Unstable Obelisk
Seven generic mana to destroy any one permanent is a deliberately punishing rate, and that is the entire bargain this rock asks you to accept. A mana rock that taps for colorless is among the most replaceable slots in a deck; what keeps this one in a list is the second clause it carries, a sacrifice ability that answers a permanent no color can otherwise reach. Most catch-all removal lives in white or black: this puts the same line on an artifact, available to a five-color shell or a deck of a color that simply does not get to kill a problematic enchantment or planeswalker. The seven-mana floor is the cost of that universality. The rock does its first job ramping you toward the activation, so the destroy clause is less a plan than insurance you keep on the board, a button you press once when a Stax piece or an opposing engine has gone unanswered for too long. The design tension is honest about itself: it is a slow rock that turns into a slow answer, and it accepts being mediocre at both jobs in exchange for being legal in literally any deck that runs lands. That breadth is the whole appeal, and the steep activation is what stops the breadth from being oppressive.

Rules text
Format Status
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Other printings
- Commander Masters#416
- Starter Commander Decks#286
- Crimson Vow Commander#170
- Forgotten Realms Commander#220
- Commander 2021#272
- Jumpstart#489
- Commander 2018#227
- Commander Anthology Volume II#227










