Mana acceleration

Mana acceleration is Magic: The Gathering jargon for the concept of accelerating one's mana base, thereby enabling one to gain as much mana as quickly as possible, often in order to play a Finisher. By using mana acceleration, players tend to exchange their card advantage to gain tempo.

Without mana acceleration combo decks suffer immensely.

Mana acceleration can work in several different ways:

• Mana accelerators may be non-land permanents that produce mana by tapping. Llanowar Elves is perhaps the archetypal mana accelerator: Playing a Forest and Llanowar Elves on your first turn and another forest on your second allows you to play a more expensive card on your second turn than you would have without the elf. The Moxen are the most powerful example of this type.
• Some cards enact mana acceleration by producing a one-off effect that adds a quick rush of mana to your mana pool. Dark Ritual and Black Lotus are the best-known examples.
• Mana acceleration also covers cards that reduce casting costs, such as Stone Calendar or the Affinity mechanic.
• Cards that fetch lands from your deck, such as Rampant Growth or Land Tax, and put them into your hand or play also speed up mana production.

Most mana acceleration cards are green, but red and black have received numerous mana accel cards as well. Artifacts are useful for mana acceleration as well (Black Lotus, Sol Ring, the Moxen, etc.).