Minor Misstep: The Surprising Counter To The Modern Meta's Top Cards

Phyrexia: All Will Be One hits shelves on February 10 and the spoilers have already revealed several very interesting, potentially format warping cards. Perhaps none more so than Minor Misstep. The card is a direct reference to Mental Misstep, a card that is currently banned In Modern. So, having a very similar card coming into the format is quite interesting.

Despite all their similarities, there are a few key differences as well. Today I'll be going over these differences, evaluating the card in general, and taking a look at exactly how many top Modern cards Minor Misstep can counter. If you're not caught up on the meta, the answer might surprise you. Without further ado, let's get started.

Minor Misstep Vs Mental Misstep

The main difference here is that Mental Misstep can be cast "for free" by paying two life - Minor Misstep will always cost you a single Blue mana. However, despite this upside, Mental can only counter one mana value spells. While this newer version can counter one and zero mana value spells. And frankly, being able to hit zero mana spells is amazing.

Moving forward, let's compare it to the other one mana counterspells in the format.

Vs Spell Pierce

I would say this is the premier one mana counterspell for the format, and it's great. However, it has its limitations just like everything else. First, it only hits non-creature spells and while this limits its interaction some this isn't the end of the world. After all, Modern has a ton of important non-creature spells you want to be able to answer.

The real downside comes from the fact that it isn't a hard counter. Anytime your opponent can pay the two mana, Spell Pierce isn't very good. So, as the game goes on or against certain decks, has some weaknesses for sure. That said, where it shines is against other decks playing counters. For example, if some taps out to Archmage's Charm your spell, Spell Pierce gets the last laugh.

I think that Minor Misstep will 100% be replacing Spell Pierce in some decks but certainly not all of them. The fact that Misstep is a hard counter gives it some serious upside here. In truth, I think they will see play in tandem quite a bit.

Vs Flusterstorm

Flusterstorm is coming up somewhat often in sideboards these days, so I'll go over it as well. Overall, it's somewhat similar to Spell Pierce since it's a soft counter and it has some targeting limitations since it hits only Instants and Sorceries. Considering Pierce hits any non-creature spell, it has the edge here. However, there aren't a ton of problematic Enchantments or Planeswalkers at the moment, so it doesn't matter as much.

The upside that Flusterstorm has comes from it having Strorm. The main reason that this is so good is that it makes Flusterstorm immune to being countered by Force of Negation, which is enormous in certain matchups. If it ends a chain of spells, it's basically "uncounterable" itself which can't be said about any other spell here.

What Does Minor Misstep Counter In Modern?

In general, the answer is a lot. But let's break it down and go over the key cards it hits. I'll also continue the comparison of the cards above and give a yes, no, or maybe as to whether each spell mentioned above can counter the card in question - Assuming the opponent doesn't have a counterspell of their own and also assuming they can't pay the mana for Spell Pierce and Flusterstorm. That said, keep in mind that a "yes" in this section isn't a guarantee.

You May Also Like: Five Amazing Phrexia: All Will Be One Cards To build Around In Modern

Card Name	Minor Misstep	Spell Pierce	Flusterstorm
Lightning Bolt	Yes	Yes	Yes
Engineered Explosives	Depends	Yes	No
Fury	No	No	No
Mystical Dispute	No	Yes	Yes
Expressive Iteration	No	Yes	Yes
Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer	Yes	No	No
Mishra's Bauble	Yes	Yes	No
Unholy Heat	Yes	Yes	Yes
Blood Moon	No	Yes	No
Dress Down	No	Yes	No
Teferi, Time Raveler	No	Yes	No
Unlicensed Hearse	No	Yes	No
Endurance	No	No	No
Dragon's Rage Channeler	Yes	Yes	No
Pithing Needle	Yes	Yes	No
Ledger Shredder	No	No	No
Force of Vigor	No	Yes	Yes
Counterspell	No	Yes	Yes
Veil of Summer	Yes	Yes	Yes
Consider	Yes	Yes	Yes
Shadowspear	Yes	Yes	No
Subtlety	No	No	No
Prismatic Ending	Depends	Yes	Yes
Wear // Tear	Yes for Tear. No for Wear	Yes	Yes
Springleaf Drum	Yes	Yes	No
Card Name	Minor Misstep	Spell Pierce	Flusterstorm
Thoughtseize	Yes	Yes	Yes
Relic of Progenitus	Yes	Yes	No
Springleaf Drum	Yes	Yes	No
Leyline Binding	Depends	Yes	No
Chalice of the Void	Depends	Yes	No
Wrenn and Six	No	Yes	No
Brazen Borrower	No	Yes for Petty Theft	Yes for Petty Theft
Fable of the Mirror-Breaker // Reflection of Kiki-Jiki	No	Yes	No
Sanctifier en-Vec	No	No	No
Path to Exile	Yes	Yes	Yes
Brotherhood's End	No	Yes	Yes
Jegantha, the Wellspring	No	No	No
Force of Negation	No	Yes	Yes
Murktide Regent	No	No	No
Underworld Breach	No	Yes	No
Fire // Ice	No	Yes	Yes
Seasoned Pyromancer	No	No	No
Fatal Push	Yes	Yes	Yes
March of Otherworldly Light	Depends	Yes	Yes
Haywire Mite	Yes	No	No
Stoneforge Mystic	No	No	No
Terminate	No	Yes	Yes
Abrade	No	Yes	Yes
Esper Sentinel	Yes	No	No

The Numbers

So, the numbers are in. Minor Misstep counters 18 (36%) of the top 50 most played cards in Modern. The number might not seem incredible but I think that's deceptive. Some of these cards are amongst the top played in the format and it counters them without fail. And there are five more spells (March of Otherworldly Light for example, that Misstep will hit at times.

Spell Pierce hits 37 (74%) of the top 50. However, none of these is a guarantee. If an opponent can pay the extra two mana, all 37 of these spells could still resolve. So, nearly three-quarters of the top played cards is an eligible target for Spell Pierce but you're not guaranteed to hit any of them - Amazing ceiling, less good floor.

Flusterstorm can counter 20 (40%) of the top 50, which is slightly better than Misstep and slightly worse than Spell Pierce. Having said that, none of these "yeses" are 100% since your opponent can hypothetically pay for the spell to resolve.

Match Up Specific Analysis

Let's look at this from a slightly different perspective because decks don't play all 50 of these cards. And just because it can counter a spell doesn't mean you'll actually want to counter it. For example, how often do you want to counter Mishra's Bauble? We'll start with the top deck in the format - U/R Murktide.

U/R Murktide

So, the majority of the spells here are within reach of Misstep. But as mentioned, I don't know how often you'll want to counter some of these. In this list, I would argue that the two and three-mana spells are more important. Furthermore, I can't really see Murktide swapping Spell Pierce out for Minor Misstep in the current meta either.

Hammer Time

Next, let's look at Hammer Time.

Again, the vast majority of the spells are low-mana enough for Misstep to have targets. So, again, the question is "do you want to have Minor Misstep on this matchup? Overall, probably not. However, I want it more in this matchup than the Murktide matchup and I would rather have Misstep here than I would Spell Pierce.

Crashing Footfalls Cascade

Lastly, let's have a look at a Crashing Footfalls cascade deck.

By far the best target in this matchup is Crashing Footfalls. Other than that, Misstep is pretty much a miss here. Is just hitting the Cascade cards here and in Living End good enough to warrant sleeving it up. I think so if you bring the card in from your sideboard. That said, I don't think I would be taking out Spell Sierce or Flusterstorm here either.

Final Thoughts

With all of that said, do I think Mental Misstep is good in Modern? Yes, I do. I think it has its place and its strengths and weaknesses - I think it is a good card but a fair card. If I had to guess, I would say it will be at its best in tempo decks where it matters less what you're countering and more that you slow your opponent down a turn a higher percentage of the time. I personally will be throwing this into Izzet Ponza.

Overall, a one-mana hard counter sounds scary but I don't see it crippling any decks. I think it will see both main and sideboard play in the format alongside the other counters mentioned here and it is yet another tool on the belt of Modern decks. I like it but I'm not afraid of it.

Conclusion

There you have it ladies and gentlemen, my thoughts on the hottest new uncommon from Phyrexia: All Will Be One. Aside from my personal opinion, I also tried to provide some factual data as well as how the card looks against certain top Modern decks so that it will be easier for you to form an educated opinion - I hope you enjoyed it.

 Comment down below and let me know what you think of Minor Misstep and if you'll be brewing with it.