Stop Magic seems weak, the downside is too big for what amounts to a discount of 1.
Denail Blast would be balanced, but is really off-color. Blue hasn't done self-damage for more than 20 years.
Arcane Swirl is definitely not amazing, but not bad, it could drop in rarity.
Decrypt is by far the most interesting. On it's face, discarding two is a huge downside that would prevent it from being abused, and a good balance against the 1-mana counterspell, but it also would not be hard to mitigate the downside or turn it into an advantage in the right deck. Rare is the right spot for it.
Swirl could safely be a common in return to Tarkir. It could 2 for 1, but its also a significant investment to do so, and clunky to boot (you can only use it to off something if you can counter a spell). Not UP, but not OP either. Probably not constructed playable, but fine for limited.
Decrypt is spicy. Absolutely a fair cost, steep discard that makes it more costly than FoW while also actually costing mana. It's strong, but at a real cost, though a cost that you can take advantage of. Could be OP in certain formats, depending on the deck, but probably safe. Still, potentially to fast a counter for Standard based on modern design, even with the drawback.
Denial Blast: Very good. Counter to draw a card is 2UU (relatively pushed), so you taking 2 is basically always paying the phyrexian cost for 1. This is so much better than most 3 mana counters it isn't even funny. Legitimately in Cryptic Command territory, trading flexibility and 2 life for paying U less.
Stop Magic: UP for real. You are setting yourself back way, way too much to justify the 1 mana savings over cancel, let alone compared to counterspell. Its usually worse than mana leak. Maybe if it cost 1?
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The Meaning of Life: "M-hmm. Well, it's nothing very special. Uh, try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations"
Onering's 4 simple steps that let you solve any problem with Magic's gameplay
Whether its blue players countering your spells, red players burning you out, or combo, if you have a problem with an aspect of Magic's gameplay, you can fix it!
Step 1: Identify the problem. What aspect of Magic don't you like? Step 2: Find out how others deal with the problem. How do players deal with this aspect of the game when they run into it? Step 3: Do what those players do. Step 4: No more problem. Bonus: You are now better at Magic. Enjoy those extra wins!
It's exactly the number of colors it needs to be. It could be blue-black instead, yet it's conceptually more of a Lightning Helix than a Soul Feast.
Arcane Swirl and and Decrypt are the best designs here. Arcane Swirl feels perfectly at home in a wedge set although it's more like an uncommon than a rare, being sorta like Punish Ignorance miniaturized. Decrypt is a fair card that could still see Eternal play (Force of Will has its power tempered by costing one more card and one more mana).
Denial Blast just feels random and out-of-color, and Stop Magic is simply so bad it wouldn't be played in Limited or Constructed.
Arcane Swirl might be balanced okay. Though I'd almost be tempted to call it a common or uncommon. Three colors is a lot.
Decrypt reminds me of Force of Will will as a comparison point. It doesn't have force of will's "blue" requirement or the life payment, you have to discard two cards instead of one, and it costs one mana. A number trade offs there, but still potentially quite powerful. It probably would be considered OP by contemporary MTG standards. They don't even print a regular Counterspell for a long time, the new standard for general counterspells is 3+ mana, and they certainly would not print a card that lets you counter a spell for one mana either.
Denial Blast is sort of balanced, though the damage is weird for blue.
Stop Magic would just feel terribly punishing to play to me. You're half-stasis-ing yourself for a turn just for a 2 mana counterspell.
I sort of get where you're coming from. I'm an old-school MTG player whose hayday was about 1994-2001, so newer counterspell standards can seem a bit weak, but it can feel like some custom ideas born out of that are an attempt to jump through hoops to justify a 2 mana or less counterspell. But then if the drawbacks are so punishing, it's not worth the design space I think.
So, basically, some of them are OP by default, and the rest might be considered balanced but tend to be a pretty inconvenient punishment meant to justify a low cost counterspell. Someone would be better off putting 1 and 2 cost "counter target *specific kind of spell*" spells in their deck than the latter.
Arcane Swirl might be balanced okay. Though I'd almost be tempted to call it a common or uncommon. Three colors is a lot.
Decrypt reminds me of Force of Will will as a comparison point. It doesn't have force of will's "blue" requirement or the life payment, you have to discard two cards instead of one, and it costs one mana. A number trade offs there, but still potentially quite powerful. It probably would be considered OP by contemporary MTG standards. They don't even print a regular Counterspell for a long time, the new standard for general counterspells is 3+ mana, and they certainly would not print a card that lets you counter a spell for one mana either.
Denial Blast is sort of balanced, though the damage is weird for blue.
Stop Magic would just feel terribly punishing to play to me. You're half-stasis-ing yourself for a turn just for a 2 mana counterspell.
I sort of get where you're coming from. I'm an old-school MTG player whose hayday was about 1994-2001, so newer counterspell standards can seem a bit weak, but it can feel like some custom ideas born out of that are an attempt to jump through hoops to justify a 2 mana or less counterspell. But then if the drawbacks are so punishing, it's not worth the design space I think.
So, basically, some of them are OP by default, and the rest might be considered balanced but tend to be a pretty inconvenient punishment meant to justify a low cost counterspell. Someone would be better off putting 1 and 2 cost "counter target *specific kind of spell*" spells in their deck than the latter.
I know what you mean. I mean in comparison to things like Mana drain and Disallow, counterspell feels weak. So making a very bad version of counterspell is just wrong.
One counterpsell I designed was
Countersnap 2UU
Instant
Split-second
Counter target spell.
sure it costs 2 more to just counter a spell, but it also has split second which is what makes it so good.
Arcane Swirl might be balanced okay. Though I'd almost be tempted to call it a common or uncommon. Three colors is a lot.
Decrypt reminds me of Force of Will will as a comparison point. It doesn't have force of will's "blue" requirement or the life payment, you have to discard two cards instead of one, and it costs one mana. A number trade offs there, but still potentially quite powerful. It probably would be considered OP by contemporary MTG standards. They don't even print a regular Counterspell for a long time, the new standard for general counterspells is 3+ mana, and they certainly would not print a card that lets you counter a spell for one mana either.
Denial Blast is sort of balanced, though the damage is weird for blue.
Stop Magic would just feel terribly punishing to play to me. You're half-stasis-ing yourself for a turn just for a 2 mana counterspell.
I sort of get where you're coming from. I'm an old-school MTG player whose hayday was about 1994-2001, so newer counterspell standards can seem a bit weak, but it can feel like some custom ideas born out of that are an attempt to jump through hoops to justify a 2 mana or less counterspell. But then if the drawbacks are so punishing, it's not worth the design space I think.
So, basically, some of them are OP by default, and the rest might be considered balanced but tend to be a pretty inconvenient punishment meant to justify a low cost counterspell. Someone would be better off putting 1 and 2 cost "counter target *specific kind of spell*" spells in their deck than the latter.
I know what you mean. I mean in comparison to things like Mana drain and Disallow, counterspell feels weak. So making a very bad version of counterspell is just wrong.
One counterpsell I designed was
Countersnap 2UU
Instant
Split-second
Counter target spell.
sure it costs 2 more to just counter a spell, but it also has split second which is what makes it so good.
Sometime last year I saw someone propose a modern counterspell that was like UU for "Counter target spell with converted mana cost 3 or less". In quicker formats and against cheap and fast playstyles, this isn't far from just being the same thing as counterspell. But otherwise it is more limited, but avoids the pitfall of costing 3 or more. It might be the closest thing to a possible "acceptable" modern version of counterspell.
Denail Blast would be balanced, but is really off-color. Blue hasn't done self-damage for more than 20 years.
Arcane Swirl is definitely not amazing, but not bad, it could drop in rarity.
Decrypt is by far the most interesting. On it's face, discarding two is a huge downside that would prevent it from being abused, and a good balance against the 1-mana counterspell, but it also would not be hard to mitigate the downside or turn it into an advantage in the right deck. Rare is the right spot for it.
Stop magic os horrible. There are dozens of counterspells that are better.
UB Vela the Night-Clad BUDecklist
WBG Ghave, Guru of Spores GBW
WUBRGThe Ur-DragonWUBRGDecklist
Decrypt is spicy. Absolutely a fair cost, steep discard that makes it more costly than FoW while also actually costing mana. It's strong, but at a real cost, though a cost that you can take advantage of. Could be OP in certain formats, depending on the deck, but probably safe. Still, potentially to fast a counter for Standard based on modern design, even with the drawback.
Denial Blast: Very good. Counter to draw a card is 2UU (relatively pushed), so you taking 2 is basically always paying the phyrexian cost for 1. This is so much better than most 3 mana counters it isn't even funny. Legitimately in Cryptic Command territory, trading flexibility and 2 life for paying U less.
Stop Magic: UP for real. You are setting yourself back way, way too much to justify the 1 mana savings over cancel, let alone compared to counterspell. Its usually worse than mana leak. Maybe if it cost 1?
Onering's 4 simple steps that let you solve any problem with Magic's gameplay
Step 1: Identify the problem. What aspect of Magic don't you like? Step 2: Find out how others deal with the problem. How do players deal with this aspect of the game when they run into it? Step 3: Do what those players do. Step 4: No more problem. Bonus: You are now better at Magic. Enjoy those extra wins!
Arcane Swirl and and Decrypt are the best designs here. Arcane Swirl feels perfectly at home in a wedge set although it's more like an uncommon than a rare, being sorta like Punish Ignorance miniaturized. Decrypt is a fair card that could still see Eternal play (Force of Will has its power tempered by costing one more card and one more mana).
Denial Blast just feels random and out-of-color, and Stop Magic is simply so bad it wouldn't be played in Limited or Constructed.
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
"Sometimes, the situation is outracing a threat, sometimes it's ignoring it, and sometimes it involves sideboarding in 4x Hope//Pray." --Doug Linn
UB Vela the Night-Clad BUDecklist
WBG Ghave, Guru of Spores GBW
WUBRGThe Ur-DragonWUBRGDecklist
Decrypt reminds me of Force of Will will as a comparison point. It doesn't have force of will's "blue" requirement or the life payment, you have to discard two cards instead of one, and it costs one mana. A number trade offs there, but still potentially quite powerful. It probably would be considered OP by contemporary MTG standards. They don't even print a regular Counterspell for a long time, the new standard for general counterspells is 3+ mana, and they certainly would not print a card that lets you counter a spell for one mana either.
Denial Blast is sort of balanced, though the damage is weird for blue.
Stop Magic would just feel terribly punishing to play to me. You're half-stasis-ing yourself for a turn just for a 2 mana counterspell.
I sort of get where you're coming from. I'm an old-school MTG player whose hayday was about 1994-2001, so newer counterspell standards can seem a bit weak, but it can feel like some custom ideas born out of that are an attempt to jump through hoops to justify a 2 mana or less counterspell. But then if the drawbacks are so punishing, it's not worth the design space I think.
So, basically, some of them are OP by default, and the rest might be considered balanced but tend to be a pretty inconvenient punishment meant to justify a low cost counterspell. Someone would be better off putting 1 and 2 cost "counter target *specific kind of spell*" spells in their deck than the latter.
I know what you mean. I mean in comparison to things like Mana drain and Disallow, counterspell feels weak. So making a very bad version of counterspell is just wrong.
One counterpsell I designed was
Countersnap
2UU
Instant
Split-second
Counter target spell.
sure it costs 2 more to just counter a spell, but it also has split second which is what makes it so good.
UB Vela the Night-Clad BUDecklist
WBG Ghave, Guru of Spores GBW
WUBRGThe Ur-DragonWUBRGDecklist
Sometime last year I saw someone propose a modern counterspell that was like UU for "Counter target spell with converted mana cost 3 or less". In quicker formats and against cheap and fast playstyles, this isn't far from just being the same thing as counterspell. But otherwise it is more limited, but avoids the pitfall of costing 3 or more. It might be the closest thing to a possible "acceptable" modern version of counterspell.