Discussion Forum

[QUOTE=olataro]whats the use of mox opal? Why is everyone so excited with it?[/QUOTE]

it's cheap, colourless mana fixing, what's not to love?

But it needs metalcraft, is it not?

[QUOTE=olataro]But it needs metalcraft, is it not?[/QUOTE]

Yes. That's to keep it from being incredibly broken.

Consider mana acceleration cards in general. Green usually gets the best deals, and has a number of options that cost only one mana, like Llanowar Elves and the excellent Birds of Paradise. These can get you above the usual one-more-land-each-turn curve quickly, which is quite valuable. Outside of green you usually have to pay at least two mana, for things like Iron Myr, Dimir Signet, Marble Diamond, etc. These are just good enough to be tempting if you have no cheaper options and you aren't keeping your mana costs very low.

Something to note about these standard options is that they don't increase your mana supply immediately. You're always down one or two mana the turn you get them, and then in subsequent turns you see profit.

Now consider Mox Opal. It costs you nothing and with metalcraft you can use it immediately. That's fantastic; with metalcraft, it vastly outshines every other mana acceleration card, and mana acceleration is a powerful tool.

That's why it needs the metalcraft limitation. Without it, it would be so good that you'd want four in every deck, period. Look up the prices of things like Mox Sapphire and Mox Pearl.

[QUOTE=olataro;15168]and whats the effect of tunnel ignus? I cant seem to get it......[/QUOTE]

It punishes your opponent for getting more than one land in a turn. It looks to me like this is mainly for hosing the landfall strategies from the Zendikar block, which encouraged the use of things like Arid Mesa and Harrow to fuel landfall effects like those of Lotus Cobra or Emeria Angel or whatever people use.

oh, I see. Lol, so the cards i get arent that worthless after all! Haha. About the effect of hellkite dragon, I can destroy all creatures with converted mana cost X? Right?

[QUOTE=olataro]About the effect of hellkite dragon, I can destroy all creatures with converted mana cost X? Right?[/QUOTE]

Steel Hellkite

Here's how it works. You attack with the Hellkite. It gets through and hits your opponent. Then you pay some amount of mana; maybe 0, maybe 3, whatever. This destroys all of your opponent's nonland permanents that have a converted mana cost equal to the amount of mana you paid.

So if you paid 0 mana, it would destroy his Memnites and his tokens from things like Myrsmith and Sword of Body and Mind (most tokens have no mana costs and thus have a converted mana cost of 0; tokens that are copies of things, like those made by Prototype Portal or Myr Propagator, have the same mana costs and thus same converted mana costs as the things of which they are copies).

If you paid 3 mana, it would destroy his Arrests and Etched Champions and whatnot.

And so on.

[QUOTE]oh, I see. Lol, so the cards i get arent that worthless after all! Haha. [/QUOTE]

The Mox is excellent (in the right deck) and I really like the Hellkite. The Deathmantle is also cool, though expensive to use. The Tunnel Ingus is pretty narrow and the Scythe is awfully pricey, but hey, if you're not going to use that Mox you could probably sell it for enough to recoup your costs, so you made out pretty well.

Mox Opal is fairly good in a Quest for the Holy Relic deck...this is what happens....

Turn 1: Plains, Quest, Ornithopter, Memnite, Mox Opal, Glint Hawk, Memnite (again).

----You now have two mana after turn 1!!---

Tunnel Ignus is good against those decks which have fetch lands. I run it and when he comes out, it makes my opponents hesitate and leave their fetch lands on the field just because they don't want to take the three damage.

Also, unless your friend got Koth, you probably don't need to be too jealous. Both Venser and Elspeth have been going down in value because they need things around them to work. Koth works just fine by himself.

I pray to god that i would get koth!!!!! lolz, how much deos mox opal sells ? I am confident i am gonna get a 2nd one.

[QUOTE=olataro]I pray to god that i would get koth!!!!! lolz, how much deos mox opal sells ? I am confident i am gonna get a 2nd one.[/QUOTE]

You should be able to. I played some Limited events for Scars of Mirrodin and got two.

Hey KaraZoe! i got Elspeth and Koth! Hahaha. my friend opened his mouth stunned, he got vencer and i got those 2. So technically we got 3 fdifferent planeswalkers in a box. Haha.I still cant believe it!

[QUOTE=Aneximines]Steel Hellkite

Here's how it works. You attack with the Hellkite. It gets through and hits your opponent. Then you pay some amount of mana; maybe 0, maybe 3

you can't pay 0 for X it has to be more than 0

no, X costs can be zero

[QUOTE=thegathered]you can't pay 0 for X it has to be more than 0[/QUOTE]

There are injunctions against choosing fractional numbers and negative numbers, but not against choosing zero. Some specific cards may disallow it, like Benalish Commander, but not the rules in general.

107. Numbers and Symbols

107.1. The only numbers the Magic game uses are integers.

^ Zero is an integer.

107.1a You can’t choose a fractional number, deal fractional damage, gain fractional life, and so on. ...

107.1b Most of the time, the Magic game uses only positive numbers and zero. You can’t choose a negative number, deal negative damage, gain negative life, and so on. ...


(digressive edit: the game does make limited use of negative integers; you can't choose them when asked to choose a number, but the game does keep track of certain values below zero, such as life totals and a creature's power and toughness:

107.1b Most of the time, the Magic game uses only positive numbers and zero. You can’t choose a negative number, deal negative damage, gain negative life, and so on. However, it’s possible for a game value, such as a creature’s power, to be less than zero. If a calculation or comparison needs to use a negative value, it does so. If a calculation that would determine the result of an effect yields a negative number, zero is used instead, unless that effect sets a player’s life total to a specific value, doubles a player’s life total, sets a creature’s power or toughness to a specific value, or otherwise modifies a creature’s power or toughness.
Example: If a 3/4 creature gets -5/-0, it’s a -2/4 creature. It assigns 0 damage in combat. Its total power and toughness is 2. You’d have to give it +3/+0 to raise its power to 1.
Example: Viridian Joiner is a 1/2 creature that says “{T}: Add an amount of {G} to your mana pool equal to Viridian Joiner’s power.” An effect gives it -2/-0, then its ability is activated. The ability adds no mana to your mana pool.

So the game does make use of the full spectrum of integers, not just the positive ones.)