Being able to prevent damage has become more useful than in the past in large part because the amount of damage prevented for the cost has largely went up but it is still far to often a blank card in your hand as you wait for the chance to use it. Because of this it is not something that is used often. Add on top of this a side effect that if it happens causes you to immediately lose the game and you have a card that is unlikely to see a great deal of tournament play.

Intervention pact is a rare instant from the Future Sight expansion set of magic the gathering. Part of a cycle of pacts it cost 0 to cast, but at the beginning of your next upkeep you must pay two white and one colorless or lose the game. This is interesting flavor for a card in the future sight set as it lets you postpone paying for a spell and surprise an opponent but in the case of Intervention pact the effect really isn't all that impressive.

Intervention pact reads "Intervention Pact is white.

The next time a source of your choice would deal damage to you this turn, prevent that damage. You gain life equal to the damage prevented this way."

Everyone who puts this card into their deck imagines that they are going to use it against elf ball, blocking a twenty point fireball, and gaining twenty life in the process then pay three the next turn easily. The problem is two fold.

The first is that if you have let your opponent reach the point where he can cast a twenty point fireball, or do anything else that does enough damage to make this a truly powerful card you have missed the goal of the game.

The second is that very few people play magic the gathering that way. In fact most of the best decks in the game do not do this at all, instead they rely on small amounts of damage from multiple sources and so while you may be able to use this as an expensive fog by reversing the damage on a single creature which is enough to make the others do no damage, fog actually is a better card.

Finally there is the lose the game clause. The problem with this is that sometimes opponents will mess with your ability to pay this. This won't happen often but when it does it is a major weakness and one that puts this card into the not worth it category.

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