A call for the return of manaburn or STOP THE DUMBING DOWN!

M10 saw some significant rules changes for Magic.  First, they eliminated stacking damage.  That was great, as damage NEVER should have been stackable.  Ever.  A change made in 6^th edition, I believe.  For every great thing WotC does, they always mungle something up.  In this case they removed manaburn from the equation.  I still shake my head at this awful decision. 

Some of you are unfamiliar with the term manaburn.  From the beginning of Magic one had to contend with manaburn.  Essentially, unspent mana at the end of each of your phases is dealt to you in damage.  This does not mean that untapped lands cause you damage, it means that mana in your pool that is not spent on spells or effects is removed from your life total.  

WotC said they removed manaburn because it was a non-factor and an under utilized mechanic.  I disagree.  I think they removed it so they could make neat new cards for the Alara and Zendikar blocks like Omnath and it has led to clowns tapping Pristine Talisman for life and disregarding the mana created with the artifact, just for example. Instead of utilizing it, you went to opposite extreme and made cards that wouldn’t work with it being in effect.

 

 

Why is manaburn important to the game?  I have one argument: I believe it is a fair penalty for going hog wild with big mana-pumpers and ramp.  Only need 2 mana when you tap that artifact that gives you 3?  Well take a point of damage for being greedy.  It makes you do better math, but much like our education system today, WotC has dumbed it down for Middle-America and people who vote on American Idol.  I liken it to rounding your checkbook up instead of figuring the dollars and cents except in our case we don’t suddenly find an extra $20 in our bank accounts.  I’m HORRIBLE with math and can still remember nightmare sessions of going over fractions with my Mom at the dinner table as a teenager.  But Magic taught me how to count cards and how to figure out ratios and odds in my head, a difficult challenge for someone with severe ADHD.  I had to learn it to be successful in the game.  And manaburn was part of that equation.  

Which is why we play games anyhow, is it not?  To learn in a casual environment?  Not to make money, WotC.  Magic is no different than Candyland in this sense.  But eliminating this important mechanic also opened the door for people too dumb to learn the math while playing the game, opening to an influx of netdecking where these people are piloting paint-by-number decks and winning when they shouldn’t be.  Cha-Ching goes the cash register.  It’s weakened the playing field the same as expansion pro ball teams make room for crappier players and the direct result is the good teams get better, ruling the market, and the bad teams lose money and bounce around from city to city.  With Magic, this has snowballed into the creations of overpowered cards like Jace, the Mind Sculptor and venues where the same 4 people win every week at events.  By doing everything they can to make Magic more accessible and each set’s cards being created with certain Magic formats in mind, they are actually weakening the game.  You can’t learn anything in this kind of environment.  You’re eliminating creativity to some point as well, by creating so much diversity you’ve also created pigeon holes that can’t be escaped from.  Imagine your duress at opening a sealed pool and one of your rares is Battle of Wits.  What am I to do with Battle of Wits in a limited environment?  Give me a break.  But I digress; perhaps I’m bitter because a card that resembles me is now useless?  

My now infamous 1995 Championship deck utilized manaburn as a win condition.  And it did it frequently.  In fact, I won more games by manaburn than I did by making you draw cards against Underworld Dreams or smashing your face with a Juggernaut.  How so you ask? A little card called Powersurge; in combination with the totally awesome Candelabra of Tawnos.   Powersurge says that your opponent takes 1 damage at the beginning of their turn for each untapped land they control.  The Candelabra untaps X lands.  You do the math, pun intended.

I would tap out on my turn, using the Candelabra to untap your lands.  You would then take damage from multiple Powersurges at the beginning of your turn.  A smart opponent would then tap his or her lands again to take the manaburn damage as opposed to the Powersurge damage. Winning! With manaburn.  This would be a viable combination in our current Legacy format, especially now that Candelabra is no longer restricted/banned in the format. 

WotC hadn’t made a card that utilizes manaburn in so long, no wonder they removed the mechanic.  But I think it’s time to bring it back, perhaps in M14 – especially with next year also being Magic’s 20^th Anniversary.   You’ve gone around the block a few times with the game, WotC; now fix the math.  Bring manaburn back.  Make cards to use with it as opposed to working without it.  Don’t ignore it; use it!  Like I did with the cards YOUR R&D team made.  

Until the next time they make a card that looks like me . . .

 

PEACE!