Spell Snare

[Onslaught]

Demonic Tutor
Dark Confidant
Mana Drain
Snapcaster Mage
Merchant Scroll
Time Walk
Sphere of Resistance
Thorn of Amethyst
Null Rod
Oath of Druids
Lotus Cobra
Fire/Ice
Hurkyl's Recall
Echoing Truth
Time Vault
Standstill
Night's Whisper

These are some of the cards that Spell Snare hits. Spell Snare has always had a fair amount of staples to target, but now it seems to be better positioned than ever for the following reasons:

1- It hits 2/3 of the main blue engines. All blue decks going forward will have at least one of following: Bob, Snapcaster, Oath, or Gush. Spell Snare not only has its old usual targets like Mana Drain and such, but now it has the ability to shut down every non-Gush engine in opposing blue decks.

2- It becomes exponentially stronger when combined with Mental Misstep. The best analogy I can think of is how Force Spike was not good on its own, but in combination with a net of other counters it was fantastic. With Misstep targeting one cost spells, and Spell Snare targeting two cost spells, you create a similar synergistic counter net.

3- Unlike Flusterstorm, Misstep, Mindbreak Trap, and REB, Spell Snare is not a dead card against Shops. Paying 1U under a Sphere effect to counter another Thorn/Sphere is OK value. Countering Null Rod (also relevant against aggro, where Flusterstorm may flounder) is also relevant. Of all the techy counterspells, Spell Snare is the smallest liability against non-blue decks.

It's cool how much competition there is right now for your counterspell slots. After FOW and Mana Drain, you really have to consider the goals of your deck/playstyle to determine whether or not you want maindeck or sideboard copies of Steel Sabotage, Misstep, Flusterstorm, Mindbreak Trap, REB, maybe even Spell Pierce or Negate, etc.

[XxtSundaybxX]

I actually tried to convince my friend to play snares this past weekend at bluebell but he would not go for it. If I had been able to play they would have been in my deck. I think its really strong right now, its no more conditional than misstep, its actually probably stronger since its not really dead in any matchup except dredge. Its obviously going to depend on your metagame but if there isnt alot of dredge then snare is really strong and even if there is dredge, if your playing misstep in addition then it doesnt matter anyway.

[cvarosky80]

This is a very interesting idea! Just a couple other 2 drops that came to mind were Grudge, Goyf, Kataki, Teeg, Pridemage, Hexmage, Revoker, and, to drive home how useful it can be in the Shop match-up, Chalice at 1.

[diopter]

Snapcasters lol.

Anyroad. I don't foresee myself playing Spell Snare in any blue mirror I'd be involved in. For U I want to be able to counter (even if conditionally) an opposing Force of Will. Especially since I might be protecting Jace with it.

[hitman]

Spell Snare is a good card during certain times.  It isn't good when it's able to counter a few cards here and there from decks.  I've played it with success in the past when Merchant Scroll, Flash, Sphere of Resistance and Thorn of Amethyst were all common plays, along with the cards mentioned in the opening post.  If the cards are central to popular deck's strategies, play Spell Snare.  It's too hit or miss otherwise.

[Grand Inquisitor]

(big list of 2cc cards)

This for me misses the point and does the analysis wrong.  Spell Snare is a fine card and makes its way into blue lists every now and again.

However, if you really want to know if it's the right time for a card, I'd look at the substitutions.  You do a partial version of this when comparing it to Flusterstorm, but what you really want is to look over all the options in a given list (the context is REALLY important) and see if it's what you need.  Does it necessarily crowd out ALL of Spell Pierce, Dispel, Mana Drain, Thoughtseize, Flusterstorm, Hurkyl's Recall #2, MMisstep #4...etc.

If the cards are central to popular deck's strategies, play Spell Snare

This is the 2nd part.  Your list isn't wrong, it just isn't the most helpful.  When Flash and Merchant Scroll were 4-ofs in 80% of decks, then was the right time to play spell snare.  Right now Spell Snare is good, but it may not be trump.  Eg, red blast answers Snapcaster, but it also answers the Tinker or Ancestral they were going to hit with the mage anyway and it doesn't the first time they cast the broken target spell.

2c

[XxtSundaybxX]

It's more metagame dependent than other conditional counters like misstep because overall misstep is a stronger card in almost every matchup however if your meta is full of oath, fish, and Stax then it's perfect. I don't see why people are saying it's only "okay" in the blue matchup, last time I checked cards like demonic tutor, mana drain and timevault were more powerful than a recall resolving.

@grand inquisitor, your only pointing out one matchup where your arguing reb is better than snare, which it is. However that's comparing a sideboard card to a maindeck card. In addition how is that reb more effective in other matchups? Are you only planning on playing against blue control decks?

[nineisnoone]

It's more metagame dependent than other conditional counters like misstep because overall misstep is a stronger card in almost every matchup however if your meta is full of oath, fish, and Stax then it's perfect. I don't see why people are saying it's only "okay" in the blue matchup, last time I checked cards like demonic tutor, mana drain and timevault were more powerful than a recall resolving.

@grand inquisitor, your only pointing out one matchup where your arguing reb is better than snare, which it is. However that's comparing a sideboard card to a maindeck card. In addition how is that reb more effective in other matchups? Are you only planning on playing against blue control decks?

It's "okay" because it's basically a "fair" play. Just consider the basic costs to playing the cards. 2 mana & 1 card versus 1 mana & 1 card is the trade that occurs. That's fair, until it is really, really unfair. Other counters have other nuances that make them beneficial for them (zero mana, gaining mana, storm, also destroys specified permanents, also bounces specified permanents), but Spell Snare will never be anything other than just a counter.

It's not just a measure of the strength of the card, but of the integral nature of it to the deck. Scroll is most decks is just a good card. If you counter it, whatever, they'll play the next good card. No bigs, they net -1 mana to you. When you were playing a Flash deck it was Scroll->Flash or Scroll->Recall as the backbone of the deck. Hitting that effected the strategy, which frames the card differently even though you might be coutnering the same cards.

REB also hits Metamorph and Misstep (which can be played in Shops... actually want to make a blue-shop deck). Something being dead against Dredge is hardly something you can hold against a card.

[honestabe]

My problem with Spell Snare is that Spell Pierce is just better too much of the time.  Before Pierce came out, I liked to dabble with Snare, but getting Jace, Tinker, Fof, and FoW is just too huge.

[XxtSundaybxX]

Nineisnoone: it seems as if your missing the entire point of the discussion. I'm not trying to compare advantage, whether it be permanents or cards, or mana, spell snare targets a specific audience of cards that one may be looking to counter. Misstep was playing for specific reasons, I included it in east coast wins because the deck was weak to mystic remora, Which was heavily being played at the time. In addition it happens to counter some of the best cards in the format. Spell snare accomplishes this same goal but targeting a difference casting cost of cards, cards that people are looking to counter without losing the "advantage" your referring to by wasting a force of will or mana drain for example. Certain decks are weak to certain cards, if those cards are answered by spell snare then it becomes reasonable to replace cards like mental misstep with them. Decks performed well before misstep was printed and hey can certainly perform
Without the inclusion of it now by replacing it with a card that does the job your looking to do.

Are you actually considering/advising to sideboard in REB vs shops because they play 6-7 blue cards in they're deck? Aren't there just better cards? Since all of your artifact disruption also targets metamorph?

Honestabe: spell pierce is only effective until your opponent knows your playing it. Or if you need to force something through in the first few turns and they have no choice but to force of will and hope you don't have the pierce. This is my view of the card and ive arrived at this by playing the card and being very underwhelmed.

[Grand Inquisitor]

XxtSundaybxX, none of your arguments are really wrong, they're just incomplete.  No one is saying Spell Snare isn't playable.  However, there are lots of comparables right now that are equally considerable.  Fundamentally:

1) Spell Snare isn't broken

2) The metagame isn't especially weak to Spell Snare right now



...also, I think REB is just as maindeckable as Spell Snare (if not moreso) right now.

[nineisnoone]

Nineisnoone: it seems as if your missing the entire point of the discussion. I'm not trying to compare advantage, whether it be permanents or cards, or mana, spell snare targets a specific audience of cards that one may be looking to counter. Misstep was playing for specific reasons, I included it in east coast wins because the deck was weak to mystic remora, Which was heavily being played at the time. In addition it happens to counter some of the best cards in the format. Spell snare accomplishes this same goal but targeting a difference casting cost of cards, cards that people are looking to counter without losing the "advantage" your referring to by wasting a force of will or mana drain for example. Certain decks are weak to certain cards, if those cards are answered by spell snare then it becomes reasonable to replace cards like mental misstep with them. Decks performed well before misstep was printed and hey can certainly perform
Without the inclusion of it now by replacing it with a card that does the job your looking to do.

You seem to be stating the obvious and ignoring my point which actually included your point about being good against certain strategies. Hitting certain cards is fine, but it needs to hit a certain strategy to be more viable. If it's just a card, then they'll just play whatever else they can, meaning that it's as strong as the card is. And Spell Snare isn't ridiculously powerful in its own right. When you counter a strategy, it becomes stronger to a larger degree.

[Onslaught]

I think the fact that Spell Snare hits Bob and Snapcaster makes it much more valuable to control than Spell Pierce right now. Spell Pierce is obviously better at protecting your offensive plays in every non-Mana Drain situation, such as casting a Jace and attempting to counter their FOW with Spell Pierce. But if blue decks keep trying to one up each other with Flusterstorms, Mindbreak Traps, maindeck REBs, etc, then Shops are going to be even stronger. The natural counter to this for blue decks is to play Bob, so Spell Snare benefits from his increased presence.

[nineisnoone]

I think the fact that Spell Snare hits Bob and Snapcaster makes it much more valuable to control than Spell Pierce right now. Spell Pierce is obviously better at protecting your offensive plays in every non-Mana Drain situation, such as casting a Jace and attempting to counter their FOW with Spell Pierce. But if blue decks keep trying to one up each other with Flusterstorms, Mindbreak Traps, maindeck REBs, etc, then Shops are going to be even stronger. The natural counter to this for blue decks is to play Bob, so Spell Snare benefits from his increased presence.

Sure, but i would rather address creatures/artifacts with other cards. Bob is a fairly slow play, so it isn't really a must-counter-now type card, so the value of addressing it at a stack-level or a board-level is marginal. Snapcaster yes, but that even avoids the immediate play of whatever it is recurring, which might not be a two cost spell or be counterable otherwise. Getting it off the other board is good, but there are other means of address it's effect without countering it directly, like Spellbomb.

If Snapcaster became the deck to beat? I'd consider it. However, I don't think it's that good.

As far as Shops go, Spell Snare is okay. But honestly, just hitting spheres isn't huge unless if you get it turn 1 and it's their first play. Sure it's better, but it's not so much better that I would build it with that in mind. More a concession to change some things out as a figure out my SB (and if that is the case, i'd probably run the artfiact bounce/counter instead).

[desolutionist]

Sunday and I started to play Mental Misstep because it beat Mystic Remora and Red Elemental Blasts.  If you're trying to counter something such as Landstill, Mana Drain, or Oath of Druids, Spell Snare seems fine. 

[XxtSundaybxX]

On average you can pretty much bet that their first play is either going to be chalice for 1 or sphere. In which case snare is perfectly fine. And I never stated that spell snare is the best conditional counter to play right now, I'm explaining why is a reasonable choice. Depending on the blue deck that your playing, for example east coast wins, already has such a favorable blue matchup that you can certainly afford to play snare to combat the cards that give you a hard time. ie null rod, standstill, spheres, chalice 1, oath, the list goes on. I'm not saying it should be an auto include, for example if you playing tps you wouldn't want to play snare, but for a control deck it's certainly my number one choice for conditional counters at this point in time, atleast until the meta shifts again.

[policehq]

In Fish (specifically U/R or U/W fish), Spell Snare seems fine. In any other deck, it seems more important to resolve your threats than to counter theirs. After all, the best way to disrupt your opponent is to resolve bombs and defeat them.

[cvarosky80]

In Fish (specifically U/R or U/W fish), Spell Snare seems fine. In any other deck, it seems more important to resolve your threats than to counter theirs. After all, the best way to disrupt your opponent is to resolve bombs and defeat them.

Well, with Snapcaster and Landstill control decks running around with 3-4 Mana Drains in each list, Spell Snare does serve this function. And if Landstill keeps going up in popularity, this becomes even more of an option that could warrant serious thought in using.