The Secret Life of Mana

[@scrapprincess294]

Mana in the sense that it is used in the Maori language is hard to translate clearly into English, as its definition includes such concepts as personal authority, spiritual strength, pride + self esteem , and also duty and responsibility to those you have authority over. (I'm not sure how much that differs from other Pacifica peoples use of the word though.). Just commenting that in case anyone's curious about the word in its pacific form. The pronunciation is different as well, but maybe its for the best that "mana" meaning "magic points" is said differently , as its effectively a completely different word.

[@CulticCube]

Thank you so much for expanding on what mana signifies for the Maori peoples! This is a super useful and interesting explanation.

[@NUMSKUL_TX]

Do you have a video on how to build the mana based for a cube maybe for someone building one for the first time

[@The_Loreseeker]

>New Cultic Cube >This late at night I already finished sorting for the day! I'll have to watch this tomorrow! *shakes fist*

[@CulticCube]

You'll have to tell me all the ways I go wrong! I tread very gingerly into Vorthos territory in the first half of the video as I attempt to explain mana. The narrative rationalization of game mechanics is not, I'm afraid, my specialty. We need MTGLoreseeker on the case!

[@The_Loreseeker]

@@CulticCube Had time to watch it on a walk, it was very accurate, good job!

[@CulticCube]

@@The_Loreseeker Oh yay! I'm glad I wasn't leading people down the garden path with respect to lore. Thanks for checking out the video!

[@Devynwithawhy]

At least Baneslayer doesn't die to Power Word Kill

[@CulticCube]

Hahaha, true! You broke BSA and solved the format! :)

[@DanSternofBeyer]

This is "grade A" magic advice and information as usual. But it's also a low-key master class in research and how to talk about sources. The subtle way that points out that Howell's work is straight up racist. Wonderful. The added literary comment that Niven is actually critiquing capitalism and the socio-economic reality of the 1970's, through the lens of fantasy. Excellent. These small moments could have easily be left out of this video about a trading card game. But they weren't. This is what makes Cultic Cube a cut above the rest.

[@CulticCube]

Oh my goodness, you are too kind! I very much appreciate the care with which you approach the video and your wonderful synopses of its subtleties. Thank you!!

[@parttimecomix]

Props wotc, John was a great get for this!

[@CulticCube]

[@Cryonicity]

I thought I missed a video but no this is NEW! :D

[@CulticCube]

New! Although a reprise for those who caught the live lecture on Twitch last week. Apologies to those for whom this is a repeat. I had a number of people ask if I would make it available, so I wanted to make sure to archive it for posterity.

[@moralessanchezoscarelias6412]

This is very well researched. Congrats!

[@CulticCube]

Thanks so much, cat! I purchased the Niven book for the purpose of research. I skimmed it pretty quickly, but I wanted to be sure that my representation of Niven's ideas would be accurate, and I wanted to find material for a pull quote. I did not, however, bother to purchase The Heathens, lol. I poked around online to see if it was accessible via Google Books or something, but alas no. However, I did find swaths of it quoted in other sources, which was helpful.

[@moralessanchezoscarelias6412]

@@CulticCube Yes, that part was really interesting! I've heard many times that Garfield was a fan of Nevin, but never with as much detail about the connections between their ideas.

[@christoffergranbom6801]

Amazing video. Thank you for your awesome content, John. Is there a possibility of getting some additional thoughts on Lim-Dul's Vault?

[@CulticCube]

Thank you! Lim-Dul's Vault is great -- it's a Vampiric Tutor in Dimir. _Look at the top five cards of your library. As many times as you choose, you may pay 1 life, put those cards on the bottom of your library in any order, then look at the top five cards of your library. Then shuffle and put the last cards you looked at this way on top in any order._ You tear through your deck until you find the card you want. And with a 40 card deck, you are unlikely to pay an enormous amount of life. You also get to order those top five cards, so it's like a super Ponder or something. Card is great. It's not as good as DT, of course, and it's worse than VT for being two mana and in two colors, but it is operating the same ballpark as those. It's a powerful pickup!

[@jubran7469]

It was beautiful, I really like the tips, the transitions, your research, thank you!

[@CulticCube]

Yay, I'm glad you enjoyed it! Thanks so much for dropping by to say so!

[@Cryonicity]

I'm a simple man. I see Cultic Cube I click

[@CulticCube]

Your life choices are impeccable! :)