Green Mana Drain

[andrewpate]

Ability Drain

Instant
Counter target activated ability.  At the beginning of your next main phase, add to your mana pool, where X is the amount of mana spent on that ability's activation cost.

Pretty straightforward.  In the "new Mana Drain" thread, I got to thinking about how blue can't really do the "ritual" thing anymore, making a Mana Drain remake kind of sketchy from a color standpoint.  But green can do rituals!  And green can counter things (kinda)!  So this seemed like an elegant, unexplored combination of those two abilities.

I believe that this templating is correct.  Compare to Protective Sphere.

I recognize that the costing is pretty aggressive, but Bind cantrips instead of ramping mana, Bind sucks, and the mana is not that much better than a cantrip given how few activated abilities actually cost that much mana.  If anything, you might even get away with this at .  I think that the card is cool and definitely worth printing, but I don't think it's all that playable.

[Anusien]

Green doesn't really do rituals.  Sure, it has Channel the Suns, but that's about it; green is more about ramping lands.  Deconstruct and such never gave you more mana than you started with.

Green doesn't really counter stuff, with the exception of activated abilities from artifacts (see the Ouphes).  So this would work if it targetted one of those.

[Matt]

This ought to be a red/blue card, honestly!

@Anusien: Well green did get Bind.

[andrewpate]

I'll agree with Anusien that green gets both of these effects fairly rarely.  But it does get them.

I think that this card looks outrageous when you first see it.  "It's like Mana Drain!"  "And for such a low cost!"  "And in such a strange color!"  But the more you look at it, the more sense it starts to make.  "Oh, like Bind."  "Oh, like Channel the Suns."  "Actually, is this even all that good?"  Cards that generate this type of reaction but end up not being overpowered are difficult to design but, clearly, quite desirable.  That's why I like the card.  You might disagree?

[ChemEng]

Its not a Green Drain. Its a Super Rust! 

If you package it that way, it will get a much better response.

[chrissss]

Bind lets you draw a card, which is way better than getting mana, especially in green. Most of the time this would onnly give a few mana (burn)

[Dr. Sylvan]

As far as countering, green also has Avoid Fate, Lifeforce, and half of both Guttural Response and Voidslime. (Voidslime being the most relevant.)

I like this card.