Please bear in mind this is from March 2011. New cards come out. Old cards might suck.
Blue’s strength is in control and thievery. In the world of mana ramp, blue’s tactic is simple—steal your enemy’s lands and artifacts! Or copy them, if you don’t want the hate.
While blue has some straight-up mana ramp cards, controlling your way to mana is the real highlight here. Let’s take a look at this.
Thievery
- Acquire: Search a player’s library for their mana generator, then take it for yourself!
- Annex: Gain control of enchanted land for four mana.
- Commandeer: Gain control of a noncreature spell, including that nifty mana-generating enchant your opponent’s plopping on a land. Or whatever else suits you!
- Confiscate: Gain control of enchanted permanent for six mana. Works on lands, artifacts or whatever mana generator suits you. Try out Volition Reins for the same mana cost.
- Dream Leash: Gain control of a tapped permanent for five mana. And mana generators are tapped often, am I right?
- Kukemssa Pirates: If this creature hits a player, you get one of their artifacts. Mana generating artifacts are rampant in EDH games!
- Legerdemain: Exchange control of an artifact—or creature!
- Magus of the Unseen: This one really lets you borrow artifacts, rather than outright stealing them. Takes two mana though, so it’s only worth borrowing for mana if you’re going for beefy Everflowing Chalices. Or if you’re running a Heartstone.
- Steal Artifact: Take control of an artifact for four mana.
- Take Possession: Gain control of enchanted permanent for seven mana, with split second.
Duplication
There are half a dozen cards that copy creatures, in addition to the cards below. They work dandy on mana-generating creatures (or for blowing up Generals), so they’re something additional to consider.
- Copy Artifact: There’s bound to be a Sol Ring or Thran Dynamo in play.
- Copy Enchantment: With all the mana generating enchantments out there, this guy’s a blue staple. Don’t need mana?—copy another pesky enchant!
Traditional Mana Acceleration
If you’re looking for more traditional mana generation, try these blue cards out.
- Apprentice Wizard: One blue mana to get three colorless. Not a bad deal, though he costs three mana to come into play.
- Benthic Explorers: This untaps a land an opponent controls, then gives you mana it can generate. It’s like playing friends and getting a bonus.
- Drain Power: Have a player tap all their lands, then gain the mana from them. Only downside to the awesomeness is it’s a one-time deal. Try Mana Short for a similar effect.
- Energy Tap: Get colorless mana equal to a creature’s casting cost by tapping it. If you’re running big, bad Eldrazi, this sorcery has a little value.
- Grand Architect: Tap blue creatures for two colorless mana.
- High Tide: For one turn, all islands produce two blue instead of one. Comes in three different art choices!
- Iceberg: For two blue and X mana, you get a giant iceberg with X mana counters. They’re removable for one colorless each. If you want, you can add more counters, but those are three colorless a whack. Not the best mana battery in the world, but it could have some potential with proliferate.
- Mana Drain: Counter a spell, then get the mana for it at your next main phase. Of course, this is a $100+ card.
- Sea Scryer: It’s like Llanowar Elves, except it costs two mana and produces blue.
- Snowfall: Run this with snow-covered islands. They’ll produce three mana instead of one!—but there’s a cumulative upkeep you’ll have to deal with.
- Vedalken Engineer: Produces two mana, only usable for artifacts. Check outSoldevi Machinist too, if this is your sort of thing.
For more mana ramp for Elder Dragon Highlander, check out these other acceleration guides:
