This card is obviously going to be the most
popular of the Pact cycle. There's not much to
say here. It's useful, but it's drawback is a
little costly. But, if you need it in a pinch,
it gets the job done.
What did I say yesterday? This is a very
powerful tool in the counter player's arsenal.
Mike Flroes wrote an article on it, and he
explained it better than I could. Basically, you
use it to defend the card that wins you the game
THAT TURN, so the upkeep trigger never comes. Of
course, 3UU is a lot to pay for a counterspell,
even if you aren't paying it then. And what I
said about Slaughter Pact on Monday holds true,
so there is risk, but a Spike will gladly take
that risk.
The card everyone's been talking about.
Supposively the new force of will. First I must
say it's no force of will but it is good. A free
counterspell! Everyone will agree this is a
great concept. However, paying 5 is a steep cost
the next turn. Meaning, during your turn you are
forced to tap out or at least a majority of your
lands. This is usually not something a blue deck
wants to do. Now to get around this, angel's
grace can be played to save your life. But this
is not worth it since it requires 2 cards. I'd
stay with normal counters than this guy.
Limited - 3
Casual - 2
Constucted - 3
David Fanany
Player since
1995
Pact of
Negation
Let's get one thing straight right up: Pact of
Negation is NOT Force of Will. It is basically
useless until you get to five mana - or unless
you plan to win this turn. I know some people
who are testing this out in Dragonstorm decks as
extra protection for their one big turn; but the
fact that you have to pay or lose if you don't
win that turn is kind of intimidating for many
people (understandably, I guess). It's not going
to have as much of an impact in older formats
because you can't use it before you have five
lands. I'm not a huge fan of counters in limited
formats, but Pact of Negation is decent as they
go, if only because your opponent might not ever
see it coming.
Constructed: 3/5
Casual: 2/5
Limited: 2/5
Arcane
Reviews by
Arcane
Pact of Negation
Constructed: Do not kid yourself. This is not
Force or Will. It isn’t even Daze or Disrupting
Shoal. This is not a free counter you can toss
out and just continue without thinking about it
again. If you don’t pay on your next upkeep you
lose the game. That’s a heck of an investment to
want to trade a card one for one against the
opponent. The best place for this card, and the
place it will most likely show up in are
dedicated combo decks with something to protect.
Thos decks are planning on making it to a next
upkeep and want something to make sure that you
don’t get one either.
Casual/Multi: As I said on Monday’s article
about Slaughter Pact the surprise factor is what
this card has going for it, catching a player
unaware when you’re tapped down. But my personal
opinion when it comes to cards like this (echo
or pacts) is that helping yourself now is very
hard to judge since it costs you mana in the
future (and 5 mana is a lot). If it stops you
from losing or your opponent from winning, then
by all means, but it’s not the greatest
counterspell for casual, not when there are so
many other ones that you can get good effects
with.
Limited: Counterspells in limited usually have
to have a great effect because of the fact that
they are only a one for one trade. The benefit
to this card is that you can cast it when you
need to. You don’t have to worry about tapping
down and your opponent playing his bomb, but you
do have to be aware about the potential tempo
loss when you have to pay for it next turn.
Barring that it’s going to play just like a 5
mana counterspell, a bit too expensive for my
taste.
Constructed: 2.5 (4 if playing combo)
Casual: 2
Limited: 2.5
The Missing
Linc
-Balding
for just over 5 years
-Playing MTG for just over 10
Pact of
Negation
Too much has been said already about this card.
If you go online to read about magic and have
not read the plethora of info on this, then you
don't go online to read about magic. Counter War
winner, Will Break Hulk Flash, force of will's
next best cousin, yadda, yadda, yadda
Constructed: 4
Casual: 4
Limited: 3
Necro
nomikron
MTG Rules Advisor
Pact of
Negation:
Hard to judge this card. Its effect is powerful,
but, the cost is high. A free counterspell is
very nice, but, not in a permission based deck:
we run it in a combo deck to protect our combo
pieces.
Constructed: 3.5/5
Casual: 4/5 (Can't afford those force of wills?)
Limited: 2/5
PsychoAnime
#1
Magic Noob in Canada since 2002
This card's pretty cool. In a combo deck, you can
use it safely if you
know you win that turn. If your combo fails,
well, you lose anyway so
you don't have to worry about paying your bill.
In any where else though, there's not much of a
home for it. It's
colourless so you could run it in aggro to
counter any Judge Unworthy
and co. cards that might stop you from dealing
lethal damage, but that's
not going to happen, right?
