Replacements: Deflecting Swat

Your opponent is tapped out. You have a kill spell in hand that will eliminate their only blocker, allowing you to swing in for the win. Upon casting it, they respond with a Deflecting Swat, redirecting it back towards your creature! On their next turn, they swing out and win the game. Your opponent can taste the salt in the air from their play. After some reflection, you are determined to beat them at their own game with some redirection of your own. But how can you do so on a budget?

Why is Deflecting Swat so expensive

EDH is so much about building and managing resources that free spells seem like they cheapen this core aspect of the format. Deflecting Swat, while not as egregious as Fierce Guardianship, is one of the most powerful interaction pieces ever printed. It redirects anything that targets, from Swords to Plowshares to Counterspell, as you can just change the target of Counterspell to Deflecting Swat itself.

This week, I want to help you redirect your opponents' spells right back at them for cheap. We're only going to look at cards that fit the following requirements:

• Allows you to redirect the spell or ability from another source
• Has a built in cost reduction/alternate cost that makes it cheaper

No mana necessary

The only card that does not need any mana to cast is Misdirection. Even so, it only redirects a spell and not an ability.

Of all of Blue's possible interaction spells, and based wholly off of anecdotal evidence, Misdirection is rarely played. Why would you put this in your deck over Counterspell? Or even Arcane Denial? Playing Misdirection (for its alternate casting cost of exiling a spell), means you are expending 2 cards to stop their 1 card, whereas Counterspell is a 1 for 1 trade.

Some setup required

Besides the previously mentioned counterspells, Blue actually has some pretty good creature removal in Rapid Hybridization, Pongify, Reality Shift, and Resculpt. There is a good chance that if an opponent is playing blue that you will come across these spells, which is why Ricochet Trap can be the perfect way to redirect their target.

For one red mana, you can redirect their kill spell elsewhere. The issue with this card is that it is very dependent upon your opponents playing blue. Chances are if they have white or black in their decks, they are playing spells like Swords to Plowshares, Path to Exile, or Go for the Throat, making Ricochet Trap an expensive 4 mana redirect. spell.

Perhaps the closest we can get to Deflecting Swat is Bolt Bend, a card that has only ever been printed once.

If your commander has 4 or greater power, this essentially reads "redirect a spell for 1 mana." This is fantastic because in a format like commander, you will always have access to a specific card (aka your commander), drastically increasing the opportunity you will have to cast this for just 1 red mana.

What is surprising is that even with a single printing, and how close it is to Deflecting Swat, is its price. Still under $3, this is a great card to pickup.

Redirection in disguise

I am going to cheat on these next two a bit, because you still have to pay full price for the spells over the course of the game, but when you use them, technically they will be cheaper than their full mana cost.

I'm talking about Morph!

Or well, Morph with Ward 2 tacked on in the recent Disguise mechanic (Oh Murders at Karlov Manor, why were you such a bad set).

Boltbender allows you to cast it, face down, for 3 mana, and then when you need it, it is only 2 mana to flip up and trigger its ability.

What is cool about this card is that it can change the targets for any number of spells or abilities. Is the stack full of interaction? Pop this off at the right time and change up all of your opponents' game plans.

Blue has their own version of Boltbender in Willbender.

You still play it face down for 3, turn it face up for 2, but it only redirects 1 target.

Still want to redirect but not in blue?

We've come to the end of the list of what I would consider the closest cards to Deflecting Swat, with the only real contender being Bolt Bend. Even so, there are some non-blue cards that can help you redirect spells, especially those pesky blue counterspells. The downside to these is that there is no possible mana reduction.

Imp's Mischief is the only card in black that has a similar effect.

Elsewhere in red, a new card is Return the Favor.

The modality of this card makes it shine, as you either choose to redirect, copy that spell, or both!

If you have recently played the Baldur's Gate video game like myself, Wyll's Reversal redirects the spell and lets you copy it for 1 mana less than Return the Favor, depending upon how good your dice rolling skills are.

The last one worth mentioning is Wild Ricochet.

Man, has this card been power crept. Return the Favor and Wyll's Reversal both let you also redirect abilities, so I am not sure why anyone would play this card anymore.

Cleanup

Going into this article, there was obviously not going to be anything near as good as Deflecting Swat. On the bright side, there are plenty of cards that let you interact with spells and abilities on the stack in non-blue colors. And they are all very cheap! Bolt Bend is the closest we can get to Deflecting Swat, and I would pick one up now if I were you!