Reflecting PoolHow it works & interactions with other cards

What Reflecting Pool Does

Reflecting Pool has a single activated ability that produces one mana of any type that a land you control could produce. The 'types' of mana in Magic are white, blue, black, red, green, and colorless. It is important to note that this land checks the potential output of your other lands, not what they are currently capable of doing this exact moment.

How it Resolves Step by Step

When you activate the ability, the game checks all mana-producing abilities of lands you control. It looks for the colors or colorless mana those lands are capable of generating. It ignores costs (like paying life) or activation requirements (like controlling an artifact). Once the set of possible types is determined, you choose one and add that mana to your pool. If your other lands cannot produce any mana, or if you only control other Reflecting Pools with no other mana sources, it will produce nothing.

Common Mistakes and Nuances

A common misconception is that Reflecting Pool copies 'restrictions' or 'riders' from other lands. For example, if a land produces mana that can only be used for legendary spells, Reflecting Pool produces that same color but without any restriction on how you spend it. Additionally, Reflecting Pool checks for mana 'types,' so if a land produces colorless mana, Reflecting Pool can also produce colorless mana.

When to Play It

Reflecting Pool is best utilized in decks with three or more colors. It serves as a perfect companion to 'rainbow' lands like Command Tower. It is also excellent in decks running lands with high utility but steep activation costs, as the Pool bypasses those costs to give you the color you need for free.

Interaction examples

Mirroring the Commander's Colors

Command Tower

If you control both lands and your commander's color identity is Blue and Green, Command Tower can produce Blue or Green. Reflecting Pool sees these two potential types and can therefore be tapped to add either one Blue or one Green mana to your mana pool.

Opponent-Dependent Mana

Exotic Orchard

If your opponent controls a Mountain and you control Exotic Orchard and Reflecting Pool, your Exotic Orchard can produce Red mana. Because your Orchard has the potential to produce Red, your Reflecting Pool can also be tapped to produce Red mana, even if you don't personally control any Mountains.

The Null Loop

If Reflecting Pool is the only land you control, or if your only other lands are also Reflecting Pools, they have no 'base' mana type to look at. In this scenario, tapping Reflecting Pool will result in zero mana being added to your mana pool.