Top 10 Stun Cards in Magic: The Gathering

What is a Floodgate?

Stungates, nets, floodgates, and "screw you" are all terms to describe untap-preventing cards. These limit player actions by preventing cards (usually lands) from untapping, giving players far less options to alter the current board state.

Most of these hit you as well as your opponents, but we'll see clever ways to work around this—here are the ten best untap-blocking cards in Magic: The Gathering!

10. Hokori, Dust Drinker/Rising Waters

These two cards do the same thing, preventing lands from untapping but letting players untap one at their upkeep. Sure, you're hit by this as well, but opponents will suffer the penalty first since their upkeep will be next.

Waters is the better card, being an enchantment that's harder to hit than Hokori's weak 2/2 stats, but both hinder opponents well. Another cool thing is that if your opponent hits your card with a sorcery-speed spell, they still lost the untap on their turn while giving you a full untap on yours.

9. Mana Vapors/Exhaustion

These two spells offer powerful albeit temporary nets against one player, best used in 1v1. Vapors prevents a player's lands untapping on their next turn, while Exhaustion costs one more but also locks out creatures. Both versatile tools, and as instants/sorceries, you can make them even cheaper to cast with blue cards like Baral Chief of Compliance.

8. Choke/Curse of Marit Lage

Here are potent but very specific nets, each preventing islands from untapping. This counts both basic and nonbasic islands, and as long as you aren't running blue, should leave your own lands unscathed.

Best when you know what you're up against or can sideboard in and out as needed.

7. Blood Moon/Harbinger of the Seas

Again we have situational but powerful nets, this time turning non-basic lands into either mountains (Blood Moon) or islands (Harbinger), meaning they can only tap for either red or blue. Harbinger's 2/2 stats aren't great, but the useful merfolk and wizards subtypes offer tribal potential.

Some decks won't mind, but against mismatched colors, you can sometimes lock out a whole deck.

6. Embargo

Embargo blocks all non-lands from untapping. Sure, this affects you as well, but you're shutting down aggro, mana weenies, mana rock artifacts, and more, great for instant and sorcery focused decks. You do lose two life at your upkeep, but that's a small price, especially in commander where you start with 40.

5. Smoke/Stoic Angel

These cards share the same effect, but Smoke is much less expensive and only needs one color. Either way, the both allow players to only untap one creature each turn, shutting down both aggro, mana weenies, and other tap-based effects.

I do like that Stoic Angel comes with vigilance, letting her attack without tapping so she won't hinder her own ability.

4. Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger

Vorinclex costs a heap of eight mana, so he's often cheated into play with something like Defense of the Heart or Fight Rigging. But he justifies his price with 7/6 stats plus trample and two great effects: letting your lands tap for an extra mana, while opposing lands don't untap at their controller's next turn when used.

This makes Vorin incredibly hard to respond to without getting crippled, as paying for any removal will still stall out at least some lands.

3. Tsabo's Web

Web does something pretty much nothing else here will, drawing a card on entry, so even if it's not the right lock against your opponent, you can at least draw off it. It prevents players from untapping lands with abilities that aren't mana abilities, shutting down many non-basics that have bonus effects such as Blast Zone.

2. Back to Basics/Winter Moon

These two punish non-basic lands; Basics simply prevents them from untapping, Moon only allows players to untap one. Both fantastic cards in basic land decks that won't mind, and usually very effective against four and five-color decks that don't run many basics.

1. Static Orb/Winter Orb

As long as Static Orb is untapped, it prevents players from untapping more than two cards at their upkeep. Winter Orb costs one less mana, and similarly prevents untapping more than one land.

Not only do these shut down almost everything, they can be exploited if you can somehow tap them before your turn, say with Derevi, Empyrial Tactician.

Cards That Untap

Great, so you've frozen everyone's lands. Now what? How can you work around your own nets? Try cards that auto-untap your field, like green's Seedborn Muse or blue's Prophet of Kruphix. Blue-white Brago King Eternal can flicker (exile and return to field) any non-lands when he hits opponents, effectively letting you untap.

Other cards that can untap your lands include Sword of Feast and Famine and Curse of Bounty, but for now, share your favorite lockdown tactics and I'll see you at our next MTG countdown!

© 2024 Jeremy Gill