Magic: The Gathering's 15 Most Valuable One-Mana Artifacts

Bag of Holding | Illustrated by Evyn Fong

While zero-mana artifacts in Magic: The Gathering represent a “who’s who” of some of the most powerful cards in the game’s history, one-mana artifacts don’t quite reach those stratospheric heights; a lack of Power Nine cards will do that for you.

Still, there are a plethora of one-mana artifacts that rank highly in terms of value, including EDHREC’s #1 overall card in terms of Commander usage: the omnipresent, resplendent, one-mana mana rock Sol Ring (which is featured herein multiple times).

Let’s take a look at Magic’s most valuable one-mana artifacts ever.

Note: All prices come from PriceCharting, except where noted. I’m also rescinding my “one copy per list” clause for this one due to the presence of some supremely rare Sol Ring variants.

15. Glasses of Urza – Alpha

Market Price: $269.50 (via TCGPlayer)

The first of a whopping five cards herein that hail from Magic’s first set, this finicky little one-mana artifact with an activated ability lets you Peek at a foe’s hand whenever you tap it.

While it’s always useful to have as much information as possible, this card is surely antiquated by modern standards. However, due to its age and scarcity, it’s still worth well over $250 on the secondary market.

14. Phyrexian Dreadnought – Mirage

Market Price: $279.39 (via TCGPlayer)

Featuring one of Pete Venters’s most recognizable works of art on a Magic card, this one-mana artifact also happens to be the first 12/12 creature in the game’s history, one-upping Polar Kraken from Ice Age.

Of course, larger creatures have since been printed (Krosan Cloudscraper, various Eldrazi titans, multiple Ghalta variants), but the Dreadnought was the first, and its extreme cheapness combined with an easily abused enters-the-battlefield ability helps make it one of the most dominant creatures in the Premodern format thanks to an easy-to-employ combo involving the Dreadnought and either Stifle or Vision Charm.

13. Springleaf Drum (Serialized Retro Artifacts) – The Brothers’ War

Market Price: $310.00 (via TCGPlayer)

Serialized cards play a role on this list, too, with The Brothers’ War Retro Artifacts Bonus Sheet featuring a number of extremely limited copies of notable one-mana artifacts from Magic’s past.

While this one-mana mana rock does require you to tap both the Drum and an untapped creature you control, its innate ability to produce mana of any color in the one-mana slot is always useful; just ask one of the most valuable Bird cards ever, Birds of Paradise.

12. Dino DNA (Embossed Foil Jurassic World Collection) – The Lost Caverns of Ixalan

Market Price: $342.23 (via TCGPlayer)

Just try not to say this card’s name without employing a poorly realized Southern U.S. accent; it simply can’t be done!

Despite that, this graveyard hate piece can exile your reanimation-playing foe’s best threats and turn them into 6/6 Dinosaur copies with trample once you hit six mana. Not bad for an elderly man’s amber-topped walking stick.

11. Ivory Tower (Serialized Retro Artifacts) – The Brothers’ War

Market Price: $351.12 (via TCGPlayer)

Yet another serialized Retro Artifact from The Brothers’ War, this card serves as the lifegain inverse of the next card on our list, netting you X life, where X is the number of cards in your hand minus four.

While this rendition’s Irina Nordsol artwork is great, the original card art from Antiquities by Margaret Organ-Kean simply can’t be beaten.

10. Black Vise – Alpha

Market Price: $380.00

Still an incredibly powerful card in formats like Premodern, Black Vise was a competitive dynamo in the early years of Magic, as three or four points of free damage a turn was something that almost no deck or player could come back from.

Also, feel bad for the odd little doll featured in this illustration, as artist Richard Thomas tortured the poor stuffed toy in this card, The Rack, and Cursed Rack. Poor little fella.

9. Meekstone – Alpha

Market Price: $449.00

Serving as a Stasis for creatures with power 3 or greater is certainly a strong effect, as even far more limited cards like Mercadian Masques’ Crackdown also boast a fairly high price tag.

Still, that white enchantment is nothing compared to the progenitor of this type of ability, as Meekstone was released all the way back in Magic’s debut set. Any card from a 33-year-old set is going to command a premium, especially if it’s a powerful colorless rare, as Meekstone is.

8. Sol Ring – Alpha

Market Price: $1,056.40

The first of five—count ‘em—five Sol Ring cards on this list is the ultimate O.G.: Alpha Sol Ring, with instantly recognizable artwork by Mark Tedin. Note that this art is very “The One Ring”-coded, and I don’t mean Magic’s version.

In fact, the card’s art even looks as if it was photographed during the climactic tussle between Gollum and Frodo in Mount Doom, as Sauron’s source of power dissolves in the fiery chasm within the mountain.

7. Sol Ring (Kaladesh Inventions) – Kaladesh

Market Price: $1,562.64

The Kaladesh Inventions Masterpiece set from 2016’s Kaladesh expansion remains one of the most exquisite collections of cardboard across the entire TCG hobby, as evidenced by that card frame being present among the most valuable Angel cards, the most valuable Construct cards, and a number of others.

Certainly, this Sol Ring variant features a stunning work of art by Volkan Baga, with a titanic price tag above $1,500 to boot.

6. Human Sol Ring (Serialized) – Tales of Middle-earth Commander

Market Price: $1,634.78

This is the third of five Sol Rings featured herein, and also the first of three extremely limited, thematically related The Lord of the Rings-themed Sol Ring cards from 2023’s Tales of Middle-earth Commander.

As you might know, “nine rings were gifted to the race of Men, who above all else desire power.” Fittingly, the Serialized Human Sol Rings from the set were numbered out of 900.

5. Mana Vault – Alpha

Market Price: $1,650.00

Another one-mana artifact from Alpha that delivers an absurd amount of mana acceleration, Mana Vault produces a whopping three colorless mana when tapped. Of course, it doesn't untap naturally and can ping you for damage, but that's a small price to pay for such explosive mana production.

This original printing also features classic Mark Tedin artwork, and while Mana Vault has received its fair share of flashy reprints over the years (including one later on this list), it's tough to beat the original.

4. Dwarven Sol Ring (Serialized) – Tales of Middle-earth Commander

Market Price: $1,775.00

"Seven to the Dwarf-Lords, great miners and craftsmen of the mountain halls.” As you might begin to predict, this Sol Ring was serialized out of 700 copies, mirroring the seven rings given to Dwarves in The Lord of the Rings.

Notably, all three renditions of the serialized Sol Rings from Tales of Middle-earth Commander were printed in Elvish, as opposed to the native tongue of each race.

3. Candelabra of Tawnos – Antiquities

Market Price: $1,879.45

An extremely old card hailing from 1994’s Antiquities expansion (Magic’s second-ever expansion after Arabian Nights), this one-mana artifact can untap X lands, an ability that can get out of hand quickly when combined with lands that tap for multiple mana at a time, like Tolarian Academy, Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, or Cabal Coffers.

As you might expect, this easy-to-abuse ability is why this over-30-year-old artifact was banned in Legacy in June 2026.

2. Mana Vault (Rainbow Foil Bonus Card) – Fallout: Vault Boy Secret Lair

Market Price: $2,168.79

One of the most valuable Secret Lair Bonus Cards of all time also ranks highly among the most valuable one-mana artifacts.

If you thought getting two colorless mana from Sol Ring was good, how does three mana sound? That’s exactly what Mana Vault delivers, and it’s never looked better (especially if you’re a Fallout fan) than with this Vault Boy-themed Rainbow Foil rendition.

1. Elven Sol Ring (Serialized) – Tales of Middle-earth Commander

Market Price: $6,000.00

“It began with the forging of the Great Rings. Three were given to the Elves, immortal, wisest and fairest of all beings.” It both begins and ends with Elves here, as the most valuable one-mana artifact is, unsurprisingly, the scarcest serialized Sol Ring from Tales of Middle-earth Commander, which was limited to only 300 copies.

Despite its myriad reprints, Sol Ring still routinely commands over $1 even for some of its most common printings. I guess being #1 has its perks.

One Mana Buys a Lot, Seemingly

And there you have it. Do you own any of these one-mana artifact grails? If not, why not set up a trade on CardSphere to make it happen? Either way, thanks for reading, and happy collecting.