Mana Crypt (Original Art)

Mana Crypt is simply one of the best mana accelerants ever printed – arguably second only to the original “Power Nine” Moxen and Black Lotus. For 0 mana, you immediately get two mana, effectively starting the game with a free Sol Ring. This lets you cast spells way ahead of curve, and deploy lock pieces before the opponent can interact. It powers out commanders in cEDH, and fuels powerful combos without spending any resources. No other legal card provides this rate of acceleration. The 3-damage coin-flip can be relevant in long, grindy games – but most decks that use Mana Crypt don’t care about their life total because they’re either winning quickly or using it as a disposable piece of fast mana. Mana Crypt is restricted in Vintage, but it’s a staple of many fast mana decks. It appears in Paradoxical Outcome Combo, Gifts Control, Oath of Druids, MUD, Jewel Shops, Initiative Hatebear and Dimir Control. It is one of the most played cards in Commander / EDH, and an auto-include in nearly every cEDH list. Because you start at 40 life, the downside of Mana Crypt becomes trivial. This card enables turn-1 and turn-2 commanders, fuels stax pieces early, and supercharges artifact combos (e.g. Isochron Scepter + Dramatic Reversal). Basically, any deck that wants mana quickly runs it, e.g. blue farm decks (Tymna / Kraum), Urza and artifact combo decks, Nadu, Winged Wisdom, and Magda, Brazen Outlaw. Mana Crypt is considered one of the “pillars” of cEDH. Mana Crypt is not on the Reserved List, it has been reprinted multiple times.