Can I Counter Bloodrush on Gruul Cards?
Asked by Vaati 12 years ago
I'm playing a Simic deck vs my friend's Gruul deck. At a pivotal moment in the game, he played a blood-rush ability on one of his attacking creatures. I then in turn tried to use a Mana Leak. Can I counter the card in this way? Or is it just a activated ability?
Epochalyptik says... #2
You can counter bloodrush, just not with anything in Standard. Bloodrush is an activated ability, so spells or abilities that only counter spells won't counter bloodrush. You'll need something like Voidslime or Stifle , which specifically counter abilities, to counter bloodrush.
February 10, 2013 12:21 a.m.
UmbrotheUmbreon says... #3
I thought the question was can Mana Leak counter bloodrush, hence why I answered the question for the single spell
February 10, 2013 12:23 a.m.
"A bloodrush ability isn't a spell and can't be countered by things that only counter spells. It uses the stack and can be responded to normally. "
Taken directly from The MTG article on Gatecrash mechanics
February 10, 2013 12:23 a.m.
Epochalyptik says... #5
@UmbrotheUmbreon: In the context of the question, your answer was mostly accurate. However, I was clarifying that abilities can be countered because I felt your answer gave the opposite impression.
February 10, 2013 12:36 a.m.
Nickdiddyd says... #7
hayEpochalyptik...Pithing Needle. You said there is not card in standard that can "counter" it, but if you Pithing Needle a certain bloodrush card then it can't use that activated ability.
March 13, 2013 7:48 p.m.
GruulGuy2010 says... #8
@Nickdiddyd Pithing Needle does not "counter" I understand that you understand how the mechanics work, but in MTG the rules are specfic. Even though it is in a gramatical sense "countering" the bloodrush ability of a certain creature, in a rules sense it is just keeping the bloodrush of that creature from being activated. Pithing needle is an OK way to stop bloodrush, however, only 4 can be put into a deck and any good bloodrush will be mostly (if not all) bloodrush creatures. And I think we all know there are more than 4 bloodrushers. Bloodrush decks are actually pretty easy to play against. Normally the creatures you opponent will try to bloodrush are very low power and toughness, so they seem like no threat (until your tapped out and you decide to take the 2 damage and your opponent has 4 open mana and 4 one mana bloodrushes in hand). The best way to deal with BR decks is to use burns like Shock or auras like Pacifism to get rid of the creature being bloodrushed or make them not able to attack and render bloodrush useless. When playing against bloodrush remember this... Every creature (even laughable nonthreatning ones) are a threat, sometimes the biggest.
UmbrotheUmbreon says... Accepted answer #1
No, you can't counter it cause it's not a spell. It's an ability. Regardless of whether it's triggered, activated, mana, or static, you cannot counter it with Mana Leak cause it only coutners SPELLS, not abilities.
February 10, 2013 12:18 a.m.