Spell Barrier

[mr_x]

Spell Barrier
Artifact
3

Spell Barrier may not be countered.

If a spell would be countered, you may pay 2 life and sacrafice a permemant: That spell may not be countered.

[Jacob Orlove]

"Hoser" cards, even more than regular cards, need to be elegant. How about this:

Ihatebluecards
3
Ihatebluecards cannot be countered.
Spells cannot be countered by spells or abilities.

[mr_x]

Yeah, I can see it as a hoser card. But, I didn't want it to be a total lock against control. That's why I included the drawback on the card to sort of balance it. This is so that the card can only be used a set number of times, unless you can gain more life and permanents.

[stolen]

HOSERCARD

Artifact
HOSERCARD may not be countered.
Whenever you cast a spell, you may tap all lands you control and pay life equal to that spell's casting cost.  If you do, that spell cannot be countered.

OR:

HOSERCARD2

As an additional cost to play HOSERCARD2, pay 3 life.
HOSERCARD2 cannot be countered.
Spells you play cost life equal to their casting cost in addition to their casting cost.  Spells you play cannot be countered.

The wording on the second one is a little clunky.
I like the first one, which is more along the lines of your original idea, but I think it has a better feel of really forcing your spell through than the rather arbitrary 2 life and a permanent on your original.  The second is a compromise of Jacob's, but similar to the first in that the amount of "effort" necessary to make a spell uncounterable is proportional to the power of the spell.

[Jacob Orlove]

My version is in no way a "total lock" against control. Good control decks can remove permanents from the board--if they can't, they deserve to lose to something like this.

[mr_x]

That's true. If it's a "good" control deck, it should be able to get out of it. Also, the card has no effect on other decks that don't play counters. It's sort of like a null rod for "counters". Do you think this should be an artifact or should it be another color, like, green or maybe red. I like the artifact part of it, because, it provides all decks with control hate.

[Matt]

Making it red or green (or both!) would be much, much better than artifact.

[Ephraim]

Orlove's wording also results in the artifact protecting the spell that would destroy it - so it's relatively fragile. This is good, because it's a potent effect. I approve.

[stolen]

Orlove's wording also results in the artifact protecting the spell that would destroy it - so it's relatively fragile.

Irrelevant.

If you're playing with a card that says, "spells cannot be countered," counterspells are probably not a big part of your game plan...

In other words, you wouldn't be holding a counterspell for that removal, so this "weakness" is actually not at all.

Why not use Orlove's idea, but just remove the  "CARDNAME cannot be countered" part?

[Jacob Orlove]

Just as an aside, whatever wording you choose has to have the "by spells or abilities" clause if it can make instants/sorceries uncounterable, because the game rules need to be able to counter a spell on resolution if all its targets are gone (incidentally, this is why the wording on Urza's Rage differs from Obliterate, Blurred Mongoose, etc).

[Ephraim]

Orlove's wording also results in the artifact protecting the spell that would destroy it - so it's relatively fragile.

Irrelevant.

If you're playing with a card that says, "spells cannot be countered," counterspells are probably not a big part of your game plan...

In other words, you wouldn't be holding a counterspell for that removal, so this "weakness" is actually not at all.

Why not use Orlove's idea, but just remove the  "CARDNAME cannot be countered" part?

It isn't irrelevant at all. When compared to a version of this card that (for a price) only protects your spells, it's a lot better balanced. If this protected only your own spells, even if you had to pay extra for them, then it could help guarantee that you win every counter war. Personally, I'm not sure this card should exist, right now. It's a newly opened design space, so I think we'd be wise to observe Boseiju for a while before going ahead and making something so similar and, perhaps, much better.

[mr_x]

I do believe that i would be better suited balanced. It will then be like null rod, which affects all artifacts. And this in turn, affects all "counters". The thing about this design is that its extremely powerful against "counters". Maybe the part where itself can't be countered should be eliminated. So the card should read this:

"Aether Rod"
3
Spells cannot be countered by spells or abilities.


This will enable control to have a chance of removing it before it hits play. If this card is real, it would just be like a Xantid Swarm, except it would be an artifact. So, in saying this, I think if we remove the uncounterable part of the card. It will make it playable and still not overpowering.

[Jacob Orlove]

Make a current wording post so that we can figure out what's going on with this card.

[mr_x]

Aether Rod"
3
Artifact

Spells cannot be countered by spells or abilities.

Just like Null Rod, but for "counters".

Any one against this design?

Current wording posts need to be bold . Fixed.
-Jacob[/color]