As opposed to other "Counter unless they pay ___" cards, this one actually gives them no choice.
Even if they would rather lose the spell than pay the mana, they're screwed. Play this during your opponent's first main phase, and enjoy the lack of combat tricks and shenanigans for the rest of the turn.
Posted By:
NoobOfLore
(1/5/2011 4:59:07 PM)
And I thought Black was Evil...
Posted By:
Xineombine
(5/10/2013 12:02:00 PM)
There was an article on Wizards that explained how the change in rules that converted interrupts to instants (I think it was 6th edition) made this card much less powerful. The way I understand it is that, because interrupts resolved before any more instants could be played, this meant the opponent could only respond to this spell with other interrupts and otherwise couldn't use any mana later in the resolving order to cast instants or use non-interrupt abilities.
For example, let's just assume we both have a ridiculous amount of mana open. I hit you with a burn spell that would bring you down to 0 life. You respond with a Reflect Damage, and you're holding another one with just enough mana left open to cast it, but I Power Sink the first one for 6. Under the new rules, you can simply respond by casting your other Reflect Damage, and it will resolve before my Power Sink does. Under the old rules, however, the Power Sink would resolve first and you would have to ta... (see all)
Posted By:
achilleselbow
(6/29/2010 10:52:24 AM)
Pretty powerful. Counter target spell unless it's controller pays X, but with a nice bonus.
Posted By:
Dark_Raider
(8/11/2009 5:54:13 AM)
empty peoples mana pool so they can't use circle of protection.
the power sink trap
Posted By:
Mindbend
(12/28/2009 9:39:57 AM)
So basically all interrupts had split second then? (fitting that split second appeared in the nostalgia themed set).
Posted By:
TPmanW
(10/28/2010 12:16:21 AM)
this card drives me nuts!! powerful and leaves your mana tapped...your summon or spell undone..ughhhh then they untapped all the mana they spent on their turn after you. great card
Posted By:
LivingFoul
(1/4/2010 8:53:05 AM)
The best Counterspell with X in mana cost !
Posted By:
True_Smog
(2/8/2010 1:30:57 PM)
If you can't counter Omnath, Locus of Mana, power sink whatever comes next to keep him puny.
Posted By:
Kataklyzmik
(2/12/2010 9:21:43 PM)
certainly a good card, but I don't think you guys realize that they can just pay the mana. it doesn't beat metalworker, i.e., since they can just pay the mana and then it doesn't empty their pool.
Posted By:
channelblaze
(6/1/2010 4:22:46 PM)