Price$10.39 – $14.06
Buy on TCGplayerTibalt's Trickery
Instant
LegalCounterspellRank #586
Counter target spell. Choose 1, 2, or 3 at random. Its controller mills that many cards, then exiles cards from the top of their library until they exile a nonland card with a different name than that spell. They may cast that card without paying its mana cost. Then they put the exiled cards on the bottom of their library in a random order.
KeywordsMill
Why is this card good?
Tibalt's Trickery is a combo enabler, not a real counterspell — don't be fooled by the "counter target spell" text.
The trick: counter your own spell. If you cast a unique-named card (like a custom 1-of, or your only artifact named X), Trickery digs until it hits a nonland card with a different name, then casts it free. Build your deck so the "different name" card is always your most expensive bomb, and you're effectively cheating it into play for .
The classic build pairs it with a deck stuffed with one expensive payoff (Emrakul, an Eldrazi titan, a big Dragon) and singleton cheap spells — you Trickery your own cantrip on turn 2-3 and slam something absurd.
Who wants it: dedicated "free spell" combo decks and casual "cast a fattie early" Timmy builds. It's a build-around, full stop.
Don't play it as interaction — the random mill/exile is unreliable and may whiff or counter into nothing useful against opponents. It's a self-targeting cheat card or it's a trap.
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The classic build pairs it with a deck stuffed with one expensive payoff (Emrakul, an Eldrazi titan, a big Dragon) and singleton cheap spells — you Trickery your own cantrip on turn 2-3 and slam something absurd.
Who wants it: dedicated "free spell" combo decks and casual "cast a fattie early" Timmy builds. It's a build-around, full stop.
Don't play it as interaction — the random mill/exile is unreliable and may whiff or counter into nothing useful against opponents. It's a self-targeting cheat card or it's a trap.Related cards
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Swan Song
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Red Elemental Blast
Red instant that counters blue spells cheaply.
Printings (5)
Rulings (5)
- 2021-02-05
If there aren't any nonland cards in that library with a different name than the countered spell, the player will exile all cards from their library, revealing all of them, and then they'll put those cards on the bottom of their library in a random order.
- 2021-02-05
If a player casts a spell "without paying its mana cost," they can't choose to cast it for any alternative costs. They can, however, pay additional costs, such as kicker costs. If the card has any mandatory additional costs, those must be paid to cast the spell.
- 2021-02-05
If the spell has
in its mana cost, they must choose 0 as the value of X. - 2021-02-05
If the spell that's countered was the back face of a modal double-faced card, no card in the player's library will have the same name as that spell because those cards all use only their front-face characteristics while in the library; however, if the first card the player exiles that has a different name than the spell is a modal double-faced card, they may cast either face, even if the back face has the same name as the countered spell.
- 2021-02-05
Tibalt's Trickery can target a spell that can't be countered. If Tibalt's Trickery resolves, the target spell won't be countered, but all of the other effects will still happen.