Last updated on October 24, 2025
All Is Dust | Illustration by Jason Felix
With tens of thousands of unique Magic cards, nobody would really blame you if you struggle to figure out which are the best to include in your decks. There are definitely limiting factors like price and availability, but you’re still left with a ton of options for cards. Breaking all the cards down by color is one way to make things a little more manageable.
Today I’m looking specifically to find the best colorless cards across the board. The nice thing about colorless cards is that they can usually slot into any deck. If you’re looking to fill spots, this can be a good place to look.
Let’s get started and dig into the best colorless cards in Magic!
What Are Colorless Cards in MTG?
Sol Ring | Illustration by Mike Bierek
In Magic, a colorless card is one that doesn’t have any colored mana pips in its casting cost. This means that they can be cast with only generic mana, so you don’t have to worry about the colors available to you when you cast them.
That said, some colorless cards require you to spend specifically colorless mana to cast them, represented as a grey mana pip with a diamond symbol. While these aren’t super common, it’s important to understand that these costs can’t be paid with any color of mana the same way generic costs can.
While they may technically be colorless cards, some still have what’s called a color identity when it comes to playing Commander. If the rules text of a colorless card includes a colored mana pip (for example, red like Bomat Courier), it’s then considered to have a red color identity regardless of its colorless mana cost. This means that it can only go in red Commander decks, even though the card itself is technically colorless, like basic lands that produce colored mana.
A larger number of colorless cards in Magic are artifacts, but there are also colorless nonartifact creatures, colorless instants, colorless sorceries, and even some colorless planeswalkers.
#42. Titan’s Presence
Lots of colorless creatures are pretty massive. Not only are there the Eldrazi titans like Emrakul, the Promised End, but there are also popular artifact creatures like Blightsteel Colossus and Metalwork Colossus that are likely to allow you to exile pretty much any creature on the board thanks to how big they are.
This is a very strong ability for only , though it can whiff if you aren’t playing any massive creatures. Be careful what deck you’re putting this in.
#41. Environmental Sciences
Environmental Sciences is a great form of ramp or mana fixing for decks that aren’t running green mana. Even if you’re running some green, this can be helpful in a 4- or 5-color deck since you don’t need to rely on just one of your colors to help you fix your mana. Being a lesson is basically flavor text for Commander, though.
#40. Sword of the Animist
Sword of the Animist is one of the best cards for colorless ramp and mana fixing since it's completely colorless. It can go in any deck, so you can still find lands even if your deck doesn’t have access to green to help with ramping.
It’s also great for mana fixing because you don’t need access to all your colors to play and equip it. You can easily attach it to a creature and start finding the rest of the colors you need from your deck.
#39. Metalworker
Metalworker can generate lots of mana in an artifact deck, which you can then use to cast some of the artifacts that you reveal from your hand. This cuts down on the advantage your opponents get from seeing your hand since they’ll see the cards when you cast them anyway.
There are also a few ways to untap Metalworker that allow you to create infinite mana if you have enough artifacts in your hand.
#38. Wurmcoil Engine
The best thing about Wurmcoil Engine is that it cuts down on the negative side of spending a lot of mana on a big creature. Usually you lose a lot of momentum if your 6-drop is removed, but you basically get a free replacement with this card.
#37. Chimil, the Inner Sun
I used to play cards like Assemble the Legion thinking that every turn I’d get something and eventually my opponent would lose. Chimil, the Inner Sun is just like that. It’s colorless, and it gives you a spell from the discover ability the turn you cast it, so it’s fast enough. Getting free spells every turn is good, and once this card is on the battlefield, your opponents are in trouble.
#36. Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
As a massive indestructible creature with a good removal spell stapled onto it, Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre is definitely worth its high mana cost. Annihilator 4 can also be a very difficult ability for your opponents to contend with because after a few attacks they likely have to start sacrificing their lands.
#35. Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
Similar to Ulamog, Kozilek, Butcher of Truth offers a lot of extra value outside of its power and toughness. Even if this spell gets countered you still get four cards with it, likely providing you with future answers.
#34. Ulamog, the Defiler
Ulamog, the Defiler is a giant beatstick that has a significant ward ability, so it’s hard to kill and will nuke half of someone’s library on entering. It’s not hard to exile a 6 mana value card this way and have a 13/13 with annihilator 6. This creature is legendary, but it’s best used as a big creature that you can play in every deck.
#33. The Capitoline Triad
The Capitoline Triad needs some self-mill to be efficient, as a 7/7 creature you can cast for cheap. However, getting to its emblem is game over in a lot of scenarios. That’s excellent in affinity decks where you’ll have cards like Myr Enforcer that actually cost a lot less than 7 mana to cast. It’s also very interesting to note that if you fill your board with historic permanents, it’s fine if your opponents don’t sweep it away, but if they do, you get to emblem.
#32. Excalibur, Sword of Eden
Giving +10/+0 and vigilance is a hell of an equipment bonus, and on a trample creature it’s often game over. What sets Excalibur, Sword of Eden apart is the high MV, which can be offset by cards like mana rocks and affinity creatures, but the high cost is often a benefit for equipment commanders like Captain America, First Avenger. This equipment is very interesting for large creatures that also have cost-reduction mechanics, like Ghalta, Primal Hunger.
#31. Portal to Phyrexia
Portal to Phyrexia is a very powerful colorless ETB card with an ongoing ability. Though it’s a very expensive card, as an artifact there are plenty of ways to either reduce its cost or to cheat it out.
On top of that, colorless cards are easier to cast in general since there are no color restrictions. Getting a creature from any graveyard each turn is a huge benefit for you, and you’ll know you have a couple of your opponents’ creatures to choose from thanks to this card forcing them to sacrifice a few.
#30. Zhulodok, Void Gorger
Zhulodok, Void Gorger is one of the best reasons you should build a colorless Eldrazi EDH deck. Giving double cascade triggers to every colorless spell you cast with MV 7 or greater is an excellent ramp payoff, and just casting one spell nets you two more, which ranges from mana rocks to medium-sized Eldrazi most of the time.
#29. Eldrazi Conscription
Eldrazi Conscription provides an insane buff to whatever creature it's attached to, essentially turning the smallest of creatures into a massive threat. Enchanting a creature with infect can also be a great way to win a game.
#28. Rise of the Eldrazi
Rise of the Eldrazi is like a colorless Cruel Ultimatum. You actually get all the casting triggers from the first three Eldrazi titans, so the card has excellent flavor as well. If you need to spend 12 mana to impact the board, or just an impactful spell to cast or copy without paying the mana cost, here’s your guy.
#27. All Is Dust
What makes All Is Dust an especially powerful board wipe is that it forces players to sacrifice their own permanents. This means that you don’t have to worry about anything that has indestructible, and you can also get payoffs from cards like It That Betrays that are looking for opponents sacrificing creatures.
Thanks to it being a kindred sorcery, All Is Dust can also benefit from methods of reducing Eldrazi spells’ costs like Eye of Ugin.
#26. Blightsteel Colossus
Blightsteel Colossus is an excellent wincon for any deck that’s looking to cheat out a big creature. There are lots of ways to do this as an artifact, with cards like Kuldotha Forgemaster or Master Transmuter.
You can also use the effects of cards like Braids, Conjurer Adept. Blightsteel Colossus is one of the most powerful creatures in general as one of the few creatures that can end any game with one attack.
#25. The Mirran Sword Cycle
- Sword of Body and Mind
- Sword of Feast and Famine
- Sword of Fire and Ice
- Sword of Forge and Frontier
- Sword of Hearth and Home
- Sword of Light and Shadow
- Sword of Once and Future
- Sword of Sinew and Steel
- Sword of Truth and Justice
- Sword of War and Peace
- Sword of Wealth and Power
There are lots of swords in Magic, but when talking about the sword cycle I’m referring to any card named “Sword of X and Y” (not counting the Un-set addition, Sword of Dungeons & Dragons).
These cards all offer protection from two colors and give some beneficial effect to their controller when the equipped creature does combat damage. It really depends on what you’re looking to do with your deck, but it’s very likely that at least one of these swords meets your needs for any strategy.
#24. It That Betrays
Not only can It That Betrays fuel its own ability thanks to annihilator, but it also shuts downs some popular deck archetypes. Any aristocrats or sacrifice-focused deck has to think twice about all its moves, because anything they sacrifice then becomes a resource for you to use.
#23. Emrakul, the World Anew
Emrakul, the World Anew might as well be game over when it hits the battlefield. Its cast trigger lets you steal all of an opponent’s creatures, and when it leaves, all your creatures die (including theirs). It’s also a 12/12 flying creature with relevant protection. But what sets this creature apart is that it has that madness ability for 6 colorless mana. There are many red/black creatures and legendary creatures that interact with discard, and this card can fit into these decks. From Anje Falkenrath to The Infamous Cruelclaw, passing through red cards like Bedlam Reveler and the like. It’s also an excellent fit in EDH decks built around creature cost reduction like Animar, Soul of Elements or Rakdos, Lord of Riots.
#22. Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger has an even more powerful removal ability than the original incarnation of Ulamog. Each attack mills a ton of cards from your opponent, depriving them of a lot of resources they may need to win the game. It's exile-based mill too, so no incidentally helping out the graveyard deck!
#21. Sire of Seven Deaths
Foundations‘ Sire of Seven Deaths is just efficient. It’s a 7-mana 7/7 Eldrazi creature that benefits from all Eldrazi synergies and colorless cost reduction abilities. Attacking? Menace and trample. Blocking? Reach. Behind on board? Vigilance and lifelink to catch up. Sire has the potential to attack, defend, stabilize the board, and a nice built-in protection in the ward ability – it hurts a lot to lose 7 life.
#20. Marvin, Murderous Mimic
Like Roaming Throne, you’d like to play Marvin, Murderous Mimic if your commander has strong activated abilities, especially if your commander doesn’t have haste. Think about cards like Krenko, Mob Boss, where you want to make as many goblins with that ability as possible, and Marvin can do it too.
#19. Walking Ballista
Walking Ballista is a versatile card that can be used as a big stompy creature, removal for creatures and planeswalkers, or just to deal direct damage. Lots of players like to run this card as a wincon in decks that seek to create infinite mana.
It can also synergize well with Mikaeus, the Unhallowed, pinging itself down and creating an endless loop of death triggers.
#18. Karn Liberated
Karn Liberated is a difficult planeswalker to deal with. Not only can it exile any permanent right when it enters the battlefield, but its +4 ability also ensures it can do so every other turn without dying.
You’ve basically won the game if you manage to get off Karn’s ultimate ability.
#17. Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
Ugin, the Spirit Dragon is very good at protecting itself thanks to its two great ways to remove creatures, and it's one of the strongest colorless board wipes. Getting off an ultimate with Ugin is somewhat easy for how good of an effect it is.
#16. Roaming Throne
Roaming Throne is the ultimate addition to typal decks, allowing you to double the triggers from a certain creature type. Commanders are usually creatures of course, so you can even play it loosely in your deck if your commander has a strong trigger worth doubling, like Sheoldred, the Apocalypse or Voja, Jaws of the Conclave.
#15. Phyrexian Altar
Part of why Phyrexian Altar is powerful is its ability to exchange creatures for mana. Token decks or builds that runs lots of low-cost creatures can usually find at least a few creatures worth giving up to cast a more powerful spell.
Phyrexian Altar is also powerful because it’s a free sacrifice outlet that can be activated at instant speed as many times as you want. If an opponent were to try to remove one of your creatures you can respond instantly by sacrificing it, getting at least 1 mana out of losing your creature. It’s also better to have your creature hit the graveyard than get exiled, so you can prevent that by sacrificing creatures in response to exile-based removal.
The Altar also gives you the means to generate death triggers or sacrifice triggers at any time. This gives you a lot more control over the course of other players’ turns than you may normally have and is a great card to use in conjunction with threaten effects (that's to say, cards that let you steal your opponent's cards until end of turn) like Act of Treason.
#14. Aetherflux Reservoir
A lot of Commander decks run Aetherflux Reservoir as a method to gain life and a way to eliminate other players. Starting at 40 life, it isn’t all that hard to get up to over 50 when running a lot of lifegain.
This card also works well in storm or spellslinger decks that consistently cast multiple spells each turn. Since you can activate Aetherflux Reservoir’s ability at instant speed, players are hesitant to try and remove it or threaten you in any significant way once you have enough life to take one of them out with it.
#13. Lightning Greaves
Arguably Magic's best equipment, Lightning Greaves serves the dual purpose of being a free haste enabler and protecting one of your important creatures. All you need to do is get these out onto the field and you can slap them on any creature. You can immediately swing out with something like Blightsteel Colossus or Marit Lage, potentially ending a game pretty quickly.
Many players also run this card to keep their commander safe from removal.
#12. Sol Ring
Sol Ring is so prevalent in EDH decks that it could be banned. A card that’s an auto-include in Commander, Sol Ring turns 1 mana into 2 without any downside, and it’s one of the best cards you want to see in your opening hand.
#11. Sensei’s Divining Top
Sensei's Divining Top has lots of different uses that make it helpful. You can use it to fix your draws, and using its ability to check the top cards in your library can also let you know whether you should use a fetch land or other effect that will force you to shuffle, or if you should draw one of those cards first.
Apart from all the ways it works well on its own, Sensei's Divining Top can also be used as part of an infinite combo with Mystic Forge to draw your entire deck or just as many cards as you need to draw to find the right answer. All you need is these two cards and anything like Foundry Inspector that reduces the cost of artifacts.
#10. Skullclamp
If you’re in need of good card draw in colors that typically struggle with that, Skullclamp is a great option. I run this in a lot of white Commander decks that run a lot of weenies or token creatures. All you have to do once this is on the field is pay 1 mana to attach it to a 1/1 token and get two cards.
This also works well in decks that benefit from death triggers because you also get a payoff from anything like Blood Artist or The Meathook Massacre.
#9. Karn, the Great Creator
Karn, the Great Creator could be a better card in the rankings, but it’s banned in so many Magic formats. Turns out, shutting down your opponents’ artifacts passively is very strong for a 4-mana planeswalker, and so is Karn’s artifact tutor ability. Drawing a specific silver bullet card from your sideboard is great, and using your other artifacts as creatures later in the game is very good as well.
#8. Isochron Scepter
As one of Magic's best imprint cards, Isochron Scepter has a ton of possibilities. You can imprint a counterspell, allowing you to counter at least one spell a turn. You can imprint a cheap ramp spell to always have access to another land, or a cheap kill spell and have on-demand removal.
There are also plenty of combos you can set up with Isochron Scepter. For instance, you can imprint Dramatic Reversal, and you’ll be able to generate infinite mana if you have enough nonland cards to produce 3 mana. You can also imprint Mystical Tutor to allow you to find Nexus of Fate each turn, giving you a chance to have infinite turns.
There are many more, making this a very powerful card to include in your decks.
#7. Urza’s Saga
Urza's Saga is an interesting enchantment because it’s also a land card. Though most players wouldn’t want one of their lands to disappear after a few turns, it’s worth it when you’re able to fetch a free artifact from your deck.
Making Constructs with this colorless enchantment can also be a very powerful strategy, especially in decks designed to get lands back from the graveyard.
#6. The One Ring
The One Ring gets complaints in almost every format it’s still legal in, and it’s actually an auto-include in most decks. Magic's best card-drawing artifact, The One Ring gives you lots of card advantage, it’s indestructible, and whoever plays the Ring first (or more Rings) usually wins. Suddenly you don’t need to play blue card draw cards or planeswalkers to get card advantage anymore. This card even buys you a turn to compensate for the tempo loss of playing a 4-mana do-nothing card.
#5. Lion’s Eye Diamond
Lion's Eye Diamond is the type of card that newer players might have a hard time recognizing as good, but it makes sense why it’s so powerful once you learn all the ways it can be used.
One popular way to use it is in response to a tutor, allowing you to get some extra mana to cast whatever card you’re getting to your hand. It can also be useful in dredge decks to help fill the graveyard.
#4. Mana Crypt
Because Mana Crypt doesn’t cost you anything to play, it’s basically just 2 more free mana, which is incredibly powerful, even if you only get to use it once. You can wait to play it when it has a meaningful impact since it doesn’t cost anything, avoiding the potential damage that it does to you.
It's also a good way to pay off any artifact or historic synergies for free outside its obvious uses. For example, it’ll draw you a card for 0 mana with Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain. It’s also an incredibly powerful addition to coin flip decks since you’ll be flipping a coin each turn, which can trigger things like Chance Encounter or Zndrsplt, Eye of Wisdom.
#3. Time Vault
Time Vault is an incredibly powerful card, so powerful that it’s banned in a ton of formats. This is mainly because of how easy it is to untap an artifact without having to follow all the stipulations laid out on Time Vault itself. That makes it way too easy for this card to create infinite turns for the user.
#2. The Original Mox Cycle
The original Moxen make up a big chunk of Magic’s Power 9, which are considered the most powerful cards in the game. It’s easy to see why; these cards are basically extra lands you can play, and they synergize with artifact payoffs or anything that cares about casting spells, like storm abilities.
#1. Black Lotus
Another member of the Power 9, Black Lotus is incredibly powerful thanks to its ability to significantly speed up games. Getting an extra 3 mana on a turn can often create a big enough swing in a player's favor to set them up for victory.
Best Colorless Card Payoffs and Synergies
One of the best things about colorless cards is the ability to use colorless mana rocks like Sol Ring and Thran Dynamo to pay for them. Because colorless mana rocks that produce multiple mana are more popular than ones that produce mana of a specific color, they synergize well with very expensive colorless creatures or spells that can have a big impact on the game.
Cost reduction cards like Jhoira's Familiar and Urza, Lord Protector also synergize well with colorless cards because they can reduce generic costs to 0, making colorless cards free to cast.
Some good payoffs for playing a colorless deck are cards like All Is Dust or Ugin, the Spirit Dragon’s -X ability, which clear your opponent’s permanents from the board while allowing you to keep yours.
Kozilek, the Broken Reality is a great one. Suddenly, all your colorless creatures get +3/+2, and it also adds two manifested cards to the battlefield, which will be 5/4s to start with.
Forsaken Monument is huge for colorless decks in general, offering you a +2/+2 buff, extra mana from colorless sources, and even lifegain on top.
Glaring Fleshraker and It That Heralds the End are nice colorless buffs too, and they’re cheap enough to include in almost every colorless deck, even Eldrazi ones that require lots of expensive permanents.
Can You Use Colorless Cards in Any Commander Deck?
Yes, for the most part, colorless cards can go in any Commander deck. But if a colorless card has a color identity because of a colored mana pip in its rules text, it can only go in decks that share that color identity.
For example, a card like Karn Liberated can go into any Commander deck since it has no color identity. Ramos, Dragon Engine, on the other hand, can only go in 5-color decks since it has all five types of mana pips in its rules text, despite having a colorless cost.
Wrap Up
Karn Liberated | Illustration by Jason Chan
Colorless cards in Magic can be a great resource. While they can often be more expensive than cards with colored mana costs, they make up for it by being able to be included in a wider range of decks.
It’s always smart to check out some colorless cards that can help you out if you need some extra abilities that you aren’t finding in your deck’s color identity. You can also build a pretty powerful colorless deck on its own, using powerful colorless archetypes like artifacts or Eldrazi.
Which colorless cards do you use most often? Are there any other colorless cards you think should be on this list? Let me know in the comments below or over on Draftsim’s Twitter.
Thanks for reading, and I look forward to seeing you in the next one!
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