Add Blue or Red to Your Mana Pool
Last updated on April 27, 2022
Nikya of the Old Ways | Illustration by Ryan Pancoast
The next step to powering up their deck for many EDH players is assembling an aggressive and fast mana base. Many players achieve this by "doubling" their mana; surprising an opponent with a single huge turn to pull ahead of the rest of the pod.
Doubling your mana in a single turn has been kicking around in Magic since Alpha. Each color of the pie has access to it with their own unique and subtle advantages and drawbacks. Some colors temporarily double your mana while others continuously increase how much mana your permanents generate.
As you probably guessed, mana doubling effects fall most heavily in green. Surprisingly, red and black sources are a close second. It's least common in white, of course, because WotC can't let white have anything.
I'll be running down the best ways to double up on mana in MTG today. Buckle up, and let's end some games!
The Best(?) White Mana Doublers
I'm sorry white players, there just aren't any mono-white spells that can double your mana in the same way the other colors can. I know, I know, it isn't fair that the "play nice" color doesn't get a similar, symmetrical effect.
The best I can offer you in this trying time is Doubling Cube, Caged Sun, or maybe Extraplanar Lens.
You'll always have Smothering Tithe, and that's nothing to sniff at! You'll net an average three extra mana on the first turn around if you can play Smothering on turn 4 in a 4-player pod. But that's hardly mana doubling.
Selesnya ( ) players are rewarded for their unfaithfulness with access to Mirari's Wake.
The Best Blue Mana Doublers
Blue also suffers from a lack of "pure" mana doubler effects but they aren't completely starved. Let's take a look!
High Tide
High Tide is a classic blue ritual from Fallen Empires and originally came with three different art variants. It doubles the amount of blue mana created by all Islands until the end of your turn, all for the low price of a single blue mana!
This doubler has seen play across many formats and is an essential card for any deck running an abundance of Islands.
Snowfall
Snowfall is an odd card from Magic's history. It comes from Ice Age, Wizards' first tentative steps into the snow mechanic. Snowfall costs to cast and has a cumulative upkeep of . It doubles (even triples) the amount of blue mana your Islands and Snow-Covered Islands generate!
Except you can't use it for anything but cumulative upkeep costs. It's unfortunately almost useless for our purposes.
Honorable Mention: Energy Tap
Energy Tap had its first printing in Legends. It costs to cast and taps an untapped creature you control to add colorless mana equal to its mana value. A "sort-of" ritual that has the potential to net you a ton of mana. Or be a dead card in your hand.
The Best Black Mana Doublers
Black's mana doublers revolve around rewarding you for playing Swamps exclusively. Others appropriately let you sacrifice lands for mana after you've tapped them.
Cabal Coffers & Cabal Stronghold
Cabal Coffers and Cabal Stronghold are two similar cards that reflect black's main access to mana doubling. Both are lands that require an activation cost ( and respectively) and add an amount of black mana equal to the number of Swamps (basic Swamps in Stronghold's case) to your mana pool.
Coffers starts aggressively, netting you mana as soon as your third Swamp hits the field with Stronghold one turn behind it.
Magus of the Coffers
Magus of the Coffers is Cabal Coffers on a body, though it's a significant downgrade in efficiency. It costs five mana and has to wait a turn to tap and activate its ability, meaning you won't see its payoff until the next turn in most games. But it's still a solid choice overall.
Crypt Ghast & Nirkana Revenant
Crypt Ghast and Nirkana Revenant both have "whenever you tap a Swamp for mana, add an additional ."
Ghast is the more aggressive of the two, clocking in at four mana for a 2/2 body with the extort ability. Revenant sees more play in vampire tribal decks and has a pump mechanic built in. Both double your mana in black decks and give you an ability to dump that extra mana into.
Rain of Filth
Rain of Filth comes from the beloved Urza's Saga. It gives your lands the ability to sacrifice themselves to add to your mana pool. You'll usually see this cast after a player tapped out to "float" all of their mana, sacrificing all their lands to add that same amount in black mana and culminating in a very dangerous turn.
Bubbling Muck
Bubbling Muck is the black High Tide. There's no two ways about it; you'll have twice as much black mana for that Exsanguinate in your hand any turn you play this spell. I dream of someday casting Bubbling Muck into Rain of Filth and blasting someone with the largest X-mana spell I can find.
The Best Red Mana Doublers
Red has a surprising amount of mana doublers. Most come with significant drawbacks, but that's how you play red; fast, aggressive, and with no forethought!
Chaos Moon
Chaos Moon is another Ice Age card. It's a 4-mana enchantment with a mountain of text, no pun intended. You basically count the number of permanents in play each upkeep. If that number is odd, red creatures get +1/+1 and Mountains tap for an additional red mana this turn. If that number is even, those creatures get -1/-1 and Mountains tap for colorless instead.
Living up to its name, Chaos Moon is a swingy card with a big risk and a big reward. You can play around this by running lots of 1-drops and removal spells to quickly adjust the number of permanents before and after turns.
Gauntlet of Might
Gauntlet of Might is a 4-mana artifact from Alpha and it's definitely the strongest mana doubler in red. A powered-up Gauntlet of Power, Might gives all red creatures +1/+1 and makes Mountains tap for an extra red mana. As a reserved list card it's not cheap to get your hands on, but it's the ultimate mana doubler for your red deck.
Goldspan Dragon
I've seen players have huge turns with Goldspan Dragon. A regular in my pod plays an Izzet ( ) artifact deck with Galazeth Prismari in the command zone, and Goldspan is a regular enabler for their deck. I'm a little too familiar with being on the receiving end of a huge Fireball or Devil's Play.
Mana Flare
Mana Flare is a classic red mana doubler. Another Alpha card, the 3-drop Mana Flare makes all lands tap for an extra mana. Its symmetrical effect paints less of a target on your back compared to Gauntlet of Might.
The Best Green Mana Doublers
With the most access to explosive mana doubling, green is spoiled for choice when it comes to how you'd like to kit your deck out.
Mana Reflection
Mana Reflection is the one-sided Mana Flare, with the important distinction that it works on all permanents you control and doubles the mana produced. This means your Llanowar Elves and other dorks double up, as well as your mana rocks!
And for a measly six mana? Reflection is a must-have.
Nyxbloom Ancient
For the green player who has everything, why not get them a little more of everything? Nyxbloom Ancient triples the mana produced by permanents you control. At seven mana, it's well costed considering its 5/5 body with trample.
Protect it well! Its vulnerable to more types of removal as an enchantment creature.
Keeper of Progenitus
Keeper of Progenitus adds one to the amount of mana produced by Forests, Plains, and Mountains. It's not a bad value for four mana.
It'll take you from four to eight (or even 10!) available mana the following turn, even in a mono-green deck, if you tap out to play it. Its utility in Gruul ( ), Selesnya, and Naya ( ) decks is just a plus!
Regal Behemoth
Regal Behemoth is a popular card among Commander players. A 5/5 with trample that makes you the monarch as it enters the battlefield is fair value for six mana. It also has the added benefit of adding one mana whenever you tap a land. This effect only lasts for as long as you're still the monarch, but a beefy lizard should help mitigate the inevitable attacks.
Zendikar Resurgent
Zendikar Resurgent also adds one more mana whenever you tap a land. It arrives a bit slower than the others on this list at , but it gives you something to spend all that mana on as you draw cards off all those freshly-cast creatures.
Dictate of Karametra
Dictate of Karametra is a symmetrical mana doubler that gives all players one more mana whenever they tap a land. It mitigates the "downside" of affecting your opponents with the flash mechanic, letting you cast it before your turn starts to maximize the value generated for you.
Vernal Bloom
Vernal Bloom makes Forests (yours and your opponents') generate an additional green mana when tapped. It's quicker than the other green doublers at but only hits Forests and only generates more green mana.
Best in mono-green but middling elsewhere. Bloom has the potential to be exclusively valuable to you, though, assuming none of your opponents are playing green (an increasingly rare experience).
Heartbeat of Spring
Heartbeat of Spring is what Vernal Bloom wants to be. It also adds one extra mana except it comes roaring in at a measly ! And it works on any land, not just Forests!
There's not much space to play around the symmetry giving your opponents a ton of mana as well. You'll just have to work to capitalize on it quicker than they can.
Leyline of Abundance
Leyline of Abundance is part of the cycle of Leylines, enchantments that may begin on the field if they're drawn in your opening hand. This one can be devastating if you can play it on turn 0.
While Abundance only adds a green when a creature you control is tapped for mana, the possibility of playing it for free from the beginning is very enticing. And don't forget that it comes with a built-in ability to pump all those weak mana dorks with the mana they generated!
Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger
Finally we come to the big man himself. Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger is an absolute terror. And rightly so as a Praetor.
Vorinclex adds one to your mana pool each time you tap and slows your opponents' mana by tapping down their lands for a turn each time they use them. This is a nasty creature and a huge threat to any board.
The Best Colorless Mana Doublers
I'll let you in on a little secret: the colorless mana doublers work in most mono-colored decks, or even multicolored ones if you're brave enough. Many perform a similar function to a powered-down Gauntlet of Might.
Caged Sun
Caged Sun is a 6-mana artifact that doubles mana produced by lands of the chosen color. It's great because it affects all lands, even your multicolored ones.
You'll see Sun played in multicolored decks that skew heavily into a single color. It also acts as an anthem effect for creatures you control of the chosen color.
Gauntlet of Power
Gauntlet of Power is a 5-mana version of Caged Sun, with the slight disadvantage of only affecting basic lands. Not to mention it's symmetrical anthem and mana doubling effects.
Again, play with caution! You might have a great plan for how to use all that extra mana you just generated, but so does the green player across the table.
Coming in at a fast 3-mana, Extraplanar Lens uses the imprint ability to exile a land you control and subsequently add an extra mana whenever a land with the same name is tapped. It's quicker than Caged Sun and Gauntlet of Power but only works on "lands of that same name" rather than any land tapping for a chosen color.
A subtle difference. I encourage you to play around with these three artifacts to find the one that works best for your deck.
Forsaken Monument
Forsaken Monument is the true colorless mana doubler. It adds an extra colorless mana each time you tap any permanent for colorless mana and has a +2/+2 anthem effect for all your colorless creatures.
To top it all off, you gain two life every time you cast a colorless spell. Not too bad for five mana.
Doubling Cube
The classic mana doubler. Doubling Cube is a 2-mana artifact that taps for to double the amount of unspent mana in your mana pool. You'll need at least six mana in your pool before you activate the ability to net positive mana, but you'll quickly see how this can get out of hand if it isn't responded to.
This doubler works great for multicolor decks since it doesn't care about a single mana type, just doubling each type of mana in your pool. This is my go-to choice in multicolor decks.
The Best Multicolored Mana Doublers
Some of the best ways to double your mana lie in multicolored cards.
Overabundance
Overabundance is a symmetrical 3-mana Mana Flare in Gruul colors with the added benefit of pinging any player that taps a land to take advantage of the double mana. I'd consider this a staple in any group-slug decks with access to the colors.
Zhur-taa Ancient
Another Gruul card, Zhur-taa Ancient is a 7/5 beast with a symmetrical Mana Flare effect (note the pattern here). It's a bit steeper than running any of the comparable enchantments at and is more vulnerable to removal spells because of its type.
Mirari's Wake
One of the best choices for decks that care about mana, Mirari's Wake is an anthem effect for your creatures that adds an extra mana whenever you tap a land.
You're paying a bit of a premium for its enchantment card type and non-symmetrical effect, but it's well worth it knowing you're not helping your opponents in any way. Its Selesnya ( ) colors are also a bit restrictive, but it can still find its way into a multitude of decks.
Squandered Resources
Squandered Resources is a repeatable Rain of Filth enchantment effect that doubles your mana for one big turn before hindering you with the fact that you just sacrificed all of your lands. It's a high-risk play; you can potentially end the game after dropping this and casting a huge spell, or you can overcommit, get hit with a counterspell, and be effectively dead for the rest of the game.
If you like playing fast and loose, give this one a try.
Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy
Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy made a bit of a splash in Standard when it was released in Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths. It adds an extra mana whenever a non-land permanent you control is tapped, restricting you to doubling mana from your dorks and artifacts.
On the plus side, it's a legendary creature! It can start the game in your command zone and is safe from permanent removal should it be exiled or tucked away into your deck. And it's not a bad price at all; for the cost of (and with a little set-up), Kinnan shines in Simic ( ).
Nikya of the Old Ways
Nikya of the Old Ways is a 5-mana 5/5 centaur druid from Ravnica Allegiance. It doubles the mana you produce but prevents you from casting non-creature spells. This shouldn't be much of an issue since you're playing Gruul and most of your large threats and finishers are creature spells.
Winter's Night
We finally come to Winter's Night. This is a world enchantment (yes, that's still technically a card supertype) from Ice Age that costs . It adds an additional mana whenever any player taps a snow land for mana with the drawback of tapping down that land the next turn. Winter's Night has the potential to accelerate you into victory or force you out of your following turn.
Side note: I have a dream of running this as tech against my friend's Jorn, God of Winter Commander deck just to mess with them.
Wrap Up
Caged Sun | Illustration by Scott Chou
There you have it, folks! A comprehensive list of the best mana-doubling cards in Magic. They span a wide range of mechanics and sets, each with unique ways to build around and capitalize on the extra mana. The dichotomy between the high-risk high-reward of Chaos Moon versus the safety of Mana Reflection versus the sudden explosion of mana with High Tide leaves you with endless possibilities.
What do you think the best mana doubler is? Which ones do you prefer to run in your decks? Let us know over on Twitter and don't forget to check out our other Commander content.
Thanks for reading and have a safe new year!
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