Don't complain. Red runs out of gas. Black eventually runs out of removal. Green runs out of creatures. White topdecks the wrong cards and has no reach whatsoever if it gets wrathed. I think it's completely fair for Blue to have a limited supply of efficient hard counters in a given format. I'm happy running exactly 1 of these in my standard deck because it's the one card that trumps most things when my Mana Leaks are dead and my Deprives are used up. And it's premium foil, so it's darn pretty no matter how much mana it costs.
Posted By:
DacenOctavio
(9/1/2011 2:56:15 AM)
If I'm remembering this right, they're not reprinting Counterspell not because it's necessarily unbalanced, but because it isn't fun. It made some players feel like they were cut out of playing the game or something.
I'm not myself certain whether I consider Counterspell fun, but it seems odd that Jace, the Mind Sculptor was considered acceptable using the same reasoning. I can't remember ever having much fun playing games where my opponent had one on the table.
Posted By:
Gelzo
(7/9/2011 12:43:05 PM)
I must say, I love the feel of the Core Set Cancel. It's very simple. The picture, the centering of the rules text, and the lack of flavor text really gives me a feeling of simplicity. When this card hits the table, it just says, "NO. I do not allow that. You can't get around it by paying extra mana (Mana Leak and Frightful Delusions). You cannot do anything I don't want you to.
EDIT: @drpvfx: I, for one, as a player of ANY COLOR BESIDES BLUE (mainly Red and Black), am glad that they no longer give Blue every new ability, and allow it to be THE BEST color on the wheel. I know you miss the old days, but the rest of us do not, and will rue the day when blue becomes the most powerful, coddled color again. May that day never come to pass.
Posted By:
GrandAdmiralThrawn89
(2/1/2012 6:51:06 AM)
"To a Vintage or Legacy player, this is utter GARBAGE."
This card isn't MEANT for Vintage and Legacy.
And is Mana Leak not good enough for you?!
Posted By:
Axelle
(12/3/2011 11:50:30 PM)
Oh not this sh*t again. Counterspell is NOT COMING BACK. Others have already explained why better than I ever could.
EDIT: blugrn, you defend your points well. Let's see Dark Ritual back in standard, then we'll talk.
Posted By:
luca_barelli
(7/14/2011 9:21:41 PM)
InB4 ranting that this isn't counterspell
Posted By:
Pigfish99
(7/8/2011 11:26:47 AM)
Eh, can't complain about a hard counter.
Thing is: I disagree with those saying Counterpell needs a reprint, but I agree when they say Cancel isn't an acceptable replacement.
Hard counters are (against everything I like in MTG) a good thing.
They help balance the game in an infinite number of ways.
Things like Mana Leak (most cases it's a hard counter, but it can sometimes be overcome), Deprive (hard counter that returns a land to your hand, which has been shown as a combo enabler itself), or Stoic Rebuttal (hard counter, but is cheaper under certain conditions) are exceptional.
to stop a player from doing anything is harsh.
When there are conditional counters that are actually decent, I can approve of those.
I feel that the delicate line between Counterspell and Cancel should be where they print counterspells.
Till we get it ... (see all)
Posted By:
infernox10
(7/14/2011 3:39:52 PM)
This card isn't too weak, it's just a more 'fair' version of Counterspell. Mana Leak may seem better, considering it has the same function, but in some situations it's better to use Cancel. Negate and Essence Scatter are pretty decent as well, but if you don't know what your opponent's going to be playing, it's better to use Cancel(Unless you're playing infect, in that case, it's better to use Corrupted Resolve). Sure, Mana Leak's quite decent, but against ramp decks, they're pretty much useless. Counterspell just kinda takes the fun out of the game, considering how little it costs.
Posted By:
Binaro
(12/31/2011 7:51:31 AM)
isn't counterspell
I really don't think some people get that a double-blue costing "hard answer" (as though a {B} costing thoughtseize wasn't even "harder", not to mention faster, and requiring less finesse) to anything in the game that sets you back two turns in natural tempo if you want to actually use it (unless you build a deck of nothing but flash cards, instants, and manlands, which would be a deserved reward for building around the card as anything in magic) was ALREADY perfectly balanced. If someone were to ask me for my least favorite card in magic, my answer would be Cancel, because debuffing the inherent awesomeness of blue should NOT include spiking up the mana cost of one of it's most iconic, balanced, cards.
I cannot believe that some people here are saying stuff like "but what if they reprinted ancestral recall for {1}{U}? Would you be complaining then?" Actually, yes, that would be overpowered - it's not an answer and it doesn't require i... (see all)
Posted By:
Fictionarious
(7/8/2011 1:38:52 PM)