Standing Stones MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	3
Rarity	Uncommon
Type	Artifact
Released	1994-08-01
Set symbol
Set name	The Dark
Set code	DRK
Number	110
Frame	1993
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Sandra Everingham

Key Takeaways

Standing Stones draws power by trading life for card advantage, crucial for outpacing opponents.
Acts as a mana accelerant, allowing for earlier plays of impactful spells in various strategies.
Offers instant-speed activation, affording flexibility and tactical edge during gameplay.

Text of card

o1, oc T: Pay 1 life and add 1 mana of any color to your mana pool. This ability is played as an interrupt. Effects that prevent or redirect damage may not be used to counter this loss of life.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Standing Stones generates a notable advantage by allowing you to exchange life points for cards, ensuring that you have the right resources at the right time to outmaneuver your opponent.

Resource Acceleration: This artifact can tap to convert life into any color mana, effectively accelerating your ability to play high-impact spells earlier in the game and enabling a smoother execution of your strategy.

Instant Speed: The capacity to activate Standing Stones at instant speed presents the flexibility to adapt to the evolving board state, making it a tactical asset during both your turn and your adversary’s.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: The Standing Stones card necessitates players to discard another card to harness its ability. This condition might be taxing, especially in game scenarios where maintaining hand advantage becomes crucial to staying competitive.

Specific Mana Cost: Activating the ability of Standing Stones requires a very particular mana investment — a combination of one colorless and one mana of any color. This specificity makes it challenging to integrate into decks that require meticulously managed mana bases or those that operate on a strict color identity.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Standing Stones presents a higher tier mana cost for its utility. When compared with other mana accelerants or color fixing options available within the game, it might not be the most efficient choice, particularly given the pace and evolving dynamics of modern gameplay where speed can be a determining factor in a deck’s success.

Reasons to Include Standing Stones in Your Collection

Versatility: Standing Stones offers a dynamic mana-conversion tool that can be slotted into multiple deck archetypes. This ability to adapt to various mana needs makes it a unique asset for decks that operate with a wide color palette.

Combo Potential: With the right setup, Standing Stones can unlock high-impact plays by converting any type of mana into a color of your choice. This can power up multi-color combos or enable the casting of demanding spells within the same turn, maximizing your strategic options.

Meta-Relevance: As the MTG landscape continuously evolves, Standing Stones maintains its relevance by offering a stable mana filtering option. This is particularly useful in environments where mana consistency can make or break a game, making it a worthwhile addition to your collection.

How to beat Standing Stones

Standing Stones is a compelling artifact in the realm of Magic: The Gathering. Unique in its mana-fixing abilities, it allows players to filter mana for a color of their choice, at the cost of life. Despite its utility, overcoming this artifact is achievable with strategic play. Enchantment removal spells are a clean solution, spells like Naturalize or Disenchant target artifacts directly.

Aggressive strategies can also prevail against decks utilizing Standing Stones. By putting pressure on the opponent’s life total, the cost they pay for mana becomes a liability rather than an asset. Moreover, artifact-specific hate cards such as Stony Silence or Collector Ouphe can render Standing Stones useless without having to expend removal spells.

Despite these tactics, it remains crucial for players to weigh the tempo of their moves. Dismantling your opponent’s mana base with removal or suppression can significantly disrupt their game plan, sometimes more effectively than a direct attack on their life. As with many components of Magic: The Gathering, the key to victory often lies not just in powerful plays but in the thoughtful timing and sequence of your actions against cards like Standing Stones.

Cards like Standing Stones

Standing Stones is a unique artifact within the vast assortment of mana-producing assets in Magic: The Gathering. Its closest counterparts are mana artifacts such as Darksteel Ingot, a resilient card that provides one mana of any color without additional costs. Standing Stones, however, requires an investment of both life and mana to generate a mana of any color, setting it apart as a more flexible yet risky option.

Another similar match is the Gemstone Array, which transforms charge counters into any color mana. While this avoids the life cost imposed by Standing Stones, it does come with the drawback of needing to invest two mana for one charge counter only to then convert it back into one mana of the desired color. This results in a loss of mana efficiency, unlike the direct ability offered by Standing Stones.

Considering these comparisons, Standing Stones strikes a balance between risk and reward in decks that can afford the life payments, positioning it as a versatile mana fixer in Magic: The Gathering decks that can offset its costs.

Cards similar to Standing Stones by color, type and mana cost

Arena of the Ancients - MTG Card versions

Scale of Chiss-Goria - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Standing Stones MTG card by a specific set like The Dark, there are several reliable options to consider. One of the primary sources is your local game store, where you can often find booster packs, individual cards, and preconstructed decks from current and some past sets. They often offer the added benefit of a community where you can trade with other players.

For a broader inventory, particularly of older sets, online marketplaces like TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom and Card Market offer extensive selections and allow you to search for cards from specific sets. Larger e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon also have listings from various sellers, which can be a good place to look for sealed product and rare finds.

Additionally, Magic’s official site often has a store locator and retailer lists for finding Wizards of the Coast licensed products. Remember to check for authenticity and the condition of the cards when purchasing, especially from individual sellers on larger marketplaces.

Below is a list of some store websites where you can buy the Standing Stones and other MTG cards: