Well, it's not Counterspell, but it's not bad!
Using the regular casting cost of XUU, this card
is a little worse than the XU counterspells of
the past. Still perfectly usable. The alternate
casting cost, however, puts this card above most
counterspell effects produced in the last three
or four years.
CONSTRUCTED: 4.0
CASUAL: 3.5
LIMITED: 3.0
Ray "Monk"
Powers
* Level 3 DCI Judge
Disrupting Shoal
If this card was a Power Sink, I would like it a
lot more. But making X equal to the converted
mana cost of the spell means the alternate
casting cost of this card will nearly never be
used, and the amount of mana required to counter
even a four casting cost spell makes this the
worst counterspell created in a long long time.
Constructed: 1
Casual: 1
Limited: 1
DeQuan
Watson
* game store owner (The
Game Closet - Waco,TX)
Disrupting Shoal - Friday
I think this shoal will be the most
versatile. It will be played in the most
formats. And many times it will be used to
stop the small spells in tight situations
anyway. If people were will to play Foil
and such as free spells, this will get some
play as well.
Constructed: 4
Casual: 2.5
Limited: 2
Paul
Hagan
Disrupting Shoal --
I won't put this card up with the ranks of Force
of Will or Thwart, but Disrupting Shoal is one
of the better alternate casting-cost spells that
I've...OK, hold up. I just stopped typing the
praises of this card when I realized that it
reads, "Counter target spell if its casting cost
IS X" not "...is X or less." Nevermind. Ignore
my above comments. Disrupting Shoal is mediocre
at best, and unless you are running a lot of 2CC
and 3CC cards in your deck, you can probably
just ignore this card. It replaces neither Mana
Leak nor Hinder, and therefore, likely doesn't
have a home in Type II.
In limited, I usually don't run counters unless
that are particularly special, and this card
doesn't strike me as that. Unless you are in
need of a 21st - 23rd card, then go ahead and
leave Disrupting Shoal in your sideboard.
While this Shoal
has been likened to Force of Will, its
drawback is that you must MATCH the casting
cost of the spell you are countering. So if
you don't have a card in hand to do so,
you're out of luck. Of course, Blue has
always been good at drawing, so you could
conceivably combine its ability with a good
drawing engine to dig your way to a casting
cost card you need. But it really just does
seem a bit over-complicated. Still, I think
if there is a way to pull this off, the
player community will find it.
In casual, it's
a permission card with a difficult nature,
and so not exactly appealing.
In limited, its
just too...well...limited by its color
requirement and casting cost exactation to
make the counter happen.
