Devoid in MTG: Rules, History, and FAQ

Last updated on December 26, 2024

Eldrazi Displacer | Illustration by Daarken

Magic has plenty of forever mechanics, the evergreen abilities you see in every Magic set and recognize at a glance. Then it has its objectively bad mechanics, like daybound/nightbound and ante. But there’s a third category of mechanics that lies somewhere in between, neither super offensive nor very memorable. That’s where devoid lives, in the literal void of forgettable Magic mechanics.

Devoid’s not as black and white as it seems. In fact, it’s no color at all, and basically devoid of practical use in Magic. Still, you’ll encounter devoid cards on occasion, so it helps to know exactly what’s going on with this flavor ability. Let’s see if we can pull anything interesting out of this bland mechanic, and sorry in advance for all the colorful language.

How Does Devoid Work?

Inverter of Truth | Illustration by Chase Stone

Simply put, devoid makes a card colorless, regardless of the mana symbols that appear in its mana cost. It’s what’s called a CDA, or characteristic-defining ability, which means it takes effect regardless of what zone the card appears in. Catacomb Sifter is colorless on the battlefield, on the stack, in your library, etc.

Devoid doesn’t really do anything; it simply changes the way a card might interact with others. For example, a devoid creature won’t be sacrificed to an All Is Dust. Outside specific colorless/non-colorless interactions, devoid is mostly negligible text that mostly exists for Eldrazi-related flavor reasons.

The History of Devoid in MTG

Devoid debuted in 2015’s Battle for Zendikar and also featured prominently in the follow-up set, Oath of the Gatewatch. This 2-set block was focused on the Zendikar plane and the battle against the Eldrazi menace, and devoid was introduced as a way to make archetypal cards that still played into the overarching colorless themes of the set. Thanks to devoid, designers were able to create cards that were true to their share of the color pie but have them play with more wide-reaching colorless-matters payoffs.

Devoid was negatively received, mostly due to how forgettable it was, and remained absent from new sets until Modern Horizons 3 in 2024. This set heavily featured the Eldrazi once again and warranted a return of the devoid mechanic.

Does Devoid Change Mana Cost?

Devoid has no bearing on a card’s mana cost. It neither increases nor decreases the amount or colors of mana necessary to cast a spell.

It’s worth noting that some cards like Herald of Kozilek and Ugin, the Ineffable can reduce the costs of colorless spells. These effects will decrease the cost of devoid spells, regardless of what other colors appear in their mana costs.

Does Devoid Make a Card’s Color Identity Colorless?

Devoid has no effect on color identity. It only affects the colors of a card, but color identity is determined by the actual mana symbols that appear on cards. For example, Eldrazi Displacer can be played in decks that include white in their commander’s color identity, but the color identity must include white to make Displacer a viable option.

Similarly, Command Tower can add any color of mana if your commander is Ulalek, Fused Atrocity. Ulalek is a 5-color commander and as such has all five colors in its color identity, but since it's devoid it has no actual colors when it’s in play, in the command zone, etc.

Are Devoid Cards Considered Artifacts?

Devoid doesn’t change anything about a card other than its colors. A devoid card isn’t an artifact unless it includes “artifact” in its type line, which would be pretty pointless for most colorless artifacts anyway. There are currently zero artifacts with devoid, but I suppose they could create artifacts that have devoid and specific color requirements in their mana costs.

Is a Card with Devoid Colorless on the Stack? How About in All Zones?

A card with devoid is a colorless card at all times, in any zone. It’s colorless while it’s in play, while it’s not in play, while it’s on the stack, and so forth.

What If a Spell or Ability Changes a Devoid Card’s Color?

Short answer: Changing a devoid card’s color results in it successfully becoming the appropriate colors. It’ll still technically has the devoid ability, but the color-changing effect “overwrites” it being colorless, so to speak.

If you cast Crimson Wisps on Inverter of Truth, it’ll become a red creature, it’ll interact with anything that affects red creatures, and it stops interacting with anything that affects colorless creatures.

This is a complicated layers interaction that’s not really worth all the trouble of going into. Suffice to say that the layer where color-changing abilities apply is checked later than the initial layer where characteristic-defining abilities are checked, and later layers trump earlier layers.

How Does Devoid Work in Commander?

Devoid doesn’t do anything special in Commander that it wouldn’t do elsewhere. It doesn’t change the way deckbuilding works from a color identity perspective: The colored mana pips on devoid cards must still match the color identity of your commander. In gameplay, they’re colorless cards the same way they would be in any other format.

How Does Devoid Work With Devotion?

Devotion does check the mana symbols of your devoid permanents. Devotion cards don’t care what the actual colors of your cards are, just the mana symbols that appear in their casting costs. Mindmelter adds one to your devotion to blue and one to your devotion to black.

When Should I Use Devoid?

Even though devoid doesn’t really do anything in gameplay, there are a couple reasons you might want to seek out devoid cards specifically. The most obvious reason is that you’re playing a deck where colorless cards matter to some extent. Maybe you’re a deck that runs Forsaken Monument or It That Heralds the End but isn’t entirely colorless. Devoid creatures reap the benefits of these cards despite their mana costs.

Devoid cards can also give certain decks an out to specific protection cards in Constructed metas. This doesn’t happen often, but if you’re keen on playing mono-red in Modern, and you keep running into people with sideboard Sanctifier en-Vecs, you might consider a few copies of Reality Hemorrhage for your own sideboard. Despite having red in its mana cost, Reality Hemorrhage is a colorless spell that can target creatures with protection from red.

Decklist: Dummy Thicc Devoid in Modern

Tide Drifter | Illustration by Daarken

Okay, I’m coming at you with a little bit of nonsense with this decklist. This is a Collected Company deck with 26 possible hits, and it also leans entirely on the card Assault Formation to turn your high-toughness Eldrazi creatures into actual beaters. The deck’s not even remotely competitive in any real tournament setting, but I played something similar to decent (and amusing) success while many of these cards were legal in Standard.

The devoid creatures get to capitalize on the incredible power of Eldrazi Temple, and Corrupted Crossroads ties all the mana requirements together. You also have cards like It That Heralds the End and Herald of Kozilek to interact with devoid/colorless cards, though Vile Aggregate’s ability is a bit of a wash while Assault Formation’s in play.

This deck is wildly fun, if a little non-competitive. But at the very least it’s a fine showcase of how to build around the devoid mechanic, if that’s something you want to do for some reason.

Wrap Up

Blinding Drone | Illustration by Lake Hurwitz

Congrats! You’re now a certified expert on a mechanic that’s very unlikely to ever matter in your games. If you’re playing Modern Horizons 3 Limited or you bought the 5-color Eldrazi Commander precon, you’re probably going to encounter circumstances where devoid does matter, but for everyone else, it’s just a word on cards that doesn’t carry much weight.

And that’s okay! Not every mechanic in Magic needs to be the new trample, or flashback, and the Eldrazi gods know we don’t need any new kicker variants. Devoid’s not getting a thumbs up from me, but I’m not booing it offstage either. It gets a slight nod of the head, and we move on with our lives.

Have you found any good uses for devoid cards in your decks? Do you want to see more of it in the future, or do you have ideas for how to make it more interesting? Let me know in the comments below or over in the Draftsim Discord or on Draftsim's Twitter/X.

Thank you for making Draftsim your #1 stop for all things Magic!