Mana Echoes – Double Masters MTG Review

David
Fanany
Player
since
1995

In the old days, some people used to say that a four-mana spell should basically win you the game. I always thought people applied that kind of rigidly, and despite some of modern design’s recent issues, I’m glad that we’re no longer in a place where you can say that with a straight face. Mana Echoes does, however, kind of win you the game, albeit not on the spot. In a situation with enough creatures that share a type in play and in your deck, you can jump from four mana to approximately infinite (in the same colors as Fireball, of course). While it’s been somewhat overshadowed by other similar cards in tournament Magic, it’s still one of the most potentially fun mana-exploding enchantments for casual settings.

Constructed: 2/5
Casual: 5/5
Limited: 3/5 (for Onslaught and appropriate cubes, reprint sets, etc)
Multiplayer: 4/5
Commander: 4/5

Mana Echoes is one of those weird enchantments that can do a lot of rude things under your control. In a deck like Goblins, this is basically an obscene amount of free mana, and it should be noted that the wording on Mana Echoes gives you mana for your opponents’ creatures if they share a type with it. There are definitely interesting things to do with it, and it was an enchantment with a unique effect and a dearth of reprintings before this, but it’s definitely a spell to be built around. It’s in a weird place of needing a turn to get going and being able to still impact the board, but impact the board it can once you start getting creatures out.

Constructed: 2 (way too slow for Legacy)
Casual: 4.5
Limited: 2.75 (the need for creatures to share types makes this a lot harder to use, though I imagine it was better in Onslaught Limited)
Multiplayer: 3.75
Commander: 4.5