Magic: The Gathering - 11 Best Non-Blue Counterspells

Summary

• Counterspells are not just for blue mages- white, green, black, and even colorless spells can say "no" to your opponents' strategies.
• Non-blue counterspells like Lifeforce, Tibalt's Trickery, and others offer unexpected surprises and powerful plays in Magic: The Gathering.
• Pyroblast and Red Elemental Blast are the top non-blue counterspells, providing strong answers to blue decks with their one-mana efficiency.

Counterspells in Magic: The Gathering are a specialty of blue mages. As blue in MTG is known for being the “control” color, counterspells perfectly fit into that niche. They typify an archetypal blue spell that stops your foe from doing what they want to do when they want to do it.

Magic: The Gathering – The 12 Best Common Counterspells

There might be newer and more powerful counterspells in Magic: The Gathering, but these common ones are the perfect way to tell your foe "no."

Despite this, there are a number of notable non-blue counterspells that are powerful and oftentimes terrifically surprising – as most Magic players will not be expecting a counterspell to come from someone playing, for example, a Gruul (red/green) deck. Let’s take a look at the best non-blue counterspells in MTG history.

11 Lapse of Certainty

Memory Lapse In White Is Actually Quite Strong

White is the color with the most counterspells out of all the non-blue colors, with a total of 14. While this card is technically a more expensive version of the cheaper blue card Memory Lapse, the fact that it’s white means that the surprise factor plays a pivotal role in its effectiveness.

People just do not expect a counterspell from someone playing non-blue colors, and even though this card only provides a temporary solution (the countered spell goes atop your foe’s library instead of the graveyard), this can still save you from near-certain death in the right scenarios.

10 Kozilek, the Great Distortion

An Eldrazi Counterspell "Lord"

A massively powerful Eldrazi legendary creature that has a mana value of 10, this card is not going to be winning any tempo battles. Despite that, its tremendous power level means it simply cannot be left off the list of best non-blue counterspells.

When it hits the battlefield, you get to reset your hand to a full seven cards, and then, more importantly, you can discard a card from your hand with mana value X to counter a spell with the same mana value. Again, the mana cost of this card is prohibitive, but the power level is stratospheric – and Eldrazi are just so cool.

9 Lifeforce

Hose Mages That Specialize In Black Cards

This double-green enchantment card and its black inverse (Deathgrip) date all the way back to Magic’s original set, Alpha, in 1993. One of the only permanents on this list, Lifeforce is able to counter any black spell as an activated ability for two green mana endlessly.

Seeing as countering black spells (such as targeted removal, powerful reanimate spells or other game-warping cards) is likely more impactful than countering green spells, Lifeforce makes this list over Deathgrip. This is definitely an odd card, but the ability to counter black spells indefinitely, as long as you have the mana, still stacks up as quite strong.

8 Avoid Fate

Great Art On A Creature-Protecting Green Counterspell

This one-mana green counterspell has only been printed twice. Once in 1994’s Legends expansion, and another time as a Timeshifted card in 2006’s eminently enjoyable Time Spiral set.

Magic: The Gathering – The 10 Best Modal Spells

The best modal spells in Magic: The Gathering are all about giving players freedom of choice. So, choose one – read on; explore the list; scroll down.

While it certainly has only niche uses (countering an Aura or Instant that targets a permanent you control), it can still be a highly surprising tempo swing in games. Combine that with the card’s striking and always enjoyable Phil Foglio artwork, and it’s not surprising that this card retains a high price point – even for the Time Spiral printing.

7 Warping Wail

Colorless Modal Counterspell With Impressive Versatility

Modal spells are always useful. The freedom to choose one (or more) modes based on the state of the game can ultimately swing matches in your favor one decision at a time. This colorless modal spell features three quite useful modes, one of which is a straight-up counterspell.

While that counterspell is limited to only sorcery spells, spending only two colorless to stop a Time Warp, Farewell or Invoke Despair sounds pretty attractive. Even if you don’t need the counterspell mode, creating a token or exiling a small creature are also useful options.

6 Tibalt’s Trickery

When Countering Your Own Spells Is Busted

This is a tough one to gauge. As a combo piece, this card is unparalleled. It is currently banned in Modern, Historic and Explorer formats and restricted in Timeless because, while MTG’s designers might have intended this to be an intriguing counterspell option for red mages, they didn't expect players to counter their own spells in order to cheat out massive threats on turn two.

Imagine this scenario: Turn one, you play a mountain, then pass. Turn two, you play another untapped land, cast a zero-cost artifact like Tormod's Crypt, then counter it with Tibalt’s Trickery. The Trickery resolves, and you cast the first mega-powerful bomb in your deck for free on turn two, such as a 15/15 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, which gifts you an extra turn to boot thanks to that card’s ability. That’s why it’s banned.

As a straight-up counterspell, though? It’s not great.

5 Dash Hopes

A Color-Shifted "Lose-Lose" Counterspell

Black countermagic is exceedingly rare. Only six cards appear upon searching Scryfall for black counterspells, and only two of them are instants. Dash Hopes is one of them. Planar Chaos, the set that birthed this card, was all about turning MTG players’ expectations on their heads, so printing a two-mana black counterspell certainly fit that theme.

Of course, they couldn’t just do a color-shifted version of Counterspell in black, since that would be too strong.

Instead, they turned it into a “lose-lose” for the opponent, as they can either let the spell resolve at the cost of five life or let the spell be countered. While life loss is usually the best option, losing a quarter of your life total just to resolve a spell is admittedly pretty steep and gets better as the game goes along.

4 Rebuff The Wicked

A Single White Mana Saves Creatures

While cards like Gods Willing that give protection from a certain color are able to technically snuff out targeted effects such as burn spells or kill spells, they are not technically “counterspells,” per se, and thus do not qualify for this list.

Magic: The Gathering – How To Build A Budget Deck

You don't need to sell a kidney to make a Magic: The Gathering deck.

This card, originally printed in Planar Chaos in 2007, does qualify since it has those important words “counter target spell.” Being able to counter a spell that targets any permanent you control for one white mana makes this a highly useful card, and its high price point shows that people are still seeking out non-blue counterspells to enjoy in unusual decks or – more likely – in Commander.

3 Withering Boon

A Black Spell That Kills Creatures Before They're Even In Play

Staying on theme for black countermagic, this spell from 1996’s Mirage expansion once again involves a life-loss effect attached to a black counterspell. However, in this card’s case, the life being lost is that of the caster of this counterspell.

Beyond that, there is no recourse for getting around this counterspell – though it is only limited to countering creature spells. Featuring some wildly intriguing artwork from Robert Bliss and no reprintings ever, this card also retains a fairly high price point on the secondary market nearly 30 years after it debuted.

2 Mana Tithe

A Highly Surprising White Counterspell That Hits All Spell Types

One of the few spells on this list that can hit any spell type, this color-shifted version of Force Spike was originally printed (once again) in the Planar Chaos set. As one of the best common-rarity counterspells of all time, this card can really surprise players who are not expecting it.

While one colorless mana is a small price to pay to allow a thunderously powerful spell to resolve, if your foe taps out and you’re holding up one white mana innocuously, windmill slam this card onto the table and watch in glee as your foe’s eyes blanch over in disbelief.