Assembling a 100-card Commander deck in Magic: The Gathering usually involves balancing a specific set of staples: around 36 to 40 lands, roughly a dozen pieces of interactive removal, a handful of board wipes for emergencies, and the inevitable inclusion of Sol Ring. It is arguably the most pervasive and fundamentally broken card in the game’s 33-year history, serving as a mandatory inclusion for almost every deck in the format.
This ubiquity is exactly why Wizards of the Coast includes the card in every preconstructed Commander deck. Ironically, it is also the strongest argument for why the card should be permanently banned from the format.
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To understand the depth of this design error, one must look at its origins. Released in the 1993 Alpha set, Sol Ring costs a single mana to cast and provides two colorless mana every turn. In simple terms, it creates a permanent, recurring advantage that violates the core resource-balancing principles of the game. It effectively trivializes the game’s economy, and arguably, ignores the game’s own internal logic regarding power levels.
Image: Wizards of the Coast/Caleb MeurerOver three decades, design standards have evolved, yet mana rocks generally follow strict frameworks: either they cost two mana with restrictive color-tapping abilities, or they cost three mana with some additional utility. Sol Ring, however, defies both these balanced archetypes.
- Two-mana rocks: Usually provide limited color fixing or specific constraints.
- Three-mana rocks: Offer more flexibility or added bonuses to compensate for the higher cost.
Sol Ring fits neither criteria—it is simply overtuned. When you land a Sol Ring on the first turn, you are essentially accelerating two turns ahead of your opponents. In a four-player game, this often results in a “runaway” effect where one player becomes impossible to stop, or conversely, forces the rest of the table to immediately gang up on the person with the lucky start. It creates a stifling environment where deck-building creativity is restricted because everyone is forced to reserve a slot for this one card.
Image: Wizards of the Coast/Myles WohlThe reluctance to ban it is understandable: it is a pillar of the game’s identity and has been included in countless preconstructed decks. Banning it would alienate a massive portion of the player base. Fortunately, since it is so widely printed, it remains incredibly accessible and affordable, with dozens of unique artistic variants to collect.
If a hard ban is off the table, systemic changes like the Commander Bracket system—introduced in 2025—could be the answer. If Sol Ring were reclassified as a “Game Changer,” any deck containing it would automatically be bumped into a higher power bracket, effectively relegating the card to high-competition play where it belongs. At a local level, playgroups often employ house rules, such as allowing opponents to tutor for their own Sol Rings if one is played early, to level the playing field.
Ultimately, these workarounds rely on voluntary cooperation, which is rarely a perfect solution. While I will continue to include Sol Ring in every deck I build—because playing without it is a distinct competitive disadvantage—I still believe the game would be healthier if the card were finally retired.
Source: Polygon
