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Pojo's Magic The Gathering
Card of the Day


Image from Wizards.com

Channel the Suns 
 


Reviewed May 31, 2004

Constructed: 2.3
Casual: 2.8
Limited: 2.4

Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale
1 being the worst.  3 ... average.  
5 is the highest rating

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Card of the Day Reviews 


Chris
Gerhardt

* game store owner in CA, ShuffleAndCut

 Wizards REALLY wants us to play 5 color Magic, and honestly, having seen it in action, I'm not arguing.  Channel gives you the ability to play any 5 color spell on turn 4.  After seeing the Bringers in action, why the hell not.  Honestly, we probably aren't going to see this in Tournament constructed.  I think there are better ways given to us in Fifth Dawn to smooth our mana.  But the idea is interesting, and I think it might find some casual play for those that are looking for a cheap fix.

Casual players can use this to try to do a couple of fun turn 4 things:

In limited, if you have a lot of high cost Sunburst stuff, or if you have a Bringer or two, consider this for your deck.  Getting a Bringer or a Manta out turn 4 is evil.

Constructed: 2.5
Casual: 3
Limited: 2.5
  
   Current Price:
Channel of the Suns - Fifth Dawn - $
1.09

   Combos Well With:
Bringer of the Black Dawn - Fifth Dawn - $5.29
Sliver Queen - Stronghold - $30.78
Sliver Overlord - Scourge - $5.02
Skyreach Manta
- Fifth Dawn - $0.24
 


Judge Bill

*Level 2
MTG Judge

*game store employee

A card that facilitates 5 color play. Most of the time, this lets you just play a Bringer, which isn't too bad. Other Sunburst tricks are nice, but you don't have to play this card for them. A nice card to have in limited, but in casual you'll just play Crystal Quarry instead, and this won't make a splash in constructed. Sorry, you only speed up one more mana in  a color that lets you produce mana at will? No thanks.
 
Constructed: 1
Casual: 2
Limited: 2.5
 

Ray "Monk"
Powers
* Level 3 DCI Judge
*DCI Tournament Organizer
*Game Store Owner (Gamer's Edge)

Channel the Suns

 

Why I have always been a fan of believing that green should be the color of mana fixing and acceleration, it’s really hard to accept it as being the color of the new Dark Ritual. First there was Seething Song, giving red a Dark Ritual, and now Channel the Suns, which gives one more mana than it costs, and if used for Sunburst or some other costs, greatly enhances the use of mana for a cheap cost of one card. The ability to bring out a Bringer on turn four is astounding, not to mention this cards use for Door to Nothingness, or even just as basic mana acceleration and fixing. I’m not saying it’s a bad idea, I’m just saying its taking me a while to get used to it.

 

Constructed:                 3

Casual:                         5

Limited:                        3

 
Jonathan
Pechon


2 Grand Prix Top 8's

Multiple Pro Tour appearances

Channel the Suns

 

Yay!  The greenest ritual ever!  This card seems like it has wacky potential to fuel decks with stuff like Doorway to Nothingness, but I don’t really see it having a lot of “practical” potential.  It’s amusing, but not terrifically useful.

 

I can see casual players using this to fuel the wacky combos that they’re going to be able to pull off; however, since they already have access to Harrow and all of the other accelerators in the world, I don’t see what advantage this has to offer these guys.  If nothing else, it’s kinda funny.  Obviously, again, this is probably best ignored in Mental Magic.

 

While this might help you to fuel out cards like Skyreach Manta, I really don’t think that makes a good reason to play this.  There are other cards which provide you the ability to vary your mana while giving you considerably more value for your buck; the one mana you gain just isn’t worth it.

 

Constructed:  2.5

Casual:  2.0

Limited:  2.0

 


Jeff Zandi

5 Time Pro Tour
Veteran

Level 2 Judge

Channel the Suns

This card is not mana acceleration -  it has one job and one job only: to get you five different colors of mana so you can a Sunburst card in the most optimal way possible. Yes, it would be nice to cast this on turn four (or early with mana acceleration) then drop a 5/5 Skyreach Manta. The problem with Channel the Suns is that it’s a combo card. It doesn’t advance your march through your library like cards with Scry does, and is, in effect, card disadvantage. Your game opening seven card hand with Channel the Suns in it is really a six card hand, in effect, because Channel doesn’t DO anything by itself. In the weird world of constructed combo decks, this card is the long-awaited part II of the Coalition Victory SUPER COMBO.

CONSTRUCTED: 3.0

CASUAL:              3.5

LIMITED:              2.5

 
Chase

Secret Squirrel on the Pojo.com
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Boards

Channel the Suns

Well this week is mana smoothers week aka cards that will definitely aid cards with sunburst in limited. ANYTHING that will help prevent mana screw will be good for sunburst, in limited especially, as the only other solution for optimizing the sunburst mechanic is to put in random the plains/other basic land into the deck, which is way too flaky.. Splashing to help a card, get another card. Ok, that could be the extreme, but still.

Well, to the card. 4 mana, 1 of each color. I would prefer to have something stay on the table such as birds or some other permanent, and I never liked Crystal Quarry’s cost of having to continually pay the mana for which a part might just be burned away. It could be useful as a short burst in limited play, but I don’t trust this card in constructed. There are more stable cards. I’d take Joiner Adept over this.

So, in limited, maybe if you can’t pick up anything other ones. As usual, it’s an uncommon, and probably won’t be that high of a pick. One shouldn’t be looking for mana smoothers early, unless the card pole is really bad. In constructed, I’d like this ability on a permanent more than a one time use.

 
Constructed: 2
Casual: 2
Limited: 2

Jason
Chapman
Channel of the Suns may be great for Sunburst and the Bringers but unless that is your focus this card has got to be a waste. It is expensive and I worry that 5 color decks will use it to smooth over bad mana mixes.

Constructed - Decent for the 2 decks mentioned above, awful most everywhere else - 2.0

Casual - With more of the big multicolor stuff able to hit the table the card gets a little better but not much - 2.0

Limited - Sunburst is actually pretty solid in limited and the cost isn't as prohibitive - 2.5

 

 

 

 

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