The latter is reasonably popular, however, and stirred up a lot of financial attention around the release of Thunder Junction
It gets bigger as the game goes on for time you pay that tax, which is wild
To determine the total cost of a spell, start with the mana cost or alternative cost you're paying (such as a flashback cost), add any cost increases (such as kicker costs), then apply any cost reductions (such as that of The Earth Crystal's first ability)
2024-11-08 If a spell's kicker cost was paid, the spell is "kicked." 2024-11-08 The kicker ability doesn't let you pay a kicker cost more than once
It was and probably still is the best six mana mass removal spell on offer
The range of decks that can maximize this effect are still narrow, which prevents the card from climbing higher on the list