Clearly, the original Counterspell is sorely
missed. But is this new contender to the throne
a worthy heir or a mere usurper? It certainly
does what Counterspell did-- stop any spell with
only UU left open, but it makes you bounce a
land back to your hand. If it's early game, this
could sorely stop your development. That doesn't
make Deprive useless however. A combo deck would
love to use it to protect its combo-- it likely
doesn't care about stunting its mana development
on the turn it plans to win. Likewise, once
you've got your Sphinx in play, you probably
don't mind bouncing one of your six or seven
lands to your hand to stop a kill spell pointed
at it. But of course, if you're using it to
counter instants or other answers, one could
argue Negate is better
I was sad to see that some people were ready to
write off Deprive without giving it a chance.
Sure, you can't use it well on your second turn
(although I can imagine you might have to
occasionally), but the drawback can be
mitigated if you have Halimar Depths, or if you
already have seven lands in play, or if you're
using Trade Routes. Decks that want Cancel won't
replace it with Deprive, and most decks that
have Counterspell don't need Deprive, but it
will still find a niche somewhere out there.
Welcome back readers today’s card of the day
is an interesting counterspell and most likely
the closest we will see to its power for some
time. Counterspell lies on the nebulous line
between fun and competitive, for the majority of
Magic players getting your spells countered,
lands destroyed and discard are not fun parts;
the catch is that these are integral parts of
the game. Wizards saw fit to bring back Lighting
Bolt due to the power level increase of
creatures, as spell power increases maybe one
day we can receive the original counterspell. In
a block that focuses around landfall the
returning land to your hand can often be a boon,
the momentary loss of tempo to slow opponents
down and counter a game changing spell, this
counter gets stronger during the late game when
bouncing a land is negligible. In standard this
card will see extensive play it’s a hard counter
with a minimal drawback if you’re in blue and
utilizing control ( god knows why you would play
blue if not for control or combo) pack four of
them in your deck. In extended this card may see
a great amount of play, in eternal counterspell
is better and the abundance of free spells this
wont see any play. In casual and multiplayer it
may not anger players in your group off as much
as a regular counterspell until you drop a land
and steal another creature with Roil Elemental.
In limited I cant recommend counters highly go
with removal and huge creature threats.
Today's card of the day is Deprive which at two
Blue mana and able to counter any spell may be
the closest thing to Counterspell in recent
sets. The returning a land to hand cost can be a
benefit in the right deck, such as Landfall, or
mitigated entirely if there is no other land to
play that turn. This will definitely be seeing
some play in Blue control themes, but is geared
more towards the middle and later stages of the
game and not the second or third turns.
In Limited this card is useful to counter any
threat and the slower nature of the format
should make the land returning to hand effect a
minimal penalty. The double Blue cost isn't a
major issue as it generally shouldn't be played
until the stages of the game where two or more
sources of each color of mana in your deck
should be readily available. While not exactly a
first pick in Booster this is an excellent
second choice after a Blue bomb and a solid
addition in any Blue deck in Sealed as well.
