If <> is indeed colorless mana (and not some weird Eldrazi-only 'non color mana' thing) then it does matter that a spell says 6<><>, because you COULD pay 2RRRRRR to cast new Kozilek, but you could NOT pay 1RRRRRRR. This puts an explicit requirement to produce colorless instead of which could be any color.
I think that <> cannot be paid with using colored mana is cool idea. So haters gonna hate.
What's upsetting me isn't that <> is "colorless" instead of generic, its that it implies a global errata of previous cards or else become a set-specific parasitic mechanic.
...I don't know that there's a whole lot of cards that this could apply to? Like there are cards like Soul Burn or whatever that have text requiring specific colors, this is just the inverse of that. It isn't exactly a huge overhaul to the game; generic mana costs aren't changing, most cards that have a generic cost aren't going to be subject to this at all.
I meant cards like Ancient Tomb - generic mana producers. Do they provide (2) or (<>)(<>) now. Because if they don't provide (<>) then in order to play any cards with (<>) in their mana cost you need to play the very specific cards that will be coming out in the next set - which is very parasitic, and the exact same criticism that people had against snow lands and Ice Age.
Wow, what is with all the hate of snow-covered mechanic? I'm gonna chalk it up to the fact that all ye Ice Age haters are jealous that your favourite set can't screw with a new sets. Infernal Darkness and Ritual of Subdual - gotta love the old cards.
Well I know we're in speculative territory right now, but respectfully I do not think <> is produced, so much as it is simply a way of saying "only colorless mana need apply". I find it hard to believe that they would add what's functionally a sixth color - even if it is a variant of colorless mana - after 25 years. Like, that's even more of an upheaval than all the new card types and supertypes they've messed with previously, as it has implications with aspects of the game that weren't even designed with extra land types in mind (Domain effects come to mind but I'm sure a comprehensive list has been accrued by some pedant over the years).
That said, there's a land with the <> insignia on it, but hopefully that's just symbolic of colorless mana and not a whole other subset of colorless mana. I mean the alternative is to just have a on the card, which would look stupid af on a full art land.
Seconded.
Also, I'm still skeptical about this stuff being real. If it is real, I hope that it works like wcm8 suggested in thatbit provides mana for 'colored' cards with Devoid. If that's true, then it's really no different from Devoid in that it's not a goos mehanic but it'll be irrelevant for non-Standard, non- Limited formats
Edit:
I hope this is the real reason if this is real.
Parasitic mean that it's a new mechanic that work strictly with itself and little to nothing else. Like for example... umh... grandeur i think it's the most parasitic mechanic possible since it interact ONLY with one card. Ingest is also parasitic because it does mostly nothing with like all but a dozen cards in all of magic, which are all in BFZ.
A non parasitic mechanic is something that work with most of magic cards, like threshold, spell mastery, etc...
Did i get trolled?
It shouldn't be forgotten that BFZ was supposed to be a three set block, which then got distilled down to two sets once they decided on the policy change.
Supposing this is real, it could be that the last two sets were made to explore <> but now we will only be getting a condensed one.
"The Ancients teach us that if we can but last, we shall prevail."
—Kaysa, Elder Druid of the Juniper Order
No it's not; Ingest is all upside that moves you directly towards an alternate win condition (milling out.)
Better examples are:
* Kamigawa Spirits: the upside is gated by playing spirits/arcane (which are not terribly common)
* Splice: The upside is gated by playing Arcane spells (which are not common)
* Soulshift: The upside is gated by playing enough spirits to use it
* Infect: The alternate win condition only works with other cards that house that alternate win condition; which are very few. The -1/-1 counter aspect however is not parasitic since it's always good and doesn't require others to be good.
* Tribal (not the card type): If the cards only work with Goblins, for example, the upside is gated by goblins. However, there are enough of them that it's not terrible to indulge in it a bit.
A good test for parasitism is if you can play the card in commander without catering to it. Thief of Hope, for example, is total garbage without changling, spirit, and/or arcane spells in high volume. Goblin Warchief is garbage without a bunch of Goblins. but, Goblin Rabblemaster is fine by himself. As is Bloodghast.
The ability to pay any color for a mana cost has never really needed to be called what it actually is - generic - as opposed to colorless. It would have been much more accurate to say that Wrath of God has a "Two white, two generic" cost requirement, but anecdotally -- I never hear people say this. When people just talk about a card, they usually say a thing like, "Wrath of God costs two white and two colorless".
We're steeped in the nomenclature so we don't really think about it but really -- colorless mana has always been represented differently than all the colors of mana. It's the only mana symbol that has an independent variable.
Consider Dark Ritual vs. Thran Dynamo. Ritual says "Add to your mana pool" while Dynamo says "Add to your mana pool". Looking at most cards which add multiple mana to your pool at once, the real goofball here is Dynamo - because remember, this isn't talking about what a card costs to play, this is talking about actually adding some kind of mana to your pool. Every other mana color in the game, even when its a stupidly high number of mana, has to add a symbol for each mana it's adding - Geosurge has on it. That's seven Rs, in case it isn't immediately obvious.
Now maybe a perfect world solution would be to encase the whole problem in a new verbiage like "Add seven R to your mana pool" but really, the number of cards that add static, high numbers of not-easily-counted-on-first-glance mana to your pool is fairly limited. EDIT: Also that still makes colorless mana stupid because it is still either out-of-line with the rest of mana by keeping its independent variable, or it looks like "Add seven 1 to your mana pool" which sounds like fucking Terryology.
So ultimately, maybe it is simpler to let a generic cost be expressed in a single icon with a number, and to let an actual unit of mana be held to the "1 symbol per unit" thing. In which case, <> is as good a way as any to express that.
I just thought I would point out that Bismuth is a primary ingredient in pepto bismol and other gastro intestinal medicines, perhaps a hint that the set will be shi-, sick. I sure hope <> isn't just some shallow, one off ability like deserts and camels.
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