Is mana burn real?

[Rass]

Newb: Okay. So what's mana burn?

Me: You remember that time you got arrested for having too much money in your wallet?  It's exactly like that.

Yep when you look like a dealer.

[Dudecore]

It's just a silly thing that only purists agree with. But its not intuitive, doesn't really add any strategy, and only adds to 1 or 2 damage at most in a game, you don't often lose by 1 or 2 health. However, it doesn't contribute anything to the game, doesn't do anything to make it more interesting or fun.

I'd always take the burn ramping because you get awesome creatures. It's like {Reanimate}, would you take the life hit to get {Inkwell Leviathan} or {Iona, Shield of Emeria} by turn 3? Yessir.

[BlackJester]

There was also no land destruction, counter spells, or discard effects in the early iterations of the game. Things change, and make the game better because of it.

I played between Ice Age and Prophecy and without a question the game is more fun to play now.

{Stone Rain}
{Counterspell}
{Hypnotic Specter}
All in Alpha, Beta, & Unlimited.

Just sayin'. 

[izik99]

There was also no land destruction, counter spells, or discard effects in the early iterations of the game. Things change, and make the game better because of it.

I played between Ice Age and Prophecy and without a question the game is more fun to play now.

{Stone Rain}
{Counterspell}
{Hypnotic Specter}
All in Alpha, Beta, & Unlimited.

Just sayin'. 

I have a {counterspell} i got it in a 1000 card box on ebay.

[BlackJester]

The game existed before alpha,  I was meaning before it went to production. All of those things were put in after the game was designed and tested and the play groups Garfield was testing with we're about equally split if resource denial should be in the game or not.

And I think of {mind twist} before {hypnotic specter}, just sayin'

Touché, Kangarod. Touché. 😌