Aaron's Random Card Comment of the Day #34, 11/11/10
Sixth Edition picked up a bunch of mana artifacts from the Mirage set--specifically Mana Prism and five Diamonds (Marble Diamond, et al). Mirage itself had those six plus Lion's Eye Diamond, a suite modeled after the mana artifacts in Alpha. The uncommon Diamonds map to the Moxes, Lion's Eye Diamond to Black Lotus, and Mana Prism to, well, Celestial Prism. (There were no Mirage ánalogues to Sol Ring, Basalt Monolith, or Mana Vault.)
The lineage of Black Lotus is relatively well known, as a bunch of really powerful cards share that icon’s name and/or mechanics, most recently Time Spiral’s Lotus Bloom. The original Moxes, similarly, have a high-powered bunch of offspring, such as i... (see all)
Posted By:
Aaron_Forsythe
(11/11/2010 10:46:57 PM)
but the lens has nothing on this art
Posted By:
OverfiendSurprise
(6/29/2010 4:20:26 PM)
@Kryptnyt: actually, Mr. Aaron_Forsythe is right: Spectral Searchlight is strictly better than Mana Prism, since Searchlight's ability IS a mana ability. In fact the Searchlight's ability doesn't target anything in way it's worded (
: Choose a player. That player adds one mana of any color he or she chooses to his or her mana pool.), so it's a mana ability...
And, by the way, Mana Reflection would affect it even if its ability wouldn't be a mana ability...
Edit: style point to those who rated 0.5/5 my comment just because I said something perfectly correct and logical. Extra point because he didn't explain his reasons... Yeah! Way to go!
Posted By:
leomistico
(6/13/2011 8:55:43 AM)
Outdated. Use Prismatic Lens.
Posted By:
iondragonx
(11/27/2009 11:13:32 AM)
I use to think this card is really bad but Ive changed my mind on it. Its awesome in a colorless EDH/Commander deck!!
Posted By:
Bass1987
(7/20/2011 4:48:05 AM)
I used it back in the day. When Prismatic lens came out it was probably the first time I sat and looked at two cards and decided that one was definetly better in most situations.
Spectral Searchlight is not strictly better or worse than mana prism, though; Searchlight's ability is not a mana ability, so Mana Reflection will not affect it; also, Reroute from an opponent can set you back.
@Leomistico
Hmm. Yeah, it doesn't target.
Nevertheless, the ability goes onto the stack on MTGO. Which means it can be responded to and Stifled.
Posted By:
Kryptnyt
(11/30/2011 6:39:32 PM)
Aaron's otherwise-voluminous response forgot the apex of the Prisms:
Prophetic Prism
Posted By:
reapersaurus
(1/14/2012 9:16:04 PM)
nice art
Posted By:
phoenixfire666
(9/19/2012 1:57:07 PM)
@Mr. Forsythe- there's a REALLY low chance of you ever seeing this comment, but I'm responding to it because there's a HIGH chance of many people seeing both of our comments:
What do you think the R&Ds of
Alpha
Mirage
and Time Spiral
would have thought if they could see "Chromatic Lantern" and were told "this is where we went with Celestial Prism"? o.o
I'm assuming that Alpha and Mirage would both have considered the card an almost strict upgrade over City of Brass, and been afraid of it crashing the Color Wheel balance.
Time Spiral's reaction would be interesting though- since they were from a post-Ingots and Signets world, they would understand it very well....but probably think it should be a Mythic Rare like Lotus Cobra, yes?
Posted By:
DarthParallax
(3/21/2013 11:11:15 AM)