At first I was outraged by seeing cancel at rare, but after thinking about it it really is okay. You can't compare this to all the things listed here as common/uncommon counters because it is a hard counter you can play on turn 3, not a bunch of soft or conditional ones. It can't be removed, it is mostly still a surprise that can't be played around and gives you a creature if that is something you really want/need. You also never have to use the creature mode if you don't want.
Repel Intruders - conditional counter for creatures, cost 2 color, cost more than 3 to counter
Silumgar Sorcerer - conditional for creatures and you must control another creature otherwise this is just a bad remove soul
Silumgar Spell-Eater - soft counter that must be first played as a morph and is vulnerable to removal before it can counter anything (unless you have 8 mana)
Soratami Savant - conditional for returning a land soft counter
This card's good (cancel with upside, we've played cancel before), but the rarity is in question. I think they just don't want big stuff getting countered regularly this set in limited, which could be valid.
This isn't 1/10th as powerful as Draining Whelk. I'm not even convinced this is stronger than Summoner's Bane, since at least if the creature dies it doesn't cost you a land. Do you think Summoner's Bane should have been rare?
Aw, look at all the armchair developers who think they know what they're doing... They're so cute, calling this an uncommon.
What justifies this at rare?
It's not for complexity's sake, because Awaken shows up readily at common and Cancel is also an easy to grok effect.
It's not for Limited's sake either. Straight counter-magic is bad in Limited and this card isn't all that amazing value-wise. Ulamog's Nullifier and Sheer Drop are close comparisons a far as counter-magic or Awaken two-for-ones go. And Rolling Thunder, one of the best Limited cards of all time, is at Uncommon.
And power level, outside of Limited, is, supposedly, not considered when assigning rarity. Mythics/Rares aren't supposed to have all the best Constructed cards.
So it's pretty much just another instance of Wizards bumping up staple Standard spells to rare so more packs have to be opened. See also: Thoughtseize (in Lorwyn), Hero's Downfall, Exquisite Firecraft, etc.
Awaken has messed up some rarity slots this time, but still I prefer this at rare and a powerful Awaken effect than an Awaken 2 on an Uncommon... It doesn't change very much, the only difference is how often we'll get it in drafts.
Except, you know, its price tag... which is what people are actually complaining about when they want cards to be lower rarity.
Dissolve, which is also a very good Cancel variant, but at uncommon, stayed below $1 most of its lifetime and peakefvat $1,5. Hero's Downfall, another comparable card in terms of prevalence and usefulness, never dropped below 5, stayed around 10 for a good while, and if you wanted to plsy a set at Game Day and didn't pre-order it, the playset would set you back $60.
Again, not saying that this card is not good or special enough to be rare. It's remarkable. But it's still a must-have card for a lot of decks, and at this rarity it serves to considerably raise the price of playing standard. And I really don't see it breaking limited either, so it's a cash grab.
If you're still not sure if that rarity is off, now try to imagine a Lightning Strike variant at rare.
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Stay reasonable, be mindful of your expectations and don't feed the trolls.
the thing is, do you even want to make one of those lands a creature??
In a control matchup, you're likely just creating a target for removal if you don't have one already. If it ever dies it puts you a land behind which is never really a good thing unless it's really late.
This is powerful, alright, but I agree with the majority here; it should have been an uncommon. Neither power level in limited nor complexity justifies printing this as a rare. It will be a staple in any blue deck. At rare it feels like a blatant cash grab from WotC.
seems like a very swingy card in draft. i'm fine with it at rare. wizards has been printing too many garbage rares and mythics for a long time, now. if youre playing constructed, opening pack has been a losing bet for ages. I wish it werent that way, but the reality is that rarity is going to be determined by the desired limited environment.
The problem with defining this format by what is "fun" is that everyone seems to define fun as what they don't lose to. If you keep losing to easily answered cards, that means you should improve your deck. If you don't want to improve your deck, then you should come to peace with the idea that you are going to lose because you chose to not interact with better strategies.
the thing is, do you even want to make one of those lands a creature??
In a control matchup, you're likely just creating a target for removal if you don't have one already. If it ever dies it puts you a land behind which is never really a good thing unless it's really late.
I've given this a lot of thought since I run a UR deck that aims to have no valid targets for removal to leave the opponent with dead cards, and... well, I still like it. I can use it as a Cancel and always keep the threat of a creature around, and my opponent won't be able to side out all the creature removal because of an ability that is stapled onto a card I'd run anyway. It'll be a Cancel 19 out of 20 times in my deck, but the latent threat is actually very valuable.
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Stay reasonable, be mindful of your expectations and don't feed the trolls.
But I also agree the bad rep Cancel gets isn't helping. People tend to associate 1UU counterspell as a common level card, and that's perfectly understandable.
So my fix would have it made Awaken 4 instead. That's something R&D should have done. The other solution is a 1UMana Leak (or UU) with Awaken. This is to mitigate the feel-bad of a Mana Leak in the late game. I think that would have been a preferable choice.
BFZ's rarity is severely screwed up. Rare slots are like uncommons (wtf with Cancel, vanilla Phyrexian Marauder, Ambition's Cost, and the overpowered devoid creatures?), while some uncommon are like rares (Retreats).
Awaken has messed up some rarity slots this time, but still I prefer this at rare and a powerful Awaken effect than an Awaken 2 on an Uncommon... It doesn't change very much, the only difference is how often we'll get it in drafts.
Except, you know, its price tag... which is what people are actually complaining about when they want cards to be lower rarity.
Dissolve, which is also a very good Cancel variant, but at uncommon, stayed below $1 most of its lifetime and peakefvat $1,5. Hero's Downfall, another comparable card in terms of prevalence and usefulness, never dropped below 5, stayed around 10 for a good while, and if you wanted to plsy a set at Game Day and didn't pre-order it, the playset would set you back $60.
Again, not saying that this card is not good or special enough to be rare. It's remarkable. But it's still a must-have card for a lot of decks, and at this rarity it serves to considerably raise the price of playing standard. And I really don't see it breaking limited either, so it's a cash grab.
If you're still not sure if that rarity is off, now try to imagine a Lightning Strike variant at rare.
We did get good burn spell at rare: see Exquisite Firecraft or Mizzium Mortars as recent examples. Typical spell (burn, counter, discard, creature destruction ...) + upside is always available at rare, or even mythic sometimes, and that's exactly what we have here. Your point about the price tag of the card is unfortunately very true, sure, but in this case I don't see it going up very much.
I think Exquisite Firecraft should have been an uncommon, there is nothing rare about it. Mizzium Mortars is a one-sided sweeper, so that has to be a rare from a limited perspective.
Aw, look at all the armchair developers who think they know what they're doing... They're so cute, calling this an uncommon.
Your faith in wotc's development team is inspiring. You really think this was going to break limited at uncommon?
Given that we have already seen Sheer Dropat common and Stasis Snare at uncommon in white, Transgress the Mind at uncommon in black, Ulamog's Nullifer at uncommon in u/b and Scour from Existenceat common and colorless, I think it's safe to presume that wotc wasn't too concerned with people being able to deal with the big expensive eldrazi creatures in limited. (Yes, Scour is very expensive, but no moreso than the huge eldrazi it will be killing.)
Awaken has messed up some rarity slots this time, but still I prefer this at rare and a powerful Awaken effect than an Awaken 2 on an Uncommon... It doesn't change very much, the only difference is how often we'll get it in drafts.
Except, you know, its price tag... which is what people are actually complaining about when they want cards to be lower rarity.
Dissolve, which is also a very good Cancel variant, but at uncommon, stayed below $1 most of its lifetime and peakefvat $1,5. Hero's Downfall, another comparable card in terms of prevalence and usefulness, never dropped below 5, stayed around 10 for a good while, and if you wanted to plsy a set at Game Day and didn't pre-order it, the playset would set you back $60.
Again, not saying that this card is not good or special enough to be rare. It's remarkable. But it's still a must-have card for a lot of decks, and at this rarity it serves to considerably raise the price of playing standard. And I really don't see it breaking limited either, so it's a cash grab.
If you're still not sure if that rarity is off, now try to imagine a Lightning Strike variant at rare.
We did get good burn spell at rare: see Exquisite Firecraft or Mizzium Mortars as recent examples. Typical spell (burn, counter, discard, creature destruction ...) + upside is always available at rare, or even mythic sometimes, and that's exactly what we have here. Your point about the price tag of the card is unfortunately very true, sure, but in this case I don't see it going up very much.
I think Exquisite Firecraft should have been an uncommon, there is nothing rare about it. Mizzium Mortars is a one-sided sweeper, so that has to be a rare from a limited perspective.
Aw, look at all the armchair developers who think they know what they're doing... They're so cute, calling this an uncommon.
Your faith in wotc's development team is inspiring. You really think this was going to break limited at uncommon?
Given that we have already seen Sheer Dropat common and Stasis Snare at uncommon in white, Transgress the Mind at uncommon in black, Ulamog's Nullifer at uncommon in u/b and Scour from Existenceat common and colorless, I think it's safe to presume that wotc wasn't too concerned with people being able to deal with the big expensive eldrazi creatures in limited. (Yes, Scour is very expensive, but no moreso than the huge eldrazi it will be killing.)
Half of those are not instant speed. You have to take your turn to do it. Nullifier has a (possibly significant) hoop to jump through. Snare can be removed to get your Eldrazi back. Sheer Drop means your Eldrazi got to attack (generally). Transgress means you move on to other potentially fun things you put into your deck. Scour costs 7.
The feeling they want to avoid is not “Oh no, I’ve lost my Eldrazi” and more “Goddammit, I just spent my entire turn trying to make this and now you get to do other things after you’ve gotten rid of my Eldrazi.” It’s the same reason that stupid-efficient removal has gone up in rarities. It's fine if you can remove something. Things need answers. But if the answers themselves pose questions of your opponent, things start getting unfun.
I think the question people need to ask, if they’re thinking about why this is rare in regards to limited is “Would I play a counterspell normally?’
Because most of the time, you don’t. You play counterspells if your removal pool is crap. You play counterspells if you’re struggling for extra answers. You play counterspells every once in a blue moon. They were crap in Khans and Dragons block. They were crap in Theros block. They were crap in all the most recent core sets but M14. They were crap in all forms of RTR block.
This is a counterspell that you don’t feel *****ty about playing.
(That was very thoughtful of you ThyLordQ)
People keep trying to say it's because of limited but I doubt it. Most of the time this will be aimed at creatures in limited so it's barely better than summoner's bane and even then if you are behind they can just attack and cast nothing while you waste turn after turn holding up 6 mana. The real reason it's rare is probably because design was sitting around with there tumbs up their asses when all of a sudden
(images for visualization)
Maro: Muh limited, Muh cycles. Design1: I think he's saying we should do a cycle of cards. What kind? Maro: Muh key word. Design1: But we already have a *****ty landfall cycle... Maro: MUH KEY WORD. Design2: Maybe he means awaken? Maro nodds Design3: How about an uncommon cycle of predictable spells with awaken tacked on? Maro: MUH LIMITED! Design1 nodds Design1: Muh limited. Design2 nodds Design2: Muh limited. Design3 sighs Design3: Muh limited... Design1: What should we do for white? Design2: Boardwhipe. The horse is already dead so why not beat a little more? all nod Design2(now excited): and Hero's Downfall for black! Maro: Muh strictly better than! Design1: We'll make it sorcery speed. Maro appears content Design3: What about for blue? Design1: Definitely mill. Design2: We will get death threats. Design1: -X/-0? Design2: I have a wife and kids. Design3(dountful): Cancel? Maro begins nodding then shaking then weeping tears of joy Maro(wispering now): Muh limited... Muh cycles...
FIN
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You're welcome! It would be absolutely foolish to have left that first draft of a satirical play about the average viewpoint of your standard MTGS hyperbolic Constructed player to languish in the wrong thread.
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Generals meant to be drafted first in a single pack of 6 cards.
And here is the actual cube, meant to be drafted in 4 regular sized packs. (60 card decks)
UBDragonlord Silumgar WGKarametra, God of Harvests
BRUNekusar, the Mindrazer BGMazirek, Kraul Death Priest
URMelek, Izzet Paragon UGPrime Speaker Zegana
WUHanna, Ship's Navigator BWUSydri, Galvanic Genius
WUBRGSliver Queen RBBladewing the Risen
WBKarlov of the Ghost Council RGXenagos, God of Revels
GFreyalise, Llanowar's Fury RWAurelia, the Warleader
RIb Halfheart, Goblin Tactician BDrana, Liberator of Malakir
UAzami, Lady of Scrolls WNahiri, the Lithomancer
WBGDoran, the Siege Tower CEmrakul, the Promised End
What justifies this at rare?
It's not for complexity's sake, because Awaken shows up readily at common and Cancel is also an easy to grok effect.
It's not for Limited's sake either. Straight counter-magic is bad in Limited and this card isn't all that amazing value-wise. Ulamog's Nullifier and Sheer Drop are close comparisons a far as counter-magic or Awaken two-for-ones go. And Rolling Thunder, one of the best Limited cards of all time, is at Uncommon.
And power level, outside of Limited, is, supposedly, not considered when assigning rarity. Mythics/Rares aren't supposed to have all the best Constructed cards.
So it's pretty much just another instance of Wizards bumping up staple Standard spells to rare so more packs have to be opened. See also: Thoughtseize (in Lorwyn), Hero's Downfall, Exquisite Firecraft, etc.
Dissolve, which is also a very good Cancel variant, but at uncommon, stayed below $1 most of its lifetime and peakefvat $1,5. Hero's Downfall, another comparable card in terms of prevalence and usefulness, never dropped below 5, stayed around 10 for a good while, and if you wanted to plsy a set at Game Day and didn't pre-order it, the playset would set you back $60.
Again, not saying that this card is not good or special enough to be rare. It's remarkable. But it's still a must-have card for a lot of decks, and at this rarity it serves to considerably raise the price of playing standard. And I really don't see it breaking limited either, so it's a cash grab.
If you're still not sure if that rarity is off, now try to imagine a Lightning Strike variant at rare.
Stay reasonable, be mindful of your expectations and don't feed the trolls.
Doomsdayin'
In a control matchup, you're likely just creating a target for removal if you don't have one already. If it ever dies it puts you a land behind which is never really a good thing unless it's really late.
UBRThe MindrazerRBU
UUUSpymaster of TrestGGG
GGGThe South TreeGGG
RRRHuman AscendantRRR
Stay reasonable, be mindful of your expectations and don't feed the trolls.
Doomsdayin'
But I also agree the bad rep Cancel gets isn't helping. People tend to associate 1UU counterspell as a common level card, and that's perfectly understandable.
So my fix would have it made Awaken 4 instead. That's something R&D should have done. The other solution is a 1U Mana Leak (or UU) with Awaken. This is to mitigate the feel-bad of a Mana Leak in the late game. I think that would have been a preferable choice.
UR Melek, Izzet ParagonUR, B Shirei, Shizo's CaretakerB, R Jaya Ballard, Task MageR,RW Tajic, Blade of the LegionRW, UB Lazav, Dimir MastermindUB, UB Circu, Dimir LobotomistUB, RWU Zedruu the GreatheartedRWU, GUBThe MimeoplasmGUB, UGExperiment Kraj UG, WDarien, King of KjeldorW, BMarrow-GnawerB, WBGKarador, Ghost ChieftainWBG, UTeferi, Temporal ArchmageU, GWUDerevi, Empyrial TacticianGWU, RDaretti, Scrap SavantR, UTalrand, Sky SummonerU, GEzuri, Renegade LeaderG, WUBRGReaper KingWUBRG, RGXenagos, God of RevelsRG, CKozilek, Butcher of TruthC, WUBRGGeneral TazriWUBRG, GTitania, Protector of ArgothG
I think Exquisite Firecraft should have been an uncommon, there is nothing rare about it. Mizzium Mortars is a one-sided sweeper, so that has to be a rare from a limited perspective.
Your faith in wotc's development team is inspiring. You really think this was going to break limited at uncommon?
Given that we have already seen Sheer Drop at common and Stasis Snare at uncommon in white, Transgress the Mind at uncommon in black, Ulamog's Nullifer at uncommon in u/b and Scour from Existence at common and colorless, I think it's safe to presume that wotc wasn't too concerned with people being able to deal with the big expensive eldrazi creatures in limited. (Yes, Scour is very expensive, but no moreso than the huge eldrazi it will be killing.)
You know that there is a term called cost effectiveness, do you?
Marath, Will of the Wild
Friendly Kess Twin Combo
Tatyova - Sir Bounce A Lot
Gonti's Luxury Pie
Prime (Eldrazi) Speaker Zegana (Retired)
%20[be]%20[countered]]Here’s all the cards that can't be countered from a quick Gatherer search.
Note how, of the seven uncommons, only three are red, and two of them are specific color-hate creature burn spells.
EDIT: Link didn't work. Here's the list in a spoiler form.:
Dragonlord's Prerogative
Last Word
Pearl Lake Ancient
Trickbind
Akroma, Angel of Fury
Banefire
Combust
Demonfire
Exquisite Firecraft
Obliterate
Overmaster
Rending Volley
Urza's Rage
Volcanic Fallout
Autumn's Veil
Blurred Mongoose
Gaea's Herald
Gaea's Revenge
Great Sable Stag
Insist
Isao, Enlightened Bushi
Kavu Chameleon
Leyline of Lifeforce
Mistcutter Hydra
Petrified Wood-Kin
Root Sliver
Savage Summoning
Scragnoth
Skylasher
Terra Stomper
Thrun, the Last Troll
Vexing Beetle
Supreme Verdict
Counterflux
Slaughter Games
Abrupt Decay
Bound//Determined
Spellbreaker Behemoth
Vexing Shusher
Wreak Havoc
Dragonlord Dromoka
Loxodon Smiter
Boseiju, Who Shelters All
Cavern of Souls
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
Surrak Dragonclaw
Half of those are not instant speed. You have to take your turn to do it. Nullifier has a (possibly significant) hoop to jump through. Snare can be removed to get your Eldrazi back. Sheer Drop means your Eldrazi got to attack (generally). Transgress means you move on to other potentially fun things you put into your deck. Scour costs 7.
The feeling they want to avoid is not “Oh no, I’ve lost my Eldrazi” and more “Goddammit, I just spent my entire turn trying to make this and now you get to do other things after you’ve gotten rid of my Eldrazi.” It’s the same reason that stupid-efficient removal has gone up in rarities. It's fine if you can remove something. Things need answers. But if the answers themselves pose questions of your opponent, things start getting unfun.
I think the question people need to ask, if they’re thinking about why this is rare in regards to limited is “Would I play a counterspell normally?’
Because most of the time, you don’t. You play counterspells if your removal pool is crap. You play counterspells if you’re struggling for extra answers. You play counterspells every once in a blue moon. They were crap in Khans and Dragons block. They were crap in Theros block. They were crap in all the most recent core sets but M14. They were crap in all forms of RTR block.
This is a counterspell that you don’t feel *****ty about playing.
And WotC doesn’t like those for limited.
People keep trying to say it's because of limited but I doubt it. Most of the time this will be aimed at creatures in limited so it's barely better than summoner's bane and even then if you are behind they can just attack and cast nothing while you waste turn after turn holding up 6 mana. The real reason it's rare is probably because design was sitting around with there tumbs up their asses when all of a sudden
(images for visualization)
Maro: Muh limited, Muh cycles.
Design1: I think he's saying we should do a cycle of cards. What kind?
Maro: Muh key word.
Design1: But we already have a *****ty landfall cycle...
Maro: MUH KEY WORD.
Design2: Maybe he means awaken?
Maro nodds
Design3: How about an uncommon cycle of predictable spells with awaken tacked on?
Maro: MUH LIMITED!
Design1 nodds
Design1: Muh limited.
Design2 nodds
Design2: Muh limited.
Design3 sighs
Design3: Muh limited...
Design1: What should we do for white?
Design2: Boardwhipe. The horse is already dead so why not beat a little more?
all nod
Design2(now excited): and Hero's Downfall for black!
Maro: Muh strictly better than!
Design1: We'll make it sorcery speed.
Maro appears content
Design3: What about for blue?
Design1: Definitely mill.
Design2: We will get death threats.
Design1: -X/-0?
Design2: I have a wife and kids.
Design3(dountful): Cancel?
Maro begins nodding then shaking then weeping tears of joy
Maro(wispering now): Muh limited... Muh cycles...
FIN