Banned: Jace, the Mind Sculptor (Part 2)

Last time we discussed how drawing cards leads to a more consistent deck and how the card drawing mechanic has lead to troublesome cards for Magic. Today, we are going to go through another mechanic which was badly abused: Free Spells.

Free spells was a mechanic which was popularized in the Urza's Block, which allowed one to untap a certain number of lands after the spell was successfully cast. Remember that Magic is a game of resource management. Spells which allow one to cast spells without utilizing mana will make a deck much more consistent by allowing one to cast more spells than they normally would be able to do.

This was especially beneficial for blue, where these free spells would allow blue to cast spells during its turn AND free up the mana to counter spells the opponent may cast. Yes, one had to actually have the mana available to cast the spell in the first place, but getting to untap the lands back allowed for Counterspell to still be cast, and if one played it correctly, could set up an infinite mana loop, to do all sorts of things, like casting Stroke of Genius for 200, or Fireball for 75. It turned Magic into Solitaire.

Fortunately, this mechanic did not last very long. It also said that spells which allow for untapped lands not only is a strong mechanic, but can very easily be abused.

But it is more than simply getting a chance to cast two (2) four mana spells on turn four (4). It is that these spells do not require decisions to be made. Does blue drop a Phantom Warrior to slow down an opponent's rush but leave himself tapped out or does he hold back, wondering if the opponent is holding an Overrun? With free spells, blue can have both. Which is why blue dominated that period of Magic's history.

Next time, we will continue our lesson with a mechanic that never quite took off.