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If you’ve only just started playing 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Magic: The Gathering, then overload might seem like a very small mechanic in a ve💜ry big game. However, if you enjoy playing Modern and Commander, you’ll come across it on a regular basis, thanks to its cost-effectiveness, versatility, and 🗹potentially game-changing power.
It’s easy to 🎐see why overload is such a well-liked mechanic, giving instants and sorceries an extra kick by making their effects cover a wide area. So in this guide, we’ll go ovওer what overload is, how you can get the most out of it, and how many cards have this ability.
What Is Overload?
If a card has overload, then instead of paying the usual casting cost, you can pay its overload cost. If you do, any mention of ‘target’ in the spell’s text is changed to ‘each’.
Simply put, if a card has the overload ability and you choose to pay it, the card will now affect every relevant permanent instead of one specifically.
Overload doesn’t change the speed of the card — meaning sorceries like Mizzium Mortars would remain a sorcery when they’re overloaded. Plus, the converted mana cost of a spell is still the value in the top-right of the card and is not replaced by the overload c🧜ost.
The converted mana cost staying the same is both a blessing and a curse. For every Disdainful Stroke you avoid, that counters a spell with a mana value of four or greater; there is a Mental Misstep that counters your one mana cost spells.
Also, if something forces you to pay more or less to cast a spell, that effect applies to the overload cost too. Let’s say you want to cast an overloaded Counterflux but your opponent has Grand Arbiter Augustin IV in play — which makes an opponent’s spells cost one-generic more. This means the new overload cost would be two-generic, two-blue, and one-red — increased from one-gওeneric.
In the scenario above, if you controlled Grand Arbiter Augustin IV and played Counterflux, the spell would cost the same to cast normally or overloaded, si♚nce Augustin re൩duces the blue spell costs you cast by one generic.
Lastly, if you’re going to cast a spell without paying its mana cost such as with Mind’s Dilation, you can’t 𒊎use the overload ability and it must be played as the rules text reads norma🅷lly.
How To Use Overload
Overload has a lot of benefits. First, getting to choose between small impact, small♛ cost, and large impact, large cost wit♕hin one card gives you amazing flexibility.
For example, let’s say your opponent has a giant attacking creature and your only cards in hand are board wipes (not a common problem, but not rare either). Casting Aetherize at four converted mana cost is very overkill, but with Cyclonic Rift, you can just pay the normal one-generic, one-blue cost to deal with the problem instead.
Secondly, because paying the overload cost means the spell has no specific targets, it can get around cards with 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:hexproof, shroud, and protection.
Protection♋ from a colour will still prevent damage from a card with that same colour, even if you overload it.
Ultimately, overload is perfect for getting yourself ou𒀰t of a tight spot or making that last push for victory. The best way to use overload is to find the card that works mechanically with your deck.
Take Mind Rake, a two-generic one-black sorcery that forces a target player to discard two cards, but costs one generic less to overload it — meaning everyone would discard two, including you. This is where decks that play from the graveyard, or that use the madness ability work wonders since these cards 🌼want to be played out of ha🎉nd anyway.
The other main use for overload cards is as some form of board wipe. Cyclonic Rift is one of the mostꦗ notable since it can return all nonland permanents you don’t control to their owner’s hand — perfect for a .
Meanwhile, Teleportal is a sorcery that can be overloaded to give your creatures +1/+0 and make them unblockable this turn. At three-generic, one-blue, and one-red, this is a greatᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚ way to catch your opponent off-guard and land the killing blow.
How Many Overload Cards Are There?
There are only 24 cards that use the overload mechanic. In single colours, two are white, six are blue, three are ꦚblack, eight are red, and one is green. With four having the Izzet (blue and𒁃 red) colour identity.
All overload costs have the same colour identity as their card’s normal cost except for Damn,ꦗ which is a black card with a white oveဣrload cost.