In Magic, very few things can be done without mana. You can cast Force of WillForce of Will, sure, but that's an answer to a threat - not actually a way to make progress. Meanwhile, take a look at the real haymakers of cEDH and you'll see that even the cheapest among them cost something: Thassa's OracleThassa's Oracle and the , Underworld BreachUnderworld Breach and the initial ... you get the point.

In cEDH, capitalizing on mana both early and efficiently matters a whole lot more than in other formats. With four players sitting down at the table, any one player will only end up playing one third as many turns as the sum total of their opponents. In 1v1, each player takes a roughly equivalent number of turns, meaning they'll have access to roughly equivalent resources (assuming one land per turn and one card per turn).

In cEDH, your opponents have access to three mana for your one and three cards for your one. So, how do you get past this? By dedicating more resources to both cumulative and explosive mana production.

The first type of mana production is also cEDH's most ubiquitous (outside of lands), and that's mana rocks. Sol RingSol Ring, the icon of Commander, is better here than it is in any other bracket. The archetypal rock, it does just about everything a cEDH player can dream of: it enters untapped, it produces more mana than it costs, and it can be cast with any color of mana.

The only way Sol Ring could be better is if it were free to cast, and we saw what happened when that was the case...

Beyond Commander's icon, cEDH lists are also replete with mana rocks both typical of lower-bracket decks as well as those restricted to the Game Changers list.

The Talismans, Arcane SignetArcane Signet, and some combination of Grim MonolithGrim Monolith and/or Fellwar StoneFellwar Stone round out the two mana-value cohort of rocks, while Mana VaultMana Vault joins Sol Ring at one.

Zero is where things get really exciting; the Moxen (Amber, Opal, Diamond, and Chrome) are common across most lists, with Mox DiamondMox Diamond and Chrome MoxChrome Mox being nearly ubiquitous.

All in all, not counting single-use artifacts, the average cEDH deck runs somewhere around 10-12 rocks.

Finally, two other mana-producing rocks that are common across cEDH are Lion's Eye DiamondLion's Eye Diamond and Lotus PetalLotus Petal. Given the discard requirement on Lion's Eye Diamond, this isn't usually considered a mana rock as much as it is a combo piece, but it is a powerhouse mana-producing artifact that you should absolutely be aware of.

Conversely, Lotus Petal blurs the line between rocks and rituals, providing a single-use source of mana for no cost other than the card slot it occupies.

Speaking of rituals, the second type of mana in cEDH ditches resiliency in favor of absolute explosivity. These cards are defined by their ability to make more mana than they cost, and are tournament-viable because of their exceptionally low cost.

The best of the best are unconditional instants, of course, but don't discount the sorceries and conditional spells that also show up across the format.

Dark RitualDark Ritual is the signpost card of this class, though it doesn't actually add the most mana relative to its cost.

Culling the WeakCulling the Weak, another popular card, adds for just , provided you can sacrifice a creature as the spell's additional cost. Cabal RitualCabal Ritual isn't as restrictive to cast, but often adds less mana in the early game.

Red is the other color known for rituals, though not nearly as explosive as black. Rite of FlameRite of Flame adds for , and Desperate Ritual adds for without any potential for late-game explosivity akin to that of Cabal Ritual's threshold production of .

Also worth noting are the Spirit Guides - both SimianSimian and ElvishElvish. Each is a 2/2 creature for three mana that can be exiled from its owner's hand in order to provide one mana of the corresponding color.

It may not be the any-color production of Lotus Petal, but these cards are potent nonetheless.

Last but not least is the most restrictive group of nonland mana producers, and that's the mana creatures (creatures that tap for mana, colloquially known as "mana dorks").

These cards easily die to Orcish BowmastersOrcish Bowmasters, cost colored mana to cast, and are almost exclusively green. Couple that with the fact that these cards don't add mana until the turn after they're played, thanks to summoning sickness, and you're left with a class of cards that are the most specific in their deployment.

Arguably the best dork in the format is Birds of ParadiseBirds of Paradise. At the cost of just , this 0/1 flyer adds one mana of any color. Fixing and ramp on a single card is a powerful combination, especially at one mana.

Other mana creatures are either less flexible in their fixing, usually peaking at three possible colors (Ignoble HierarchIgnoble Hierarch and Noble HierarchNoble Hierarch, for example), and those are the rare exception. After jamming those, most dorks add just a single color - most often .

Since dorks enter with summoning sickness, the jump from one mana-value to two mana-value is a much bigger one, a jump comparable with the difference between mana rocks with mana values of two and mana values of three.

However, this isn't enough to bar them from tournament viability entirely; Bloom TenderBloom Tender is a pretty common mana dork across multicolor green decks, thanks in no small part to its ability to add far more than just one mana.

Last but not least, we come to the lands of cEDH. For this section, we'll focus on lands that are specifically dedicated to extra mana production (fixing, fetching, and utility lands are an article unto themselves).

So, where to start? Gaea's CradleGaea's Cradle.

The natural follow-up to any conversation about mana dorks in cEDH, Gaea's Cradle easily adds the most mana of any land in the format. Entire decks are dedicated to finding this card, casting cheap creatures, and tapping and untapping Gaea's Cradle over and over again in the same turn to ramp out absurdly powerful spells.

After Gaea's Cradle, cEDH's other multi-mana producing lands are twofold: City of TraitorsCity of Traitors and Ancient TombAncient Tomb.

The former adds whenever you tap it, but it'll be sacrificed when you play your next land. This puts it closer to the camp of rituals, while Ancient Tomb also adds but has no sacrifice clause, asking instead for two life per activation.

Last but not least, the only single-mana producing land on our list: Gemstone CavernsGemstone Caverns. This ubiquitous card, like Lotus Petal and the Spirit Guides, trades a card slot for mana.

How? Well, if Gemstone Caverns is in your opening hand and you aren't going first, you can exile another card from your hand. If you do, begin the game with Gemstone Caverns in play and with a luck counter on it. As long as it has a luck counter on it, it can be tapped to add one mana of any color (otherwise it only adds ).

Gemstone Caverns is the ultimate catch-up card, allowing players in any seat but the first to start with an extra mana before they even take their first untap step.