Green OWNS traditional Dorks. All others shift around green’s slice of the color pie.

More mana in, more mana out. Priest of Titania is a fine example. One mana for each elf in play. Or Circle of Dreams Druid, one mana per creature. Marwyn the Nurturer makes mana equal to her power. A fantastic CEDH commander. Magic has no shortage of green creatures that tap to produce multiple mana.

Green can generate mana from creatures, even if they are not Mana Dorks. Quirion Ranger can untap a mana dork. Birchlore Rangers taps two elves to produce a mana. Turning elf tokens into mini Llanowar Elves. This is where green transitions into a combo deck. This duo is a cornerstone of Legacy and Pauper decks. Huge mana generation. This ends in a huge spell that ends the game like Craterhoof Behemoth.

The point here?

Green is good at making mana. You knew that. Now we get to the fun part. How do Dorks change in other colors?

Recently, red has become the secondary color for mana dorks. Sunset Strikemaster is not a powerhouse. But it’s a signpost. This is a red Wirewood Elf. It is incredibly rare to see unconditional Mana Dorks outside of green. More recently, we got Zookeeper Mechan. These cards won’t light the world on fire. But, it might pave the way for more mana dorks down the line as red’s identity changes. But maybe I am reading too deeply into things. Sisters of the Flame was released back in The Dark.

Maybe Wizards of the Coast is revisiting old ideas.

Other red Dorks have conditions.

We will see this a lot. Freya Crescent can only cast equipment spells. Flamebraider can only use its mana on elementals. Alena, Kessig Trapper needs a creature to enter the battlefield.

Blue’s traditional Mana Dorks are unremarkable. Guidelight Optimizer and Sage of the Unknowable are limited in their utility. When Arcane Signet and Mind Stone can be used immediately and don’t have a color requirement to play, they become a hard sell.

Blue’s real power is untapping permanents. Ioreth of the Healing House, Vizier of Tumblin Sands, and Forensic Researcher are some favorites. If you’re just untapping a basic land, they aren’t worth it. But when you untap Sol Ring, Gilded Lotus, or Gaea’s Cradle, then you’ve got some amazing potential.

There are six Mana Dorks that go into any green deck that achieve this. Birds of Paradise, Delighted Halfling, Llanowar Elves, etc. If you’re a multicolor deck, Noble Hierarch or Ignoble Hierarch can join the ranks, too. Mox Diamond and Chrome Mox are pretty expensive, too. You could buy all these Mana Dorks for less than the cost of one Chrome Mox.

If you don’t value creatures in play, I generally move towards Rocks over Dorks. But this will always be a matter of personal preference, depending on your deck.

With the when out of the way, let’s now look at some of the stranger definitions of “Mana Dork” and see what else we can find. Keep the prior points in mind as we explore these.

The Familiar cycle from Planeshift is a great inclusion. They are from a three-color set. Each familiar is one color. It then reduces the cost of two other colors. Nightscape Familiar is black. It reduces the cost of red and blue spells. These are fantastic in multi-colored decks. The black one sees the most play.

Sunscape Familiar gets an honorable mention, as there is an entire Pauper deck around it!

Blue and red are the best in class here. Baral, Chief of Compliance, is known for being a nasty control Commander. But you can play him nicely and honestly as a cost reducer. Ral, Monsoon Mage offers the same reduction in red, with a unique coin flip theme attached.

Goblin Electromancer is a classic spellslinger card, but a more unusual option is Kaza, Roil Chaser. They tap to make a spell cost less for each wizard you control.

Morophon, the Boundless is an iconic option for any five-color creature deck. We can also cheat permanents into play with Morophon with Fist of Suns. However, at six mana, this isn’t really a Mana Dork anymore.

This section is a bit weird.

These are creatures that produce mana, just not as clean and simple as Llanowar Elves.

Tireless Provisioner is a great way to get ahead on mana, and all you need to do is play lands. It makes a food or treasure token whenever a land enters. This is a great way to stockpile mana over a couple of turns.

In a similar vein, Storm-Kiln Artist and Pitiless Plunderer make treasure when you cast a spell, or when something dies.

Magda, Brazen Outlaw, and Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer, are weird. They also make treasure, but it requires combat damage. This makes them very effective in the early game, but they fall off as time goes on. Despite that, they’re still a fantastic inclusion.

Glaring Fleshraker makes an Eldrazi Spawn whenever you cast a colorless spell. This is the basic of a Vintage combo deck!

The downside with all of these is simple. You don’t have full access to this mana. You’ll probably struggle to use these effects on your opponent’s turn.

Mana Dorks are good.

I didn’t need to tell you that. But some thought is needed to help find the right ones. I hope this article helps in your next deck. Whether it’s elfball or a simple ramp package, keep some of these cards in mind.

Ben Guilfoyle started playing Magic in 2015. They love to research the design of Magic. Why was this card banned? Could this silver border card actually see play? Cards that push the limits of design is what excites them. You can usually find them playing cube. This ties into their second passion: numbers. With a background in physics and statistics, they love to get in the weeds when building decks. Crunching numbers is their specialty.