In your opinion, what are the ten best counterspell variants in the game? Note that this is not a purely arbitrary question, as I will be taking the answers into consideration when building my newest deck.
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Can this include permanents, as well? Ie, Counterbalance?
1. Force of Will
2. Counterbalance
3. Mana Drain
4. Counterspell
5. Cryptic Command
6. Spell Snare
7. Daze
....
8-10. Other stuff (Like, Mana Leak, Remand, Disrupt, etc).
Force of Will is a clear #1. Then, the line gets a little blurry. 2-7 are all pretty close, and fill different roles. It's also really hard to have simple objective rankings, since each one is good in some decks and poor in others. Daze, for example, is bad MUC, but amazing in any sort of tempo-based strategy. Spell Snare is amazing in a fast format (like Legacy), but would be awful in the current Standard.
Cryptic Command : Currently very popular in standard and all-around very efficient and useful in any situation.
Remand : A very nice way to delay your opponent while getting card advantage.
Rebuff the Wicked : Great way to protect your permanents and always catches your opponent off guard as few people expect you to do something with one white mana open.
Rune Snag : The improved Mana Leak. Unlike the Leak, the Snag keeps getting better as you play them. This card gets particularily nasty in 2HG as it counts copies of Rune Snag in ALL graveyards, meaning you and your teammate just got a very cheap and efficient counterspell
Force of Will : I don't think I need to tell why this one is good. Just because of the existence of the card itself a tapped out control player can still be a threat.
Soul Manipulation : One of the new cards I like a lot. Generates a lot of card advantage for a cheap price.
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It is always easy to be tolerant and understanding...Until someone presents an opinion completely opposite to your own.
Sure, it nets your opponent up to two cards (and one for you) but that's hardly a disadvantage.
Granted FoW and Drain are by far the best counterspells in the game.
Cryptic command is...ok. the only reason it's worth so much is because there is a complete lack of anything better in standard. Once it rotates out, it'll drop.
since your going to be using these counterspells, remember that your going to need to run at least 8 2cmc counters.
my favorites (that I own) are:
1:counterspell
2:rune snag
3:mana leak
4:daze
5:countersquall
mana leak and rune snag are sorely underrated since most of the time their a hard counter, and even if your opponent has the mana open, its still an effective tempo-killer
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1. Mana Drain, Force of Will. One helps you win the game, the other prevents you from losing.
3. Counterspell
4. Spell Snare
5. Daze
6. Mana Leak
7. Remand
8. Disrupt
9. Force Spike
10. Cryptic Command
However, these ratings are very subjective to the deck you use and the decks you will play against. Spell snare is a house in legacy and pretty good in vintage/extended. Disrupt can be great coming out of the sb. Daze + mana denial feels like cheating. etc, etc.
counterbalance and sensei's divining top are just evil if you can taylor your deck to the mana costs.
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Even if the author is silenced, the performance is stopped, the story will not end.
Whether it's a comedy or a tragedy, if there is cheering, the story will continue on.
Just like the many lives.
For the us who are still in it and still in the journey, send warm blessings.
- We will continue to walk down this path until eternity.
counterbalance and sensei's divining top are just evil if you can taylor your deck to the mana costs.
Hugely so. It is also somewhat amazing at how marginal counterbalance is without SDT. Looking at extended, counter + top = beatings. Ban top and counterbalance isn't even playable.
In addition, if the OP is going to run mono blue that changes some of the options as it is likely that counterspell > mana leak because of all your islands. Or, Dissipate > Convolute, etc.
Remand : A very nice way to delay your opponent while getting card advantage.
...
Just thought I'd like to point out that Remand does not give you any card advantage. You and your opponent end up with the same number of cards in hand after a Remand as before it (Remand goes to grave, you draw a card, they "draw" the card that got countered). It is purely a tempo card.
1) Force of Will
2) Mana Drain
3) Counterspell
4) Daze
5) Memory Lapse
6) Remand
7) Mana Leak/Rune Snag (almost the same card)
8) Arcane Denial
9) Dismiss
10) Cryptic Command
1: Force of Will
2: Counterbalance
3: Cryptic Command
4: Counterspell
5: Spell Snare
6: Daze
7: Rewind
8: Spellstutter Sprite
9: Red Elemental Blast
10: Mana Drain
In no particular order.
Once again Counterbalance isn't a counterspell. Its almost 100% useless without Top. Almost the same thing goes for Spellstutter sprite. I don't think a card that requires a deck to be built around it to be good "one of the ten most powerful counterspells.
If you are going to list counterbalance you might as well list nether void or chalice since they are both very silmilar.
Rewind is not one of the most powerful counterspells by a long shot. Show me one decklist ever that played that card and was competitive.
4. Memory Lapse- personal favorite in an old deck I had (Ah, the frustration it caused. Good times.) This thing was so annoyingly powerful when used with mill and/or lockdown. =D
8. Disrupt- this was up in the air for me. Force Spike and Counterspell were the other two obvious choices but they are rather plain. And considering how much more important tempo is to me, I decided Disrupt was to be put here.
9. Cryptic Command- truly one of the best for its mana cost in current Standard.
*Rewind deserves a spot on here due to the fact it was the one of the few ways to stop being locked by Gigadrowse during the 2nd age of Dragonstorm.dec which dominated Standard for a lengthy period of time. So saying it doesn't belong is incorrect but, Cryptic Command and Dismiss can't be denied from top 10 list. If the list was ranked and went to 15 Rewind would be 11th.
[card=Dismal Failure]"Two magi could trade spells all day and never crown a victor.
The real battle is not one of power but of will.
If your confidence breaks, so too shall you." —Venser[/card]
Rewind is not one of the most powerful counterspells by a long shot. Show me one decklist ever that played that card and was competitive.
Rewind isn't powerful? Any "free" counterspell is powerful, especially one that has the completely broken "untap x land" mechanic put on it. The only reason this was able to be reprinted was because it had to have a target. Other ones like Time Spiral and especially Frantic Search will never see the light of day again.
Have you seen Gabriel Nassif's 2004 Worlds deck? A blue/white control deck featuring Rewind to generate insane amounts of mana with Cloudpost and Temple of the False God. It performed on par with the insanity that is Affinity, which completely wreaked havoc that year.
Rewind is not one of the most powerful counterspells by a long shot. Show me one decklist ever that played that card and was competitive.
You're joking, right? Rewind was insanely popular in Timespiral T2, helping fuel decks like Dralnu du Louvre, Sonic Boom and Pickles as well as all manner of U/x Snow Control decks.
It does change game's tempo...usually in their favor.
You lose a card while they end up netting a free card. In pure 'card advantage' terms, they come out ahead. It's balanced, sure, but this can also make it very risky. Unlike Remand. Against a true 'kitchen table' deck, probably not a problem but against something more competitive..sometimes a bad idea.
If anything, Remand is a better Arcane Denial.
I do agree the best possible applications are either Mill deck or Black Vise.dec or something.
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1. Force of Will
2. Counterbalance
3. Mana Drain
4. Counterspell
5. Cryptic Command
6. Spell Snare
7. Daze
....
8-10. Other stuff (Like, Mana Leak, Remand, Disrupt, etc).
Force of Will is a clear #1. Then, the line gets a little blurry. 2-7 are all pretty close, and fill different roles. It's also really hard to have simple objective rankings, since each one is good in some decks and poor in others. Daze, for example, is bad MUC, but amazing in any sort of tempo-based strategy. Spell Snare is amazing in a fast format (like Legacy), but would be awful in the current Standard.
Cryptic Command : Currently very popular in standard and all-around very efficient and useful in any situation.
Remand : A very nice way to delay your opponent while getting card advantage.
Rebuff the Wicked : Great way to protect your permanents and always catches your opponent off guard as few people expect you to do something with one white mana open.
Rune Snag : The improved Mana Leak. Unlike the Leak, the Snag keeps getting better as you play them. This card gets particularily nasty in 2HG as it counts copies of Rune Snag in ALL graveyards, meaning you and your teammate just got a very cheap and efficient counterspell
Force of Will : I don't think I need to tell why this one is good. Just because of the existence of the card itself a tapped out control player can still be a threat.
Soul Manipulation : One of the new cards I like a lot. Generates a lot of card advantage for a cheap price.
Sure, it nets your opponent up to two cards (and one for you) but that's hardly a disadvantage.
Granted FoW and Drain are by far the best counterspells in the game.
Cryptic command is...ok. the only reason it's worth so much is because there is a complete lack of anything better in standard. Once it rotates out, it'll drop.
I like Turtles
my favorites (that I own) are:
1:counterspell
2:rune snag
3:mana leak
4:daze
5:countersquall
mana leak and rune snag are sorely underrated since most of the time their a hard counter, and even if your opponent has the mana open, its still an effective tempo-killer
Whether it's a comedy or a tragedy, if there is cheering, the story will continue on.
Just like the many lives.
For the us who are still in it and still in the journey, send warm blessings.
- We will continue to walk down this path until eternity.
3. Counterspell
4. Spell Snare
5. Daze
6. Mana Leak
7. Remand
8. Disrupt
9. Force Spike
10. Cryptic Command
However, these ratings are very subjective to the deck you use and the decks you will play against. Spell snare is a house in legacy and pretty good in vintage/extended. Disrupt can be great coming out of the sb. Daze + mana denial feels like cheating. etc, etc.
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Whether it's a comedy or a tragedy, if there is cheering, the story will continue on.
Just like the many lives.
For the us who are still in it and still in the journey, send warm blessings.
- We will continue to walk down this path until eternity.
Hugely so. It is also somewhat amazing at how marginal counterbalance is without SDT. Looking at extended, counter + top = beatings. Ban top and counterbalance isn't even playable.
In addition, if the OP is going to run mono blue that changes some of the options as it is likely that counterspell > mana leak because of all your islands. Or, Dissipate > Convolute, etc.
AVOID MTG Fanatic ! Remands Orders and Re-lists cards for more money!
Just thought I'd like to point out that Remand does not give you any card advantage. You and your opponent end up with the same number of cards in hand after a Remand as before it (Remand goes to grave, you draw a card, they "draw" the card that got countered). It is purely a tempo card.
2) Mana Drain
3) Counterspell
4) Daze
5) Memory Lapse
6) Remand
7) Mana Leak/Rune Snag (almost the same card)
8) Arcane Denial
9) Dismiss
10) Cryptic Command
PTQ Top 8: 11/21/2009 Zendikar Sealed 4th
2: Counterbalance
3: Cryptic Command
4: Counterspell
5: Spell Snare
6: Daze
7: Rewind
8: Spellstutter Sprite
9: Red Elemental Blast
10: Mana Drain
In no particular order.
Once again Counterbalance isn't a counterspell. Its almost 100% useless without Top. Almost the same thing goes for Spellstutter sprite. I don't think a card that requires a deck to be built around it to be good "one of the ten most powerful counterspells.
If you are going to list counterbalance you might as well list nether void or chalice since they are both very silmilar.
Rewind is not one of the most powerful counterspells by a long shot. Show me one decklist ever that played that card and was competitive.
PTQ Top 8: 11/21/2009 Zendikar Sealed 4th
1. Force of Will
2. Remand
3. Mana Drain
4. Memory Lapse- personal favorite in an old deck I had (Ah, the frustration it caused. Good times.) This thing was so annoyingly powerful when used with mill and/or lockdown. =D
5. Spell Snare
6. Dismiss
7. Daze
8. Disrupt- this was up in the air for me. Force Spike and Counterspell were the other two obvious choices but they are rather plain. And considering how much more important tempo is to me, I decided Disrupt was to be put here.
9. Cryptic Command- truly one of the best for its mana cost in current Standard.
10 Undermine / (and its spawn) Countersquall -life swing and card denial mmm-mmm good.
Special Mention-Rewind*
*Rewind deserves a spot on here due to the fact it was the one of the few ways to stop being locked by Gigadrowse during the 2nd age of Dragonstorm.dec which dominated Standard for a lengthy period of time. So saying it doesn't belong is incorrect but, Cryptic Command and Dismiss can't be denied from top 10 list. If the list was ranked and went to 15 Rewind would be 11th.
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The real battle is not one of power but of will.
If your confidence breaks, so too shall you."
—Venser[/card]
Counterspell
Cryptic Command
Dream Fracture
Force of Will
Daze
Punish Ignorance
Spellstutter Sprite
Undermine
Countersquall
Memory Lapse
yeah, my top 10.
punish ignorance isn't that popular, but i feel it to be a great card.
1. FoW
2. Mana Drain
3. Daze
4. Red Elemental Blast
5. Negate
6. Mana Leak
Force Of Will
Counterspell
Forbid
Dismiss
Rewind
Daze
Thwart
Foil
Cryptic Command
Honorable mention: Mystic Snake
Favorite splashable: Memory Lapse
I've been in and out of involvement with Magic since 1997. Every time I think I'm out, I get pulled back in.
Rewind isn't powerful? Any "free" counterspell is powerful, especially one that has the completely broken "untap x land" mechanic put on it. The only reason this was able to be reprinted was because it had to have a target. Other ones like Time Spiral and especially Frantic Search will never see the light of day again.
Have you seen Gabriel Nassif's 2004 Worlds deck? A blue/white control deck featuring Rewind to generate insane amounts of mana with Cloudpost and Temple of the False God. It performed on par with the insanity that is Affinity, which completely wreaked havoc that year.
R: Copypasta Sauce {Browbeat}
UR: Mana Cache , One Spell to Bind them All {Magnetic Theft}
UG: Epic Struggle , All-In-Poison {Metamorphosis}
UW: Planar Overlay , Decree of the Bailiff {Saprazzan Bailiff}
BG: Thought Gorger , Dark Chroma {Umbra Stalker}
UBR: Dwarven Shrine
WUBRG: Dissipation Field , Maelstrom Nexus
You're joking, right? Rewind was insanely popular in Timespiral T2, helping fuel decks like Dralnu du Louvre, Sonic Boom and Pickles as well as all manner of U/x Snow Control decks.
Forbid
frankly this one's much better than some of the other ones mentioned (especially in a deck like landstill)
I like Turtles
A fine card.
Sorry, but this is very very disputable if not downright incorrect in a lot of cases. But that's another thread for another day.
Again, I love the card. And I do agree it's in the upper crust of counterspells. (And I also agree folks overlook it a lot!)
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it's a better remand. it does change the game's tempo. and at least, it replaces itself and hard counters something.
anyways i personally prefer it to remand. especially in a decking deck
I like Turtles
You lose a card while they end up netting a free card. In pure 'card advantage' terms, they come out ahead. It's balanced, sure, but this can also make it very risky. Unlike Remand. Against a true 'kitchen table' deck, probably not a problem but against something more competitive..sometimes a bad idea.
If anything, Remand is a better Arcane Denial.
I do agree the best possible applications are either Mill deck or Black Vise.dec or something.
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remand only delays the inevitable. denial outrights stops the spell.
hell, in desperate times, you can play something at the end of your opponent's turn and denial it. netting yourself 4 cards on your turn.
I did say desperate times.
I like Turtles