Why no 1-drop mana rocks?
Custom Cards forum
Posted on March 25, 2016, 10 a.m. by RupertPhd
(Other than sol ring) there are no 1-drop mana rocks. Shouldn't thete at least be a half-sol ring? Here are two new artifact cards.
Moon ring (1)
Tap:add (1) to your mana pool.
Moon prism (1)
Moon prism comes into play tapped.
Tap:add (1) to your mana pool.
1, tap: add one mana of any color to your mana pool.
VampireArmy says... #3
Mana Cylix also and the reason they don't exist is because of how easily they are exploited.
March 25, 2016 10:46 a.m.
MagicalHacker says... #4
The closest to a balanced 1-drop rock that I can think of would be this:
Luna Ring 
Legendary Artifact
~ enters the battlefield tapped.
~ can't untap unless you pay .
: Add 
to your mana pool.
March 25, 2016 10:46 a.m.
They also tend to have the problem that they undermine 
's slice of the colour pie. If any colour can have a 1-drop accelerant that's not affected by summoning sickness and can't be Lightning Bolted, why would you ever put Llanowar Elves in your deck?
March 25, 2016 11:09 a.m.
MagicalHacker says... #6
Or this:
Stella Ring
Artifact
, : Add to your mana pool.
March 25, 2016 11:42 a.m.
jandrobard says... #7
Or take an idea from Serra Avenger.
Serra's Mana Rock
Artifact
: add 
to your mana pool. This ability cannot be activated on the first, second, or third turn of the game.
March 25, 2016 5:44 p.m.
@jandrobard: You might want to rephrase that to "your first, second, or third turn" because as is, it counts your opponent's turns as well.
The way I would do a 1-drop mana rock without undermining green is to use it like Mana Bloom.
Energy Crystal: 1
Energy Crystal enters the battlefield tapped with one charge counter on it. Sacrifice energy crystal if it ever has more than six charge counters on it.
tap: put a charge counter on energy crystal.tap, remove a charge counter from energy crystal: add 1 to your mana pool.
March 27, 2016 7:09 p.m.
jandrobard says... #9
Egann Oops! Thanks for pointing that out.
As for your idea, that would work. One question though: Why put a cap on the number of counters?
March 27, 2016 7:18 p.m.
Mostly flavor. I can't think of a 1 CMC mana rock as something supremely crafted artifact like a Gemstone Array, so it shorts-out if you overcharge it. I thought about making it explode and deal damage, but that makes it into a Ratchet Bomb which is also a mana rock. Way too powerful, especially as a 1-drop.
The six counters is a practicality thing assuming the player is using a d6. It just keeps things neatly onto a single die.
March 27, 2016 8:10 p.m.
MagicalHacker says... #11
You can make the last ability only add the counter "if it has less than six charge counters".
March 27, 2016 11:26 p.m.
@ jandrobard - Serra's Mana Rock seems so awesome! Being able to reliably play Wurmcoils on T4-6 is without needing 9 land slots to do it is very nice.
March 28, 2016 2:31 p.m.
jandrobard says... #13
kengiczar For reference, I was balancing it for legacy and EDH. In hindsight, it's a bit powerful for modern. It does sound fun though.
March 28, 2016 6:14 p.m.
Mana rocks in Modern is an interesting topic, though; namely Modern doesn't use that many of them. There are the moxes, and a few decks use talismans or signets and that's about it. The whole thing makes me feel awkward because my experimental deck runs a full set of Fellwar Stones, which is way out there.
@MagicalHacker That does also work. I suppose that's kinda a balance question which depends on the flavor of the set you intend to put it in.
brokendwarf says... #2
Mana Vault?
March 25, 2016 10:34 a.m.