Multiverse: Throes of Genius

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CardName: Throes of Genius Cost: 3UUU Type: Instant Pow/Tgh: / Rules Text: Counter target spell. Draw X cards, where X is that spell’s converted mana cost. Flavour Text: “I rarely thank anyone, but you deserve it. I doubt you could comprehend just how much I am learning from your failure.” —Krizzik Marash Set/Rarity: Zaberoth Mythic

Throes of Genius

Instant

Counter target spell. Draw X cards, where X is that spell’s converted mana cost.

“I rarely thank anyone, but you deserve it. I doubt you could comprehend just how much I am learning from your failure.”
—Krizzik Marash

Updated on 17 Jan 2013 by PMega

History: [-]

2012-09-15 00:11:53: PMega created the card Throes of Genius

2013-01-17 05:01:29: PMega edited Throes of Genius

2013-01-17 05:01:37: PMega edited Throes of Genius:

rewording (2.03)

by Alex:

So Overwhelming Intellect expanded to hit any kind of spell costs one paint more (seems fine)... but at mythic?

by Link:

Hmm, yeah. This would be a disappointing mythic to pull.

by Vitenka:

Yow, six? I guess it's a lot of cards. And it does seem like a game turning kind of effect. But not really flashy enough.

Maybe it ought to let you cast the spell? Or pithing needle it?

by Jack V:

Some mythics seem exciting to a small (or nonexistant) part of the player base. Eg. Mindbreak Trap doesn't do anything other than counter a spell, and Sphinx's Revelation is very cool, but only because it potentially draws lots of cards.

So I don't know. This does in fact seem like the sort of gut-punch blue would like to finish with, which seems an acceptable mythic. The problem being the obvious ones that (i) it only works if your opponent plays the appropriate spell and (ii) it doesn't actually win the game in any way.

by PMega:

Yeah, I agree that this card deserves some explanation.

1) First and foremost, I should note this was definitely meant to be a bad mythic. (As in, I'm certainly not going to defend that it's a good card.) You gotta have them in every set, and given how absurd blue's other two mythics are, I thought this would be a reasonable balancer. Now to explain why I thought this card deserved mythic, when Overwhelming Intellect was uncommon...

2) The difference between Essence Scatter and Counterspell is huge, as is similarly that between Bone to Ash and Dismiss. Note that in each case the first card is recent, while the second has essentially been deemed "too good". Consequently, what I've noticed is that hard unconditional counters that also do something else have been both expensive and at rare these days (e.g. Counterlash). And especially comparing this card to Dismiss or Cryptic Command (the latter of which does other things, sure, but still is often counter-draw), five mana didn't seem at all right for the card.

3) Finally, keep in mind the special circumstances of this set: namely, how much more powerful card draw is in the context of Psych. In this format, being able to counter a huge spell and then net four to five cards and/or psych counters seems to me quite epic enough to warrant a mythic rarity.

Hope that addresses at least some of the concerns about this card. I kind of expected that pushing this at mythic would feel off to some people, but I still stand by the decision.

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