Energy is one of the most polarizing mechanics in recent memory. On one hand it was fun, flavorful, and implemented in a way where you could do a lot of sweet things with it. Very few mechanics can be played in such a variety of strategies. On the other hand, its short history has been marred by a domination of Standard that led to two separate bannings. One could poll their local game store and hear players they say can’t wait for it to come back, and another table over, players will swear it was a mistake. Let’s take a look at how it has really shaken out.
A Quick Breakdown
At its core, Energy is basically mana with a permanent Upwelling effect. Some cards produce it and other cards use it. One of the ways it stands out from mana is it allows you to create cards that can make the resource and use it later. In most cases, cards that had an enter the battlefield trigger made enough energy to activate their ability once, and then relied on other sources for additional activations.
Energy Producers
How many cards is an energy worth? How much energy can you produce with one mana? These questions don’t really have a definitive answer (unless there is some Frank Karsten math I’m unaware of). Wizards first attempt ended up being a bit too generous and as a result we ended up with cards like Attune with Aether, Rogue Refiner, and Glimmer of Genius. Despite two of those cards being banned, they weren’t necessarily incorrect to create. Sure the combination of the cards replacing themselves combined with a notable bump in Energy led to plenty of degeneracy, but without them the mechanic may never have made it off the ground. They didn’t have to be as powerful as they were, but it was better overall that they existed instead of requiring cards like Whirler Virtuoso to only ever get energy from themselves.
Energy Sinks
Is a three mana 2/3 that comes with a 1/1 flyer a fair Magic card? What about a four mana 5/4 that dodges the first piece of removal thrown at it? I would argue that they are totally reasonable Magic cards. The majority of Energy sinks were balanced as such. The goal was that these cards would be playable outside of dedicated Energy decks and while that was true for limited formats, to get the most out of the cards in Standard, you really wanted to play as many Energy cards as possible. This may seem obvious, but the attempt wasn’t without merit. Energy is what R&D refers to as a parasitic mechanic, which means it doesn’t naturally play well with other cards that don’t have the mechanic. So, to encourage the cards to be played in other decks, the individual cards had to stand on their own. When we combine this aspect with the previous section, we can start to carve out what the issue was.
Mana Discounts
The most overpowered mechanics across the history of the game have gained that notoriety by letting players cheat on mana. At a glance it doesn’t really seem like Energy does this, but it looks different when we combine all the elements. As stated before, the Energy sinks are costed as though their abilities are going to be activated once, but normally cards with repeatable effects cost more to account for that. This could be okay if there was a significant mana cost to producing Energy, but again the producers available make Energy practically free from a mana perspective. Attune with Aether is Lay of the Land plus, Glimmer of Genius is the best Inspiration ever printed, and Rogue Refiner without the Energy is potentially still a playable Standard card. Together the Energy mechanic as printed in Kaladesh block created powerful synergies that cheated on mana.
So does this mean Energy was a fatal mistake that should never be revisited? No, I don’t think Energy is anywhere close to that. I will say that the Energy cards as designed were much stronger than they should be, but it is fixable. Even mechanics as broken as the free mechanic (untapping lands when the spell resolves) have been printed recently with little issue, and R&D have considered reworking and bringing back Affinity. If I had to guess, we’ll definitely see Energy return, either in a return to Kaladesh or on another plane. With that, R&D will take the lessons from their first attempt, and I predict producers won’t be as generous and we’ll see more activated abilities also have mana requirements like Demon of Dark Schemes.
DRAW AND GET A BEER 