Pointed Discussion

This card is far to circumstantial. Only good on turns one or two. Only good if you don't have a lot of card draw. Only good if you don't have mana curve lands.

Meh. Chromatic Star is better and doesn't have the gigantic rules black hole. (Actually, it's more of a rules accidental milk spill.)

Strictly worse than Chromatic Star.

This used to be a nice staple common back in Mirrodin Block.

@Lateralis0ne
Actually I think they are technically moons, they're just called by most (and act as) suns.
Mirrodin is weird like that.

This is not strictly worse than Chromatic Star, since this will always give you the card draw and CS won't. It's just worse in most situations.

...I thought they were Mana suns, not moons?

Who came up with the flavor text?

Thanks, SirMalkin, appreciate the clarification.



Decent card in limited, and works a lot better than many may think, given it's a one time mana fixer. The card draw is nice, and will thin your deck when looking for certain cards. One mana of any color can also help, when you don't find a great furnace for your Shrapnel Blast. Also, I want four for my Sunny Side Up decklist...I can finally rebuild it with Modern coming out, so that'll be nice.

Always those people with their "strictly worse"... If a leyline of the void is in play, this one still gives you a card to draw unlike the chromatic star.

Such a combo-licious card for those of us with Pyrite Spellbombs, Reshapes, and Second Sunrise.

Five suns?
Damn, Mirrodin must be orbiting all over the place.

I would run x4 in a mono deck. Its good at cycling through your deck at a low cost. And it filters mana to boot.

If one thing is worse than another thing in most situations, it is "strictly worse"; if something is always worse than another thing, it is "strictly worse". Notice the ambiguity? Kind of a problem, like people using "literally" to mean "figuratively" (a usage now unfortunately recognized by the OED).

To help keep things clear, use terms like "usually better", "almost always better", "always better", etc. Jargon is useful only for establishing yourself as an insider in a particular community. Don't be a dick. Don't use jargon, especially jargon that is intrinsically confusing. That is strictly worse than eschewing jargon for the sake of clarity.

Being ethical starts on trivial internet forums. Now you know.

Anyway, both are strictly better than Barbed Sextant.

3 card, 11 mana, deck construction win condition.
Have a deck with Primal Surge, Laboratory Maniac, this, and no other non-permanents.
Primal Surge puts everything onto the field, activate this and since it's a mana ability no one can respond to your winning.

The_Erudite_Idiot, if you're going to rant about strictly, use it correctly if you do... Chromatic Star is not strictly better than Barbed Sextant because of the same reason this can be better than the star. The Sextant always gets you the card.