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I'm new to magic so I'm looking for some deck building parameters. I wonder at what point are cards generally just to expensive to cast. I found this article interesting, though it's from 2009 so maybe things have changed. Of course it depends on the deck you're running, some quick decks might not have anything over 3 converted cost, some combo decks may manage to play very expensive cards. In my very limited experience as a casual player, 5 mana cost seems viable, 6 risky, 7 barely playable and anything over that not viable. What might be a good rule of thumb for a starting player?

There is no such thing as an impossible mana cost. The highest mana cost of an actual card is sixteen ( Draco ). That guy's cost though is variable, as is many high costing creatures (like Autochthon Wurm ). The highest without a variable cost (that's not a parody card, like Big Furry Monster) is fifteen ( Emrakul, the Aeons Torn ); then twelve Iname as One ). However, these costs aren't a solid state of their playability.

The game is very diverse and there are many elements which will accelerate the amount of mana you have by a lot. Back in the day, Mana Flare was the top card. It doubles the amount of mana each land produces. Then came Vernal Bloom , which was one sided and worked only for green. Green would later get Heartbeat of Spring and Rites of Flourishing . Each effect stacks, so the production ability doubles for each one you have out. If you had one of each out, each Forest would produce four . So with only four Forest, you'd be able to generate sixteen mana. And there are a lot cards with this effect, they make casting really high cost creatures very easy. There are some colorless examples of this as well. Extraplanar Lens and Gauntlet of Power (a variant of the olde Gauntlet of Might ). There is Doubling Cube as well. All of these run along those same lines, supercharging your ability to cast high converted mana cost creatures.

This though, is the second place method. Generally, strategies focus on single instance, short burst mana acceleration. Things like High Tide , Seething Song , and the very popular Dark Ritual . These are the most essential tools for casting high converted mana cost spells. Not all strategies revolve around casting them either. Sometimes the entire basis of a high converted mana costs spell revolves around sneaking it out onto the battlefield. Sneak Attack is a legendary tool for this. Also, things like Tinker , Show and Tell , and Natural Order are famous among really cheap players. They're very cheapskate ways of sneaking things out onto the battlefield. Another purpose can be to use the high cost for some other reason. There is a cycle of spells named "Shoals" and they can be cast for free through channeling another spell of the same color. Blazing Shoal is the most popular and you'll often see cards like Progenitus and Reaper King in decks with the only purpose to use it in combination with the Shoal spell. Other spells that play on converted mana cost are Erratic Explosion , Ancient Ooze , etc. The mana curve on decks with these tactics can get chaotic.

Now, I don't really play anymore, but I've got reasonable skill and experience. Mana curve in a nutshell plays on the game-clock. As the saying goes, the first impression is the most important. Well, the same is true for this game. The first few turns can be the more important. Keeping your curve down helps the flow of the cards so that you can gain some advantage early on in the game; either by setting up a defense, ( Angelic Wall , Wall of Earth , Wall of Ice , Wall of Air ); or getting the jump on your opponent ( Raging Goblin , Ball Lightning ); or taking full battlefield advantage ( Kird Ape , Juzam Djinn , Serra Avenger ).

Another thing about mana curve is, the lower your curve, the better you'll be able to utilize your available mana. A majority of spells in the lower tiers means you'll be able to cast more spells per turn, or over the course of a turn. Expensive spells can tap you out, and you'll be unable to respond with a counter-active spell if you need to. For example, if you cast Air Elemental on turn five, rather than Wall of Frost , you'll be totally tapped out. On your opponent's next turn, if they hit your creature with some hex spell ( Terror , Vindicate , Reprisal ), you won't be able to cast your counter-magic ( Intervene , Avoid Fate , Rebuff the Wicked ) and save it. Just another reason why keeping the curve down is helpful, because it can enable you to do more with less resources.

White-blue decks cast Iona, Shield of Emeria fairly during Standard, so I would say the maximum is nine.

Nov 18, 2012 -- 5:04AM, leo_vaca wrote:

What might be a good rule of thumb for a starting player?

This really depends on if you are playing casual or competitive. In casual, I've been able to hard cast Jin-Gitaxias, Core Auger by protecting myself with guard gomazoa s and removal. To be fair, that was actually meant to be a reanimater deck (that also had a zombie tribal theme, my decks really go all over the place) and hardcating him hapenned purely by accident. But it's still proof that it's possible.

The issue is that standard has a different speed than modern, modern has a different speed than legacy or vintage, Commander is just in a league of its own nd casual ultimately depends on your opponents.

My advise is to not have a "rule of thumb" and find what works best for you without restricting yourself.   

Nov 18, 2012 -- 6:47PM, Monoredburn wrote:

Nov 18, 2012 -- 5:30PM, Iam_IronMan wrote:

Mana cost doesn't matter if the abilities on the card are justified. Some cards would be broken even if they cost 123516516 mana.

yeah, mostly because vengeful rebirth exists.

Or even just because of the card itself. Emrakul sees a lot of play, for example, but does anyone even think twice about the mana cost? You're either cheating it into play or accellerating so ridiculously fast that it doesn't matter.