120+ Best Artifact Card Draw Cards in MTG Magic: the Gathering

Sure, your blue/green Simic deck has no problems drawing, but what do you do when you want to go mono red, mono white, or Boros? Are there any artifacts out there that might provide that card advantage you’re looking for in colors that are lacking it, or for a deck where the normal draw strategies just don’t fit?

Of course there are!

While artifacts are colorless cards and can fit into any deck, selecting the most effective artifact card draw cards requires knowledge and strategy.

If you’re an old-school player like myself, you probably remember the old Aladdin’s Lamp + Animate Artifact combo.

And while the combo was wicked for its time, let’s not forget that Aladdin’s Lamp has a pretty good draw ability! If you can get it in play anyway.

Nowadays, Commander decks and some other formats often utilize Mind Stone for early mana acceleration and a mid to late-game draw. The utility of being mana rocks with built-in card draw makes them a strong choice for many decks.

Your deck’s strategy, mana curve, combos, and interactions will help determine which artifacts to include, and whether any that facilitate card draw are helpful or necessary.

Pin these images to find this helpful guide to artifact card draw cards again later!

Key Takeaways

• Artifacts can significantly enhance card draw in MTG, regardless of deck color.
• Selecting the right artifacts for card draw depends on deck strategy and synergy.
• Understanding key card interactions is vital for finding artifacts that enhance your deck and promote card advantage.

Top Artifact Card Draw Strategies

Exploring top-notch card draw in Magic: The Gathering involves a savvy combination of artifacts that provide card advantages. Your deck may utilize artifact creatures, leverage sacrifice outlets, or take advantage of mana sinks that will keep your hand flush with options.

Utilizing Artifact Creatures for Draw

Artifact creatures serve dual roles on the battlefield: they are both a presence on the board and a valuable card draw resource.

Sad Robot (Solemn Simulacrum) is one of the best known artifact creatures to offer a draw ability. While it’s only a 1 card draw, when paired with the land he fetches and the damage/blocking he can pull off… He might be sad but you’ll be smiling!

Esper Sentinel definitely falls under this category as well, but we’ll get to him later since he’s technically not colorless.

Leveraging Sacrifice Outlets for Artifact Card Draw

Combining artifacts with sacrifice outlets enables you to draw cards while manipulating board dynamics. We’ve already mentioned Mind Stone, and the Commander’s Sphere is an exemplary tool for such strategy. It’s not just a mana rock but also a renewable source of card draw upon sacrifice.

Cards like Mishra’s Bauble offer a peek at the top card of a player’s library and replace themselves at no mana cost after their sacrifice. When wielded effectively, zero-cost cantrips like these allow you to maintain card parity while developing your board state.

Integrating sacrifice outlets in your play offers flexibility: you can ramp when needed or convert your resources into card advantage, ensuring your strategy stays fluid and reactive to opponents’ moves.

Mana Sink Artifact Card Draw

Mana sinks turn excess mana into valuable card draw, often at critical junctions in the game. They’re usually best used at end of turn on the turn before you, that way you can respond to anything that happens, and if you happen to have mana left over before your turn, draw some cards!

Jayemdae Tome was one of the first cards to offer this kind of draw. A 4 drop that has a 4 activation cost to draw a card at instant speed.

Tower of Fortunes demands a hefty eight mana to draw four cards, but the potential to refill your hand in the late game can be the difference between stalling out and overwhelming your adversary.

Timing is key with mana sinks: knowing when to convert your mana reserve into a fresh grip of options can be as decisive as the cards themselves.

Card Draw Equipment

You can’t have a conversation about artifact card draw without discussing Skullclamp, the quintessential equipment draw mechanism for any weenie or token deck, and for good reason.

Skullclamp will net you 2 card draws for each creature that dies with it equipped, and it only costs 1 to cast, and 1 to equip. Then it gives the equipped creature +1-1. That -1 toughness is enough to murder tokens and turn them into a draw engine!

It’s fair to say that Skullclamp has been one of the best cards in Magic since it was released, which is why it received a ban in multiple formats.

Sword of Fire and Ice also belongs in the equipment draw category. An equipped creature damaging an opponent gets to do 2 bonus damage and draw you an additional card.

Group Hug Artifact Card Draw

Colorless artifacts really shine in the Group Hug category.

Cards like Howling Mine, Font of Mythos, Temple Bell, and Horn of Greed allow both you and your opponents to draw at least one extra card each turn or when that player plays a land.

In certain formats where being amicable may be admirable (commander, team games, casual anything,) consider these draw engines!

Archetypal Analysis

Different formats may have different preferences for artifact draw cards. Here are a few favored by some of the more popular formats.

Commander Artifact Draw Card Staples

In Commander, certain artifacts are virtually indispensable due to their versatility and power. Your deck might hinge on the inclusion of something like Mind Stone, a widely appreciated mana rock that sacs for card draw.

Similarly, Commander’s Sphere might be your go-to for both mana fixing and drawing a card at a moment’s notice without an additional cost.

At time of this writing, the top 10 most used colorless artifacts that draw cards for Commander decks, per EDHREC, are:

1. Mind Stone
   • Casting Cost: 2
   • Type: Mana rock
2. Commander’s Sphere
   • Casting Cost: 3
   • Type: Mana rock/draw utility
3. Skullclamp
   • Casting Cost: 1
   • Type: Equipment, draw utility

4. The One Ring
   • Casting Cost: 4
   • Type: Legendary Artifact, draw utility
5. Herald’s Horn
   • Casting Cost: 3
   • Type: Cost reduction/draw utility
6. Sensei’s Divining Top
   • Casting Cost: 1
   • Type: Deck manipulation

7. Idol of Oblivion
   • Casting Cost: 2
   • Type: Draw utility
8. Vanquisher’s Banner
   • Casting Cost: 5
   • Type: Creature buff/draw utility

9. Lifecrafter’s Bestiary
   • Casting Cost: 3
   • Type: Scry/draw utility
10. Mystic Forge
    • Casting Cost: 4
    • Type: Deck manipulation

Modern Artifact Draw Top 10

The Modern format is known for its fast-paced and innovative playstyles. The top 10 colorless artifacts for drawing cards in Modern at the time of this writing, per MTGDecks, are:

1. The One Ring
   • Casting Cost: 4
   • Type: Legendary Artifact, draw utility
2. Mishra’s Bauble
   • Casting Cost: 0
   • Type: Cantrip
3. Relic of Progenitus
   • Casting Cost: 1
   • Type: Graveyard manipulation

4. Stone of Erech
   • Casting Cost: 1
   • Type: Graveyard manipulation, draw utility
5. Chromatic Star
   • Casting Cost: 1
   • Type: Mana fixing, cantrip
6. Chromatic Sphere
   • Casting Cost: 1
   • Type: Mana fixing, cantrip

7. Sword of Fire and Ice
   • Casting Cost: 3
   • Type: Equipment, creature buff, draw utility, and damage utility
8. Mystic Forge
   • Casting Cost: 4
   • Type: Deck manipulation

9. Academy Manufactor
   • Casting Cost: 3
   • Type: Artifact creature, token generation
10. Palantír of Orthanc
    • Casting Cost: 3
    • Type: Legendary Artifact, scry/draw utility, mill

Standard Artifact Draw Options

There aren’t too many colorless artifact draw options used in the Standard format at this time, but per MTGDecks.net, these are the top 5:

1. The Celestus
   • Casting Cost: 3
   • Type: Mana rock, day/night utility
2. Chimil, the Inner Sun
   • Casting Cost: 6
   • Type: Legendary Artifact, spell protection, and card advantage
3. Collector’s Vault
   • Casting Cost: 2
   • Type: Artifact, card filtering, and treasure generation

4. Candy Trail
   • Casting Cost: 1
   • Type: Artifact — Food Clue, scry, life gain, and card draw
5. Matzalantli, the Great Door
   • Casting Cost: 3
   • Type: Legendary Artifact // Legendary Land, card filtering, and mana generation

Legacy Artifact Draw Staples

Legacy demands artifacts that can keep up with the format’s speed, and influence it.

A card that matches the required criteria could be something like a simple cantrip or a more sophisticated engine that reshapes the battlefield.

Here are the top 10 colorless artifacts for card draw in the Legacy format per MTGDecks:

1. Mishra’s Bauble
   • Casting Cost: 0
   • Type: Cantrip
2. The One Ring
   • Casting Cost: 4
   • Type: Legendary Artifact, draw utility
3. Soul-Guide Lantern
   • Casting Cost: 1
   • Type: Graveyard manipulation

4. Urza’s Bauble
   • Casting Cost: 0
   • Type: Cantrip
5. Palantir of Orthanc
   • Casting Cost: 3
   • Type: Legendary Artifact, scry/draw utility, mill
6. Helm of Obedience
   • Casting Cost: 4
   • Type: Combo piece

7. Relic of Progenitus
   • Casting Cost: 1
   • Type: Graveyard manipulation
8. Mystic Forge
   • Casting Cost: 4
   • Type: Deck manipulation

9. Currency Converter
   • Casting Cost: 1
   • Type: Card filtering, token generation
10. Sword of Fire and Ice
    • Casting Cost: 3
    • Type: Equipment, creature buff, draw utility, and damage utility

Honorable Mention Artifact Draw Cards

These cards may not be in the top 5 or 10 of the main current formats, but they are still worth considering!

Aggressive Draw Engines

When talking about sheer drawing power, Mind’s Eye is the artifact with a voracious appetite for cards. Your opponents’ land drops transform into opportunities for you to draw, making Mind’s Eye an extreme source of card advantage in multiplayer games. Akin to a Rhystic Study for any color!

Then we’ve got to talk about Memory Jar, often part of explosive turns that can swing the game. Crack it open, and you’ve got a fresh hand to play with for the turn. Just be sure to have a plan for all those new cards before they slip back into your deck.

Utility Artifacts

Hedron Archive does Mind Stone‘s job at a grander scale, offering two colorless mana and a steeper investment to draw two cards.

Dreamstone Hedron again has the same kind of effects but costs 6 to cast. It taps for 3 colorless mana, or you can tap three colorless and sacrifice Dreamstone Hedron for 3 cards.

Mask of Memory offers a different spin, rewarding you with card draw every time the equipped creature deals combat damage to a player. You’ll draw two cards and discard one, curating your hand while keeping the pressure on your opponent.

Other honorable mentions include:

1. Anvil of Bogardan
   • Casting Cost: 2
   • Type: Card draw/advantage
2. Coercive Portal
   • Casting Cost: 4
   • Type: Board control/card draw
3. Tome of Legends
   • Casting Cost: 2
   • Type: Card draw

4. Wedding Ring
   • Casting Cost: 4
   • Type: Card draw/sharing
5. Tome of the Guildpact
   • Casting Cost: 5
   • Type: Card draw/mana fixing
6. Cosmos Elixir
   • Casting Cost: 4
   • Type: Life gain/card draw

7. Staff of Nin
   • Casting Cost: 6
   • Type: Card draw/damage
8. Culling Dais
   • Casting Cost: 2
   • Type: Sacrifice outlet/card draw
9. Seer’s Sundial
   • Casting Cost: 4
   • Type: Card draw

10. Endless Atlas
    • Casting Cost: 2
    • Type: Card draw
11. Alhammarret’s Archive
    • Casting Cost: 5
    • Type: Card draw/life gain doubling
12. Slate of Ancestry
    • Casting Cost: 4
    • Type: Card draw

13. Chromatic Orrery
    • Casting Cost: 7
    • Type: Mana source/card draw
14. Ghirapur Orrery
    • Casting Cost: 4
    • Type: Card draw/land play
15. The Immortal Sun
    • Casting Cost: 6
    • Type: Multiple (buffs, cost reduction, card draw)

16. Loreseeker’s Stone
    • Casting Cost: 6
    • Type: Card draw
17. Brainstone
    • Casting Cost: 1
    • Type: Card filtering
18. Well of Knowledge
    • Casting Cost: 3
    • Type: Card draw

19. Credit Voucher
    • Casting Cost: 2
    • Type: Card filtering
20. Prophetic Prism
    • Casting Cost: 2
    • Type: Mana fixing/card draw
21. Trading Post
    • Casting Cost: 4
    • Type: Utility (varied effects)

22. Mindless Automaton
    • Casting Cost: 4
    • Type: Creature/card draw
23. Arcane Encyclopedia
    • Casting Cost: 3
    • Type: Card draw
24. Scroll Rack
    • Casting Cost: 2
    • Type: Card filtering

25. Staff of Domination
    • Casting Cost: 3
    • Type: Utility (varied effects)
26. Rogue’s Gloves
    • Casting Cost: 2
    • Type: Card draw
27. Symmetry Matrix
    • Casting Cost: 4
    • Type: Buff/control

28. Farsight Mask
    • Casting Cost: 5
    • Type: Card draw
29. Mazemind Tome
    • Casting Cost: 2
    • Type: Scry/card draw
30. Spare Supplies
    • Casting Cost: 2
    • Type: Card draw

31. Eye of Vecna
    • Casting Cost: 2
    • Type: Card draw/life loss
32. Canoptek Spyder
    • Casting Cost: 5
    • Type: Artifact Creature — Spider, card draw
33. Angelheart Vial
    • Casting Cost: 5
    • Type: Life gain/card draw

34. Infiltration lens
    • Casting Cost: 1
    • Type: Card draw
35. Key to the City
    • Casting Cost: 2
    • Type: Utility (unblockable/card draw)
36. Oracle’s Vault
    • Casting Cost: 4
    • Type: Card advantage

37. Investigator’s Journal
    • Casting Cost: 2
    • Type: Card draw
38. Circuit Mender
    • Casting Cost: 3
    • Type: Creature/life gain
39. Scrap Trawler
    • Casting Cost: 3
    • Type: Creature/recursion

40. Ichor Wellspring
    • Casting Cost: 2
    • Type: Card draw
41. Tamiyo’s Journal
    • Casting Cost: 5
    • Type: Clue generation/card tutor

42. Bag of Holding
    • Casting Cost: 1
    • Type: Card storage/recall
43. Reckoner Bankbuster
    • Casting Cost: 2
    • Type: Card Draw, Vehicle, Creature Token Creation

Artifact cantrips

Some artifact cantrips not mentioned yet include:

1. Arcum’s Astrolabe
   • Casting Cost: 1
   • Type: Mana fixing/card draw
2. Conjurer’s Bauble
   • Casting Cost: 1
   • Type: Graveyard manipulation/card draw

Also the spellbombs (which may have a color identity even though they have a colorless casting cost. Their activated abilities may use colored mana.) Such as:

1. Aether Spellbomb
   • Casting Cost: 1
   • Type: Cantrip, board interaction
2. Nihil Spellbomb
   • Casting Cost: 1
   • Type: Cantrip, graveyard interaction
3. Pyrite Spellbomb
   • Casting Cost: 1
   • Type: Cantrip, direct damage

4. Horizon Spellbomb
   • Casting Cost: 1
   • Type: Cantrip, land interaction
5. Necrogen Spellbomb
   • Casting Cost: 1
   • Type: Cantrip, hand disruption
6. Origin Spellbomb
   • Casting Cost: 1
   • Type: Cantrip, creature generation

And don’t forget the cluestones, of which mana rocks in addition to cantrips. There’s one for each 2 color guild:

1. Azorius Cluestone
   • Casting Cost: 3
   • Type: Mana rock, cantrip
2. Boros Cluestone
   • Casting Cost: 3
   • Type: Mana rock, cantrip
3. Dimir Cluestone
   • Casting Cost: 3
   • Type: Mana rock, cantrip

4. Golgari Cluestone
   • Casting Cost: 3
   • Type: Mana rock, cantrip
5. Gruul Cluestone
   • Casting Cost: 3
   • Type: Mana rock, cantrip
6. Izzet Cluestone
   • Casting Cost: 3
   • Type: Mana rock, cantrip

7. Orzhov Cluestone
   • Casting Cost: 3
   • Type: Mana rock, cantrip
8. Rakdos Cluestone
   • Casting Cost: 3
   • Type: Mana rock, cantrip

9. Selesnya Cluestone
   • Casting Cost: 3
   • Type: Mana rock, cantrip
10. Simic Cluestone
    • Casting Cost: 3
    • Type: Mana rock, cantrip

Then there’s a series of skullbombs:

1. Basilica Skullbomb
   • Casting Cost: 1
   • Type: Artifact, cantrip
2. Dross Skullbomb
   • Casting Cost: 1
   • Type: Artifact, cantrip
3. Furnace Skullbomb
   • Casting Cost: 1
   • Type: Artifact, cantrip

4. Maze Skullbomb
   • Casting Cost: 1
   • Type: Artifact, cantrip
5. Surgical Skullbomb
   • Casting Cost: 1
   • Type: Artifact, cantrip

And last but not least, these lockets are also mana rocks that can sac to draw you 2 cards:

1. Azorius Locket
   • Casting Cost: 3
   • Type: Mana rock, cantrip+
2. Boros Locket
   • Casting Cost: 3
   • Type: Mana rock, cantrip+
3. Dimir Locket
   • Casting Cost: 3
   • Type: Mana rock, cantrip+

4. Golgari Locket
   • Casting Cost: 3
   • Type: Mana rock, cantrip+
5. Gruul Locket
   • Casting Cost: 3
   • Type: Mana rock, cantrip+
6. Izzet Locket
   • Casting Cost: 3
   • Type: Mana rock, cantrip+

7. Orzhov Locket
   • Casting Cost: 3
   • Type: Mana rock, cantrip+
8. Rakdos Locket
   • Casting Cost: 3
   • Type: Mana rock, cantrip+

9. Selesnya Locket
   • Casting Cost: 3
   • Type: Mana rock, cantrip+
10. Simic Locket
    • Casting Cost: 3
    • Type: Mana rock, cantrip+

 Artifact Draw Options with a Color Identity

1. Midnight Clock
   • Casting Cost: 2{U}
   • Type: Mana rock, wheel card draw
2. Bident of Thassa
   • Casting Cost: 2{U}{U}
   • Type: Artifact, card draw
3. Mnemonic Sphere
   • Casting Cost: 1{U}
   • Type: Channel/Card draw

4. Thought Monitor
   • Casting Cost: 6{U} (Affinity)
   • Type: Artifact Creature/card draw
5. Goggles of Night
   • Casting Cost: 1{U}
   • Type: Utility/equipment
6. Folio of Fancies
   • Casting Cost: 1{U}
   • Type: Card draw/mill

7. The Reality Chip
   • Casting Cost: 1{U}
   • Type: Legendary Artifact Creature/Top-deck playability
8. The Great Henge
   • Casting Cost: 7{G}{G} (This cost is reduced by the greatest power among creatures you control.)
   • Type: Legendary Artifact, card draw, life gain, mana source
9. Esper Sentinel
   • Casting Cost: {W}
   • Type: Artifact Creature, card draw

10. Ogre-Head Helm
    • Casting Cost: 1{R}
    • Type: Artifact Creature/Equipment/card draw
11. Ruin Grinder
    • Casting Cost: 5{R}
    • Type: Artifact Creature/wheel card draw
12. Combustible Gearhulk
    • Casting Cost: 4{R}{R}
    • Type: Creature/damage/card draw

Looking for black card draw or red card draw cards? Check out the 2 linked articles!

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All cards are copyright Wizards of the Coast and many included images and symbols are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast LLC (now a subsidiary of Hasbro.)

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are a few questions we’ve seen asked about artifact card draw, and some answers!

What Commander cards synergize best with artifact-based card draw strategies?

Urza, Lord High Artificer is a prime example of a commander having artifact and draw synergy. Meria, Scholar of Antiquity is another solid option with a different color scheme.

Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain and Academy Manufactor will also get you there!

Which MTG enchantments complement artifact strategies by providing card draw?

The enchantment Thopter Spy Network can grant you card draw by synergizing with artifact creatures.