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Pojo's Magic The Gathering
Card of the Day
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Image from Wizards.com |
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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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our
Card of the Day Reviews
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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
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Judge
Bill
*Level 2
MTG Judge
*game store employee
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Chase
Secret Squirrel
on the
Pojo.com
Message
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
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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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