If you’ve been following any of theMagic: The GatheringCommander bans, you know that some exceptionally powerful cards have been banned. Two of these cards, Jeweled Lotus and Mana Crypt, are exceptionally powerful mana rocks. Even though they have different roles to play in a deck depending on your deck design, they act similarly.
Banning them in Commander probably left you with a pretty big gap in your mana fixing, so what would be a good replacement for those cards? Keep in mind that there aren’t many equivalent replacements for these two mana rocks, and if you’re running an Arcane Signet or Sol Ring (and why wouldn’t you be), you likely already have the best alternatives. That said, these might be worth experimenting with to give you that fast mana kick.
10Crystal Vein
A Budget Pick
Land that adds more than one mana at a time is a solid choice as a replacement for the two banned mana rocks, and there are quite a few to pick from. There’s Outlaw Junction’s Arid Archway and Temple of the False God, though the Temple is kind of a dead drop until around turn five, and the Archway enters the battlefield tapped.
Crystal Vein has neither of these stipulations while still adding two generic mana, though it does come with one big catch. You can immediately tap Crystal Vein to gain two generic mana, but it does require you to sacrifice it to do so. But, depending on your deck, that might be fine. Decks like those running Lord Windgrace or Crucible of Worlds, don’t need to worry too much about losing a land.
9Carpet Of Flowers
A Green Carpet
If you’re playing green in your Commander deck, you already have access to a ton of great ramp options. If you still want to take advantage of some explosive, if not situational, mana options, you could look at Carpet of Flowers.
This one mana enchantment gives you X mana of a single color, with X equaling the total number of Islands one of your opponents controls. While dependent on having an opponent play at least some number of Islands to make the most out of it, the odds are pretty good at least one of your opponents will be running blue in their deck.
A Burst Of Mana
A rather unique little artifact that scales in usability depending on how many colors of mana are in your Commander’s color identity. When Pentad Prism enters the battlefield, it gets charged counters on it equal to the different types of mana you spent on it.
Since it has a mana cost of just two, you can only ever have it enter with two counters (there are ways around this, but most of them are niche and goofy), immediately giving you access to two mana. You could proliferate those counters up if you need more, or use it in a deck like Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy, which amplifies your mana generation from nonland sources.
7Sol Talisman
Just Give It A Few Turns
Everyone runs Sol Ring in their Commander decks, or at least the vast majority of people do, so why wouldn’t you double up on that effect? Sol Talisman lets you do just that, but with the caveat that you have to wait a few turns to get there.
You can’t cast Sol Talisman regularly, as it does not have a mana cost. Instead,you have to suspend it, placing three time counters on it and removing one of them at the start of your turn. Once all counters are gone, you cast Sol Talisman for free, jumping you up from four mana on turn four up to seven.
If you cascade into Sol Talisman, you can cast it for free without waiting for the time counters to fall off.
6Lotus Petal
One Mana For Zero Work
There is so much Lotus Petal has going for it that you shouldn’t be surprised to see it popping up in more and more decks. For zero mana, you can tap and sacrifice the Petal to add one mana of any color to your pool.
While one mana might not seem like a ton in a game like Commander, it can be more than enough to put you ahead in a game. There are also some efficient ways to bring Lotus Petal from your graveyard into play.
5MDFC Lands
Two Cards In One
Modal double-faced cards, or MDFC lands, are a fantastic addition to any Commander deck, giving you either a land or a spell depending on your need at the time. These spells can be flashy, like Sea Gate Restoration, or more mundane but still useful, like Fell the Profane.
Other MDFC Lands include:
Either way, these cards give you the versatility of hitting your land drops early in the game or impacting the game with a spell if you draw it mid to late game. Since the release of Modern Horizons 3, the range of the MDFC lands has evolved, moving away from just spells on lands and giving you access to creatures that can be lands as well.
Fun little tip: you can use creature tutor spells to grab a creature like Witch Enchanter if you’re missing a land drop but have limited options.
4Grim Monolith
Don’t Look So Grim
Spending two mana to get three mana seems like a fine deal, and with Grim Monolith you can get it. Grim Monolith adds three generic mana when you tap it, though it does come with a slight drawback in that it doesn’t untap during your untap step.
That doesn’t mean it won’t ever untap; you just have to spend four mana to do it. While committing more manainto your mana rockjust to keep using it isn’t great, you can pretty easily get around it. If you have a Nyxbloom Ancient out, it triples your mana production, so now Grim Monolith generates nine mana when you tap it. For a slightly more accessible option, you can run Zirda, the Dawnwaker, which reduces the cost of your non-mana related activated abilities.
Keep in mind that Grim Monolith runs $200+ dollars, so it’s not a budget option.
3Jeska’s Will
Will You Run It?
One of the best ritual spells in Commander is Jeska’s Will, and while it’s not a mana rock, it can provide a ton of mana very early in the game. For just three mana, you can pick an opponent’s hand and add red mana to your mana pool equal to the number of cards in that player’s hand.
If you drop at least a Sol Ring on your first turn, and some way to produce red mana, you can pretty easily get five, six, or even seven mana on your second turn of this spell alone, letting you cast most mid-range commanders early on.
2Ancient Tomb
An Oldie, But A Goodie
Perhaps the easiest way to replace Jewled Lotus and Mana Crypt is with a land, and there are few better lands out there than Ancient Tomb when it comes to generating tons of mana. Ancient Tomb adds two generic mana when you tap it, and it deals two damage to you, which isn’t bad at all. If you have an optimal opening hand, you can drop an Ancient Tomb, get two generic mana, drop a Sol Ring, giving you three generic mana, and drop practically any other mana rock or spell you might want for three mana.
1Mana Vault
Open The Vault
Very similar to Grim Monolith, Mana Vault has some key differences that help catapult it to the top spot. Mana Vault costs only one generic mana to play and adds three generic mana when you tap it.
Like Grim Monolith, it doesn’t untap normally and requires four mana to untap it. you may do all the same ways to combo with it, or just use it as a ritual-like effect for your second turn to power out a high-end commander.
