Wear//Tear is dead!! Okay not really dead—it’s not even banned, and even how it will be cast in Legacy hasn’t changed a little bit. But it’s not broken anymore because the way it interacts with Counterbalance has FINALLY been fixed.
For those of you who missed it, Wizards announced new split card rules with the new Amonkhet aftermath mechanic. When split cards are not on the stack, their converted mana cost is of both spells combined, making Wear // Tear have a CMC of three. Under the old rule, it was both a one CMC and a two CMC. The rule also prevents shenanigans with using Kari Zev’s Expertise or Goblin Dark-Dwellers to cast the expensive side of split cards like Breaking//Entering, Boom//Bust, or Beck//Call for free. Various shenanigans in Standard and Modern no longer work.
I feel like this affects Legacy players more than anyone, however, because of how Wear//Tear interacts with Counterbalance. Anyone who has read my articles before has read about my endless complaints about Miracles and how it needs to be addressed in Legacy. Hilariously the reason that they made this change had absolutely nothing to do with Legacy and everything to do with Standard, but frankly I don’t care why they did it, just that they did.
Former Hope Eternal columnist and noted Miracles player Tim Akpinar shares his thoughts.
Miracles players could float Wear//Tear on the top of their library and use it to counter any one or two drop without having to manipualte their deck. And that was beyond broken. While playing my deck for my Legacy Hero column, I’ve often found myself just wanting to flip the table because it was so easy for them to lock me out of the game. Death and Taxes isn’t the only deck that is oppressed by Miracles, though. I’ve wanted Counterbalance to be banned for quite some time now, since Miracles has been a consistent 15-20% of the Legacy metagame for a few years now. But Wizards has made it quite obvious that they don’t plan on doing anything about Miracles anytime soon. Changing the rules for Wear//Tear should make a difference in the meantime though. I hope this helps some decks like Elves that have fallen to the wayside in recent years due to Miracles dominating the metagame.
I want nothing more than Wizards to ban Counterbalance in Legacy. It will let other decks grow while still allowing there to be strong counterspell decks. In the meantime, thanks to the new aftermath split cards, they’ve made a change to the rules surrounding split cards that helps us beat back Miracles just a little bit. It isn’t the change we need or deserve but it is a change that will hopefully get us through in the meantime.
Kate hails from Worcester MA and also does a bit of Card Altering. Check her Stuff out on Facebook! She mainly plays legacy and modern though will occasionally find herself playing EDH.