Obvious Counterspell

[Ephraim]

Seeing as Scry was introduced in the last set of the block, there's no great reason to assume they're going to hang onto it into the next block. I may be proven wrong, but I'm afraid it's going to be a long while before we see Scry again, so I'm just going to go ahead and post this obvious, but useful counterspell.

Runic Denial
{U}
Instant

Counter target spell.
Scry 2

He who controls the present, controls the past. He who controls the past, controls the future.
--George Orwell, "1984"

[Ephraim]

Current Wording:

Callous Prescience
{1}{U}{U}
Instant

Counter target spell.
Scry 2

He who controls the present, controls the past. He who controls the past, controls the future.
--George Orwell, "1984"

[walkingdude]

Runic and Orwell don't really go together. I think there's a flavor mismatch there. I like the quote though and it works with scyring so I’d change the name.

[Ephraim]

Good point, walkingdude. The name's been changed.

[Jacob Orlove]

Isn't this a little too good for just 3 mana?

[walkingdude]

drawing a card off a counter costs 2UU. Scry 2 is less good than a cantrip, but I'm not sure sure how much less good. I think this may be a bit under costed, but 2UU is too much for sure and asking for UUU is also a bit much. I think 1UU is as high as it can get in the CC department. Maybe this needs some other kind of drawback.

[Ephraim]

I'm not sure. I'm not certain that Scry 2 is quite as good as a card draw and I feel that Dismiss is slightly overcosted, as it is. (It would've been undercosted at {U}, so there's really no good cost for it). As I think it's slightly worse than Dismiss, which costed slightly too much, I figured that {U} was just right for this.

[johnstown713]

This is one of the coolsest cards I have ever seen in the form of a counterspell.  It seems really good and maybe slightly undercosted.  If the casting cost was raised to 2UU then ncould we increase the amount you scry for.  Maybe you could scry for 3 cards instead of 2.  Im not sure if this helps but the casting cost change is definetly a drawback.  Maybe you could make it a remove a blue card inoyur hand and lose 3 life card.  But maybe I will make that since it is totally diferent.  If you did that it would look good at 2UU.  Naybe I am just talking nonsense,

Johnstown713

[rvs]

The mana cost sort of depends on your viewpoint. If you think what wizards would print right now, I'm sure it would be 2UU.

[Ephraim]

My viewpoint is more longterm. Trust me, with schwäg like Vex out there, I know WotC still isn't to the point where they'll print a decent hard counter again. That's fine with me - there doesn't need to be a full compliment of powerful counters in every Standard environment. We've had two blocks without something decent, though, so I'm actually expecting something that might be playable to show up in the Kamigawa block.

Johnstown has made an interesting suggestion, though. There's nothing that says we must keep it at Scry 2. I'd gladly up the cost to {U} if this had Scry 3. Then, the question is: are there too many 4cc counters as it is; would we rather introduce something playable at 3cc?

[rvs]

I'd rather introduce it at 3cc. What I said was merely to point out that it wouldn't be printed like this. That doesn't mean you have to agree with WotC on that. (hell, even I don't!)

[johnstown713]

If you up the cost to 3UU then you definetly need to scry for 3.  I would like the ability to play it by removing a blue card in your hand and lossing 3 life.  That would be so cool and yet still playable.  Maybe overpowered.  A casting cost of five seems to fit more than 4 but if we make it 5 theer should be some sort of tribute to force of will.

Johnstown713

[Jacob Orlove]

Let's try to avoid making cards into lame copies of cards that wizards has already made.

[Shadow-Walker]

Discombobulate:Counter target spell. Look at the top four cards of your library, then put them back in any order.

This doesnt get played so leaving the new card as is should be fine.

[johnstown713]

Scry is better than discombobulate since you can put the cards on the bottom of your library.  And sorry about the force of will thing.

Johnstown713

[Jacob Orlove]

Discombobulate has also seen some play in formats where it's basically the only hard counter.

Actually, as long as counterspell itself isn't in the T2 environment, this is probably printable. Strong, but printable.

[rvs]

Discombolate saw plenty of play in ON-block and T2 around that time. Now with clamp gone, it will start seeing play again.

[Shadow-Walker]

When I say "played" im generally not referring to T2 (certainly not block) unless the card is really dominant like Ravager is now because otherwise most T2 cards are shit in other formats. VEX has seen some T2 play!

[rvs]

no no, you don't get it. It was a staple in the format. Vex isn't a staple in the format.

Also, cards we design here are supposedly balanced everywhere, not just T1.

[Ephraim]

I suspect that at any time, if the best counterspell in a format is playable, it will see play. I don't think it necessarily speaks as to the quality of the counterspell. Now, don't get me wrong - I'm not saying this is underpowered. I wanted to push the envelope and make this about as good as it could be and still cost only three mana.

[rvs]

That is correct ephraim. My point is, if discombulate was any better, a LOT more people would've played with it. Even more than already did.

[Shadow-Walker]

And what im saying is that a better discombobulate, while certainly being playable, would have to be considerably better to raise a concern of "too good".

[Ephraim]

Okay, I think that this is pretty much finished.

24 Hour Clock

[Matt]

Closed and added.[/color]