Counter Target Siege Rhino

I know why you clicked, and I don’t want to torture you by making you scroll down and click boxes. You want the card, so here it is:

Last set, we got to preview Disdainful Stroke . I predicted it would see play in Standard since it reads, in effect, counter target spell you care about. It does see play, but mainly in the sideboard right now. Stroke hits Sidisi, Elspeth, Hornet Queen, Stoke the Flames and Whip, but it does not hit much of anything in the UW Heroic deck and only a few cards in RW Aggro and Jeskai Tokens. It is a question of the percentage of hits versus misses in the format. For D-Stroke that percentage is a bit too low right now.

Neutralizing Blast seems designed for a metagame where the majority of the threats, or at least the ones you care about, are multicolored. We are not there yet. The current Standard environment has too many mono-colored spells to let you get away with playing what could easily be a dead card.

So, will the new Reforged Standard be any more welcoming? It’s too early to tell, but probably not. As I write this, just a small fraction of the Fate Reforged cards have been spoiled. Those cards, however, are overwhelmingly mono-colored. For now, I foresee Neutralizing Blast seeing play only in Jeskai Ascendency mirrors, as a way to stop the opponent’s Ascendency before it hits the table.

Where Neutralizing Blast could see play, however, is in Modern. Some of the newest Pod decks have eschewed the combo kill for Siege Rhino s, plus (Kitchen Fink)s, Qasali Pridemage s and Voice of Resurgence , which brings the number of multicolored cards close to critical mass.

Looking elsewhere in Modern, some Zoo and burn builds are playing more multicolored cards; adding Geist of Saint Traft s to their Lightning Helix es. Jeskai Ascendancy is still a thing in Modern, and there are some rumors that Jund may get Bloodbraid Elf back. People are also testing Naya and Bant build which are chock full of multicolored cards. Modern is getting close to the point where a spell that reads 1U counter target Knight of the Reliquary or Fulminator Mage makes the cut. I don’t think Modern is quite there, yet, but I do know that I will keep a playset of Neutralizing Blasts in my collection just in case. It’s close, and if Treasure Cruise gets the axe...

PRJ