One of my favorite sideboards. Contrary to belief, it will only occasionally stop Storm combos (as they'll usually try to make you discard it or they'll cast a Silence) but it does mean that on top of their combo they have to have protection; which even knowing you have this means they slow down.
Slowing down storm is almost as good as successfully casting this and eating them; because all you really have to do is get there with enough damage and slowing them down to do that is half the battle.
When they scoop because you just ate their deck, however, is pretty fantastic.
That said, with the banning of Mental Misstep, this is a necessary card IMO. It's too easy for more and more combo decks to pop up that T1 you before you can even get a spell off. Things like this have to be there to help balance that out and I'd say that they need to even find a few more.
Posted By:
blurrymadness
(10/3/2013 12:44:19 PM)
Mana Leak: Counter
Cancel: Hard Counter
Mindbreaker Trap: The HARDEST Counter
Posted By:
RedAtrocitus
(8/27/2012 10:28:45 AM)
Wow, a LOT of people seem to be missing the uses for this card...
1. An A+ all-around counter: For 1 mana more than Cancel, you can "counter" ANY spell (such as a Great Sable Stag, Obliterate, a kicked Urza's Rage, etc.), and exile it to boot!
2a. Shuts down spell-based (or spell-finished) combos.
2b. Can do this on turn one (or when tapped out), for the Legacy one-turn combos.
3. Shuts down Storm decks.
4. Shuts down Cascades.
It's hardly situational! And it's a Mythic Rare because it's (a) a very powerful spell, (b) while not "situational", it's still not a utility card or one every deck can use, and (c) it was designed with Vintage in mind, not Standard, so there doesn't need to be a billion of them floating around.
Anyone who thinks this is less than a 4.5/5 (or better) is crazy, or doesn't understand what this card does.
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RULES PRIMER:
THIS CARD ONLY STOPS SPELLS. A permanent that resolved is not a... (see all)
Posted By:
djbon2112
(7/20/2010 5:26:22 PM)
Aside from wasting Storm, this spell really shines as the last word in a counterspell battle or if Yawgmoth's Will slips through. It's not made for Standard, where crap counters like Cancel are the norm.
Posted By:
Motion2Dismiss
(1/12/2010 8:02:49 PM)
Counter the uncounterable?
(Row, row, fight the powah!)
Posted By:
Gelzo
(7/8/2011 10:43:14 PM)
AT WORST, it's a 4-mana counter that gets around Great Sable Stag. At best, you can make your friend want to kill himself after he FINALLY gets the legendary 6-card Cascade chain. I love thinking about a few years from now, when people have forgotten about traps, playing this in a casual game and completely warping an entire game.
Posted By:
ratchet1215
(9/25/2009 12:48:47 PM)
A card is only a "spell" while it is on the stack waiting to resolve. If youi opponent cast 3 creatures 1 at at time (letting each 1 resolve before casting the next), this would only exile the last one that is still on the stack.
The only time this exiles more than 1 card is if there are multiple spells on the stack. This occurs with things like storm, cascade or anything that puts copies of spells onto the stack
Posted By:
CrimsonFury82
(1/4/2010 9:59:49 PM)
It isn't a counter, there is no countering of spells involved, it simply removes spells from the stack. Devastating versus Cascade decks, and a way of getting around 'this spell cannot be countered' like Banefire. the most incredible time I have seen this pulled off was after a Cruel Ultimatum that was Twincasted, which in turn was Twincasted back at the opponent, and then Negated the original Cruel Ultimatum (each player is now being Cruel Ultimatummed once). The player who originally cast the Ultimatum then looked at his life total and back at his hand for the next 30 seconds, finally deciding to Mindbreak Trap everything. I think both players sighed with relief after the ordeal.
Posted By:
ArKive
(10/17/2009 2:41:53 AM)
Hahahahaha... and after I'm done doing that, I Grapeshot you for OVER 9000!!!
...okay, I scoop...
Posted By:
Xenocide1337
(3/11/2011 1:33:22 PM)