Reflecting Pool

Manowar · Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Posts: 2

Can reflecting pool duplicate hydrid land colors Question

as hydrid lands actually "produce" one colorless mana only

gypsy · Joined: 15 Jun 2007 Posts: 431

Mke410 · Joined: 22 Sep 2004 Posts: 40

Gypsy is correct but let me clarify.

The Oracle text of reflecting pool is:

Tap: Add to your mana pool one mana of any type that a land you control could produce.

Thus if a land can produce mana even if there is a cost for it, such as the hybrid lands and counter lands like gemstone mine and the vivid lands. Reflecting pool can produce that colored mana. Even if there aren't any counters on the vivid lands reflecting pool can still add one mana of any color.

TugaChampion · Joined: 26 Jan 2006 Posts: 319

And with river of tears and reflecting pool in play, reflecting pool can always tap for U or B. It doesn't matter if you played a land or not.

Cry me a river of tears.

surfcheery · Joined: 21 Sep 2004 Posts: 44

TugaChamp is wrong...sory for this

gypsy · Joined: 15 Jun 2007 Posts: 431

im pretty sure hes right

aldaryn · Joined: 02 Sep 2004 Posts: 408

The others all make sense, and I thought Tuga was right about River of Tears, but, yep, he is wrong. From Ask Wizards like 2 days ago:

The answer to both of these questions hinges on what exactly "could produce" means. Let's take a look at the relevant section of the Comprehensive Rules glossary entry for "mana":

The type of mana a permanent "could produce" is the type of mana that any ability of that permanent can generate, taking into account any applicable replacement effects. If the type of mana can't be defined, there's no type of mana that that permanent could produce. The "type" of mana is its color, or lack thereof (for colorless mana).

The Future Sight dual lands make an interesting study in just how far this extends. Grove of the Burnwillows will allow your Reflecting Pool to tap for Red Mana or Green Mana, and Horizon Canopy will allow it to tap for Green Mana or White Mana, even though both of them have additional costs to produce that mana. Grove of the Burnwillows also allows you to tap Reflecting Pool for 1 Mana should you have reason to do so. Nimbus Maze has three mana abilities, two of which can only be played under certain conditions, but Reflecting Pool treats them all the same—Nimbus Maze lets you tap Reflecting Pool for 1 Mana, White Mana, or White Mana even if they are the only two lands you control. River of Tears has a mana ability that produces Blue Mana or Black Mana depending on whether you played a land this turn, and this is where the "applicable replacement effects" line comes up. In this case, it's a self-replacement effect that causes River of Tears to produce Black Mana instead of Blue Mana if you've played a land this turn, and that replacement effect will also apply if Reflecting Pool is tapped for mana. It will produce Black Mana if you have played a land this turn and Blue Mana if you have not, just like River of Tears. Lastly, Graven Cairns has a mana ability that can produce Black ManaBlack Mana, Black ManaRed Mana, or Red ManaRed Mana, and the additional cost to play that ability is ignored. Graven Cairns allows Reflecting Pool to tap for Black Mana or Red Mana.

TugaChampion · Joined: 26 Jan 2006 Posts: 319

Sorry about that but I had read Ask the Wizards and it said Reflecting Pool would always be able to tap for U and B with river of tears in play. Maybe they noticed the error and corrected it.

I could have just understood it the wrong way but that's not the case because I remember a very small explanation why Reflecting Pool could tap for U and B and not a much longer one like aldaryn pasted.

At first I thought it would act exactly like River of Tears but then I read that in Ask Wizards and was surprised. Now it makes more sense.

Hardtrack · Joined: 10 Aug 2005 Posts: 234

The Rules Corner was first wrong. It was discovered and changed.

Replacement effects are about the only thing Reflecting Pool will take into account when determining the colours it can produce.