Summary
Counterspells are among the most debilitating plays inMagic: The Gathering. You’ve set up your board perfectly, and you have an infinite combo ready to pop off… until your foe taps a few islands and says those brutal words: “I play Counterspell.”
While normally an investment of mana is required to counter any spell, there are a few notable examples that have alternate casting costs that allow them to be cast for free. These incredibly powerful free counterspells are among the best ways to counter spells the game has ever produced.
10Fierce Guardianship
Free For Commander Players (Not Monetarily, Though)
This is one of the more niche free counterspells, but its amazing utility in games of Commander cannot be overstated. Simply being able to counter a noncreature spell straight-up for zero mana as long as you control your commander is massively powerful.
Most people seemingly agree, as despite this card having two printings – one in Commander 2020 and one in Commander Masters (with three different variants) – this card’s median price on the secondary market is just under $50.
9Mindbreak Trap
When Countering One Spell Isn’t Enough
This card, at one point, was worth over $70, but then it was reprinted as part of theBreaking News bonus sheetin Outlaws of Thunder Junction, which sent the card’s price tumbling.
Beyond its monetary value, though, this card’s in-game value is not up for debate, as any Storm deck or deck that focuses on resolving lots of spells consecutively would be utterly destroyed by this card’s alternate casting cost of zero – though it must be noted this card does not technically counter spells but exiles them instead.
8Thwart
Pair With Landfall Cards For Maximum Value
A little-used and nearly forgotten card from 1999’s Mercadian Masques set, this card straight-up counters any spell for free, so long as you’re willing to return three Islands you control to your hand instead of paying its (rather steep) mana cost of two colorless and two blue mana.
While that might sound like a brutal setback for your mana base, note that this card’s text does not limit the Islands to basic ones, so you’re able to return cards to your hand such as Murders at Karlov Manor’s surveil lands that are also Islands (helping you thin your deck when you replay them) or triomes that are Islands, such as Ketria Triome or Xander’s Lounge, for future cycling use.
7Foil
Combos Well With Thwart
One of thebest common counterspells of all time, this card was originally printed at uncommon in the final set in Masques block: 2000’s Prophecy. While pitching an Island and another card from your hand is a fairly steep cost, a free counterspell is a free counterspell, and this card being able to hit any spell type makes it eminently useful.
Foil also combos well with Thwart, as you may counter two spells back-to-back for zero mana if you start by countering a spell with Thwart for free (returning three Islands) and then pitch two of those cards to Foil’s alternate casting cost. Not bad for the price of nothing!
6Daze
Banned In Pauper For Good Reason
This card was part of a cycle of cards from 2000’s Nemesis set that allowed you to return Islands to your hand to cast it for free, and all of those cards have made waves competitively over MTG’s history.
While Daze is currently only banned in Pauper, it has long been an important staple counterspell in the Modern and Legacy formats, seeing as the trade-off of returning one Island to your hand and being able to counter any spell (as long as the foe can’t pay one colorless mana, of course) is absolutely worth it to any self-respecting blue mage.
5Mental Misstep
Phyrexian Mana Has Never Been Better
A card that employs overpowered Phyrexian mana (either two life or one mana of a specific color), this counterspell is almost always more effective as a surprise option that will cost you two life – and also likely win you a counterspell war if employed in a timely manner.
This card is so thunderously powerful, in fact, that it is banned in both Modern and Legacy – two of the most powerful formats around – and even restricted in Vintage, which makes it only one of 49 cards restricted in the format; other banned Vintage cards include legendary spells such as the Power Nine (Black Lotus,the Moxen, Time Walk, etc.), Necropotence and Channel.
4Flare of Denial
Kill A Creature, Counter A Spell
One of the more recent cards featured, this card introduced itself in Modern Horizons 3 as a top-tier free counterspell that only requires you to sacrifice a nontoken blue creature instead of paying its one colorless and two blue mana cost.
Of course, this card would be better if you could sacrifice a token creature but its ability to counter any spell type is laudable. Still, this card does force you to have a board state (beyond lands) of some kind when you cast it, so it doesn’t quite reach the heights of the top three.
3Force of Negation
A Modern (Horizons) Masterpiece
Originally printed in Modern Horizons as a riff on the original free counterspell, this card can only counter noncreature spells, which is a bummer, but in order to circumvent its casting cost you simply exile a blue card from your hand – that’s it.
No loss of life, no other card exiled, no permanent sacrificed or returned to your hand – just one blue card and you can counter any noncreature spell your foe throws at you. On top of that, Force of Negation forces your foe to exile that countered card instead of putting it into their graveyard to avoid any recursion shenanigans they may have had planned.
2Pact of Negation
No Mana Cost, No Problem
A card with a “zero” in its mana cost is always going to the get the attention of MTG players, and when it’s attached to the phrase “counter target spell,” control mages the world over salivate in anticipation of fizzling a foe’s well-laid plans for literally nothing.
Of course, if you counter a spell with this before you have three colorless and two blue mana available, you straight-up lose the game during your next upkeep – so the drawback is quite steep – but any counterspell player knows exactly the right time to pull this tremendously strong free counterspell out of the bag so they won’t get hit with a “good game” prematurely.
1Force of Will
The Original Free Counterspell Remains The Best
Unsurprisingly, the best-ever free counterspell was the first one ever printed, all the way back in 1996’s Alliances expansion. For one life and exiling a blue card from your hand, you can straight-up counter any spell your foe throws your way – that’s it.
There are no other drawbacks and nothing more to it. Of course, this card’s actual mana cost of three colorless and two blue mana is quite prohibitive on its own, but this card does not exist to be hardcast. Force of Will is an iconic card, and though it has had a few notable reprints in recent memory (Eternal Masters, Double Masters, Dominaria Remastered), any printing of this is going to be a hot commodity. Even its Alliances original, which was actually printed at uncommon, holds a median value above $65, and that’s understandable since this is the best free counterspell ever printed.
