Your mana pool is arguably the most important concept in all of Magic — but most of the time, it’s completely invisible.  If I tap four Steam Vents and three Temple Gardens for an Angel of Serenity, it’s pretty obvious what color of mana each of my Gardens is making, and whether the Vents are making red or blue usually doesn’t really matter.  And, as Jen showed us earlier, if I tap all my lands for an X spell, the value of X is assumed to be all my remaining mana.

But what if I control one of each Return to Ravnica Guildgate, and tap all of them as I cast Ultimate Price — without saying anything else?  What colors of mana are left in my pool, and whose responsibility is to clarify this situation?

As it turns out, there’s a rule that covers a player’s obligations in these situations, and the obligation is entirely on the player with extra mana.  Whenever you pay a cost or pass priority with extra mana “floating” in your mana pool, you have to announce how much is still there, including the color.  This is important for three major reasons.

First, clear communication is always important in tournament Magic, especially when the results of your actions are invisible or ambiguous, as is sometimes the case with mana.

Second, it prevents me from gaining extra information by retroactively “deciding” what mana is left after seeing how my opponent responds.  Going back to the above example, suppose I had Loxodon Smiter and Counterflux in my hand.  If you have a counter for my Ultimate Price, I’d love to Counterflux it; but if you don’t, I’d prefer to cast my Smiter.  In this scenario, it’s impossible to tap just two lands for Ultimate Price and still have both UUR and 1GW available for later — and this rule ensures that the same is true if I tap all five of my lands while casting Ultimate Price, by forcing me to declare up-front which colors of mana I have left.

Third, it prevents unscrupulous players from baiting “taxing” counterspells like Izzet Charm by pretending to be tapped out.  If I tap all five of my lands to cast Ultimate Price, I might fool you into thinking I’m unable to pay for your Charm’s counter mode.  But because the game forces me to say “I cast Ultimate Price, and I have three mana (of these colors) floating”, both players have a fairer, more complete understanding of the game state.

If a player violates this rule accidentally, the penalty is a basic Game Rule Violation, with a Warning and a potential rewinding of the game.

If a player intentionally violates this rule to gain an advantage, that’s a serious problem and could result in a Disqualification for Fraud at Competitive events like a Grand Prix.

 

Today’s Rules Tip written by Paul Baranay