Magic: The Gathering concept. If you have any mana on your mana pool at the end of a phase, then you lose 1 life for each mana point in your mana pool and that mana is lost.

Some of the cards which most frequently produce mana burn are colorless mana producers such as Sol Ring or Mana Vault (you may need just some of the mana, and generally it's worth losing a couple of life points), land enhancers such as Mana Flare or Gauntlet of Might (the same), strange creatures such as Su-Chi or Cathodion (which are a kind of unstable "mana bombs"), and other triggered mana generators.

It's not a common situation, but mana burn can even be useful in some cases, the most obvious one being in combination with Mirror Universe.

Not a thing, in any official MTG format currently that is, since September 2007 with the release of Tenth Edition and its associated rules changes, in the collectible trading card game, Magic: The Gathering.

(Yes, Yurlok, I know if you're in play that "a player losing unspent mana causes that player to lose that much life." But, you're not on the battlefield in every game and no, I don't know why that is.)

Once upon a time, back in the day, if one had unspent mana in one's mana pool as a step or phase ended, then a corresponding loss of life occurred. This, of course, affected not only how one built one's decks, but also how one played the game. Intended to help balance fast mana, it added a level of complexity and focus that was, ultimately, deemed daunting to new players and was done away with in Tenth Edition as new players are the lifeblood of any game wishing to not only remain relevant but also to grow (stay and remain profitable, if you will). It also seemed no longer meaningful to gameplay and much more like a ghost of the past. This decision, as with many changes made to anything with a dedicated fanbase, was both mourned and lauded, derided and supported, lamented and welcomed. The game lived on, thanks in part to…wait for it…new players.



Brevity Quest 2024

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