In my opinion, there are better cards out now - Remand, for example, requires the same amount of converted mana but requires one water and one colorless mana and allows you to draw a card. The drawback is that the card is returned to the opponent's hand and not the graveyard as it would be in this case. Counterspell is still a useful card for a blue deck and probably embodies the entire spirit of blue in Magic. I still use both this and Remand in my red/blue Niv-Mizzet deck and I've found both to be useful in a pinch.
Counterspell is the best counter out there dont care what anyone says... Its straightforward and to the point... Just say no.
Treima
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(7 votes)
It's Counterspell! Does it need an explanation or an introduction!? Everyone has cast this spell. Everyone has had this spell used against them. It's grand! It's exceptional! It's mind-numbingly overpowered!
pensaint
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(3 votes)
OOOOOOH YEEEEEEEEEAH!
SavageBrain89
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(8 votes)
Sometimes the oldest and simplest cards can be the best and Counterspell is a primary example. Being able to stop anything as early as turn two can complete change the tempo of a game. The two blue mana cost may appear pesky to some, but as long as your playing mono-blue or running duel lands, then there should't be any real objection to this card. Oh, and the art work for this version of Counterspell is epic.
Ephrils
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(5 votes)
The only counterspell worth playing that requires mana.
Stefyn
★★★★☆ (4.4/5.0)(18 votes)
THE blue card :) 5/5
Skybreaker
★☆☆☆☆ (1.9/5.0)(5 votes)
Again common ....
True_Mumin
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(13 votes)
No it's not overpowered, for Christ's sake stop saying that! It's perfectly fair and it's always been a part of blue decks, and guess what: players dealt with this spell (baiting, uncounterable things, manlands etc.). I sincerely believe that if this got reprinted right now, it would only be better for the game as a whole. The creatures keep getting more and more powerful, but blue counters SUCK nowadays. They even got rid of Mana Leak, I mean come on! Nerfing the counters, nerfing the instant-speed draw... How much further do you plan on torturing the poor blue control players, Wizards? How about just getting rid of the color blue altogether? This sucks...
Oh, and the art on this version is just SICK! Flavor text rules, too.
True_Smog
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(6 votes)
Counterspell speaks for itself, and it should be reprinted...
SlackWareWolf
★☆☆☆☆ (1.9/5.0)(8 votes)
This and Ancestral were the original Icons of Blue. You could counter stuff and make anyone draw cards.... Good times. I miss those days when people didn't whine like sissy girls about "broken" cards. Wussies.
DarthExecutor
★★☆☆☆ (2.4/5.0)(15 votes)
"No it's not overpowered, for Christ's sake stop saying that! "
Yes it is. 2 mana to stop anything is way too much. Whining that you can't stop anything for 2 mana just shows you're not interested in balance, just in overpowering a type of deck you like.
Counterspell stops one card from being played. ONE CARD. ONE. You should have about 59 more to play. Counterspell doesn't deal 20 damage to you, or decimate your Library, or wipe out all your creatures or your hand or anything like that. It isn't a game winner. Learn what Overpowered means. Go learn it. Learn learn learn. Most of all, stop crying.
OMG!! IT'S OVERPO-- kidding, kidding... >x3 But I would LAUGH if someone came up and asked me "What does Counterspell do?" except for those who don't play Magic, of course :)
wicked_pick
★★★☆☆ (3.8/5.0)(8 votes)
I just hope you to be back!!
Now that your brother Mana Leak is gone, all of the other blue counter spells sucks!!
Why only Lightning Bolt has come back.. What about Counterspell, it's so unfair.. Blue has gone powerless nowadays..
Silverware
★★☆☆☆ (2.4/5.0)(5 votes)
The reason I don't belive this card is overpowered is becuse there isn't any exact copys of it. Its always been the base blue permission card. Meaning every blue deck has 4 of these and then any other counters added in are always going to be worse in some way (counter target spell but cost 3, counter only creatures, counter anything but creatures, ect..).
MadTheorist
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.8/5.0)(5 votes)
should never return! overpowered because 4 in deck means every game your opponent loses his most powerful card! Unlike with most other counters, he cant do anything against it, no additionla pay etc...
OutlawD1
★☆☆☆☆ (1.5/5.0)(4 votes)
Overpowered in the current metagame anyway
ohh how I remember you so
PaladinOfSunhome
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(3 votes)
A UU Counterspell...and it's reprinted? Awesome.
4.0
Rainyday2012
★★★☆☆ (3.2/5.0)(5 votes)
@Sir Doom: Most overpowered cards don't win the game for you. Black Lotus just gives you mana. Ancestral Recall just gives you cards. Well, unless you deck someone with it. If you stop everything your opponent tries to do, Storm Crow can win the game for you.
Counterspell, in my opinion, makes for easy decisions since it can stop all spells that can be countered. In Standard, Negate and Essence Scatter are perfectly acceptable counters, and they require more knowledge to use correctly.
Batstewart
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(4 votes)
One of my favorite flavor texts. And still, it's fun just shooting down your opponent by paying 2 mana, haha.
AgesofThunder
★★★★☆ (4.1/5.0)(9 votes)
I love the art and flavor for this version. Too bad they don't think this is reprint worthy. They can give red it's lightning bolt back, green gets a completely broken snake for Godly mana acceleration, Everyone in standard runs mono black vampires, while white gets a long awaited replacement for wrath of god, yet blue has to settle for Cancel. Blue ,we all miss you.
KrosanGardener
★☆☆☆☆ (1.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Blue and black utterly dominated the game for over ten years. Even after supposed nerfing of blue, decks like Faeries and Dredge dominated the field. The majority of cards that are humongous problems for everyone fall into those colors (Mistbind Clique, Bitterblossom, Cruel Ultimatum, Cryptic Command, et cetera). Stop whining and get creative.
Reliquium
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(4 votes)
Awesome art right there. Is Counterspell the leader in cards that received the most art variants? I count eight, including the Dom! promo art...
Apart from lands, obviously.
Fictionarious: A spell on the stack cannot target itself. I think you can have it target the Commandeer, which upon Counterspell's resolution will no longer be there, and the Counterspell will fizzle.
JL_Weber
★★★☆☆ (3.7/5.0)(6 votes)
Well cancel is still better because it can hit all spe... what?
Oh nevermind this card is in fact the shit
kittyspit
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(3 votes)
I think DarthExecutor needs to rethink his perspective on overpowered. may I venture a guess as to what colour deck you play? green, perhaps?
Chuy_Arcadia
★★★☆☆ (3.7/5.0)(3 votes)
Awesome card. I don't feel this card broken. Actually it would be fair for blue to get this card. All of the colors get usefull cards and blue doesn't get anything.
mdakw576
★★★★☆ (4.9/5.0)(11 votes)
art and flavor text are both awesome
aba1
★★★☆☆ (3.7/5.0)(11 votes)
counter spell isn't really overpowered not anymore with white having paths red getting thunderbolts black has its doom blades n terminate green has well giant growth and primal bellow blue only has cancel and its a colour based around controlling your opponents options i mean blue has twin cast problem is theres nothing to twin cast in blue everything's to expensive if its any good
Fictionarious
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(8 votes)
question? If I commandeered a counterspell, could I change the target of the counterspell to itself?
@ Reliqium: Thanks, good idea.
This card is not broken or overpowered, because it's an instant that gets used once then goes to the graveyard, and you can only have 4 of any particular card in a deck.
That said, there are ways to break it. Isochron Scepter, for example.
Blue counter-decks are only mindless and unfair when they find some way of turning counterspell into a reusable permanent. Even then, nobody's got any right to complain. Green can get infinite squirrels, red can do infinite direct damage, black can maximum-hand-size discard thraximundars and exhume them on turn three, and white can exile creatures permanently at the drop of one mana with swords to plowshares. Play like you're serious or go home, but regardless, counterspell deserves whatever reprints wizards can possibly give it.
Cigarette
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(3 votes)
The epitome of Blue. Too bad I never play it.
boneclub
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(6 votes)
<3 The ARTWORK!!!!
WHY?! We need it back! I wanna use it outside casual so I have an epic Blue artwork deck alongsid ePOnder ;D
lz17
★★★★☆ (4.4/5.0)(7 votes)
Love this card. What defines blue more then the one the only Counterspell? Absolutely nothing. the artwork looks amazing. Jace 1 Chandra 0
TheFarmer
★★★☆☆ (3.2/5.0)(7 votes)
Storm Crow's better. It's more splash-able.
Pennyforth
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(4 votes)
DarthExecutor wrote: 2 mana to stop anything is way too much. Whining that you can't stop anything for 2 mana just shows you're not interested in balance, just in overpowering a type of deck you like.
Just like how whining that "2 mana to stop anything is way too much" shows that you just want Wizards to take the "mean cards" out of the game, so you won't have to work and think a little harder to make a deck that can take it.
I've played some counter decks in my time, and I can recall just as many defeats as I can victories for them. If you don't like Counterspell, take the time and effort to build a deck that can stand up to it, rather than getting you and your buddies together to cry to Wizards unti they take the big, bad, nasty card away so it won't be mean to you anymore.
ect562
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(3 votes)
so far the only common i've seen that is consistently at least a dollar on abugames. well, terminate too.
Azazyel
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(14 votes)
@ScissorsLizard: The "not fun" argument is pretty weak. You could apply it to every card - of course it's not fun for the other guy if you Doom Blade their Baneslayer Angel, of course it's not fun for him if you Lightning Bolt their Ball Lightning, of course it's not fun for him if you Path to Exile their Lord of the Pit. But it's fun for you.
Likewise, of course it's not fun for you when any of those three cards gets past your defenses and rapes your face. But it's fun for him. Magic, like any turn-based game, is a back and forth matter.
So why does Counterspell get canned, anyway? You'll note that all the other three removal cards mentioned have more flexible mana costs for similarly powerful effects, and yet they stick around. Counterspell isn't getting canned for being "unfun" or "unfair", it's being canned as a) a crappy attempt to balance the game by nerfing the crud out of blue (instead of, you know, beefing up the other colors), and b) as an even more horrifying attempt to dumb the game down. Counterspells on either side of the battle force you and the opponent to think. Anyone can just shrug when Lorthos, the Tidemaker gets bitchslapped with a Path to Exile, since it requires little thought except "crud, it got pwnt!". But the lowest common denominator of player is going to get ticked at being forced to weigh his options, to think his plays through. He's going to get ticked at his opponent for being smarter than him and at the big bad card not letting him play mindlessly. Ticked enough, maybe, to stop buying booster packs. And Wizards doesn't want that.
Eventually, though, justice wins out. You'll note that this "lowest common denominator" is in the minority, not the majority - by the very nature of the game, people who play Magic tend as a whole to be rather quick-witted. As an example, just weigh the number of relevant comments in this page as opposed to the whining. Eventually, Wizards will realize that its player base is actually smart as a whole and that game balance isn't worth sacrificing for a group of people who'll probably quit Magic anyways the first time they go up against a combo deck.
opinionfailure
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
@Azazyel: I completely agree with you.
@ScissorsLizard: I don't feel like I'm cheating my opponent out of his Ulamog's Crusher. I destroyed your spell before you could even fully cast it by casting a spell of my own. In essence, I "conjured what I've learned faster than you can conjure up what you have learned." That some hard core magic right there, not fun? huh? Also, I probably would never counter a Ulamog's Crusher because no one plays that card.
Revelation666
★★★☆☆ (3.2/5.0)(5 votes)
They probably stopped printing this card because friends would get violent with each other over this card. It's all fun and games till someone gets exactly the card they've been waiting for, only to have it shot down for 2 blue mana.
pixieCrack
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
Such a staple, I never build a deck without considering my opponent playing a blue deck with 4 of these. An easy 5 stars
Enchantment_Removal
★★★☆☆ (3.7/5.0)(5 votes)
Oh, wow, people. I haven't seen such a heated debate since that one woman who was on life support.
To Azazyel: *applause* "encore! Encore!!" *more applause*
To ScissorsLizard: Counterspell is very powerful indeed, yes. However, I've seen people play good counter-control decks and still lose. There is some extra amount of cunning required to make counterspell the powerful card it is. If a person goes about the game to the point that they play a counterspell against Ulamog, they deserve to counter him. On the flip side, how would anyone feel on the wrong end of an unanswered Eldrazi?? I do see a little point, ScissorsLizard (if you ever come back to read this). The main resolution between you and everyone else is this: the game is more fun when the decks, and the players somewhat, are on similar power levels. ScissorsLizard's validity lies in the fact that if a player is successfully playing any kind of counter magic, then that player is on a higher tier than other players. And there is my problem with the game recently. The cards aren't getting more broken, they're making the players 'not as intelligent'. You can stop reading now. I will make more words below just because.
There are the notoriously feared players that are bent tooooo much on winning, no matter how tacky the situation. However, most players I know pretend like they want to win games, but, well, they get preoccupied with playing the game. It's like how Leonard Bernstein sometimes gets enraptured with the music while he is conducting, and then the music slacks in quality because he is not focusing on his conducting. A given player I know would build up his/her army and then look at the whole board. To his left, that player has open mana and defenses and stuff, to his right, that player is currently mana screwed/disadvantaged. So they play their 'Brave the elements' (or what not) and then murder the handicapped player. Shortly after they would lose to the developed player that never had to use any of his resources. And what do they say when the game is over? "Whoa, (to the handicapped player) I attacked you for 23! That was awesome!" And then they would immediately ramble on about other stuff- some creature's ultimate level, some planeswalker's ultimate minus ability, or some highly unlikely 1st-4th turn god play. Players are so sensationalized by recent cards' flashy effects to the point that they just want to use the card but not really play the game.
In order to remove something in the game, it's controller has to have succeeded in playing it and must have it on their board. At that point, their dream of playing that card has been realized, and they are (mostly) satisfied, even if you immediately remove it. However, if you counter their dream play, you kill the dream. It doesn't even matter what counter magic you use. I've seen many an irritated player who have yet to resolve a Sorin, Emrakul (Time Stop), and/or other stupid stuff while I'm in the game. On the flip-side, I see many players shifting restlessly in their seats. Sometimes, if you even look at their board or ask them a question they'll almost snap at you. I'm referring to players with counter magic in their hand, and they are not proficient at using it. You play a creature, and then during your combat phase that creature does something that they don't like. "Oh, WHAT??! Wait, can I counter him??" "No, it's way too late." And then their anxiety level rises.
These two matters, the raw power of counter magic and its difficulty to use, demonize the existence of counter magic in the game of Magic. If you want to change this: Nurture the intellectual growth of your play group. If you're not willing to look like an elementary school teacher, then in later times you and your friends will be looking back saying "Remember the days when you could counter a spell for only three mana with Cancel?"
Dreki
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(5 votes)
For all you who are whining. This is not overpowered if you think of it this way it's 1 card that counters 1 card meaning the person playing it has dedicated 4 of the usual 60 cards in a deck to counter 4 of your 60 cards meaning the person playing it could have put ANY other card but decided by (THINKING, hard concept right?) to instead of putting in damage or creatures to put in something that would take away from your damage or creature etc.
It is exactly like some one playing white who decides to put in a Swords to Plowshares rather than putting in those other couple of soldiers. Or think of green who puts in Fog so that he is safe from combat for a turn it's sort of like he countered that Overrun you just played is it not? Or think of black who puts in cards like Duress or Thoughtseize so that they can get rid of something BEFORE it hits the field exactly as if they played a Counterspell but wait whats that Thoughtseize and Duress and Swords to Plowshares and Path to exile only cost 1 mana rather than 2 oh no i think we should remove EVERY CARD EVER PRINTED THAT STOPS YOUR OPPONENTS PLAN FROM WORKING PERFECTLY unless of course we make all those cards cost 3 instead of 1 or 2.
Also I think i know a way of reprinting this so that you whiny people can't well you know whine, WotC could just reprint it as an Uncommon how do you like that, than it wouldn't be overpowered because it would be a whole rarity more! Thank you for reading through my rant / reasoning on why counterspell isn't overpowered and should be reprinted.
Sironos
★★★★☆ (4.1/5.0)(5 votes)
It is strange, If you play a creature and it gets bolted, it's like "oh well", but if it gets countered, you cannot help but have a bitter feeling that your opponent is just an idiot who is only playing to ruin your fun. I think it's a good thing they didn't reprint this, as it has given birth to many different counter spells costing 2 CMC but with some drawback or extra requirement, making blue deck building more interesting.
I have a question though: Are planeswalker abilities regarded as spells that can be countered? Could you counter Chandra's ulti with this?
PhyrexianLobbiest
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
Who doesn't want Cancel for Boomerang prices?
As far as the discussion about Blue being nerfed and not being fun for anyone; that's nothing new. Look at the Power Nine! They've been trying to nerf Blue since day one. Is it annoying when your spells keep getting countered? Yes; does WotC know that? Of course they do. Read the flavor text on the card- Jace (Blue's poster boy) is a jerk. Does that mean they should change it? Of course not. That's just what blue does; and if it behaved differently it wouldn't feel like Blue.
Not that all blue can do is counter and strategize. Aggro blue isn't that hard to make with all the Krakens, Leviathans, Elementals, and Seperents lying around.
if you don't got the chance or money for Force, this card beats just, i beats at causal also it beats att "serious" games.
Well it just beats :)
Chosen_of_the_Dark_Sun
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
@Sironos: No, abilities of permanents such as creatures and planeswalkers are not spells and so cannot be counterspelled. There are a few cards that can counter abilities, but there aren't that many and they will specify that that's exactly what they do on the card.
Volcre
★★★★☆ (4.4/5.0)(8 votes)
Best art for the best card... I'd want this card to be reprinted just so that I could play this version of it...
Kirbster
★★★★☆ (4.1/5.0)(8 votes)
Instead of bringing Blue down to the level of the other colours, why not bring them up to that of blue?
Anyways, Counterspell can't really stop anything for 2 mana. If your opponent plays a Nantuko Monastery and is poised to beat you to death with it, there's dick-all Counterspell can do about that.
rcfoles
★★★★☆ (4.6/5.0)(4 votes)
After about 4 years away from MTG I recently unearthed a dusty binder to admire my MTG collection from years past. Flipping through the pages I noticed a quartet of shiny gems that were at one time a staple in blue decks of old. A card that blue planeswalkers had come to love and any opponent had to fear. After a bit of research I was in a state of disbelief... the Counterspell was no longer a Standard legal card. It had been replaced by Cancel, an inflated version of the anti-everything card.
I find this hard to believe considering when I played red cards like Lightning Bolt and Ball Lightning were deemed too powerful and unplayable in T2. Anyone who says Counterspell is bad for the game is just plain wrong. I'm not whining I just wish I could still use my foil Counterspells :D. Anyways 5/5!
Nikon360
★★★★☆ (4.1/5.0)(5 votes)
Ahh, I remember playing a permission deck, During Invasion and Odessy Blocks. I had 12 counters in my deck... 4 Counterspell 4 Absorb 4 Undermine
All costing 3 or less. I ended up taking white out of that deck and played black blue green. It was a killer deck, but you know even with my regular crew of buds I would still get my ass kicked every freaking day with that deck. Why? I had 8 hard counters, a further 3, soft counters, According to some of you I should have been able to kill every deck in the game ever.
No all it takes for the skilled player to bait out those counters, is a terror or some such pointed at some creature I had just played. I allways had mana for at least one counter. if I wanted a creature to stick, I would counter something to protect it.
It is not overpowered it is just the current crop of players don't want to think about how to out wit the opponents.
phantom.lance
★★★★☆ (4.9/5.0)(7 votes)
when wizard took this out of standard, i couldn't help but feel that they're trying to make this game less like poker. after all, we all know how it feels to be up against control blue. it becomes "does he have it? it's been three turns since i've been faking it. bah i'm going all in"
@ Sironos: To answer your question..."Are planeswalker abilities regarded as spells that can be countered? Could you counter Chandra's ulti with this?" no. Planeswalker abilities are not spells and can not be countered by this. They are activated abilities that can only be used in main phases on the controlling players turn.
gromgrom777
★★★☆☆ (3.8/5.0)(2 votes)
apparently when you cant buff your creatures up, counterspell is still more unfair than a lightning bolt. that to me, doesnt make sense. yes, it can stop non-creature spells, but besides the point; most counterspells cost x2-x4 as much mana as a lightning bolt.
kids these days need to learn some common sense
5/5 for the most iconic blue card
BestFriendNighthawk
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(3 votes)
@azazyel
I agree in all essentials with what you're saying. Also I like how you were reserved enough to use the term "crud" in place of a profanity immediately after using the phrase "rapes your face".
Zinniz
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
@ sironos no, the planeswalkers abilies are activated abilities, not spells, a counterspell cannot counter them... not to say theres not ways to counter them though, they are still activated abilities...
Evermint
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
This version of the card is absolutely awesome in art, flavor, and utility. But of course, everyone wants them so they're a bit more expensive than normal.
Notoriety
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
The art is awesome, especially compared to previous printings of this card. The flavor text is a little cheesy, but oh well. I like the old, cheap counters, though I can understand why they've been ramping up the mana costs.
Talaxar
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
with all the cards being printed with splitsecond and "this card cannot be countered" I cannot understand why this card is being replaced by cancel. It wasn't overpowered to begin with, but now there is also ways around it. 5/5 for being "the" blue card.
murder100
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
At least mana leak is reprinted in standard. I my self have 4 counterspells and would rather use those but at least there is mana leak now. By the way, these counterspells are like $4 on Starcity. Luckily I have 3 from duel decks.
Keiya
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
For people complaining that this is a broken card, let me direct you to Ancestral Recall, which, unlike Counterspell, is a card that caused a major imbalance when it was around, hence why it will never be reprinted. With Counterspell, keep in mind that, even unlike Doom Blade and Lightning Bolt, you have to leave your mana pool open in case your opponent does something you do not want resolving. If you see this as "too much" of a problem, remember that Counterspells/Cancels/Mana Leaks/whatever can still be countered. You'd usually have to run blue in order to do this (unless you have Dash Hopes or something similar) but it's far from a card that will completely ruin the game. Long explanation short, Counterspell isn't any less game wrecking than a Lightning Bolt or a Path to Exile; there are thousands of cards in Magic which, in turn, presents so many ways around any given problem you may experience while playing.
Past_Dark877
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
I've got to admit, under Standard Construction, mono blue is so very weak. I've tried everything from millstone to various control. I've even built tap-out. Nothing works. Even green gets rewarded for our various lesser counter spells by chancing out an Emrakul, the Aeons Torn off of a single Summoning Trap though a Rampaging Baloths from a countered Lotus Cobra is kinda weak too right?
Yep, counterspell is so broken in standard right now that red even gets a few ways to deal with it like Reverberate and Ricochet Trap .
Those are just off the top of my head. White gets stuff like Emeria, the Sky Ruin and Sun Titan, albeit costly compared to the outrageous couterspell. Dunno, I don't play much white except for the control cards I must have to be competitive.
How about black? Insert any recursive card here. Agadeem Occultist, Disentomb and Cadaver Imp.
I mean seriously, look how frustrating counterspell is! It buys us a turn...Maybe.
Paleopaladin
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
With the acceleration of the MtG arms race among different types/colors of cards, this is bound to get reprinted.
divine_exodus
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(3 votes)
Best counter spell ever. Anyone who's writing comments on how this sucks because "this can get past it" and "this can get past it" can go get themselves doom bladed. Those rules apply to any counter spell. This spell is just the best counter ever because it can counter both creatures and sorceries, instants, enchantments, blah blah blah. And it's only two mana. And the art looks cool. So next time you try and hate on this card, doom blade is coming. 5/5
Kryptnyt
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Probably the best card ever to be "strictly worse" than another card, Mana Drain. Unless someone Mindslavers you and you have a Blaze in hand. Very good chance of that happening, right?
TimeBecomes
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
"question? If I commandeered a counterspell, could I change the target of the counterspell to itself?"
counterspell cannot target itself. however, if you're just trying to use commandeer to stop someone's counterspell, you can have the counterspell target your commandeer instead. This same trick works with Misdirection, Ricochet Trap, and similar cards
CerealBoxOfDoom
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(1 vote)
@fictarious
this spell counters most of those "equally broken" things you mentioned lol. Also instants are slowly becoming easier to recycle quickly. If this was a sorcery with some weird flashlike effect then it might actually be fair.
But long story short, magic is only fun if you get to play. As much as ppl complain that blue is getting nerfed its getting dangerously close to being able to lock players out of the game with cards that arent even that hard to get.
ClockworkSwordfish
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(1 vote)
The problem, I think, that most people have with Counterspell is that there's no spectacle, nothing to imagine. If you play a Deep Spawn and it gets Path'd, you can imagine that your giant lobster-beast flailed its way through your summoning portal, water gushing in along with it, only to be consumed by white light and slowly vanish into oblivion while screaming horribly. This would make a cool movie, you think. Now try to imagine someone casting Counterspell on the same Spawn. The portal opens, and nothing happens. You would walk out of that theater. You never get the creature is the difference.
Faildini
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
@ClockworkSwordfish: There's always something to imagine. When my spell gets countered, I like to picture myself in sorcerous robes, my arms raised above my head, as a portal to another world opens above me. You see a looming shadow within the portal, coming closer. My opponent quickly shoots a bolt of energy at the portal, and it begins to close. The monster within quickens his pace, running to escape before his universe is closed to this one. Just as he reaches the edge of our world, the portal shuts, and the last thing you see is a single, bloodshot eye glaring as its chance to wreak havoc disappears.
I think wizards had this idea of powerful mages doing battle across the universes, and if you try to incorporate that into your thinking as you play the game, you'll have more fun. I know I do :)
TheSwarm
★★★☆☆ (3.6/5.0)(7 votes)
Counterspell is a fantastic card. But the "Wizards is dumbing down blue and powering up every other color WAAAAH WE WANT COUNTERSPELL MOMMY" argument simply doesnt work anymore. Saying that they aren't reprinting this card allows timmies to run wild can be turned around. Counterspell costs two mana and is pretty much a hard answer to every spell. For two mana. Anything. In my opinion, it doesnt take very much thought to draw go and then counter the hell out of an opponent. In fact, maybe less than a timmy. Well, a good timmy. A good timmy has to consider mana ramp, protecting those big creatures, a draw go control deck just screws with everybody. A goood timmy deck takes just as much thought as a goood control deck. We have cards like deprive and cancel and stoic rebuttal now, those cards make the BLUE mages think instead of just "mindless" draw-go play.
Hypocrisy, thy name is Counterspell.
And im not just an angry timmy, although I am a fan of green. I run two control decks, and I dont cry about not having counterspell. I thiiiink about what threats are going to hurt me the most. In one control deck based around a special artifact, Im going to include negates instead of essence scatters to protect from naturalizes. Thinking. not just "two mana will deal with ANYTHING I need it to deal with."
JackBauer24
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Maybe a petition will make them reprint counterspell... ;)
tonyf
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
this is awsome beter than cancel beter than mana leak beter than the fack that you havent got a girl freind!!!
Trizeam
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Wow, flavor text and art are both AWESOME
sly92
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
artwork is freeesh, plus it balances out those equally annoying mono black instants such as DOOM BLADE!, which i have to shout every time i cast it....
supershawn
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.8/5.0)(2 votes)
the flavor text is actually refering to prodigal pyromancer, now we know who prodigal pyromancer was talking too in HIS flavor text.
Veritus7
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
@supershawn
Uh, no, this card comes from the Jace and Chandra Duel Decks. Chandra is the pyromancer mentioned in the flavor text. (You'll also notice the flavor text says "her", while Prodigal Pyromancer is a he)
Minus_Prime
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(10 votes)
Jace, the Mind Sculptor's been the best card in Standard for over a year. Cryptic Command is the best card in Extended. Hey everybody, look how hard we're nerfing blue!
You've got 2-mana counter-alls in Mana Leak, Deprive, and sometimes Stoic Rebuttal. Counter noncreatures with Negate and Spell Pierce. Oh what, soft counters don't count? How can you claim that Magic is being dumbed down when you have to be smarter about how you choose and use your own blue spells?
Maybe it's time some of us stopped clinging to draw-go and actually learned how to play this game.
dragonking987
★★☆☆☆ (2.5/5.0)(2 votes)
wow blue players love to complain as said before Jace is the best card in standard and do you think the other colors are getting stronger in every way? Black lost Dark Ritualwhich was as important to it as counterspell was for blue but face it dark ritual is one of the most broken cards ever printed and they stopped reprinting it for a good reason the same goes for Swords to Plowshares it defined white but like counterspell and Dark Ritual it was a little to broken. Do you think white players like watch their Oblivion Rings and Swords to Plowshares replaced by Condemn and Arrest? Every color has suffered some losses as time goes by so for heavons sakes stop acting like wizards is making it unfair for blue. Blue is currently the most common heavily played color in standard and if blue isn't currently good enough for you you need to lower your expectations.
infernox10
★☆☆☆☆ (1.2/5.0)(2 votes)
@Kirbster
Where I understand where you're coming from,
It's nigh impossible to "bring other cards up to blue's level" with this card around.
No matter how powerfully outrageous a spell might be,
Two blue mana just says "Nope, I'm still going to win."
Albeit, I understand every now and again we get lovely things that are uncounterable,
But the majority of that is green.
No, Counterspell getting reprinted is a bad move all around,
Where Lightning Bolt is cheap, cost-effective, and very useful,
This card is just unbearably powerful, and will most likely not see reprint like the Bolt.
However, I am glad Wizards is trying to appeal to both sides, such as Stoic Rebuttal, where sometimes it'll be the OP card blue loves, but also sometimes another Cancel, or Deprive, where losing a land drop does the same thing.
Meathim
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
Ok, so I have not played this game since the early 2000's, but my take on counterspell is this:
My main deck was a UW control deck with various control cards and walls. We were a group of friends who played it, all for good fun, ages 15-12. It wasn't a bad deck, and I was a decent player, yet most of the time I got my ass handed to me because the people I played against were better players than me. So this is not an overall god-mode, instawin card like people think it is. It can do some heavy damage, yes, but so can other cards. Many other cards actually.
And I totally agree on the entire "thinking"-thing. If I just carelessly countered stuff my defeat was sure because the guys I played against, and remember these were younger than 15, KNEW HOW TO PLAY THE GAME. It goes both ways. A bad player will loose even with all the power cards and counterspell at his disposal. Good players knows how to use it and good players know how to work against it.
Just my 2 cents.
Frozenwings
★★★★☆ (4.1/5.0)(5 votes)
People afraid of counterspells and blaming them for let game being not funny. This is looking silly to me and i'll try to explain a little, why :
Playing an aggro deck or a creature-heavy deck always looks for lucky draws and having good creatures,such as with high P/T and strong abilities for low mana cost. If you put your creatures at the right time and can protect them from early destroy, this type of decks could win mostly. Of course, luck is important here. And summoning a big creature and beat your opponent with it is so fulfilling. Everyone has a little "Timmy" inside. I must say that majority of players are playing such kind of decks.
On the other hand, counterspells (in control decks) don't care for lucky draw, mostly have lower mana cost than countered cards and counterspells need to be used by witted and accustomed players. Playing against counterspell heavy deck and winning against could be pretty easy, if this blue players counters everything mindlessly. Just put a litle 2/2 bear on battlefield when he/she is out of counterspell and you'll win with it. But in hand of deliberative and good player, counterspells are feared for a good reason. He knows your deck, he knows your strong and weak sides, and he knows when to counter your win-conditions exactly. But this goes same for aggro decks too, "He knows your deck, he knows your strong and weak sides, and he knows when to put his/her win-condition (creature or else) exactly", important fact is you must think while playing and must know how to play precisely.
So that's why counterspells are disliked, they force people into THINKING. Blue players are accustomed with thinking more, but players who are playing carelessly find this unpleasant. I can correct with my theory with black's "discard" spells. In my opinion, black is violating you even more when duress,despise,thoughtseize are played. Opponent is looking your hand, choosing one card at him/her at whim and putting into graveyard or exile zone. But such spells aren't accused by players, why, because they don't force you thinking. While discard spells forcibly let you discard a chosen card, counterspells forcibly let you thinking more as playing a spell at your own will.
Magic the gathering is not "I played more strong-expensive cards onto battlefield, i win!" type of game. Counterspells are blamed to be boring, but it's exactly the opposite. They save this game from being boring turn-based game.
ScissorsLizard
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Mitch_360 said it- quintessential. It's true, this card defines blue, the same way Lightning Bolt is the flagship card for red, or Terror is for black.
That said, I think I approve of the shift from Counterspell to Cancel. WotC realized that counterspells, as a gameplay element, are not fun. Think about it- when was the last time someone played Counterspell against you and you thought- wow! That was really cool! And even on the blue player's side, playing Counterspell just feels dirty, like you're cheating your opponent out of the fun of playing that Ulamog's Crusher. So WotC nerfed counters- now you have either Cancel, or soft/situational counters like Unified Will. At least now, when you play a Unified Will or a Spell Syphon, you feel like you've earned it, and your opponent can respect you a little more for it.
EDIT: @Azazyel: Wow, I've never been rebuttled quite so thoroughly. You made some good points, but I still disagree. The argument that counterspells force the players to think is true- but I think Counterspell doesn't. I agree with Minus_Prime here. You can slide Counterspells into almost any blue deck and it gets better. You don't need to think about whether to use a different counterspell or not- there are none better. That's because Counterspell has hog-tied the developers in their counterspell creation- now players think it if it costs 3, it's too expensive, and if it costs 2 but has a condition (like Remove Soul) it is obviously worse.
As for the "it's not fun" argument, I'm not saying we should get rid of all counterspells. I also like the weighing of options, feeding counters, thinks like that. But I am arguing that this particular one, Counterspell, is too powerful. I think two mana is too cheap for this ability. 3 is better, or 1-2 mana with a condition- this will ultimately lead to more varied and interesting counterspells, and more varied play.
Falgorn
★★★☆☆ (3.2/5.0)(3 votes)
I'd like to make a point that doesn't seem to have come up as much as it should:
The color pie is the core of the game. It makes it balanced, diverse and keeps it revolving. One of the most important parts of the color pie is that each color has types of permanents that it cannot deal with (except for greedily exploiting very specific interactions).
This keeps the colors' power level in check, ensuring that monocolored strategies will have inherent "holes" in their plans and that to patch them up, they'll have to pull themselves a little out of focus to gain access to other mana colors.
Blue counters. It can stop anything that it cannot deal with. No matter what it is. And even if it cannot do that, it can still bounce it at a crucial time. At the same time, it's the color that gets to do quite a number of advantageous things in instant speed. That's too strong a combination of characteristics.
{U}{U} may seem a tight requirement, but it is not. It's quite feasible in early game for any multicolored deck playing blue. There's Mana Leak as well. And {U}{U} to stop anything that could corner you before it even resolves has historically proven to be too undercosted.
I don't think I need to argue about how unfun it is playing against a deck that ensures that the only plays that will be made will be the ones that will allow it to win.
The possible format warp that an unconditional, 2 CMC instant that can cause is more than enough reason not to reprint this.
Except if you'd like series of blocks where there would be only this and one other card with the words "Counter target spell" (fullstop/condition) for as long as counterspell remained in standard. I wouldn't like this. And I wouldn't like to relive a Fairy-like superiority of a single blue build ever again. Caw-blade has already been destructive enough.
DerDerDerp
★★☆☆☆ (2.5/5.0)(2 votes)
to be blunt, I think that they should put counterspell back in. I mean seriously, blue hasn't been getting any good counters lately. Do you know what they put in instead of counters? They put in more freaking mill cards. I mean there aren't a lot of people who play mill at all, but a ton of people USED to play blue control, until counterspell was taken out. now blue has a bunch of replacements for counterspell like deprive. seriously?? I think that this card isn't broken, when you compare it to a bunch of the other cards that the other colores are getting. One of the only things that separates Magic from other card games, like Yu gi oh and pokemon is counters!!!!
Mitch_360
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(4 votes)
The quintessential card for blue. If it wasn't for this card, I wouldn't even play Magic.
tcollins
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(3 votes)
I love how even when i splash {U} in a deck, just the act of reaching over to my untapped {U}{U} can cause other players to cringe... I'll admit I'm a {G} player at heart, but I tip my hat to this spell, both in functionality and in the joy of pitching a "decoy" spell, have it countered then proceed to cast my game winner uncontested. Fun for both sides of the table!
Hayw00d0909
★★☆☆☆ (2.2/5.0)(2 votes)
Surprised to see that you can unlock two of these exact cards in the mono blue Illusion deck of DOTP 2012.
So wonderfully broken and fundamental to classic control. It will be the highlight and forefront of M13 core set.
Fenizrael
★★★☆☆ (3.6/5.0)(4 votes)
I don't think this spell is 'overpowered' at all, in fact I think it's for the blue deck what Lightning Bolt is for red. It's just solid. Consider that there are plenty of creature cards with CMC of 2 that when played can do some nasty damage to you. If that opponent is running a blue deck and didn't get the starting turn, with only a Cancel they're going to have to wait an extra turn after your next before they can play it anyway. By which time your opponent will probably have the upper hand anyway.
JFM2796
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(4 votes)
The legendary Counterspell. How I worship thee. And how I would love to have a playset. And how I also am happy I don't.
If they were to reprint this card it would completely obsolete and crush any design space for counterspells. Cards like Mana Leak, Negate, Deprive, and Essence Scatter would see no play with just one card to answer any threat in the Standard Metagame. Soft counters require more skill to use: To know what your opponent is likely to have and change them out accordingly. To know whether or not you should counter that Lightning Bolt with your Mana Leak or your Negate depending on the circumstances.
A Blue mage is supposed to have to think to win, and counterspells do that. You must know which threats your opponents play are going to harm you, how to leave mana open to stop them, and play the spell effectively. Unlike other color's solutions to threats like White's Oblivion Rings and Path to Exiles, Black's Doom Blades and Go for the Throats (man that sounds weird to say), and Red's Lightning Bolts and Incinerates, you only have one chance to use a counterspell, and that is during your opponent's turn.
So I kind of hope this never gets reprinted. And hopefully Path to Exile and Lightning never are either. As long as Wizards keeps printing quality soft counters, I will be happy.
Arachibutyrophobia
★★☆☆☆ (2.5/5.0)(1 vote)
I was looking through my old piles of cards and found a playet of these. :P you gotta love finding hidden treasures.
Mitch_A
★★☆☆☆ (2.7/5.0)(3 votes)
The quintessential card for blue.
Wasret
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(2 votes)
I understand how awesome counters are in blue, and how somewhat needed they are in standard, but coming from someone who enjoys viable strategies and has a friend who is one of those "Lets stock up on counters and Mind Control" and literally has no thought besides being annoying. I don't think anything upsets me more than a game where you almost need to ask your opponent if you can play something cause they can counter (and sometimes bounce) literally everything you ever want to do. I understand putting a few counters in a deck with a plan/strategy but shame on all who stack their deck with counters and think its the best thing in magic ever. One big F-u to that. Maybe this comes from someone who does have a green fatty deck, but damn if it ain't really frustrating when your tempo is down tenfold just cause someone can, the cheap CMC is what makes counters stupid I think, especially this one. I won't deny its a great card but 2 mana for a counter just ruins everything, especially when used late on a game ender its a say 6-8 mana for 2 exchange. 5/5 for being overall solid, and that is coming from someone who hates it with a passion.
Trygon_Predator
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Best version of Counterspell yet! The art and flavortext is what is all about.
swords_to_exile
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(3 votes)
Please come back! RG Ramp is destroying standard :(
TokenAZN
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(1 vote)
@JFM2796 If they were to reprint this card it would completely obsolete and crush any design space for 1Blue counterspells. Cards like Mana Leak, Negate, Deprive, and Essence Scatter would see no play with just one card to answer any threat in the Standard Metagame. Soft counters require more skill to use: To know what your opponent is likely to have and change them out accordingly. To know whether or not you should counter that Lightning Bolt with your Mana Leak or your Negate depending on the circumstances. I'll grant, with the current metagame (M12, INN, M13), a reprint of Counterspell would be devastating. We have: Mana Leak, Dissipate, Cancel, Think Twice, Snapcaster Mage and Rewind, which is pretty much a "draw-go" deck right there. But you need those other counterspells to survive the overwhelming threat of things. You don't run just 4 counterspell in a control deck. Even with Snapcaster making it 8. They don't become unplayable, though. Besides, the green player is just going to slaughter you with a Yeva, Nature's Herald at the end of your turn.
KnexWiz
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
at this point in the game i dont think that this can be reprinted, shure they can make standard such that this wont be overplayed, but it will still skrew up extended and modern, i think the only way this will be reprinted is if they print a set that could handle a card like his, then another set with this. but if they did that it would probably be insta baned in extended and modern. i say keep this as a gem of the past and let it be...
DarthParallax
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(4 votes)
I don't want this reprinted in STANDARD. Commander? Planechase? Archenemy? Duel Decks? Something I haven't thought of? Different Story. I used to have 4 of this, and of all my cards that I didn't take good enough care of, I miss these and my Conflux Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker the most.
Totema
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I'm with DarthParallax here. It's too powerful for the current competitive format, but it would be nice to see in a casual set again, so I don't have to spend a dollar for each so I can make a nice casual control deck. Plus, the artwork is jaw dropping, almost as much as the card itself.
TheWrathofShane
★★★☆☆ (3.6/5.0)(4 votes)
I love this art. But honestly I dont mind cancel. They have made the descion not to reprint hardcounters at this cost without a drawback (Deprive), and have stuck with it.
With this on the loose in modern and standard, other counters wouldn't have a chance. Plus in future sets, cards like Negate and Essence Scatter would have to cost to compete. In a dual filled land base is no sweat, so the colorless mana doesn't really matter.
But for tabletop casual, pick up x4 of these, its totally worth it :D
atemu1234
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Aaaaaaannnnnnnnndddddddd this version of counterspell is $10. Damn.
LadiesMan117
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This and Force of Will are my two most favorite counterspells. I saw these on DOTP and so I had to get some. All I need is one more and I have a playset
DM3921
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I'd buy this card JUST for the flavor text.
*Taps 9 mana* WORLDFIRE !!!!!!!!!!
*Taps 2 mana* "Meh."
KjaK
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Counter spell seams like one of those cards that defines a colour, like lightning bolt, giant growth, or dark ritual
So many cards in Magic are way more OP than counterspell even USED to be... Counterspell was once banned a long while back when I first started getting into magic, you know, when Homelands was in standard rotation... The power of Magic cards has come such a long way that counterspell is almost funny to just look at, knowing it was once banned, and now it doesn't even matter... Sissies need to stop acting like it's 1993, when this card REALLY was broken, and they were in diapers... It really does make me laugh...
*Except in very specific scenarios such as a Chalice of the Void with two counters on the battlefield.
The art leads us to believe that a spell has resolved... the spell should have fizzled. Weird... still, best art so far for Counterspell.
blurrymadness
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I just realized today that this doesn't exist in Modern. I'll sound like a blue player (not at all!) but I think it's time to bring this back. They need better control in Modern and this spell needs a format. Legacy doesn't hardly play it because *it's not good enough.*
That's right, it's not good enough in formats it's legal for and it's not legal in modern where it could shine in a nice balanced way. Casual is the only place for this guy and people in casual aren't huge fans of it ya know?
Give this guy a place wizards; let him be in Modern; standard for a just one set and you'll help the format immensely.
Manapanda
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This is actually such a middle finger to any player in the game.
"I you for 64!!!"
Flip off your opponent.
"Nope."
Continue
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
One of only two printings in the Modern frame; the other is an FNM promo.
SirLibraryEater
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
but dat new frame tho
Smashington
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Flavor text sucks.
larryandcorn
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
it sure as hell costs alot to get a better looking counterspell around 14.00 dollars. still best counterspell ever made with exceptional art 5/5.
Comments (118)
5/5
Oh, and the art on this version is just SICK! Flavor text rules, too.
Yes it is. 2 mana to stop anything is way too much. Whining that you can't stop anything for 2 mana just shows you're not interested in balance, just in overpowering a type of deck you like.
To the rest of you crybabies:
Counterspell stops one card from being played. ONE CARD. ONE. You should have about 59 more to play. Counterspell doesn't deal 20 damage to you, or decimate your Library, or wipe out all your creatures or your hand or anything like that. It isn't a game winner. Learn what Overpowered means. Go learn it. Learn learn learn. Most of all, stop crying.
kidding, kidding...
>x3
But I would LAUGH if someone came up and asked me "What does Counterspell do?" except for those who don't play Magic, of course :)
Now that your brother Mana Leak is gone,
all of the other blue counter spells sucks!!
Why only Lightning Bolt has come back..
What about Counterspell, it's so unfair..
Blue has gone powerless nowadays..
ohh how I remember you so
4.0
Counterspell, in my opinion, makes for easy decisions since it can stop all spells that can be countered. In Standard, Negate and Essence Scatter are perfectly acceptable counters, and they require more knowledge to use correctly.
Apart from lands, obviously.
Fictionarious: A spell on the stack cannot target itself. I think you can have it target the Commandeer, which upon Counterspell's resolution will no longer be there, and the Counterspell will fizzle.
Oh nevermind this card is in fact the shit
@ Reliqium: Thanks, good idea.
This card is not broken or overpowered, because it's an instant that gets used once then goes to the graveyard, and you can only have 4 of any particular card in a deck.
That said, there are ways to break it. Isochron Scepter, for example.
Blue counter-decks are only mindless and unfair when they find some way of turning counterspell into a reusable permanent. Even then, nobody's got any right to complain. Green can get infinite squirrels, red can do infinite direct damage, black can maximum-hand-size discard thraximundars and exhume them on turn three, and white can exile creatures permanently at the drop of one mana with swords to plowshares. Play like you're serious or go home, but regardless, counterspell deserves whatever reprints wizards can possibly give it.
Too bad I never play it.
WHY?! We need it back! I wanna use it outside casual so I have an epic Blue artwork deck alongsid ePOnder ;D
2 mana to stop anything is way too much. Whining that you can't stop anything for 2 mana just shows you're not interested in balance, just in overpowering a type of deck you like.
Just like how whining that "2 mana to stop anything is way too much" shows that you just want Wizards to take the "mean cards" out of the game, so you won't have to work and think a little harder to make a deck that can take it.
I've played some counter decks in my time, and I can recall just as many defeats as I can victories for them. If you don't like Counterspell, take the time and effort to build a deck that can stand up to it, rather than getting you and your buddies together to cry to Wizards unti they take the big, bad, nasty card away so it won't be mean to you anymore.
Likewise, of course it's not fun for you when any of those three cards gets past your defenses and rapes your face. But it's fun for him. Magic, like any turn-based game, is a back and forth matter.
So why does Counterspell get canned, anyway? You'll note that all the other three removal cards mentioned have more flexible mana costs for similarly powerful effects, and yet they stick around. Counterspell isn't getting canned for being "unfun" or "unfair", it's being canned as a) a crappy attempt to balance the game by nerfing the crud out of blue (instead of, you know, beefing up the other colors), and b) as an even more horrifying attempt to dumb the game down. Counterspells on either side of the battle force you and the opponent to think. Anyone can just shrug when Lorthos, the Tidemaker gets bitchslapped with a Path to Exile, since it requires little thought except "crud, it got pwnt!". But the lowest common denominator of player is going to get ticked at being forced to weigh his options, to think his plays through. He's going to get ticked at his opponent for being smarter than him and at the big bad card not letting him play mindlessly. Ticked enough, maybe, to stop buying booster packs. And Wizards doesn't want that.
Eventually, though, justice wins out. You'll note that this "lowest common denominator" is in the minority, not the majority - by the very nature of the game, people who play Magic tend as a whole to be rather quick-witted. As an example, just weigh the number of relevant comments in this page as opposed to the whining. Eventually, Wizards will realize that its player base is actually smart as a whole and that game balance isn't worth sacrificing for a group of people who'll probably quit Magic anyways the first time they go up against a combo deck.
@ScissorsLizard: I don't feel like I'm cheating my opponent out of his Ulamog's Crusher. I destroyed your spell before you could even fully cast it by casting a spell of my own. In essence, I "conjured what I've learned faster than you can conjure up what you have learned." That some hard core magic right there, not fun? huh? Also, I probably would never counter a Ulamog's Crusher because no one plays that card.
An easy 5 stars
To Azazyel: *applause* "encore! Encore!!" *more applause*
To ScissorsLizard: Counterspell is very powerful indeed, yes. However, I've seen people play good counter-control decks and still lose. There is some extra amount of cunning required to make counterspell the powerful card it is. If a person goes about the game to the point that they play a counterspell against Ulamog, they deserve to counter him. On the flip side, how would anyone feel on the wrong end of an unanswered Eldrazi??
I do see a little point, ScissorsLizard (if you ever come back to read this). The main resolution between you and everyone else is this: the game is more fun when the decks, and the players somewhat, are on similar power levels. ScissorsLizard's validity lies in the fact that if a player is successfully playing any kind of counter magic, then that player is on a higher tier than other players. And there is my problem with the game recently. The cards aren't getting more broken, they're making the players 'not as intelligent'. You can stop reading now. I will make more words below just because.
There are the notoriously feared players that are bent tooooo much on winning, no matter how tacky the situation. However, most players I know pretend like they want to win games, but, well, they get preoccupied with playing the game. It's like how Leonard Bernstein sometimes gets enraptured with the music while he is conducting, and then the music slacks in quality because he is not focusing on his conducting. A given player I know would build up his/her army and then look at the whole board. To his left, that player has open mana and defenses and stuff, to his right, that player is currently mana screwed/disadvantaged. So they play their 'Brave the elements' (or what not) and then murder the handicapped player. Shortly after they would lose to the developed player that never had to use any of his resources. And what do they say when the game is over? "Whoa, (to the handicapped player) I attacked you for 23! That was awesome!" And then they would immediately ramble on about other stuff- some creature's ultimate level, some planeswalker's ultimate minus ability, or some highly unlikely 1st-4th turn god play. Players are so sensationalized by recent cards' flashy effects to the point that they just want to use the card but not really play the game.
In order to remove something in the game, it's controller has to have succeeded in playing it and must have it on their board. At that point, their dream of playing that card has been realized, and they are (mostly) satisfied, even if you immediately remove it. However, if you counter their dream play, you kill the dream. It doesn't even matter what counter magic you use. I've seen many an irritated player who have yet to resolve a Sorin, Emrakul (Time Stop), and/or other stupid stuff while I'm in the game.
On the flip-side, I see many players shifting restlessly in their seats. Sometimes, if you even look at their board or ask them a question they'll almost snap at you. I'm referring to players with counter magic in their hand, and they are not proficient at using it. You play a creature, and then during your combat phase that creature does something that they don't like. "Oh, WHAT??! Wait, can I counter him??" "No, it's way too late." And then their anxiety level rises.
These two matters, the raw power of counter magic and its difficulty to use, demonize the existence of counter magic in the game of Magic. If you want to change this: Nurture the intellectual growth of your play group. If you're not willing to look like an elementary school teacher, then in later times you and your friends will be looking back saying "Remember the days when you could counter a spell for only three mana with Cancel?"
It is exactly like some one playing white who decides to put in a Swords to Plowshares rather than putting in those other couple of soldiers. Or think of green who puts in Fog so that he is safe from combat for a turn it's sort of like he countered that Overrun you just played is it not? Or think of black who puts in cards like Duress or Thoughtseize so that they can get rid of something BEFORE it hits the field exactly as if they played a Counterspell but wait whats that Thoughtseize and Duress and Swords to Plowshares and Path to exile only cost 1 mana rather than 2 oh no i think we should remove EVERY CARD EVER PRINTED THAT STOPS YOUR OPPONENTS PLAN FROM WORKING PERFECTLY unless of course we make all those cards cost 3 instead of 1 or 2.
Also I think i know a way of reprinting this so that you whiny people can't well you know whine, WotC could just reprint it as an Uncommon how do you like that, than it wouldn't be overpowered because it would be a whole rarity more!
Thank you for reading through my rant / reasoning on why counterspell isn't overpowered and should be reprinted.
I have a question though: Are planeswalker abilities regarded as spells that can be countered? Could you counter Chandra's ulti with this?
As far as the discussion about Blue being nerfed and not being fun for anyone; that's nothing new. Look at the Power Nine! They've been trying to nerf Blue since day one. Is it annoying when your spells keep getting countered? Yes; does WotC know that? Of course they do. Read the flavor text on the card- Jace (Blue's poster boy) is a jerk. Does that mean they should change it? Of course not. That's just what blue does; and if it behaved differently it wouldn't feel like Blue.
Not that all blue can do is counter and strategize. Aggro blue isn't that hard to make with all the Krakens, Leviathans, Elementals, and Seperents lying around.
And in the mean time, play Great Sable Stag, Gainsay, and drop Lavaburst on his Mistfolk for 30 damage.
Well it just beats :)
Anyways, Counterspell can't really stop anything for 2 mana. If your opponent plays a Nantuko Monastery and is poised to beat you to death with it, there's dick-all Counterspell can do about that.
I find this hard to believe considering when I played red cards like Lightning Bolt and Ball Lightning were deemed too powerful and unplayable in T2. Anyone who says Counterspell is bad for the game is just plain wrong. I'm not whining I just wish I could still use my foil Counterspells :D. Anyways 5/5!
All costing 3 or less. I ended up taking white out of that deck and played black blue green. It was a killer deck, but you know even with my regular crew of buds I would still get my ass kicked every freaking day with that deck. Why? I had 8 hard counters, a further 3, soft counters, According to some of you I should have been able to kill every deck in the game ever.
No all it takes for the skilled player to bait out those counters, is a terror or some such pointed at some creature I had just played. I allways had mana for at least one counter. if I wanted a creature to stick, I would counter something to protect it.
It is not overpowered it is just the current crop of players don't want to think about how to out wit the opponents.
kids these days need to learn some common sense
5/5 for the most iconic blue card
I agree in all essentials with what you're saying. Also I like how you were reserved enough to use the term "crud" in place of a profanity immediately after using the phrase "rapes your face".
But of course, everyone wants them so they're a bit more expensive than normal.
Yep, counterspell is so broken in standard right now that red even gets a few ways to deal with it like Reverberate and Ricochet Trap .
Those are just off the top of my head. White gets stuff like Emeria, the Sky Ruin and Sun Titan, albeit costly compared to the outrageous couterspell. Dunno, I don't play much white except for the control cards I must have to be competitive.
How about black? Insert any recursive card here. Agadeem Occultist, Disentomb and Cadaver Imp.
I mean seriously, look how frustrating counterspell is! It buys us a turn...Maybe.
Unless someone Mindslavers you and you have a Blaze in hand. Very good chance of that happening, right?
counterspell cannot target itself. however, if you're just trying to use commandeer to stop someone's counterspell, you can have the counterspell target your commandeer instead. This same trick works with Misdirection, Ricochet Trap, and similar cards
this spell counters most of those "equally broken" things you mentioned lol. Also instants are slowly becoming easier to recycle quickly. If this was a sorcery with some weird flashlike effect then it might actually be fair.
But long story short, magic is only fun if you get to play. As much as ppl complain that blue is getting nerfed its getting dangerously close to being able to lock players out of the game with cards that arent even that hard to get.
I think wizards had this idea of powerful mages doing battle across the universes, and if you try to incorporate that into your thinking as you play the game, you'll have more fun. I know I do :)
Hypocrisy, thy name is Counterspell.
And im not just an angry timmy, although I am a fan of green. I run two control decks, and I dont cry about not having counterspell. I thiiiink about what threats are going to hurt me the most. In one control deck based around a special artifact, Im going to include negates instead of essence scatters to protect from naturalizes. Thinking. not just "two mana will deal with ANYTHING I need it to deal with."
Uh, no, this card comes from the Jace and Chandra Duel Decks. Chandra is the pyromancer mentioned in the flavor text. (You'll also notice the flavor text says "her", while Prodigal Pyromancer is a he)
You've got 2-mana counter-alls in Mana Leak, Deprive, and sometimes Stoic Rebuttal. Counter noncreatures with Negate and Spell Pierce. Oh what, soft counters don't count? How can you claim that Magic is being dumbed down when you have to be smarter about how you choose and use your own blue spells?
Maybe it's time some of us stopped clinging to draw-go and actually learned how to play this game.
Where I understand where you're coming from,
It's nigh impossible to "bring other cards up to blue's level" with this card around.
No matter how powerfully outrageous a spell might be,
Two blue mana just says "Nope, I'm still going to win."
Albeit, I understand every now and again we get lovely things that are uncounterable,
But the majority of that is green.
No, Counterspell getting reprinted is a bad move all around,
Where Lightning Bolt is cheap, cost-effective, and very useful,
This card is just unbearably powerful, and will most likely not see reprint like the Bolt.
However, I am glad Wizards is trying to appeal to both sides, such as Stoic Rebuttal, where sometimes it'll be the OP card blue loves, but also sometimes another Cancel, or Deprive, where losing a land drop does the same thing.
My main deck was a UW control deck with various control cards and walls. We were a group of friends who played it, all for good fun, ages 15-12. It wasn't a bad deck, and I was a decent player, yet most of the time I got my ass handed to me because the people I played against were better players than me. So this is not an overall god-mode, instawin card like people think it is. It can do some heavy damage, yes, but so can other cards. Many other cards actually.
And I totally agree on the entire "thinking"-thing. If I just carelessly countered stuff my defeat was sure because the guys I played against, and remember these were younger than 15, KNEW HOW TO PLAY THE GAME. It goes both ways. A bad player will loose even with all the power cards and counterspell at his disposal. Good players knows how to use it and good players know how to work against it.
Just my 2 cents.
Playing an aggro deck or a creature-heavy deck always looks for lucky draws and having good creatures,such as with high P/T and strong abilities for low mana cost. If you put your creatures at the right time and can protect them from early destroy, this type of decks could win mostly. Of course, luck is important here. And summoning a big creature and beat your opponent with it is so fulfilling. Everyone has a little "Timmy" inside. I must say that majority of players are playing such kind of decks.
On the other hand, counterspells (in control decks) don't care for lucky draw, mostly have lower mana cost than countered cards and counterspells need to be used by witted and accustomed players. Playing against counterspell heavy deck and winning against could be pretty easy, if this blue players counters everything mindlessly. Just put a litle 2/2 bear on battlefield when he/she is out of counterspell and you'll win with it. But in hand of deliberative and good player, counterspells are feared for a good reason. He knows your deck, he knows your strong and weak sides, and he knows when to counter your win-conditions exactly. But this goes same for aggro decks too, "He knows your deck, he knows your strong and weak sides, and he knows when to put his/her win-condition (creature or else) exactly", important fact is you must think while playing and must know how to play precisely.
So that's why counterspells are disliked, they force people into THINKING. Blue players are accustomed with thinking more, but players who are playing carelessly find this unpleasant. I can correct with my theory with black's "discard" spells. In my opinion, black is violating you even more when duress,despise,thoughtseize are played. Opponent is looking your hand, choosing one card at him/her at whim and putting into graveyard or exile zone. But such spells aren't accused by players, why, because they don't force you thinking. While discard spells forcibly let you discard a chosen card, counterspells forcibly let you thinking more as playing a spell at your own will.
Magic the gathering is not "I played more strong-expensive cards onto battlefield, i win!" type of game. Counterspells are blamed to be boring, but it's exactly the opposite. They save this game from being boring turn-based game.
That said, I think I approve of the shift from Counterspell to Cancel. WotC realized that counterspells, as a gameplay element, are not fun. Think about it- when was the last time someone played Counterspell against you and you thought- wow! That was really cool! And even on the blue player's side, playing Counterspell just feels dirty, like you're cheating your opponent out of the fun of playing that Ulamog's Crusher. So WotC nerfed counters- now you have either Cancel, or soft/situational counters like Unified Will. At least now, when you play a Unified Will or a Spell Syphon, you feel like you've earned it, and your opponent can respect you a little more for it.
EDIT:
@Azazyel: Wow, I've never been rebuttled quite so thoroughly. You made some good points, but I still disagree. The argument that counterspells force the players to think is true- but I think Counterspell doesn't. I agree with Minus_Prime here. You can slide Counterspells into almost any blue deck and it gets better. You don't need to think about whether to use a different counterspell or not- there are none better. That's because Counterspell has hog-tied the developers in their counterspell creation- now players think it if it costs 3, it's too expensive, and if it costs 2 but has a condition (like Remove Soul) it is obviously worse.
As for the "it's not fun" argument, I'm not saying we should get rid of all counterspells. I also like the weighing of options, feeding counters, thinks like that. But I am arguing that this particular one, Counterspell, is too powerful. I think two mana is too cheap for this ability. 3 is better, or 1-2 mana with a condition- this will ultimately lead to more varied and interesting counterspells, and more varied play.
The color pie is the core of the game. It makes it balanced, diverse and keeps it revolving. One of the most important parts of the color pie is that each color has types of permanents that it cannot deal with (except for greedily exploiting very specific interactions).
This keeps the colors' power level in check, ensuring that monocolored strategies will have inherent "holes" in their plans and that to patch them up, they'll have to pull themselves a little out of focus to gain access to other mana colors.
Blue counters. It can stop anything that it cannot deal with. No matter what it is. And even if it cannot do that, it can still bounce it at a crucial time. At the same time, it's the color that gets to do quite a number of advantageous things in instant speed. That's too strong a combination of characteristics.
{U}{U} may seem a tight requirement, but it is not. It's quite feasible in early game for any multicolored deck playing blue. There's Mana Leak as well. And {U}{U} to stop anything that could corner you before it even resolves has historically proven to be too undercosted.
I don't think I need to argue about how unfun it is playing against a deck that ensures that the only plays that will be made will be the ones that will allow it to win.
The possible format warp that an unconditional, 2 CMC instant that can cause is more than enough reason not to reprint this.
Except if you'd like series of blocks where there would be only this and one other card with the words "Counter target spell" (fullstop/condition) for as long as counterspell remained in standard. I wouldn't like this. And I wouldn't like to relive a Fairy-like superiority of a single blue build ever again. Caw-blade has already been destructive enough.
So wonderfully broken and fundamental to classic control. It will be the highlight and forefront of M13 core set.
If they were to reprint this card it would completely obsolete and crush any design space for
A Blue mage is supposed to have to think to win, and counterspells do that. You must know which threats your opponents play are going to harm you, how to leave mana open to stop them, and play the spell effectively. Unlike other color's solutions to threats like White's Oblivion Rings and Path to Exiles, Black's Doom Blades and Go for the Throats (man that sounds weird to say), and Red's Lightning Bolts and Incinerates, you only have one chance to use a counterspell, and that is during your opponent's turn.
So I kind of hope this never gets reprinted. And hopefully Path to Exile and Lightning never are either. As long as Wizards keeps printing quality soft
If they were to reprint this card it would completely obsolete and crush any design space for 1Blue counterspells. Cards like Mana Leak, Negate, Deprive, and Essence Scatter would see no play with just one card to answer any threat in the Standard Metagame. Soft counters require more skill to use: To know what your opponent is likely to have and change them out accordingly. To know whether or not you should counter that Lightning Bolt with your Mana Leak or your Negate depending on the circumstances.
I'll grant, with the current metagame (M12, INN, M13), a reprint of Counterspell would be devastating. We have: Mana Leak, Dissipate, Cancel, Think Twice, Snapcaster Mage and Rewind, which is pretty much a "draw-go" deck right there. But you need those other counterspells to survive the overwhelming threat of things. You don't run just 4 counterspell in a control deck. Even with Snapcaster making it 8. They don't become unplayable, though. Besides, the green player is just going to slaughter you with a Yeva, Nature's Herald at the end of your turn.
With this on the loose in modern and standard, other counters wouldn't have a chance. Plus in future sets, cards like Negate and Essence Scatter would have to cost
But for tabletop casual, pick up x4 of these, its totally worth it :D
*Taps 9 mana* WORLDFIRE !!!!!!!!!!
*Taps 2 mana* "Meh."
I guess you haven't seen Chain Lightning.
Force majeure
*Except in very specific scenarios such as a Chalice of the Void with two counters on the battlefield.
The art leads us to believe that a spell has resolved... the spell should have fizzled. Weird... still, best art so far for Counterspell.
That's right, it's not good enough in formats it's legal for and it's not legal in modern where it could shine in a nice balanced way. Casual is the only place for this guy and people in casual aren't huge fans of it ya know?
Give this guy a place wizards; let him be in Modern; standard for a just one set and you'll help the format immensely.
"I you for 64!!!"
Flip off your opponent.
"Nope."