Reflecting Pool 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
: Add one mana of any type that a land you control could produce.
Complete guide
Reflecting Pool is a powerhouse land that scales with your board state, offering incredible color fixing for multi-colored decks. Unlike many lands, it doesn't have a fixed color; instead, it looks at your other lands to determine its potential. It is a staple in formats like Commander where having access to all your colors as early as possible is vital.
What Reflecting Pool Does
Reflecting Pool has a single activated ability that produces one mana of any type that a land you control could produce. The 'types' of mana in Magic are white, blue, black, red, green, and colorless. It is important to note that this land checks the potential output of your other lands, not what they are currently capable of doing this exact moment.
How it Resolves Step by Step
When you activate the ability, the game checks all mana-producing abilities of lands you control. It looks for the colors or colorless mana those lands are capable of generating. It ignores costs (like paying life) or activation requirements (like controlling an artifact). Once the set of possible types is determined, you choose one and add that mana to your pool. If your other lands cannot produce any mana, or if you only control other Reflecting Pools with no other mana sources, it will produce nothing.
Common Mistakes and Nuances
A common misconception is that Reflecting Pool copies 'restrictions' or 'riders' from other lands. For example, if a land produces mana that can only be used for legendary spells, Reflecting Pool produces that same color but without any restriction on how you spend it. Additionally, Reflecting Pool checks for mana 'types,' so if a land produces colorless mana, Reflecting Pool can also produce colorless mana.
When to Play It
Reflecting Pool is best utilized in decks with three or more colors. It serves as a perfect companion to 'rainbow' lands like Command Tower. It is also excellent in decks running lands with high utility but steep activation costs, as the Pool bypasses those costs to give you the color you need for free.
Interaction examples
Command TowerIf you control both lands and your commander's color identity is Blue and Green, Command Tower can produce Blue or Green. Reflecting Pool sees these two potential types and can therefore be tapped to add either one Blue or one Green mana to your mana pool.
Exotic OrchardIf your opponent controls a Mountain and you control Exotic Orchard and Reflecting Pool, your Exotic Orchard can produce Red mana. Because your Orchard has the potential to produce Red, your Reflecting Pool can also be tapped to produce Red mana, even if you don't personally control any Mountains.
If Reflecting Pool is the only land you control, or if your only other lands are also Reflecting Pools, they have no 'base' mana type to look at. In this scenario, tapping Reflecting Pool will result in zero mana being added to your mana pool.
Guide written with AI from the official text and rulings. Official English text prevails.
How it works : Reflecting Pool
Original English text — Wizards of the Coast / Scryfall
- #1· Wizards of the Coast
Reflecting Pool’s ability checks the effects of all mana-producing abilities of lands you control, but it doesn’t check their costs or legality. For example, Spire of Industry says “
, Pay 1 life: Add one mana of any color. Activate only if you control an artifact.” If you control Spire of Industry and Reflecting Pool, you can tap Reflecting Pool for any color of mana. It doesn’t matter whether you control an artifact, whether you can pay 1 life, or whether Spire of Industry is untapped.No other card is named in this ruling.
- #2· Wizards of the Coast
Multiple Reflecting Pools won’t help each other produce mana. If you control a Reflecting Pool, and all other lands you control either lack mana abilities or are other Reflecting Pools, you may still activate Reflecting Pool’s ability—it just won’t produce any mana.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #3· Wizards of the Coast
Any change to a land’s type or abilities gained by a land can affect the types of mana a land can produce.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #4· Wizards of the Coast
The types of mana are white, blue, black, red, green, and colorless.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #5· Wizards of the Coast
Reflecting Pool’s ability doesn’t care about any restrictions or riders your lands put on the mana they produce, such as those of Plaza of Heroes or Power Depot. It just produces one mana of the appropriate type, with no restrictions or riders.
No other card is named in this ruling.
Legal formats
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Meta decks with Reflecting Pool
No archived Top 8 deck with this card yet.