There are a lot of cards in the game of Magic. And, many of them have
some amazing abilities. However, its often a tradeoff behveen the power
of a card and its converted mana cost.
The truth is that it's hard to play certain cards in a regular game.
Some cards really are not that feasible and having four of them in your
deck does more harm than it does good. When looking for a good card to
add to your deck you have to ask yourself this question, “Does the card use
minimal resources?*' If so, great you can add it. If not, you should think
twice before stuffing your deck with it.
Ail example of a card that uses up a lot of mana resources is
Omniscience. This enchantment card allows you to cast nonland cards
from your hand without paying the mana cost. Sounds amazing right? You
can drop any creature, large or small, instants, sorceries, etc. at any
moment. However, it comes at a cost. To cast this card you have to pay 3
Unless you have mana acceleration cards in your deck, this card is
pretty unlikely to be played during a game. With such a high mana cost
and requiring at least 3 blue mana to cast, it would be tough to cast with a
deck that is two or more colors. If everything goes well, the earliest you
can cast it is turn ten, and as we all know many Magic games don't ever get to that round before someone gets killed. Another important thing to keep in mind too is to see if you can find a card that can be played that uses less resources than another one you are considering, but does the same (if not similar) effect. Take Killmg Glare for example. It s an instant that costs one black mana and X additional mana to cast. It destroys target creature with power X or less. Seems like a good card, but its a mana drainer. Compare Killing Glare to Go for the Throat, an instant that allows you to destroy a target nonartifact creature. It has pretty much the same ability as Killing Glare and only takes two mana to cast. Ifs a no brainer as to which card would be more beneficial to a deck.
Hopefully through these illustrations you can understand the vital point of why it's important to think about how many resources a card requires before you add it to your deck. During a game, you don't want to find yourself wasting mana to use a card when another card could work just as good for less cost. You also don't want to find yourself being forced to hold a card that can only be played late in the game because it costs too much to cast it. You would be better off with a lower mana cost card that can be played to give you a better advantage earlier on in the game.
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