Card Spotlight: Minor Misstep in Modern, Legacy, Vintage and Commander

Minor Misstep is an instant that costs one blue mana and references Mental Misstep directly; a staple in Commander, restricted in Vintage and which was banned in Legacy and Modern.

Both have a similar ability with small, though important, differences. Whereas Mental Misstep can counter 1 cost spells "for free" by using Phyrexian mana, Minor Misstep can target 1 or less cost spells by spending one blue mana.

Comparing Minor Misstep with other 1 cost counterspells that are present in the game, we can see a wider view of how impactful this card will be in eternal formats.

Spell Pierce is a spell whose relevancy in a match depends a lot on the moment and chosen target. Early game, when access to mana is limited, getting hit with a Spell Pierce can hurt, just as in late game when you have spent all your mana and available resources in a counter war and the last enemy Island standing contained a Spell Pierce, but in many situations this spell can end up useless in your hand.

Flusterstorm can target instants and spells and even though it has Storm, still the number of situations in which it will be relevant is quite limited. Spell Snare, on the other side, can counter a wide variety of spells, as long as they cost 2.

Minor Misstep can counter 1 or less cost spells, be it creature, artifact, instant or spell. This card can even target all the spells cited above, including itself.

Minor Misstep in Modern

Modern is a format in which we have many 1 and 0 cost cards in practically all decks. Some examples are: Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer, Sigarda's Aid, Living End, Glimpse of Tomorrow, Colossus Hammer, Relic of Progenitus, Amulet of Vigor, Path to Exile and Thoughtseize.

Here we can highlight the presence of decks such as Living End and Crashing Footfalls, which abuse the cascade mechanic to cast 0 cost spells for free. Minor Misstep can be a great way of answering these decks, making the low-cost counterspell arsenal in this format even more varied for Control and Midrange decks.

An example of a deck that can make good use of this card is UR Murktide.

Minor Misstep in Legacy and Vintage

In Legacy, the format in which we have Delver of Secrets, Brainstorm, Red Elemental Blast, Swords to Plowshares, Moxes and Surgical Extraction, Minor Misstep can give Izzet Delver and other blue-based decks even more ammunition to deal with these threats.

In Vintage, in which Mental Misstep is restricted to 1 copy per deck, Minor Misstep can work as an "extra copy", being able to target the format's important staples such as Black Lotus, Moxes, Mana Crypt, Ancestral Recall, Gitaxian Probe and an infinity of other powerful cards in this format, besides being able to counterspell other Mental/Minor Missteps.

Esper Tinker is one of the Vintage decks that can be Minor Misstep's home.

In Commander's case, we have a very similar scenario, due to the great variety of 1 cost or less Mana Dorks and Mana Rocks existing in the format. Imagine being able to counter your opponent's Sol Ring, or a Jeweled Lotus. The concept of Ramp is essential in Commander, and losing a Sol Ring can push you back several turns compared to your opponents.

Minor Misstep caused a lot of discussion in the Magic community as a whole, specially between eternal format players, dividing opinions.

It is tough to say for certain if this card will play in all formats quoted in this article, but the fact remains that it can be at least an interesting addition in many formats and has great potential, particularly in Modern, in which Mental Misstep is banned and its nerfed version can cause great impact in matches.

Legacy's and Vintage's cases are harder to tell, it might show up a lot in blue decks and then their presence in the meta might dwindle, finding its home in specific decks. In Commander, in which there are many metas and playstyles, it is very likely it will be used a lot, after all, who does not want to counter our friends' Sol Ring?

This is the end of my first article of 2023. I hope you liked it. Do not forget to leave your questions in the comment sections, and I will try to answer all of you.

You can keep up with all Phyrexia: All Will Be One previews here at Cards Realm. See you next time.