One of the hardest parts of building a Commander deck is determining how to fill the last couple slots.
You have your commander. Your land base is maxed out, and your creature slots filled for the best synergy you have available. You may have a few of those personal favorites included as well. But you still have a few empty slots that need filled. You might be missing mana ramp, card draw, or even ways to handle those players who become a real thorn in your side.
Colorless cards are the most versatile cards in the game of Magic. Because they aren’t tied to a specific color, they can fill almost any role needed in a Commander deck. That doesn’t mean every card on this list belongs in every deck, but it at least gives us an idea what to look for when filling those gaps.
Here are 10 colorless Commander staples worth keeping in mind.
1. Sol Ring
Best for: Almost every Commander deck
Role: Ramp
It wouldn’t make much sense to talk about colorless Commander staples without starting with Sol Ring. It’s a cheap staple suitable for every deck.
With Sol Ring in your opening hand, you immediately have the advantage with 3 mana on your next turn. While it may not be a game changer, it most certainly puts you 2 turns ahead of your opponent.
It can help you cast your commander earlier, get an expensive artifact onto the battlefield, or simply give you more mana to work with throughout the game.
There’s a reason you’ll find Sol Ring in such a huge number of Commander decks. Unless you have a specific reason not to play it, it’s usually one of the first cards worth considering.
Best for: Multicolor decks
Role: Ramp and mana fixing
Arcane Signet doesn’t have the explosive potential of Sol Ring, but it’s one of the most reliable mana rocks in Commander. Especially if it’s in your opening hand alongside Sol Ring. It’s always fun to play your first land, cast Sol Ring, followed by Arcane Signet.
It costs two mana and taps for one mana of any color in your commander’s color identity. While you do “lose” two mana to cast, you get one back when Arcane Signet enters. This can be great when you have 3+ lands/mana in play. Which can potentially allow you a 2nd play early game.
That’s particularly useful in decks playing multiple colors. Instead of hoping you draw the right combination of lands, Arcane Signet can help provide whichever color you’re currently missing.
It’s simple, efficient, and does exactly what most Commander decks need their mana rocks to do.
3. Mind Stone
Best for: Almost any deck
Role: Ramp and card draw
Mana rocks are great early in the game, but they can become disappointing draws later when you already have plenty of mana. Mind Stone helps solve that problem.
For two mana, you get an artifact that taps for one colorless mana. Later, when you no longer need that ramp, you can pay one mana, sacrifice Mind Stone, and draw a card. This is particularly useful if you are struggling to get that extra land you are waiting for.
It isn’t flashy, but that’s exactly what makes Mind Stone useful. It helps accelerate your deck early and can turn itself into another card later.
Best for: Decks without strong land ramp
Role: Ramp
I used to think this little guy was pointless, but after playing the card I have come to see it’s worth.
Wayfarer’s Bauble works differently from most of the ramp on this list. Instead of remaining on the battlefield and producing mana itself, Bauble can be sacrificed to search your library for a basic land and put it onto the battlefield tapped. That distinction is important.
Artifacts can be destroyed, while getting another land onto the battlefield usually provides a more permanent form of ramp. It can also be particularly helpful in colors that don’t naturally have access to the type of land ramp commonly found in green.
It’s slower than cards like Arcane Signet, but it fills a different role allowing you to search for the particular mana you need.
Best for: Commander-focused decks
Role: Protection and haste
Some decks rely heavily on keeping their commander on the battlefield. If that’s your deck, Swiftfoot Boots is worth considering.
The equipped creature gets hexproof and haste. Hexproof makes it harder for opponents to remove your creature with targeted spells and abilities, while haste allows it to attack or use tap abilities on the same turn you cast.
That makes Swiftfoot Boots especially useful for commanders that need to attack or activate an ability before they start generating value. Unlike shroud, hexproof still allows you to target your own creature.
Best for: Commander-focused decks
Role: Protection and haste
Lightning Greaves fills a similar role to Swiftfoot Boots but does things a little differently.
The equipped creature gets haste and shroud, and the Greaves cost zero mana to equip.
Being able to immediately equip them without spending additional mana can be extremely powerful. You can cast your commander and give it haste and protection right away.
There is an important downside, though. Shroud prevents everyone from targeting the creature, including you. Considering it equips for zero mana, this isn’t a problem. You can equip another creature, target the previous, then re-equip your grieves onto the previous creature.
Best for: Value, blink, sacrifice, and artifact decks
Role: Ramp and card advantage
Solemn Simulacrum, often called Sad Robot among the communities has been a Commander favorite for years.
When it enters, you search your library for a basic land and put it onto the battlefield tapped. When Solemn Simulacrum dies, you draw a card.
Neither ability is overwhelming on its own, but together they give you a creature that helps develop your mana and replaces itself when it dies.
It gets even better if your deck can copy it, blink it, sacrifice it, recur it from the graveyard, or otherwise reuse its abilities.
It’s not the fastest ramp available anymore, but it’s still useful in the right deck.
8. Urza’s Cave
Best for: Almost any deck
Role: Land Tutor
Urza’s Cave has recently become a favorite of mine to auto include in all my decks and I would go so far as to include it in the mana ramp category.
While it only generates one colorless mana, paying 3 to sacrifice and search for any land can be a huge game changer.
Land cards like Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, Command Tower, Vault of the Archangel or whatever your decks favorite land may be can easily be tutored in to give you the advantage.
You won’t need that ability every game, but when you do, you’ll be happy it’s sitting in your mana base.
9. War Room
Best for: Mono-color and low-color decks
Role: Card draw
Running out of cards is one of the easiest ways to fall behind in Commander. Thankfully we have a stack of 100 to dig through.
War Room gives you another way to draw cards without taking up a spell slot. You can pay mana, tap it, and pay life equal to the number of colors in your commander’s color identity to draw a card.
That means it’s particularly attractive in mono-color decks, where drawing a card only costs one life. If you run a colorless deck (one of my favorites) it gets even better, you tap for 3 and pay zero life to draw a card.
You probably won’t activate War Room every turn, but having access to extra cards when your hand starts running low can make a big difference during longer games.
10. Reliquary Tower
Best for: Heavy card-draw decks
Role: Hand-size utility
Reliquary Tower is probably one of the most recognizable utility lands in Commander. It taps for colorless mana and gives you no maximum hand size.
If your deck regularly draws large numbers of cards, that can prevent you from having to discard valuable resources at the end of your turn.
But there’s an important deckbuilding lesson here: don’t play Reliquary Tower just because you can. If your deck rarely has more than seven cards in hand, a land that produces colored mana may be more valuable.
Like many cards on this list, Reliquary Tower is a staple because it solves a common problem not because every deck automatically needs it.
Staples Aren’t the Same as Auto-Includes
One of the most important things to understand when building a Commander deck is that a staple isn’t necessarily an auto-include. While it might sound like a useful at face value, it’s worth considering how well it interacts with the rest of your deck. Is it slowing you down, or giving you the advantage?
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