Sure, it's a little inconvenient that you only
get three charges out of the Sphere, but that's
more than you got out of Pentad Prism, and
people played that all day. But maybe that's a
bad comparison. Pentad Prism existed in a format
of affinity for artifacts (justifying it sitting
on the field exhausted) and sunburst
(overvaluing color fixers). Sphere doesn't have
those things, but it does have metalcraft (to
justify it sitting on the board after spending
its counters) and proliferate (which lets you
get extra uses out of it before it expires, if
it ever does). Sphere of the Suns also comes
into play tapped, but that puts it on an even
keel with the mana Myr in that you can use it to
get four mana on turn three, with the added
benefit that your opponent can't stunt your mana
base with a creature kill spell.
This is one of the more straightforward cards in
the set. That doesn't mean it should be
underestimated. Not by any means. Artifact mana
producers have made decks literally since the
beginning of the game and the legendary Moxes;
Sphere of the Suns owes more (directly) to the
likes of Fire Diamond, Mind Stone, Seashell
Cameo, Mossfire Egg, Talisman of Unity, Dimir
Signet, Spectral Searchlight, Coldsteel Heart,
and Everflowing Chalice, each of which has
played a role in strong decks of years gone by.
I wouldn't be surprised if we'll be saying the
same thing about Sphere of the Suns someday.
Today's card of the day is Sphere of the Suns
which costs two mana and enters play tapped with
three charges counters on it. Adding a
mana of any color to your pool is a decent
effect and it works well with both Proliferate
and Metalcraft, but decks using those effects
may not need the multicolor mana. It is
more difficult to remove than a Myr, but the
creature being able to attack or give mana is
far more flexible in later stages of the game.
Overall a good card for a deck that needs mana
fixing or can use it as a Proliferate target,
but better options may exist.
For Limited this is one of the few choices for
color fixing available and works with the major
set mechanics which makes it a potential
automatic inclusion in Sealed depending on your
pool. For Booster if you are drafting a
single color and artifacts this may work as
acceleration and can be sacrificed for a number
of effects if it runs out of counters.
Welcome to today’s Card of the Day
review here at Pojo.com. Today we are taking a
look at Sphere of the Suns from Mirrodin
Besieged. This handy artifact costs only three
generic mana and comes into play with three
charge counters on it. You can tap it and remove
a counter from it to produce one mana of any
color. This is very useful for a variety of
applications.
In standard, this card is just plain fun, allowing crazy
things to happen even in one mana based decks.
One customer of mine uses this in a Tezzeret
deck to drop Venser. But, it would appear
limited, three turns of extra mana just doesn’t
seem that great. But just add in one card, and
then possibilities continue. That one card is
Vedalken Infuser. With Vedalken Infuser out, at
the beginning of your upkeep, you put a charge
counter on target artifact. This means the mana
you used last turn gets replenished every turn.
In honesty, I cannot believe I haven’t seen
decks built around the Vedalken Infuser thus
far. But I’m sure when one is, the Sphere of the
Suns will be right there with it.
In vintage, again, Doubling Season is an easy combination
with the Sphere of the Suns. This is because it
would enter play with six counters instead of
three. And then add in the Vedalken Infuser, and
now you put two more counters on it every turn.
Aside from the Doubling Season, you could always
use up the mana with things such as Voltaic Key,
and then toss it at your opponent with Bosh,
Iron Golem for a nice three points of damage.
