what is mana curve?
General forum
Posted on July 1, 2016, 4:43 p.m. by obsessedngreen99
could someone please give an in detail explanation on what mana curve is? Any answers would be really appreciated.
Epochalyptik says... #3
This thread was moved to a more appropriate forum(auto-generated comment)
July 1, 2016 6:05 p.m.
aeonstoremyliver says... #4
On TMBRLZ's note, your land count should be reflective of your curve. If you curve out at 3 CMC, 18-20 lands is sufficient. At 4-5 CMC 20-23 is enough. At 6+ CMC or you're a land based or control deck, 24+ lands is sufficient.
For example, I play Burn/RDW in Modern and Legacy, where my curve tops out with very few 3 CMC spells, so I play 19 lands. I play Abzan in Legacy where my curve is 3-5 CMC ish, so my land count is 22. In Modern, Abzan is 23 lands. Mono 
12 Post in Legacy is 26. Mana dorks and accelerators such as Birds of Paradise, Noble Hierarch, Deathrite Shaman, Mox Opal, Mox Diamond, Lotus Petal, Simian Spirit Guide, etc. can reduce your overall land count, as they can 'count' as mana sources.
You should also pay attention to the amount of colored producing lands you have in your deck vs the colored spells in your deck, if playing more than one color. For example:
I'm playing a /
Aggro deck with 20 creatures, 20 spells, and 20 lands. 8 creatures are green, 6 creatures are red, and 6 creatures are both red and green. So we have, 14 green and 12 red. My spells have 12 red, 4 green, and 4 that are both red and green. So we have 16 red and 8 green. To add that, we have a total of 22 green and 28 red. We divide that in half (rounded up) to dictate how many mana sources we need to make our deck function: 11 green and 14 red.
Now, there may be some colorless lands like Kessig Wolf Run, Ghost Quarter, etc. that shouldn't exceed greater than 4 in number. With that, it's obvious that we can't have 25+ lands in this deck, so we note that red had more than green and needs more sources. So the mana base would look like such:
2x Arid Mesa
3x Mountain
2x Forest
To be Mana Screwed is the worst thing ever, as your mana base is THE most important piece of the game. Hence why ABUR duals are so expensive. Being on the Reserve List also helps, but I digress. Mana curve and mana base are essential components to designing an efficient deck. Consistency is another. Epoch has some articles on his page that I suggest you take a gander at that delve deep into the subject of deck building.
July 2, 2016 1:41 a.m.
Femme_Fatale says... #5
It is also important to note that many cards CMC is not what is actually portrayed on the card. An excellent example is Snapcaster Mage, as you almost never play it alone, and always cast another spell, making him range from 3-5 mana. Some other decks might have Lingering Souls only ever be 2 cmc, as they frequently discard it to Liliana of the Veil. Reanimator targets and spells with alternate casting costs will generally have a varied cmc that is not what is portrayed on them.
July 2, 2016 5:19 a.m.
aeonstoremyliver says... #6
Good call Femme! See also Force of Will, Fireblast, Invigorate, etc. Those, and Femme's aforementioned Reanimator targets like Griselbrand, can definitely make your curve appear larger than what it actually is.
TMBRLZ says... #2
A mana curve is quite literally the shape of your mana base when placed out on a bar graph. It is used more casually as a generic term for the layout and average mana cost of a deck.
When you look at a deck on tappeodut, you'll notice on the right a bar graph that looks at and lays out the number of cards that cost different amounts of CMC (Converted Mana Cost) in the deck.
The shape that graph makes is the "curve."
You ideally want to have a steady downward curve, starting high in the 2's and 3's and then moving downward progressively as you get to higher CMC cards. This essentially guarantees your deck is more playable.
The curve term is also used generically to recognize how far out your mana costs stretch. Like I said it's a generic term to recognize the average cost as well. The more higher mana cost cards and the farther out those costs go, the "higher" your curve is.
Hope that helps.
July 1, 2016 4:48 p.m.