All 11 Lotus Cards in Magic Ranked

Lotus Field | Illustration by John Avon

Lotuses are one of those things that are uniquely part of Magic. Unlike wizards, elves, goblins, and the like, which you can find all over fantasy, some elements of Magic, like the lotus, are only iconic for their role in MTG.

But, like anything, some lotuses (lotusi? loten? I’m going with lotuses…) are just better than others. Let’s take a look at all of these fan-favorite flowers and see how they stack up against each other!

What Are Lotus Cards in MTG?

Jeweled Lotus | Illustration by Alayna Danner

There isn’t really a definition of a lotus in Magic, although saying that it needs to be called a “Lotus” is a good start. If you weren’t aware, the first lotus was probably the most powerful card in all of Magic, the Black Lotus. It’s reached a legendary status these days (no, it doesn’t have the legendary supertype), due to its power, rarity, and price. It’s the grail card for many collectors, and you won’t be able to pick one up for less than a few tens of thousand.

Looking at this card, and some of the lotus hopefuls in the MTG card pool, I’m going to set some ground rules for this list:

1. It must be called a lotus in some way,
2. It must be able to generate at least 3 mana,
3. It must be a black-bordered card.

And that’s pretty much it! I did think about only including 0-cost cards or limiting to artifacts, but that cuts out too many cards that definitely feel like lotuses, so here we are!

Honorable Mention 1: Blacker Lotus

Blacker Lotus is one of the silver-bordered cards (or “acorn-stamped” to use the newer term), as part of one of the original Un-sets. The joke here is that not only is it more powerful than the original lotus, tapping for 4 mana, but because you have to destroy the actual card to use it, it’ll also end up rarer than the original. It’s kind of worked in a lot of ways, and copies will set you back the price of a couple of booster packs, which is more than can be said for most Un-set cards!

Honorable Mention 2: Mox Lotus

And here’s another un-card in Mox Lotus. This isn’t just referencing the O.G. lotus, but another stalwart of the Power 9, the moxen. Generating infinite mana might not win the game immediately, but it’s clearly very powerful. For 15 mana, you’d want it to be! Of course, this isn’t, and could never be tournament legal, but it’s still a cool idea to see played out in the “joke” sets.

Honorable Mention 3: Lotus Petal

Breaking the trend, this isn’t an Un-card. Lotus Petal doesn’t meet the second requirement of being able to generate 3 mana, so I can’t include it, but I couldn’t leave it off entirely. Of course, it’s only part of a lotus, so I feel justified. It’s still a fantastic callback, however, and it’s a well-designed game piece. I’m pleased it exists!

#11. Jeweled Lotus

If you asked me when Jeweled Lotus first came out, it’d be significantly higher up on a list of lotuses than dead last. Unfortunately (or some would say fortunately), dead is a good way to describe this card. It’s virtually useless now that it’s banned from Commander, outside of some very niche and obscure uses. It’s a powerful card, though, which is why it ate that ban in the first place. It might see play again sometime, but for now the bottom of the list feels like the right home for this glorified coaster. Maybe the Game Changers from the Commander Brackets will revitalize the Jeweled Lotus.

#10. Timeless Lotus

Timeless Lotus can hardly be described as a bad card. Unfortunately, it can’t really be counted as a good card, either. It’s comparable to Gilded Lotus, and it’s arguably more powerful as it makes 5 mana in a mix of colors rather than just 3 in a single color. The big “but” here is the fact that it comes in tapped. This means you can’t use the mana right away without shenanigans, and it just slows this down too much. Making and having all the mana symbols printed on the card means it has a 5-color color identity, so it can only go in a select few decks.

#9. Lotus Blossom

Lotus Blossom is a lotus that takes some time to get working. However, since it works with counters, you can get some proliferate hijinks involved. It also works decently well if you can generate some extra turns. Lotus Blossom can therefore make a good boost of mana in a pinch, which means in some particular circumstances it can be the one lotus card you want.

#8. Lotus Bloom

Time Spiral had a bit of a theme of “It’s a powerful card, but this time with suspend!”, which generally made the cards unplayable. Lotus Bloom is arguably in that category, but it’s still a powerful card. There are of course ways you can break this, especially as it has no mana cost, and that makes it interesting. Unfortunately, it hasn’t done enough to make it a big player in anything I can remember, which is why it’s down in the bottom half of this list.

#7. Lotus Vale

I started off with Lotus Vale much further down, but then I remembered all the ways you can exploit lands that tap for multiple mana. Yes, it requires you to sac two untapped lands, but it also comes in untapped, so you get to use it right away. If you can find a way to untap this, especially if you can untap it repeatedly for less than 3 mana, you’re off to the races and can have as much mana as you want. Just don’t let someone Stone Rain it!

#6. Lotus Ring

Lotus Ring is a newer lotus card from The Big Score, and it’s a bit of an oddball. It’s an equipment that gives the creature it’s attached to the Black Lotus ability, but it also gives it a stats boost. Originally many players wrote this card off, but it’s seeing some play and I think it’s only just started on its rise to playability. Surely something will eventually be printed that makes this incredibly silly….

#5. Gilded Lotus

Gilded Lotus continues to be a completely solid playable. Five mana is a lot for a mana rock, but giving 3 mana (that you can use right away) is still really good, even with the power creep of recent times. It won’t make it into the highest power decks, but it’s a bit of a stalwart for the masses.

#4. Nyx Lotus

Nyx Lotus is a very Theros spin on a lotus. Being tied to devotion of a single color means you probably want it in decks with low color requirements, but it can quite easily tap for a lot of mana. Entering tapped is a noticeable downside, but the potential here is sky high, and it’s not difficult to get a lot out of it once it’s untapped.

#3. Radiant Lotus

Full disclosure, I’ve submitted this on the day Radiant Lotus was spoiled, so I’ve only got the card’s text to go off to evaluate it. Oh, and the hype… a whole lotta hype…. It’s not hard to see why, though. It can give you a burst of mana equal to three times the number of artifacts you control, if you sacrifice them all, that is. It also costs a lot of mana, so I’m not quite on the hype train on this one. That said, getting a bunch of artifacts and cheating out expensive artifacts isn’t exactly the most difficult thing to do, which is why I’ve ranked it here among its fellow lotuses.

#2. Lotus Field

Lotus Field is a clear callback to Lotus Vale, but it does quite a lot better. For one, hexproof is a major upgrade, and it stops land destruction from ruining your day (at least for the most part; I’m looking at you Krenko's Buzzcrusher). It does compound having to sac two lands with this one coming in tapped, but that feels like a relatively even exchange. This card is a favorite for competitive Pioneer, where it forms the basis of a couple of decks that see on and off play. It doesn’t feel like it’s broken yet, but answers are pretty limited, so hopefully it’ll stay that way.

#1. Black Lotus

Was there ever any doubt that Black Lotus was going to top this list? It’s still quite possibly the strongest Magic card ever printed, and it’ll be for some time to come. Only playable in the most broken of formats, there were only around 22,000 ever printed, and was only included in Alpha, Beta, and Unlimited. This is the grail for many players, including Post Malone, who owns a signed artist proof (which is significantly rarer), and it’s what makes all the lotuses worth mentioning at all.

Other References to Black Lotus

Of course, there are mentions of the Black Lotus other than just the homages in the list above. One example is [card]Lotus Guardian. It makes mana, but nothing like the O.G. lotus does, as it only makes 1 mana. It does fairly clearly reference MTG lotuses in its flavor text, however, so it’s a pretty direct tie to them. 

Garth One-Eye actually creates a Black Lotus token, and it’s referenced directly on the card. This was a pretty awesome inclusion in Modern Horizons 2, although Wizards were very careful not to print an actual token to go with it! In a similar vein, Oracle of the Alpha is an Arena-only card (and Mystery Booster 2, of course!) that lets you play with Black Lotus digitally.

Black Lotus has even shown up in other games, as Deckmaster had a special Black Lotus promo a few years ago (which I suggest grabbing if you’re wanting to proxy Lotus!).

Lotuses shows up many, many times across other Magic cards, and there are callbacks in mechanics, flavor text, and even artwork everywhere. Some of the original Magic stories were even based around a quest to find the Black Lotus. It’s been a small but significant part of Magic’s lore since the very first set and will continue to be for a long time yet.

Wrap Up

Black Lotus | Illustration by Steven Belledin

Black Lotus is an icon of Magic, and one that sticks in people’s minds once they learn about it. Well before planeswalkers were really a thing, we had this ebony flower. It’s still sought after, even though it’s generally unplayable for most players, and the amount of money changing hands around this card is actually obscene.

What are your thoughts on Black Lotus, or any of the other lotuses? Is there much more scope in these cards for future designs, or have we reached the bottom of the well? Let me know your thoughts, or if you’ve ever owned a lotus, in the comments below or over on the Draftsim Discord.

Catch you next time!