One of the major reasons that the fairy tribe has done so well in magic the gathering since they became a major contender in Lorwyn is that counterspells are some of the most effective cards in the game. This is important for two reasons, first blue is the color of counterspells so that you can play them along side fairies, but secondly and more important are those faeries that can be played as counter spells.

One of those that you might not recognize as a counter spell immediately is Scion of Oona. A faerie soldier this rare faerie is from the Lorwyn expansion set of magic the gathering. It costs one blue and two colorless to put into play and is a 1/1 flying creature but with all its other abilities the power and toughness hardly matter.

The first of these abilities is flash. On most 1/1 creatures this would be a minor ability because flashing out a 1/1 most likely means that you are putting it out to die blocking something it can't kill, but this card has other values.

The second of its abilities is that it gives all other faeries +1/+1. This is a common enough ability, but when you combine it with flash it becomes much better. Now you can play it after your opponent has carefully declared blockers to make all your faeries able to kill their creatures as well, or you can use it after your opponent has attacked to make them strong enough to wipe out his much larger creatures.

The real power though is in the third ability that gives all other faeries shroud. This is the effective counter spell attached to this card, because with flash you can wait until your opponent targets one of your faeries, including bitterblossom, with a spell and then play this. That creature then is no longer a valid target and the spell fails.

The clear weakness of this card is that it becomes the only valid target for every removal spell in your opponent's hand and it will be killed quickly. That is why it is so valuable to hold it in your hand until after your opponent has cast a spell allowing you to guarantee that you trade at least once card for this and most likely a second as your opponent is forced to use removal on the 1/1 creature so that it can get to your other creatures.

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