I like Scry. I'm glad it comes back every now
and again-- heck, I wish it would come around
more often. It's a good way to help take the
edge off of the inherent randomness of a game of
Magic and tip the scales in your favor. And
judging by the way cards that Scry are costed,
it seems to be a "practically free" ability".
Dissolve here is a good example-- it's Cancel
plus Scry 1 for no additional mana. Personally,
I've never been comfortable with a three-mana
counterspell. It seems like holding three mana
up is just too prohibitive to your own board
development. But in a dedicated control deck,
you're leaving mana up anyway, so there I guess
it doesn't matter. It's hard to complain about a
straight-up improvement to Cancel, but the
old-timey cardslinger in me still balks at
anything more expensive than the original
Counterspell.
There seem to be two different types of
illustration that appear on counterspells: ones
that show someone's spell failing, and ones that
show someone foiling someone else's spell with
their power. I prefer the latter, because they
emphasize the combative and adversarial element
of magical duels and suggest that counterspells
can be used for things other than griefing
people. Dissolve is a great example of that
style, and is also a godsend (pun intended) for
control decks, where stopping a threat and
setting up your next turn would be worth
multiple cards a lot of the time. As a matter of
fact, it's not terrible in other types of decks,
either. The only downside is that it might end
up being hard to physically get enough copies
for all my blue Filth Casserole decks!
Welcome back readers todays card of the day is
the new go to three mana counterspell. Being
able to scry is quite powerful as it allows the
control deck to filter for more spells or win
conditions. In standard it’s a strictly better
Cancel and one of the more efficient three mana
counters printed recently insuring control decks
will utilize this card heavily. In modern and
older formats better and cheaper counterpells
exist limiting the effectiveness of this card
and basically outperforming it. In casual and
multiplayer it’s a solid counter and doubly
powerful if you have a scry theme otherwise
there exists better counterspells for casual and
multiplayer needs. In limited it’s a solid
counterspell and the scry is relevant. Overall a
powerful new counterspell that fills a niche and
provides a nice bonus on top of your counter and
should see quite a bit of standard play.
Today's card of the day is Dissolve which is a
three mana Blue that counters target spell and
has Scry 1. As a strictly better form of
Cancel able to counter nearly any spell without
innate limitations this will undoubtedly see
play in Standard and other recent formats.
While Cancel cost more than the less versatile
two mana options, the addition of Scry adds
support to multiple Blue themes and increases
the efficiency of an already notable threat
response.
In Limited the double Blue in the cost is a
drawback that makes having and keeping the mana
available to cast it somewhat difficult in
multicolor decks, though just leaving it
untapped with any card in hand works as a bluff.
The ability to counter a threat or effectively
skip an opponent's turn when they are in topdeck
mode makes this a solid card. Being one of
the few weapons available against a god card
increases the potential value, even if the
timing is very situational, and it is worth a
second or third pick in Booster. For
Sealed it relies heavily on a primarily Blue
deck, but should not be left in the sideboard
when running the color as in the worst case it
is a one for one with Scry which is to your
advantage.
Welcome back Magic players! If you play
standard then I’m sure that you’ve already seen
enough today’s card! Dissolve is the new staple
counter spell in Magic. Having the ability to
counter a spell and cycle through your deck is
pretty darn good. Some players don’t like
counter spells that are 3 or more mana and I can
understand that. That is why we have access to
cards like Essence Scatter, Negate and Swan
Song. As great as those counter spells are, they
have limited targets. That is why players tend
to fall back to the safe bet which is Dissolve.
If you like to play control decks, then Dissolve
is right up your alley. Also, if you have a
chance to get your hands on a foil, do it! The
woman in the picture has body art that you can
see in the foil. “Awesome!”
