"Cloud Key" is a colorless artifact printed as a rare for the Magic the Gathering expansion set known as "Future Sight." This is one of the most interesting and useful artifacts that I have seen. In this respect, Cloud Key is a type of card that seems to be versatile in just about any deck for the most part. If you are playing an extended deck or an EDH (Elder Dragon Highlander) deck, the Cloud Key could be a very useful artifact to have.

The converted mana cost for Cloud Key is three. You will need three mana of any color to bring Cloud Key onto the battlefield. For what Cloud Key can do, the three mana is well worth it. That is if you can get Cloud Key onto the battlefield early enough. Keep in mind that Cloud Key is an artifact and is susceptible to anything and everything that goes after artifacts. A simple spell such as "Disenchant" or "Naturalize" would do the job of taking out the Cloud Key.

What does Cloud Key do in the first place?

When Cloud Key enters the battlefield, you can pick an artifact spell, an enchantment spell, a creature spell, or a sorcery spell. Whatever the type you pick, it will cost one less colorless mana to play the spell of the certain type. Keep in mind this only works on spells that have colorless mana costs. In this respect, a spell that costs one white mana and one colorless mana would only cost one white mana. If a spell costs two green mana, the spell's cost is still two green mana.

So far, it does not seem much to reduce a spell's cost by one colorless mana. However, it does go a long way. This frees up your mana. This would leave you an extra mana to use for an additional spell. Say that you decided to use an instant spell that costs one green and one colorless, you only have to spend the one green on it. Say if you have another instant spell that costs one white and one colorless, you only have to pay the white mana. If you picked the instant spell type for Cloud Key, the costs of both of your instant spells have been reduced by one colorless mana.

In a typical extended deck, you could have two or three of these Cloud Key cards on the battlefield. Being able to reduce the costs of spells by two or three colorless mana is always a good thing. You get to bring out your cards faster. More importantly, it frees up your mana. Being able to have mana open is always a good thing.

Say that you have two "Blightning"cards in your hand and only have enough mana to play one of them, Cloud Key could very much enables you to play both of them. That is if you picked sorcery spells. If you did, the mana cost for both Blightning cards would be reduced by one colorless mana.

Overall, Cloud Key seems to be a great artifact as it reduces costs by one colorless mana for the type of card that you pick. In an extended or EDH format, this seems to be a good card to use.

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