[Idea] Reduce mana cost == Mana pool?

[kevorz]

Hello all,

I'd thought of a theory that could possibly be used as a sort of mana pool for combo's, don't shoot me down if it isn't possible please.

Couldn't you have an ability that somehow reduces the manacost of the next spell / ability you cast and use this as a manapool of some sort? Single mana providers would be relatively easy eg: Birds of paradise would have a multiple choice of 5, and would then reduce the casting cost of the next spell/ability by one of the chosen color (if reducing colored manacost is possible, it should)(maybe with a delayed trigger?). Now Gaea's Cradle/Tolarian Academy would pose the next problem; Stacking reduced manacost? Let's say if you have 5 creatures on the battlefield, and you want to cast a creature, you tap the cradle for five (not 1x ) and it would have to have 3 remaining cost reducing 'abilities' waiting to be used.

All in all, i'm not too used to modding DotP 2013 yet, so forgive me if i am being stupid with this (started yesterday).

Thanks for reading and i look forward to your responses!

Greetings,
Kevorz

[RiiakShiNal]

It could be possible, but the code would be quite complex and need to make use of thefiremind's casting cost functions (to detect the casting cost and reduce by the appropriate amount). For example you would also need to detect whether to use the coloured mana as that colour or to use it as colourless mana. While all this is still possible it would be impossible to use with the mana tapping button (in other words if you have enough in the fake "mana pool" you would not be able to tap any other land or mana sources for mana and would be required to use what is in the pool first). You would also need to detect how much mana from any given source is used for a spell (this would probably be far more difficult especially if multiple fake "mana pool" effects are being used). Also you would not be able to use the fake "mana pool" for abilities.

All in all, it's a nice idea, but probably too much work to be feasible.

[kevorz]

Maybe if someone manages to create a Heartstone , we could use it for abilities aswell. It would be a problem though if you cast a spell, someone counters it unless you pay , with this method you wouldn't be able to pay .

[RiiakShiNal]

I haven't seen any functions that allow us to alter ability costs at all so I don't think that Heartstone is possible in the current engine. I haven't seen any functions for detecting how much mana an activated ability uses either so neither the reduction nor the lower limit on Heartstone is currently possible.