Almost a slap in the face to throw this in without Sliver Queen. Oh well, I'll have to use the Sliver Queen I have lying around.
Behalter
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(3 votes)
Too bad this card doesn't reduce the actual cost of the slivers, only their activated abilities :( Would be a million times more epic if it reduced CC lol
Hibron
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(4 votes)
sliver queen+heartstone+basal sliver=infinite slivers and black mana. Throw in coat of arms for infinite power and toughness to go along with you infinite slivers.
Snaxme
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(4 votes)
@Hibron:
Mana Echoes is an easier way to get unlimited Slivers using the Queen. That plus that "{2}, Sac: Deals 2 damage" Sliver is pratically an "I Win".
Diachronos
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@Vik. Throw in Darkheart Sliver, too. Make tokens and tap em for mana until you have a million, then sac em all. You just gained 3 million life. In one turn.
GradiustheFox
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Youch. Three Abilities in it's paid for itself, and from there it just gets painful. But... Why is the mystical power stone wearing bondage gear?
Haze01
★★★★☆ (4.9/5.0)(7 votes)
Check out Rise of the Eldrazi's Training Grounds... takes this ability up a notch or two and for less mana. Pretty much always the better choice if you want this effect and can play blue.
kitsunewarlock
★☆☆☆☆ (1.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Does this reduce cycling?
EternalLurker
★★★★☆ (4.7/5.0)(3 votes)
@kitsunewarlock: Heartstone doesn't reduce cycling costs. It only affects creatures, not creature cards. Cycling is an ability that creature cards use while in your hand; they aren't permanents yet.
Going infinite turn 4 is fun, even if it is unstable: Pili Pala with a Hermetic Study on it, plus this. Tap it, deal 1 damage, pay the mana for the Pili Pala's ability to untap it and get a mana. Now tap it, deal 1 damage, and use the mana you just got to untap. Now tap it, deal 1 damage... Because few things are as funny as the look on the other player's faces when your bizarre blue deck wins on turn 4 by putting 4 quadrillion instances of damage on the stack.
I'd say this has been offically outlclassed by Training Grounds. sure, this is colorless, at the cost of a lesser effect and slightly higher CMC, but that isn't really saying much when training grounds is a ONE DROP.
Still, its quite nice for a starter sliver deck. just make sure you upgrade once you get the chance to.
TPmanW
★☆☆☆☆ (1.2/5.0)(2 votes)
Fun to use with Manaforge Cinder since it'll produce three mana every turn without tapping.
MacBizzle
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(4 votes)
It's a shame that Training Grounds outdid this on three aspects: 1. It's a one-drop. 2. It only reduces your ability costs, as opposed to your opponents' as well. 3. It reduces ability costs by {2}, as opposed to {1}.
Interesting how something like that ended up being the downfall of the entire plane of Mirrodin.
atemu1234
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
In my groups this card is pure gold. Harder to get than a real heart? Not really. All i need is a hunting knive and a couple napkins for that.
dmaher
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Can heart stone reduce the cost of ninjutsu?
forumbrowser
★★★★☆ (4.7/5.0)(3 votes)
@Tiggurix Training Grounds is all creatures you control, not just a single one like you're trying to say.
@Pigfish99 and everyone else who doesn't bother reading the card. This effect can't reduce the amount of mana an ability costs to less than .
Read the text before making comments people!
This and/or Training Grounds is the cornerstone to a pretty easy 3 card infinite mana combo with Grim Monolith or Basalt Monolith and any artifact animation (I run with Karn, Silver Golem if you don't have the funds for Power Artifact). That said, being an artifact, this powers my Tolarian Academy while Training Grounds does not.
Elvoran
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(3 votes)
@dmaher: No, while Heartstone does say "creatures" it's implicit that it's creature permanents it affects. Otherwise it would include the words "creature cards". Creature cards are creatures that haven't yet become permanents (entered the battlefield).
Tiggurix
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@Pigfish99: Not at all. Remember, Training Grounds affects but a single creature, while Heartstone is a global effect. Major difference, as this will affect each and every one of your creatures. Sure, this can bite you in the back as it will also affect your opponent's creatures, but then again, you will probably have optimised your deck to take advantage of your Heartstone, won't you? In addition, the fact that this is colorless is much more significant than you make it out to be, not to mention that this is an artifact, which is a very significant factor, for better or worse. All in all, to say that Heartstone has been replaced by Training Grounds is bollocks, and anyways, why not run both?
@forumbrowser: Oh, it does? Huh, I had just assumed Training Grounds was an aura up until now, like Power Artifact. My mistake. That card is much more overpowered than I had ever supposed. Still, Heartstone is colorless and an artifact, which is still plenty significant.
rith_the_legend09
★★★☆☆ (3.8/5.0)(3 votes)
I use this card with Rith the awakener, Nemata grove guardian and my Selesnya Guildmage makes my saproling production that much quicker and just goes awesome with my Commander deck I recently built using rith as My commander.
WhiteFang12
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Amazing Card if your playing slivers your slivers have haste and sliver queen hits the the field also saying you have gem hide or manawisp or what ever the other sliver that produces mana for each sliver you have infinite army of slivers with haste a pretty good infinite combo.
A3Kitsune
★★★☆☆ (3.8/5.0)(2 votes)
Combos with Commander format.
Bbone37
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Hey guize, I don't knew if you guize knew this or not but there's this knew card called Training Grounds, and it like, is TOTES better than this card. Pfft. Why would they even print this garbage... Such lame. Wizard are stupid for making this jank. Its cheaper, and does more! AND it doesn't halp your apponentz. Fo Real bros.....
OK, now that the sarcasm is out; yeah, Training Grounds is better in a lot of ways, but this was printed many years before that. Power creep aside, if WOTC didn't make better cards, we would have no new sets to buy. So think about when things were originally printed and use some common sense. This was included in the Sliver Deck because it was an auto include in every then-standard sliver deck. We didn't have training grounds. We had the Queen, Ashnod's Altar, and This. Period. We made an arbitrarily large amount of sliver tokens, gave them "unaffected by summoning sickness" with Heart Sliver, and them made them fly with Winged sliver.
So just keep the time line in scope when making comments.
r2d2go
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Training grounds makes this a bit obsolete, as this costs more, buffs opponent's creatures, and has a lower effect. I suppose the lack of color makes it easier to fit into a colored combo deck, but still, training grounds is much better.
Comments (32)
Mana Echoes is an easier way to get unlimited Slivers using the Queen. That plus that "{2}, Sac: Deals 2 damage" Sliver is pratically an "I Win".
Throw in Darkheart Sliver, too. Make tokens and tap em for mana until you have a million, then sac em all. You just gained 3 million life. In one turn.
This is only better if you cheat artifacts into play with stuff like Etherium Sculptor or Cloud Key, or if you don't run U.
Heartstone
OR...
Training Grounds?
You tell me...
However, the star is Soulbright Flamekin. 5 mana to play him and get 8 red mana.
Besides slivers, spikes, and level-up cards, there are the mongers, hateflayer, inner-flame igniter and two-headed dragon.
Pili Pala with a Hermetic Study on it, plus this.
Tap it, deal 1 damage, pay the mana for the Pili Pala's ability to untap it and get a mana. Now tap it, deal 1 damage, and use the mana you just got to untap. Now tap it, deal 1 damage... Because few things are as funny as the look on the other player's faces when your bizarre blue deck wins on turn 4 by putting 4 quadrillion instances of damage on the stack.
Still, its quite nice for a starter sliver deck. just make sure you upgrade once you get the chance to.
1. It's a one-drop.
2. It only reduces your ability costs, as opposed to your opponents' as well.
3. It reduces ability costs by {2}, as opposed to {1}.
The only thing this has on Training Grounds is better multicolor capability and artifact affinity.
Training Grounds is all creatures you control, not just a single one like you're trying to say.
@Pigfish99 and everyone else who doesn't bother reading the card.
This effect can't reduce the amount of mana an ability costs to less than
Read the text before making comments people!
This and/or Training Grounds is the cornerstone to a pretty easy 3 card infinite mana combo with Grim Monolith or Basalt Monolith and any artifact animation (I run with Karn, Silver Golem if you don't have the funds for Power Artifact). That said, being an artifact, this powers my Tolarian Academy while Training Grounds does not.
Creature cards are creatures that haven't yet become permanents (entered the battlefield).
@forumbrowser: Oh, it does? Huh, I had just assumed Training Grounds was an aura up until now, like Power Artifact. My mistake. That card is much more overpowered than I had ever supposed. Still, Heartstone is colorless and an artifact, which is still plenty significant.
OK, now that the sarcasm is out; yeah, Training Grounds is better in a lot of ways, but this was printed many years before that. Power creep aside, if WOTC didn't make better cards, we would have no new sets to buy. So think about when things were originally printed and use some common sense. This was included in the Sliver Deck because it was an auto include in every then-standard sliver deck. We didn't have training grounds. We had the Queen, Ashnod's Altar, and This. Period. We made an arbitrarily large amount of sliver tokens, gave them "unaffected by summoning sickness" with Heart Sliver, and them made them fly with Winged sliver.
So just keep the time line in scope when making comments.