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2 years ago ::
Jul 28, 2011 - 10:40PM
#11
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Date Joined:
Aug 20, 2008
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If Immolating Souleater  has a mana ability, I would need someone else to explain to me just where in the Comprehensive Rules such a strange thing could have been caused. However, the example does raise a good question. Does Pristine Talisman  really have a mana ability either? A mana ability can't be countered, because it happens too fast. When Pristine Talisman is tapped, two things happen - you add :1mana: to your mana pool, but you also gain 1 life. So it ought to be just as possible to counter that ability as it is to counter Stream of Life  . After all, otherwise, one could make a card with this kind of ability:  : Add :1mana: to your mana pool. Target creature or player receives 2 damage. In itself, this isn't really a "flaw", I suppose, since Magic is not flawed because it's possible to make a card like Black Lotus  ; one just has to restrain oneself from doing so. But the fact that this ability is uncounterable, and it is not obvious that this is so, is what I see as a potential problem if this area of design space does get explored... even if more carefully than in my example.
Coming up with weird ideas to make everyone happy since 2008! I have now started a blog as an appropriate place to put my crazy ideas.
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2 years ago ::
Jul 28, 2011 - 11:17PM
#12
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Date Joined:
Aug 13, 2001
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So it ought to be just as possible to counter that ability as it is to counter Stream of Life . After all, otherwise, one could make a card with this kind of ability:
: Add :1mana: to your mana pool. Target creature or player receives 2 damage.
No, you can't. Anything with a target is not a mana ability. And Tom, to his credit, did mention that in the article.
If it was felt that gaining one life was an effect that needed to be capable of being responded to, they would make that, too, targeted - that is the entire point of targeting.
However, I do wish he hadn't oversimplified what it takes to be a mana ability. While he did specifically mention the point about targeting, someone is going to walk away from the article thinking that Cathodion  and more importantly Koth of the Hammer  have mana abilities. If he had just said "nontargeted abilities that can produce mana (with a couple of nitpicky exceptions that aren't important here)", people encountering those cards would at least be alive to the possibility that those are the sorts of "exceptions" he meant.
Jeff Heikkinen
DCI Rules Advisor since Dec 25, 2011
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2 years ago ::
Jul 28, 2011 - 11:19PM
#13
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Date Joined:
Jul 21, 2011
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Mons Johnson is now my hero. Seriously, if green is going to be constantly pigeonholed as the "creature color" and blue's major weakness is it's poor creatures, then why does blue keep getting great aggro critters and fatties on par with green Frost Titan  ? I love the phantoms from a 'cool' perspective but they suck in terms of design Edit: I also love Matt Talak. Same reason
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2 years ago ::
Jul 28, 2011 - 11:50PM
#14
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Date Joined:
Nov 23, 2009
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"30 Helens Agree..."
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2 years ago ::
Jul 29, 2011 - 1:20AM
#15
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Date Joined:
Nov 29, 2007
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 the poll, and Reassembling Skeleton  . I voted for Matt Tabak. This thing should be broken! Compare: Hawk - 1W 1/1 Some cute rules text. Skeleton - 1B 1/1 Some cute rules text. I would've bet on the Skeleton being constucted-worthy. Boy have I learned something! Reasons why the skeleton should be awesome: 1) Super Johnny combo piece! Potentially unlimited EtB triggers or bodies. 2) Doesn't die to most discard, counter magic, or creature removal. 3) A graveyard-based card which can dodge GY hate by jumping out of the yard! 4) It does something fairly useful when your combo is not assembled. (Unlike, say, Grindstone  .) But yet, I can't break it. ;_;
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2 years ago ::
Jul 29, 2011 - 1:26AM
#16
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Date Joined:
Oct 11, 2007
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But yet, I can't break it. ;_;
Contamination  . You're welcome.
blah blah metal lyrics
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2 years ago ::
Jul 29, 2011 - 7:51AM
#17
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Date Joined:
Apr 25, 2010
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50% of players approve of the titans? That's interesting. I don't even know what to make of it, but it's interesting.
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2 years ago ::
Jul 29, 2011 - 9:13AM
#18
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Date Joined:
Jul 30, 2004
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My answer to the poll would have been "All three are right"
M:tG Rules Advisor
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2 years ago ::
Jul 29, 2011 - 9:43AM
#19
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If Immolating Souleater has a mana ability, I would need someone else to explain to me just where in the Comprehensive Rules such a strange thing could have been caused.
What he means is that many think an activated ability with mana in the activation cost is a 'mana ability'.
50% of players approve of the titans? That's interesting. I don't even know what to make of it, but it's interesting.
Not necessarily, many voted yes purely out of secondary market price concerns. If they exist, they might as well exist in plenty.
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2 years ago ::
Jul 29, 2011 - 12:35PM
#20
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Reassembling Skeleton makes far more sense to me than any regeneration creature ever has, both flavor-wise and mechanics-wise. Yeah, did seem a little short, and didn't really get into anything too controversial. I usually like these types of articles, but this one didn't really do anything for me this time.
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