Nothing stings more than having a great spell countered – except stax, extra turn spells, mass land destruction, and targeted discard; Magic: The Gathering has a lot of dirty tricks. But the new Star Trek set has done the unthinkable. It’s produced a counterspell that’s fun for everyone at the table. Oh, and also, it’s red.
Brazen Bluff is a two mana red instant that offers your opponent a dilemma. Either they exile their unresolved spell while it’s on the stack, or you get to cast any noncreature spell you like from your hand for free. The question is, what have you got in your hand? Does your opponent feel lucky?
This is a fantastic reference to the Star Trek: The Original Series episode The Corbomite Maneuver, where Captain Kirk is able to bluff his way out of a battle by pretending the Enterprise has a secret weapon on board – when actually they were just doomed.
This card is great flavor then, as it creates the same Poker-style problem for your opponent to chew on. Does the Brazen Bluff player genuinely have something apocalyptic, or are they making things up? You can only cast (and target) non-creature spells with Brazen Bluff. If you choose to run it, maybe you put Worldfire in your deck just for fun.
It’s worth noting that in Magic, you are able to show hidden information to your opponent (as long as it’s hidden information you have access to). So you could remove the mystery and simply show your opponent the card you plan to play, to try and strongarm them into going the way you want. There’s even an opportunity for politicking here. “Let me cast this for free, and I promise not to use it on you”.
If you want to be a spoilsport, you can point out that this is simply a worse version of Negate, and it’s useless if you have no other cards in hand. But the point is that it’s a worse Negate in mono red, which traditionally does not get counterspells.
Personally, I think Brazen Bluff is a fantastic Commander card. It’s versatile and creates all sorts of different scenarios and opportunities for social interaction.
What do you think of the Star Trek release so far? Whether you’re a trekkie or not, I’m keen to hear people’s thoughts over on the Wargamer Discord.
Source: Wargamer
