How do land grabbers like Seraph Sanctuary and or Azorious Guildgate work?
Asked by Mrtwitch 11 years ago
I've been told that you simply tap them to add the mana and i've also been told that you go through your deck to find the mana and add it. Also if you just tap it does that add another mana to the one previously added? Or just the mana specified for that turn?
They tap for mana just like any other land. You do not search your library for other lands or sources of mana. Examples of cards that fetch you land are Cultivate , Journeyer's Kite , and Bad River .
June 13, 2013 6:24 p.m.
AureliasBestFriend777 says... #3
Your "mana pool" is the many you have to cast spells. Lands are a permanent on the battlefield that add mana to your mana pool. Look at some really old lands, such as Alpha basic lands. A mountain would say "Tap: Add R to your mana pool."
With that in mind, something that adds to your mana pool produces mana for you to cast spells. Guildgates will not cause any searching through your library, and can be tapped for two different colors of mana added to your mana pool. There is no set mode on guildgates, and the mana they make can be any of the two colors.
For another example, look up a land such as Savage Lands , which would add R, G, or B to your mana pool. Upon tapping it, you would choose one of these and use it to cast spells with that specific color or for colorless.
The advantage of this is known as mana-fixing, where you can play a Sacred Foundry on your first turn, tap it for W, then next turn play a mountain and play Ash Zealot , which would be impossible with just a plains and mountain.
So in conclusion, lands make mana, your mana pool is an imaginary part of the game used to cast spells, and lands with multiple colors, just as a tip and not so much an answer, are very helpful in the game of Magic.
June 13, 2013 6:24 p.m.
There are lands that grab other lands from your deck, such as Misty Rainforest and Evolving Wilds . Note that these do not add mana to your mana pool by themselves, they just allow you to get another land from your deck and put it into play. A land can only do what it says on its text box, besides the basic lands Mountain , Forest , etc. - they are able to tap to add their respective colored mana even though most don't have it written down specifically.
June 13, 2013 6:59 p.m.
Rhadamanthus says... #5
The ability "T: Add M to your mana pool" is just the long way of writing out the ability that every Plains , Island , Swamp , Mountain , and Forest already has built-in. Many years ago, the people in charge of the graphic design of the game decided that basic lands would look much better if they replaced the words of the ability with a giant mana symbol (see this old Mountain as an example). They've looked that way ever since.
When you activate the ability of Azorius Guildgate , it's just like tapping either a Plains or an Island , except you get to choose which color of mana to make. When you activate the ability of Seraph Sanctuary you get one colorless mana, which can only be used to pay the non-colored portion of a cost.
If you make mana but don't use it before the current step or phase of the turn ends, it goes away. You'll have to wait until the land is untapped before you can use it to make more.
June 13, 2013 7:01 p.m.
To make sure you understand, lands like Seraph Sanctuary are not called "mana". They have on their text box, "[Tap]: Add [mana] to your mana pool." This means you tap that land, and you have the mana temporarily. There are two types of mana: colored mana (red, blue, white, black, green) and colorless mana (shown by just a number without color, like in Seraph Sanctuary ). You can use the mana to cast something or use an ability or pay a cost. If you don't use that mana, it goes away at the end of the current phase (upkeep, main phase, combat phase, second main phase, end phase), and you've basically let the mana go to waste. You don't keep any mana in your mana pool permanently, unless a card says you can (like Omnath, Locus of Mana ). Regular basic lands just add one of their colored mana to your mana pool when you tap it, and that's it.
June 13, 2013 7:13 p.m.
Sorry, it's not just when phases end. Look at this MTG Q&A to clarify what I just said about mana emptying.
June 13, 2013 7:16 p.m.
Thank you very much people for clearing things up. I understand now.
Epochalyptik says... #1
Seraph Sanctuary doesn't find anything. Neither does Azorius Guildgate . I'm not sure what you mean when you say they're "land grabbers."
June 13, 2013 6:23 p.m.