How do wastes work?
Asked by Redcat7264 6 years ago
If my commander is blue could I play something like Kozilek, the Great Distorion, or does wastes make it so it doesnt work? And also can I use any mana or colorless mana to pay or does it have to be a waste
WillowtheCouncil says... #2
Any land that produces mana, such as Wastes, that isn't colored is colorless mana. For instance, Wastes produces . Older cards, like Kessig Wolf Run that were printed before the new colorless mana update are printed like "Add to your mana pool". If it's being added to your mana pool, then it reads like "Add to your mana pool."
Kozilek is colorless, and so you can play it in a Blue commander deck. The in Kozilek, the Great Distortion's mana cost must be paid for by colorless mana, such as from Wastes or from Academy Ruins.
So answering your question, you can use any colorless mana to pay for Kozilek's .
ClockworkSwordfish says... Accepted answer #1
Wastes are interesting in that they count as basic lands, just as Forest, Islands or Mountains would, but they make colorless mana. That said, they don't have a basic land type. This can be seen as the type land of a Swamp says "Basic Land - Swamp", but on Wastes it just says basic land. Generally this won't mean much (Rampant Growth can still grab Wastes, for instance) but occasionally it will (Myriad Landscape cannot grab two Wastes since they have no land type to share.) In commander, any deck can use Wastes. Since it does make colorless mana (just like Sol Ring, say) there's no off-color mana symbol to worry about.
The thing about Kozilek, the Great Distortion and a lot of other Eldrazi is that he requires colorless mana. You'll notice his mana cost has two elements - the "generic mana" (the ) and the two colorless mana ( .) The generic can be paid with anything - blue or colorless, in your case, but the two have to be paid by colorless, whether from Wastes or Sol Ring or even a Ipnu Rivulet. I hope that clears it up for you!
April 7, 2018 4:09 p.m.