@doolydooly The reason this causes confusion is that an ability cannot be activated if its cost cannot be paid. So your statement "Have to discard a card? Discard nothing." is very misleading; if the cost of this ability were 2, tap, and discard a card, then you could not activate it with an empty hand.
Posted By:
Delnai
(7/25/2011 3:58:55 PM)
I think the question is whether a hand of zero cards counts as a hand. It does.
This question was answered in the following link.
http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75842/20177841/About_Null_Brooch
Posted By:
psychoshen
(12/25/2009 8:17:34 AM)
This card is awsome in my Damia EDH deck. especially with seedborn muse to keep it untapping, and its super evil if I deathwish into my board for arcane lab
Posted By:
ImissTheDuelist
(12/26/2011 2:04:45 PM)
Are you sure? It sounds to me like having a hand to discard is a requirement, just like paying 2 mana and tapping Null Brooch.
Posted By:
DarthCuddles
(12/16/2009 4:24:56 PM)
@psychoshen. . Well I looked at the link, and I don't think that is much of an answer. Just because some guy on a forum says it's right doesn't mean it is. But don't get me wrong I'd love for it to be true. It would make this card so much better. 4/5
Posted By:
EvilCleavage
(5/25/2010 1:02:17 PM)
"Counter target spell" is clearly one of the best things that a card can say. Be straightup honest- I mean that it ranks up there with 'win the game' (#1), 'take an extra turn' (#2), and is maybe in the Top 5 lines of text it's possible for a card to have. Look at what we pay for such effects. Pact of Negation, Force of Will. I understand that a lot of people want Counterspell back. But I don't think it's happening in Standard or Modern. There are cards that look like some of the worst wastes of cardboard/pieces of trash ever in a 'generic'/'Limited'/Casual build, but in a correctly specialized Constructed deck, it seems that almost no price is to high too pay to "Counter target spell", and this means that a card as quick and easy at doing it as Counterspell is...unlikely to pass Development anymore.
Posted By:
DarthParallax
(5/1/2013 11:20:01 AM)
Darth is right. Since the colon is after Discard hand, it is part of the cost. But if it was before, then it would just be part of the ability.
Posted By:
John-Bender
(12/21/2009 4:27:07 AM)
Pretty much a staple in Squee, Goblin Nabob Commander decks.
Posted By:
lorendorky
(6/13/2011 11:23:33 AM)
This thing doesn't work well at all in a counterspell-heavy deck. It was played in some Voltaic Key - Grim Monolith artifact decks.
Posted By:
Gabriel422
(7/25/2011 12:27:58 AM)
this, together with liliana of the veil on the battlefield is a lock that hard to get out from..
im not sure though if its fast enough for legacy..
Posted By:
zenitramleirdag
(10/5/2012 12:46:17 AM)