“New Phyrexia” Buy-a-box Promo – Surgical Extraction

Wizards announced that the “Buy-A-Box” promo for the upcoming Magic: The Gathering expansion, “New Phyrexia” will be Surgical Extraction.

The first thing you’ll notice is that it has a slightly different mana symbol in the top right corner. This is new “Phyrexian Mana” which can be paid by either the color of the card or 2 life. I’ll include the official rules down below. One of the things I like most about this card is that it will shake up formats. Anytime you can search an opponents library for a card that may be essential to their victory is really valuable. Coupled with the fact that because of the alternate mana cost, ANY deck can run this card. I feel if you plan on playing in any kind of competitive format you’ll have to learn how to play around this one.

The Buy-A-Box promos are available at most local game stores. Generally, you buy an entire booster box of the latest set you’ll get this card thrown in “for free”. You should always ask if your local game store participates in this kind of promotion. Chances are they do. And if you were planning on getting a box anyways, it is pretty sweet to have a cool card that will be usable for the foreseeable future.

Official “Phyrexian Mana” rules:

***New Mechanic: Phyrexian Mana Symbols***

Under Phyrexian rule, the very nature of magic is changing. In some cases, blood works just as well as mana. Phyrexian mana allows players to cast spells and activate abilities with fewer mana and to ignore colored mana requirements.

Visually, each Phyrexian mana symbol looks like the Phyrexian insignia (a circle with a slash through it) on one of five colored backgrounds, each corresponding to one of the five colors of mana. Each Phyrexian mana symbol represents a cost that can be paid in two ways: by spending one mana of the color that matches the colored background or by paying 2 life. For example, {G/P} can be paid with either {G} or 2 life. It’s a green mana symbol.

* Phyrexian mana symbols appear only in costs, such as the mana cost in the upper right corner of a card or the cost to activate an activated ability.

* A card with Phyrexian mana symbols in its mana cost is each color that appears in that mana cost, regardless of how that cost may have been paid. For example, the Surgical Extraction above is black, even if a player paid 2 life to cast it.

* To calculate the converted mana cost of a card with Phyrexian mana symbols in its cost, count each Phyrexian mana symbol as 1.

* As you cast a spell or activate an activated ability with one or more Phyrexian mana symbols in its cost, you choose how to pay for each Phyrexian mana symbol at the same time you would choose modes or choose a value for X.

* If you’re at 1 life or less, you can’t pay 2 life.

* Phyrexian mana is not a new color. Players can’t add Phyrexian mana to their mana pools.

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by Robert Chesley

I'm mostly a gaming geek. I'm usually about playing Magic with my friends. If I'm not doing that you can find me reliving my childhood via Xbox Live. My username is Urzishra14 and if you see me playing your game feel free to send me an invite.

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