Roiling Waters MTG Card

Cards like Roiling Waters

Roiling Waters plays an intriguing role in the array of control spells in Magic: The Gathering. As a card that obliterates an opponent’s momentum, its comparison is often drawn to other bounce spells such as Flood of Tears. Flood of Tears provides a sweeping effect, returning all non-land permanents to their owners’ hands, but requires six mana compared to Roiling Waters’ seven. However, Roiling Waters offers additional value by forcing the opponent to discard two cards, a significant advantage for disrupting your opponent’s strategy.

Analogous in function is Aetherspouts, which requires one less mana and deals uniquely with attacking creatures, directing them to the bottom or top of the library instead of bouncing to hand. Although Aetherspouts doesn’t directly affect the hand, it essentially decimates an opponent’s developed board. In contrast, Devastation Tide is a miracle card that, when drawn at the right time, can be cast for substantially less and achieves a similar board reset effect, but it lacks the targeted discard benefit that characterizes Roiling Waters.

In looking at utility and impact, Roiling Waters holds a strong position among Magic: The Gathering’s control spells, especially for its built-in card disadvantage imposition alongside the traditional bouncing effect.