Color Guide

Colorless

The cards that belong to no color — artifacts, mana rocks, colossal Eldrazi, and colorless planeswalkers. They slot into any deck, making them some of the most universally played and valuable cards in the game.

C Sol Ring

What Are Colorless Cards?

Colorless is not one of the five colors — it is the absence of color, and it covers most artifacts, all lands, the Eldrazi, and a handful of colorless planeswalkers. Colorless cards have no colored mana symbols in their cost, so they can be played in any deck regardless of its colors. This universality makes mana rocks, utility artifacts, and colossal Eldrazi some of the most-played cards in the game. A small subset uses the true colorless mana symbol {C}, introduced with the Eldrazi, which can only be paid with colorless sources and creates a distinct deckbuilding constraint.

Key Cards

Sol Ring is the single most iconic colorless card — a one-mana artifact that taps for two, banned in most formats but the crown jewel of Commander. Karn Liberated and Ugin, the Spirit Dragon are colorless planeswalkers that win games from any deck, powering Tron and ramp shells across Modern and Commander. Wurmcoil Engine is a resilient colorless finisher that gains life and leaves tokens behind. Mana Crypt, Sensei’s Divining Top, and the Eldrazi titans like Emrakul round out a category defined by raw, color-agnostic power.

Deck Strategy

Colorless cards are the glue of countless decks. Mana rocks such as Sol Ring, Mana Crypt, and Signets accelerate any strategy, while colorless finishers like Ugin and the Eldrazi titans give ramp decks an inevitable payoff. Tron decks in Modern assemble Urza’s lands to cast Karn Liberated and Wurmcoil Engine ahead of schedule. Colorless-matters and Eldrazi decks exploit the {C} symbol with lands like Eldrazi Temple. In Commander, colorless staples appear in nearly every deck because they never conflict with a commander’s color identity — though pure colorless mana symbols do count toward it.

Examples

Colorless cards to know

Iconic Colorless Magic: The Gathering Cards you can scan for instant prices.

Sol Ring

Revised Edition

Karn Liberated

New Phyrexia

Ugin, the Spirit Dragon

Fate Reforged

Wurmcoil Engine

Double Masters

Scanner Advantage

Tappr identifies any colorless card and its exact printing, then shows live TCGplayer and Cardmarket pricing. Universal staples like Sol Ring and Mana Crypt have been reprinted across dozens of sets and premium Masterpiece frames at vastly different values — the scanner pins down the precise version so you always know what your artifact is worth.

FAQ

Common questions

01 What does colorless mean in MTG?

A colorless card has no colored mana symbols and belongs to no color. Most artifacts, all lands, the Eldrazi, and a few planeswalkers like Karn are colorless, letting them go in any deck regardless of its colors.

02 Is colorless the same as an artifact?

Not exactly. Most artifacts are colorless, but some are colored, and colorless includes non-artifacts too — Eldrazi creatures, lands, and colorless planeswalkers. Colorless refers to the card’s color, while artifact is a card type.

03 What is the colorless mana symbol {C}?

The {C} symbol, introduced with the Eldrazi, requires colorless mana specifically and cannot be paid with colored mana. It is different from generic mana ({1}, {2}, etc.), which any mana can pay.

04 Which colorless cards are most valuable?

Sol Ring and Mana Crypt in premium frames, Mishra’s Workshop, and the Kaladesh Inventions artifacts command high prices. Scan any colorless card with Tappr to check the current value of the exact printing.