Path of Ancestry
Land
This land enters tapped.
: 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.)
- CMC
- 0
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- C
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- The List
- Price
- $0.25
- EDHREC rank
- #14
Path of Ancestry is an auto-include in every tribal Commander deck — it enters untapped, taps for any color in your commander's identity, and scries 1 whenever you cast a creature that shares a type with your commander. The one real trade-off is that it does nothing for non-tribal builds: running it in, say, Millicent, Restless Revenant pays off immediately on every Spirit you cast, but slotting it into a goodstuff pile that ignores creature types means you're playing a slower Exotic Orchard.
Where It Shines
Where the extra mana on turn one matters most
Big-mana shells like The Ur-Dragon
Five-color Dragon builds around The Ur-Dragon are exactly where Path of Ancestry earns its slot hardest — nearly every creature you cast is a Dragon, so the scry trigger fires constantly, and the land's ability to produce any color smooths out the brutal mana requirements of a WUBRG commander.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | not legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Path of Ancestry was designed for Commander and that's where it lives. Outside of the format, it's legal in Pauper, Legacy, Vintage, and Oathbreaker, but tribal synergies built around a single commander identity don't translate to 60-card formats — you'd never choose it over a basic in Legacy or Vintage. Pauper technically allows it, but the same logic applies: without a commander anchoring a creature type, the scry upside evaporates and you're left with a tap-for-one-color land that enters untapped at best. Stick to Commander and Oathbreaker, where Path of Ancestry is close to free value in any tribal shell.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.25 bulk tier
At $0.25, Path of Ancestry sits firmly in bulk territory — there's no financial barrier to picking up a copy, and its ubiquity across multiple printings means the price isn't going anywhere dramatic. It's one of the few staples where you can grab a playset for a dollar and never think about it again.
Explore
Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.