Well... this is banned, Dark Ritual is'nt... Thats strange, love this card, but cant use! 1 damage for 3 mana is a good trade =P
Pontiac
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(6 votes)
A broken piece of cardboard, like most mana producing artifacts from the beginning.
Kryptnyt
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(3 votes)
Dark Ritual with buyback. I threw this in a random Warp World deck with great results
SlackWareWolf
★☆☆☆☆ (1.8/5.0)(10 votes)
This isn't BANNED! Jeez does NO ONE here know that there is a thing called Type 1?
Wizard-of-the-Toast
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
Dream hand: 1 land, 1 mana vault, 3 voltaic key, 2 thran dynamo. Turn one: play land, mana vault, 1st voltaic key, untap and reuse mana vault, play 1st Thran dynamo, play 2nd voltaic key, untap and reuse dynamo or vault, play 2nd Dynamo, play 3rd voltaic key, untap Mana Vault. Alternatively the 3rd voltaic key could be a doubling cube instead. Turn two: Draw Emrakaul and play him from your hand (and still have one mana spare)! In response your opponent then taps their one swamp and uses a dark ritual to play Diabolic Edict and you start weeping like a baby, while plotting your revenge...
New Dream hand: 1 Ancient Tomb, 4 Mana Vaults, 2 Voltaic Keys. Turn one: Play Ancient Tomb, play 2 mana vaults, use them to play 2 more mana vaults and 2 voltaic keys, untap your used mana vaults ready for turn two. Turn two: Use everything for 18 colourless mana (!) then play the Kozilek, butcher of truth that you just drew. Draw four cards which turn out to be 2 more voltaic keys, another land and Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre. Play the land and the voltaic keys use them for another 3 mana taking your mana pool to 11 and play Ulamog. Your opponent responds by accusing you of rigging your decks before tapping his swamp to play 2 dark rituals and two Diabolic edicts. This game has an answer for everything .
NeedADispenserHere
★★★★☆ (5.0/5.0)(10 votes)
While it has been a faithful companion, your Companion Cube cannot accompany you through the rest of the test. If it could talk - and the Enrichment Center takes this opportunity to remind you that it cannot - it would tell you to go on without it, because it would rather die in a fire than become a burden to you.
mlanier131
★☆☆☆☆ (1.5/5.0)(1 vote)
grim monoliths ok but this isnt.
kiseki
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
Time to make the spikes cringe! How about some casual uses for those of us not intent on abusing fun but powerful artifacts? Braid of fire is not a bad way to get repeat value out of both cards. For a cost of , you can transfer from your upkeep to your main phase. It also forms a nice two card combo with soulbright flamekin. Turn 1: land, mana vault Turn 2: land, Soulbright Turn 3: land, something that can use Playing this without a means to untap it is not worth it if you are planning on games going 10+ turns. And now to go for broke: use black lotus to power out a Celestial Prism on the first turn!
Crag-Hack
★★★☆☆ (3.2/5.0)(2 votes)
This card is a dark ritual that can interact with artifact effects (Tinker) and the mana can be used on any turn after you cast it. PLUS it can be untapped for later use by paying 4 mana or through more interaction (Voltaic Key). I think you all know how good dark ritual is. This thing is dark ritual on steroids in the right deck, trust me.
It'd have to be perfect though, or close to perfect, I guess you could top deck the Lightning Greaves or Tinker from the cantrip from Chromatic Sphere.
atemu1234
★☆☆☆☆ (1.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Y'know, this doesn't exactly scream broken to me. There are other cards that have similar abilities (See Basalt Monolith) but aren't considered broken, when in reality they are on par because this thing deals damage to you and costs more to untap. Am I missing something, apart from the age of this card?
pedrodyl
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(2 votes)
Card of the Day, December 19th, 2012 Mana Vault, it comes into play untapped and gives you three mana turn one. With a Voltaic Key it's a essentially a Black Lotus every turn except for 2 colorless mana. In that sense, I guess it's a lot like Sol Ring, except for the first turn. For those of you who play MTGO, you get to play this in Cube Draft soon. And with fancy new art that's less like this Companion Cube, and more like an epic vault of mystery.
Sahra_Angel
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.8/5.0)(2 votes)
So its basically a dark ritual, only it burns you every turn and can net you a sol ring with voltaic key.
It's hilarious to see people suggesting this and Sol Ring would be acceptably nonbroken in Legacy. Please, please, please convince Wizards to unban them! Then Metalworker, Trinisphere, Wasteland, Lodestone Golem and I will see you in the very next tournament... good luck ever casting a spell. I've played three-game matches where my opponent never had a chance to play a nonland card. :)
001010011100101110
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Lessons from Mark Tedin: mana/power is red. 12345678
Neutron_Mox
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Why is this card banned in legacy, yet Grim Monolith isn't? It isn't even close to as easy to get infinite mana out of a Mana Vault. Is the one extra colorless to play really that balancing, for a card that only needs one companion to ascend?
For those comparing it to a Sol Ring when used in conjunction with a Voltaic Key, you are missing the muscle. It begins untapped. It can be tapped for three, play the Voltaic Key, leaving two floating, and then untapped with the Key, then tapped again for a net of 4 colorless, which usually means Su-Chi or Isochron Scepter and first use. Or just go mana crazy on turn three...
1. Swamp, Mana Vault, Voltaic key, Su-Chi 2. Swamp, Sol Ring, Swing for 4 with Su-Chi 3. Swing for 4 with Su-Chi, Tap Swamp, Sac for Lake of the Dead. Tap swamp, Tap Lake, 6 floating black. Sacrifice Su-Chi. 10 floating black, 4 floating colorless. Tap Mana Vault, Untap with Key, Tap mana Vault. 10 floating black mana, 9 floating colorless. Tap Sol Ring. 10 floating black mana, 11 floating colorless. Emrakul, the Aeons Torn and Necropolis Regent. Go again.
elhajjaj
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
As with Basalt Monolith, Power Artifact works with this , too. Infinite mana, any one?
DrJack
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
You guys wouldn't believe this now, but this card was unrestricted for years. Sol Ring was limited to 1-per-deck almost since the beginning, but it took until 1999, if I remember right, until they finally restricted Mana Vault. Notice it was printed all the way through 5th edition...!
Although I often ran 4 Dark Rituals in many decks, I never put in more than 1 Mana Vault because it seemed just plain cruel to do so. The first time I used a Mana Vault, it was in a mono-red deck; I summoned a Shivan Dragon with it on the 3rd turn and just sat there, staring at my cards on the table in disbelief. I couldn't believe a card this powerful was being allowed FOUR PER DECK. Compared to Dark Ritual, Mana Vault provides the same amount of mana, without the color commitment, is reusable, and can even be cast on one turn and have all 3 mana used another turn. The 1 damage upkeep is a nearly insignificant tradeoff, compared to, say, the massive pain you can suffer from a 1st turn Mana Crypt. I'd say Dark Ritual looks quite fair and down-to-earth compared to this powerhouse!
Comments (20)
Turn one: play land, mana vault, 1st voltaic key, untap and reuse mana vault, play 1st Thran dynamo, play 2nd voltaic key, untap and reuse dynamo or vault, play 2nd Dynamo, play 3rd voltaic key, untap Mana Vault. Alternatively the 3rd voltaic key could be a doubling cube instead.
Turn two: Draw Emrakaul and play him from your hand (and still have one mana spare)!
In response your opponent then taps their one swamp and uses a dark ritual to play Diabolic Edict and you start weeping like a baby, while plotting your revenge...
New Dream hand: 1 Ancient Tomb, 4 Mana Vaults, 2 Voltaic Keys.
Turn one: Play Ancient Tomb, play 2 mana vaults, use them to play 2 more mana vaults and 2 voltaic keys, untap your used mana vaults ready for turn two.
Turn two: Use everything for 18 colourless mana (!) then play the Kozilek, butcher of truth that you just drew. Draw four cards which turn out to be 2 more voltaic keys, another land and Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre. Play the land and the voltaic keys use them for another 3 mana taking your mana pool to 11 and play Ulamog.
Your opponent responds by accusing you of rigging your decks before tapping his swamp to play 2 dark rituals and two Diabolic edicts. This game has an answer for everything .
How about some casual uses for those of us not intent on abusing fun but powerful artifacts?
Braid of fire is not a bad way to get repeat value out of both cards. For a cost of
It also forms a nice two card combo with soulbright flamekin.
Turn 1: land, mana vault
Turn 2: land, Soulbright
Turn 3: land, something that can use
Playing this without a means to untap it is not worth it if you are planning on games going 10+ turns.
And now to go for broke: use black lotus to power out a Celestial Prism on the first turn!
Turn 1: Ancient Tomb (or Mishra's Workshop if you're made of money), Mana Vault, Voltaic Key, Voltaic Key, Chromatic Sphere, Tinker dig for Blightsteel Colossus, Lightning Greaves
Declare attackers...
It'd have to be perfect though, or close to perfect, I guess you could top deck the Lightning Greaves or Tinker from the cantrip from Chromatic Sphere.
Mana Vault, it comes into play untapped and gives you three mana turn one. With a Voltaic Key it's a essentially a Black Lotus every turn except for 2 colorless mana. In that sense, I guess it's a lot like Sol Ring, except for the first turn.
For those of you who play MTGO, you get to play this in Cube Draft soon. And with fancy new art that's less like this Companion Cube, and more like an epic vault of mystery.
Doesn't seem banned-in-legacy broken, tbh.
In Vintage, it turns Wasteland into a turn-one Mishra's Workshop and/or powers out a Metalworker. I never liked it as much for Storm, but it seems compatible with Ad Nauseam.
It's hilarious to see people suggesting this and Sol Ring would be acceptably nonbroken in Legacy. Please, please, please convince Wizards to unban them! Then Metalworker, Trinisphere, Wasteland, Lodestone Golem and I will see you in the very next tournament... good luck ever casting a spell. I've played three-game matches where my opponent never had a chance to play a nonland card. :)
12345678
For those comparing it to a Sol Ring when used in conjunction with a Voltaic Key, you are missing the muscle. It begins untapped. It can be tapped for three, play the Voltaic Key, leaving two floating, and then untapped with the Key, then tapped again for a net of 4 colorless, which usually means Su-Chi or Isochron Scepter and first use. Or just go mana crazy on turn three...
1. Swamp, Mana Vault, Voltaic key, Su-Chi
2. Swamp, Sol Ring, Swing for 4 with Su-Chi
3. Swing for 4 with Su-Chi, Tap Swamp, Sac for Lake of the Dead. Tap swamp, Tap Lake, 6 floating black. Sacrifice Su-Chi. 10 floating black, 4 floating colorless. Tap Mana Vault, Untap with Key, Tap mana Vault. 10 floating black mana, 9 floating colorless. Tap Sol Ring. 10 floating black mana, 11 floating colorless. Emrakul, the Aeons Torn and Necropolis Regent. Go again.
Although I often ran 4 Dark Rituals in many decks, I never put in more than 1 Mana Vault because it seemed just plain cruel to do so. The first time I used a Mana Vault, it was in a mono-red deck; I summoned a Shivan Dragon with it on the 3rd turn and just sat there, staring at my cards on the table in disbelief. I couldn't believe a card this powerful was being allowed FOUR PER DECK. Compared to Dark Ritual, Mana Vault provides the same amount of mana, without the color commitment, is reusable, and can even be cast on one turn and have all 3 mana used another turn. The 1 damage upkeep is a nearly insignificant tradeoff, compared to, say, the massive pain you can suffer from a 1st turn Mana Crypt. I'd say Dark Ritual looks quite fair and down-to-earth compared to this powerhouse!