(Crackle with Power | Art by Micah Epstein)

School of Rock

Mana: the fuel that powers our deck. Mana is the force behind the punch and energy that flows in the veins of our favorite commanders. Including mana-producing artifacts in our decks (mana rocks, as they’re colloquially known), is one of the crucial building blocks of assembling a competent Commander deck. But which ones do we include and why? Is there a rationale behind the cost-to-performance ratio? Welcome back and to part two of this examination of mana rocks -or more specifically- the examination of three-mana value rocks and what they can tell us about the Commander format.

As Commander grows in popularity, deckbuilding is leaning toward efficiency. Four mana spells are eschewed for three mana spells, three mana spells for two mana spells (Except where Keruga, the Macrosage players are concerned, of course).

Wizards of the Coast, to the contrary, has been saturating recent Commander releases with three-mana rocks, going against the culture of Commander deck builders and drawing our attention to what "three mana" actually means in Commander.

This is the second part in my examination of three mana rocks in Commander. If you haven’t read the first part, I’d highly encourage you to do so. In that article, we spoke about some of the newer and lesser-spotted options in white and in blue, and you might be surprised about what these colors can do these days. You can find that article right here, so what are you waiting for? Okay, back? Let’s dive into part two and see if these newest offerings can convince us to leave our Signets and Talismans in the drawer.

Red

One Man’s Trash

Let’s kick off with red this time, where some interesting options lie. First, we’re going to look at Glittering Stockpile, a card from Streets of New Capenna. Before the plane was invaded by Phyrexia (you, know the second time) and halo became its most relevant commodity, the streets of New Capenna were flooded with Treasure. Glittering Stockpile surprisingly has the Treasure subtype (surprisingly, Bootleggers' Stash doesn’t have the Treasure subtype despite also being a big hall filled with money) which has a niche application for the Kalain, Reclusive Painter players, making it one of the more unique three-mana rocks.

What the card does is quite straightforward. You ideally play it on turn three and each time you tap it you add a stash counter on it. Later in the game (once you decide it’s worth delving into the crime family coffers) you can sacrifice the Glittering Stockpile for a huge burst of mana. Sacrificing it adds X mana of any one color, perfect for that late game Crackle with Power. It’s not hard to generate additional stash counters for our Treasure hoard. Proliferate comes to mind as the premier way of adding counters, and in RG decks, cards like Evolution Sage will fit the bill, or in UR, cards like Flux Channeler will do fine with a suitably high instant and sorcery count.

There’s always the old-fashioned way of untapping permanents too. Vizier of Tumbling Sands will happily do it, either each turn or when cycled drawing you an additional card. Voltaic Servant will allow you to spend the mana on your turn adding a stash counter, and untap the stockpile at the end of your turn, allowing you to hold mana up for a cheeky Lightning Bolt.

Finally, I Caught That Guy Who’s Been Ruining My Life

Now we move on to one of the best and most recent arguments for including three-mana rocks in your Commander decks, Cursed Mirror. This card is so much better than it looks and it already looks great. Cursed Mirror would have been a great card if it came with the limitation that it could only come into play as a copy of one of your own creatures. The fact that this card can come into play as a copy of ANY creature on the battlefield is what truly drives it up to insane levels of usefulness.

At its floor, this card comes down on turn three and taps for one red mana. Now, this is ultimately the description of any mana rock; you cast it and it taps for mana. On turn three this card isn’t going to have very many targets, although you’ll always be surprised which cards can come down early in Commander (I won’t spoil one of the best targets, but it rhymes with Crockside Contortionist). It’s more likely that there won’t be any overwhelming targets at this stage of the game, but if you don’t need the mana this turn, it’s never a bad idea to copy the most evasive creature or Commander and attack for some early damage. So that’s the floor of the card, what exactly is the ceiling?

Well, it kind of doesn’t really have one. Cursed Mirror can copy anything on the battlefield, so it’s whatever you need at that time, and that’s what makes it a truly special include. While the early mana ramp is great, this is one of those cards you really want to draw in the mid or late-game where it shines best. The larger the pool of selection, the higher the ceiling... let’s think about some great applications for this card. If we’re low on cards, we can copy Atraxa, Grand Unifier, potentially put eight cards in our hand, and then attack someone in the air for seven damage.If we need to put some damage to our opponents, we can copy Atraxa, Grand Unifier, attack our opponent in the air for seven damage, and potentially put eight cards in our hand. If we need to gain some life... okay, you get the picture. The point is that people are playing fun and explosive cards in the format. The fact that we can sneakily get an additional copy of someone’s best enter-the-battlefield effect on what used to be (many years ago) a Manalith... Cursed Mirror rules. I am very interested in hearing your best Cursed Mirror stories in your games. Please let us all know in the comments below.

Black

Idol Master

I wrote this mini-series in WUBRG order, but I kind of wish I would have started with this one. It tells a simple story, but for the new deck builder it presents a great lesson. This time we’re starting with Infernal Idol. With all my articles I like to assume a wide audience, so this one is going to cover some basic lessons to learn, and for some of us more experienced players a thing to remember.

Infernal Idol teaches you about Commander. It teaches you how to approach cards and whether you should include them in your deck or not. Here we have a three-mana rock that taps for black, or you can sacrifice it for one generic and two black mana to draw two cards and lose two life. It’s a marriage of Arcane Signet and Sign in Blood.

Infernal Idol costs one more mana than Arcane Signet for the same effect. It also costs one more mana than Sign in Blood for the same effect. What we must consider here is that Infernal Idol is one card, not two. Now, new players you might think if you’ve come from one of the sixty card formats that one hundred cards is a bunch. Commander players will tell you otherwise, and that they're always wrestling with their decks and trying to cut down to that magic number. What Infernal Idol asks you is: are you willing to pay one more mana to have both of those abilities on one card, six mana across a game rather than four? The reward is that you get to include an extra card in your deck.

An additional lesson is to keep an eye out for cards that can perform multiple functions in your deck. You might have plenty of card draw in your deck already, but adding a little more incidental card draw when you’re looking to increase the mana ramp of the deck is hardly going to be anything but a boon. Commander is full of little lessons, and we’re always learning. I know that if Infernal Idol was around when I started deckbuilding, I would have found the process that little bit easier.

It Was a Graveyard Smash!

Maybe red and black aren’t so different after all; this one is called Crowded Crypt. Making its debut in Innistrad Midnight Hunt Commander, this artifact bears a striking resemblance to Glittering Stockpile with a different kind of payoff.

Crowded Crypt cares about corpse counters, and let me tell you: in black these are a lot easier to acquire than stash counters are in red. In fact, Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker adores this card, and can take maximum advantage of it with the saturation of sacrifice outlets and recursion you’ll find in many decks utilizing black. Crowded Crypt doesn’t care about whether the creature that died was a token either, so throw them to the fire, attack aggressively block aggressively because you might be seeing them again very soon. Crowded Crypt can represent a game-ender with its six mana-activated ability, allowing you to turn your mana rock into an army of decayed zombie tokens.

This army can then attack your opponents and take their lives the old-fashioned way, or you can create plenty of fodder for sacrificing and getting those sweet Blood Artist triggers. Creating zombies is a relevant creature type for black, the color contains a plethora of Lord effects for the typal strategy. Even the token element is relevant for the new Bargain mechanic from Wilds of Eldraine, why not let one of your new zombie army Beseech the Mirror for you? Representing large amounts of damage is just one of the latest things mana rocks can do in Commander, so why not embrace it?

Rock On

I hope this second article has gotten you to consider what it means to run three mana rocks in Commander in 2023. The days of Manalith, Darksteel Ingot and such stones are over. It was clear cut to replace those for Talismans and Signets, but I think we’re finding that the three-mana rock space is becoming exceedingly creative. If you are enjoying this series, let me know in the comments below, and as with last time, I’m always interested to hear about your exploits with mana rocks. You can chat with me on Twitter too if you want to show me those spicy deck brews! Join me in the next article where if the time streams aren’t crossed, we should be talking about something very special.

Read more:

Preview Review - Three Mana Rocks (Part One)

Ranking Every Mana Rock with EDHREC - 2022 Edition

Joshua Clough

Joshua is a Medical Researcher from the UK. He's played Magic since Dragons of Tarkir and loves all things Commander, the more colours the better! When not playing Commander, he can be found insisting Jund is still a viable deck in Modern and painting tiny plastic miniatures on Twitter @PrinceofBielTan