Glad to see Wizards has made improvements to Cancel in Innistrad.
Cyberium
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(3 votes)
Dat stitches...
Zacklar
★☆☆☆☆ (1.8/5.0)(6 votes)
more useful counters! thank you Wizards, thank you for getting rid of that abomination of cancel
ThisisSakon
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(8 votes)
Guys, Cancel's still here...
Just because no one uses it doesn't mean it's gone...
Kryptnyt
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(5 votes)
Stop starin' at me with dem big-ol' eyes.
Tanaka348
★★★★☆ (4.9/5.0)(7 votes)
Somebody set a hot glue gun to two completely unrelated cards!
And man, there will be SO MANY people who think that paying {1} prevents the discard as well. It'll be Book Burning all over again. I understand that the effects had to be in this order or "That player" wouldn't have an antecedent, but it still ends up this way.
Why does BLUE get instant speed discard when black does not?
*Grumble*
Wprundv
★★★☆☆ (3.2/5.0)(2 votes)
It should make them pay at least 2.
don_miguel
★★★★☆ (4.3/5.0)(3 votes)
@frostraven in this case is a relative instant speed as you can't cast it without any spells on ths stack, but indeed blue has some instant discard
Necroci
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(3 votes)
Not the most effective counter ever, I would like it better if it cost {2} to stop. Still, the discard makes it a lot better
Tiggurix
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(3 votes)
Am I sensing a bit of Planar Chaos in this set? *coughdismal failurecough*
iDrunky
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(3 votes)
booster draft makes this good ........out side of that it should be pay 2 and we would have a awesome card ........still that girl look pretty =D
Enemy_Tricolor
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(4 votes)
So it's not a hard counter. God forbid anyone have to use something situationally.
All I know is that there's few things meaner than countering someone's spell and then making them discard.
NoobOfLore
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(2 votes)
It's runeboggle, except backwards. Forcing an opponent to discard tends to hurt them more than letting you draw one card. It's fair enough. For something that's virtually guaranteed to maintain card advantage, being so soft a counter is kind of forgivable.
Vandarringa
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(8 votes)
Here's why I like this card. Late game, your opponent know's you're probably holding on to a counterspell, and he has two cards in hand: a minor threat and a bomb. Anyone that knows how to play against blue control is going to play the minor threat to try to draw out the countermagic. That's when you play this to counter the spell they didn't play. The name of the card even fits this: the delusion was the idea that they could then play their bomb. Being able to occasionally 2-for-1 if your opponent taps out is just the icing on the cake.
Tempted_Johnny
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(1 vote)
I dare you to flashback that Think Twice at the end of my turn. How's that card advantage you didn't get?
Pinto331
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
It's too unreliable to see competitive play, but for casual play this card can rock. It's a guaranteed trade and a potential 2-for-1. What I love about it is how cruel it can be, hitting your opponent hard when they're already all tapped out. And as Vandarringa said, it works against the average players approach when playing against blue. They may end up saving the card they wanted to use as counter-bait, only to lose another more important card.
TPmanW
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(2 votes)
Properly utilized this is a double counter. And remember only the first counter is soft.
blindloyalty
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I love this card. A dynamic mono-Blue counter with guaranteed instant-speed discard, awesome art, and an awesome name. The best of Blue control (counter-magic) and Black control (forced discard) in one card. What's not to like?
Although the counter's drawback may seem bad at first glance, really, players tap out to cast spells fairly often; you'll get to counter with this a lot more often than you think.
DarkShinobi93
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
So, function-wise, its a weakened Mana-leak with a separate discard effect. Nice.
Could see play, but only early play or against expensive decks.
@Vandarringa That would be true, but if its late game, he'll at least be able to keep his weaker creature for one colorless.
Hunter06
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This is quite scary in foil, to the point where I wont even play my foiled copy, however, this is at least a 4/5 as it is quite powerful
crimson_sunrise
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I like this card. Even if it's not quite at the right level for pro play, it's good enough for a lot of other situations, and it's the epitome of a well-designed and strategically interesting counterspell (Mana Leak is not, because the opponent can almost never pay in practice). If only the entitled blue players on the internet would learn that people who like other colors are allowed to play Magic too, maybe we'd have something going here.
TheWrathofShane
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
T1: Mana Dork. T2: This. Ouch....
Zuthas
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I'm posting this during the last months of Innistrad before it cycles out. The current meta is steeped with highly effective agro and making it very difficult to survive as a control player. I think this card is good, early game, in this environment, provided you have some ground game going. You can at least trade. You can put an agro deck into top deck mode a little faster especially if you are running some Black Cat which they may very well be willing to run right over. What gives me pause is that it would seem like there would be times when you would be putting the agro player in position to make a choice between card in hand and what they are attempting to cast (actually could be true against any deck). I'm still fairly new to the game but I have been warned many times to not let your opponent have the final choice if you can keep it from happening.
leomistico
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I don't understand the whole point of difference between the rating of this card and the one of Runeboggle... It's only for the sheningan that Vandarringa talked about? That may happen once every 100 times? What about if the opponent has more than 1 card in hand? Or that card is a useless card that didn't want to play? What if (s)he doesn't have another card at all? I think that Runeboggle at least gives you a card for sure, so at the worst you replace your Runeboggle, even if your opponent paid ... With this you MAYBE get to have the opponent discard, and MAYBE get to counter a spell... I think that Runeboggle is the understimated card, here!
And note that this isn't even instant discard spell. A true instant discard spell can be played during the draw step, like Funeral Charm or Piracy Charm, in order to make the opponent discard the card the (s)he drew, when it's the only card in Her/his hand... With this one you can't do it!
2/5
blurrymadness
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
NIce thing is it's usually card neutral; and timed well you get easy card advantage on top of tempo advantage.
Comments (28)
Just because no one uses it doesn't mean it's gone...
And man, there will be SO MANY people who think that paying {1} prevents the discard as well. It'll be Book Burning all over again. I understand that the effects had to be in this order or "That player" wouldn't have an antecedent, but it still ends up this way.
*Grumble*
All I know is that there's few things meaner than countering someone's spell and then making them discard.
Forcing an opponent to discard tends to hurt them more than letting you draw one card. It's fair enough. For something that's virtually guaranteed to maintain card advantage, being so soft a counter is kind of forgivable.
Although the counter's drawback may seem bad at first glance, really, players tap out to cast spells fairly often; you'll get to counter with this a lot more often than you think.
Could see play, but only early play or against expensive decks.
@Vandarringa That would be true, but if its late game, he'll at least be able to keep his weaker creature for one colorless.
T2: This. Ouch....
It's only for the sheningan that Vandarringa talked about? That may happen once every 100 times? What about if the opponent has more than 1 card in hand? Or that card is a useless card that didn't want to play? What if (s)he doesn't have another card at all? I think that Runeboggle at least gives you a card for sure, so at the worst you replace your Runeboggle, even if your opponent paid
And note that this isn't even instant discard spell. A true instant discard spell can be played during the draw step, like Funeral Charm or Piracy Charm, in order to make the opponent discard the card the (s)he drew, when it's the only card in Her/his hand... With this one you can't do it!
2/5