0 Casting Cost Mtg
Infusing 2 would bump the base Casting Cost up to 7, and the effective cost of the spell to ⌈ 7 × 0.75⌉ = 6. Due to the rounding though, this would be inherently wasteful, since if the player infused one more Mana, for a total of 3, the effective cost would still be ⌈ 8 × 0.75⌉ = 6. The rune comes attached to Runed Crown, but with a cheap two mana equip cost it shouldn’t be a problem sticking this equipment on a creature. The added +1/+1 is a good bit of extra value.
| Alternate casting cost (ACC) or Alternate playing cost (APC) is a term from the card game Magic: The Gathering, and refers to a cost to play a spell that is an alternative to the mana cost in the upper right hand corner of the card. This alternate cost may be some amount of life that its caster pays, some number of cards discarded from the caster's hand, or any number of other drawbacks that can be used to help balance the fact that the card's mana cost does not need to be played in order to play the card. Note: This is an informal term. The term used for this in the official rules is 'Alternative cost.' Famous cards * Force of Will is the most famous alternate casting cost card, as it has been played extensively in tournaments since it was printed in Alliances in 1996. Its power comes from the way it allows its owner to counter a spell even when they have no untapped mana: it can even be used before the player has taken a turn at all, which means it can disrupt 'turn one wins' in tournament formats where they're possible. There are several other alternate casting cost spells which will counter a spell such as Thwart, Foil and Daze, which have also seen play in tournaments, but none of them to the extent of Force of Will. Force of Will was the blue card in a five-card cycle of alternate casting cost cards in Alliances, but none of the others achieved anywhere near the level of recognition that Force of Will did: this is an example of the pattern often repeated in Magic: The Gathering's early years where blue cards were unintentionally printed far more powerful than cards of the other colours. * Fireblast is a famous red card from Visions which deals four damage to any target. Its mana cost is an expensive six mana, but it can be cast for the alternate cost of sacrificing two mountains. This makes it very strong in aggressive decks with other direct damage spells: once the opponent is down to, say, seven life, the red player could cast a spell to deal three damage which uses all their mana, and then sacrifice two mountains to Fireblast to finish them off. * Misdirection from Mercadian Masques was another blue ACC card. Misdirection lets its caster change the target of an opponent's spell. It saw some play in tournaments. * Gush was yet another powerful blue ACC card, also from Mercadian Masques. It allows its controller to draw two cards for the alternate cost of returning two Islands from play to their hand. This card was so powerful in a tournament deck called that it was restricted to a maximum of one per deck. This has changed with the June 1st banned restricted list, as Gush was taken off the restricted list because 'Psychatog is no longer the threat it once was. Bringing Gush back may restore some or all of 'Tog's power, but we're of the mind that the format has passed the toothy one by and that Gush is no longer a problem.' * Shining Shoal and Sickening Shoal from Betrayers of Kamigawa are alternate casting cost spells with a variable (X) in their cost. Their caster may either set X by paying that much mana, or by removing a card in their hand from the game, which sets X to the converted mana cost of the removed spell. Shining Shoal is a rare example of a white card which can cause damage to be dealt to any creature or player: for this reason it was nicknamed white Fireball. Sickening Shoal is partially renowned for its strange artwork featuring vomiting fish. Other Shoals with the same way of setting X exist for the other colours (the red Blazing Shoal theoretically enables a first-turn win if its player draws two of it as well as certain specific other cards, but this requires such an exact opening hand that it's extremely unlikely to be pulled off) but Shining Shoal and Sickening Shoal saw the most play in tournaments. Both cards are in the top five most valuable cards from Betrayers of Kamigawa. In contrast to most early cycles, the blue Shoal, Disrupting Shoal, does not look like much. This is because while the other five can be played pretty much regardless of what cards are in the player's hand, Disrupting Shoal depends on the cards matching the converted mana cost of an opponent's spell. However, it was a tournament staple in its day anyway, due to the sheer tempo efficiency of the ACC. See Also |
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Mtg 0 Drop Creatures
With the global economic crisis, reducing prices and production costs have been paid more attention for the buyers of metal castings, such as iron and steel castings. According to our experience in Dandong Foundry in China, we suggest the following methods.
1. Negotiate prices with your suppliers.
If you think some suppliers are qualified, and you like them, but their quoted prices are higher than others, then you should let them know your target prices, and give them a chance to consider if they are willing to meet your target prices.
In the same way, if the supplier like you and believe that you may be a good customer for them, then they may be willing to reduce their profit to produce some metal castings for you.
2. Bypass intermediate links of purchasing.
Purchasing directly from metal foundries will effectively reduce the prices. However, I am not saying that trading companies are useless. Many good trading companies are helping their customers to purchasing iron and steel castings from China.
3. Light weight design.
If you are the designer of the metal castings, you could try to reduce the unit weight of castings. The unit weight is the base of price, so if you could reduce the weight, then you will reduce the prices. Normally, you could try to reduce the wall thickness or increase the hollow areas. Of curse, the strength of casting parts should be met.
4. Clarify and reduce machining works.
Sometimes, the drawings can not denote the machining works clearly, so the buyers should clarify or denote them. Otherwise, the suppliers may increase the machining works, and so increase the machining costs.
Moreover, as for some unimportant surfaces and positions, if some flatness and straightness is allowable, the buyers should consider to keep them as cast.
5. Choose suitable casting process.
There are many metal casting processes, and different casting processes will cause big difference to casting prices, so choosing the suitable one could effectively reduce the prices. Talk with your suppliers and learn about what casting process they will use, and consider if could use cheaper one.
Normally, the manufacturers will use the suitable production methods considering your requirements and their production conditions, so choosing by you is also important.
6. Choose suitable materials and grades.
Some designers may choose the higher material grades to guarantee the reliability of casting parts, however, higher material grades and requirements will cause higher production costs, so suitable grade will be more economical.
The buyers should check if lower grades could meet the application if the high grades have increased the costs largely.
7. Lower your some requirements at certain level.
In other to keep high quality, some clients may have some high requirements to the surface quality, defects requirements, special surface coating, painting and packing requirement, and also some inspection works. If you really think these are necessary and are willing to pay for them, then it is ok, however, if some are not important for you, please try to lower your requirements with them. All these works will be considered during price calculation, and if your manufacturers could not do them in house, then the production costs will become high when they entrust others to do.
8. Reduce preliminary investment to investigate suppliers.
You could check the website of your suppliers, and ask any question to them. In this way, you could know that if they are professional and reliable. You also could learn more about them during making samples and small batch production in the early stage.
Only if you are a very large company, and you are very rich, otherwise, it is unnecessary to invest lots of money for visiting and quality investigation to the manufacturers. Most of metal foundries have similar production equipments and administrative level. Even some foundries are small, it not means that they can not produce some casting very well. Although some foundries are very large, it does not mean that they are suitable for you either.
Only samples and POs delivered one by one could prove that if they are qualified. Of course, you should pay attention to cheaters and liars.
9. Reduce defective rate during finish machining.
Sometimes, the buyers may eliminate a potential supplier just because their quoted prices were 5% higher than others. However, when you receive 10% or 30% defective casting parts, you will understand that the 5% higher prices are reasonable.
Some clients will do the finish machining by themselves, so the defective rate during your finish machining stage will be inevitable. Therefore, your suppliers should have enough inspection capability to control the quality of delivered castings. Asking your supplier to do the rough machining before delivery will be a good solution.
10. Reduce the numbers of your suppliers.
If your supplier has produced several types of metal castings, then you should entrust them to produce more types for you. It is easier to negotiate prices with your existing supplier, and they could accept lower prices and smaller orders in order to keep producing your other profitable products.
As for the new suppliers, although they may quote lower prices, but their capability and quality may not be as good as your current.
Moreover, fewer suppliers will reduce your costs for quality inspection, sea freight and long-term cooperation.
11. Pay attention to the change of pig iron costs.
Pig iron prices have directly influence to iron and steel casting prices. The buyers should pay attention to the change of pig iron prices, so you could understand when your suppliers may request price adjustment. In our website, we are updating pig iron, cast iron and cast steel prices timely.
12. Help your suppliers to clarify technical issues and solve problems.
If your supplier asks many questions for the detailed issues, you should try your best to help them for the clarification. This action will not only help them to improve quality, but also could reduce the unnecessary production costs.
For example, if there is a dimension in the drawing, its tolerance is +/-0.2 mm. Ok, your manufacturer can only guarantee +/-0.3 mm, so they will have to machine it. Therefore, they will have to increase its machining cost. If you could help them to clarify it with your end user, or final client, maybe +/-0.3 mm could be acceptable if it will not affect the assembly and application. Finally, the price will be reduced because of less machining works.
SUMMARY
Many clients and buyers thought the best method to reduce prices was developing new suppliers, and choose the supplier with lowest prices. This method is workable if your suppliers are making the same parts and they have the same quality. However, making metal castings is not a simple work.
At quotation stage, all suppliers will promise that they could produce your castings very well, however, you should check if they have considered and understand all your requirements. Moreover, if they have capability to keep the quality consistent and stable. Always, cheaper will mean something.
Zero Cost Artifacts Mtg
Mtg 0 Casting Cost Cards
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