So there I was, sitting at the bar in this little dive just outside of Rishada in this clump of hovels that I hesitate to call a village - when in walks this guy who looks like he has been working at a forge all day. The hair in his spade-like beard ends in those little knobs that come from leaning too close to the fire. His eyebrows are almost all gone, and his sleeves end in burnt thread that indicated that there had been some lace there recently. His leathers, while white originally, are so covered with soot that he could hide out in a coal bin. His piercing blue eyes scan the joint and find the only open stool next to mine. He marches over and, looking at the stool, says,"Do you mind?" in a voice that seems more used to giving commands than asking permission.

I shrugged and gestured to the stool... And then took a closer look at him.

This close, it looks more like he has been working in a forge all day. He calls over the serving wench and orders a flagon of strong wine and pays for it with a silver coin that was minted in Shiv. As he took his first swallow from the flagon of Koilos Bloodwine, he seemed to relax just a bit. Making a bit of conversation, I asked him,"Hard day?" and he replied,"You don't know the half of it. One small question, and he just blows his top and BOOM, I'm across the room, making sure my clothes don't set the curtains on fire. I don't believe even Ertai could have stopped him from casting that firebolt." His casual mention of the traitor mage finally clues me in as to who this gentleman is and who he was talking about.

Gerrard then says,"When Urza gets pissed off, you had better look out."

Urza's Rage is a powerful card with the ability to do either three or ten points of damage at instant speed. What ramps it up even more are those simple sounding words of"can't be countered by spells or abilities." What puts Urza's Rage over the top are the additional words of"If you paid the kicker cost, instead Urza's Rage deals 10 damage to that creature or player and the damage can't be prevented." Note that this is a replacement effect, so that when the damage from the Rage is placed on the stack, if the kicker was paid, ten damage is placed on the stack instead. This leads to a number of interesting stack situations that can occur with the Rage. If your opponent targets a creature with a kicked Rage and you have both a source of white mana and a Crimson Acolyte available (not the smartest action your opponent might be able to do), you have to give the creature protection from red before the Rage resolves. If you wait until the damage is on the stack, you cannot then prevent the damage, which is what the protection from red would normally do.

The big hoorah about the Rage is the ability to end a duel when one of you gets to twelve mana, two of which are red. A relatively common sight in IBC is to see a red player counting his lands to see if he has reached the magic number twelve 12 or how many lands they need to get there. The term"Rage range" has come into use for being at ten life or less. So what do you do when your opponent counts up the twelve mana and throws that mighty spell at you? There are a number of solutions to the Rage.

In the most limited environment, IBC, Wizards R&D has provided us with a number of solutions, many of which might even be effective in other environments.

The first method of avoiding getting Raged out of a game is to avoid getting into Rage range. There are a number of methods to go about gaining life, from the unplayable Reviving Dose and Wandering Stream to the stellar Absorb and Dromar's Charm. Note that while the Absorb cannot counter the Rage, the Rage is a valid target for it and so it will allow you to gain three life when it resolves before the Rage. Kai Budde's Domain Deck from GP London used Overgrown Estate ("Sacrifice a land: You gain three life"), along with land destruction in the form of Destructive Flow and Legacy Weapon to keep himself from being Raged out. So all of us scrubs can feel that some life gain is acceptable in this intensely competitive environment. Remember: Just don't overdo it, as you usually win by dropping your opponent to zero life, not by gaining a hundred or so.

Another set of tools to help from getting Raged out is those that use replacement and redirection effects on the damage. Divine Presence ("If a source would deal four damage or more to a creature or player, that source deals three damage to that creature or player instead") and Lashknife Barrier (for creatures only) - both replace however much damage was done with a lesser amount. The Divine Presence just about destroys any reason to kick a Rage. One point to remember is that the Presence works both ways; don't expect a quick victory with your Spiritmonger with Divine Presence on the table. For redirection, there are two very useable spells in Harsh Judgement and Captain's Maneuver. Harsh Judgement ("As Harsh Judgement comes into play, choose a color. If an instant or sorcery spell of the chosen color would deal damage to you, it deals that damage to its controller instead") is a wonderful method of avoiding taking damage from the Rage, as well as many other spells that your opponent might throw at your dome. One of these set to Red and a couple of Powerstone Minefields makes it hard for most Red decks to do you enough damage (although a doubly-kicked Rakavolver would still be a problem).

Of all of the above solutions, the Captain's Maneuver (XRW: The next X damage that would be dealt to target creature or player this turn is dealt to another target creature or player instead) is my favorite for any deck that can support the mana required. Usually by the time that my opponent has enough mana to Rage me out, I have enough to send the majority of it right back at him. I have won games by being able to redirect all of the damage from a Rage back to the caster as an instant. Unlike Harsh Judgement, the Maneuver is almost never a dead card in your hand if you have the mana to cast it. Almost every deck in IBC tries to win by doing sufficient damage to you. While life loss from such cards as Smoldering Tar or (heavens help us) Last Stand cannot be redirected, damage constitutes the majority of the reason for your declining life totals. I view the Maneuver as another source of direct damage in those decks that can use it. I even won a game by casting the Maneuver for a couple of points and then tapping some pain lands to cast an otherwise useless spell. (My opponent was at two life and had a couple of Galina's Knights on the table, when all I had out was some Goblin Soldier tokens. I cast the Maneuver using only basic and tap lands, and then cast another Goblin Trenches using all pain lands and redirected the damage from the painlands to him. He didn't have a counter available, and so it was game over.)

One other, lesser-known option is ‘counter-battery' fire. In one game, I knew that my opponent had both a Rage and an Absorb in hand. I also had a Rage (but he didn't know it). We were both sitting at around eight life and my goblin soldiers couldn't attack due to a Powerstone Minefield, and neither of us could find anything else to lower the life totals. I reached the twelve mana first, but couldn't effectively use the Rage, as he would Absorb for three more life, putting him out of"Rage range." I bided my time and didn't cast anything, letting him think that I was waiting for something to take out the Minefield and then I would swarm him. (A Jedi Mind Trick of pounding my deck asking aloud for the"answer" helped him to think that this was what I was looking for.) He hit the magic twelve mana two turns after I did, and proceeded to cast his Rage at me, tapping out. This allowed me to cast my Rage at him, without the chance for him to Absorb it. As mine resolved first, I won the game.

All of these are designed to help you out when the Rage is on its way towards you. There are many other things that can occur in the IBC environment to prevent it from being cast in the first place. Kai didn't often have to worry about a kicked Rage, as his land destruction kept most opponents from getting to that twelve mana to cast it. I had some trouble in one game when I tapped down to only two mana untapped to counter a spell, and then I was faced with a Lobotomy with a Rage in hand. With those gone, it was a lot harder to win against his control deck (and naturally, being the scrub I am and not UberKai, I couldn't pull it out)

Expanding the scope a little, in the current Type II environment, there are a number of other spells that will assist you in avoiding that sinking feeling that comes with losing ten points of life. In the area of life gain, there is such interesting cards as Cho-Arrim Alchemist (a 1/1 white spellshaper with the ability of"1WW, Tap, Discard a card from your hand: The next time a source of your choice would deal damage to you this turn, prevent that damage and gain that much life.") You cannot prevent the damage, but the life gain would still negate the Rage. Or there is Honor the Fallen, and there should be a number of creature cards in the graveyard by the time a kicked Rage is headed your way. For dual duty (although not at instant speed) is Noble Purpose, where all of your creatures are Spirit Linked for combat damage.

Also in Mercadian Masques is the white spell Ivory Mask ("You can't be the target of spells or abilities") - quite effective at getting Urza to leave you alone. Another enchantment that is useful against the Rage is Worship ("If you control a creature, damage that would reduce your life total to less than one reduces it to one instead.") With a regenerating set of creatures, you only really have to look out for the Wrath of God. For your creatures, there is the spell Reverent Mantra ("You may remove a white card in your hand from the game instead of paying Reverent Mantra's mana cost. All creatures gain protection from the color of your choice until end of turn.") It's even more of a surprise than using a Crimson Acolyte, but remember the timing of the Protection effect that is necessary.

However, it is in the redirection of the spell that really causes Type II mages to consider long and hard before chucking a Rage at a mage using Blue mana and having two unknown cards in hand. With Captain's Maneuver, you had to have mana available to prevent the Rage. This often left you not casting your threats in order to respond to a Rage (or other source of damage). With Misdirection, you could have a relatively free (you only have to remove a blue card in your hand from the game) damage spell that can be game altering. Just be aware that is they have three Islands out or if they are playing blue and have three cards in hand, you might still be taking that damage. For another redirection effect, enchant one of his creatures with Pariah ("All damage that would be dealt to you is dealt to enchanted creature instead.") If this is a nice big Glacial Wall, almost everything he does to do you in the way of damage is useless.

Going beyond Type II to Extended or Type I adds a few more cards in each of the above categories, but even though the Rage shows up in some of the decks, kicked Rages are not as much of an issue that the above solutions couldn't handle it. While around 15% of the extended decks at Worlds used Urza's Rage, the majority of them were Sligh - and Sligh is not really looking to develop twelve mana.

Looking forward to Odyssey, one thing becomes clear: If your opponent has a source of blue mana untapped and a card in hand, you may have to get to fourteen mana to throw that Rage at him with Divert coming online. For those who haven't seen it, Divert is a blue instant that costs one mana to redirect a spell with a single target to another legal target unless the controller of the spell pays two colorless to prevent the redirection. (Don't forget Aegis of Honor, either - The Ferrett)

As usual, if you have any constructive comments or questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at the email address listed below. I will try to respond to all such in a timely manner.

Arthur Pruyn
The Baron of Scrubs
playfair@abac.com