Looks like an elegant way of building trios and quartets.
Are things in your hand targetable? Or only things in your field?I made this some time ago http://elementscommunity.org/forum/pre-smithy-ideas/quanta-distiller-quanta-distiller/ but I always felt it was too clunky to work well.
Maybe you should change "to the pool" to "to your pool" in the upgraded version, to make it clear that the quanta goes to you, not your opponent's pool.