Involuntary Cooldown MTG Card

Involuntary Cooldown provides strategic control by stalling opponent’s creatures at instant speed. Requires discarding a card, potentially depleting hand resources and strategic options. Offers versatility and combo potential, useful against creature-based strategies.

Involuntary Cooldown - The Brothers' War

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	4
Rarity	Uncommon
Type	Sorcery
Released	2022-11-18
Set symbol
Set name	The Brothers' War
Set code	BRO
Number	53
Frame	2015
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Eelis Kyttanen

Text of card

Tap up to two target artifacts and/or creatures. Put two stun counters on each of them. (If a permanent with a stun counter would become untapped, remove one from it instead.)

"Back to the ivory towers! This won't hold for long!" —Vayor, Third Path cryomancer

Cards like Involuntary Cooldown

Involuntary Cooldown is a noteworthy entrant in the realm of control spells in MTG. It evokes comparisons to other delay tactics like Frost Breath, which also focuses on neutralizing multiple creatures, though without the same card draw capability. Both cards efficiently stall the opponent’s creatures to gain strategic advantage, but Involuntary Cooldown edges ahead with its additional card drawing mechanism.

Akin to Involuntary Cooldown, Sleep is a card that taps opposing creatures and denies them from untapping during the next untap step. However, Sleep affects all creatures your opponents control, while Involuntary Cooldown targets two, adding the perk of drawing a card. This subtle yet powerful inclusion of card draw potentially gives you a lead in resources over your opponent.

Moreover, assessing the utility against other similar cards, Involuntary Cooldown offers a unique blend of control and card advantage, which can be pivotal for maintaining tempo and pulling ahead in the game. Despite the saturating field of creature control spells in MTG, Involuntary Cooldown carves out its niche with an effective combination of disruption and deck cycling capabilities.

Cards similar to Involuntary Cooldown by color, type and mana cost

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Card Pros

Card Advantage: Involuntary Cooldown ushers in a strategic upper hand by temporarily sidelining an opponent’s key creatures. This disruption can cause your opponent to lose momentum, effectively giving you a form of card advantage as they potentially miss crucial plays.

Resource Acceleration: While Involuntary Cooldown itself doesn’t produce resources directly, it stalls the opponent’s resources, particularly mana dorks or creatures with abilities that ramp. This can give you time to build your board and leverage any mana accelerants you have, putting the resource game in your favor.

Instant Speed: The ability to cast Involuntary Cooldown at instant speed offers incredible flexibility. You can respond to your opponent’s actions during their turn or end phase, which can catch them off-guard and disrupt their strategy. This timing keeps you in control allowing for a more reactive and adaptative playstyle.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Involuntary Cooldown comes with a discard condition that can often be a double-edged sword. Players must part with another card from their hand, which may deplete their options and strategic diversity, especially if their hand size is already running low.

Specific Mana Cost: This card necessitates blue mana, thus requiring a commitment to that color within your deck. This can restrict deck-building options and may not fit into all strategies, particularly those not focused on blue or multicolor synergies.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Costing a total of three mana, including one that must be blue, makes Involuntary Cooldown a significant investment in the early game. Some players might find this mana cost steep when compared to other control or tempo spells in the same slot that can offer instant impact or don’t require additional costs such as discarding.

Reasons to Include Involuntary Cooldown in Your Collection

Versatility: Involuntary Cooldown can adapt to various deck strategies, slowing down opponents regardless of the archetypes they play. It can cool down aggressive decks or delay key pieces your opponent needs, making it a flexible sideboard card in many match-ups.

Combo Potential: The card shines in decks that capitalize on keeping opponents’ creatures from untapping. It aligns with cards that profit from tap and untap mechanics, feeding into potential lockout combos which hinder your opponents’ plans while you build your board presence.

Meta-Relevance: Given that creature-based strategies are perennially popular, Involuntary Cooldown offers targeted interference. This non-destructive approach to control can be pivotal in a meta where evasion, resilience, and creature abilities dominate, allowing you to keep the tempo in your favor.

How to Beat Involuntary Cooldown

Involuntary Cooldown can be a tricky card to navigate in the realm of Magic: The Gathering. As a disruptive tool, it forces a creature to not untap during its controller’s next untap step, impairing their board presence and tempo significantly. Fortunately, there are several strategies to mitigate its impact on your game.

One effective approach is to include cards that can untap your creatures, circumventing Involuntary Cooldown’s restrictive effect. Abilities like “vigilance” also prove invaluable, as creatures with vigilance do not need to tap to attack, therefore nullifying the potential setback from the Cooldown. Additionally, cards with flash can also help maintain your board state by providing the ability to play creatures at the end of your opponent’s turn, ensuring a fresh untapped creature on your side when your turn commences.

It’s also beneficial to diversify your threat base across creatures, artifacts, and enchantments. This decreases dependency on any single tapped creature and maintains your ability to respond to threats or press an advantage. Overall, by incorporating these techniques and maintaining a diverse array of responses, you can diminish the effectiveness of Involuntary Cooldown and keep your deck running smoothly against control strategies.

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Involuntary Cooldown MTG card by a specific set like The Brothers' War, there are several reliable options to consider. One of the primary sources is your local game store, where you can often find booster packs, individual cards, and preconstructed decks from current and some past sets. They often offer the added benefit of a community where you can trade with other players.

For a broader inventory, particularly of older sets, online marketplaces like TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom and Card Market offer extensive selections and allow you to search for cards from specific sets. Larger e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon also have listings from various sellers, which can be a good place to look for sealed product and rare finds.

Additionally, Magic’s official site often has a store locator and retailer lists for finding Wizards of the Coast licensed products. Remember to check for authenticity and the condition of the cards when purchasing, especially from individual sellers on larger marketplaces.

Below is a list of some store websites where you can buy the Involuntary Cooldown and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Involuntary Cooldown has restrictions

Format	Legality
Standard	Legal
Historicbrawl	Legal
Historic	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Alchemy	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Commander	Legal
Modern	Legal
Future	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Explorer	Legal
Brawl	Legal
Timeless	Legal

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Involuntary Cooldown card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

Date	Text
2022-10-14	Abilities that trigger when a permanent "becomes untapped" won't trigger if a stun counter is removed instead.
2022-10-14	If a permanent has more than one stun counter on it, only one will be removed each time it would become untapped.
2022-10-14	If a tapped permanent with a stun counter on it would become untapped, a stun counter will be removed from it instead. This is a replacement effect.
2022-10-14	If untapping a permanent is part of a cost (such as that of Halo Fountain's first ability), you may pay that cost by "untapping" a tapped permanent with a stun counter on it. The stun counter will be removed and the creature will remain tapped. However, the cost will still be paid.
2022-10-14	On the other hand, if untapping multiple permanents is part of a cost (such as that of Halo Fountain's last two abilities), you can't "untap" the same permanent more than once to pay that cost.
2022-10-14	Stun counters are not keyword counters, and they don't cause the permanents they're on to gain any abilities. They won't be affected by effects that cause permanents to lose all abilities.
2022-10-14	Stun counters exist independently of the effects that created them. If a permanent has no stun counters on it, it will untap as normal.
2022-10-14	Stun counters replace untapping for any reason, including players untapping tapped permanents during their untap steps.