Please explain Lion's Eye Diamond.
Asked by ABadMagicPlayer100 8 years ago
The question says it all: I am confused as to why Lion's Eye Diamond would ever be good. I would appreciate example scenarios as well as how the card actually functions - I don't quite understand the timing of when you would want to activate it.
Epochalyptik says... Accepted answer #2
The Q&A is not the place to ask how, strategically, to use a card. Rules questions address just that: the rules.
Lion's Eye Diamond has a mana ability that has a timing restriction. This is a very rare thing, but it follows both the rules for mana abilities and the timing restriction specified.
In order to activate Lion's Eye Diamond's ability, you must have priority. This means that, unlike most other mana abilities, Lion's Eye Diamond's ability cannot be activated during the casting process for a spell, the activation process for an activated ability, or the resolution of a triggered ability involving an optional cost. Consequently, you cannot use Lion's Eye Diamond's ability to pay for a spell that you would cast from your hand, as you must announce the spell first and therefore surrender priority for the duration of the casting process.
When Lion's Eye Diamond's ability is activated, it resolves immediately because it is a mana ability. Its effects occur before any player can take any other actions. You discard your hand to activate the ability, and then you immediately add three mana of any one color to your mana pool. For this reason, you cannot float mana using Lion's Eye Diamond's ability and then cast a spell from your hand; you'll have to discard before you get priority to announce the spell.
As a result, Lion's Eye Diamond's ability is used largely to pay for abilities or to cast spells from zones other than your hand.
June 10, 2015 8:42 p.m.
The most common interaction in Legacy Storm decks with LED is to cast Infernal Tutor, and with the spell still on the stack, you activate LED (cast beforehand) to discard your hand. You have now created Demonic Tutor out of two cards, since Infernal Tutor only checks if you are Hellbent upon resolution and LED guarantees you will be hellbent.
You now have any card in your deck and three rainbow mana and you generally win the game by casting something like Past in Flames that you just found.
Cryptomancer says... #1
It's primarily used in Storm decks and the like. It's generally used in response to putting an ability on the stack that allows you to draw more cards when you're hellbent. Say for example you cast Ad Nauseam as the last card in your hand. Once it's on the stack you can then sacrifice Lion's Eye Diamond for the mana basically for free and use it to cast the cards you're drawing via Ad Nauseam.
June 10, 2015 8:08 p.m.