Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
Very playable for Izzet. Two thumbs up for me. The past Izzet counterspells in the past felt quite meh, but this one feels just right. I would have hoped for it to say "any target," but that may have been considered too strong for the meta at hand.
In a Standard environment where people are likely taking damage from Shocklands periodically, the 2 damage can stack up a bit. Izzet Wizard counterburn could definitely be a route worth exploring.
I feel like I'm going to lose more than a few Standard games to this card. In the last month, I've played countless games where both of us are down to 1-2 life and we're just trying to push through that last little bit of damage.
I like the card but it brings this sort of weird thought that WotC is basically ditching their "feel good" mantra. Like... no more symmetrical mass land destruction but they'll give us a counterspells that does damage again. Huh?
This is pretty good, much much better than Suffocating Blast. Might actually have to bring in my fat ass to standard and play some wizard contraption.
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The "Crazy One", playing casual magic and occasionally dipping his toes into regular play since 1994.
Currently focusing on Pre-Modern (Mono-Black Discard Control) and Modern (Azorious Control, Temur Rhinos).
Find me at the Wizard's Tower in Ottawa every second Saturday afternoons.
Boring staples at rare/mythic are just demoralizing. This seems decent, but is it better than graveyard-Dissolve in a world where WotC is afraid of both halves of CounterBurn?
I've played Psychic Strike in Pauper due to paucity of hard counters that don't require UU, so no doubt this will have a home if URX is a deck.
That's extremely disappointing for Modern, after seeing Assassin's Trophy.
How could any card NOT be disappointing after seeing Assassin's Trophy?
Edit: To avoid double post... This definitely has to go in UR Wizards. The question is, what does that deck lose with rotation and what will it gain to replace that. Between the Counterspell, the Lightning Bolt, and this the deck could have some real power.
The Red/Blue wizard deck is getting some serious upgrades with this set. I think it's going to be one of the main aggro decks in standard post rotation. It may lose Soul-Scar Mage, but it's getting good cards with Electromancer, Niv Mizzet and this which adds a ton of flexibility for the deck. It's looking to be a very fun deck to play.
Maybe Jeskai control will be worth looking into for Standard?
I think the viability of wizard counter-burn will depend on how good aggro is. If mono-red is still a problem, counter-burn may not be able to keep up.
I've been waiting forever for them to print this card. Always seemed like a no-brainer that this would exist. I'm just confused by the rarity. Hopefully it's printed at common in a Masters set so I can use it Pauper.
Maybe not a Rare, but definitely not a Common. The difference between this and Psychic Strike is that Psychic Strike only takes off ~1/15 (6.67%) of your resource in Limited (~4% in Constructed), while this takes off 10% of your resource for the rider. And when you combine that with the fact that Ionize's attack synchronizes with a lot more than Psychic Strikes...
I could see this as having been an Uncommon, and then Play Design found that this was too impactful. Maybe, I dunno.
Excellent hard counter, but it sucks that it's rare. I feel like this should have been an uncommon, considering that it's a strictly better Cancel (which is usually common), but it's not quite Undermine (which was rare).
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Lapsed DCI Rules Advisor - Retired from playing but still hanging around
Ionize is perfect at rare because it doesn't have a double mana cost, deals 2 damage to an opponent for free, and is a hard counter. No, you may not open more than 1 at a prerelease event or in a draft but for Constructed you can include a full set of them--that's pretty good value. You will probably not be casting it for more than UR, anyway, between Goblin Electromancer and Primal Amulet.
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Counter target spell and deal 2 damage to its controller. Now if only we could still hit PW's with that...
Source: https://twitter.com/dwpoker/status/1039514330583068677
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
I expect to see it but its completing with Sinister Sabotage that for pure control is better but some kind of counterburn, however, this is better.
Pioneer:UR Pheonix
Modern:U Mono U Tron
EDH
GB Glissa, the traitor: Army of Cans
UW Dragonlord Ojutai: Dragonlord NOjutai
UWGDerevi, Empyrial Tactician "you cannot fight the storm"
R Zirilan of the claw. The solution to every problem is dragons
UB Etrata, the Silencer Cloning assassination
Peasant cube: Cards I own
I like the card but it brings this sort of weird thought that WotC is basically ditching their "feel good" mantra. Like... no more symmetrical mass land destruction but they'll give us a counterspells that does damage again. Huh?
Currently focusing on Pre-Modern (Mono-Black Discard Control) and Modern (Azorious Control, Temur Rhinos).
Find me at the Wizard's Tower in Ottawa every second Saturday afternoons.
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
Spirits
I've played Psychic Strike in Pauper due to paucity of hard counters that don't require UU, so no doubt this will have a home if URX is a deck.
How could any card NOT be disappointing after seeing Assassin's Trophy?
Edit: To avoid double post... This definitely has to go in UR Wizards. The question is, what does that deck lose with rotation and what will it gain to replace that. Between the Counterspell, the Lightning Bolt, and this the deck could have some real power.
Vintage: Dredge | Legacy: Burn, Goblins, Soldier | Standard: Mono-Red Aggro
Commander: Nicol Bolas, Sliver Overlord, Rafiq
Casual: Selesnya Saproling Smackdown, Izzet Labs, Rebel
Played since June 2004, mostly inactive June 2011 to March 2018
Other usernames include AlanFromRochester, homerthebeerbaron
MTG checklists from Alpha to Ravnica Allegiance - https://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/magic-fundamentals/other-magic-products/third-party-products/805324-checklists-for-everything-from-alpha-to-ravnica
It's not even better than the last disappointment by comparison. (counterflux vs abrupt decay)
The 2 damage is completely meaningless for a 3cmc counter.
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
PS: plus, I had high hopes given the good card name. Ionize sounded cool. (More than a trophy. Yet the trophy is the powerhouse.)
Maybe Jeskai control will be worth looking into for Standard?
Trap your friends in an endless game with this 23-card combo!
I could see this as having been an Uncommon, and then Play Design found that this was too impactful. Maybe, I dunno.
common--Perplex, Psychic Strike, Deprive, Counterspell
uncommon--Broken Concentration, Dissipate, Dissolve, Silumgar's Scorn, Void Shatter, Wizard's Retort
rare--Undermine, Mindswipe, Counterflux, Suffocating Blast, Disallow, Voidslime
Ionize is perfect at rare because it doesn't have a double mana cost, deals 2 damage to an opponent for free, and is a hard counter. No, you may not open more than 1 at a prerelease event or in a draft but for Constructed you can include a full set of them--that's pretty good value. You will probably not be casting it for more than UR, anyway, between Goblin Electromancer and Primal Amulet.