Gaseous AnomalyHow it works & interactions with other cards

Dual Functionality

Gaseous Anomaly starts as a simple land that taps for colorless mana. However, it features a powerful activated ability that costs five generic mana and one blue mana. By paying this cost, tapping Gaseous Anomaly, and sacrificing it, you draw two cards and create a New Planet land token. This token is a Planet land that enters the battlefield tapped and can tap for one mana of any color.

Resolution Step-by-Step

When you activate the second ability, you must first have priority. You pay six mana, tap the land, and put it into the graveyard as a cost. Once the ability resolves, you draw two cards first. Then, you place a tapped New Planet token onto the battlefield. Because the token enters tapped, you typically cannot use its mana ability until your next untap step unless you have a way to untap it.

Strategic Considerations

Players often make the mistake of forgetting that the land must be sacrificed as part of the cost. This means if the ability is countered (for example, by an effect that counters activated abilities), the land is already in the graveyard. Additionally, the New Planet token is a permanent; it can be targeted by effects that destroy lands or non-basic permanents. Since the token has no mana cost, its converted mana cost is zero.

When to Activate

The best time to use Gaseous Anomaly is during your opponent's end turn if you have mana to spare. Since the New Planet token enters tapped, activating it on your own turn might leave you short on mana for your main phase. By doing it at the end of an opponent's turn, the token will untap during your next untap step, giving you immediate access to its rainbow mana.

Interaction examples

Upgrading Your Mana Base

New Planet

You have Gaseous Anomaly on the field and six mana available. You pay the cost and sacrifice Gaseous Anomaly. You draw two cards and create a New Planet token. Unlike Gaseous Anomaly, which only produced colorless mana, your New Planet can now produce any color of mana your deck requires once it untaps.

Color Fixing vs. Color Identity

New PlanetCommand Tower

If you are playing a multi-color deck, Command Tower only provides colors within your Commander's identity. However, the New Planet token created by Gaseous Anomaly can tap for any color of mana regardless of your Commander's identity, which can be useful if you've stolen cards from opponents' decks.

Relying on Opponents

New PlanetExotic Orchard

Exotic Orchard is dependent on what your opponents have in play. If your opponents only control lands that produce colorless mana, Exotic Orchard is limited. By sacrificing Gaseous Anomaly to create a New Planet, you guarantee yourself a land that can produce any color of mana independently of your opponents' board states.