Price$0.19 – $4.27

Path of Ancestry

Land

LegalEDHREC #14

This land enters tapped.

{T} : Add one mana of any color in your commander's color identity. When that mana is spent to cast a creature spell that shares a creature type with your commander, scry 1. (Look at the top card of your library. You may put that card on the bottom.)

KeywordsScry

Why is this card good?

Path of Ancestry is one of the most-played lands in Commander, and for good reason: it's effectively a free upgrade over a basic in any multicolored or tribal deck. The mana fixing alone justifies it — it taps for any color in your commander's identity, making it functionally a free Command Tower variant. The scry 1 is a small but real bonus that adds up over a long game, smoothing draws whenever you cast on-type creatures. It shines in tribal decks (Slivers, Elves, Dragons, Goblins, etc.) where most of your creatures share a type with your commander, so you trigger scry constantly. But even in non-tribal multicolor decks, the fixing makes it worth running over a tapland. When not to play it: the "enters tapped" clause hurts in fast/competitive builds where tempo matters, and the scry never triggers in mono-colored decks beyond fixing nothing extra — there it's strictly a worse tapland. Skip it in low-curve aggressive or cEDH lists that can't afford tapped lands.

Related cards

Command Tower

Untapped land tapping for any color in commander's identity.

Exotic Orchard

Fixing land tapping for colors based on opponents' lands.

Unclaimed Territory

Tribal land tapping any color for creature spells.

Cavern of Souls

Tribal land producing any color uncounterable for creatures.

Secluded Courtyard

Multicolor tribal land for chosen creature type.

Reflecting Pool

Land copying mana types you can already produce.

Arcane Signet

Rock producing any color in commander's identity.

Chromatic Lantern

Fixes all lands to tap for any color.

Printings (44)

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Show all 44 printings

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Played by these commanders

Tegwyll, Duke of Splendor100% of 1

Inquisitor Greyfax100% of 2

Davros, Dalek Creator100% of 1

Inalla, Archmage Ritualist100% of 1

Zimone, Infinite Analyst100% of 1

Gimbal, Gremlin Prodigy100% of 1

Disa the Restless100% of 2

Rootha, Mastering the Moment100% of 1

Bright-Palm, Soul Awakener100% of 1

Sauron, Lord of the Rings100% of 1

Rulings (7)

2023-07-28
Your commander's creature types are checked immediately after you cast a creature spell spending mana from Path of Ancestry's last ability. They aren't set before the game begins, and they may not be the same types your commander had when you activated that ability.
2023-07-28
If you have two commanders, the last ability adds one mana of any color in their combined color identities. When you spend that mana on a creature spell that shares a creature type with either of your commanders, you'll scry 1.
2020-11-10
If Path of Ancestry's last ability produces two mana (most likely due to Mana Reflection), spending those two mana to cast creature spells that share a creature type with your commander will cause two abilities to trigger. Each of those abilities will cause you to scry 1. You won't scry 2. This is true whether you spend the mana on one creature spell or two.
2020-11-10
If your commander has no creature types, it can't share a creature type with any spell that you cast.
2020-11-10
If you cast your commander with mana from Path of Ancestry, and your commander hasn't somehow lost all of its creature types while on the stack, you'll scry 1.
2020-11-10
If you don't have a commander, Path of Ancestry's ability produces no mana.
2020-11-10
If your commander is a card that has no colors in its color identity, Path of Ancestry's ability produces no mana. It doesn't produce .