you could say this card evolved in the history in magic. Standing Stones and Celestial Prism are the two oldest and weakest versions of their type. Mana Prism is the stronger version of those two, having the ability to produce colorless mana for free, or requiring one colorless mana and no health point for mana of any color. if one prefers spending life, Phyrexian Lens is also an alternative that's stronger than Standing Stones. The latest design of them is Darksteel Ingot, which does not only simply produce one mana of any color without any side effect, but on top of that has indestrictibility. These days, Spectral Searchlight can be used for multiplayergames instead (or maybe even to invoke some mana burn when choosing your opponent), and Coalition Relic if you do not fear its destruction and want one extra mana instead. Prismatic Lens, again, is the new improved version of Mana Prism, and also about ten times better than Stranding Stones or Celestial Prism :D
Glopdemon
★★★★☆ (5.0/5.0)(23 votes)
What can we say, it was the 90's, man. You know, grunge, actual music on MTV, The Dark, Fallen Empires... We played all kinds of crazy cards back then. I guess you kinda had to be there.
kitsunewarlock
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(7 votes)
Glopdemon that is the best comment I've ever seen on a magic card to date.
MarlinFlake
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(4 votes)
The ultimate nostalgia card. Back in the day this card was the sh*t. Sometimes I put on my Nirvana Unplugged tape and think about the ultimate The Dark combo: this card and Scarwood Goblins. Good times...
Japicx
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(5 votes)
This card gets laughed at by Prophetic Prism. It's cheaper, draws you a card when you play it, and doesn't cost life.
I was going to make some smarmy comment about this card being outclassed several times over, but I think Glopdemon has put us all in our place. Nothing more needs to be said.
DarthParallax
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
In my humble opinion, Darksteel Ingot is slightly overpowered. I believe it's currently finding printing at Uncommon and soon on it's way to Common status if Commander products continue at the they are, it will likely replace Sol Ring eventually some year, whenever they decide Sol Ring is unhealthy for the format or isn't needed for every deck.
This card has many more analogies in MTG history.
Alpha was Celestial Prism, yes, Arabian Nights did not, I think, have mana artifacts, but I will look them up. Antiquities of course is Standing Stone, and Standing Stones is one of my very favorites from the series. Ashnod's Altar is much more powerful. Legends has a full cycle of Mana Batterys, whose flavor sadly is out of the ballpark but the mechanics suck. The Dark has Fellwar Stone at least. (others?) Astrolabe, Barbed Sextant, and Star Compass always come to mind together and I can never remember which sets they're from. Pentad Prism, Chromatic Sphere, and Armillary Spheres also form a family in my mind.
There's the 1-mana Artifact Mana Stones, which tend to sacrifice themselves to do something The 2-mana Artifact Mana Sources, which tend to give you the best results because they're narrower, but sharper focused, The 3-mana Mana Stones almost always give you either City of Brass-variant or Sol Ring variant, and frequently come with something very interesting and either abusable like sacrifice or just powerful like Indestructible. Chromatic Lantern makes me think that people have spoiled by Prophetic Prism being so good and they want MOAR.
Sometime around Mirrodin, Mana Artifacts started getting pushed with the assumption that you'd be playing a 3 or 5 color deck and it might probably have more than 60 cards.
I think I prefer the Artifacts from Ice Age to Apocalypse as being fun, but not too much, restrained enough that it feels like work to produce good mana, but it's work that's possible to make happen, but obviously superior to ancient backwards ways like the Mana Battery >P 7th Edition has some nice Diamonds in it that I don't recall where they came from. Possibly Mirage. :)
Comments (8)
Standing Stones and Celestial Prism are the two oldest and weakest versions of their type.
Mana Prism is the stronger version of those two, having the ability to produce colorless mana for free, or requiring one colorless mana and no health point for mana of any color.
if one prefers spending life, Phyrexian Lens is also an alternative that's stronger than Standing Stones.
The latest design of them is Darksteel Ingot, which does not only simply produce one mana of any color without any side effect, but on top of that has indestrictibility.
These days, Spectral Searchlight can be used for multiplayergames instead (or maybe even to invoke some mana burn when choosing your opponent), and Coalition Relic if you do not fear its destruction and want one extra mana instead.
Prismatic Lens, again, is the new improved version of Mana Prism, and also about ten times better than Stranding Stones or Celestial Prism :D
This card has many more analogies in MTG history.
Alpha was Celestial Prism, yes,
Arabian Nights did not, I think, have mana artifacts, but I will look them up.
Antiquities of course is Standing Stone, and Standing Stones is one of my very favorites from the series. Ashnod's Altar is much more powerful.
Legends has a full cycle of Mana Batterys, whose flavor sadly is out of the ballpark but the mechanics suck.
The Dark has Fellwar Stone at least. (others?)
Astrolabe, Barbed Sextant, and Star Compass always come to mind together and I can never remember which sets they're from.
Pentad Prism, Chromatic Sphere, and Armillary Spheres also form a family in my mind.
There's the 1-mana Artifact Mana Stones, which tend to sacrifice themselves to do something
The 2-mana Artifact Mana Sources, which tend to give you the best results because they're narrower, but sharper focused,
The 3-mana Mana Stones almost always give you either City of Brass-variant or Sol Ring variant, and frequently come with something very interesting and either abusable like sacrifice or just powerful like Indestructible.
Chromatic Lantern makes me think that people have spoiled by Prophetic Prism being so good and they want MOAR.
Sometime around Mirrodin, Mana Artifacts started getting pushed with the assumption that you'd be playing a 3 or 5 color deck and it might probably have more than 60 cards.
I think I prefer the Artifacts from Ice Age to Apocalypse as being fun, but not too much, restrained enough that it feels like work to produce good mana, but it's work that's possible to make happen, but obviously superior to ancient backwards ways like the Mana Battery >P 7th Edition has some nice Diamonds in it that I don't recall where they came from. Possibly Mirage. :)