Blue wizards, by their very nature, are suspicious and defensive creatures.  They utilize the sometimes unscrupulous tactics of delay, deception and sheer cunning to outwit their opponents.   Blue's shady delay tactics, unorthodox milling strategies and it's uncanny ability to dismantle almost any plan-of attack has made her very few friends.  Not every color can be as fair-minded as white or as tranquil as green.  Of all the incantations in Blue's spellbook, nothing seems to draw the ire of the Magic world quite like countermagic.  The lines are clearly drawn between those who are frustrated by control magic, and those, such as myself, who believe such wizardry is essential to the game.  The following is my most sincere and unpretentious attempt at defending my love, The Counter, in modern Magic the Gathering.

The simplest question we can ask ourselves about any mechanic is whether or not it is "fun".  No one enjoys being on the business end of a nasty control lockdown.  A game isn't exactly a game if half of the player's aren't participating.  Likewise, no one enjoys being on the receiving end of a god-draw aggro rush or a particularly chintzy turn three combo.  Each of the three basic deck archetypes is more or less "not fun" when taken to the extreme.  I believe control is judged more harshly than the other two deck-types because the "controlled" player feels helpless and maybe even a bit "fondled" after a loss.  When in reality, you had just as little chance, and were just as devastated by that BBE/Blightning rush that accelerated its way out on turn three.  Losing, in and of itself, isn't fun- no matter how you slice it.

[caption id="attachment_9621" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Being "controlled" never feels good."][/caption]

This animalistic hate that non-control players have for countermagic is at best, naive.  Most of their frustration is purely psychological.  Consider this example - It is your turn and I have three untapped mana, two islands and one swamp.  It is a critical turning point in the game; turn five.  You tap out to cast Baneslayer Angel.  I cast Cancel.  How do you feel?  Pretty crappy, huh?  Okay, now take that same scenario; you cast Baneslayer Angel.  But this time I let it resolve and at the end of your turn I cast Doom Blade.  How do you feel?  Probably not so good, but I'd bet a dollar and a doughnut that you feel a little bit better about it than you did about that hard counter!  But why in Urza's world is that?!  If anything, shouldn't you feel better about me using up a dreaded counterspell and spending MORE mana to answer your threat?  But we don't feel that way, do we?  We're upset that we didn't even get to cast the spell, while in reality, removal and countermagic aren't all that different.  In fact, it's a lot harder to counter a spell on the stack than it is to wait until my next untap step and Unmake your Magic ex post facto.   What is the difference between countermagic and removal?  What makes countermagic more frustrating than discarding two cards on your second turn?   The difference is all in your head.

Countermagic adds a dimension and depth to the game that is hard to duplicate.  The fact that your spell could potentially be countered, misfired or "answered" by your opponent is suspenseful, exciting and gives Magic a more organic, dare I say-realistic feel.  Detractors who would do away with countermagic completely have apparently never played D&D.  "A countered Lightning Bolt isn't "fun"! , they say.  But is a dodged attack in Dungeons and Dragons innately "fun"?  What about a "Missed" power-swing in World of Warcraft?  Perhaps we should just do away with "missing" and "dodging" in all of fantasy because they aren't considered "fun"?  My point is that it is okay to have "bad things' happen to players.  It's what makes the game exciting and what makes winning and losing have meaning.  Magic deck builders always have a plan and they are understandably upset when that plan is foiled but they should always be experiencing "net fun".

One of the most delicate and important balances in the game of Magic is that of "Threats vs. Answers".  In theory (or at least in my mind!) there should be a possible answer to any threat and the game should play such that it is possible for you to answer those threats.  In today's Magic the Gathering standard meta, threats far outweigh any viable answers.  Because of this, a deck like Jund is able to put out one or two major threats every turn.  Not even a UU counterspell is going to be able to hold that at bay!  Counters are one of the last bastions against token creating, cascading, elf-balling creature rushes that are so prevalent in every format right now.

[caption id="attachment_9623" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="For every threat, an answer."][/caption]

Maybe my love for blue has to do with my love for the stack.  Some of my best MTG memories are of duels with Leaf, slinging spells back and fourth, ordering two, three, and sometimes four red and blue spells on the stack.  Once in a while he would Shunt my Counterspell back at itself or I'd straight up Pact of Negation his 12-damage Fireball.  That "magical banter" is one of my favorite parts about this game.  I can just imagine a red mage mustering up all of her mana, casting Chain Lightning while the other wizard grits his teeth and with a primal scream casts Force of Will.   Blue's appeal rests in this back and fourth, battle of wits and I think that is why so many people take it so personally when they think that appeal is being degraded.  I miss that magical banter a lot and it's something I think Magic should move towards revitalizing.

A lot of Blue Wizard angst has been centered around the  fact that their bread and butter Counterspell has not been standard since 7th edition.  I've written, just recently about the speed of the game and how I feel it to be too fast.  Aggro, rush and turn three combos dominate Magic the Gathering right now.  Magic could use a bit more control at the moment.  Whether that means printing a hard counter at UU with no drawback or not, I can't say.  One card that gives me hope, that lets me know that wizards hasn't abandoned the counter forever, is also one of the latest Rise of the Eldrazi spoilers to be revealed just last week:

Blue Wizards are by far the most vocal and.. shall we say... expressive segment of the magic population.  As I sifted through the hundreds of comments on Deprive I realized something: this card embodies the state and nature of modern countermagic.  Some people saw it as the second coming of Urza whilst others thought it was worse than even the much-derided Cancel.  Blue Wizards themselves are all over the map on this one!   As a certified, card carrying, practitioner of Blue Wizardry it is my duty to tell you, with the arrogance that only a CCCPOBW could muster, that this is indeed- A Good Card.

[caption id="attachment_9626" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Blue Wizards do have a way with words..."][/caption]

A lot of the complaints about this card are centered around its drawback.  "Why would I mess up my tempo!" or "I'm not Time Warping myself, Reinhart, thanks!"  I disagree with these sentiments.  I think people are too quick to use the "Is-this-going-to-single-handedly-beat-Jund" test on new cards.  The answer, of course, is no.. No it will not turn the relentless Jund tides and honestly, you should stop waiting for anything other than Rotation Day to save us from Jund.  Imagine this card in an even slightly slower meta!  It's a UU counterspell, people!  The drawback isn't so bad on the play and is totally doable on the draw.  "But Reinhart, how am I going to counter something on turn two!?  I'm not going down to one mana for that!"  Here's what you need to understand about counters: You don't have to play them just because you have the mana and the counter in hand!  If it's going to be too devastating to return a land to your hand, then don't do it!  That is the limitation of this counter.  It isn't playable sometimes just like all of those other counters you already play like Flashfreeze, Dispel and Essence Scatter.

I think we're all forgetting what makes a 2CMC hard counter so great.. It isn't necessarily that you can counter Putrid Leech on turn two, it's that you can play other things on turns three, four and five and only have to save two mana to counter any spell! For example, you know their Baneslayer Angel is on its way next turn and you have six mana on the table.  You want to play Jace, the Mind Sculptor and still be able to take care of the Angel and/or the oblivion ring  that's sure to come your new buddy's way.  With Cancel you can't do it, but with this card you can.  And this isn't even going into all of the combos you can pull off with land abilities such as Halimar Depths, Kabira Crossroads or any future CIP lands.

I'll admit, in certain situations, and particularly as the meta changes, other spells such as Cancel might turn out to be better choices.  But can't we all agree that a UU counter with a minor drawback is a great card or is at the very least "circumstantially playable?!"  Are we so jaded that we can't even recognize a good counter when we see one?  I, for one, am excited about the potential of this card and I think it shows that Wizards is trying to give control players a bone.  They're just afraid of that slippery- "control dominates all and locks down the game for 2 years" -slope.  Which is certainly a valid concern, just as it should be for aggro and *cough* cascade *cough*.

Complaining about blue magic is the proverbial third rail of Magic the Gathering.  It's not the best way to make friends either within, or without the Magic the Gathering community.  Those of us who choose to revel in the blue-arts often find ourselves isolated and feel as though our way-of-game is constantly under attack.  I hope I've been able to give you a glimpse into that mindset.  Countermagic adds much to the fabric of this game.  There is a feeling that is unmatched when successfully casting permission spells.  It forces players to take a look at the game on a more granular level and to really think about when and why they are playing that spell.  Magic advertises itself as a game with "infinite possibilities".  Here's hoping countermagic always remains one of those possibilities.