Sol Ring in Magic: The Gathering – History and Best Versions

Sol Ring | Illustration by Mike Bierek

Sol Ring is a pretty simple Magic card. It costs , generates 2 colorless mana when tapped, and has no additional conditions or drawbacks. It’s almost as simple as a basic land. But behind that simplicity, you have one of the most impactful cards in MTG.

Sol Ring dates all the way back to Alpha, the very first Magic set. It has been restricted or banned in most MTG formats because of how powerful it is. And by Wizards of the Coast’s very explicit admission, it’s the cornerstone of the Commander format. It has also accumulated a really ridiculous collection of alternate art, premium foils, crossover versions, and collector printings along the way.

So how did an uncommon card from Alpha become one of the defining cards of Magic’s biggest format? Let’s go through the history of Sol Ring, where you can play it, and some of the coolest and most expensive Sol Rings ever printed.

What Is Sol Ring in MTG?

Sol Ring | Illustration by Mark Tedin

Sol Ring is a 1-mana artifact with a single activated ability: You can tap it to add 2 colorless mana.

It’s one of Magic’s most efficient mana rocks, and one of the clearest examples of fast mana. You spend 1 mana to cast it, but it can immediately tap for 2, so Sol Ring effectively gives you a mana advantage the turn you play it and keeps doing so every turn (or even sooner, if you have ways to untap it).

The best part: There are no hoops to jump through, either. Sol Ring doesn’t enter tapped and doesn’t require life or another resource, and it can fit into decks of any color identity. Its only drawback is that the generated mana is colorless, which may put you in a pickle when you need mana of a specific color. But its colorless color identity is also what lets you put it in any Commander deck.

In a vacuum, it’s so powerful that it should be banned in Commander, or at least classified as a Game Changer. And I’m not being hyperbolic here; even WotC admits that much! But Sol Ring‘s history is so central to Commander that it gets a pass.

History of Sol Ring in Magic

Sol Ring first appeared in Limited Edition Alpha in 1993, Magic’s very first set, with Mark Tedin’s original artwork. Fun fact: Despite eventually becoming one of Magic’s most infamous (and most reprinted) cards, it was originally printed at uncommon.

The card returned in Beta, Unlimited, and Revised, but it’s absent from regular core sets afterward. It’s almost as though WotC had learned the lesson that getting 2 mana every turn from a 1-mana artifact was maybe a bit too powerful.

Sol Ring‘s strength was pretty obvious to players. The deck which Zak Dolan used to win the inaugural Magic World Championship in 1994 included one copy, alongside most of the Power Nine. Even Mark Rosewater, now long-time Magic’s Head Designer, was playing Sol Ring in his deck, besides a few Power Niners!

Unsurprisingly, Sol Ring has been restricted to a single copy in Vintage since 1994. It’s banned in Legacy, and was never printed into any other Constructed format… except Commander.

Unlike Vintage or Legacy (or more modern formats like Standard or Pioneer), Commander wasn’t developed by WotC, but rather by players. Its first inception was Elder Dragon Highlander (which is why players often call it “EDH”); it started as a format in Anchorage, Alaska in the early 2000’s, and then Sheldon Menery helped spread it through Magic’s judge community. A decade later Commander had become one of the most popular formats, and Wizards released the first Commander precons in 2011… and every one of those five decks had a copy of Sol Ring.

Fast-forward another decade, and it’s pretty clear that WotC thinks Sol Ring and Commander are synonyms: Pretty much every Commander precon ever printed packs a Sol Ring, on top of more than 30 Secret Lairs with premium printings.

Here’s the thing, though: Much like we Magic players love to complain about power creep, some of Alpha‘s cards are still among the most powerful cards ever printed… and Sol Ring is no exception here. By current power-level standards, Sol Ring is very clearly the sort of card that should perhaps be banned from Commander, or at least listed as a Game Changer. And WotC very explicitly says that much.

“Why isn’t Sol Ring on the Game Changers list?” asks (rhetorically) Gavin Verhey, who heads WotC’s Commander Format Panel, in his Introducing Commander Brackets article. “It qualifies as fast mana,” he admits, “and would otherwise be there next to cards like Mana Vault.” The reason is that it’s “the most iconic card in all of Commander,” Gavin says. “Playing one Sol Ring is a universal truth, handed down from Sheldon Menery.”

In other words: Nobody is seriously arguing that Sol Ring is a fair Magic card. But it’s Sol Ring. And Sol Ring is Commander.

What Formats Is Sol Ring Played In?

Commander

Commander is overwhelmingly Sol Ring‘s home.

Its colorless identity means virtually any Commander deck can use it. Perhaps more importantly, pretty much every Commander precon WotC has ever printed uses it, which in turn pretty much guarantees that Sol Ring will forever remain outside the Game Changer list (or else Commander precons wouldn’t be playable in lower brackets!).

It’s not too much of a hyperbole to say that Commander decks are one commander, one Sol Ring, and 98 other cards. Everything from precons to most of the very best cEDH decks pack a copy.

Vintage

Sol Ring is legal in Vintage (the only 60-card format where you can play it), but it’s restricted, so you can only play one copy between your main deck and sideboard.

That puts Sol Ring in a very select club, alongside Black Lotus, the five original Moxen, Mana Crypt, Mana Vault, Ancestral Recall, Time Walk, and many of Magic’s other historically busted cards. It’s not as prevalent as in Commander, but even top-tier competitive Vintage decks include it.

Vintage Cube

Vintage Cube is a Cube Draft built around some of the strongest cards in Magic’s history. That obviously makes Sol Ring a pretty good fit!

What About Legacy?

That would be a nope: Sol Ring is banned in Legacy.

Will Sol Ring Ever Be Banned in Commander?

“Never say never” are pretty wise words, but in this case… very likely never.

The main reason is that pretty much everybody agrees that it’s indeed a busted card that gets a pass thanks to historical reasons. When the now defunct Commander Rules Committee banned Mana Crypt and Jeweled Lotus back in September 2024, they admitted that the criteria being used against fast mana should include Sol Ring.

“We should also talk about the elephant in the room,” the CRC wrote, explaining their decision to leave Sol Ring in the format. “We’re not banning Sol Ring and have no desire to. Yes, based on the criteria we’ve talked about here, it would be banned. Sol Ring is the iconic card of the format, and it’s sufficiently tied to the identity of the format that it defies the laws of physics in a way that no other card does. Banning Sol Ring would be fundamentally changing the identity of the format.”

WotC’s Gavin Verhey made pretty much the same argument when Wizards introduced Commander Brackets in 2025.

Is Sol Ring a Game Changer?

No. Sol Ring is not on the Commander Game Changers list, even though pretty much everybody agrees that it should be, power-wise.

WotC’s explanation is that Sol Ring gets a grandfather clause, so to speak. As Gavin Verhey says, playing one Sol Ring is a universal truth. You can play Sol Ring even in Brackets 1 and 2, where Game Changers aren’t allowed.

Is Sol Ring Part of the Power Nine?

Sol Ring is not one of the Power Nine. That collection of cards includes:

• Black Lotus
• Mox Pearl
• Mox Sapphire
• Mox Jet
• Mox Ruby
• Mox Emerald
• Ancestral Recall
• Time Walk
• Timetwister

That said, thinking that Sol Ring is one of the Power Nine isn’t that unreasonable. They were all printed in Alpha and are all restricted in Vintage, and Sol Ring has always been regarded as one of the most powerful artifacts ever printed. But “Power Nine” is just a nickname for nine specific cards, and Sol Ring isn’t one of them.

How Many Different Sol Rings Are There?

A silly number, really!

According to Scryfall, as of Reality Fracture there are 139 different versions, including Secret Lairs. That list includes everything from versions that look wildly different, to cards (like Mike Bierek’s Sol Rings for Foundations Commander and Modern Horizons 3 Commander), that are basically the same card printed in different products.

Best Sol Ring Variants

This section is purely subjective. Every one of these Sol Rings work exactly the same, and count as the same card for deckbuilding purposes. But with so many reprints, some versions are bound to be cooler than others; these are some of the ones I personally like best.

#10. From the Vault: Relics

Mike Bierek’s From the Vault: Relics artwork is clear and restrained: If you want card art that looks like a mysterious artifact, and that’s obviously a ring, this is a pretty good pick.

It’s also the version that you tend to find in Commander precons: Assuming I didn’t fumble the Scryfall filters, there are about 44 printings with this art, most of them in a Commander precon.

#9. Pride Across the Multiverse

On the other hand, I do have a soft spot for Magic art crammed with a lot of details, and I love Lauren YS’s artwork for the Pride Across the Multiverse Secret Lair.

#8. Through the Wormhole

Dani Pendergast’s version puts the ring around a literal sun, which I think is a cool way to reinterpret “Sol”.

#7. Secret Lair Countdown

Souther Salazar’s Sol Ring is one of the weirdest versions of the card that still lets you quickly understand which card it is (not something every full-art Secret Lair printing manages to do…).

#6. Kaladesh Inventions

If you want Sol Ring to look as expensive as it plays, the Kaladesh Inventions version does the job. Volkan Baga’s artwork and the Masterpiece frame make this one of Sol Ring‘s most recognizable premium printings.

And it doesn’t just look expensive, by the way: near-mint foil printings trade for about $1,500.

#5. The Lord of the Rings – Gallegos’ Quenya Version

Before WotC released The Lord of the Rings, I was dead certain that they would make Sol Ring The One Ring. But I have to admit that making it the different versions of the Rings of Power that Sauron “gifts” to elves, humans, and dwarves was a pretty good move!

Randy Gallegos’s gets my vote here, but all three versions are great.

#4. Raining Cats and Dogs (Back Side)

I won’t hold it against you if you prefer the front/kitty side here, but I’m more of a playful puppy person myself: doggy side for me.

#3. Limited Edition Alpha

Nope, not the prettiest by any means. But hey, it’s hard to beat the original! There are flashier versions, but none with more history.

#2. Fallout

I’m a big ol’ Fallout fan, and by “ol'” I mean “old enough to have played the original, which I reckon is older than half of y’all reading this article,” so, yeah, I don’t care that there’s no actual ring in this image, or that it’s sci fi, or whatever. Vault-Boy ring gets two thumbs up from me!!

#1. Sheldon’s Spellbook

Lindsey Look’s illustration was part of a Secret Lair celebrating Sheldon Menery, one of Commander’s foundational figures. Given how closely Menery and Sol Ring are linked to the format’s history, the pairing feels particularly appropriate.

“Sheldon’s love for his wife Gretchyn was incredible,” wrote Gavin Verhey when presenting this version. “As things got harder with Sheldon’s cancer, she really took up the mantle of taking care of him and everything she needed on top of a very demanding job. She was always there for him.”

“This art piece depicts a wedding ring, of course, to symbolize that connection to his wife.”

Most Expensive Sol Rings

As you may expect for a card with so many printings across so many years, prices can vary a lot. These are the most expensive versions at the time of writing, with two important caveats. First, the market for these is very thin, so it can fluctuate quite a bit. And second, some of these printings are very old, back from when folks didn’t really think that the cardboard they were playing with may one day be thousands of dollars… and therefore, there’s a huge disparity between a heavily played copy and a near-mint copy.

If you happen to be interested in any of these, please make sure to do your own research about current prices and card condition!

#5. Judge Gift Cards 2005

The 2005 Judge Promo uses Mark Tedin’s original artwork but gives Sol Ring an old-border foil treatment. Current market data places it around $500 for lightly played copies, and they can go for $1,000 or more if in near-mint condition.

#4. Limited Edition Beta

Beta printings give collectors essentially the same original Mark Tedin Sol Ring card, although of course it’s not as pricey as an original Alpha printing. Current market price is around $800 for lightly played copies, and well above $1,000 for near-mint copies.

#3. Limited Edition Alpha

Original Alpha copies are the cream of the crop of MTG collectibles; even extremely bad cards can fetch a big price. And this is clearly not a bad card! Even heavily played copies go for $1,500 or more, while lightly played or near mint go above $2,000.

#2. Kaladesh Inventions

Kaladesh is a lot more recent, so near mint copies are (relatively…) easy to find. Current market data puts the Kaladesh Inventions foil Masterpiece in the $1,600-$1,800 range.

#1. The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth – Serialized Rings

For The Lord of the Rings, WotC printed serialized copies of Sol Ring variants, showing the Rings of Power given by Sauron to elves, dwarves, and mortal men. The card text is written in Quenya, the language of the High Elves. WotC printed 900 serialized Human copies, 700 Dwarven copies, and 300 Elven serialized versions. They all come in double rainbow foil.

The Lord of the Rings Serialized Human Sol Ring

The serialized Human Sol Ring is the one with the most copies (900 total); at the time of writing its double-rainbow foil treatment is listed at around $4,800.

The Lord of the Rings Serialized Dwarven Sol Ring

The Dwarven serialized version is limited to 700 copies; listed copies sit anywhere around $10,000 and $20,000.

The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Elven Sol Ring

The serialized Elven Sol Ring trades for around $29,000.

Wrap Up

Treasure Nabber | Illustration by Alex Konstad

Few cards show how much Magic has changed better than Sol Ring.

It began as an uncommon in Alpha, was quickly recognized by the best players as one of the most powerful cards in the game (on par with the Power Nine!), became restricted to only Vintage, and then eventually found its way into a player-run format that would become the most popular way to play Magic: Commander.

It’s also one of Magic’s most reprinted cards, so whether you prefer kittens, puppies, or Sauron’s gift to mankind, there’s a Sol Ring for you. And if there isn’t one yet, well… just give WotC a few months.

Do you have any spicy Sol Ring takes? Which are your favorite versions? Let me know in the comments below or over on the Draftsim Discord. And don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel, The Daily Upkeep.

I hope you have enjoyed this deep dive into the history of Sol Ring, and good luck out there!