Ramping Up (With Mana Rocks)

Mana rocks are a decks best friend.  

Few cards bring the nostalgia than the original moxen.  All of the original moxen were done by the same artist, Dan Frazier.  While we certainly won't be playing with any of the original moxen, Dan Frazier blessed us with some Secret Lair drops containing commander staples. We'll get to those, but first some history.

While the original moxen are obviously great, they're also banned and insanely expensive.  But, with these images fresh in your mind it is easy to appreciate the art that signets and talismans below have.  When the Brothers War precons were released, we got our first copies of the signets, still missing any of them having green mana symbols.  Shortly after the release of Brothers War in 2021, we received the "Dan Frazier Is Back" secret lair cards.  Both ally and enemy color pairs were represented in this secret lair.

One year later, the "Dan Frazier Is Back Again" secret lair was releasted which included the full talisman cycle. Prior to this secret lair drop in 2022, only the enemy talisman cycle was available in retro frames from the first Modern Horizons set and they did not include this incredible artwork.

Now, I don't think I could continue to discuss commander content without mentioning the most synonymous card with the commander format, Sol Ring.  For the longest time, a black border retro frame Sol Ring was cost prohibitive as it was from Alpha or Beta, but that too changed in 2022.  The last photo in this group is of Dan Frazier's contribution to this storied card.  This, is obviously the one I include in my deck. 

After Sol Ring, there are a number of other two drop mana rocks that I include in my staples.  One of them being one of the best two drops in the format, and is considered to have been a mistake by Magic: The Gathering design team, Arcane Signet.  This card was first printed in retro frames in the Brothers War precons but wound up being a bonus card in the "Dan Frazier Is Back" Secret Lair.  Fellwar stone was the bonus card for the "Dan Frazier Is Back Again" Secret Lair.

Depending on your budget and meta, there are some mana ramp cards that are known to be some of the strongest.  I do recommend adding with caution as they carry with them a perceived power level.  This next group of cards are referred to as "fast mana" and all of them are north of the $100 mark. 

Here are some more options that I recommend but I usually reserve these for mono colored decks.  If you're feeling fancy and you want that bling, go for the 7th edition foils of the Diamond cycle. 

And the best of the rest!  A lot of these guys have fallen out of favor as the game has sped up but sometimes they are still good!