Pointed Discussion

Very potent white counter.

Bye bye, Terror!

Cheap and useful. Would rather play Hindering Light in decks that can support it, though.

A planeshifted version of Avoid Fate

@WhiteyMcFly

Except it's much more flavorful as a {W} card.

It's blue now.

So can you counter a cancel that is countering your creature spell?

Goes great in my B/W suicide deck to protect Phyrexian Unlife. Unfortunately, it does nothing against board-wide destruction or abilities. White countermagic is fantastic, though.

4.5/5.

@gtamaster503

No, you cannot counter a Cancel that is targeting a creature spell. While your creature spell is on the stack, it isn't a permanent; it only counts as a spell. Because your creature isn't a permanent until it resolves, Rebuff the Wicked can't counter the Cancel because the Cancel isn't targeting a permanent.

Sometimes this is exactly what you need, but often it is just way too specific. I can never justify more than one in a deck, because it doesn't stop wrath of god, or back to nature, or even things like Flametongue Kavu that don't target your creatures until they are already on the battlefield. Otherworldly Journey or Momentary Blink often accomplish more because they can be useful even if your opponent isn't targeting your permanents with spells.

Why is this in 3 colors turn aside avoid fate and this. Also zyrant this isn't very potent of a counter there are really not that many spells that target other than targeted removal.

It's always been blue

I always love white countermagic, if only for the fact that your opponents never see it coming.

Sounds like something that should have been printed in Innistrad block.

Braid of Fire's Card of the Day #15

When Turn Aside was printed and this was looked over, I understood, but I was very upset. Maro has talked about how counterspells are in white secondary more than a few times on his blog and elsewhere on the Internet, but other than the fantastic Lapse of Certainty, there haven't been any others since Planar Chaos.

Perhaps their uniqueness is what makes them so special. If we had a "common white taxing or reactive counterspell" in every limited environment, it would absolutely lose some of its magic, but I would still take that over our current model. Blue's monopoly on counterspells is defended to the death by R&D, but giving white low-impact ones could really create a depth in the color that wouldn't be stepping on blue's toes. UW has become the tempo pair according to R&D; what is more of a tempo play

I also should note that I love one mana spells and I love reactive spells from a design standpoint. Both are very difficult to craft effectively, but Rebuff the Wicked is a very strong design and has resonated with many players. The art is your standard proto-counterspell image, but still solid. This is just what a visual representation of a counterspell according to most artists. Maybe Terese Nielsen should have a crack at it again.

It should be noted that Faith's Shield essentially does the same thing as this with more room for upside, and in a more in-color method as well. Players really don't like seeing "counter target spell" very much, and R&D is a good listener. It's a shame though, really.

But man, what a perfect name for the card. Let's Rebuff the Wicked the next time we throw down some cardboard!

A white counter spell. I love playing these in mono white. As stated... They never see it coming..

Faith's Shield is an interesting, arguably better alternative to this....unless your opponent targets with something colorless, like Ghostfire.