3+ mana counterspells worth playing | Better than a Booster February 2025

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I really love playing a bunch of silly high cost counter spells! Don't look to hard at my decks cause I play a bunch of really bad ones like way worse than what I suggest here!
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[@ToxicAtom]

Counterspells are one of the few types of cards I'd say mana efficiency is king just because it changes how much mana it takes for you to make your bomb play and also protect it.

[@thetrinketmage]

When used defensively sure! But when used as removal there can be some extra benefit to holding up a spell that can be card draw or a counter

[@leadpaintchips9461]

It's not just protecting your bombs but preventing your opponents from bombing you out too.

[@Fluffkitscripts]

@@leadpaintchips9461really those are two different types of decks

[@leadpaintchips9461]

@ Not really, it's just knowing when to use them for either role. Doesn't help to protect your bomb if the game's over because of your opponent's is going off, and there's no point in _not_ defending yours if it will win you the game.

[@troua2001]

agree. leaving 3 extra mana open instead of 2 when u dont know when it will be useful is just on a different level.

[@g0_0fster]

Aven interrupter is incredible. It triggers most of white's creature based draw effects, it gets around uncounterable, and its also a flying blocker. Also mages contest is hysterical.

[@mattsmith1972]

Bought a copy of mages contest on a lark back when I was first getting into commander and just realized I'd kind of stumbled into building a deck recently it might actually be half decently playable in, was super stoked to finally add it to something

[@xaropevic7918]

I think a very underrated 3 cmc counterspell that is forgotten due to being relatively new due to being printed in foundations is Refute, the effect of drawing then discarding a card is really good even without discard synergies

[@thetrinketmage]

It almost made the list!

[@Hayao0569]

In my The Wise Mothman deck, all the counterspells I run are three cost because they’ve all got the added benefit of “opponent mills 2/3 cards” getting me that sweet, sweet Mothman boost.

[@jjs8426]

This ☝️

[@andrewgreenwood9068]

5:24 you will never feel more powerful than when you exile a spell that cant be countered off the stack

[@ryanhefner2011]

That feeling is rivaled only by countering a Split Second effect with a morph counterspell.

[@shadowmencer]

I said it elsewhere, but I'll say it here too: I like Gale's Redirection. It gets around uncounterable like Summary Dismissal, but also steals the spell like Spelljack. You have no idea how satisfying it is to cast on someone's Rise of the Eldrazi.

[@TheschwartzB]

@@ryanhefner2011 That has been my dream since I build a Kadena deck!

[@33elk]

I like confounding riddle, divide by zero, you find the villain’s lair in decks where you cascade and dont wanna hit a brick counterspell

[@Lootsweeper]

I find stifle effects are becoming more important in commander. Defabricate is one of my favorites. I will give Disallow a trial run and see what I think at 3 mana.

[@Zumteifl]

Same reason i like tales end. Worst case you counter a kill on sight commander.

[@jameswickham4923]

Disallow is a consistent performer in my decks

[@casually_lurking]

Both of the aforementioned are amazing; also, for three mana you can get a FIELD of counter & remove options. That removal is killer; the best kind of grave hate is pre-emptive grave hate.

[@MetallicMutalisk]

I love Defabricate, especially in color combos like Izzet and Dimir where you can't easily get rid of enchantments

[@oshaapas]

Voidslime is a second Disallow in Simic decks. I run both in a deck where I have Keruga as the companion.

[@estebanogrodnikorellana1902]

There are counter spells with value 1 that are specific to sorcery and cost less than a dollar. In casual, board wipe spells are sorcery, so they protect your table.

[@elliotbanbury6442]

Yes! Spell pierce normally stops someone who has tapped out for an instant or sorcery, and! It screws over turn 1 sol rings. Also there’s “envelop.” Which only hits sorceries. Finally, arguably one of the best is “Swan song” and “an offer you can’t refuse”

[@rowantodd827]

I have had a lot of situations where I am more than happy to be hit with an offer you can’t refuse

[@mgmed0368]

I mean usually ya but there's alot of random board wipe like massacre girl

[@spencerstanley4759]

I see one has mentioned the incredible and underplayed counterspell, Abjure. One mana, and is unconditional. Plus, you can always have at least one blue card on the field if desperately necessary. Your commander.

[@reiverdaemon]

Amazing card, Thanks!​@@spencerstanley4759

[@crushcreate1461]

Render silent has become one of my favorite counterspells. You are correct that most of the time it is just cancel, but the looks I've seen on my opponent's faces when I basically just end their turn is hilarious every time. Glorious End is 3 mana and causes you to lose the game after your next turn. The classic time stop is 6 mana. Render silent does a very good impression of this powerful effect.

[@cigbhungus3359]

Counterflux has been a favorite of mine. At minimum, it’s a more flexible Dovin’s Veto, and it serves as a silver bullet against Storm.

[@sofiar.r.9063]

I was going to post it too. Very solid pick in a izzet deck for sure.

[@okami-22]

This is my pet counterspell. It's usually better against storm than Whirlwind Denial in fact, because storm turns so often involve infinite or near infinite mana. Counterflux is just a hard no that can't be countered in return. The hardest no possible, tbh.

[@Cyborgs7]

There are 4 counterspells that I love due to their added utility : Rewind (2UU - Counter target spell, untap up to 4 lands) and Unwind (2U - Counter Target noncreatue spell, untap up to 3 land), they serve both as protections spells (counterspelling during your turn is almost a free counterspell), or if you hold the mana during an opponent turns to use another instant in their turn (By example, draw pieces for 3 that draws you two cards) or dish out interaction. It becomes less usefull in the endgame considering your ramp, but it is always a nice bonus! Confounding Riddle (2U, choose one : -Look at top four of your library, put them into your hand and the rest into your graveyard or - Counter Target Spells unless that players pay 4) and Supreme Will (2U, choose one : -Look at top four of your library, put one of them into your hand and the rest into the bottom of your library in any order or - Counter Target Spells unless that players pay 3). These are counterparts to Impulse (1U : Look at the top four cards of your library. Put one of them into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your library in any order.) and Anticipate (Look at the top three cards of your library. Put one of them into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your library in any order.) which are no draw pieces, but depending on the theme of the decks, sometimes having access to checking 4 cards on top of your library and choosing one feels better than having to draw 4 (which, for most of these spells, would cost you 3UU or more). Sometimes, counter spells that doubles as accelerator is very good in my book because they don't become dead cards. But above all : flavor and synergy above all else. Running a Mill deck? Didn't Say Please (counter target spell, that player mill three cards), running simic where creatures matters ? Frilled Mystic (GGUU, flash, when it enters, counter target spell), running a dumb fun group hug? Fold Into Aether (2UU, counter target spells, its controller may put a creature card from hand in play) Or you know, play the maximum number of counterspell where (and I love doing that because I am a jank master) there is "no" in the flavor text like Convolute ("No thank you"), Refute ("I said NO"), Whirlwind Denial ("no, no and... no"), Negate (FDN "“As one, nature lifts its voice to tell you this: ‘No.’”), Override (“The Knowledge Pool has all the answers-especially ‘No.’”)

[@JohnSmith-vk9ds]

One card like this that I used to run frequently in commander was Grip of Amnesia. It's a 1U with "Counter target spell unless its controller exiles all cards from their graveyard. Draw a card." I think it's great in a vacuum since it replaces itself, but it also functions as graveyard hate in mono blue which isn't that easy to come by. I used it similarly to how you described it as a mid-game counter to stop someone from dropping a big value piece. It tells you a lot about the game plan your opponent has if they are willing to give up their graveyard to get this value piece on the board. Due to the huge amount of recursion effects, a lot of my opponents see it just as a speed bump, ignoring that it replaces itself.

[@rtwoxd1355]

Bonus cards!: Smirking Spelljacker: 4 generic 1 blue Creature djinn wizard rogue Flash, 3/3, Flying, ETB exile target spell, whenever [[cardname]] attacks cast the exile card without paying its mana cost. Yeah, its 5 mana BUT its basically a spelljack for 5 mana on a stick. You can copy it at instant speed, bounce it back to your hand, cast from the top with the tipical green card to cast creatures from the top, sac it when is no longer useful, etc. Fear of impostors: 1 generic 2 blues Enchantment creature nightmare Flash, 3/2, ETB counter target spell, its controller manifest dread. The same advantages of being a counter spell on a stick plus its an enchantment.

[@hexbox2182]

3:26 this card is a better than most counterspells in omnath locus of all. If you reveal it off the top you end up getting mana for later spells

[@CrazyEyeOptics]

I love the Dr. Who counterspell Reverse the Polarity. It is a 3 mana modal counterspell thats main counter mode is a counter to all spells on the stack, its 3rd mode gives Unblockable to everyone until end of turn, and while it's 2nd mode isn't very useful (switching everyone's power and toughness) I have used it twice to hilarious effect (Unexpected toughness alpha strike and dodging a Massacre Wurm). If you are ok with Universes Beyond it is an amazing pickup.

[@dislikebutton9571]

I played a lot of these in my mono blue Thryx deck, it's focused on reducing costs of spells, so a lot of the big mana counterspells and interaction end up becoming 1, 2 or 3 mana. If you have any archaeomancer effect on a creature out, spells like Three Steps Ahead and Sublime Epiphany also can have pseudo buyback, since you can copy the archaeomancer with the token copy part and then return the spell back to your hand when it enters. You can loop counterspells and make a token army of chump blockers at the same time.

[@Anoyote]

Ive been playing Ojer Pakpatiq for about a year now, and its still absolutely my favorite commander deck. Get to play almost all of these unique modal counterspells, and get masssive bonus upside. Getting to play cryptic command as a classic "counter + draw" and cast it again on my upkeep as a "bounce + draw again" feels sooooo good. And even though the deck has an inherent weakness of being extremely commander reliant, it really helps that the synergy pieces are still counterspells that help protect Pakpatiq. Highly recommend trying it out if you havent before. I see hardly any content about the commander anywhere on youtube

[@Don_.X]

I've been testing stifle effects in my reanimator deck. Usually players only have 1 or 2 graveyard hate pieces if any at all and being able to stop someone who attempts to ruin my whole game with a single bojuka bog is very useful.

[@redvsblueftw]

Love the spelljack inclusion. I run it in my own Maelstrom Wanderer deck for the exact reason you mentioned and the only other counter spell is cryptic command for its modality.

[@GreatUncleJulio]

I have been playing more disallow and voidslime and modal counterspells recently, with the former two, I found it rather useful to counter activated or triggered abilties that would either cause me to lose, cause someone else to win, or prevent a snowball from happening, it surprisingly comes up more often then I thought and its useful to have.

[@SirGarthur]

8:29 homie the third effect is the best one by far, you are SLEEPING on the charm. For example, fighting a tempo deck with Authority of the Consolate on board, the stolen enchantment easily switched the tempo and secured me the win.

[@SirGarthur]

Don't get me wrong, its in my one of my "counterspells" slots, and i wouldnt be running it if the card only had the final ability. But, keep an eye out for things other than sol ring, i would only personally steal a sol ring if i predict that the extra mana will be too impactful for my opponent. There are an incredible amount of other targets, such as ANY with nonland without a mana cost. That's where its gets nutty.

[@GamerBaron]

I would like to add to the conversation my favorite card, Time Stop. It may not be a literal counterspell, but ending the turn at instant speed may as well be one. Its basically a 6 mana modal spell that's modes are "counter all spells and abilities, or fog, or take an extra turn." I honestly don't know why more people don't play it, it can even stop both an eldrazi and their cast trigger, and its so funny waiting until you can stop multiple cascades from going off all at once. It also just got reprinted in Foundations.

[@Aelesis]

I love a video that just affirms all the choices I was already making, especially happy to see Whirlwind Denial here. "Ability" in that card's text box is a game winner (or more likely, saver).

[@PoroZF]

9:18 Holy shit, I never even knew that Perplex exists. Fits perfectly into my Wick deck, where most of my combo and draw pieces are costed at exactly 3 mana.

[@josepedro9926]

Gale's Redirection is also an incredible counter spell for 5 mana that hits uncounterable spells because it exiles it and not only that it allows you to either cast it on a later turn or cast it for free depending on the result of your dice roll. Super underrated and a goat card in cube

[@ForsakenToLimbo]

Definitely picking up a couple of these! Whirlwind denial has been amazing for me and I just know Perplex is going to be cool, for the transmute as a limited tutor and a as a counter. 1 I've been a big fan of is desertion. I took a flashed in notion thief when a player wss trying to draw cards and it felt amazing.

[@itslexactually]

I love giant-ass counterspells in a deck with lots of flash or cost reduction. I’m building new Melek right now and the big counterspell section is called “Ya know I had to do it to ‘em.” And yes it has a Spell Swindle

[@mrabomination]

Spell swindle has a special place in my heart. No one gets mad with their spell being countered by spell swindle, it's just too funny.

[@TheAngelRaven]

Whirlwind Denial stopped a Haze of Rage + Stormkiln infinite. That moment solidified my love for it as a good, fair counterspell with utility.

[@FoldingScreenMonkey]

I loooove Whirlwind Denial

[@ChrisPhelior]

My favourite one has to be Time Stop. Not strictly a counter, but since it exiles the stack... I just always loved the three words of actual effect text followed by an entire textbox of explanation.

[@Niki2620]

Funny thing you mentioned spelljack. One of my decks is a Morph control deck and and there is a morph version of that spell. It is called Kheru Spellsnatcher. There is also another very cool blue morph called Vesuvan Shapeshifter who can copy the abilities of other morphs. A very close and good friend of mine is a huge fan of High Power EDH and he plays things like Thassa Consultation. One of my most hilarious wins ever was when I countered and stole his combo with these 2 cards and then used it to win myself.

[@todharter5195]

Smirking Spelljacker is basically Spelljack stapled to a flash creature. You have to attack to cast the jacked spell, but it is a 3/3 flyer, and it is 'attack' not do damage or something like that. Nice in my blink deck. I can reuse it, and if someone DOES block it, I just blink it after the spell it jacked is cast but before damage is allocated. You can kind of do some shenanigans with Displacer Kitten there too... AND it jacks as an ETB, so you can get multiple reuses with a bit of luck!

[@ObsoletePixel]

Fun call-out for a lot of budget counterspells -- if you're in at least jeskai, keep a careful eye towards 2 color or greater counter spells. Using sunforger as a tutor for utility counter spells is a GREAT way to hit your table with a big gotcha moment

[@BrootalMetalBanjo]

Render Silent is one of my favorite counterspells. However one that is super wacky and mana efficient is Split Decision, it’s a voting card so the spell is either countered or copied. If the spell needs to be countered everyone will vote, but it’s also really fun to target a ramp spell, and tell them “either we both ramp or no one does”

[@robertwilbrand3441]

One of my favorite underrated counterspells is Repulsive Mutation. It's great when you have large creatures and/or care about +1/+1 counters. I have it in Aragorn and in Helga.

[@VendiVidiVinci]

Reverse the polarity is one of my favorite counter spell. It is quite cheap. I highly recommend trying it. It is also a game ender

[@solalala8602]

I recently made a mono blue Watcher in the Water EDH deck and it has been some of the most fun I've had in mtg. Part of the fun is that I play a bunch of 3 mana counterspells that while not great on paper, allow me to subvert mono blue's otherwise middling removal suite. It's also great because the whole point of The Watcher in the Water is to draw cards at instant speed so I can threaten counterspells with the mana I'm holding up and otherwise draw on the last player's end step in order to make a bunch of tokens. It's not something I've tried before this but it is a lot of fun and a really different way of playing in that you always have something to do and need to be paying attention to everything people cast.

[@MrXcro]

I've been having a blast building Eluge control deck and seeing what weird counterspells i can find for it like "Overwhelming intellect" and "Power sink". Cards that have no business ever being cast but with a 4/5 mana discount always does something for me

[@Omega1907]

While being a rather niche use, I recently added Admirals Order to my merfolk deck. Most of the time, it's literally just a Cancel, but in the case of needing to either protect the board after declaring attackers or negating fog effects, it's a one-mana counterspell (having "raid" - so if you attacked this turn, it costs one blue instead of the normal cost)

[@roxypop4274]

i want to shout out a couple of my fav izzet counterspells in counterflux and reinterpret. counterflux is uncounterable and can shutdown storm (though not as well as summary dismissal) and reinterpret can potentially get you a big return by giving you a free spell. both have done some very nice things for me in the past.

[@Orniflyer]

the main problem with higher CMC counterspells is, and always will be, that they require to leave open quite a lot of mana in between turns. most cards of most decks, especially casual decks, can only be played at sorcery speed. there are obviously ways to get around this, like playing a lot of treasure token generators - which have no downside for not using them (in contrast to having untapped lands for a whole turn cycle). another way would be to focus on simply having a lot of instant speed options, such that you can either use the open mana for reactive counterspells or for playing value pieces end of turn before your turn. there are obviously other ways too - but unless the deck has some way to get around this major downside of higher CMC counterspells in some way, I'd very strongly advice against ever playing them. you'll be much happier playing low CMC counterspells with additional downsides instead.

[@Zoltria]

Render silent and silence are absolutely amazing tempo cards. Silence on someones upkeep may as well be a pseudo extra turn spell for 1 mana.

[@r3buff682]

The third mode of archmages chanr is hella slept on, it can grab some of the best cards whether they be ramp, creatures, etc. the blowout when you can steal something like a mystic remora is amazing

[@shadowmencer]

I like Gale's Redirection. It gets around uncounterable like Summary Dismissal, but also steals the spell like Spelljack. You have no idea how satisfying it is to cast on someone's Rise of the Eldrazi.

[@pjmielnik]

Such a great series! Thanks for these!

[@Charley-ju6yg]

I personally like to use Unwind and Rewind in some of my 3 color decks. Add in a few bounce lands for extra mana, as well as some utility lands like maze of ith, and the untapping of your lands becomes more than just regaining the mana for future counterspells. Definitely has some risk involved if they get hit back with a counterspell, but I have on multiple occasions won games due to the untapping of 3 and 4 lands. You do have to build your deck a little bit around it, but once you do, it is very much worth the extra mana and risks involved

[@pretty_fly_for_a_jeskai]

I'm a big fan of oddball card type counterspells, especially creatures like Mystic Snake and Fear of Imposters. Snake in Clement because provided he is out, can tap down frogs to cast part of or all of it, and bounce something, and Imposters in Master of Keys because again provided Commander is in play and can get Imposters to my graveyard, I've always got access to him with mana held up. Aven Interrupter is also just the goat.

[@chayadol]

My all time favorite counter spell that not much people talk about (at least I never see anyone did) is "Thwart". Yes it's 4 mana counter spell but this card save my ass so many time during late game. Returning 3 tapped islands instead of paying the cost, really got my opponent off guard with its hard counter, and with my simic landfalls deck, it's just help me drop more land fall lol.

[@JohnSmith-vk9ds]

I have a Simic landfall deck and I run Deprive in it. It's exactly Counterspell except it also has "Return a land you control to it's owner's hand" as an additional cost. And as you said in a landfall deck this is not really a drawback

[@MstrCorrin]

I have used Sunforger to get Counterflux more than any other spell. It cant be overloaded from the library, but its great to see the reaction when they thought they had a counter of their own. Reinterpret is great too for dropping a free threat off-turn

[@DCode504]

I also really love Time Stop! Can interrupt virtually any win attempt, be it Craterhoof, a Vultron attack or a combo finish. Only falls flat against decks that can combo off based on what's on the board - which will then kill you in your upkeep or on the stack (which probably just means you should have Time Stop-ed earlier, when they assembled that combo board state)

[@laurenty6325]

Timestop is such silly fun.

[@ethicsxc]

When building $50 budget decks for my roommates I put Urza's Rebuff into a Felix Five Boots deck to make it easier to get unblocked damage, for a Jenny Flint/Madame Vastra deck I chose Ice Out because they'll usually have a surplus of clues and foods, making it as cheap as a counterspell while triggering the various sacrifice triggers.

[@mn6334]

Reverse the Polarity also seems like it'd be good with Felix. It's Cancel mana for a modal spell that can counter all other spells, swap each creatures power and toughness until end of turn, or make all creatures unblockable until end of turn.

[@joefjunior]

Spelljack is great, and I'ma let ya finish, but Time Stop/Discontinuity are the biggest middle finger you can give to a player. The combo of ending a game winning attack mid combat coupled with denying that player the rest of their turn, all while countering uncounterables makes this unique effect a truly special experience for the person on the other end. Time Stop also just got reprinted in foundations, and is super budget friendly. (though you can still spend a lot on the foil version that omits the reminder text if you want to be classy about it)

[@lachlanrussell18]

I absolutely love Press the Enemy as my high mana value spell. I play it in my Storm, Force of Nature deck, and it never fails me. It lets you bounce creatures and spells, and then also gives you free utility. Great if you’re cheating the mana cost of cards and looking for a bucketload of cast triggers. The craziest thing is when you give it Storm. You cast it 13 times, bounce the whole board, and then play 13 free spells, which doubles you Storm count, and then lets you play something that actually has Storm natively for free at the end to go absolutely buck wild

[@lauchlanbagley1934]

YESSS I love invert polarity sm in any izzet deck I play, another really nice tempo swing in these colours is reinterpret, and it's put in some work in the games I draw it

[@AssimilateAndChill]

I’m a fan of Exclude: 2U, Counter target creature spell, draw a card. That single blue pip is real nice in multicoloured decks, a lot of the scary cards in format are creatures, and it’s a 2-for-1 (or, more of a 1-for-0)

[@sakurakinomoto52]

Since I'm building a Kellan the Kid deck, I'm in search for unique cards. One of my favorites for the deck is.... Gale's Redirection! a 5 mana "counterspell" since you exile the spell (so you can basically counter those uncounterable stuff), roll a d20 and add the spell's MV to the dice roll to get your result: 1~14 you may cast it paying it's mana cost but you can use mana as though it were mana of any color to cast that spell. But if you get a 15 or higher, you cast it for free! Snatching an uncounterable spell from your opponent is so gooooood!

[@theamazingsolt]

Getting the mono blue ones for my partner's ojer pakpatiq list since they have good utility on rebound! Keep it up TM!

[@pokemasta94]

Loved the video! A Counterspell I think is underplayed is Rewind. Sure it's 4 mana but it untaps 4 lands which is ideal in my Kadena deck keeping my mana open for morph abilities

[@robertomacetti7069]

tldr deckslots are an important resource too, so cards that can do more things in a single deck slots (looking also at you modern horizons lands) is incredibly valuable even if each mode is a bit overcosted

[@gifford5870]

Some other ones I like that you didn't mention but I think people should check out: Counterflux, Insidious Will, Overwhelming Denial, and Rewind. Rewind is really good if your commander has an activated ability.

[@saulgoodguy1840]

I have an super reactive, super grindy control deck that uses Access Denied, a 5 mana counterspell that makes an amount of thopters equal to the mana value of the spell you countered with it. Ive found it to be really good since it synergizes heavily with my extremely late game win condition of Capitoline Triad

[@ChadEichhorn]

Summary Dismissal is awesome, you just have to remember that you can't use it to protect your bomb/combo/whatever. Saw someone try that once, it was very funny.

[@wilsond6gaming]

Counterlash and Mindswipe are two of my favorites; overcosted and useless in most decks, but really strong in the niche situations

[@Griezus]

My favourite counterspell is Wash Away. You can counter a commander for just 1 mana but for the cleave cost you can counter any spell. Very good in commander

[@HenrikKarijärvi-s2z]

I personally think that dissipate and muddle the mixture are great too

[@grantmurdock7385]

SPELLJACK MY BELOVED Edit: I got excited. Nothing in my pirate deck makes the table laugh quite like Spelljack. Walk the Plank gets the closest.

[@autive42]

I built a deck inspired by Snail's Radha deck in temur colors, and one of my favorite inclusions in it the 5 mana counterspell overwhelming denial. It just says cascade on it. Is it good? Highly debatable. Is it funny? Yes.

[@Illusionmaker_MTG]

Dream Fracture remains my most favourite counterspell in EDH. It is somewhat well received by opponents, even more casual minded ones, do to the card draw. I like that it straight up draws me a card, too. Oh and don't forget about Rewind :D

[@I_Am_Kas]

I always run, and have since Theros, Whirlwind denial. My favorite moment with it was when I played a death trigger deck that had two doublers and fifty odd different triggers on creatures, they did not have the mana to pay the 600 (total) or any of the fours.

[@DarkDealer666]

Great vid as usual. I am a control player through and through. I've played about half the cards on your list and enjoy the hell out of them. These are all really good picks, and a few I hadn't considered but might need to. I love the Summary Dismissal gotcha of countering the uncounterable. Also, I have occasionally used it when I made a deal to not counter someone's spell, then the spell turned out bad and I exiled it instead. As for my addition, I love Rewind. If you have four mana available, it's basically free. And sometimes you can actually gain mana out of it with the land untap shenanigans. I'd also like to say, I think Counterspell is a card that warps player perception unfairly. They look at UU for a counter any spell with no restrictions and use that as the standard for counterspells, when in reality it is an outlier. I'd argue that the real standard is for counterspells is three mana with slight upside.

[@nickmoretti979]

Better than a booster one of my favorite things. I so rarely see truly new cards anymore that i havent seen before. I will be trying a few of these.

[@enso8379]

I already have most of these in my Eluge deck. Six mana is peanuts in that deck. I love the deck just because I get to cast the big counterspells you'll basically never see anywhere else.

[@pallingtontheshrike6374]

2:45 holy this is a throwback good ol 5 mana ancestral is back at it again 5:35 So, Mindbreak Trap but stronger and no cheating it out.

[@DeltaFiend]

Two counter spells I love that do essentially the same thing is Rewind and Unwind, they're a 4 mana Counterspell and 3 mana Negate respectively but untap lands up to their mana values. I love playing spellslinger decks so being able to counter something and then still have mana up for something else is very handy.

[@anentity3606]

Whirlwind denial has been one of my favorite counters for a long time. I will never forget the face of the one person who had their entire stack in an extort deck get countered.

[@ceronmachtdinge]

Desertion is one of my favorite counterspells. cmc5, and you get to steal the countered spell if it is an artifact or creature.

[@alanbedioui7985]

I fell in love with Perplex, thank you!

[@rudyh721]

Shoutout to reinterpret. It’s a great card for izzet colors and a deck where you are already gonna be holding up mana

[@naitsab_33]

reverse the polarity is very nice, too. Counters all spells, which tbf. is not that important most of the time (but it does dodge redirection spells ;) because it's not targeted ) or making all creatures unblockable is pretty neat. The middle mode of switching power/toughness is probably the weakest, but when it does something it's probably very effective at that (looking at the occasional arcades player)

[@Chardvaargh]

I had Spelljack as one of the few counterspells in my Kalamax deck as a mild lock piece. If for some reason I was allowed to have Kalamax tapped and any other permanent spell copy effect, I could cast spelljack on one of my opponents' useful spells each turn, copy the spelljack twice, use a copy to counter the real spelljack and a copy to counter the actual spell, rinse and repeat once a turn. The first time I assembled it, all of my opponents conceded after the first demonstration and I took spelljack out of the deck. I still haven't found another deck where it fits yet, but it's pretty awesome to see it mentioned

[@nick30075]

I've liked Traumatic Visions quite a bit lately. It fills a similar niche to Lorien Revealed in that you can keep greedy hands without risking bad draws leading to a screw, but the cooler part is how it manipulates what the group thinks you have. "Oh, X just discarded a counterspell to get more lands, he must be mana-screwed and not a threat." It's great for filling your grave with instants/sorceries for commanders like Octavia and if you're in a very-low-power pod where players will end up hellbent with some regularity, it's still just a (very bad) Cancel.

[@Andrewlik]

I like confounding riddle, in theory at least. If you leave up 3 mana and don't find anything of value you can do the card draw/filter effect and not waste that mana

[@Shimatzu95]

As someone that generally doesn´t play counterspells, i tend to go for creatures with inuild counterspells instead. While you loose the suprise factor that way, it makes people play more cautious.

[@nikoesque]

I liked to play Fear of Impostors and Perplexing Chimera in my Enchantress deck recently as a means of countering spells. They might not be ideal, but kinda on-theme. And it is actually funny having Chimera just sit on the board, giving my opponent(s) a sweat, haha.

[@Moosetapheles]

I love Spell Swindle in my Adrix and Nev deck. 5 mana to counter a spell and bank some treasure tokens to have an explosive turn is even better when A&N are out for double token generation.

[@AceHorizon37639]

You cannot imagine the good you did by showing me the Counterpoint counter spell. In my reanimation deck that's a counter and a Reanimation spell at the same time.

[@xgzav3488]

I like access denied in my artefact deck. 5 mana for a counterspell who gives you x thopter. The thopter can even be used as card draw or mana rocks depending you board, it work surprisingly well.

[@edhorseman2237]

Haven't watched the whole video but Dissipate is slept on. Countering and exiling a spell is amazing.

[@duk2112]

Render Silent can also be searched out with a Sunforger too! Cryptic Command is nutz in my Hylda deck

[@9clawtiger]

My Morph deck is where this would fit. Often holding up mana to threaten a flip anyway, and those morph abilities include several expensive Counterspells on legs. Kheru Spellsnatcher among the best (analogous to Spelljack)

[@KamenRiderGreed]

I don't know how useful it'll be, but I'll definitely consider Whirlwind Denial in my slower brews. Keep up the good work!

[@Slayerlord13]

I run Sublime Epiphany as another big dumb counterspell with a bunch of extra value tacked on. It's pretty fun when I get to do something like also create a copy of Torrential Gearhulk

[@rowantodd827]

I feel like unwind and rewind are good ones you could put up there. I run them as I still then have mana to threaten counters or endstep shenanigans, but they can also be mana positive with bounce lands or cost reduction, as well as being color filtering garunteed

[@monke221]

I really like Smirking Spelljacker in my Ninja list. At worst it’s Spelljack on a 3/3 flier, but I’ve had games where I’ve been able to cast it over and over by using it to ninjutsu out threats backed up by Smirking Spelljacker. And because Smirking Spelljacker is an attack trigger, it works perfectly with ninjutsu.

[@aitorgarcia1092]

My favorite one is Muddle the mixture, I run it in tons of decks ^^

[@rowanash7716]

I have a clue/artifact token deck that runs only 2 counterspells: Mystic Confluence and Spell Swindle 😅 Because the deck is an artifact list, I try to cut back on instants where possible. The fact that I like to keep open a few mana to crack clues makes keeping up the 5 mana less of a drawback, and both have easily won me multiple games with the blowout they cause from not just stopping an opponent but accelerating me forward.

[@Grumbl3cakes]

I only play 5+ mana counterspells in my melek reforged researcher deck. Feels amazing to spell swindle for 2, or sublime epiphany for 3 , and 5hats just the commander discount!

[@DCode504]

While we're on your honorable mentions, I wanna give a shoutout to my gal, Smirking Spelljacker! (Basically) a spelljack on a creature for one less mana and also only one blue pip (instead of Spelljack's three)

[@jessewahl6471]

I love these better than a booster videos

[@DaGraveCrowder]

Cryptic Command is especially crazy in Hylda of the Icy Crown

[@gifford5870]

Mystic Confluence is amazing. Love that card.