How are non-basic lands treated?
Asked by tasondag 8 years ago
Hey everyone, thanks in advance! Is mana that's generated from non-basic land cards treated any different than basic land cards?
For example: If I had an Emeria, The Sky Ruin on the field and for the past 7 turns I had tapped it to add a white/plains mana to my pool, on the 8th turn I can use its ability to bring a creature back from graveyard?
Epochalyptik, so when I tap a basic land card I'm essentially adding 1 mana (we'll say the basic land is Plains in this case) to the pool for that turn? Same goes for a non-basic land card, when I tap Emeria, The Sky Ruin I get to add one white "mana" to my pool not one Plains, correct?
May 23, 2015 6:33 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #3
Not for the turn. As I said, mana remains in your mana pool until the end of the current step or phase. So if you add 
to your mana pool during your upkeep, that mana will be drained from your mana pool when the game moves to your draw step if you have not spent it by that time.
And yes. "Add to your mana pool" means the same whether it's on a basic land or a nonbasic land. You add one white mana to your mana pool. You don't produce a land.
May 23, 2015 6:40 p.m.
Epochalyptik, so there's really no advantage to a non-basic land like Kabira Crossroads over a basic land like Plains other than the 2 life you gain when it enters the field?
May 23, 2015 6:51 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #5
Both Plains and Kabira Crossroads have the ability "
: Add to your mana pool."
The ability is treated the same whether it's on a basic land, a nonbasic land, or even a creature (Avacyn's Pilgrim).
May 23, 2015 7 p.m.
Awesome, thanks Epochalyptik! You helped clear things up quite a bit!
Epochalyptik says... Accepted answer #1
Mana is not the same as land.
Mana is an intangible resource used to pay for many of the costs in the game.
Lands are permanents that often have mana abilities.
Emeria, The Sky Ruin has three abilities. The first ability is a static ability that modifies how Emeria, The Sky Ruin enters the battlefield. The second is a triggered ability that triggers at the beginning of your upkeep if you control seven or more Plains. The third is a mana ability.
When you add mana to your mana pool, it remains there until the end of the current step or phase. Once the game moves to the next step or phase, the mana is drained from your pool.
Additionally, mana in your mana pool is not the same as a land you control. Effects that care about the number of lands you control don't care about how much mana is in your mana pool.
Mana is also the same whether it's from a basic or a nonbasic land.
May 23, 2015 6:17 p.m.