Seems like an ok card in black-red discard decks. If your opponent has an empty hand, and then topdecks a card he can't play (or just a land), he gets quites some damage.
Nerobyrne
★★☆☆☆ (2.5/5.0)(2 votes)
Unfortunately, this card is entirely useless now ... kind of sad, as it could kill a landfall deck because of all those extra lands, if it weren't for the new ruling
infernox10
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(3 votes)
Man, when they got rid of mana burn, it sure did mess up a lot of cards...
VampireCat
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Utterly useless with the M10 rules changes.
"End of your turn I tap all my lands"
The Oracle re-wording also means it can't punish your opponent's for leaving lands open for Counterspells.
tavaritz
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
This never punished for leaving lands open for Counterspells, it punished if you didn't use that mana in the end step.
The same happened in your own end step. When they pumped their excess mana into Wall of Fire or some such sink, then you played your Unsummons.
Today you don't have that problem. When they say they're done you say you tap your lands for mana. Drawing mana from lands doesn't use stack so they cannot respond to it.
Aaron_Forsythe
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(9 votes)
Aaron’s Random Card Comment of the Day #78, 6/6/11
Of all the rules changes that went into effect with Magic 2010, the one I continue to get email about is the removal of mana burn (combat damage on the stack died a relatively quiet death). The mail is not from people that want their opponents to lose a random point for tapping their Birds of Paradise in response to a Lightning Bolt, but rather people that occassionally try to win the game via mana burn with cards like this one.
In a world with mana burn, Power Surge puts an opponent without spells to cast into a no-win situation: either he taps his lands for mana or he doesn’t; either way causes him to take a damage per land. With mana burn gone, all the opponent has to do is tap all his lands to avoid Power Surge’s damage.
The game did lose something with the loss of mana burn, I acknowledge that. But I still think the rule wasn’t worth having around. Now that it doesn’t exist, players aren’t just tapping lands willy-nilly and floating mana without repercussion just to mess with each other (at least not players I’ve interacted with), which was one fear of removing it. Occasionally a Cabal Coffers or Gaea's Cradle will over-perform and no punishment is meted out, but that’s hardly a big loss. In return, newer players never need lectured on the hidden dangers of their own mana producers.
Mogg Fanatic changed from “great” to “good” as opposed to “useless” with the M10 rules, and it is still played in most of the decks that wanted it before. Power Surge wasn’t as fortunate. Even a permission player can just tap all his lands during your end step to avoid the damage. So we must be creative. My first thought is combining the card with Winter Orb or Manabarbs or any other card that punishes you for tapping lands. I’m sure there’s some other use for this card out there still—that’s the beauty of the game.
Comments (7)
If your opponent has an empty hand, and then topdecks a card he can't play (or just a land), he gets quites some damage.
"End of your turn I tap all my lands"
The Oracle re-wording also means it can't punish your opponent's for leaving lands open for Counterspells.
So what it meant was that the red mage could slip an instant (eg Lightning Bolt) or an interrupt (eg. Red Elemental Blast) when you pumped your mana into Mishra's Factory or some such sink.
The same happened in your own end step. When they pumped their excess mana into Wall of Fire or some such sink, then you played your Unsummons.
Today you don't have that problem. When they say they're done you say you tap your lands for mana. Drawing mana from lands doesn't use stack so they cannot respond to it.
Of all the rules changes that went into effect with Magic 2010, the one I continue to get email about is the removal of mana burn (combat damage on the stack died a relatively quiet death). The mail is not from people that want their opponents to lose a random point for tapping their Birds of Paradise in response to a Lightning Bolt, but rather people that occassionally try to win the game via mana burn with cards like this one.
In a world with mana burn, Power Surge puts an opponent without spells to cast into a no-win situation: either he taps his lands for mana or he doesn’t; either way causes him to take a damage per land. With mana burn gone, all the opponent has to do is tap all his lands to avoid Power Surge’s damage.
I’ve played with this card a bit, as well as with cards like it such as Eladamri's Vineyard and Spectral Searchlight; even Mana Flare could cause enough stray burn to affect a game’s outcome.
The game did lose something with the loss of mana burn, I acknowledge that. But I still think the rule wasn’t worth having around. Now that it doesn’t exist, players aren’t just tapping lands willy-nilly and floating mana without repercussion just to mess with each other (at least not players I’ve interacted with), which was one fear of removing it. Occasionally a Cabal Coffers or Gaea's Cradle will over-perform and no punishment is meted out, but that’s hardly a big loss. In return, newer players never need lectured on the hidden dangers of their own mana producers.
Mogg Fanatic changed from “great” to “good” as opposed to “useless” with the M10 rules, and it is still played in most of the decks that wanted it before. Power Surge wasn’t as fortunate. Even a permission player can just tap all his lands during your end step to avoid the damage. So we must be creative. My first thought is combining the card with Winter Orb or Manabarbs or any other card that punishes you for tapping lands. I’m sure there’s some other use for this card out there still—that’s the beauty of the game.