Mana rocks are a crucial element of any Commander deck, especially ones without access to Green, but that doesn't mean just any mana-producing artifact will do. Many decks, more competitive ones especially, will balk at any rate beyond 2:1 (a two-mana artifact that taps for one and comes in untapped). There are only so many of those, and some of them are... less than impressive in terms of utility. Just look at all the people playing Fractured Powerstone.

I've found that mana rocks that go below that 2:1 ratio are frequently overlooked, despite the powerful utility or ramp they can provide. Whether by virtue of utility, synergy, or just sheer mana production, today I'm going to cover my top ten mana rocks with mana value three that can hold their own in today's Commander.

The Top Ten 3-drop Mana Rocks for Commander

Let's start simple. These are numbered, but those numbers might prove to be a bit arbitrary.

10. Patriar's Seal

While commanders with powerful tap abilities aren't quite as ubiquitous as they were in the earlier days of the format, they're still a fairly regular sight at my LGS, and Patriar's Seal is tailor made for those commanders. The ability to reactivate whatever powerful effect you built your deck around is excellent utility, and is just the cherry on top of the "any color" tap ability that's standard for a mana rock at this cost. However, that's not to say that a mana rock without that ability can't be worth using.

9. Wand of the Worldsoul

Wand of the Worldsoul is a perfect example of a three-cost mana rock that is much better than you might think at first glance. Between entering tapped, costing White mana, and only making White mana, this card seems like it has more negatives than positives. However, that one positive is tantalizing. Tapping it to give convoke to any spell can effectively allow this card to tap for as much mana as you have creatures, which is a powerful payoff to justify those drawbacks. You'll need the right deck for this to really shine, and you'll need to be in White. This limits the number of decks this card is good in, but being a bit niche doesn't make it any less deserving of this spot.

8. Basalt Monolith

Basalt Monolith was an odd card to rank on this list. While its power is self-evident, and it has a long legacy as both a form of ramp and as a combo piece, Basalt Monolith can be rather clunky to use outside of cEDH. Large amounts of colorless mana can be difficult to utilize in many decks, especially in the early game. An important thing to remember about Basalt Monolith is that it pays for its power by not really being ramp. If you don't have an external way to untap it, it's closer to being a way to store mana, or a delayed ritual. As powerful as this can be, it can also be difficult to justify running. I like Basalt Monolith most in decks with a lot of ways to utilize colorless mana, whether it's with a high mana curve, lots of artifacts, a mana sink, or an expensive commander. This is all without going into its power as a combo piece, but that's not really what this article is about.

7. Misleading Signpost

These next two cards share Wand of the Worldsoul's single-colored nature, but functionally they have very little in common with it. Misleading Signpost seems simple at first, but can be deceptively powerful. At first glance, it's just a combat trick, a way to keep a single creature from hitting you for one turn. That doesn't seem like a particularly large upside. However, a single word is the key to this card's true strength-

Flash.

There are no other mana rocks with flash. Even if you're not making use of the Enters-the-Battlefield trigger, this card still provides value by allowing you to ramp after holding up three mana for the entire turn cycle. If you're running this card, you are in Blue. Even a single untapped land can be a threat to anyone who's thinking about making a big play, and that isn't the full extent of it's power! If you have a way to bounce it or flicker it at instant speed, you can make the ETB effect into far more than a single combat trick - it's a deterrent. Nobody likes swinging in on the guy with the Maze of Ith, and this card can let you be that guy. It can even function as a removal spell, if one of your other opponents happens to have a blocker that can kill the attacking creature you are choosing to redirect.

6. Midnight Clock

Compared to the previous mana rock, Midnight Clock's strengths are much more obvious. After a few turn cycles, it becomes a personal Timetwister! This can be inconvenient if you happen to like your current hand, since once you've played Midnight Clock, the effect is guaranteed to happen eventually, so long as it doesn't get removed or sacrificed. However, there's only so much you can complain about when you're getting an effect that's part of the Power Nine. If you're really desperate to keep your hand a bit longer, you can always run effects that can remove counters. Alternatively, if you want to refill your hand as soon as possible, you can proliferate or use counter doubling effects to speed up the proverbial clock.

5. Chromatic Lantern

Chromatic Lantern is a staple for a reason. Fixing all of your mana is an exceptionally powerful effect... so long as you're running enough colors for it to be necessary. I wouldn't even consider Chromatic Lantern in a deck with less than three colors, and even with three, it's overkill if your mana base isn't on the budget side. While I'm sure it's quite good in four color decks as well, it's most at home in whatever five color deck you can slot it into. Even at the best of times, five-color mana bases can be a struggle, and Chromatic Lantern is perfect for fixing your colors. Five-color decks are very well suited to 3-drop mana rocks in general: not only can they fully utilize the ability to tap for any color, but many five color commanders cost exactly five, which is the exact threshold at which a three cost mana rock can get your commander out a turn early if you play on curve.

4. Staff of Compleation

Staff of Compleation is as versatile as it is dangerous. It can tap for mana, destroy something you own, proliferate, draw cards, and function as a mana sink - but not without a cost. The life payments this card demands can add up quickly if you aren't careful. If you use it too aggressively, you can quickly find yourself facing lethal from whatever random creatures your opponents happen to have on board. Even with the cost of paying with your life, the payoff is so sweet! Drawing a card each turn at three mana is incredible, even at a cost of four life, and a repeatable proliferate effect can be extremely powerful for any deck that relies on counters, whether they're +1/+1, energy, experience, or even poison counters (you monster). So long as you aren't too reckless, Staff of Compleation will serve you well.

3. Cursed Mirror

Cursed Mirror is my third colored mana rock in this list. It's in Red and can tap for a Red mana, but it also can enter the battlefield as a hasty copy of a creature for a turn. This effect is exceptional. Yes, tapping for a single color is a drawback, but compared to being a hasty clone for a turn, that's nothing. You will very regularly get value out of this, whether you play many creatures or not. Red gets surprisingly few effects like this, and being a mana rock in addition to a temporary clone makes Cursed Mirror even more unique. I wouldn't go so far as to say that this should be in every Red deck, but I'd definitely say it's worth considering.

2. Coalition Relic

Coalition Relic can store resources in the form of a counter that's turned into mana your next turn. While this effect may not be as flashy as some of the other cards I've mentioned, it is incredibly powerful. Let's say you're playing a six-mana commander without Green, and you're hitting your first four land drops. With this card alone you can play that six-mana commander on turn four. You tap it to put a charge counter on it and on your next turn you can tap it during your upkeep, so you'll have two charge counters. You'll be making 2 mana of any color at the beginning of your precombat main phase, but that's not where it ends because this card also has excellent synergies with a number of popular effects. Proliferate? Check. Untap effects? Check. Doubling Season? Check check. It's great. And that's without even mentioning you can use it to leave up mana at very little risk- if nobody plays something that warrants your Counterspell or Path to Exile, you can just turn that mana into a counter, and use it on your next turn.

1. Relic of Legends

Relic of Legends is everything Coalition Relic isn't, in the best way possible. It's still an incredibly powerful card, but it has completely different synergies. In addition to tapping for mana itself, it lets you tap your legendary creatures for mana as well, with wording that allows it to bypass summoning sickness. Relic of Legends not only gets stronger for each legendary creature in your deck, but it can also be far stronger with some commanders rather than others. If your commander is inexpensive, has vigilance, doesn't have a tap ability, and/or doesn't want to attack for fear of dying, Relic of Legends can let you squeeze that little bit of extra value out of it.

That should do it. I hope I've convinced you to take a second look at some of these frequently overlooked cards. While they shouldn't always be the backbone of your mana base, the color fixing, utility, and additional mana they can provide can be an excellent supplement to your deck's ramp package.