when does mana in the mana pool drain?
Asked by Red_Pyramid 13 years ago
I was wondering exactly when the mana in the mana pool drains? (Idk if that's how you say it.)
A friend and I were playing a game. He had two Llanowar Elves on the battlefield along with a Quest for Renewal with 4 counters on it. He tapped his Llanowar Elves adding 2 to his mana pool then declared his turn was over. During my untap step he untapped them. I swung at him with a Hero of Bladehold . He blocked it with a Llanowar Elves . Before damage was assigned, he tapped both his Llanowar Elves , adding 2 more too his mana pool and pumped up his blocker with a Might of Oaks ... We argued for awhile. I thought the mana pool drains during the clean up step? He stated that it drains "right before" his turn starts again.
If anybody could get an exact ruling out of the "rule book," it would be much appreciated. I would just like to show him "officially" how it works. (Assuming I'm right. lol. If not, I have some apologizing to do.)
Red_Pyramid says... #2
Thanks Siegfried. That's what I thought. I just recently had an "experienced" player tell me that it empties at the cleanup step. So I was confused for awhile. Thought I had been playing wrong for quite awhile. Is there a site that I can get the "official ruling?" Just because my friend needs proof.
April 12, 2011 6:33 a.m.
You can get the Comprehensive rulebook off the Wizards website. The ruling you're after is:
106.4. When an effect produces mana, that mana goes into a player's mana pool. From there, it can be used to pay costs immediately, or it can stay in the player's mana pool. Each player's mana pool empties at the end of each step and phase.
April 12, 2011 6:42 a.m.
MagnorCriol says... #4
Also, just for a quick list of the steps and phases:
- Beginning Phase
- Untap Step
- Upkeep Step
- Draw Step
- Main Phase
- Combat Phase
- Beginning of Combat Step
- Declare Attackers Step
- Declare Blockers Step
- Combat Damage Step
- End of Combat Step
- Ending Phase
- End Step
- Cleanup Step
I had this happen to me a while back as well, by the way, when I first started drafting. Another "experienced" player told me, when I dealt a creature 2 damage with a chump block in combat, then tried to kill it later with a burn spell, that his creature didn't die because the damage fell off every step and phase. It felt wrong but I didn't know enough to argue, at the time.
April 12, 2011 7:16 a.m.
Red_Pyramid says... #5
Once again, thanks Siegfried, that helps out a lot. I'll be sure to show my friend your post next time he's over. And thank you MagnorCriol. I've never actually seen how many steps and phases there were. I just had a brief "summary" in my head. I'm going to write down the steps and phases, then attempt to memorize them so don't have this problem again.
April 12, 2011 7:20 p.m.
kevinmtg24 says... #6
yeah it makes me mad when people tell you the wrong rules. i used a Harabaz Druid and produced 5 white mana and then played a Hada Freeblade using 1 of the white mana. I then played a Talus Paladin using 4 of the white mana but the "experienced player" said i could only use harabaz druid's mana for 1 spell. I later found out he was wrong :(
April 12, 2011 8:13 p.m.
theres alot of people that pull stupid stunts to try to win. i put a 3/3 beast from garruk into play. 2 turns later. ill attack with the 3/3 and the 2/1, ull block the 2/1, ok then u lose 3 life and ur dead. u never said it was a 3/3 token. really? my deck only makes 3/3 and 4/4 beasts, the same ive had for awhile uneditted, wat else could it have been. idk. or Engulfing Slagwurm having first strike, death touch. Rite of Replication with a 30/30 Taurean Mauler thinking they get the counters on their clones. if that were the case i would have a 30/30 for 3 the next game....
April 12, 2011 10:42 p.m.
but besides my rant on bad peoples, go to the "cards" section, type "mana doesn't empty" vin the rules box and hit enter
Siegfried says... Accepted answer #1
Any mana in your mana pool empties at the end of every step and phase, if you don't have something like Omnath, Locus of Mana on the field. Used to be you would take damage when this happened (it was called "mana burn"), but now excess mana just disappears.
April 12, 2011 6:11 a.m.