Untimely Malfunction

Instant

LegalRemovalRank #298

Choose one —

• Destroy target artifact.

• Change the target of target spell or ability with a single target.

• One or two target creatures can't block this turn.

Why is this card good?

Untimely Malfunction is one of the most flexible interaction pieces red has gotten, and it's underrated as a Swiss Army knife for two mana. The real value is the redirect mode. Red is historically bad at protecting itself and answering targeted removal, so being able to bounce a Swords to Plowshares, Pongify, or a removal spell back at the caster (or onto their own commander) is enormous. It also reroutes problematic activated/triggered abilities with a single target. Mode one gives you artifact destruction — relevant against Sol Ring, mana rocks, and combo pieces — and the "can't block" mode pushes lethal damage in aggressive or Voltron decks. Who wants it: any red deck that values interaction — Voltron/commander-focused builds (Rograkh, Krenko), aggressive token decks, and Stax/control shells that want cheap answers. It's especially good where protecting a key threat matters. Skip it in durdle/ramp decks that don't care about combat or rely on resilient permanents, or where you'd rather run hard removal over situational modes.