Black Lotus. The very name calls to mind so many different feelings for 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Magic: The Gathering players. Vintage matches, Reserved List hatred, pricetags that could cover a down payment on a new car. Or the whole car. It's a card that's emblematic of Magic itself, with over 30 years of history behind it.

Naturally, 30 years is plenty of time for multiple spin-offs, retrains, callbacks, and so forth for Magic's most popular and recognizable card. The holy grail of Magic is so iconic that the very word 'Lotus' is enough to garner interest in a new card, and Black Lotus certainly has its fair share of impostors. They range from awful to impressive, but none quite match the elegance of the original.

Honorable Mentions: Blacker Lotus & Mox Lotus

Silver-Bordered Tomfoolery

The silver-bordered Blacker Lotus and Mox Lotus are tongue-in-cheek Black Lotus references from Magic's earliest 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:joke sets Unglued and Unhinged, respectively. They're not meant to be taken seriously, and, honestly, you probably wouldn't want to see them at your table even if they were legal.

Both cards work within the context of Magic rules, to some extent. Blacker Lotus is intuitive but, well... stupid, and Mox Lotus is comprehensible and only marginally less stupid. The Comprehensive Rules don't define infinity, but people generally understand what 'making infinite mana' means.

10 Mirr🐼ored Lotus

Look Under Your Chair!

All the upside of a normal Black Lotus, except everybody gets one. How's that for a balancing act? Mirrored Lotus also exiles itself upon use, so there's no opportunity for combo loops with other recursive cards. It's also illegal in basically every format, so there's that.

2021's Playtest cards showcased some strange yet intriguing ideas that Magic R&D was messing around with, though the cards themselves were never intended for play outside Mystery Booster Drafts. You could suggest Rule zero-ing it in a casual Commander game; after all, who's going to turn down a free Black Lotus?

9 ♚ Lotus Blossom

The DMV Of Lotuses

Just like a blooming flower takes time to mature towards its beautiful fin🦋al form, so too does Lotus Blossom take time to reach the same potential as Black Lotus. Too much time, as it were. You have to wait three full turns before Blossom matches the original, even without accounting for the initial mana payment to cast the card.

There is a world where Lotus Blossom outgrows its inspiration, though you'll probably need 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:proliferate effects or a long, drawn-out gaඣme to see that happen. Blossom succeeds as a flavorful callback to the original, but fails as a standalone card.

8 🗹 🅰 Lotus Vale

High Risk, Low Reward

"Add three mana" on a land should raise red flags. The catch with Lotus Vale is that you have to give up two of your other lands while remaining at mana parity the turn you play it. That's not too hefty of a cost, so why don't you see it more often?

For one, it's nearly $30. Second, you can't play it on the first few turns of the game. Perhaps, most importantly, it's a magnet for 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:land destruction; getting your Lotus Vale removed after cashing ꦫin two other lands already likely puts you in an irrecoverable position.

7 Timel𒀰ess Lotus

Good, But Temper Expectations

Timeless Lotus is somehow both extremely over-hyped but still good. You have to untap with this before it has any effect, while drawing the attention of your opponents, though it is admittedly good when it survives a full turn cycle. The problem is that it's imminently replaceable.

Prismatic Geoscope is nearly identical while costing about a dollar to Timeless Lotus's $11 pricetag. The latter's also locked to 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:five-color decks, which already have all the best, immediate ramp options available to them. This just goes to show the effect putting 'Lotus' in a card name can have.

6 Gilded Lotus 𝄹 😼

Black Lotus With A Spray-Paint Tan

Here's a Black Lotus imitator that can be used every turn without sacrificing itself, for a steep upfront cost. In Gilded Lotus's defense, it refunds a large chunk of that investment right away, though that five-mana threshold has knocked it down a peg from its former glory days in Commander.

It's also aptly named, 'gilded' referring disparagingly to a knock-off or fake, as in gilded objects being lesser than those made from real gold. Black Lotus is indeed the gold standard for these effects, everything else is just a gilded copycat by comparison.

5 🍸 Lotus Bloom ꦛ

Bloom! Here Comes The Bloom! Ready Or Not

Lotus Bloom gives you all the power of a real Black Lotus... if you're patient. There's no initial mana investment; you simply 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:pop i෴t into exile for free with suspend and wait three turns. A Black Lo🎉tus that needs some more time i🌱n the oven, so to speak.

168澳洲幸运5开奖网:The non-existent mana cost leaves Lotus Bloom open to shenanigans. A one-mana spell with cascade can flip ꦫinto Lotus Bloom and simply cast it for free without the delay. Artifact and permanent recursion can also plop the Lotus directly into play, after which it behaves just like the real thing.

4 Nyx Lotus

Only For The Most Devoted

Nyx Lotus deviates from its pedigree somewhat. Instead of tapping for a static three mana, it scales with 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:your devotion to the color of your choice. As such, it's more of a throwback to Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx than it is a true Black Lotus clone.

The 'Lotus' moniker still works insofar as it's an artifact that can tap for large chunks of mana. It's usually relegated to permanent-heavy mono-colored decks, but it's not uncommon to find one tapping for five to ten mana in those decks, perhaps even more depending on the boardstate.

3 Jeweled L꧃otus

One Expensive Commander Staple

Jeweled Lotus gives Commander players a taste of what it's like to play with true Power, but a mana rock that only helps cast one, maybe two cards in your entire deck? That's quite the restriction, not to mention it has literally zero utility outside of Commander formats.

Jeweled Lotus can facilitate the fastest draws possible for most Commander decks, but with a pricetag nearing $100, it's best to save this one for the Commander big leagues. Or at least for a deck that makes good use of putting its commander into play way ahead of schedule.

2 Lotus Fie🐈ld

Narrow, But Enticing

Lotus Field looks suspiciously like Lotus Vale, but hexproof is such a game-changer, circumventing Vale's weakness to targeted land destruction. It's still technically not ramp, since it leaves you with the same amount of mana you'd have if you'd just played a basic land instead.

That makes Lotus Field a specialty for decks taking very specific game actions. If you can untap permanents regularly, or have a good use for the lands you send to the graveyard, Lotus Field is a real consideration. Otherwise, it's just a fancy piece of cardboard that's arguably worse than a basic.

1 Loꦡtus Petal

A Fraction Of Its Original Power

Lotus Petal highlights the true absurdity of Black Lotus; even at a third of the power, it's still heavily played in combo decks that just need a quick burst of mana. Chances are if you're playing against Lotus Petals, your opponent's trying to achieve something unfair, regardless of the format.

Petal's a classic example of a 'fixed' version of a more powerful card that simply became another broken card in its own right. Sometimes a single extra mana, temporary or not, is all that's needed to cast your game-winning spell a turn early. Imagine three of those at once.