The Best Counterspells in MTG (Since the Last List)

Counterspells are a core building block of Magic: one of the fundamental effects that make up its periodic table. By this point in history we’ve seen literally hundreds of variations on the original Counterspell, and you can still rely on at least one or two new ones appearing in every set. 

Of course, not all counter-magic is created equal. In January 2022, I wrote a piece here on Card Kingdom ranking the 20 greatest counterspells ever – and 45 months later, that article is still extremely popular. Clearly the question of “which counterspells are the best, and why?” is one people will always want answered. 

But answers in Magic can change over time. More than 50 new counterspells have been printed since that first article came out, many of them powerful and compelling enough to merit discussion. So that’s what we’re going to do today: nominate the top 10 NEW counterspells from the 2022-25 era, and explain our reasoning.

10. Counterpoint

At this point in Magic history the mana cost of “counter target spell” is a solved problem – it’s approximately two-and-a-half mana. Obviously we can’t pay half-a-mana (at least in black border). So instead you can get them for two mana with a drawback, or for three mana with an upside.

We know straight-up Counterspell is too good for most formats, but Cancel is too bad for people to be happy playing it anywhere To coax us into happily paying FIVE mana – double that approximated value – the upside attached to your counterspell has to be truly mind-popping. Counterpoint comes the closest to tempting me out of all recent entrants in this “big payoff counter” category. 

Getting to choose the spell to cast from your graveyard (from a surprisingly flexible list of types) gives Counterpoint quite a high ceiling, if you build around it. You could even try and set up a combo where you cast something with an inflated mana value and then Counterpoint yourself… a little inefficient for Plan A, but for a card you can already include just as a counterspell, it’s a cool trick for Counterpoint to have in its back pocket.

9. Fear of Imposters

The counterspell-creature is another classic sub-genre which has been getting fresh attention over the past few years. I considered Ertai Resurrected or Fangkeeper’s Familiar here, but as a pure counterspell I’m giving the nod to Fear of Imposters. Three mana is at the high end of acceptable for a counterspell, but putting than effect on a 3/2 creature really changes the math!

Normally, counterspell-creatures excel in decks full of other counters, since you can prevent the opponent from ever casting a blocker while getting some bodies into play to beat down. However, Fear of Imposters gives the opponent a free blocker which heavily nerfs that potential strategy.

This pushes the emphasis back towards the other benefits of counterspell-creatures: recursion. You can copy this, you can flicker it in and out of play; in current Standard you can return it to your hand with Nurturing Pixie and re-cast it. I’m also giving this bonus points for its other card type – there’s far fewer counterspell-enchantments than there are counterspell-creatures. Enchantress decks may be one niche, but it’s a niche that will probably give Fear of Imposters its true forever-home.

8. Reasonable Doubt

We just talked about how Fear of Imposters was nerfed for tempo decks because it gives the opponent a blocker. Well, how about a counterspell which does the opposite? Reasonable Doubt is purpose-made for those aggressive blue tempo decks, the kind which try to force through damage every turn and use counterspells to prevent opponents from catching up. 

In such an extreme strategy, suspecting an opponent’s blocker is basically removal – how high would you rate a counterspell which also said “destroy target creature”. If they don’t have a blocker, adding menace to your own attacker is almost as good. 

The big weakness of this card is that it becomes terrible once opponents can keep spare lands open to pay its meagre tax. But the entire point of tempo (a.k.a. “mana advantage”) is that it forces the opponent to keep pace with you; to always be doing as much as they can with their mana to avoid falling behind on board. That’s the kind of situation where you almost never get to play around Reasonable Doubt – even if you have absolutely no doubts it’s coming.

7. Stern Scolding

Two-mana counterspells need a drawback to be balanced, so it’s easy to understand the kind of compromise you have to negotiate for a one-mana counterspell to see print. That’s so insanely cheap that you stop caring about what the spell you’re countering even does; you’re just slamming it on the first spell that costs two or more. 

This means designers are forced to give one-mana counters strict targeting limitations so they’re harder to “cash in”, which in turn often relegates them to the role of sideboard tech. Annul. Dispel. Turn Aside. Consign to Memory. You’ll also notice that these tend to not counter creature spells; the one option which can, Spell Snare, had a lengthy run as a main-deck tournament staple.

Stern Scolding is not Spell Snare. It can only target creature spells, which undercuts its main-deck viability. But it is an incredible option against any deck with creatures: giving you precious mana to spare against aggro, and sniping many important combo creatures due to their lower statlines. It’s good enough that you might tech in a copy main-board, and it will be powerful so long as cards like Balustrade Spy or Thassa’s Oracle are relevant win-cons.

6. Artistic Refusal

Yes, we have a six-mana counterspell making the top six of our list! The nature of Magic deckbuilding means that a card which is #1 in a hyperspecific niche or role is more relevant than the sixth-best generic counterspell. Artistic Refusal has an extremely powerful dual effect which, in the right deck, can be consistently cast off three or fewer lands. That’s definitely good enough to make my list, although admittedly I have a well-documented bias towards the convoke mechanic.

The “right kind of deck” here is one which both generates small creatures and plays a slower game – something like the Caretaker’s Talent control archetype from current Standard, or just any control deck with token-producing planeswalkers. 

Admittedly, the downside of this being basically uncastable without convoke limits how many copies you can play in Constructed. But the ceiling is so high, and the angle of a zero-mana counter is so unexpected in most formats, that Artistic Refusal remains an important niche pick.

5. Repulsive Mutation

It’s easiest to see the value of Repulsive Mutation using the rubric of Quadrant Theory. Quadrant Theory posits that on any particular turn during a game of Magic, you are either: Ahead, Behind, At Parity or Developing. Most cards are strong in some of those contexts and weak in others, which when combined with our understanding of a deck’s gameplan can tell us how well they fit that list.

Repulsive Mutation is weakest when you’re Developing or Behind: the worst case scenario is that you have no creatures when it resolves, and it does nothing. But I would argue this is more of a deckbuilding concern: so long as your deck plays enough creatures to reliably have more than one in play, this is less of a concern. Even if you have just two mana to cast this, having a body on board will let you counterspell anything played on curve – that’s pretty good for a “downside”.

But if you’re Ahead, or even at Parity – where the board is presumed to be even and players are trying to topdeck an impactful card to get advantage – Repulsive Mutation is a welcome sight. Unlike most counterspells, it is not purely reactive – you can use this card as an instant speed mana sink in the opponent’s end step to generate a huge threat, or as a combat trick to force through sudden lethal damage after blocks are declared. It’s like an instant speed Blaze//Slime Molding split card that can also be Counterspell at the same time.

4. Invert Polarity

Invert Polarity feels like the epitome of “low risk, high reward”. The fact you have to flip a coin to determine the effect of the spell doesn’t hit the same when you realise one side says “good” and the other side is “incredible”. At worst, this card is Cancel for UUR. Let’s be clear: the actual card Cancel feels bad to include in your deck, but not because countering a spell for 3 mana is inherently game-losing. It just shouldn’t be the upper ceiling of what your card can do: having your worst scenario be Cancel is perfectly manageable, given a sufficiently attractive best case.

The best case here absolutely clears the bar: you get to steal whatever the opponent was trying to cast: you can re-target their removal, hijack their draw spell, or have their permanent spell become your permanent property. There are very few scenarios, especially in Constructed, where you would want to counter a spell but not gain control of it: basically just board wipes and double-sided stax pieces like Blood Moon. The momentum swing generated when you steal the threat your opponent just tapped out for is usually game winning by itself: for that amount of upside, I would happily cast a hundred Cancels.

3. Change the Equation

Despite their obvious potential in specific matchups, I tend to not consider narrow sideboard cards for these sorts of lists. It just seems unfair to evaluate something so situational against more universal spells; they are filling fundamentally different roles in deck construction. However, some erstwhile sideboard cards are more flexible than others, to the point that they can begin to compete for maindeck slots, and that’s how Change the Equation earns its spot here.

Blue’s hosers for green and red always seem to be relevant (Aether Gust nearly made my Top 20 Counterspells list back in the day), perhaps because their increased efficiency is so sorely needed by blue decks to avoid being immediately overrun by those aggressive colors. 

The cool thing about Change the Equation is how its “Plan B” mode still performs acceptably in the exact role that’s more important to blue control, and the same one that its “Plan A” mode dominates against Gruul: slowing the opponent’s early game momentum by not letting their creatures reach the battlefield.

2. Three Steps Ahead

Near the top off the heap for counterspells in the last few years is another Cancel; one of the finest ever made. Printed mana value be damned Three Steps Ahead is definitely a three-cost spell, even in its draw-discard mode. But the more mana you have to spare, and the more proactive you’re poised to be (there’s Quadrant Theory again!) the more efficient and rewarding this card becomes.

I’ve been playing quite a bit of Three Steps Ahead in recent Standard, both in conventional control/midrange lists and in my own C-Tier Throne of the Grim Captain deck. Having the flexibility to sculpt your your hand and dig for key cards and/or bolster your board with copies of your best permanent you’ll always find some use for your mana in their end step, crucial if you want to stay three or more steps in front of your opponent. 

The “copy token” mode is especially cool because of how many new and devastating effects can be created by doubling certain creatures at instant speed – Tishana’s Tidebinder, Marang River Regent, Enduring Curiosity, Abhorrent Oculus. I know I don’t need to really convince anyone on this spell given its success in tournaments already, but make sure you’re not satisfied with just a three-step lead when it can do so much more. 

1. Flare of Denial

Just like in my original article, a free unconditional counterspell (predictably) tops the list. But I’d rather be predictable than blatantly wrong, and there’s no getting around the power level of the Flare cycle from Modern Horizons 3. Even the most passive blue control decks won’t find it that hard to include some cheap blockers or one-mana utility creatures; at bare minimum you can include cards like Fear of Imposters that can fill non-creature roles while offering fuel for your Flares.

Assuming you do consistently have creatures to sacrifice, Flare of Denial becomes tremendously strong. It’s not even that much effort to turn the sacrifice cost into pure upside; it means you can reanimate the creatures or return them to hand to repeat their juicy ETBs. Now you’re talking about getting value coming and going, on a spell where the worst case scenario was already Cancel, and the best case Force of Will. This is the only card printed since my last Counterspell ranking which could realistically crack the top five all-time, and it wouldn’t be #5.

ON TOP OF THE STACK

As I just implied there at the end, I won’t try and pretend that the last 4 years were some massive watershed for counterspells; only the top handful of counters on this list would even have been in consideration for that “greatest of all time” list. But I do think that if you repeated this experiment for every other four-year bracket in the history of Magic, the only period with stronger standards for permission might be the early-mid 1990s.

That’s a testament to the creativity of the current design team; they find ways to not only incorporate new mechanics like Suspect or Manifest Dread into these counterspells, they often do so in a highly compelling way that creates cards greater than the sum of their parts. I hope this list (and my other one) have helped you appreciate these fine examples of countermagic – or if you’re an anti-blue spy, a better idea of how to shut them down.