I'm new to the game and my friends and I are confused on how the mana pool works in certain cases.
Ex. I have an untapped land and 2 elvish mystic on the field do I tap the 2 mystics to gain mana and tap the land in order to summon a courser of kruphix which is 1 and 2green? Does it work that way?
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(Jay13x):
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That is correct. Whenever you tap something that says "Add {whatever} to your mana pool", that amount of mana of that specific color or colors is available for use immediately. In fact, it stays in your mana pool for use until the current step or phase ends. For example, you can add 10 mana all at once to your mana pool during your pre-combat main phase, summon one creature for 4 of that and then use some of the remaining 6 mana to cast a 3 mana sorcery. But if you go into your combat phase, unsused mana goes away (empties from your mana pool).
For example, you can add 10 mana all at once to your mana pool during your pre-combat main phase, summon one creature for 4 of that and then use some of the remaining 6 mana to cast a 3 mana sorcery.
While this is accurate, I should mention that you usually do not need to generate mana like this before you cast a spell. The actual process of casting the spell itself has a step where you can activate mana abilities and put mana into your mana pool right before you would actually have to pay costs.
In fact, it's typically a bad idea to generate mana early for no reason. If you produce 6 mana all at once with the intention of casting Courser of Kruphix and then casting Blanchwood Armor on it, you would be stuck with the extra mana in the event that your opponent were to counter the Courser. For this reason, in tournament settings it's assumed that you are activating mana abilities during the casting process unless you specify otherwise. (For example, if you tap 6 Forests and then say "I cast Courser then cast Blanchwood Armor on it", you're proposing a shortcut where you cast the first, it resolves, and you cast the second. If your opponent interrupts after you cast Courser, you're considered not to have tapped the other three lands.)
Cases where you might want to generate mana early include if you need to untap the land using something like Arbor Elf or if your opponent is about to tap or destroy the land with something like Rishadan Port or Ghost Quarter.
Ex. I have an untapped land and 2 elvish mystic on the field do I tap the 2 mystics to gain mana and tap the land in order to summon a courser of kruphix which is 1 and 2green? Does it work that way?
In fact, it's typically a bad idea to generate mana early for no reason. If you produce 6 mana all at once with the intention of casting Courser of Kruphix and then casting Blanchwood Armor on it, you would be stuck with the extra mana in the event that your opponent were to counter the Courser. For this reason, in tournament settings it's assumed that you are activating mana abilities during the casting process unless you specify otherwise. (For example, if you tap 6 Forests and then say "I cast Courser then cast Blanchwood Armor on it", you're proposing a shortcut where you cast the first, it resolves, and you cast the second. If your opponent interrupts after you cast Courser, you're considered not to have tapped the other three lands.)
Cases where you might want to generate mana early include if you need to untap the land using something like Arbor Elf or if your opponent is about to tap or destroy the land with something like Rishadan Port or Ghost Quarter.