Mana Crystal vs Mana Flower ???

[The Dude]

I would love for my opponents to waste a flameblast on a mana flower.

Destroying a Mana Flower with a Flameblast isn't a bad play.  It's not like you use every attack spell in your book every game. 

In fact, it's a pretty good play, depending on the match-up.  If you're playing aggressively, you should have no shortage of attack spells or dice in general anyway, but you will be short on mana, and removing the Flower closes the mana gap. 

Destroying that Flower could mean the difference between fizzling out too early and lasting later into the game.

Yeah I'm going to have to disagree with that. You may not use every attack spell you play, put you will use every action you have, especially if you are playing aggressively, to efficiently kill the opponent. I would rather flameblast the opponents face in order to get burn on, than removing something that won't benefit them for long enough to make a difference.

[sIKE]

Yeah until that dang dwarf or angel Intercepts that blast and the mage you are playing is going to make the game go a bit longer than you planned and with that "Mana Crystal" that you are ignoring is going to out channel you by two or three points. Not so rosy now!

To me the big difference is the (other than book cost) which is more difficult to one shot? The flower has the regen capabilities but no armor. So it has to survive the single attack with no Armor and Flame +2. OTOH with the same life and 2 Armor the crystal is much more (though not impossible) difficult to one shot.

Now I am not saying that you should or shouldn't attack the Crystal or Flower (as the Dude says) but if the question comes down to which one I would put my spell book and hope that it survives, the Crystal is superior.  One caveat the Warlord, Mana Flowers all the way. 

[reddawn]

I'm not saying you should actively TRY to destroy mana conjurations, but given the opportunity, like if I can't get at the opposing mage, and I prepped a Flameblast, I really don't see the problem with it.  And unless you can destroy the enemy mage in 5 turns, I don't see how a turn 1 Mana Flower isn't going to pay off.

[sIKE]

With the intro of CoK into the game and Intercept, I see dropping two crystals/flowers round one as a very strong play. Now on the other side is it worth taking one or two of these out? If you (or a creature you control) lands in a zone with a Crystal/Flower of the opposing mage and have an attack that would otherwise go to waste that is a no brainer.

[Tacullu64]

Destroying mana conjurations is the topic of an old thread. Back then I posited that there was value in attacking mana conjurations depending on the need at the time, and I still believe this. In regards to the circumstances discussed here as I understand them, I have to side with The Dude. I'm having a hard time imagining when it would be the right time for an aggressive build to attack mana conjurations. If an aggressive build is attacking mana conjurations it is far afield from its strategy and must be in desperation mode or it lost focus on its purpose.

[Wiz-Pig]

Using a creature to destroy mana conjurations is one thing. Using a spell is quite another, if I spend 5 mana on casting flameblast on your manaflower I've just spent the same mana that you cast on the damn thing in the first place and an action and unless you just cast the mana flower that round you've already gotten some mana back from it. A cheap creature on the other hand could potentially sneek behind your lines and destroy both of your mana conjurations before engaging the enemy and even if he doesn't succeed he could potentially distract you making you misallocate your resources to deal with him.

[Tacullu64]

Using a creature to destroy mana conjurations is one thing. Using a spell is quite another, if I spend 5 mana on casting flameblast on your manaflower I've just spent the same mana that you cast on the damn thing in the first place and an action and unless you just cast the mana flower that round you've already gotten some mana back from it. A cheap creature on the other hand could potentially sneek behind your lines and destroy both of your mana conjurations before engaging the enemy and even if he doesn't succeed he could potentially distract you making you misallocate your resources to deal with him.

Yes, exactly, and at this point in the game an aggressive build should have used its mana reserves and probably can find way better uses for 5 mana.