Scaling CounterspellUU
Instant
Scaling Counterspell costs an additional 1 to play for each card named Scaling Counterspell in your graveyard.
Counter target spell.
So at the very least decks can play a singleton Counterspell in their deck. In Standard, it seems fair that you get a Counterspell early but then it becomes a Cancel and then a worse Cancel as the game goes on.
In Modern on the other hand, this could perhaps play out similar to actual Counterspell in a deck that can use Snapcaster Mage, or delve-spells to get rid of the taxing copies in your graveyard.
Wow, I totally love that. In fact, I'm now really sad it doesn't exist. The Modern synergy working around the Standard weaknesses of the card is super cool.
My guess is if WotC were to step up and do something like this, they'd be more likely make it an increase of 2 per copy in your yard. But I think the balance is fine good this way.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Playing UX Mana Denial until Modern gets the answers it needs.
WUBRG Humans BRW Mardu Pyromancer UW UW "Control" UR Blue Moon
Non-overpowered 1 mana blue cantrip U
Sorcery
Draw 2 cards, then put 1 card from your hand on the bottom of your library.
Non-overpowered Divining Top 1
Play with the top card of your library revealed
Tap: Shuffle your library
Sacrifice: Draw a card
Make Miracles Great Again WU
Enchantment
Any time you would draw a card, you may first scry 2.
Tap: Draw a card, then put a card from your hand on top of your library.
Custody Battle - U
Instant
Counter target spell. If that spell is countered this way, its owner may choose to put it into his or her hand instead of that players graveyard, if they do you may draw a card.
Is it worth letting you opponent choose, just to get a 1CC counter?
Pushed Remand, or is putting the choice into the opponents side make it worse?
Don't want to make it cost 1U, or its just a worse Remand.
Frank, the Toll TrollUUUU Legendary Creature
Flash
Haste
Tap: Return target spell to it's owner's hand.
Sacrifice Frank: Counter target spell
Remove 1 blue card in your hand from the game: Return Frank to your hand from play.
Remove 3 blue cards in your hand from the game: Place Frank on battlefield from your graveyard or your hand. 2/2 You gotta pay the troll toll...
Whenever Red Looter deals combat damage to a player, you may discard a card.
If you do, draw a card.
1/1
Blood Goblin R
Whenever Blood godlin deals combat damage to a player, exile the top card of your library.
Until end of turn, you may play that card.
1/1
This is still in red's color pie and give it a little playable card advantage/looting.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
pucatrade
big receipts
alpha mox emerald
beta time walk
4 goyfs received
3 liliana of the veil
4 karn liberated
3 force of will
4 grove of the burnwillows
snapcaster mage
3 horizon canopy
2 full art damnation
End of Avarice 4
Artifact 2Tap: Tap target permanent.
If End of Avarice is untapped, spells with converted mana cost 4 or greater cannot be played.
If End of Avarice is tapped, spells with X in their cost cannot be played.
Life and Loyalty1 Artifact
Any time you would gain life, you may also choose any number of target permanents you control with counters on them and add X additional counters, where X is the amount of life you gained this turn.
Gratuitous Violence 2RRR Instant
You may cast Gratuitous Violence without paying it's mana cost if you have taken 10 or more damage this turn, or if you have exactly 1 life.
At the end of combat this turn, untap all creatures you control. There is a second combat phase this turn.
White Card Advantage Engine WW
Enchantment
Sacrifice a plains: Draw a card
Make Simic Great Again 2UG Instant
You may cast target card in graveyard or exile without paying it's mana cost.
The Devil's Lettuce RUG Enchantment R, tap: Tap target creature U, tap: Untap target land G, tap: Untap another target nonland permanent RRUUGG, tap, Sacrifice The Devil's Lettuce: Put target card you own from either your library, your graveyard, your sideboard, or exile onto the battlefield.
now it's just green that needs a 1-mana effective instant interaction for modern (the other being Path to Exile, Vapor Snag, Lightning Bolt and Fatal Push to some extent). You could argue there is prey upon (lol) but it is not a standalone card.
What could that card be?
Here's what I propose:
Primal DefianceG
Instant
Destroy target creature.
Its controller reveals the card on top of his library. If it is a creature, he or she puts it in hand, otherwise on the bottom of his/her library.
I'm sorry, but that's just way too powerful. Push kills 2 cmc creatures for G, and then only 4 cmc with revolt. That's just straight up *any* creature for G, with a Goblin Guide-esque drawback. Green doesn't have kill spells.
I think control is on the cusp in modern again. I want something like:
Decent 3 mana counterspell 1UU
Instant
Counter target spell, then look at the top card of your library. If it's a land, put it on the battlefield tapped.
I feel like that wouldn't be too powerful for standard, but would be powerful enough to see some play in modern.
Also something simple like:
Decent Restock Spell 2U
Instant
Scry 1, then draw a card. You may return target card from your graveyard to your hand.
Or
Restock 3UU
Instant
Draw 3 cards.
Restock costs 2 less during your opponent's end step if they have not cast a spell this turn.
or even
Secret Intelligence UU
Instant
Counter Target spell with CMC 2 or less
Return a land you control to your hand: Instead counter target spell
Your three Mana Counterspell should be Simic.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Modern: G Stompy G UR Izzet Prowess/Delver UR UWB Spirits UWB UWB Brain Control UWB WUB Esper Reveillark WUB EDH: WUBRG Horde of Notions WUBRG W Nine-and-a-Half TailsW WGUR Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis WGUR
When it comes to a fair version of Counterspell that I want to see, I think the best one I've thought of is this.
AEther Fracture UU
Instant
A) Counter target spell with a permanent type.
B) Counter target non-instant, non-sorcery spell.
I'm torn on reading A for it, so I'll offer B as an alternative. Either would work currently, but have slightly different meanings. Functionally they're the same at the moment, but if for any reason Wizards introduced another non-permanent type in the future, A would not counter it while B would.
Because Tron and Eldrazi and Eldrazitron are so popular/slightly oppressive:
Equalizer 1
Artifact
Permanents which produce 2 or more of any type of mana through activated abilities instead produce only 1 of the same type of mana.
or
Equalizer 2
Artifact
If a permanent an opponent controls would add more than 1 mana to their mana pool as the result of an activated ability, instead that permanent adds 1 mana to their mana pool of any type, and you add X to your mana pool of any type, where X is equal to the amount of mana greater than 1 that permanent would have produced. This mana does not fade from your mana pool until your next end step.
Marching Commander1WW Creature - Human Soldier
Other soldiers you control get +1/+1 and vigilance. 1/4
Spear Battalion LeaderWW Creature - Human Soldier
First Strike
Other soldiers you control have first strike. 2/2
Reinforcement ReserveW Enchantment
You may cast soldiers as though they had flash.
When Reinforcement Reserve enters the battlefield, Scry 2.
Whenever a soldier enters the battlefield under your control, other soldier creatures you control get +0/+1 until end of turn. 3WW: Create a 1/2 white soldier creature token.
Scout Leader1W Creature - Human Soldier Scout
Flash
Reach, First Strike
When Scout Leader or another soldier or scout enters the battlefield, scry 1. 1/2
Battlefield SupportW Creature - Human Soldier
When ~ enters the battlefield, you may exile target creature, artifact, or land from the graveyard, if you do, another target soldier you control gets +0/+1 until end of turn. 1/2
Archery Platoon Captain1W Creature - Human Soldier Archer
Reach
Other Soldiers you control have reach.
Whenever Archery Platoon Captain or another soldier you control blocks a creature with flying, that creature with flying gets -1/-0 until end of turn. 2/3
Shield DrillmasterWW Creature - Human Soldier
Other soldiers you control get +0/+1. 2/3
Weapons DrillmasterWW Creature - Human Soldier
Double Strike
Other soldiers you control get +1/+0. 1/2
Mage HarrierWW Creature - Human Soldier Archer
Flash
Reach
When ~ enters the battlefield, you may counter target spell or activated ability unless it's controller pays 1. 1/3
ProvisionerWW Creature - Human Soldier
Defender
Whenever ~ or another soldier creature enters the battlefield under your control, gain 1 life.
Plains you control get "W, t: Gain 1 life and scry 1." 1/4
Martyred Men1W Sorcery
Exile up to 2 target soldier creatures from your graveyard.
Create X 1/1 white soldier creature tokens, where X is the total converted mana cost of the soldiers exiled this way.
Gain 2 life and scry 1.
Watch OutW Instant
Untap all soldiers you control, they get +0/+1 and hexproof until end of turn.
Control the Battlefield1W Instant
You may tap any number of soldiers you control as an additional cost to casting this spell, add up their total power, that number is X.
You may tap X creatures you don't control whose total toughness is less than or equal to X.
Tap target creature you don't control, it's controller may choose not to untap it during your their next untap step, if they do untap it during that untap step, it gets a -1/-1 counter.
Battlements3 Creature - Wall
Defender
Whenever a soldier you control blocks, it gets +1/+2 until end of turn.
As long as you control 3 or more soldiers and 2 or more plains, spells and abilities your opponents control can't cause you to sacrifice permanents and Battlements has hexproof and indestructible.
No more than 8 creatures may attack you each combat. 0/6
Collected Spells 3U
Instant
Look at the top six cards of your library. You may reveal up to two instant and/or sorcery cards with converted mana cost 3 or less from among them. If you do, you may cast the revealed cards without paying their mana cost. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in any order.
Angelic Responder2WW Creature - Angel
Flying
Whenever a spell or ability you don't control targets Angelic Responder, gain 4 life and scry 2. 4/4
Sphinx Warden2UU Creature - Sphinx
Flying
Whenever a spell or ability you don't control targets Sphinx Warden, counter that spell or ability unless it's controller pays 3. 4/4
Hydra Terror2GG Creature - Hydra
Reach, Trample
The first time in a turn when a spell or ability you control targets Hydra Terror, put a +1/+1 counter on it. 4/4
Demon of Shared Infliction2BB Creature - Demon
Flying
Whenever a spell or ability you don't control targets Demon of Shared Infliction, you may put a two -1/-1 counters on target creature you don't control. 4/4
Wow, I totally love that. In fact, I'm now really sad it doesn't exist. The Modern synergy working around the Standard weaknesses of the card is super cool.
My guess is if WotC were to step up and do something like this, they'd be more likely make it an increase of 2 per copy in your yard. But I think the balance is fine good this way.
WUBRG Humans
BRW Mardu Pyromancer
UW UW "Control"
UR Blue Moon
1 blue mana
Sorcery
Target opponent fateseals 3. (To fateseal, the chosen opponent looks at the top 3 cards of your library and put them on top or bottom in any order.)
Draw two cards.
"You will only see what I want you to see." -Nicol Bolas
Sorcery
Draw 2 cards, then put 1 card from your hand on the bottom of your library.
Non-overpowered Divining Top 1
Play with the top card of your library revealed
Tap: Shuffle your library
Sacrifice: Draw a card
Make Miracles Great Again WU
Enchantment
Any time you would draw a card, you may first scry 2.
Tap: Draw a card, then put a card from your hand on top of your library.
BG Rock
Modern:
RW Sun & Moon
RBG Dredge
RWG Burn
Legacy:
W Death & Taxes
Instant
Counter target spell. If that spell is countered this way, its owner may choose to put it into his or her hand instead of that players graveyard, if they do you may draw a card.
Is it worth letting you opponent choose, just to get a 1CC counter?
Pushed Remand, or is putting the choice into the opponents side make it worse?
Don't want to make it cost 1U, or its just a worse Remand.
http://www.cubetutor.com/visualspoiler/20765
Legendary Creature
Flash
Haste
Tap: Return target spell to it's owner's hand.
Sacrifice Frank: Counter target spell
Remove 1 blue card in your hand from the game: Return Frank to your hand from play.
Remove 3 blue cards in your hand from the game: Place Frank on battlefield from your graveyard or your hand.
2/2
You gotta pay the troll toll...
BG Rock
Modern:
RW Sun & Moon
RBG Dredge
RWG Burn
Legacy:
W Death & Taxes
Whenever Red Looter deals combat damage to a player, you may discard a card.
If you do, draw a card.
1/1
Blood Goblin R
Whenever Blood godlin deals combat damage to a player, exile the top card of your library.
Until end of turn, you may play that card.
1/1
This is still in red's color pie and give it a little playable card advantage/looting.
pucatrade
big receipts
alpha mox emerald
beta time walk
4 goyfs received
3 liliana of the veil
4 karn liberated
3 force of will
4 grove of the burnwillows
snapcaster mage
3 horizon canopy
2 full art damnation
Artifact
2Tap: Tap target permanent.
If End of Avarice is untapped, spells with converted mana cost 4 or greater cannot be played.
If End of Avarice is tapped, spells with X in their cost cannot be played.
Manipulate Reality 3WU
Enchantment
Flash
Tap: Tap target permanent
1Untap: Scry 1
BG Rock
Modern:
RW Sun & Moon
RBG Dredge
RWG Burn
Legacy:
W Death & Taxes
Artifact
Any time you would gain life, you may also choose any number of target permanents you control with counters on them and add X additional counters, where X is the amount of life you gained this turn.
Creature Cannon 4
Artifact
Sacrifice a nontoken creature: Destroy target nonland permanent.
Gratuitous Violence 2RRR
Instant
You may cast Gratuitous Violence without paying it's mana cost if you have taken 10 or more damage this turn, or if you have exactly 1 life.
At the end of combat this turn, untap all creatures you control. There is a second combat phase this turn.
White Card Advantage Engine WW
Enchantment
Sacrifice a plains: Draw a card
Make Simic Great Again 2UG
Instant
You may cast target card in graveyard or exile without paying it's mana cost.
The Devil's Lettuce RUG
Enchantment
R, tap: Tap target creature
U, tap: Untap target land
G, tap: Untap another target nonland permanent
RRUUGG, tap, Sacrifice The Devil's Lettuce: Put target card you own from either your library, your graveyard, your sideboard, or exile onto the battlefield.
BG Rock
Modern:
RW Sun & Moon
RBG Dredge
RWG Burn
Legacy:
W Death & Taxes
2UURRBB
+3- Search your library for a planeswalker card, put it in your hand
0- put a loyalty counter on another planeswalker you control
-4 - put a planeswalker from your hand onto the battlefield
-15- search your library for any number of planeswalkers with different types, put them onto the battlefield
Starting loyalty 6
So an absolute monster if it gets going, but build around and very hard to hard cast
Your three Mana Counterspell should be Simic.
G Stompy G
UR Izzet Prowess/Delver UR
UWB Spirits UWB
UWB Brain Control UWBWUB Esper Reveillark WUB
EDH:
WUBRG Horde of Notions WUBRG
W Nine-and-a-Half TailsW
WGUR Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis WGUR
UU - Instant
Clarity of Thought Costs 1 more to cast for each creature you control.
Counter target spell.
Instant
Counter target spell. It's controller creates a 1/2 blue illusion creature token with flying and defender.
Sliver creatures you control have hexproof.
1/1
WUBRGCoco/Vial Slivers
WUBRGSlivers of the Void
Pioneer
WUBRGCoco Slivers
Legacy
WUBRGAll in Slivers
AEther Fracture UU
Instant
A) Counter target spell with a permanent type.
B) Counter target non-instant, non-sorcery spell.
I'm torn on reading A for it, so I'll offer B as an alternative. Either would work currently, but have slightly different meanings. Functionally they're the same at the moment, but if for any reason Wizards introduced another non-permanent type in the future, A would not counter it while B would.
Equalizer 1
Artifact
Permanents which produce 2 or more of any type of mana through activated abilities instead produce only 1 of the same type of mana.
or
Equalizer 2
Artifact
If a permanent an opponent controls would add more than 1 mana to their mana pool as the result of an activated ability, instead that permanent adds 1 mana to their mana pool of any type, and you add X to your mana pool of any type, where X is equal to the amount of mana greater than 1 that permanent would have produced. This mana does not fade from your mana pool until your next end step.
BG Rock
Modern:
RW Sun & Moon
RBG Dredge
RWG Burn
Legacy:
W Death & Taxes
You may pay 1 life and discard a blue card from your hand rather than pay Will of Force's mana cost.
Counter target spell with cmc 3 or less.
OR
Will of Force V2.0 - 1UU
You may pay 1 life and discard a blue card from your hand rather than pay Will of Force's mana cost.
Counter target spell unless your opponent pays (3).
Creature - Human Soldier
Other soldiers you control get +1/+1 and vigilance.
1/4
Spear Battalion Leader WW
Creature - Human Soldier
First Strike
Other soldiers you control have first strike.
2/2
Reinforcement Reserve W
Enchantment
You may cast soldiers as though they had flash.
When Reinforcement Reserve enters the battlefield, Scry 2.
Whenever a soldier enters the battlefield under your control, other soldier creatures you control get +0/+1 until end of turn.
3WW: Create a 1/2 white soldier creature token.
Scout Leader 1W
Creature - Human Soldier Scout
Flash
Reach, First Strike
When Scout Leader or another soldier or scout enters the battlefield, scry 1.
1/2
Battlefield Support W
Creature - Human Soldier
When ~ enters the battlefield, you may exile target creature, artifact, or land from the graveyard, if you do, another target soldier you control gets +0/+1 until end of turn.
1/2
Archery Platoon Captain 1W
Creature - Human Soldier Archer
Reach
Other Soldiers you control have reach.
Whenever Archery Platoon Captain or another soldier you control blocks a creature with flying, that creature with flying gets -1/-0 until end of turn.
2/3
Shield Drillmaster WW
Creature - Human Soldier
Other soldiers you control get +0/+1.
2/3
Weapons Drillmaster WW
Creature - Human Soldier
Double Strike
Other soldiers you control get +1/+0.
1/2
Mage Harrier WW
Creature - Human Soldier Archer
Flash
Reach
When ~ enters the battlefield, you may counter target spell or activated ability unless it's controller pays 1.
1/3
Provisioner WW
Creature - Human Soldier
Defender
Whenever ~ or another soldier creature enters the battlefield under your control, gain 1 life.
Plains you control get "W, t: Gain 1 life and scry 1."
1/4
Martyred Men 1W
Sorcery
Exile up to 2 target soldier creatures from your graveyard.
Create X 1/1 white soldier creature tokens, where X is the total converted mana cost of the soldiers exiled this way.
Gain 2 life and scry 1.
Watch Out W
Instant
Untap all soldiers you control, they get +0/+1 and hexproof until end of turn.
Control the Battlefield 1W
Instant
You may tap any number of soldiers you control as an additional cost to casting this spell, add up their total power, that number is X.
You may tap X creatures you don't control whose total toughness is less than or equal to X.
Tap target creature you don't control, it's controller may choose not to untap it during your their next untap step, if they do untap it during that untap step, it gets a -1/-1 counter.
Battlements 3
Creature - Wall
Defender
Whenever a soldier you control blocks, it gets +1/+2 until end of turn.
As long as you control 3 or more soldiers and 2 or more plains, spells and abilities your opponents control can't cause you to sacrifice permanents and Battlements has hexproof and indestructible.
No more than 8 creatures may attack you each combat.
0/6
A lot of those cards are really sweet. I'd definitely try building a White Weenie deck around them!
WUBRG Humans
BRW Mardu Pyromancer
UW UW "Control"
UR Blue Moon
Creature - Serpent
Delve
Trample, Hexproof.
4/4
“I once had an entire race killed just to listen to the rattling of their dried bones as I waded through them.”
—Volrath
Black counter 1UB
Instant
*Cardname* costs 1 less to cast if an opponent controls a creature.
Counter target spell.
White counter 1UW
Instant
*Cardname* costs 1 less to cast if your life total is less than an opponent.
Counter target spell.
Red counter 1UR
Instant
*Cardname* costs 1 less to cast if it is the first spell you cast this turn.
Counter target spell.
Green counter 1UG
Instant
*Cardname* costs 1 less to cast if you control less permanents than an opponent.
Counter target spell.
Most of these are pretty close to counterspell early, and retain an approximation of counterspell for a long while before turning into cancel.
Of if we need counterspell to require more focus on blue
Here's another one that would help keep counterspell blue:
Not Counterspell UU
Instant
If you control two or more islands, reduce the cost of *cardname* by U.
Counter target spell.
KnightfallGWUR
Azorius Control UW
Burn RBG
Instant
Look at the top six cards of your library. You may reveal up to two instant and/or sorcery cards with converted mana cost 3 or less from among them. If you do, you may cast the revealed cards without paying their mana cost. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in any order.
Cubetutor Peasant'ish-Funbox
Project: Khans of Tarkir Cube (cubetutor)
Creature-Angel Spirit
Flash, Flying, Lifelink
Exile 3 cards from your graveyard: exile Etherial Angel, return it to the battlefield at the beginning of the next end step.
3/5
A finisher for U/Wx control decks to mess around with, sort of a resto angel on steroids.
RG 8-Whack
BWG Abzan midrange
GRB Living End
UWB Spirit Control
GU Kruphix's "Hug Assassin"
RW Kalemne's "Play Fatties and Hope for the Best!"
BUGW Atraxa's "All counters, all the time"
Or an auto 4-of in Dredge because they'd abuse the hell out of a recurable 3/5 flier that doesn't even require mana to bring back.
BG Rock
Modern:
RW Sun & Moon
RBG Dredge
RWG Burn
Legacy:
W Death & Taxes
RG 8-Whack
BWG Abzan midrange
GRB Living End
UWB Spirit Control
GU Kruphix's "Hug Assassin"
RW Kalemne's "Play Fatties and Hope for the Best!"
BUGW Atraxa's "All counters, all the time"
Creature - Angel
Flying
Whenever a spell or ability you don't control targets Angelic Responder, gain 4 life and scry 2.
4/4
Sphinx Warden 2UU
Creature - Sphinx
Flying
Whenever a spell or ability you don't control targets Sphinx Warden, counter that spell or ability unless it's controller pays 3.
4/4
Hydra Terror 2GG
Creature - Hydra
Reach, Trample
The first time in a turn when a spell or ability you control targets Hydra Terror, put a +1/+1 counter on it.
4/4
Demon of Shared Infliction 2BB
Creature - Demon
Flying
Whenever a spell or ability you don't control targets Demon of Shared Infliction, you may put a two -1/-1 counters on target creature you don't control.
4/4
Thunderbreak Regent buddies?