Spend mana

Spend mana is an ability that spends extra mana beyond the actual mana cost of the card to create an additional effect. These are often called Proportional effects because the effect is proportional to the mana spent, although other Hearthstone mechanics are proportional as well.

The "Forbidden" family of cards introduced in Whispers of the Old Gods were the only cards with this ability in the game, until the mechanic was reintroduced with Forbidden Words from Rise of Shadows. Most are spells with a mana cost of 0, and each one consumes all remaining mana when played.

Notes

• Playing a card with the "Spend mana" ability consumes mana in two separate ways: one is the mana Cost of the card itself, the other is the card's "Spend all your Mana" text.

• Effects which trigger based on the Cost of a spell or minion will count the Cost of the card itself, not including any mana consumed by the "Spend mana" ability.

Example: If you have 10 mana and Atiesh equipped, playing Forbidden Flame will deal 10 damage but still summon a 0-Cost minion.

Example: Playing Forbidden Ancient at 10 mana will produce a 10/10 minion, but Evolve will still transform it into a random 2-Cost minion.

• The mana Cost of a card with "Spend mana" can be modified as usual by Cost-modification effects.
  • The Cost of a card cannot be negative: thus, Cost-reduction effects like Sorcerer's Apprentice would usually have no effect on Forbidden spells (since they already cost 0 mana), but they can counteract Cost-increasing effects like Loatheb. On the other hand, summoning Forbidden Ancient when a Summoning Portal is in play will reduce the Cost of playing the minion to 0, leaving one additional mana crystal available for the "Spend mana" effect.
  • Cost-modification effects cannot alter the "Spend mana" ability itself, since this does not have a Cost but simply consumes all remaining mana.

• After the Cost of a "Spend mana" card has been paid, all the player's remaining available mana will be consumed as part of its effect, and the card's effect will be increased in proportion.

Example: Playing Forbidden Shaping with 10 available mana after an opponent's Loatheb would still leave the caster with 0 mana, but would only summon a 5-Cost minion.

• The "Spend mana" ability always consumes all the player's remaining mana (which can range from 0 to 10), even if it is not possible to produce an effect of that magnitude.

Example: Playing Forbidden Ritual with 10 available mana will consume 10 mana even though it can never summon more than 7 Icky Tentacles. Forbidden Ritual can be played even on a full board, still consuming all available mana although no minion will be summoned.

• Since the "Spend mana" ability itself is part of the card's text, it only consumes the remaining mana if the card is successfully played.

Example: If Forbidden Flame is countered by Counterspell, no extra mana will be consumed.

• Cards with "Spend mana" can be played even when there is no mana left to consume.

Example: Casting Forbidden Healing when there is 0 available mana will not heal the target, but will still trigger Violet Teacher or Wild Pyromancer.

Strategy

• Players can determine how much mana to leave for the "Spend mana" ability by expending mana in other ways first, leaving a smaller amount remaining for the ability.
• After playing a "Spend mana" card, you can not play any other cards or use your Hero Power in the same turn, unless you have 0-Mana cards (e.g. Moonfire, Target Dummy), or cards that allow you to regain Mana (e.g. The Coin or Innervate). This makes it wise to carefully assess the desired sequence of events, make use of your Hero Power and possibly play other cards, before finally playing the "Spend mana" card.

Cards

Collectible

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Uncollectible

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Trivia

• Spend mana currently represents the only ability or effect that consumes the player's available mana. Mana is of course naturally consumed to pay the base cost of a card or Hero Power. Some cards also destroy Mana Crystals, although these almost always destroy empty Crystals without affecting available mana.

Patch changes

• Patch 5.0.0.12574 (2016-04-24): Added, with Forbidden Shaping, Forbidden Healing, Forbidden Ancient, Forbidden Ritual and Forbidden Flame.

See also

• Mana
• Mana cost