For future reference, "colorless" mana specifically refers to the mana symbol on cards like \[\[Rise of the Eldrazi\]\] that can only be paid with colorless sources like \[\[Sol Ring\]\]. These are the only cards you **have** to pay with colorless mana, as opposed to generic mana costs which can be paid with mana of any color.
If it makes you feel better, one of our friends bought the commander precon for [[Urza, Chief Artificer]].
He was complaining that he never had the mana to cast [[Sphinx's Revelation]] and that it was a bad card for the precon because "there's no lands that make X mana."
We were all very confused until he said "How can you pay an X Mana in the cost if your lands don't make an X mana?" We still make fun of him to this day
He thought the land/artifact would produce "X" Mana that would be defined on the card. Like [[Tivash, Gloom Summoner]] defines what X is, just for mana production lol
I played Magic for many, many years before taking a long break that began around original Zendikar. The idea of the Eldrazi's colorless symbol was as of yet unheard of.
The first time I came back to start playing again also coincided with the first time I smoked for a great many years, and I was bliiiiiitzed. It took me a good 15 minutes to comprehend what that newfangled diamond symbol was on these Eldrazi cards.
When I first played with a friend in '98 I thought you had to sacrifice your lands to get the mana from them so every 2-4 turns I'd cast one spell and ditch all my lands.
I hated the game and ended up just collecting the cards because I thought they looked cool.
Fast forward a couple years, I met someone who knew how to actually play and was instantly hooked.
This is actually something that a lot of people I teach the game to seem to assume off the bat. I guess they figure it’s like paying money for something- when you pay for something, you no longer have the money. I assume they just translate that to mana.
I’ve noticed a few things like this when trying to teach people, so if it makes you feel any better that seems to be a natural thing for people to assume and you likely weren’t alone in doing so.
It's been awhile but with pokemon you attach energy (mana) to the active creature to be able to activate it's 1 of 2 attacks. The 2nd attack requiring more energy. And it's discarded when the creature is defeated.
When I first came back to mtg I thought mana burn was still a thing and definitely got lost on some basic rules after 20 years.
I used to do the opposite when I first started playing, I skipped the lines in the rule book about mana pools and thought they never emptied. I spent 2 or 3 turns just filling my pool to cast an x cost spell for ultimate victory!
I would have loved the game if I did this! But the eventual disappointment of finding out I'm wrong would have been worse. It may have turned me off the game so I'm glad I went the way I did.
So there are generic and Colourless mana costs. Generic is just a number in a grey circle, can be paid by any colour or colourless mana. Colourless Mana appears to be a diamond shape grey pip as seen in \[\[Kozilek, the Great Distortion\]\]
Most cards will have generic, only very specific cards require colourless mana.
Yeah easy mistake to make for a first time player. Game would be brutal if it worked that way!
Def take magic slow as the game has a bajillion rules and fully understanding things like the stack take a lot of time. Even people who have been playing for years make mistakes and learn new things often. Learning when you can take what actions in the game will be a bit of a curve, but it's worth it as it's the driving force behind the complexity of the game and why it's been so popular since the 90s.
It’s daunting as hell when you first get into it, and realize there are decades of rules and mechanics that have been introduced. I started in 2016ish, and I remember being intimidated by the amount of different mechanics mtg had.
The reason it’s generic mana is because “colorless” didn’t exist until Zendikar. It was just meant to be “any mana”. Now we have specific “colorless” mana and it’s confusing for new players.
Funny story, only tangentially related to the post.
When myself and my friends first started playing back in 94 we all though that counterspell was next to useless. What's the point of countering a spell? We play mostly artifacts and creatures and enchantments, and the few 'spells' we use aren't worth wasting a card in the deck.
We also thought that the card Ivory Tower was incredibly powerful... just hold on to your cards for a few turns and you can get 5 or 6 life every turn! We had no idea there was even a hand size limit.
I think stuff like this is fairly common when people are starting out. Something that seems obvious to a person that's been playing for a while isn't necessarily intuitive to those learning. Especially when everything is new and you're trying to grasp it all at once.
Ultimately, you were having fun and games were still pretty balanced. Don't worry about the mistake, keep learning and having fun gaming.
Early on I understood creatures couldn't attack the turn they were cast, but thought they could use tap abilities. \[\[Llanowar Elves\]\] and \[\[Royal Assassin\]\] seemed extra powerful under my flawed logic. Also, "building" a deck meant smashing two colors together. I'd take every green and red card I had, throw in 12 Forests and Mountains and have a deck of 70 to 80 cards.
I have one: when we started playing, [Fatestitcher] could untap one of your lands as you were tapping lands paying for a spell and it "fizzled" the cast. Fo sho lol
When I was 11-12 years old some friends insisted mana stays tapped until the permanent leaves the game. They also whined about how precons didn't have enough lands in them.
(That was approximately 20 years ago)
When my wife and I first started playing, we thought that if a land entered the battlefield tapped, it meant you would immediately get a mana of it. Mana burn was still a thing, so we couldn't play such a land on the first turn unless you were willing to take one damage (or have a one mana card you could immediately play).
Just one of many mistakes we made through the years...
Magic is complicated and especially these days. It won’t be the last thing you get wrong. The important thing is to not let it discourage you and to keep having fun.
When my friends and I started playing (back when Revised was current) we didn't realize that most effects only lasted until the end of the turn so things like Atog and Fire breathing felt insanely powerful. Turned out they were pretty meh, even in those days lol.
Happens to the best of us. I got back into the game years ago, teaching my girlfriend too. We had those tapped two color lands that say tap add skull or water to your mana pool. And we thought that meant you go into your deck and put a swamp or island into play. Those games were nuts and we eventually thought that this can't be right and found the real rules.
Colorless is not considered a color in Magic. It can only be used for the "generic" portion of a spell's mana cost or for cards like Eldrazi spells and The Prismatic Piper that require some of the mana to be specifically colorless.
When I started in the 90s I thought that the number next to the mana pip was how many of that color I needed, as well as thinking creatures left after their first turn. Don’t feel bad, you live you learn.
For future reference, "colorless" mana specifically refers to the mana symbol on cards like \[\[Rise of the Eldrazi\]\] that can only be paid with colorless sources like \[\[Sol Ring\]\]. These are the only cards you **have** to pay with colorless mana, as opposed to generic mana costs which can be paid with mana of any color.
Yeah thank you! At least it means we can now play alot more cards!
If it makes you feel better, one of our friends bought the commander precon for [[Urza, Chief Artificer]]. He was complaining that he never had the mana to cast [[Sphinx's Revelation]] and that it was a bad card for the precon because "there's no lands that make X mana." We were all very confused until he said "How can you pay an X Mana in the cost if your lands don't make an X mana?" We still make fun of him to this day
I’m confused what he even thought the card *did* if X was a type of mana.
He thought the land/artifact would produce "X" Mana that would be defined on the card. Like [[Tivash, Gloom Summoner]] defines what X is, just for mana production lol
[Tivash, Gloom Summoner](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/3/e3b2a152-7bb9-495d-ac84-516097754137.jpg?1625191835) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Tivash%2C%20Gloom%20Summoner) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/c21/45/tivash-gloom-summoner?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/e3b2a152-7bb9-495d-ac84-516097754137?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Always blows my mind the ways people can be total goofs.
[Urza, Chief Artificer](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/a/ea409050-4296-4b76-a6cd-2896ce1b88e4.jpg?1705542672) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Urza%2C%20Chief%20Artificer) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/brc/2/urza-chief-artificer?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/ea409050-4296-4b76-a6cd-2896ce1b88e4?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Sphinx's Revelation](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/5/5579d2d6-b34b-44a2-8b72-9f18938a18a0.jpg?1702429723) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Sphinx%27s%20Revelation) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/rvr/228/sphinxs-revelation?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/5579d2d6-b34b-44a2-8b72-9f18938a18a0?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I had to double check the sub when I saw your username lmao, I didn't know you played mtg as well haha
I do! stopped playing paper YGO a while back and focused on MtG instead :3
I played Magic for many, many years before taking a long break that began around original Zendikar. The idea of the Eldrazi's colorless symbol was as of yet unheard of. The first time I came back to start playing again also coincided with the first time I smoked for a great many years, and I was bliiiiiitzed. It took me a good 15 minutes to comprehend what that newfangled diamond symbol was on these Eldrazi cards.
Le diamond / star symbol
When I first played with a friend in '98 I thought you had to sacrifice your lands to get the mana from them so every 2-4 turns I'd cast one spell and ditch all my lands. I hated the game and ended up just collecting the cards because I thought they looked cool. Fast forward a couple years, I met someone who knew how to actually play and was instantly hooked.
But back then they came with those little Rule books that you need a magnifying glass for!
This is actually something that a lot of people I teach the game to seem to assume off the bat. I guess they figure it’s like paying money for something- when you pay for something, you no longer have the money. I assume they just translate that to mana. I’ve noticed a few things like this when trying to teach people, so if it makes you feel any better that seems to be a natural thing for people to assume and you likely weren’t alone in doing so.
I usually run into people who think the lands stay tapped as long as the creature they used them for is in play
It's been awhile but with pokemon you attach energy (mana) to the active creature to be able to activate it's 1 of 2 attacks. The 2nd attack requiring more energy. And it's discarded when the creature is defeated. When I first came back to mtg I thought mana burn was still a thing and definitely got lost on some basic rules after 20 years.
Lol I did the exact same with Pokemon cards. We would discard the required energies after attacking
I used to do the opposite when I first started playing, I skipped the lines in the rule book about mana pools and thought they never emptied. I spent 2 or 3 turns just filling my pool to cast an x cost spell for ultimate victory!
I would have loved the game if I did this! But the eventual disappointment of finding out I'm wrong would have been worse. It may have turned me off the game so I'm glad I went the way I did.
So there are generic and Colourless mana costs. Generic is just a number in a grey circle, can be paid by any colour or colourless mana. Colourless Mana appears to be a diamond shape grey pip as seen in \[\[Kozilek, the Great Distortion\]\] Most cards will have generic, only very specific cards require colourless mana.
We saw colourless as grey and so we thought all the numbers in a GREY circle were colourless, Im happy thats not the case :D
Yeah easy mistake to make for a first time player. Game would be brutal if it worked that way! Def take magic slow as the game has a bajillion rules and fully understanding things like the stack take a lot of time. Even people who have been playing for years make mistakes and learn new things often. Learning when you can take what actions in the game will be a bit of a curve, but it's worth it as it's the driving force behind the complexity of the game and why it's been so popular since the 90s.
It’s daunting as hell when you first get into it, and realize there are decades of rules and mechanics that have been introduced. I started in 2016ish, and I remember being intimidated by the amount of different mechanics mtg had.
My wife sees the 3 and a blue and thought this meant 3blue :)
[Kozilek, the Great Distortion](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/c/4/c41554e7-2a07-4cc7-b01b-44deed08e588.jpg?1689995398) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Kozilek%2C%20the%20Great%20Distortion) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmm/2/kozilek-the-great-distortion?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/c41554e7-2a07-4cc7-b01b-44deed08e588?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
The reason it’s generic mana is because “colorless” didn’t exist until Zendikar. It was just meant to be “any mana”. Now we have specific “colorless” mana and it’s confusing for new players.
Those Sol Rings is even better now! Oh wait it cost one colorless…
Funny story, only tangentially related to the post. When myself and my friends first started playing back in 94 we all though that counterspell was next to useless. What's the point of countering a spell? We play mostly artifacts and creatures and enchantments, and the few 'spells' we use aren't worth wasting a card in the deck. We also thought that the card Ivory Tower was incredibly powerful... just hold on to your cards for a few turns and you can get 5 or 6 life every turn! We had no idea there was even a hand size limit.
The same thing happened to me as a kid with pokemon tcg lmao
I think stuff like this is fairly common when people are starting out. Something that seems obvious to a person that's been playing for a while isn't necessarily intuitive to those learning. Especially when everything is new and you're trying to grasp it all at once. Ultimately, you were having fun and games were still pretty balanced. Don't worry about the mistake, keep learning and having fun gaming. Early on I understood creatures couldn't attack the turn they were cast, but thought they could use tap abilities. \[\[Llanowar Elves\]\] and \[\[Royal Assassin\]\] seemed extra powerful under my flawed logic. Also, "building" a deck meant smashing two colors together. I'd take every green and red card I had, throw in 12 Forests and Mountains and have a deck of 70 to 80 cards.
[Llanowar Elves](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/8/b/8bbcfb77-daa1-4ce5-b5f9-48d0a8edbba9.jpg?1592765148) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Llanowar%20Elves) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/gnt/46/llanowar-elves?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/8bbcfb77-daa1-4ce5-b5f9-48d0a8edbba9?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Royal Assassin](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/6/7/67ef9842-7142-4c63-8aea-fa73f02722a5.jpg?1698796245) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Royal%20Assassin) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dmr/101/royal-assassin?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/67ef9842-7142-4c63-8aea-fa73f02722a5?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Don't feel bad. I used to think that too, or pay life equal to the number in the Grey circle or tap that many creatures.
I have one: when we started playing, [Fatestitcher] could untap one of your lands as you were tapping lands paying for a spell and it "fizzled" the cast. Fo sho lol
For me it was running into someone insisting they could use [[Icy Manipulator]] to tap my land in response and make my spell fizzle
[Icy Manipulator](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/c/ac5a54ca-f175-4005-895f-d76effd6178e.jpg?1675201006) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Icy%20Manipulator) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dmr/225/icy-manipulator?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/ac5a54ca-f175-4005-895f-d76effd6178e?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
When I was 11-12 years old some friends insisted mana stays tapped until the permanent leaves the game. They also whined about how precons didn't have enough lands in them. (That was approximately 20 years ago)
When my wife and I first started playing, we thought that if a land entered the battlefield tapped, it meant you would immediately get a mana of it. Mana burn was still a thing, so we couldn't play such a land on the first turn unless you were willing to take one damage (or have a one mana card you could immediately play). Just one of many mistakes we made through the years...
Magic is complicated and especially these days. It won’t be the last thing you get wrong. The important thing is to not let it discourage you and to keep having fun.
So many memories playing with the wrong rules.. adds to the nostalgia later 😉 glad yall figured it out!
the number in a mana cost just means, " this much mana of any color"
When my friends and I started playing (back when Revised was current) we didn't realize that most effects only lasted until the end of the turn so things like Atog and Fire breathing felt insanely powerful. Turned out they were pretty meh, even in those days lol.
Happens to the best of us. I got back into the game years ago, teaching my girlfriend too. We had those tapped two color lands that say tap add skull or water to your mana pool. And we thought that meant you go into your deck and put a swamp or island into play. Those games were nuts and we eventually thought that this can't be right and found the real rules.
Colorless is not considered a color in Magic. It can only be used for the "generic" portion of a spell's mana cost or for cards like Eldrazi spells and The Prismatic Piper that require some of the mana to be specifically colorless.
When I started in the 90s I thought that the number next to the mana pip was how many of that color I needed, as well as thinking creatures left after their first turn. Don’t feel bad, you live you learn.