A real backbreaker when it works. You not only
deny your opponent a spell but get to cast a
free one of your own? I think I have a new
favorite way of cheating Eldrazi titans into
play! Oh, but don't run that victory lap yet,
folks. In order for that magical moment to
happen, you have to leave six mana up, and you
have to have a good spell in your hand that
matches type with what your opponent plays.
Suppose you've got your Kozilek, Butcher of
Truth ready to get Counterlashed out, but your
opponent's big play-- the one he's been waiting
for all game-- is Karn Liberated or Cruel
Ultimatum. And that's not even considering that
your opponent might see your six untapped
Islands and have some idea what you're planning.
What he does about it is a quandary worthy of
its own article, but the short version is that
Counterlash is really only as good as you are at
bluffing your opponent into thinking that you
dropped an Island and passed the turn because
you've got nothing good in hand, not because
you're waiting to cheat out your bomb.
Now this is an interesting card. It reminds me a
lot of the classic "kick you while you're down"
card Desertion, except sort of backwards. The
fact that you have to have your own free spell
on hand, and the fact that you might be
countering something more powerful than
whatever's in your hand, mean that it might be a
little high-risk and high-variance for
competitive decks. Fortunately, those
characteristics make it perfect for other
settings. There's a pretty scary "Counter your
creature, here's my Emrakul" deck out there
waiting to be built, and I have no doubt it will
come out to be pretty terrifying.
Today's card of the day is Counterlash which is
a six mana Blue that counters target spell and
allows you to cast a spell that shares a type
with the target without paying the mana cost.
This takes a fairly specific build to be truly
effective, but even just countering and getting
a similar cost spell from hand into play can be
worthwhile to maintain tempo without tapping
out. A high casting cost spell can easily
turn this into a finisher and it might make it
into a few decks as sort of an alternate to the
Polymorph style designs that appear fairly
regularly.
For Limited this is an interesting card that can
be picked first in Booster and supported by the
rare from another pack, though getting both in
hand is unlikely. Counter-magic works well
enough in the format, though saving it for a
major threat can be a gamble, though the biggest
issue is having another card to play that
couldn't have been played before Counterlash is
needed. Despite the risks and timing
concerns it is generally worth a shot in Sealed
and Booster as it has high potential and can
even force out a splashed card without the
proper mana in play.
Welcome to the
Pojo.com card of the day section. Today we are
looking at Counterlash from Dark Ascension.
Counterlash is a rare blue instant that costs
four generic mana and two blue mana. Counterlash
counters target spell, you may then cast a
non-land card that shares a card type with the
countered spell without paying its mana cost.
I LOVE Counterlash. Many people call me crazy, but I
absolutely LOVE it. I’ll tell you why. I decided
it was such an amazing card as soon as I saw it
during the previews for the Dark Ascension set
that I built a deck before they even launched. I
loaded it with some ridiculous things, and then
made it bigger and better. The reason is because
with mana acceleration, you well could spend
very little mana to counter the spell, and then
you get whatever you want so long as it shared a
type. I have even countered things otherwise
unthreatening JUST to do so. The reason, your
opponent casts say, a Llanowar Elf, later in the
game of course. Counterlash, creature countered,
I cast Emrakul. Or your opponent drops out say,
Phyrexian Metamorph, Counterlash, Blightsteel
Colossus. The trick is using blue to its full
advantage with this card to ensure things are in
your hand. Use Trinket Mages to grab some fat
artifact creatures, and then have fun with it! I
loved the idea of using Eldrazi’s, for starters
because they often give you little ones that can
be sacrificed for mana ultimately making your
spell cheaper!
