"Cards in hand?"
"3."
"Mana open?"
"1."
" I cast Seething Song, followed by Through the Breach, throwing down Grisel...."
"In response, I exile Fact or Fiction and pay 1 life to cast Force of Will targeting Through the Breach."
Blue's interaction suite has been one of it strengths and weak points of the color. Counterspells have been synonymous with blue since the beginning of Magic and has been something unique to that color forever. In fact, these might be the only evergreen card abilities that haven't really left their primary color even after 30+ years of game design. This has lead to many players looking at blue as the antifun person. There have been attempts to deviate these cards away from it, but these experimentations have rarely gone further or they're just too weird to see meaningful play. In the context of cube, this relegates counterspells to just blue, though depending on curator, it will show up in other colors. In terms of function, they are blue's primary form of interaction.
Going to the wider picture of blue interaction, they can do more than just cast counterspells. It gets a little weird though since their interaction suite is a lot less cohesive and more varying than the other colors even after all these years. It ranges bouncing creatures to transforming them into something else. It can makes it difficult to evaluate these cards and their impact to the cube environment. They're just as effective as their contemporary cards in other colors, but are more difficult to include since they compete for space against the counter magic.
Counterspells
Named after the first card on the list, these cards negate the resolution of cards. This prevents card ability from resolving.
Counterspell is the baseline for all counterspells in the game. It is able to counter anything that can be countered at a reasonable cost of 2 mana. The double blue does restrict what decks can play it, but even with this limitation the card is almost always played when there is room for it.
Mana Leak is a reasonable adjustment of Counterspell, where you are looking for something more flexible. This is able to counter anything just like Counterspell, however it provides your opponent with a way to negate the ability. From a play perspective, this drawback isn't relevant until your opponent has more mana available. Thus in most cases, this is a more flexible counterspell.
Spell Pierce may seem like a narrow choice, but it sas gifted the power of speed. Being able to hit only noncreatures is not a big drawback similar as seen in Duress. Noncreatures makes up a significant number of cards in a cube with many big plays coming from noncreature spells like Planeswalkers. Being one mana is significant as it enables you to maintain playing proactively, while holding up mana to interact with your opponent. In faster environment, this card is the lifeline.
Arcane Denial is a flexible counterspell with a huge drawback. In terms of function, it works exactly the same way as Counterspell, but it cost 1U vs UU. This makes it easier to run, but the drawback is the main concern when evaluating this card. When the spell is successful, you are allowing your opponent to draw 2 cards, while you draw 1 to replace Arcane Denial. In slower decks, you are risking the game, while faster decks can invalidate the card draw.
Remand is a premier tempo card that is is great at nullifying your opponent's gameplan. Since it replaces itself, you will be able to keep the gas pedal of disruption going. It does return the spell to hand giving your opponents a chance to replay it. This makes the card a little more matchup dependent. For example, decks playing small creatures will just jam them back down that same turn, while slower decks can be ruined. If you enjoy weird gameplay, this is also a solid card for that as any cast trigger can be reused including storm.
Complicate is a versatile variant of Mana Leak that is more powerful than it appears. At a baseline, the card is strictly worse than Mana Leak since it cost 3 vs 2. Cycling is where you want to be with this card. The effect gets weaker since your opponent only needs to pay 1 mana, but you are at minimum drawing a card. The cycling ability and the counter trigger are seperate abilities and thus you can just cycle the if you don't need it. Since the counter is an ability, it is harder to interact with. A card like this really sets the standard for the complexities of cube.
Disallow is cancel with upside. When compared to counterspell, the higher cost of the spell is notable as it is sloer to cast. The tradeoff being able to counter abilities. With this function being so rare, any card that has it is worth consideration. Moreso with lands that have have abilities on them. Its worse case scenario is just a slower counterspell and that's acceptable.
Glen Elendra Archmage has a counterspell as an activated ability and is attached to a creature. This is different from the other options on the list and it actually functions more like a hatebear rather than a counterspell. It will intimidate your opponents from playing however they want. What's more with persist, the card represents 2 counter spells and makes great sacrifice fodder.
Force of Will, the card that makes Legacy Legacy. This will almost always be played for free. Its purpose is to stop turn 1 kills, which are not as common thanks to most cube's nature of being a singleton format ( it doesn't have to be). Even if your format doesn't support these lines of play, Force of Will is free interaction.
Bounce Spells
This has been blue's main method of removing creatures. These spells do not remove the permanents permanently, but takes them off the battlefield temporary. Depending on the wording of the card, you may also target your own cards allowing you to reuse any enter abilities the card may have, adding extra utility to them.
Unsummon is the baseline for this effect. Its cheap cost and timing make it an extremely effective card. Its use is unpopular in format outside of limited, however as most blue decks are playing the longer game. The decks are looking for something more universal or more gear towards their game plan and with limited card slots, Unsummon rarely makes the cut. In a weaker environment, this card is still formidable.
Into the Roil has a solid design and will thrive in slower cube environments. It can bounce any nonland permanent, which is increasingly becoming more important as more powerful noncreature permanents are being created. This alone makes the card good enough, but the kicker gives the card longevity in games as it replaces itself. This is the baseline for what I think bounce spells should be and where I base my card evaluations off of.
Cyclonic Rift an EDH staple. It has a similar design to Into the Roil, though you can't target your own cards. The trade off is that you can turn this into a board wipe late game and a really heavy handed one too since it is done at instant speed. This card is a menace in the right game environments and should be on the radar.
Man o War is a bounce spell on a creature. This are done at sorcery speed, but gives you a creature as a tradeoff. This advances your board state while setting them back. Since it sticks around, you can use flicker and other blink spells to rebuy the enters ability. Variants of these come every so often, but this is the baseline.
Polymorphs
This is blue's closest attempt for permanent removal. All of these cards either exile their targets and replace them with a token or transform the card into something less threatening. The neat thing about these cards is they can be used as a way to pump your creatures or other unused permanents into something with utility.
Resculpt can potentially be seen as the blue version of Doomblade in its ability to hit creatures and artifacts at instant speed for 2 mana. It does leave behind a 4/4 token, so you will have to make decisions on what you want to deal with. Savvy players will quickly notice that you can target your own board to get an early 4/4. This card fares better in commander formats as the larger life pool and multiplayer environment will mitigate the problem.
Imprisoned in the Moon is an aura that transforms its target into a colorless land. It can seen as a sorcery speed Path to Exile. Being able to hit planeswalker and lands in addition to creatures is huge for blue as this color struggles to deal with threats that have already resolved. As this is an enchantment, it can still be beaten by attacking Imprison or interacting with the permanent, but both types are hard to interact with. This creates an interesting point of frustration in the commander environment if you target their commanders with it. This will prevent them from getting access of their commander unless they can deal with the enchantment.
Control Magics
Uniquely Blue is the ability to take control of other permanent. These are sometimes some of the biggest tempo swings ever. They started off designing these cards as auras allowing players to get their creature back by blowing up the aura, but recent variants just have the player taking the cards.
Control Magic is the classic option that's been around forever. 4 mana take control of any creature is the baseline for this effect. It can be interrupted by enchantment removal, but that's really about it.
Sower of Temptation is another classic choice and can be seen as the creature equivalent of Control Magic. Creature removal is more prevalent making this a vulnerable target. At the same time, there are creature interactions that make this card more guaranteed or easier to protect. The worst case scenario is a 2/2 flier for 4 mana, which is awful, but can still push you towards winning.
Blatant Thievery is my choice for this effect in EDH cubes. It hits each other player and allows you to steal any permanent including lands. As a sorcery, there's no way for them to take back their cards and has more universal interactions like spell copying. This makes a huge impact when played and it should be a big enough nail to close out the game.
Swiss Army Knives
These are cards that just do it all and are extremely important to blue's game plan. As counterspells and its removal suite are niche in application, they need the flexibility to adjust to the opponent's threats.
Archmage's Charm, One of the most solid cards you can want in a Blue control shell. Its versatility is amazing with the card never being bad at any point in the game. At minimum, it's an instant speed divination but if you're in a pinch and need a counterspell, this is there for you. The efficacy of the last ability is a bit more mix and is heavily dependent on your cube composition. Regardless, the counter and draw are more than enough to keep the card relevant and will be used the most often. The triple blue cost is prohibitive, but can be managed with good color fixing or can be an incentive to go heavier in blue.
Cryptic Command is another solid card for Blue control for similar reasons. The main appeal of this card is its versatility. When picking the modes, it bares resemblance to other playable cards that exist at 4 mana like Dismiss and a kicked Into the Roil. There is the prohibitive mana cost, which matters more the worse your colorfixing is. One last thing to consider is the floor for the card is extremely bad, but the average use case is good, maintaining its status.
Venser, Shaper Savant, essentially a versatile counterspell on creature. This can be seen as a variant of Man o War. You are able to play it at instant speed and bounce spells off the stack, which can be seen as a sort of counterspell. This versatility can lead to some serious tempo blowouts as you advance your board while keeping your opponents down.
Mystic Confluence is one of my favorite counterspells to use because of its insane versatility. Because of the choice to draw 3 cards, the baseline for the card will never feel bad. In fact, almost everytime this card is played, it results in a tempo blowout. The most common use cases for myself have been counter draw 2 or one of each mode. This card is solid at any point in the game on both defense and offense with almost all decks wanting this card as part of their list.
The End Step
In the grand scheme, it's pretty clear blue's removal suite can be a complicated mess. The curator has to figure out the balance between counterspell vs non counterspell removal. Choosing one over the other isn't a real choice either. Counterspells is blue's most defining feature, however the limitation in application does demand a certain amount of build around. Opting to forgo counterspells is not recommended either since blue's non counter suite doesn't even compare to what the other colors have. This makes the swiss army knives become more important. Thankfully with the way MTG Arena has been affecting card design, counterspells have been becoming more versatile and there will be more swiss army knives to come. One last thing to note, most players will play dual color decks and the removal from the other color will make up for blue's weaker removal.
If you ask me for a recommendation, I'd suggest using about a third of your blue slots for removal leaning more towards counterspells. If the decks are expected to be multicolored, you can lean heavier into the counterspells.
If you enjoyed this read, please consider following me elsewhere at linktr.ee/wekapipo. If you want to support me further, consider donating at https://www.patreon.com/Wekap1po
Comments
Post a Comment