The last time Mana Leak was reviewed on this
site was over 6 years ago, and nobody who
reviewed it then still does COTD reviews for us,
so I guess it's time to look again at this old
card through new eyes.
When Lorwyn gave us Negate, and M10 followed up
with Essence Scatter, most people were fairly
happy because it seemed like as close to the
original Counterspell as we'd ever see again.
Two mana; your spell is countered. Alas, Negate
and Essence Scatter had targeting restrictions
that made it matter at time of deckbuilding
whether or not you wanted to be able to counter
creature spells. Essence Scatter fell to the
wayside, as all too often it was a noncreature
spell that you needed to stop. So Negate became
the counter of choice, only for decks running it
to find themselves in hot water against
creature-based decks. Any deck that wanted to
counter a spell pretty much needed to run one in
the maindeck and one in the sideboard.
The return of Mana Leak puts a stop to that
issue. Now, one card guarantees you an answer to
any spell an opponent can play... at the price
of not always stopping the spell definitively.
But most of the time, any sufficiently
frightening spell an opponent would play doesn't
leave them with an extra three mana up, so Mana
Leak is quite good at stopping a variety of
spells.
I haven't decided whether people fear Mana Leak
too much or not enough - strange as that may
sound for someone who was playing when it was
originally released in Stronghold, and was still
playing when it was re-released in the Eighth
Edition of the core set, and is still playing
now that it's been re-released again in M11. It
is almost peerless at stopping spells in the
early game, and it's sometimes relevant way
later too (who doesn't like using all their mana
every turn?). If great cards change the way
people think and act just because they know
they're in decks, Mana Leak is definitely one of
the greatest.
Welcome back readers today's card of the day is
the recently reprinted Mana Leak. Early game
this card can serve as a hard counter but its
useful wanes as the game drags on. In standard
it has been a while since Mana Leak has had the
spotlight. Blue being one of the most powerful
colors in standard at the moment means this card
will see so much play it will make your head
spin, while not a hard counter any deck running
blue in standard has to have a good reason not
to pack some Mana Leak's. In extended Mana Leak
will see play as the new extended format is
shaped, its a powerful blue card. In eternal
there are better free counters along with the
original Counterpspell this card is good just
not quite as good. In casual and multiplayer
this card is decent it can counter threats early
or late game if an opponent taps out for their
Akroma or other threat. Control decks are
powerful in multiplayer you just need to lie low
and counter dangerous spells. In limited
counters are not the greatest but this card is
near the top of the list I wouldn't pass any of
these unless there is removal or a bomb in the
pack.
Today's card of the day is Mana Leak one of the
more powerful early game countermagic options in
Blue's spellbook, but loses some steam later in
the game when the opponent may have the extra
lands untapped to cover the cost. Anytime
someone taps out against Blue they worry about a
card like this being played which shows the kind
of psychological impact it holds. Being
prepared for this by playing two cards a turn or
keeping three mana available helps, but does
slow a player down. Overall a very strong
choice for a control player and one that has and
will continue to see play for some time to come.
For Limited this is a great card early and into
the middle stages of the game, but due to the
often longer nature of the format can become a
dead draw later on as lands pile up on both
sides of the battlefield. Easily worth
running in Sealed and solid support to draft as
pre-removal in Booster this can punish anyone
for anything they tap out for. For just
two mana, one of which being colorless, this is
a great partner to Cancel and much easier to run
in a multicolor deck.
