. This three-mana-value rock lets you tap for any mana of one color, and also lets you tap your legendary creatures to get a similar effect. While the Shaku is strictly better (as it lets you tap legendary permanents to untap it), I find the fact that the Relic gives you color to be a bit more appealing. I’m not saying to run one over the other; however, I would encourage you to run both in a deck heavy with legendary creatures.
Coveted Jewel
Coming in at a whopping six mana, Coveted Jewel was another rock that took me a while to warm up to. Thankfully, I am firmly on the Jewel train. Coveted Jewel does it all. It draws you cards and gives you three mana of any one color. However, the fun doesn’t stop there. You can trade the rock with others and give them the benefits. It’s a fun incentive to swing at people. After all, there is an allure in drawing cards and getting a bunch of mana.
Wand of the Worldsoul
My final utility rock is brand spanking new, coming from March of the Machine. It’s Wand of the Worldsoul! I am truly enamored with this rock because it gives the next spell you cast convoke. Any spell. This means you could theoretically cast a cheap Draco, Approach of the Second Sun, or White Sun’s Twilight. Because of how new this card is, I have yet to play it, but I already am in love with it. This is perfect for your next token deck!
Commander is slowly shifting into a numbers game. The cheaper the card’s mana value, the more likely someone is to play it. The majority of the rocks on this list are mana value three or higher, each of them providing you mana and insane amounts of value. I highly encourage you to look past the Sol Rings and Mana Crypts of Commander and opt for something a little more expensive and a little more different. Keep on mana rockin’, deckbuilders!
