How much mana do you get from Mana Drain?
Asked by JWiley129 11 years ago
So I got into an argument over Mana Drain in a commander game. I was attempting to cast Sydri, Galvanic Genius from the command zone for the second time in the game, and so she cost 2WUB to cast. My opponent cast Mana Drain and said that he should get 5 mana during his next main phase. However Mana Drain specifies "converted mana cost" and the Gatherer rulings don't discuss alternative casting costs or X spells. So would my opponent get 5 mana or 3 during his next main phase?
That's what I thought, Epochalyptik. He kept talking about the "mana cost on the stack" and stuff like that. Oh well. Thanks!
January 13, 2014 6:38 a.m.
Epochalyptik says... #3
The mana cost of a card is always the value printed in its upper right corner. There's no such thing as "mana cost on the stack" UNLESS you're talking about a spell that has X in its mana cost, in which case the mana cost accounts for the chosen value of X while the spell is on the stack. Additional costs never affect the mana cost of a spell.
Epochalyptik says... Accepted answer #1
3.
As you mention, Mana Drain 's effect only cares about the CMC of the spell it counters. Additional costs, alternate costs, and mana actually paid are all irrelevant; the CMC is always and only derived from the value in the upper right corner of the card.
January 13, 2014 6:04 a.m.