Force of Will
Instant
You may pay 1 life and exile a blue card from your hand rather than pay this spell's mana cost.
Counter target spell.
- CMC
- 5
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Magic Online Promos
- Price
- —
- EDHREC rank
- #189
Force of Will stops anything on the stack for free — the pitch cost of one life and a blue card is real, but paying zero mana to counter a combo piece or a Craterhoof Behemoth on the turn your shields are down is the whole point. It's mandatory in any high-powered blue shell, and decks like Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh // Silas Renn, Seeker Adept run it at an 88% clip for exactly that reason.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh // Silas Renn, Seeker Adept
Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh // Silas Renn, Seeker Adept is a cEDH artifact-storm deck that goes off fast and needs to protect its win — Force of Will is the premier zero-mana answer to anything that tries to stop the combo on the critical turn.
Thrasios, Triton Hero // Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful
Thrasios, Triton Hero // Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful builds toward infinite mana wins and Force of Will is exactly the protection needed to push a combo through interaction or stop an opponent from racing you to the finish line.
Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools // Thrasios, Triton Hero
Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools // Thrasios, Triton Hero operates at the highest power tier where Force of Will is table stakes — the deck needs free interaction to protect its own lines and disrupt opponents without tapping out.
Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator // Vial Smasher the Fierce
Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator // Vial Smasher the Fierce is a storm-adjacent spells deck that wants to hold up interaction without telegraphing it through open mana, making Force of Will's zero mana cost structurally perfect.
Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy
Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy assembles infinite mana quickly and needs to resolve that combo through a table full of counterspells — Force of Will answers opposing interaction for free without disrupting Kinnan's mana development.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | not legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Force of Will is one of Legacy's defining cards — a free counterspell that keeps combo-heavy formats honest and lets blue decks tap out on their own turn without surrendering the ability to answer anything threatening. In Vintage it remains legal and sees play, though the format's artifact acceleration means threats can still outpace it. Commander is where Force of Will has found its second home: at cEDH tables it's close to automatic in any blue deck, since the ability to counter a game-winning spell for zero mana on the turn you're committing your own resources is uniquely valuable in a four-player game. It's not legal in Modern, Pioneer, Standard, or Pauper, which keeps its demand concentrated among Legacy and Commander players.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
unknown tier
Force of Will is a long-established staple with multiple printings, and pricing shifts depending on edition — older copies command a premium while newer reprints have brought the floor down meaningfully. Check current listings on Scryfall or TCGPlayer for the exact version you want, since the spread between a Near Mint Alliances copy and a recent reprint can be substantial.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh // Silas Renn, Seeker Adept
- Thrasios, Triton Hero // Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful
- Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools // Thrasios, Triton Hero
- Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator // Vial Smasher the Fierce
- Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.