Trinisphere and E. explosives

[OffTheWall]

if there is a trinisphere in play and a player wishes to play an E. Explosives for 0, can they announce the explosives for 0 then pay the :3: (using colored mana) for trinisphere with out adding any sunburst counters?

[Sanguine Voyeur]

Starcity Games:
Q: I have Sphere of Resistance (http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardsearch.php?singlesearch=Sphere%20of%20Resistance) in play. I play Engineered Explosives (http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardsearch.php?singlesearch=Engineered%20Explosives), declaring X=0. I tap a Mountain to pay the extra cost. How much charge counters will have the Explosives as they come into play? (I think that the answer is 1, but someone told me that the "extra cost" due to the Sphere does not count towards the sunburst ability, so in that case it would be 0 charge counters)

A: The converted mana cost of this spell is zero but the total cost you pay to play it is one due to the Sphere of Resistance. The Sunburst ability looks at the differently colored mana used to pay the cost, not just the mana cost. Because of this your Engineered Explosives will get a single charge counter when it comes into play.I assume the same applies to Trinisphere.

[APriestOfGix]

Quote:
Q: I have Sphere of Resistance in play. I play Engineered Explosives, declaring X=0. I tap a Mountain to pay the extra cost. How much charge counters will have the Explosives as they come into play? (I think that the answer is 1, but someone told me that the "extra cost" due to the Sphere does not count towards the sunburst ability, so in that case it would be 0 charge counters)

A: The converted mana cost of this spell is zero but the total cost you pay to play it is one due to the Sphere of Resistance. The Sunburst ability looks at the differently colored mana used to pay the cost, not just the mana cost. Because of this your Engineered Explosives will get a single charge counter when it comes into play.

So Sphere is actually making EE cost 1 LESS!!!

WTF!?!?!?

[Nihil Credo]

No, it's just that EE can circumvent Sphere of Resistance. You pay the same total amount, except that you choose X one lower to allow for the extra mana required by the Sphere - hence using the same number of colours, and getting the same number of counters (Obviously, if you want to set it at 0 you will need colourless mana to perform the trick).

With Trinisphere, it's the same. Whether you announce EE for X=0, 1, 2, or 3, you will have to pay three mana total. Then Sunburst will only care about the number of colours used to pay for EE... where "used to pay for" means the total cost, which includes the Trinisphere tax.

[OffTheWall]

Great thanks.

[FakeSpam]

In the same way you could use a Fist of the Suns to cast a Suntouched Myr for 5, getting a 5/5 vanilla beater. But, yeah. Sunburst only cares about mana in, not how much the card is supposed to cost.