And low impact doesn't mean no impact. If they hadno impact at all, it would be pointless to discuss. Maybe those cards wouldn't affect competitive plays, but definitelly would affect casual games.
I would definitelly play Alesha in Rakdos aggro deck or Yasova in Simic steal/copy deck. Why not.
The way I am looking at it isn't about the cards, per se, it's just about what is right. To me, it feels weird not being able to use hybrid cards, especially the new ones that have hybrid mana activated abilities, in decks that are currently unable to play them. Something about the way the color identity rule currently works just seems wrong when you figure hybrid mana into the picture, to me. And if they continue to print hybrid mana cards, then this change will grow to be more necessary, but will be harder to do because of the larger and larger effect it will have on the game. I feel it would be best addressed earlier rather than later.
Also, if none of these cards are banned currently, I fail to see how allowing them to be used in decks with access to less colors makes them more threatening. Of course, it is hard to calculate the impact from this without having it happen. To me though, that's just another reason to think about changing it, now.
I think it should be simple: "If a deck in these colors can use it, its fair game." Fit that in, and you don't need to worry about Memnarch (Only a blue deck can use him and activate his abilities), and then hybrid cards can go into the decks that can run them.
Furthermore, Hybrid and Phyrexian Mana are NOT the same thing, so please stop dragging Phyrexian Mana into the Hybrid discussion.
Your "simple" rules would allow all decks to run phyrexian mana cards. I would say that discussing phyrexian mana along with hybrid mana is more than relevant here.
I've explained the distinction like so: hybrid cards are wholly useable in either of their colors. Phyrexian cards are not. A better rule would be this:
"Decks may only include cards whose colored mana symbols each contain a color from their commander's color identity."
I've explained the distinction like so: hybrid cards are wholly useable in either of their colors. Phyrexian cards are not. A better rule would be this:
"Decks may only include cards whose colored mana symbols contain a color from their commander's color identity."
Except you're wording the rule to suit your agenda, when mechanically there is nothing preventing me from paying life as opposed to colored mana to cast a phyrexian mana card. Either way you're abolishing the CI rule by allowing off-color cards in your deck.
I've explained the distinction like so: hybrid cards are wholly useable in either of their colors. Phyrexian cards are not. A better rule would be this:
"Decks may only include cards whose colored mana symbols contain a color from their commander's color identity."
Except you're wording the rule to suit your agenda, when mechanically there is nothing preventing me from paying life as opposed to colored mana to cast a phyrexian mana card. Either way you're abolishing the CI rule by allowing off-color cards in your deck.
Thas true, but if we take it not from the flavour point of view, but from the point of using them in decks, how many of phyrexian cards can be actually used? 5? I can imagine Birthing pod, Gitaxian Probe, Act of Aggression, Dismember and Spellskite to be used. I don't think they would break any current deck out there. Sure, they don't match color identity. Out of these 5, i would have 0 problems with Spellskite, because its colorless artifact with just phyrexian activating cost..
Thas true, but if we take it not from the flavour point of view, but from the point of using them in decks, how many of phyrexian cards can be actually used? 5? I can imagine Birthing pod, Gitaxian Probe, Act of Aggression, Dismember and Spellskite to be used. I don't think they would break any current deck out there. Sure, they don't match color identity. Out of these 5, i would have 0 problems with Spellskite, because its colorless artifact with just phyrexian activating cost..
You're forgetting one of the most heavily played blue cards and one of the best cards in Commander overall: Phyrexian Metamorph. Commander's deckbuilding restrictions are there to promote diversity, giving every deck a creature and artifact clone would help make this format less diverse.
I think if one were to use the Phyrexian Mana argument to argue against Hybrid mana, it's fine to do so. But honestly why can't they be separated or isolated in a unique way?
Let's be honest here: We all know that Phyrexian Mana is actually a broken mechanic; People love the color bleed (so do I) but we know the design space for the latter compared to Hybrid is probably gonna be limited to New Phyrexia. Like I said, look at the bigger perspective. Hybrid is and will be printed. Loads of them. Phyrexian Mana? Very unlikely.
Even if we threw in the Phyrexian Mana debate, I'd say its a boon to light-resource colors like red and white. But having said that, Wizards have been addressing this resource issue at regular intervals. Don't we find ourselves adding more and more newer cards from newer sets? It's proof that Wizards are doing good things. I'm imploring for people's ability to foresee the future of Commander and Hybrid in particular.
I don't want Phyrexian Mana argument to bleed into the Hybrid debate. People aren't seeing it in isolation. The pros and cons of introducing hybrid into your mono decks. Leave the Phyrexian Mana argument for another day.
That said, what are the cons of hybrid mana to those opposing it? Intuitively, how should hybrid play or work for you? What I'm basically saying is that the current rules don't make sense for a mechanic that makes human basic sense. It seems almost foolish if I were to be blunt.
I've explained the distinction like so: hybrid cards are wholly useable in either of their colors. Phyrexian cards are not. A better rule would be this:
"Decks may only include cards whose colored mana symbols each contain a color from their commander's color identity."
Except you're wording the rule to suit your agenda, when mechanically there is nothing preventing me from paying life as opposed to colored mana to cast a phyrexian mana card. Either way you're abolishing the CI rule by allowing off-color cards in your deck.
Abolishing? No. Color identity is still used, albeit in a slightly more inclusive manner. A admit that I do view hybrids differently than the RC with regards to color identity, though. Why else would I change anything?
Thas true, but if we take it not from the flavour point of view, but from the point of using them in decks, how many of phyrexian cards can be actually used? 5? I can imagine Birthing pod, Gitaxian Probe, Act of Aggression, Dismember and Spellskite to be used. I don't think they would break any current deck out there. Sure, they don't match color identity. Out of these 5, i would have 0 problems with Spellskite, because its colorless artifact with just phyrexian activating cost..
I would run Pod and Dismember in a lot of decks if they didn't follow CI rules, and Metamorph in almost every one.
I think if one were to use the Phyrexian Mana argument to argue against Hybrid mana, it's fine to do so. But honestly why can't they be separated or isolated in a unique way?
Let's be honest here: We all know that Phyrexian Mana is actually a broken mechanic; People love the color bleed (so do I) but we know the design space for the latter compared to Hybrid is probably gonna be limited to New Phyrexia. Like I said, look at the bigger perspective. Hybrid is and will be printed. Loads of them. Phyrexian Mana? Very unlikely.
Even if we threw in the Phyrexian Mana debate, I'd say its a boon to light-resource colors like red and white. But having said that, Wizards have been addressing this resource issue at regular intervals. Don't we find ourselves adding more and more newer cards from newer sets? It's proof that Wizards are doing good things. I'm imploring for people's ability to foresee the future of Commander and Hybrid in particular.
I don't want Phyrexian Mana argument to bleed into the Hybrid debate. People aren't seeing it in isolation. The pros and cons of introducing hybrid into your mono decks. Leave the Phyrexian Mana argument for another day.
That said, what are the cons of hybrid mana to those opposing it? Intuitively, how should hybrid play or work for you? What I'm basically saying is that the current rules don't make sense for a mechanic that makes human basic sense. It seems almost foolish if I were to be blunt.
How don't the rules make sense? CI looks at all the mana symbols on the card. Done. No grey area. No exceptions. That is the con of changing the rule. There is a clear flavor reasoning behind the current rule and changing the rule ignores that.
There is a clear flavor reasoning behind the current rule and changing the rule ignores that.
I wouldn't say there are no flavor reasons for hybrid cards. Enchanted Evening is something both a white mage and a blue mage could end up doing. It's in both slices of the color pie. So flavor wise, why do pure blue commanders not get access to it?
That being said, I prefer not allowing hybrids, mostly because it would annoy me to see all those off color symbols in a deck.
A admit that I do view hybrids differently than the RC with regards to color identity, though. Why else would I change anything?
You do realize that hybrid spells are both colors no matter how you pay for them? All they are is gold multicolored spells with flexible mana costs.
Of course. They are indeed multicolored... though gold is a term I reserve for cards that actually have gold borders. Do not mistake me though - the card borders have not been a major influence on my opinion here.
I think that the crux of Maro's argument was summed up by his assertion that if you only have the rule restricting mana production to only colors of mana that occur in you commander's color identity (aka Rule 4), then the rule regarding restriction of colors on cards in your deck to only those that occur in your commander's color identity (aka Rule 3) is unnecessary and can be abolished, allowing "off-color" hybrid mana cards can exist in decks where they currently cannot. This is definitely looking at the format from a card designer's perspective and in a way that is most inclusive of cards and allows hybrid mana to exist in a way that it does in every other format.
I know that in theory that sounds great, but I don't think he understands the full implications of suggesting this rule change. The issue with this is that it would allow for all off-color lands to be used in any deck, cards that can be played with an alternate casting cost could be played, cards that play cards without paying their mana can be used to cast off-color cards, and in essence the whole fabric of color identity and what makes the format unique would be severely weakened.
I think that the only way to get hybrid to work the way Maro wants it to work would be to write a Rule 4b that would specifically allow cards with hybrid mana costs to have color identities of either color and not both colors. I think it would be tricky to write it such that it makes complete sense (think of how you would write the rule, and see if it makes sense with something like Soulfire Grand Master). I think that this solution would make the card designer in all of us very happy, but make the rules judge part of us a little sad.
I think that the current rules work well enough despite being restrictive towards hybrid mana. I like that they follow the rules of the game that state that a hybrid mana card is BOTH colors and not either. Seeing that this format was created by judges (and not card designers) I couldn't see it having ever been implemented any other way. Does that mean we can't change it? No. But I think that it's not as easy as some people make it out to be.
So there's a redundancy, and Maro wants to eliminate one half of it. What about the other half? What about just taking away the mana production rule? I doubt anyone has ever been bothered by the prospect of being able to produce mana outside your CI, except people who like to use Celestial Dawn as a rude win condition. So is there a reason to limit mana production, when the current CI rules almost completely cover it anyways?
So there's a redundancy, and Maro wants to eliminate one half of it. What about the other half? What about just taking away the mana production rule? I doubt anyone has ever been bothered by the prospect of being able to produce mana outside your CI, except people who like to use Celestial Dawn as a rude win condition. So is there a reason to limit mana production, when the current CI rules almost completely cover it anyways?
I think that would be the better way to go if it had to be one rule or the other. It would certainly make Sen Triplets players quite happy, and it would make things like Sunburst much better. I think Rule 4 is an interesting touch flavorwise, but its mostly redundant.
I think that the bigger issue for why nobody advocates for the abolishment of Rule 4 is that aside from a few corner cases like Celestial Dawn and Sen Triplets, there is no practical reason to want to get rid of the rule. It certainly doesn't help people who want to play "off-color" hybrids in their decks.
I think Rule 4 is an interesting touch flavorwise, but its mostly redundant.
Except that it is directly contrary to the flavor of the decks most heavily affected by it, such as the aforementioned Sen Triplets. The 'flavor' justification commonly used to keep the rule applies equally to getting rid of it.
I think that the bigger issue for why nobody advocates for the abolishment of Rule 4 is that aside from a few corner cases like Celestial Dawn and Sen Triplets, there is no practical reason to want to get rid of the rule. It certainly doesn't help people who want to play "off-color" hybrids in their decks.
Every time it comes up, I advocate for removing the rule. There is no practical reason to keep the rule. It is as mentioned largely redundant, very rarely having an effect on an actual game. So much so, in my (& what appears to be most people's) experience, new players often seem to think you are making **** up when you tell them of it for the first time.
The practical reason for removing the rule is that it gets rid of a clunky and unnecessary complication to the rules of the format. Removing the rule also costs nearly nothing, and expands a few options for gamepay.
I am all for removing Rule 4 as well, for the reasons given from some people above. I am not a fan of near useless redundancy and also, I think that not allowing players to produce other mana colors can limit fun interactions. I don't really understand why the rule was ever created to begin wit, at this point...
Also, about rule 3 and color identity... What if Rule 3 read something like "Cards in a commander deck may not contain any cards that cannot be played with the colors in the chosen commanders color identity. Also, a commander deck may not contain any cards that produce mana if that card has any colors in its identity that are not shared by their commander."? There may be issues here, so feel free to point them out!
Yeah, the only times that the rule has ever come up in my experience have been when I've had to explain to a new guy that the Celestial Dawn he was just gifted from a zedruu actually knocks him out of the game. Sure, that's also an issue with cutthroat zedruu players playing with newer players, but it's also an issue that doesn't have to exist at all.
I think advanced plays based on unique interactions and knowledge of the rules are cool. I don't think abusing a rule that seems to exist only to be abused is as cool. That's why I'm asking here: has not being able to produce mana outside the color identity of your general ever added anything to the game? In my experience so far it hasn't, it's only taken things away. And I did play Sen for a while. I never really cared that I couldn't use green or red cards without a Mycosynth Lattice in play. It wasn't a fun obstacle to overcome, because there was no obstacle. For every green and red goodie in somebody's hand, there were equally appealing black, white, blue and colorless goodies in somebody else's hand.
Yeah, the only times that the rule has ever come up in my experience have been when I've had to explain to a new guy that the Celestial Dawn he was just gifted from a zedruu actually knocks him out of the game. Sure, that's also an issue with cutthroat zedruu players playing with newer players, but it's also an issue that doesn't have to exist at all.
I think advanced plays based on unique interactions and knowledge of the rules are cool. I don't think abusing a rule that seems to exist only to be abused is as cool. That's why I'm asking here: has not being able to produce mana outside the color identity of your general ever added anything to the game? In my experience so far it hasn't, it's only taken things away. And I did play Sen for a while. I never really cared that I couldn't use green or red cards without a Mycosynth Lattice in play. It wasn't a fun obstacle to overcome, because there was no obstacle. For every green and red goodie in somebody's hand, there were equally appealing black, white, blue and colorless goodies in somebody else's hand.
In my experience, this rule has actually taken away from the fun of the game. As many people have stated, cards like Celestial Dawn and Contamination are ways to lock people out of the game, simply due to this rule. I find this interaction very unfun. Also, it completely prevents you from using activated abilities of permanents that you may have stolen from other players. (An aspect that I'd like to take advantage of.) I have had games where I will steal a permanent from a player just to keep them from using, but of course, it has the possibility of being totally useless to me; it just seems like a strange rule and creates poor interactions.
Yeah, the only times that the rule has ever come up in my experience have been when I've had to explain to a new guy that the Celestial Dawn he was just gifted from a zedruu actually knocks him out of the game. Sure, that's also an issue with cutthroat zedruu players playing with newer players, but it's also an issue that doesn't have to exist at all.
I think advanced plays based on unique interactions and knowledge of the rules are cool. I don't think abusing a rule that seems to exist only to be abused is as cool. That's why I'm asking here: has not being able to produce mana outside the color identity of your general ever added anything to the game? In my experience so far it hasn't, it's only taken things away. And I did play Sen for a while. I never really cared that I couldn't use green or red cards without a Mycosynth Lattice in play. It wasn't a fun obstacle to overcome, because there was no obstacle. For every green and red goodie in somebody's hand, there were equally appealing black, white, blue and colorless goodies in somebody else's hand.
In my experience, this rule has actually taken away from the fun of the game. As many people have stated, cards like Celestial Dawn and Contamination are ways to lock people out of the game, simply due to this rule. I find this interaction very unfun. Also, it completely prevents you from using activated abilities of permanents that you may have stolen from other players. (An aspect that I'd like to take advantage of.) I have had games where I will steal a permanent from a player just to keep them from using, but of course, it has the possibility of being totally useless to me; it just seems like a strange rule and creates poor interactions.
I'm going to throw my hat in with this as well. I keep wanting to build a copycat Lazav, Dimir Mastermind and I would love to be able to make use of things like Praetor's Grasp and Nightveil Specter more fully with rainbow lands.
I think that the only way to get hybrid to work the way Maro wants it to work would be to write a Rule 4b that would specifically allow cards with hybrid mana costs to have color identities of either color and not both colors. I think it would be tricky to write it such that it makes complete sense (think of how you would write the rule, and see if it makes sense with something like Soulfire Grand Master). I think that this solution would make the card designer in all of us very happy, but make the rules judge part of us a little sad.
I think that the current rules work well enough despite being restrictive towards hybrid mana. I like that they follow the rules of the game that state that a hybrid mana card is BOTH colors and not either. Seeing that this format was created by judges (and not card designers) I couldn't see it having ever been implemented any other way. Does that mean we can't change it? No. But I think that it's not as easy as some people make it out to be.
"Decks may only include cards whose colored mana symbols each contain a color from their commander's color identity."
There is a clear flavor reasoning behind the current rule and changing the rule ignores that.
I wouldn't say there are no flavor reasons for hybrid cards. Enchanted Evening is something both a white mage and a blue mage could end up doing. It's in both slices of the color pie. So flavor wise, why do pure blue commanders not get access to it?
There is a clear flavor reasoning behind the current rule and changing the rule ignores that.
I wouldn't say there are no flavor reasons for hybrid cards. Enchanted Evening is something both a white mage and a blue mage could end up doing. It's in both slices of the color pie. So flavor wise, why do pure blue commanders not get access to it?
What's blue about Enchanted Evening?
It may be circular, but I think it's sound anyways: It is blue because it is hybrid mana. Wizards designs (or attempts to design) cards with hybrid mana to be within both colors. Compare gold cards, which usually take space that neither color on its own could do, or do two different things of each color.
And low impact doesn't mean no impact. If they hadno impact at all, it would be pointless to discuss. Maybe those cards wouldn't affect competitive plays, but definitelly would affect casual games.
I would definitelly play Alesha in Rakdos aggro deck or Yasova in Simic steal/copy deck. Why not.
Also, if none of these cards are banned currently, I fail to see how allowing them to be used in decks with access to less colors makes them more threatening. Of course, it is hard to calculate the impact from this without having it happen. To me though, that's just another reason to think about changing it, now.
"Decks may only include cards whose colored mana symbols each contain a color from their commander's color identity."
Except you're wording the rule to suit your agenda, when mechanically there is nothing preventing me from paying life as opposed to colored mana to cast a phyrexian mana card. Either way you're abolishing the CI rule by allowing off-color cards in your deck.
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Thas true, but if we take it not from the flavour point of view, but from the point of using them in decks, how many of phyrexian cards can be actually used? 5? I can imagine Birthing pod, Gitaxian Probe, Act of Aggression, Dismember and Spellskite to be used. I don't think they would break any current deck out there. Sure, they don't match color identity. Out of these 5, i would have 0 problems with Spellskite, because its colorless artifact with just phyrexian activating cost..
You're forgetting one of the most heavily played blue cards and one of the best cards in Commander overall: Phyrexian Metamorph. Commander's deckbuilding restrictions are there to promote diversity, giving every deck a creature and artifact clone would help make this format less diverse.
Let's be honest here: We all know that Phyrexian Mana is actually a broken mechanic; People love the color bleed (so do I) but we know the design space for the latter compared to Hybrid is probably gonna be limited to New Phyrexia. Like I said, look at the bigger perspective. Hybrid is and will be printed. Loads of them. Phyrexian Mana? Very unlikely.
Even if we threw in the Phyrexian Mana debate, I'd say its a boon to light-resource colors like red and white. But having said that, Wizards have been addressing this resource issue at regular intervals. Don't we find ourselves adding more and more newer cards from newer sets? It's proof that Wizards are doing good things. I'm imploring for people's ability to foresee the future of Commander and Hybrid in particular.
I don't want Phyrexian Mana argument to bleed into the Hybrid debate. People aren't seeing it in isolation. The pros and cons of introducing hybrid into your mono decks. Leave the Phyrexian Mana argument for another day.
That said, what are the cons of hybrid mana to those opposing it? Intuitively, how should hybrid play or work for you? What I'm basically saying is that the current rules don't make sense for a mechanic that makes human basic sense. It seems almost foolish if I were to be blunt.
UR Melek, Izzet ParagonUR, B Shirei, Shizo's CaretakerB, R Jaya Ballard, Task MageR,RW Tajic, Blade of the LegionRW, UB Lazav, Dimir MastermindUB, UB Circu, Dimir LobotomistUB, RWU Zedruu the GreatheartedRWU, GUBThe MimeoplasmGUB, UGExperiment Kraj UG, WDarien, King of KjeldorW, BMarrow-GnawerB, WBGKarador, Ghost ChieftainWBG, UTeferi, Temporal ArchmageU, GWUDerevi, Empyrial TacticianGWU, RDaretti, Scrap SavantR, UTalrand, Sky SummonerU, GEzuri, Renegade LeaderG, WUBRGReaper KingWUBRG, RGXenagos, God of RevelsRG, CKozilek, Butcher of TruthC, WUBRGGeneral TazriWUBRG, GTitania, Protector of ArgothG
You do realize that hybrid spells are both colors no matter how you pay for them? All they are is gold multicolored spells with flexible mana costs.
I would run Pod and Dismember in a lot of decks if they didn't follow CI rules, and Metamorph in almost every one.
How don't the rules make sense? CI looks at all the mana symbols on the card. Done. No grey area. No exceptions. That is the con of changing the rule. There is a clear flavor reasoning behind the current rule and changing the rule ignores that.
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I wouldn't say there are no flavor reasons for hybrid cards. Enchanted Evening is something both a white mage and a blue mage could end up doing. It's in both slices of the color pie. So flavor wise, why do pure blue commanders not get access to it?
That being said, I prefer not allowing hybrids, mostly because it would annoy me to see all those off color symbols in a deck.
I know that in theory that sounds great, but I don't think he understands the full implications of suggesting this rule change. The issue with this is that it would allow for all off-color lands to be used in any deck, cards that can be played with an alternate casting cost could be played, cards that play cards without paying their mana can be used to cast off-color cards, and in essence the whole fabric of color identity and what makes the format unique would be severely weakened.
I think that the only way to get hybrid to work the way Maro wants it to work would be to write a Rule 4b that would specifically allow cards with hybrid mana costs to have color identities of either color and not both colors. I think it would be tricky to write it such that it makes complete sense (think of how you would write the rule, and see if it makes sense with something like Soulfire Grand Master). I think that this solution would make the card designer in all of us very happy, but make the rules judge part of us a little sad.
I think that the current rules work well enough despite being restrictive towards hybrid mana. I like that they follow the rules of the game that state that a hybrid mana card is BOTH colors and not either. Seeing that this format was created by judges (and not card designers) I couldn't see it having ever been implemented any other way. Does that mean we can't change it? No. But I think that it's not as easy as some people make it out to be.
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I think that would be the better way to go if it had to be one rule or the other. It would certainly make Sen Triplets players quite happy, and it would make things like Sunburst much better. I think Rule 4 is an interesting touch flavorwise, but its mostly redundant.
I think that the bigger issue for why nobody advocates for the abolishment of Rule 4 is that aside from a few corner cases like Celestial Dawn and Sen Triplets, there is no practical reason to want to get rid of the rule. It certainly doesn't help people who want to play "off-color" hybrids in their decks.
Jalira, Master Polymorphist | Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder | Bosh, Iron Golem | Ezuri, Renegade Leader
Brago, King Eternal | Oona, Queen of the Fae | Wort, Boggart Auntie | Wort, the Raidmother
Captain Sisay | Rhys, the Redeemed | Trostani, Selesnya's Voice | Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight | Obzedat, Ghost Council | Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind | Vorel of the Hull Clade
Uril, the Miststalker | Prossh, Skyraider of Kher | Nicol Bolas | Progenitus
Ghave, Guru of Spores | Zedruu the Greathearted | Damia, Sage of Stone | Riku of Two Reflections
Except that it is directly contrary to the flavor of the decks most heavily affected by it, such as the aforementioned Sen Triplets. The 'flavor' justification commonly used to keep the rule applies equally to getting rid of it.
Every time it comes up, I advocate for removing the rule. There is no practical reason to keep the rule. It is as mentioned largely redundant, very rarely having an effect on an actual game. So much so, in my (& what appears to be most people's) experience, new players often seem to think you are making **** up when you tell them of it for the first time.
The practical reason for removing the rule is that it gets rid of a clunky and unnecessary complication to the rules of the format. Removing the rule also costs nearly nothing, and expands a few options for gamepay.
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Also, about rule 3 and color identity... What if Rule 3 read something like "Cards in a commander deck may not contain any cards that cannot be played with the colors in the chosen commanders color identity. Also, a commander deck may not contain any cards that produce mana if that card has any colors in its identity that are not shared by their commander."? There may be issues here, so feel free to point them out!
I think advanced plays based on unique interactions and knowledge of the rules are cool. I don't think abusing a rule that seems to exist only to be abused is as cool. That's why I'm asking here: has not being able to produce mana outside the color identity of your general ever added anything to the game? In my experience so far it hasn't, it's only taken things away. And I did play Sen for a while. I never really cared that I couldn't use green or red cards without a Mycosynth Lattice in play. It wasn't a fun obstacle to overcome, because there was no obstacle. For every green and red goodie in somebody's hand, there were equally appealing black, white, blue and colorless goodies in somebody else's hand.
In my experience, this rule has actually taken away from the fun of the game. As many people have stated, cards like Celestial Dawn and Contamination are ways to lock people out of the game, simply due to this rule. I find this interaction very unfun. Also, it completely prevents you from using activated abilities of permanents that you may have stolen from other players. (An aspect that I'd like to take advantage of.) I have had games where I will steal a permanent from a player just to keep them from using, but of course, it has the possibility of being totally useless to me; it just seems like a strange rule and creates poor interactions.
I'm going to throw my hat in with this as well. I keep wanting to build a copycat Lazav, Dimir Mastermind and I would love to be able to make use of things like Praetor's Grasp and Nightveil Specter more fully with rainbow lands.
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It may be circular, but I think it's sound anyways: It is blue because it is hybrid mana. Wizards designs (or attempts to design) cards with hybrid mana to be within both colors. Compare gold cards, which usually take space that neither color on its own could do, or do two different things of each color.
I like this one. it allows use of any mana, allows hybrid cards and still excludes phyrexian mana.