The 40 Best Colorless Enters the Battlefield Cards in Magic Ranked

Last updated on March 24, 2026

Portal to Phyrexia | Illustration by Svetlin Velinov

Fully colorless decks have no color commitment, so they almost never experience the color-screw that’s so common in everyone else’s deck. But that consistency comes at a cost; colorless decks have the most restricted access to Magic’s card pool, limiting themselves to artifacts, Eldrazi, and the few other colorless cards that exist in the game.

The good news is that the best colorless spells are very good and cover a wide variety of effects you’d want in any deck. Specifically, they still have access to excellent enters-the-battlefield cards, which are a tried-and-true way to gain an advantage and open up combo and synergy potential for a deck.

Let’s explore what an enters ability looks like and identify the best ones for a colorless Commander deck!

What Are Colorless Enters the Battlefield Cards in MTG?

Coveted Jewel | Illustration by Jason A. Engle

A colorless “enters-the-battlefield” card has no color in its color identity and has an ability that triggers when it enters the battlefield (ETBs). Due to the color identity restriction, I’ll be focusing on Commander for these evaluations and omitting “colorless-adjacent” cards like devoid spells and those with Phyrexian mana.

Let’s clarify something about enters triggers: I’m looking for actual ETBs, triggers that go on the stack when a permanent enters play. In other words, it has to be something that would work with Panharmonicon or must be a trigger that could be targeted by a Stifle. This omits “as it enters” abilities like Cavern of Souls, as well as “this card enters with” abilities like Triskelion. None of those are actual ETBs since the “enters” part of the ability doesn’t use the stack.

I’m also focusing on cards that trigger when they enter the battlefield, not ones that are dependent on other permanents entering, like Amulet of Vigor and Blasting Station.

#40. Leveler + Eater of Days

Leveler and Eater of Days are objectively bad, and downright weird, though you can’t help but look at these colorless creatures and imagine scenarios where they’re broken. The Beamtown Bullies puts them to good use, and I used to run a casual EDH deck with the plan of casting Fractured Identity on my own Leveler.

#39. Coveted Jewel

Coveted Jewel is much more of a Cube card, though you can get up to a lot of flicker shenanigans with this plus something like Displacer Kitten. “Super monarch” is appealing for sure, it's just a dangeous card to play in the wrong hands.

#38. Phyrexian Dreadnought

Another card that’s terrible if played fairly and borderline broken with the right synergy pieces, players have been cheating Phyrexian Dreadnought’s ETB in Legacy for years, and it's a big player in Premodern. Manifest it, Stifle the trigger, or stick a Dress Down before casting it; all of this is made easier in Commander, though the Reserved List status makes it fairly inaccessible outside of proxying it.

#37. Ancestral Statue

Ancestral Statue is a red flag that your opponent is trying to pull off an infinite combo. Of course, by the time you see it, it might already be too late. The goal is to get enough cumulative cost reduction from cards like Animar, Soul of Elements or Mycosynth Golem to make the Statue free to cast, after which you’re one Impact Tremors away from an easy victory.

#36. Glistening Sphere

I could remove the corrupted text on Glistening Sphere entirely and still recommend it for decks that care about proliferate. That’s the type of upside you’re looking for in a 3-cost mana rock these days. And if you’re into poison counters, all the better.

#35. Canoptek Tomb Sentinel

Canoptek Tomb Sentinel is kind of like a Meteor Golem from the graveyard, though the normal 4-mana version of this 40K insect doesn’t really do anything. The sweet spot is finding ways to get this into play without unearthing it, though note that casting it from the graveyard won’t cause the ability to trigger, since it’ll technically be entering from the stack. Sorry, Zask, Skittering Swarmlord.

#34. Interdimensional Web Watch

Interdimensional Web Watch is a solid mana rock for players playing cards from exile. With impulse draw effects and foretell, playing from exile has unique advantages over playing from your hand. This artifact gives you two cards to play from exile when it enters and helps pay for them. It plays well with cards like Prosper, Tome-Bound and Faldorn, Dread Wolf Herald.

#33. Yggdrasil, Rebirth Engine

No, not The World Tree. Careful not to get your lores mixed up.

Yggdrasil, Rebirth Engine came and went with the poorly marketed Assassin’s Creed Universes Beyond crossover, but there’s clearly something here. You run the risk of having this legendary artifact destroyed and losing your creatures permanently, but if it sticks you basically get a Zombify with haste every turn. It can also fuel itself with the free activated ability, though I know players are virtually allergic to self-mill of any sort, especially when their cards are exiled (that does make it significantly worse).

#32. Skysovereign, Consul Flagship

Skysovereign, Consul Flagship looks busted, but it plays out fairly. Three damage is enough to kill a creature each turn, but it’s not as oppressive as an Inferno Titan would be. Now crewing an Inferno Titan… that would be something.

#31. Solemn Simulacrum

Are we all mature enough to start admitting that Solemn Simulacrum isn’t a must-play staple in Commander anymore, or are we all still coping about it? Sad Robot was once the staple of Commander, the card you’d slot into every deck alongside Command Tower no matter what. And here we are, in the 2020s, where it’s admittedly, sadly, truly outclassed. Not bad, but the rust is showing.

Solemn is still great in decks where you’re using it as something more than just what’s written on the label. That means making the artifact card type matter, or having a way to recycle the ETB or death trigger. But as a standalone card with no other synergies, it hurts me to say that it’s behind the times.

#30. Thought-Knot Seer

You’ll notice a lack of Eldrazi on this list of powerful colorless cards. That’s because most of the best Eldrazi have cast triggers, with Thought-Knot Seer being one of the rare instances of an ETB Eldrazi. It’s a solid piece of hand disruption if you can manage the colorless mana in its casting cost, and I like that you can choose a different player to draw a card if it dies in a multiplayer game.

#29. Extinguisher Battleship

MTG has truly gone universal! Extinguisher Battleship acts as mass removal when it enters. You can remove a noncreature permanent and deal damage to every creature, upping the chance of disrupting opponents’ strategies. This spacecraft also has high power/toughness compared to how cheap it is to station it.

Pinnacle Kill-Ship is another colorless spacecraft with a lethal enters effect. Albeit, more targeted and with a worse artifact creature upside.

#28. Gonti’s Aether Heart

Gonti's Aether Heart uses “artifactfall” to build up energy counters, and triggering on itself entering means it qualifies for the list. There are combos involving this legendary artifact and copy-creatures like Mishra, Eminent One, but the extra turn and energy production might be worth it even if you’re planning on playing it fairly.

#27. New Capenna Family Lands

The “family lands” from Streets of New Capenna are a cycle of tri-color mana-fixers that work much like an Evolving Wilds that you must use as soon as they enter. They’re essentially lands that sacrifice themselves instead of giving you agency, then fetch up one of three different basic lands associated with the crime families. You gain a point of life, too! These are great budget taplands for decks of the respective colors.

#26. Arcum’s Astrolabe

There are all sorts of trinkets and baubles that cantrip on ETB, with Arcum's Astrolabe being one of the cheapest. This card doesn’t scream “broken” and was more of an issue in Constructed than Commander, but there’s such a low opportunity cost if your plan involves littering the board with cheap artifacts. Bring a few Snow-Covered Wastes if you’re running it!

#25. Soul-Guide Lantern

There’s a long line of cards like Soul-Guide Lantern that are meant to surgically extract cards from graveyards. Think Relic of Progenitus and Scrabbling Claws. But I really like that the Lantern snipes a key card on ETB then sits around as a rattlesnake waiting for a graveyard player to make their big move. Worst case, you can just treat it like a cantrip and sac this artifact for a card.

#24. The Wellsprings

The two Wellsprings from the Scars of Mirrodin block are perfect sacrifice fodder, since they repeat their ETB effects when they hit the graveyard. That makes Ichor Wellspring and Mycosynth Wellspring great packages if you can regularly get both halves of the card. Prized Statue probably deserves an honorable mention, since it’s basically another Wellspring in spirit.

#23. Spine of Ish Sah

Spine of Ish Sah screams mid 2010s Commander, though 7 mana for a sorcery-speed removal spell was dicey even then. You need a strong reason to play this, like Slobad, Iron Goblin perhaps.

#22. Meteor Golem

Simple and clean, definitely a pre-FIRE Design card. Meteor Golem’s slow by every definition, but sometimes you just need a way to pop a permanent. This 7-drop is at its best in blink decks, artifact recursion decks, and mono-colored decks that don’t have good artifact destruction or enchantment removal.

#21. Meteor Sword

Can’t get enough Meteor Golem? Avatar: The Last Airbender created a Meteor Golem equipment card. Meteor Sword costs the same and can hit a wider range of permanents, plus pump a creature +3/+3 instead of just being a 3/3. This card has potential with equipment support like Stoneforge Mystic or other equipment-focused triggers like Captain America, First Avenger.

#20. Duplicant

Would you rather pay 1 mana more for the flexibility on Meteor Golem, or have the more restricted removal ability on the cheaper-to-cast Duplicant? Cheaper’s often better, and Duplicant’s usually a more relevant body on board, though I’ve rarely seen that part of the card matter.

#19. Clown Car

*honka honka*

Clown Car is everything I and many players like me dislike about the decision to make some Unfinity cards legal in Eternal Magic formats. It’s strong enough to see play in competitive Magic as an infinite mana sink, but have you ever tried rolling infinite dice? Anyway, it’s a bunch of Clown Robots in a vehicle. Funny joke.

#18. Lotus Field

Lotus Field is a powerful land with a hefty drawback on ETB, but this is a list of best ETB cards, not ETB effects. In some cases, the ETB is even a bit of an advantage, assuming you care about lands in your graveyard or have ways to replay the lands you sacrificed. And the Lotus Field itself is just asking to be Twiddled a couple times. Hexproof is what sets this apart from oldies like Lotus Vale and Scorched Ruins.

#17. Thunderhawk Gunship

Kinda like Grave Titan, if Grave Titan were a Star Trek spacecraft. Thunderhawk Gunship justifies its heavy mana requirement, spotting you two creature tokens on the ground and a way to jump your entire team in the air when the vehicle gets to attacking.

#16. Arcade Cabinet

Arcade Cabinet can have a killer impact in the late game. Giving a +1/+1 counter to up to four creatures as it enters is amazing, even if you won’t have four creatures on the battlefield by turn 3. If you can pump cards like Kami of Whispered Hopes or Arcbound Ravager early, it can be quite deadly, especially if you double those counters later.

#15. Contagion Engine

Contagion Engine’s ETB is going to be a huge problem for one player, though it’s the double-proliferates that push the artifact over the top. It’s costly enough to get going that it’s not just a slam dunk in every deck, but the -1/-1 counter decks absolutely want this.

#14. Silver Shroud Costume

Making a creature unblockable with Silver Shroud Costume is a huge boon to many decks, especially Voltron strategies, and having your unblockable effect double up as protection is powerful. You could make a case that Whispersilk Cloak is better since the shroud sticks around, but some decks want temporary shroud so they can protect a creature then continue to pile modifications on it down the line.

#13. Nautiloid Ship

Nautiloid Ship is such a beating, poofing someone’s graveyard out of existence and then freerolling the exiled creatures into play every time this vehicle smashes someone for 5 in the air. You could even exile your own graveyard if you’re looking to get some extra value out of your fallen creatures.

#12. Mithril Coat

If Darksteel Plate were truly indestructible, it wouldn’t have been smashed so badly by the introduction of Mithril Coat from Lord of the Rings. The Plate was a popular Voltron card, though flash and an auto-equip ability make the nearly strictly better Mithril Coat play out more like a protection spell with lasting effects.

#11. The Mightstone and Weakstone

Take your pick: Demon's Grasp or the world’s most expensive Divination? When you frame it like that, The Mightstone and Weakstone doesn’t sound very good, but that’s often what colorless decks have to contend with for removal. That said, being a powerstone means you’re often refunded some of the mana right away, making it a much more tolerable mana rock to tap out for.

#10. Canoptek Scarab Swarm

Graveyard hate and mass token generation sounds good to me, and Canoptek Scarab Swarm gets even better if you have any sort of artifactfall payoffs. What a wildly powerful Magic set Warhammer 40,000 was.

#9. Ugin’s Labyrinth

Imprint usually takes the form of an ETB trigger, consuming a card from another zone and using it as a reference for the imprint ability. Ugin's Labyrinth becomes a standard “Sol land” if you tuck away an expensive colorless card, and it even gives you access to that card if you want it back at some point. It doesn’t excel in a format where you can freely play Ancient Tomb, but never disrespect a land that can tap for double mana early on.

#8. Sarevok’s Tome

The initiative is such a powerful mechanic that pretty much anything that gives you the designation is worth considering. Take Sarevok's Tome, a middle-of-the-road mana rock that eventually starts casting spells for free. Tack on all the advantages you get from venturing through a dungeon and you’re suddenly paying 4 mana for so much more than what’s written on the card. Trailblazer's Torch is another colorless alternative, and Staunch Throneguard is a colorless creature that gives you the monarch on ETB.

#7. Talon Gates of Madara

Talon Gates of Madara is a super creative land coming from the Tricky Terrain Commander precon from Modern Horizons 3. It’s a +1 to your gate count for Maze's End decks, and sometimes it’s just a piece of protection for a key creature. Phasing can also effectively remove an attacker from combat, giving this land a lot of extra utility beyond just tapping for mana.

#6. Isochron Scepter

How good Isochron Scepter is as an ETB card is entirely dependent on how much you want to preserve your social status. Will you be the one who tucks away a simple Swords to Plowshares for cheap removal on demand, or are you going full cEDH with Dramatic Reversal?

#5. Sundering Titan

Banned in Commander, but definitely worth a mention. Sundering Titan is just rampant land destruction at its worst, on a colorless creature no less. It’s banned for a lot of the same reasons as Sylvan Primordial, though this one’s even more ubiquitous and has a leaves the battlefieldeffect, too. Blinking Sundering Titan creates two waves of multi-target land destruction.

#4. Chrome Mox

Chrome Mox ranks highly on the list of Magic’s moxen, as evidenced by being part of the Modern ban list. Fast mana like this is very potent in Commander, where you can make up for imprinting a card by ramping out a fast wheel effect to restock your hand.

#3. Field of the Dead

Oh, you silly, stupid land. Field of the Dead was supposed to be a nod to Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle, but maybe we don’t make a colorless Valakut, hmm Wizards? The “different card names” restriction is basically nothing, and part of the reason you see snow-covered basics in decks that have no real snow payoffs.

This card preys on the common sensibility that “land destruction bad”, though it’s a clear posterchild for why you should be packing some single-target land destruction in your Commander decks.

#2. Portal to Phyrexia

“Each opponent sacrifices three creatures” is exactly the type of ETB you’re going to need to persuade me to play a 9-mana artifact. Throw in a free reanimation from anyone’s graveyard every turn and I’m sold. Portal to Phyrexia is worth 9 mana, and it’s an absurd card to cheat into play through other means.

#1. The One Ring

Is it okay if I just solemnly sigh and go about my day? The One Ring uses the whole animal, providing near immunity on ETB and accelerated card advantage every turn. Indestructible makes it hard to stop the card advantage, while “protection from everything” makes it hard to stop you.

Best Colorless ETB Payoffs

The best way to take advantage of ETB triggers, regardless of color, is to double up on those abilities, or at least copy them. In a colorless deck, that means cards like Panharmonicon, Strionic Resonator, Echoes of Eternity, or Lithoform Engine. The Peregrine Dynamo can also be effective for legendary sources specifically.

You could also copy the colorless cards themselves with cards like Donatello, Gadget Master, Mechanized Production, and Mirrorworks. This only applies to artifacts, obviously.

Flicker effects aren’t as common in colorless decks, but Conjurer's Closet, Tawnos's Coffin, and Sword of Hearth and Home get the job done.

Erratic Portal is a fun one, since it can pick up your colorless creatures to reuse, but also disrupt an opponent’s boardstate if they ever tap out. Crystal Shard is even better if you have access to blue.

Glaring Fleshraker from Modern Horizons 3 triggers when colorless creatures enter play and spots you extra mana via Eldrazi Spawn tokens when you cast your spells.

Some great commanders to consider with the cards above are Yarok, the Desecrated, Brago, King Eternal, Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines, and Tannuk, Steadfast Second.

Wrap Up

Lotus Field | Illustration by John Avon

Building around a colorless commander is a bit of a challenge. There’s certainly a broader range of tools for these decks now than there’s ever been, but restricting yourself to colorless-only means you’re missing out on core staples and effects that the colors of Magic provide. You can still get most of those, just on clunkier, expensive permanents. Of course, if you’re committing to the colorless bit, you have plenty of colorless ramp and ways to make your colorless ETBs engines sing.

I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anything close to a “colorless blink deck”, but if that sounds like something you’re interested in, or you’ve found other creative uses for colorless ETB cards in your decks, let me know in the comments below or over in the Draftsim Discord.

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