Counter (keyword action)

Counter (keyword action)
Keyword Action
Introduced	Alpha
Last used	Evergreen
Reminder Text	No official reminder text
Scryfall Statistics
439 cards 1.6% 2.5% 75.9% 1.1% 1.6% 2.3% 15%

Certain spells and abilities can "counter target spell" (or similar effects). Counter in this sense is an evergreen keyword action. A spell that is countered is put into the graveyard instead of doing its effect.

Counterspells cards are by and large blue. White is tertiary. Counterspells in other colors used to exist only in the early days of Magic, and in the alternative realities of the Time Spiral block.

Rules

From the glossary of the Comprehensive Rules (November 14, 2025—Avatar: The Last Airbender)

Counter

1. To cancel a spell or ability so it doesn’t resolve and none of its effects occur. See rule 701.6, “Counter.”

2. A marker placed on an object or player that modifies its characteristics or interacts with a rule or ability. See rule 122, “Counters.”

From the Comprehensive Rules (November 14, 2025—Avatar: The Last Airbender)

• 701.6. Counter
  • 701.6a To counter a spell or ability means to cancel it, removing it from the stack. It doesn’t resolve and none of its effects occur. A countered spell is put into its owner’s graveyard.
  • 701.6b The player who cast a countered spell or activated a countered ability doesn’t get a “refund” of any costs that were paid.

Counter spells (countermagic)

This is the most common form of the action of "counter".

Blue

The eponymous Counterspell from Alpha gave the category its name. Alpha also introduced Blue Elemental Blast, Power Sink, and Spell Blast.

Counterspells were few and far between, but progressively, varieties of counterspells were released. The original Counterspell, with its absoluteness and affordability at a mana cost of , was a staple in many blue decks. It was also a staple in core sets and multiple expansion sets, up until 8th Edition and Mercadian Masques, respectively, until it was gradually replaced with other spells like Mana Leak. This was also the cutoff point for Modern, which hence did not have Counterspell legal until 2024 with a Modern Horizons 3 reprint.

Counterspell was ultimately supplanted by Cancel, a permission spell costing an additional that was introduced in Time Spiral, because R&D decided that for a hard counterspell was too powerful (at least as a common card). Two-mana counters are restricted while three-mana counters often have a small bonus.

"Permission" is a style of play that involves a deck that is dedicated to counter-magic. The permission player attempts to counter every important spell the opponent plays, and simply to draw plenty of extra cards to ensure more counters are available. The term "permission" comes from the way the opponent will end up asking whether each of their spells resolves or is countered, and hence counterspells are also termed "permission spells".

• 
  The eponymous Counterspell.
• 
  Blue Elemental Blast can counter red spells

White

In the Time Spiral block white took over blue's role as the main counter color (Mana Tithe, Rebuff the Wicked, Dawn Charm). White has only dipped its toe into the ability with on-board taxing effects rather than as in-hand permission, which tends to give the opponent full information. Generally, the effect is worse than a static tax effect, as uncounterable spells cut through such a tax, which are more common than cost reduction effects that could reduce past the tax. Such an effect has had a long hiatus between Gatecrash in 2013 (Frontline Medic) and Kaldheim in 2021 (Valkmira, Protector's Shield), followed by Mage's Attendant in Streets of New Capenna in 2023. White was also given Reprieve, a type of spell bounce.

Early off-color counterspells

Black

• Withering Boon (Mirage)
• Dash Hopes (Planar Chaos)

Red

• Red Elemental Blast (Alpha)
• Artifact Blast (Antiquities)
• Pyroblast (Ice Age)
• Burnout (Alliances)
• Molten Influence (Odyssey)
• Mages' Contest (Invasion)

Red/Green

• Guttural Response (Shadowmoor)

Green

• Avoid Fate (Legends)

Types of counterspells

A distinction is made between so called "hard" and "soft" permission spells.

Hard

In general, a "hard" counter is any card that stops a spell from resolving and preventing that spell from being played again (e.g., Counterspell, Hinder, Dismiss). Some "hard" counters may have additional effects if above the expected mana cost of three, which range the game plan incentives from protective tempo pieces (damage, creatures, tapping) or long-game control (life gain, scrying, library recursion).

As a general rule of thumb, R&D stipulated that "hard" counters require in their mana costs and that counterspells are designed and costed with the original Counterspell in mind. Exceptions are sometimes made when the spell has a significant downside, such as card draw for the controller of the countered spell (e.g., Arcane Denial, Vex) exist. R&D later decided that two colored mana was also allowed, allowing multicolored hard counterspells with one blue mana and a mana of a second color (e.g. Psychic Strike , Ionize ).

Soft

A "soft" counter, in contrast, is a card that stops a spell from resolving but gives the opponent some recourse, such as the possibility to pay additional mana to have the spell still resolve (e.g., Force Spike, Mana Leak) or the possibility to cast that spell soon (e.g., Delay, Remand, Memory Lapse). Counterspells that also have a limited range of targets (e.g., Annul, Spell Snare, Negate) or that require additional resources (e.g., Abjure) are also considered "soft" counters. In a sense, their "bonus" is the reduced mana cost, something that is considered better than most riders on the three-mana spot. Counterspells that only target creature spells are often given less leeway than the opposite, as the creature decks tend to make up most of both the Limited and Constructed metagames.

Counter target activated/triggered ability

The ability to counter a target activated or triggered abilities is primary in blue and tertiary in green. For a while this was a green effect, but R&D has moved it to be more in blue. Green does it on rare occasion usually to counter artifact activations these days. Green also got Verdant Command, which counters the very specific "loyalty ability of a planeswalker". As it is rare for an ability to be an entire card's worth of value, Stifle effects are also rarely on their own.

Can't be countered

Some cards can't be countered. This ability is primary in red and green, and secondary in blue.

Red tends to have spells that can't be countered while green tends to have creatures that can't be countered. When blue does "can't be countered," which is less often, it's usually a more control-oriented card.

Colloquially, some effects are known as "uncounterable" when they are high-impact triggered or activated abilities, such as Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger's cast trigger or Shark Typhoon's token-making cycling effect. As countering abilities is rare, these effects are usually considered in the same realm as "can't be countered", even though it is not literal.

Spell bouncing

There are a small number of cards that, instead of using the keyword counter, move a spell into another zone. While only five spells directly exile spells, most of the others return them to the hand or the library, making them analogous to a bounce effect for spells. This templating bypasses the aforementioned uncounterability. This effect was rare, starting only with Venser, Shaper Savant for many years, but gained more variants after Battle for Zendikar, which had Brutal Expulsion.

External links

• Doug Beyer (November 12, 2008). "Topic Explosion". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 2021-01-28.