Mana Rocks or Mana Dorks?
Commander Deck Help forum
Posted on Aug. 5, 2025, 9:34 p.m. by DemonDragonJ
I have mana rocks (i.e., artifacts that produce mana) in every one of my EDH decks, but, in several of those decks, I have replaced several of the mana rocks with mana dorks (i.e., creatures that produce mana), and, since nearly all mana dorks are green, I am wondering if I should replace the mana rocks in all of my green decks with mana dorks, but I would like to ask for advice from the other users, here, before I make any decisions, on this matter.
These three decks explicitly focus very strongly on creatures, so it is only natural that I have replaced the majority of mana rocks with mana dorks in those decks, but what about my other EDH decks that contain the color green? Those decks do not have a particularly strong focus on creatures, so should I replace any mana rocks with mana dorks in those decks, or keep the artifacts over the creatures? What does everyone else say, about this? I certainly am eager to receive your feedback, on this matter.
artcwolf22 says... #3
SaberTech basically covered it. As for individual decks, you basically have the key mana dorks birds of paradise, bloom tender, faeburrow elder, and circle of dreams druid.
Something I will add that if your games are faster or more competitive, you should consider running more 1 drop elves: llanowar, fyndhorn, elvish mystic, dark circle. The rationale is that it's basically a slow sol ring and allows for mana acceleration if you open them. However, if your games are slower run 2+ mana for one cards like farseek.
If you're in the colors, run the hierarchs, elves of deep shadow, or avacyn's pilgrim.
August 6, 2025 4:46 a.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #4
SaberTech, that makes perfect sense, so I shall leave my other EDH decks, as they are, since only the decks that I mentioned, in my previous post, have a strong focus on creatures.
August 6, 2025 8:38 p.m.
theNeroTurtle says... #5
I agree with SaberTech. Search ramp is way better than dorks and rocks (if you had to pick just one).
August 11, 2025 12:54 a.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #6
SaberTech, these two decks of mine have a strong focus on placing +1/+1 counters on creatures, so would Kami of Whispered Hopes be a good match for either of them?
October 30, 2025 9:24 p.m.
DemonDragonJ I'm a little mixed on it. It does give you an effect that you want stapled to a piece of ramp, so that's good in terms of getting extra utility out of your card slots. Both of your commanders appreciate the effect as a way to quickly boost their power. While both decks do have cards that can give counters to other creatures, it seems like most of the cards that deal with counters just put those counters on themselves so the Kami won't be getting bigger too often. If you have the card already then it wouldn't hurt to toss it into the decks but keep in mind that it's a slow 3 mana ramp piece when ideally you would probably rather be casting your commander at that point in your curve.
What I'm surprised to not see in your lists are copies of Birds of Paradise
, as well as Noble Hierarch in Jenara. Both Marath and Jenara want to come down quick to start doing their thing so Birds of Paradise is one of the best first turn plays you could make to try to have all the colours you need to cast your commander on turn 2.
October 31, 2025 12:27 a.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #8
SaberTech, that makes sense, so I can leave those decks, as they currently are, for the present, and I could replace another mana rock with either of those two creatures that you suggested, but will they survive long enough for me to use them, for mana, as each creature has only 1 toughness? Surely, my opponents will not care very much about such weak creatures, will they?
November 2, 2025 4:22 p.m.
DemonDragonJ "Bolt the bird" is a phrase that comes out of the 60 card MtG formats. In those formats you would generally prefer for the opponent to not get a jump ahead in mana like that on their first turn so it's considered worth it to use cheap removal to get rid of a 1 mana dork on the first turn.
Commander is a bit of a different situation though. There are certainly some 1 drops that people may want to clear away early but generally mana dorks get a pass. Cheap single-target creature removal is better spent on getting rid of a value engine creature, a combo piece, or something really big that is about to hit you. Early-game mana dorks tend to get cleared out with the first wrath spell in a commander game.
The idea is that your turn 1 mana dork is worth playing if you benefit from deploying 3-mana spells a turn earlier to get your game plan moving. Your Marath deck has a variety of ramp and support enchantments , plus your commander, at 3 mana. Then you have a variety of cards that offer protection or care about +1/+1 counters at 4 mana. That makes a turn 1 mana dork worth playing to put your game plan ahead by one turn.
Jenara doesn't have as many support cards at 3 mana but it wants to cast its commander as soon as possible to start dealing damage. Actually, a lot of your 3 mana cards are interaction, which is a bit of a problem. Jenara would prefer if you ran 1 and 2 mana interaction so that you can go Turn 1 mana ramp, Turn 2 Jenara, Turn 3 pump Jenara while still being able to protect her or clear out a blocker. The big issue that Jenara has is that mana spent to pump her is mana not spent to build your own board while your opponents are building theirs for the mid to late game. It's easy to fall behind in the game, especially if you sink a bunch of mana into pumping Jenara and then an opponent removes her. You need to see what cards you can include in the 1-2 mana range that can stick around and generate you value.
November 2, 2025 9:18 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #10
SaberTech, that is some very valuable advice, so I may need to deliberate that, before I make any further decisions for those two decks, and I thank you, very much, for your feedback.
November 2, 2025 9:26 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #11
SaberTech, these three decks each have a strong emphasis on sacrificing creatures for various benefits, so would it make sense to replace some of the mana rocks in those decks with mana dorks?
November 25, 2025 10:05 p.m.
DemonDragonJ, Looking at your Mimeoplasm deck I don't think that the sacrifice theme is heavy enough to want to put a bunch of mana dorks in for potential fodder. That being said, Devoted Druid is pretty good in Mimeoplasm in general and could potentially replace Commander's Sphere.
Mana dorks could have more synergy in Kresh since it has far more sacrifice effects. Looking through your list, I don't think that it has an overabundance of draw power that would make the "unlimited hand size" effect worth running a 3cmc rock like Decanter of Endless Water. I could see that being swapped out for Ignoble Hierarch.
The sacrifice theme in Teneb also looks only mildly supported, so I don't think that you get real solid advantages out of running mana dorks on that basis. You do have some ability to throw around +1/+1 counters though, so a dork is a mana source that could be buffed for damage later. I think that Devoted Druid could replace Decanter of Endless Water in this one. You have a fair number of 4 and 5 drops that a turn 2 Devoted Druid could help you cast on turn 3, and the various counters and anthem effects would help you squeeze a bit more mana out of it.
November 25, 2025 11:50 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #13
SaberTech, Devoted Druid is nice, but I find it to be fairly lackluster, so what do you think about Leyline Prowler, as that creature can produce any color of mana and has two useful keywords?
November 26, 2025 11:59 p.m.
DemonDragonJ I wouldn't be inclined to trade a 3cmc mana rock for a 3cmc mana dork unless there was some strong synergy reason to do so, or that dork pumps out a lot of mana. The mana rock at least taps for mana the turn that it enters while the Prowler doesn't and is vulnerable to board wipes.
I also think that you are underestimating Devoted Druid. Ignoring all the combos that use it, the quick burst of mana that it can give you off of a 2 drop isn't something to sneeze at. That would let you make plays like casting Lotuslight Dancers on turn 3 and then Mimeoplasm on turn 4.
Devoted Druid also has synergies with both Mimeoplasm and cards like Butcher of Malakir that trigger off of a creature dying. With Mimeoplasm, Devoted Druid can kill itself at instant speed (just activate its untap ability twice) to give yourself a second creature in the grave. If you use it as the main creature for Mimeoplasm, then all the +1/+1 counters off of the second creature can translate into a ton of mana to work with on the following turn.
November 27, 2025 1:10 a.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #15
SaberTech, those are some good points, so I thank you, for that advice.
SaberTech says... #2
So, the general advice that you might find online regarding mana ramp in commander is something like this:
There are other factors to take into consideration that adds nuance to the guideline above though. Like you already noted, decks that are built to get extra value out of creatures when they enter, die, or feed into other synergies could appreciate running mana dorks. Some mana dorks also offer additional utility like how Devoted Druid is part of a bunch of different combos. The biggest advantage that a mana dork can offer though is when it only costs 1 mana to cast while most of the other cheap options cost at least two mana. There are a couple reasons why being able to ramp turn one could be important to your deck:
So take a look at the cards you run at each point in your deck's curve and determine how much of an advantage being able to ramp on turn one would be for you based on what you are running at 2cmc and 3cmc. That should help inform your decision.
As for mana rocks; One of the advantages of 2cmc mana rocks is that they only require generic mana to cast so you can cast one immediately off of a Sol Ring while card like Nature's Lore requires colored mana. If you are running a 5+ mana commander then the possibility of going turn one land -> Sol Ring -> mana rock means you could be casting some 5cmc commanders as early as turn two. If your commander is a strong value engine or is very aggressive then being able to play your commander that early is a strong advantage. If that is the case for your deck, then having a few mana rocks in the deck increases the odds of you being able to pull off that sort of fast play.
August 6, 2025 12:34 a.m.