Card Spotlight
Basalt Monolith
A 3-mana colorless rock that taps for three and untaps itself for three. That nets zero on its own, and infinite mana once anything makes untapping it cheaper or free.
Commander Spotlight
Basalt Monolith ↗
A 3-mana colorless rock that taps for three and untaps itself for three. That nets zero on its own, and infinite mana once anything makes untapping it cheaper or free.
See Basalt Monolith's full stats and printings →
Strategies it goes well with
- Rings of Brighthearth infinite mana. Copying the untap ability for {2} nets one mana per loop, and the loop repeats as often as you like. It is a two-card infinite colorless mana combo.
- Power Artifact infinite mana. Reducing the untap cost to {1} while the rock taps for three makes it generate unlimited colorless mana. It is a dedicated two-card combo.
- Straightforward ramp. The turn after you cast it, three lands plus the Monolith make six mana, a real way to jump to a six-mana play without any combo pieces at all.
How it does in Commander
As the commander
Not a commander. It's an artifact with no legendary creature version, so it only ever shows up as a mana rock or combo piece in someone else's deck.
In the 99
A staple-tier mana rock in colorless-friendly decks and a combo enabler in artifact or high-power shells running Rings of Brighthearth or Power Artifact, without being a dead card in a list that never draws either.
Formats it's strong in
- Artifact-heavy and colorless ramp decks. It does its job as a rock even before any combo piece shows up, so it's never a wasted slot.
- cEDH pods running Power Artifact. Those decks are specifically built to find and protect this two-card infinite mana line.
Formats it's weak in
- Decks with no way to use a mana burst. Tapping for three all at once is wasted if there's nothing worth spending it on that turn.
- Low-power tables with no combo pieces around it. Without Rings of Brighthearth or Power Artifact, it's simply a solid rock. That is good, but not a reason to build a deck around it.
Synergistic cards
Rings of Brighthearth ↗
Copies the untap ability for {2}, netting one colorless mana per loop, which repeats for infinite mana.
Power Artifact ↗
Reduces the untap cost to {1}, making Basalt Monolith an infinite colorless mana source with no third card.
Sol Ring ↗
Another cheap rock that helps get to the mana needed to activate Basalt Monolith more than once a turn.
Metalworker ↗
A creature that adds {C}{C} for each artifact card you reveal from your hand, another colorless mana burst for the same artifact-heavy deck.
Is it worth the price?
Basalt Monolith is inexpensive and worth owning as a mana rock alone, before any combo consideration. Power Artifact carries most of that line's price and rarity, so the combo itself is the more expensive half of the equation.
Frequently asked questions
What does Basalt Monolith combo with?
Rings of Brighthearth copies its untap ability for {2}, so {5} buys two untaps and six mana, a net gain of one mana per loop. You can repeat the loop as often as you like, so the pair makes infinite colorless mana once you have {2} extra to start. Power Artifact is the other two-card combo: it reduces the untap cost to {1}, so each loop nets two mana with no other card needed.
Is Basalt Monolith worth running without the combo?
Yes. Even ignoring both combo lines, it's a fine three-mana rock that makes {C}{C}{C} at once for a big spell. It doesn't untap on its own, and paying {3} to untap it nets no mana, so most decks untap it at the end of an opponent's turn with mana they would not otherwise use.
Why isn't the Basalt Monolith plus Power Artifact combo more common?
Power Artifact is a narrow, otherwise-unplayable enchantment outside this exact combo, so decks running it are almost always building specifically around this line rather than finding it incidentally. That keeps it rarer at the table than Sol Ring or Isochron Scepter combos.