In 3 years this will be the chase rare from this set
SyntheticDreamer
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(3 votes)
At last, we finally get a really good counterspell in this block.
Totema
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(3 votes)
I actually prefer silencing one opponent as opposed to all of them in a big multiplayer match, it makes you look like more of a strategic player who's willing to play sides rather than just a dick that stymies the game for everyone. That being said, this is a really solid card for that reason.
Gcrudaplaneswalker
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Come on, this is just absurd. Azorius gets the Geist, D Sphere, Leonos's Verdict, and Isperia's Revelation to name a few, then this?? U/W is getting too spoiled IMO. Not to mention 2/3 Buy A Box Promos go to the Lawmakers of Ravnica...
LordOfTheFlies87
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Bad art on the dude. Great otherwise.
James_Kernaghan
★★☆☆☆ (2.1/5.0)(7 votes)
This will see play in Vintage.
Anzu-chan
★★★★☆ (4.1/5.0)(7 votes)
Talk to my hand!
5/5
rollinsclone
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Deceptively powerful. Three mana Time Walk? I have no problems with that.
strider24seven
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
So Wizards has been putting the nerf bat to counterspells because Counterspell was too good.
So they reprinted it with a Silence stapled to it. Riiiiiight....
Fenix.
★★★☆☆ (3.7/5.0)(5 votes)
Vintage? Are you guys crazy? This may possibly not see play even in standard, let alone vintage.
don_miguel
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
at the end of your turn, evacuation in your next turn, first creature drop, this
Jake1991
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(7 votes)
"It is rumored the Azorius paid an exorbitant sum to ensure a second Buy-a-Box Promo."
BongRipper420
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@James_Kernagen
No this will not. Force of Will is the go-to mainboard counterspell in Vintage. It's the only one typically able to keep up with the power of the format.
Hunter06
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
When I only saw the 'Buy a Box Promo' I thought certanly this must be a fake, glad I was wrong. 4/5 Stars
infernox10
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
... Cannot unsee "Kill Yourself" meme.
Also, when you play this, it feels almost obligatory to say: "Shut up, Meg."
ToAsTy42o
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
grumpy cat runs 4. time for some photoshopped alt art.
Kragash
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
"This will be one of the most powerful counterspells ever printed. Counterspells usually just target 1 card, but this one targets a card and a player's turn."
But it's a counterspell that is only realistically good late game. Countering an opponent that has tapped out (happens often early game) and countering+silencing an opponent that has tapped out is virtually the same (except in rare cases where an opponent is casting spells without needing mana.)
Zoroaster85
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Casting this during your opponent's turn gives you... 1) the removal of 1 card in your opponent's hand and the removal of a potentially game changing card 2) your opponent draws mana for no gain 1&2 = counterspell 3) your opponent can't play spells for the rest of their turn unless the spell targets render silent 3 = silence 4) if render silent resolves your opponent will have a difficult time playing abilities because of the mana used to cast the countered spell. 4 = the effect of counterspell and silence complimenting each other
AdamPembs
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(3 votes)
Come on Wizards, a staple counterspell for every white /blue deck that you need 4 of and its rare. It should be uncommon. Rares should have some unusual or special feature or have higher mana costs. Why not make it a mythic if you just want to extract more cash out of us.
With this card, you pretty much paid only 2 for counterspell like Counterspell and pay another one mana for Silence but you also save number of cards in your hand.
Very strong card.... 5/5
Winhert
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Because *** your turbofogs, that's why!
OrgasmandTea
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(5 votes)
Well, I petitioned, but I never did get my spell back...
EvilDarkVoid
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
When you think about it, there really aren't /that/ many circumstances in which this is better than both Counterspell AND Silence. Early game you'll usually just be using this as a more expensive Counterspell. Late-game you might screw someone over by getting rid of a card from their plan (aka same as Counterspell) or you might stall a turn (aka same as Silence) but only rarely will both effects be needed.
Think of this as Silence+opponent discards 1. There are some situations where this is better (opponent has cards to play on your turn or activated abilities requiring mana but not the mana required to do them and cast something) but a lot of the time the {U}{U} will just add on an inverse cantrip, which is good but not great in terms of mana-efficiency.
tl;dr pretty niche card and I wouldn't mainboard this over Counterspell OR Silence.
TheWaddleDeeKing
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
While I like the idea of slapping together Silence and Counterspell onto one card, it really just doesn't work most of the time, especially in today's standard. Here's how I generally see this spell go at my local tourney:
Player 1: I play this really big spell that cost up all of my mana pool this turn Player 2: I Render Silent! Now you can't play anymore spells this turn, despite having no more mana to do so!
Kaleidostorm
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Definitely situational, but I still find it to be a solid counter. It is good for countering people who are ramping mana or throwing out small spells to coax you into using something else. I find it good against aggro red builds or other control decks.
I dont think this is that good. Cancel is too much mana for me to run, so why would I run a more restrictive cancel which the benefits are most likely not going to be relevant.
Late mid game it could have an effect, but I feel its too situational to run in anything but EDH.
Kadaver666
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I rather like this card. In the current Standard control environment, you can make a game last a really long time. Early game, it acts as a Cancel, late game, you Supreme Verdict, pass their turn, counter the spell they try to cast with this, can't do anything else, pass to you drop your bomb, in my case Aetherling. I'm actually surprised I don't see this more.
Technetium
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Not too sure about this card. The bonus hardly ever will come into effect. But on the other hand, it is still an unconditional hard counter, and there aren't a lot of those in the format at the moment. The casting cost is basically same as Cancel/Dissolve in Azorius, and while nobody plays with Cancel, Dissolve is a standard. It's very unlikely that UW will find itself only able to pay UUU, and if you only have a single U then you can't cast Dissolve either.
The problem I often run into playing Azorius in Standard (as of Theros) is that too many of the counterspells have conditions that make them often become dead cards in hand. These are cards like Negate, Gainsay, Essence Scatter, Dispel, and Syncopate. At least Render Silent is never a dead card like that. The same could be said of Cancel, but again, there is no reason in UW to choose Cancel over Render Silent. Of course you should run 4 Dissolve before either, but I'm not sure Render Silent is completely useless.
Not to be used in Esper, though, too color restrictive.
bertuccia32
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@TheWaddleDeeKing as much as I respect your wizards username, you're not thinking this card through. You don't use it to counter their big scary shit (that's what cancel, dissolve, counterspell etc are for) you use it to counter one of their early-turn spells that is clearly meant to draw a counter.
When your mono green opponent has 12 open mana and plays an Elvish Piper, that's when you drop this. It's not just countering the piper, but it's also countering the Garruk he was going to cast after drawing the counterspell with the piper, as well as the Sylvan Primordial he was gonna cheat out with it.
SevesDariku
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@OrgasmandTea
The Azorius are big on procedures and proper legal representation... Try getting an Archaeomancer to represent you next time, they can get your spell back.
What's that? Your spell wasn't an instant/sorcery? Try getting an Auramancer, or an Argivian Archaeologist, or if it's a creature... Forget the petition, and pay a cadaver imp to steal the body back for you.
Enelysios
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Not going to be seeing tournement play, but I love these two color, three mana counter+ cards. Absorb, Undermine, Voidslime and Counterflux are all better than this card, that's pretty hard to argue against. That doesn't mean that Render Silent is bad.
Firstly the flavor is great, it feels Azorius through and through. More importantly to some, this card provides an answer to a tactic no card besides the lovably overkill Time Stop has answered before. How do you deal with counterbaiting? When you have one counterspell, your opponent has decent mana reserves and a full hand, and they start playing little threats. Do you call their bluff and counter what they're sneaking out, or do you wait and let them get the small fries to stop a potential bomb in the hand?
Having black in your deck to look through your opponent's hand and discard, or to kill things on the table is a solid pick, but for azorius colors I like the Render Silent option. Stop the first spell, and no games. I especially like it for casual and EDH. Render Silent can't stop storm decks, but it stops all sorts of combos from gettinga one turn win. Plus, in these formats, 3 mana for a counter is nothing bad. Four and Five mana counters get played in EDH, and not just Cryptic Command, which doesn't count because it is absurd.
If only it had split second or stopped activated abilities as well.
absreim
★☆☆☆☆ (1.0/5.0)(1 vote)
In modern, this card is excellent against combo decks like storm, eggs, and ad nauseam. I expect a lot of less experienced players to overvalue the silence effect against other decks, though.
Necroken
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
is ral zerek the one tied up on the promo of this card?
MrMonday
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@absreim: What are you talking about? Any Ad Nauseum deck worth its salt will have a Pact of Negation for exactly that type of situation.
Comments (40)
Great otherwise.
5/5
So they reprinted it with a Silence stapled to it.
Riiiiiight....
in your next turn, first creature drop, this
No this will not. Force of Will is the go-to mainboard counterspell in Vintage. It's the only one typically able to keep up with the power of the format.
4/5 Stars
Cannot unsee "Kill Yourself" meme.
Also, when you play this, it feels almost obligatory to say:
"Shut up, Meg."
time for some photoshopped alt art.
But it's a counterspell that is only realistically good late game. Countering an opponent that has tapped out (happens often early game) and countering+silencing an opponent that has tapped out is virtually the same (except in rare cases where an opponent is casting spells without needing mana.)
1) the removal of 1 card in your opponent's hand and the removal of a potentially game changing card
2) your opponent draws mana for no gain
1&2 = counterspell
3) your opponent can't play spells for the rest of their turn unless the spell targets render silent
3 = silence
4) if render silent resolves your opponent will have a difficult time playing abilities because of the mana used to cast the countered spell.
4 = the effect of counterspell and silence complimenting each other
With this card, you pretty much paid only 2 for counterspell like Counterspell and pay another one mana for Silence but you also save number of cards in your hand.
Very strong card.... 5/5
Think of this as Silence+opponent discards 1. There are some situations where this is better (opponent has cards to play on your turn or activated abilities requiring mana but not the mana required to do them and cast something) but a lot of the time the {U}{U} will just add on an inverse cantrip, which is good but not great in terms of mana-efficiency.
tl;dr pretty niche card and I wouldn't mainboard this over Counterspell OR Silence.
Player 1: I play this really big spell that cost up all of my mana pool this turn
Player 2: I Render Silent! Now you can't play anymore spells this turn, despite having no more mana to do so!
Late mid game it could have an effect, but I feel its too situational to run in anything but EDH.
The problem I often run into playing Azorius in Standard (as of Theros) is that too many of the counterspells have conditions that make them often become dead cards in hand. These are cards like Negate, Gainsay, Essence Scatter, Dispel, and Syncopate. At least Render Silent is never a dead card like that. The same could be said of Cancel, but again, there is no reason in UW to choose Cancel over Render Silent. Of course you should run 4 Dissolve before either, but I'm not sure Render Silent is completely useless.
Not to be used in Esper, though, too color restrictive.
When your mono green opponent has 12 open mana and plays an Elvish Piper, that's when you drop this. It's not just countering the piper, but it's also countering the Garruk he was going to cast after drawing the counterspell with the piper, as well as the Sylvan Primordial he was gonna cheat out with it.
The Azorius are big on procedures and proper legal representation... Try getting an Archaeomancer to represent you next time, they can get your spell back.
What's that? Your spell wasn't an instant/sorcery? Try getting an Auramancer, or an Argivian Archaeologist, or if it's a creature... Forget the petition, and pay a cadaver imp to steal the body back for you.
Firstly the flavor is great, it feels Azorius through and through. More importantly to some, this card provides an answer to a tactic no card besides the lovably overkill Time Stop has answered before. How do you deal with counterbaiting? When you have one counterspell, your opponent has decent mana reserves and a full hand, and they start playing little threats. Do you call their bluff and counter what they're sneaking out, or do you wait and let them get the small fries to stop a potential bomb in the hand?
Having black in your deck to look through your opponent's hand and discard, or to kill things on the table is a solid pick, but for azorius colors I like the Render Silent option. Stop the first spell, and no games. I especially like it for casual and EDH. Render Silent can't stop storm decks, but it stops all sorts of combos from gettinga one turn win. Plus, in these formats, 3 mana for a counter is nothing bad. Four and Five mana counters get played in EDH, and not just Cryptic Command, which doesn't count because it is absurd.
If only it had split second or stopped activated abilities as well.