Mirrodin's Core

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Mikeymike

Guest
Mirrodin's Core
Land (U)
T: Add 1 to your mana pool.
T: Put a charge counter on Mirrodin's Core
T, Remove a charge counter from Mirrodin's Core: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool.

Is it me, or is this one of the best City of Brass variants ever? It doesn't come into play tapped, it supplies colorless mana, it doesn't damage you, it doesn't die when all creatues/artifacts are wiped out, doesn't kill itself (Gemstone Mine), and doesn't bounce back to your hand.

I probably wouldn't use this in a many-colored deck, but I would definitely play this in a Mono-colored deck that needed a splash.

This one is tricky to fully evaluate w/o playtesting, but I do have to say this is a very interesting variant in that it is so stable. A well designed card that is very useful, yet not over-powered.
 
O

orgg

Guest
This is a reprint from Ice Age, if I remember correctly, except that it isn't on a 0cc artifact.

It was some kind of amulet, if I remember correctly.
 
N

Notepad

Guest
Yeah, I remember that pile of dung. As bad as it was, I'd rather use it than this new land version.
 
N

Nightstalkers

Guest
And remember folks, its "charge counter"s its looking for. :D and we all know now much we love +1/+1 and charge counters.

—Nightstalker Habuki
 
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Mikeymike

Guest
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that Mirrodin's Core will see use in Type 2 and possibly beyond. It won't be heavily played, but it will be one of the first cards looked at come dual-color deck time.

If I'm wrong I'll be the first to admit it.
 
R

Rooser

Guest
I think you're wrong. It is very slow. I admit it could be nice for the splash effect, though.

As for the charge counter observation, note that power conduit and coretapper can only put charge counters on artifacts, and this be a land.
 
M

Mikeymike

Guest
Most likely it is my casual roots that skew my opinion of this card, specifically in its speed factor.

But the reasons that I don't think its' speed will present too much of an issue is that it can always be tapped for colorless mana when it needs to be used early (which in this artifact heavy block is important). Being that it doesn't CiP tapped, it should be viable for speed sensitive decks such as Affinity, but now they have the legitimate option of being able to run cards like Shrapnel Blast (a card which Affinity would most likely enjoy mid/later game anyway).

Also, it is pretty easy to make it a 'last resort' land, and put its charge counter on your opponent's EOT. Once it has one counter, it is more or less good to go, as the need for off-colored mana will probably be few and far between.

I feel with this card it is important to realize that most of the time the Core is tapped for mana, it will need to be pulling colorless mana for early-game casts - again, I'm referring specifically to artifact heavy decks.
 
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NorrYtt

Guest
Mirrodin's Core is weak. I asked everyone at the Prerelease "how good does this card play" for many cards, and the consensus is Mirrodin's Core is decidedly mediocre.

I may use it for a charge counter source but you shouldn't use it for color fixing.

The Ice Age card is Jeweled Amulet. I have 3 that I considered for my Power Conduit deck to "accel" it but the clunky card only allows a single charge counter. I guess you get colorless mana if you move a charge counter to it with Power Conduit.
 
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Mikeymike

Guest
Originally posted by NorrYtt
Mirrodin's Core is weak. I asked everyone at the Prerelease "how good does this card play" for many cards, and the consensus is Mirrodin's Core is decidedly mediocre.

I may use it for a charge counter source but you shouldn't use it for color fixing.

The Ice Age card is Jeweled Amulet. I have 3 that I considered for my Power Conduit deck to "accel" it but the clunky card only allows a single charge counter. I guess you get colorless mana if you move a charge counter to it with Power Conduit.
Click to expand...
Can't say I'm really surprised, the pre-release isn't exactly the best environment for a card like this. It is most definitely a card intended for constructed use.

It is painfully obvious that I'm in the minority on this card, so I'll just put this one over in my playtest pile before I reserve final judgement. Again, if I'm wrong I will readily admit it.

Regarding the comparison to Jeweled Amulet, the Amulet can't produce off-colors - this can. But it reality they are two altogether different kinds of cards with similar effects. Kind of like Death Cloud vs. Pox.
 
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rkoelsch

Guest
I don't think you are entirely wrong. I might try it in my WW deck to splash blue. Then I can put the 1cc blue counter for sorceries in againt the White Control decks. easier to keep 1 land open than 3 for Second Sunrise. This plus some fetchlands and an Island should work fine. I will have to try it.
 
T

train

Guest
I think it's an extremely strong card - here's why - it can be loaded with counters, and you can always untap lands...

Granted a deck may have to be built for it - but it will work, and once you build it...

"They will come..."
 
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Rooser

Guest
Actually Mr. mike, i'm of higher opinion of this card since you pointed out the EOT option. Never thought of that. And you can put more than one counter on it, so that's pretty good. Still, I don't think it's quite good enough to beat out other mana-fixin' options. Affinity runs Glimmervoid and can play Shrapnel blast anyway, but outside of artifacts, this could be a decent to good land for three color decks.
 
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Mikeymike

Guest
Check this out. - ebay completed auctions for Mirrodin's Core

I like the card and all, but why is a 4-pack of uncommons going for $15-32? It really doesn't make any sense...is a substantial chunk of the community under the impression that this is a rare? At the $32 price it makes it the 2nd or 3rd most expensive card in the set.

I haven't read 1 review on this card either so I don't know if some big name player has been pumping this thing up or not, but even that isn't enough to justify the cost. Isochron's Scepters at their peak weren't even that much.

Also, Starcity is selling this things for $1 ea. Does anyone have any clue what's going on?
 
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NorrYtt

Guest
I guess people are misinformed. I think the name coupled with Darksteel not being released yet may drive up prices, but not like that. I've got some Darksteel for trade in the Trading Post here.
 
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