Last updated on October 16, 2025
Forsaken Monument | Illustration by Piotr Dura
Monuments are used to convey history and religion, and each MTG plane has its own lore and worldbuilding. Some of them contain living gods like Amonkhet, and there are bound to be big artifacts representing or drawing power from them.
Today I take a look at some cool cards from MTG’s history. These are Monuments to the power of gods and greatness. Phyrexia: All Will be One added one Monument dedicated to the glory of Phyrexia, so you might call our list compleat.
Let’s see the Monuments and the gods they pay homage to!
What Are Monument Cards in MTG?
Kolaghan Monument | Illustration by Daniel Ljunggren
The Monument cards are artifacts that represent a divinity or comparable being in a plane of MTG. Examples include the dragons on the plane of Tarkir which were revered as gods, the gods of the Amonkhet plane which are related to the five colors of mana, and the Eldrazi on Zendikar which are also god-like creatures.
These Monuments benefit a certain kind of strategy, and most of them are build-around cards. Oketra's Monument is an important piece in a white weenie or go-wide strategy while Forsaken Monument rewards you for playing colorless creatures.
Almost all Monuments have some sort of mana-producing or -reducing abilities. The Tarkir Monuments are mana rocks of a sort, the Amonkhet ones reduce mana requirement for spells in their colors, and the Zendikar Monument dedicated to the Eldrazi pumps your colorless-producing abilities from mana rocks.
Honorable Monuments
These monuments don't quite fit our definition of structures that pay homage to a divine being. Monumental Henge just wants you to read your history textbook, and can be valuable card advantage in white decks that use historic permanents. Forgotten Monument is a card you can care about if you need your caves to be pain lands, and Rampaging Monument is fine as a midrange creature payoff for multicolor matters decks.
#12. The 5 Dragons of Tarkir Monuments
All these cards are fundamentally equal. They’re 3-cost mana rocks that produce mana of two different colors and give you a 4/4 flying dragon until end of turn for six mana. I can’t say that Kolaghan Monument is necessarily better than Dromoka Monument as it depends on the color identity of your deck.
That said, there are much better mana rocks available. I’d only play them if you’re playing a commander that has dragon synergies, or at least flying buffs.
#11. The 5 Tarkir: Dragonstorm Monuments
Abzan Monument, Jeskai Monument, and Mardu Monument are three of the monuments to the 3-color clans of Tarkir: Dragonstorm. Each monument grabs you the basic land you need and can be cracked for an on-theme creature token. The cost is a bit below rate, but pretty much replaces itself. The mana fixing matters more to Jeskai and Mardu, while the decks that leverage tokens or bounce the artifact back to your hand for extra land searches do really well.
#10. Monument to Perfection
Monument to Perfection is a costly one that plays like a Tron card. You assemble specific pieces like spheres and locus cards (The Monumental Facade and Cloudpost come to mind) and build up to the 9/9 with toxic which is a big payoff, but a ton of work. It's a bummer, yet appropriate that Forgotten Monument would not count.
Getting the five basic lands is no simple task. Some players on team Phyrexia love this one but in general, I call it clunky.
#9. Kefnet’s Monument
Kefnet's Monument makes all blue creatures cheaper, but its effect isn’t that great. You also need a blue creature-centric deck for it to be good, like wizard tribal. Some more obscure blue EDH tribal decks like sphinxes that can benefit from the ramp would also work.
#8. Bontu’s Monument
Bontu's Monument is a bleeder card that also makes your black creatures cheaper. It has a home in lots of black and Orzhov () decks interested in the effect.
#7. Hazoret’s Monument
Hazoret's Monument has something good going on for it, and that’s the loot ability. Some good red and Rakdos () commanders are based on madness and discard effects, so you have an interesting effect tacked on creature cost reduction.
#6. Riverchurn Monument
Riverchurn Monument is a powerful mill card. The cost is nice and low, but the exhaust ability will simply destroy some libraries with little extra work. Of course, if you made sure to Traumatize the player first, it's game over.
#5. Rhonas’s Monument
Probably the best place for Rhonas's Monument is in a green aggro deck filled to the brim with 4/4s and 5/5s. It gives them trample so you can hit extra hard.
This Monument is playable in mono green EDH and Explorer/Pioneer decks alike. And green decks have no shortage of big creatures to ramp into.
#4. Oketra’s Monument
Oketra's Monument is a nice boost for go-wide strategies thanks to its capacity to produce extra 1/1 tokens. It’s sometimes played by white weenie decks in Explorer, especially against spot removal since it produces lots of bodies.
#3. Monument to Endurance
Monument to Endurance is one of the coolest discard payoffs ever and has three modes you'd love to trigger every turn. WotC continually releases cards that discard, so this investment turns into so much value with casual use of mechanics like cycling, mayhem, and wheels.
#2. Eldrazi Monument
Eldrazi Monument gives your creatures flying and indestructible. You can win the game on the spot using sweepers or just by protecting your creatures.
It’s best used in Commander decks that can easily produce tokens like Rhys the Redeemed since you need to be producing creatures, but it also works in decks where you want to give your commander extra protection from removal. Adeline, Resplendent Cathar want to hit hard, enjoys the indestructibility, makes a token, and flies for the win via commander damage.
#1. Forsaken Monument
Forsaken Monument sees play in colorless creature decks filled with artifacts usually in Explorer/Pioneer, not to mention colorless EDH decks. It’s a good Karn, the Great Creator tutor target.
It also works well with Ugin, the Ineffable since it produces 4/4s instead of 2/2s. And it potentializes mana rocks by doubling their mana output.
Best Monument Payoffs
There’s no linear strategy that benefits from Monuments the most. It varies from card to card so it’s hard to point out a payoff for playing them.
Each color has one so you can definitely play Oketra's Monument in white weenie strategies and benefit from cost reduction and extra bodies. Rhonas's Monument, on the other hand, works better with big creatures (without evasion) since it gives trample.
Monuments are better abused in mono-color strategies since most of them are tied to a color (or lack of).
Spire of Industry and Thopter Spy Network, are just two simple examples of cards that care if you control an artifact, so even if the only one you play is a Monument, you can benefit. There's a host of cards from Neon Dynasty that care about you controlling an enchantment and an artifact such as Soul Transfer, and a monument gets you halfway there.
Virtually all of these Monuments are artifacts, though some are legendary, so there's a limitation on the benefit, but affinity is a strategy that really appreciates history. Refurbished Familiar, Emry, Lurker of the Loch, and Sami, Wildcat Captain are examples of popular cards that feed on affinity for artifacts.
Wrap Up
Rhonas's Monument | Illustration by Cliff Childs
Eldrazi, gods, clans, big dragons and ideals; all have Monuments built to them by the humble mortals and servants. Who knows, maybe WotC will build more Monuments in to planes for praetors or other god-like creatures. Will there be people to pay homage? Only time will tell.
What do you think of the Monuments in MTG? What sort of character do you think deserves a Monument? Let me know in the comments or join the discussion in the Draftsim Discord.
Thank you for paying your respects, reading, and keeping it here for all things Magic!
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