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Training Grounds

Enchantment

Activated abilities of creatures you control cost {2} less to activate. This effect can't reduce the mana in that cost to less than one mana.

CMC
1
Mana cost
{U}
Color identity
U
Rarity
rare
Set
March of the Machine: The Aftermath
Price
$8.93
EDHREC rank
#1067
Buy on TCGplayer
Training Grounds card art
Training Grounds cuts the activation cost of any creature ability by up to two generic mana, and in the right shell that discount compounds every single turn. A one-mana enchantment that makes Thrasios, Triton Hero // Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful cost two instead of four is format-warping; the fact that it also turns Faerie Mastermind's flash-draw into a one-drop is almost a bonus.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Thrasios, Triton HeroYoshimaru, Ever Faithful

Thrasios, Triton Hero // Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful

79.9% of decks · synergy 0.78

Thrasios, Triton Hero // Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful's activated ability normally costs four mana, so Training Grounds cuts that to two — that's the difference between activating once per turn cycle and going infinite with any mana-positive loop.

02
Etrata, Deadly Fugitive

Etrata, Deadly Fugitive

79.5% of decks · synergy 0.76

Etrata, Deadly Fugitive uses cloak activations and crew-style abilities that stack up in mana quickly; Training Grounds trims enough off each activation that the deck can chain them in a single turn rather than rationing across multiple.

03
Kenessos, Priest of Thassa

Kenessos, Priest of Thassa

75.6% of decks · synergy 0.72

Kenessos, Priest of Thassa's scry-and-cheat ability is the deck's engine, and Training Grounds shaving two off that cost means you're firing it on turn two instead of turn four and spending leftover mana on interaction.

04
Gogo, Master of Mimicry

Gogo, Master of Mimicry

78.5% of decks · synergy 0.71

Gogo, Master of Mimicry leans on repeated copy activations that get expensive fast; Training Grounds makes each copy cheaper, which directly increases how many times Gogo can fire in a single turn.

05
Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci

74.3% of decks · synergy 0.67

Leonardo da Vinci generates and uses Construct tokens through activated abilities, and Training Grounds compresses the mana requirement enough that the whole artifact-assembly engine runs a full turn earlier.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

FormatVerdict
commander legal
legacy legal
modern legal
pioneer legal
standard not legal
vintage legal
pauper not legal
oathbreaker legal

Commander is where Training Grounds is genuinely broken — creature-based activated abilities are everywhere in the format, and a one-mana enchantment that discounts them by two is a staple in any blue deck built around a commander with a tap or cost ability. In Legacy and Vintage it sees fringe play in specific combo shells, mostly those abusing zero- or one-mana activations to generate unbounded value, but it's far from a format staple in those contexts. Modern and Pioneer have the card legal but the honest truth is Training Grounds rarely appears there — the activated-ability creatures in those formats don't demand the discount the way Commander commanders do. For Oathbreaker it's the same story as Commander in miniature: if your planeswalker's plus or minus ability has a creature-synergy engine underneath it, Training Grounds earns its slot.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Budget Alternatives

Cheaper options that do most of the same work

No single card replicates Training Grounds exactly, but Biomancer's Familiar fills the same role for green-blue decks at a similar or lower price point — it's a creature instead of an enchantment, which makes it easier to tutor and harder to keep alive. If your commander's ability costs exactly three, Heartstone hits the same discount and costs under a dollar, though it buffs opponents' creatures too, which is the trade-off Training Grounds completely avoids.

Price Context

Current price

$8.93 mid tier

At $8.93, Training Grounds sits in the mid tier — not a budget pickup, but not a barrier to entry either. It's a card with consistent demand across Commander, Legacy, and any format where creature-ability engines exist, so the price reflects real utility rather than hype.

Explore

Sources

Mentioned

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Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.