Magic has a long history with counterspells. The card type takes its name from Counterspell, which was printed in the very first set, Alpha, and has remained a staple of multiple formats ever since. Love them or hate them, counterspells are an integral part of the game.

There has always been a variety of quality in counter magic, though. The viability of counter-heavy decks waxes and wanes with every new set. There is a lot of wriggle room, depending on what needs to be countered in the metagame. Because of that, only a few counters have truly stood the test of time.

MTG's Top 15 Counterspells

There's no perfect way to rank counterspells. The best choice depends heavily on the format, the deck, and what you expect to play against. Still, some cards have proven themselves time and time again.

1. Mana Leak / No More Lies
2. Pact of Negation
3. Dovin's Veto
4. Forbid
5. Flusterstorm
6. Remand / Reprieve
7. Consign to Memory
8. Force of Negation
9. Spell Pierce
10. Counterspell
11. Mental Misstep
12. Red Elemental Blast / Pyroblast
13. Mana Drain
14. Daze
15. Force of Will

Next, we will take a look at why these are generally the best counterspells in Magic's history.

15. Mana Leak / No More Lies

These two cards are both very similar on the surface, but their strengths and weaknesses are quite different. Mana Leak has the easier mana cost at but No More Lies gets to Exile the target spell. What they share is their efficiency and the downside of being all but dead in the late game. In the right spot, this duo is excellent, but the right spot isn't always available.

14. Pact of Negation

For when you absolutely, positively have to win the game right now, there's Pact of Negation. This is a literal zero-cost counterspell that is going to lose you the game if you don't win right away. This card is only ever used to try and force through a game-ending combo. Fortunately for fans of those decks, Pact is very good at its job.

13. Dovin's Veto

At , Dovin's Veto is perhaps the best counterspell in Pioneer. Outside of that format, it doesn't see a ton of play, but an uncounterable Negate is no joke. The only problem is that sometimes a Negate is useless. Veto is great against decks that rely on noncreature spells, but the fact that it does nothing against Creatures keeps it near the bottom of the list.

12. Forbid

Three mana counters are a dime a dozen, and most of them are strictly for Limited play. Maybe once in a while they break into Standard, like Three Steps Ahead. Forbid was the progenitor of the "Cancel Plus" archetype and still sees play in Commander today.

The Buyback cost is steep, but you're already playing Blue, so you can make it up easily enough. After all, the payoff is your opponent never resolving another spell.

11. Flusterstorm

There are quite a few highly-rated but narrow counter spells. One-mana Flusterstorm might be the epitome of that. In a regular match-up, it's just a worse version of Spell Pierce. The clue is in the name, though. Against Storm decks, this can stop their entire game plan.

Note that, because of how Storm works, not even an opposing counterspell gets the Storm player out of a Flusterstorm. Flusterstorm has one job, but it does that job admirably.

10. Remand / Reprieve

Remand is the Tempo player's counter of choice. Yes, your opponent can try again, but the Remand player gets another card and protects their board. There is a wide array of chicanery open to a Remand player. You can target your own spell, for example, to protect it from something like a Dovin's Veto.

Reprieve is the same card in White, which arguably makes it even better, since White doesn't have many options.

9. Consign to Memory

Consign to Memory quickly became one of the most important counters in Eternal formats. For one mana -- and scaling up when needed -- this is a surprisingly flexible card. The dream is countering a big Eldrazi in Modern, but there are tons of relevant Triggered Abilities, too. The fact that you might occasionally do both, for a mere two mana, gives this card a very high ceiling.

8. Force of Negation

Force of Negation narrowly avoids being too good by having a few genuine drawbacks. Yes, free counterspells are very good, but being able to target noncreature spells is a problem. Only being free on your opponent's turn is also a problem at times.

That said, a free Negate is going to hit something in most matchups, and it's going to be back-breaking in others. You can cast this for in a pinch, too.

7. Spell Pierce

Interaction is usually at its best when it's cheap. At , Spell Pierce is about as cheap as you can get without paying an additional cost. The fact that it becomes bad later in the game doesn't matter in the decks that play it.

Typically, a Pierce deck is looking to play an early threat and use cheap counterspells to protect it. Being efficient in the early turns means you don't need to worry about the later ones.

6. Counterspell

Counterspell is the original, but not quite the best. It's the counter that all other counters are built on. Cancel is a "strictly worse" counterspell. Mana Drain is "counterspell with upside." Counterspell is the no-frills answer to everything. It's the reason you feel nervous when a Blue mage has two Islands untapped. It's not as good as it used to be, but at it's still usually good enough.

5. Mental Misstep

It's not a "Best Of" list if it doesn't feature Phyrexian mana at some point. Mental Misstep is banned in some of Magic's most powerful formats and restricted in Vintage. Ironically, the fact that it's so narrow, only countering one-drops, is exactly why it's banned in powerful formats. Turn one matters a lot in those formats, and having a free counter was rightly deemed a bit too good.

4. Red Elemental Blast / Pyroblast

These two effectively identical cards are the only non-Blue cards that make the list (kind of). Naturally, that means that Red Elemental Blast and Pyroblast made the list because they are good against Blue.

This duo has been a staple of the Legacy format, where they provide a one-mana answer to opposing counters. The blasts can also destroy a resolved Murktide Regent for , giving them a flexibility other counters don't get.

3. Mana Drain

There aren't a lot of places you can legally play this card and it's easy to see why. Countering anything with Mana Drain is going to give your next turn a huge boost. In Commander, this can be a one-card "win the game" button. In competitive formats like Timeless or Vintage, you might not be able to spend all the mana, but that's a very nice problem to have.

2. Daze

Daze is a fascinating card. It doesn't even look that good on the surface. Sure, it's "free," but isn't that a bit too much of a downside for a third of a Mana Leak? And sometimes it actually is a bit too much, yeah.

More often, though, it's a free answer to your opponent's most important spell. If things are already going downhill, Daze can look really bad. More commonly, it stops you getting into that spot to begin with.

1. Force of Will

Force of Will is almost as old as Counterspell, but it's significantly better. Counters that can be cast for zero mana are almost always problematic, but you will often hear Force decks being called "fair."

That's because Force is the best way to fight "unfair" combo decks in formats like Legacy and Vintage. This particular free counter also hits everything; there's no "noncreature" in this text box. You can't do much better than "pay nothing, counter anything."

Honorable Mentions

Fierce Guardianship

Don't let this low rank fool you: Fierce Guardianship is incredible in the one format where it's legal. Protecting your Commander for free is a very neat trick to have up your sleeve. The only reason this doesn't get higher up the list is because it's only playable in Commander. Even at , this isn't the worst option available in MTG.

An Offer You Can't Refuse

One could make the case that this is the "fixed" version of Mental Misstep. An Offer You Can't Refuse has a wider array of targets but you do have to pay . It also has a real drawback, but Treasures are temporary and not every deck can make good use of them.

You also typically play this card in a deck that is ending the game before it matters. Even in Commander, this is usually a way to protect a combo.

Mystic Confluence

For one more mana that Cryptic Command, you get even more flexibility. This card was never going to see competitive play at but it doesn't matter. It's better in casual settings than many entries higher up the list. It's not the most efficient, but it is one of the most powerful.

Conclusion

Magic has dialed back its counterspells over the years. We're unlikely to see a card like Force of Will in a Standard set any time soon. Still, there is a storied history of Blue interaction that remains relevant to this day.

Whether you're still casting those golden oldies in Legacy and Commander or interrupting your opponents with a well-timed No More Lies in Standard, know that you are part of a long-standing tradition.