Earmarked for uncommon bump

Unsure how an equipment or aura would relate to a short circuit. Flavor text helps but maybe something like 'Simple Bypass' might be better with that flavor text? The name relates to the flavor text which then ties into the spell's ability.

I guess my thought was that a wizard capable of making tech could intentionally short it out as well. Signal Jammer, maybe? (Or, conversely, Jam Signals.) Generate Interference?

It's not a bad thought (as I said, the flavor text helps) but a short circuit only happens to a thing that already exists. Thus, it would be better suited to a red card, from a naming convention.

Signal Jammer suggests a noun and this needs to be a verb. Generate Interference morphs into White Noise pretty easily but maybe better: Signal Chaff (which is a little Metal Gear but what the hell.)

Signal Chaff definitely sounds more appropriate than Short Circuit, though I also feel that that would be better suited to a scaled counterspell, rather than one than gets cheaper. For example:

Signal Chaff
U
Instant
Counter target noncreature spell unless its controller pays for each Aura or Equipment you control.

The idea of blue wizards in Soradyne countering spells through mechanical interference is very flavorful and interesting regardless of how you approach this particular card though. Definitely something that I could see being explored on a Counterbalance variant or a new Ertai, Wizard Adept.

I like this new take – and the name – quite a bit. I'll make the adjustment when I have a few more minutes.

Interesting thought that I just remembered, brought back by Houlding’s note on use of mechanical interference to counter spells:

At the beginning of the last GDS, there was an essay component that had to be submitted. One of the questions was regarding how the applicant might shift an existing ability from one color to another. I proposed that "soft counterspells" - those that allowed the victim to squeeze out of it in one way or another – should be moved to red on the grounds that blue is precise, while red is impulsive and prone to inaccuracy. Blue will silence your spell outright, while red will impulsively try to distract you or rush you, thereby making your spell more difficult to cast, but not necessarily impossible.

The use of mechanical means to counter spells feels, to me, like an interesting flavor space that fits in that realm of “reasons ability X may not always be in the color it’s currently in”.

It's a little weird to have a modal spell that sets a condition on one of its functions. In paper magic, probably not an issue, but if this were to hypothetically find its way to Magic Online, players would be allowed to choose the non-functional mode even if they hadn't met the condition.

I see what you’re saying, but I think this is another that falls under the “don’t play like a moron” umbrella. There are plenty of cards that, when the conditions are right (or wrong), do nothing — as pointed out yesterday regarding Green Sun's Zenith. Both sides of Signal Chaff let you target a spell, the latter one just fails to do anything when you don’t have enough toys on the board.

Not that I wholly disagree, but you have to recognize the distinctions in my (very similar) arguments.

With the Fabricator Grid, the "don't play like a moron" swung the way that it did because it pertained to a positive effect. You could either make the card terribly unexciting and lacking the ability to punish morons, or you could improve its potential for "awesome" and allow stupid people to do stupid things.

Here, you have an issue that's maybe closer to why I didn't like the untap ability on Newbridge. The complexity of the Newbridge untap ability didn't come with the side-benefit of making Newbridge a better card, instead you had this drawback (doesn't normally untap) intertwined with a bonus (it can potentially be used once each turn), which made for a card that was tough to evaluate, tough to play with, and convoluted the game state.

Likewise, I don't know that having an unconditional Negate paired with a conditional Counterspell is a net-positive in terms of design, especially when presented as a modal spell that isn't actually always modal. And what's the story? Why do creatures require additional interference from things I put on creatures in order to counter?

Maybe the answer here is just a simple Stoic Rebuttal retread. It's clean and it works.