Absorb, rare (first printed in Invasion, 2000)

Is Absorb good? Following a brief time's deliberation I have decided that it is quite lacklustre. The combination of the spell's abilities suggests a slow controlling deck, but with an awkward mana cost, Absorb poses problems for the permission-minded planeswalkers, both early and late in the game. Firstly, its very specific mana cost is an obstacle to prompt play, that extra coloured mana symbol over Counterspell's cost hanging over the gaps in your curve you may have wished to be left free to play Brainstorm or to feign Disrupt. Multiple copies of Absorb make a hand feel overstuffed, and even during the later portion of the game, during a war of counterspells, you may find yourself running out of mana before you do responses. In a library configured with an elaborate mana base to facilitate Absorb's casting, the card merely mollifies the damage you have likely already dealt yourself simply by using your own lands. To highlight Absorb's incredible awkwardness further, consider that it is not even the best counterspell variant that costs three mana - look to Forbid as a powerhouse, or else Dissipate's ability to trump certain game plans (and for the diplomatic, many-players-at-a-table types, consider Vex as a strong compromising card - although while chronicling my thought on this card I have tried to take the dim, competitive view which renders cards such as Vex a laughing stock.) Recent tournament environments have diminished the power of the counterspell to the point where Cryptic Command - certainly a card that suffers from the same complaints as Absorb - starts to look good, but in the lifespan of magic there lie sufficient permission spells - Mana Drain, Force of Will, Disrupt, Counterspell itself - to ensure no planeswalker ever really needs to come to battle with this one memorised. Can be acquired for about two pounds a copy.