Ramp-Permanent

Mana Rocks-

Mana Rocks refer to artifacts that tap for mana, with Sol Ring being the posterchild. These are usually played early in the game, during the initial development stages. For the most part, they don’t add to the board, but they do enable big, offset missing land drops, and skip stages of development. Rocks like Monuments and Keyrunes can animate into creatures, enabling you to continue pressuring after a board wipe. These are particularly useful in decks built around the Monarch or Initiative mechanics.

Mana Dorks-

Mana Dorks refer to creatures that tap to add mana to your mana pool, operating like summoning-sick extra lands. On the positive side, they help ramp into Overrun effects and then attack with the pump. On the negative side, they get swept away with all of the other creatures in a board wipe, setting their controller back. “Bolt the Bird”, referring to the strategy of using Lightning Bolts on Birds of Paradise, so they can’t power out stronger plays, is one of the more frequently-quoted Magic idioms.

Mana Fixing-

Mana Fixing refers to changing the colors permanents make, rather than adding more mana. This helps 4-5 color decks, which need to cast their regular spells on time and can’t afford to be fighting their lands. Cards like Prismatic Omen and Joiner Adept don’t actually add mana, but they do enable your lands to cast spells they otherwise couldn’t.

Cost Reducers-

Cost Reducers can be Artifacts, like Mana Rocks, Enchantments, or Creatures, like Mana Dorks. They reduce the cost of spells, which works well the more spells you want to cast in a turn. These include Medallions, Familiars, and Goblin Electromancer and Anarchmancer, often enabling storm decks. Cloud Key effects and the Affinity mechanic can also create big Artifact boards!