Aether Hub is one of those cards players keep asking about. Here is, in plain words, what its official text says, the rulings published by Wizards of the Coast, and the combos players actually run.
Official card text
When this land enters, you get(an energy counter).
: Add
.
Complete guide
Aether Hub is a versatile land that provides immediate utility through the energy mechanic, first introduced in Kaladesh. It serves as both a source of colorless mana and a flexible mana fixer for decks that can generate or spend energy counters. Understanding how to manage your energy reserves is key to maximizing this card's potential in a game.
Generating and Spending Energy
When Aether Hub enters the battlefield, its triggered ability gives you one energy counter {E}. Unlike mana, energy counters are placed on the player, not the land itself, and they do not disappear at the end of phases or turns. You can tap Aether Hub for colorless mana for free, or you can tap it and pay one energy counter to produce one mana of any color.
Resolving the Trigger
When you play Aether Hub, the enter-the-battlefield trigger goes on the stack. Once it resolves, you receive one energy counter. You cannot use this specific energy counter to activate the colored mana ability until the trigger has finished resolving and the counter is officially in your reserve. If you already have energy counters from other sources, you can spend those immediately to activate Aether Hub's colored mana ability.
Common Misconceptions
A common mistake is treating energy counters like mana. Energy counters are a type of counter a player has, similar to poison or experience counters. Effects that double counters on a player, such as Proliferate, can increase your energy, but effects that add mana 'of any type' cannot grant you energy. Additionally, you can only pay energy you actually have; you cannot go into a 'negative' energy balance.
When to Play Aether Hub
Aether Hub is best played in decks that need early-game color fixing or in dedicated energy archetypes. Since it provides a one-time color fix on its own, it is often saved for a turn where you need a specific color to stay on curve. In dedicated energy decks, it acts as a recurring source of any color mana, provided you have other ways to keep your energy reserves full.
Interaction examples
Command TowerWhile Command Tower is restricted by your commander's color identity, Aether Hub can produce any of the five colors of mana by spending an energy counter, regardless of who your commander is. This makes it a useful backup for multi-color decks that haven't found their primary fixing yet.
Exotic OrchardIf you control both lands, Exotic Orchard's ability depends on what your opponents can produce. Aether Hub, however, provides its own energy resource upon entry. If you have no energy counters, you can still tap Aether Hub for colorless mana, but you must resolve its entry trigger to get the energy required for its second ability to produce any color.
Energy ReserveWhen Aether Hub enters the battlefield, you receive one {E}. You can use an Energy Reserve card or a die to track this on your person. If you later tap Aether Hub and pay that {E}, you remove the counter from your Energy Reserve. This mana can be used to cast any spell, while the energy counter stays with you across turns until you choose to spend it.
Guide written with AI from the official text and rulings. Official English text prevails.
How it works : Aether Hub
Original English text — Wizards of the Coast / Scryfall
- #1· Wizards of the Coast is the energy symbol. It represents one energy counter.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #2· Wizards of the Coast
Energy counters are a kind of counter that a player may have. They're not associated with any specific permanents.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #3· Wizards of the Coast
Keep track of how many energy counters each player has. Potential ways to track this include writing theme down on paper or using dice, but any method that is clear and mutually agreeable is fine. (At higher levels of tournament play, dice may not be allowed for tracking counters that players have.)
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #4· Wizards of the Coast
If an effect says you get one or more
, you get that many energy counters. To pay one or more , you lose that many energy counters. You can't pay more energy counters than you have. Any effects that interact with counters a player gets, has, or loses can interact with energy counters.No other card is named in this ruling.
- #5· Wizards of the Coast
Energy counters aren't mana. They don't go away as steps, phases, and turns end, and effects that add mana "of any type" can't give you energy counters.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #6· Wizards of the Coast
Some triggered abilities state that you "may pay" a certain amount of
. You can't pay that amount multiple times to multiply the effect. You simply choose whether or not to pay that amount of as the ability resolves.No other card is named in this ruling.
- #7· Wizards of the Coast
Some triggered abilities that state that you "may pay" a certain amount of
describe an effect that happens "If you do." In that case, no player may take actions to try to stop the ability's effect after you make your choice. If the payment is followed by the phrase "When you do," then you'll choose any targets for that reflexive triggered ability and put it on the stack before players can take actions.No other card is named in this ruling.
- #8· Wizards of the Coast
If a spell or ability with one or more targets states that you "may pay" some amount of
, and each permanent that it targets has become an illegal target, the spell or ability won't resolve. You can't pay any even if you want to.No other card is named in this ruling.
- #9· Wizards of the Coast
Some spells and abilities that give you
may require targets. If each target chosen is an illegal target as that spell or ability tries to resolve, it won't resolve. You won't get any .No other card is named in this ruling.
Popular combos
Real combos played by the community, sorted by popularity.
Greenbelt Rampager + Aether Hub + Intruder Alarm + Krosan Restorer
- 1Activate Aether Hub by paying and tapping it, adding
. - 2Activate two other mana-producing lands you control, adding at least
. - 3Activate Krosan Restorer by tapping it, untapping Aether Hub and two other lands you control.
- 4Cast Greenbelt Rampager by paying .
- 5Greenbelt Rampager enters the battlefield, triggering itself and Intruder Alarm.
- 6Resolve the Greenbelt Rampager trigger, returning it from the battlefield to your hand and causing you to get .
- 7Resolve the Intruder Alarm trigger, untapping all creatures.
- 8Repeat.
Greenbelt Rampager + Aether Hub + Intruder Alarm + Stone-Seeder Hierophant
- 1Activate Aether Hub by paying and tapping it, adding .
- 2Activate Stone-Seeder Hierophant by tapping it, untapping Aether Hub.
- 3Cast Greenbelt Rampager by paying .
- 4Greenbelt Rampager enters the battlefield, triggering itself and Intruder Alarm.
- 5Resolve the Greenbelt Rampager trigger, returning it from the battlefield to your hand and causing you to get .
- 6Resolve the Intruder Alarm trigger, untapping all creatures.
- 7Repeat.
Greenbelt Rampager + Aether Hub + Intruder Alarm + Blossom Dryad
- 1Activate Aether Hub by paying and tapping it, adding .
- 2Activate Blossom Dryad by tapping it, untapping Aether Hub.
- 3Cast Greenbelt Rampager by paying .
- 4Greenbelt Rampager enters the battlefield, triggering itself and Intruder Alarm.
- 5Resolve the Greenbelt Rampager trigger, returning it from the battlefield to your hand and causing you to get .
- 6Resolve the Intruder Alarm trigger, untapping all creatures.
- 7Repeat.
Greenbelt Rampager + Aether Hub + Intruder Alarm + Voyaging Satyr
- 1Activate Aether Hub by paying and tapping it, adding .
- 2Activate Voyaging Satyr by tapping it, untapping Aether Hub.
- 3Cast Greenbelt Rampager by paying .
- 4Greenbelt Rampager enters the battlefield, triggering itself and Intruder Alarm.
- 5Resolve the Greenbelt Rampager trigger, returning it from the battlefield to your hand and causing you to get .
- 6Resolve the Intruder Alarm trigger, untapping all creatures.
- 7Repeat.
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Meta decks with Aether Hub
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