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As any Blue Mage will tell you, the problem with a countering spell is that it doesn't really help to draw it after the bad spell has already resolved, and it doesn't help to have the card in hand, and not have the mana available to cast the counter. In this article, we will discuss the answer to this problem. As per Dictionary.com
Willpower is the mental strength that a person has, or lacks. It's what seperates the victor from the defeated. It is the sword you wield against adversity. It's what keeps you going when your legs contain no more strength. When your lungs want nothing more than to burst, deflate, and leave you lying in a suffocating mess on the floor, your will drives you to keep breathing. Will is the driving force that places a king over the greatest swordsman in the land. It asserts itself, influencing those around you, pushing them to the brink of greatness, or disaster. Human will may possibly be the most powerful force on the earth. The will to succeed, prosper, survive, have always propelled man onwards.
Perhaps this is why I am a self-proclaimed Blue Mage. I am a thinker by nature. I would rather squeeze the life out of you with a lock deck than brutalize you with a creature. I want you to know that I am the smarter player at the table. I want you to know that I am in control. I want you to know that the outcome of the game will happen in my time. I want you to know that I have the answer to every problem you can present to me. Blue gives me the ability to play that way during a game. From what I have gathered in my time as a Magic player, Blue was originally designed to be a representative of the element of Water. Somewhere along the lines, Blue also absorbed the fields of Time, Space, and Mental Powers. Force of Will is a good representative of Blue today. Even when faced with no resources, I am still in control. I can still assert my will upon you. I can still dictate the outcome of the game.
Being the best representative for the color Blue, Force of Will brings to mind a feeling of invincibility. I can not be harmed. I don’t need to even bear arms against you, for my mind will defend me against your steel. My mind will supremely defend me against even your mind. Since the beginning of time, Blue Mages were always getting killed by a first turn Black Vise. It would drive a Mage nuts. We would draw our seven card opening hand:
However, when the opponent led off the game by playing a land followed by a Black Vise, I look again at my hand, and know that I just lost. It was infuriating because, there was nothing I could do about that loss. I didn’t lose to a superior or even smarter player, although they always thought that they were, EVERYONE played a Black Vise in their decks; even discard decks. I am sure that you can think of other situations, where you sat there thinking to yourself, if only that spell was not resolving, I could… What kind of reasons did you have for allowing that spell to resolve? I didn’t have any Islands in play. I was tapped out. I only had enough mana for one counter, and he played back to back spells. He played his spell before I had a turn. My Islands were Choked or Boiled off. Yea, yea… a likely excuse. Back in June of 1996, Wizards released Alliances to the Magic world. Blue Mages breathed a collective sigh of relief as we finally had been given some firepower against our foes. Alliances introduced the alternate casting cost mechanic. Each color was gifted with a ‘Pitch’ card, in which instead of paying the high casting cost of the spell, you would simply pay one life, and remove a card of the designated color from the game, and you would then cast this card free of mana.
While the White and Green Pitch Spells were completely awful, the Red and Black ones were useful, and the Blue spell was amazing. Blue's Pitch Spell was Force of Will. At a converted cost of 5 (UU3), this spell was outrageously high as far as mana efficiency. If Counterspell set the standard at UU to counter target spell, then paying 3 additional for the same effect is almost insulting. However, that was exactly the point. You're not supposed to want to cast this spell with mana. It has an alternate cost of removing a blue card in your hand from the game and paying one life.
Force of Will was also important because we had not been given a decent counter since Legends gave us Mana Drain. Instantly, the game ending first turn Black Vise is not so much of a threat. The decoy spell, followed by Channel/Fireball is not devastating anymore.
In game play, the card has numerous ways to be efficient, even when not being cast. In a format where this card is legal, simply being tapped out of Blue mana does not mean the opponent can feel free to cast spells. If I hold two or more cards, I still wield the power. I don't even have to have a Force of Will in my hand. I can feel free to play my spells, knowing that you fear the possibility of a Force of Will in my hand. Another strategy with this card is to use the opponent's aggression against them. Say they are waiting for an opening to get that devastating spell into play. Played correctly, or smartly, you could lure that spell out into the open and shoot it down with a simple Counterspell. While waiting and biding your time, you will be collecting countering spells in your hand, but remember that there is no true rule on which spell needs to be cast in what order. Also, keep in mind, that a good control player would hold extra lands in their hand to be countering spell place holders. Having said this, when your opponent casts a spell, if you suddenly counter it, using a Force of Will, and removing a non-countering Blue spell, what message are you sending to your opponent? "Crap, I don’t have anymore counters, I could not afford the hard cast of Force of Will, and he pulled my silver bullet out of my hand on that spell." This would be a good time to give a little theatrics, to sell the thought to him. The common player would most likely play his Boil, Choke, Jokulhaups, etc. and then you tap your two Islands and play your Counterspell. This works even better if your counter is a one designated counter, Powersink, Mana Leak, etc., and you only have one Island untapped. "He definitely can't counter! I have him now!" Due to Force of Will being printed, Stasis became viable as a true Type II (Standard) deck type. This deck is what destroyed Necropotence. No longer would the first turn Hymn, Mind Twist, or Hypnotic Specter be a death sentence. They were a threat to be sure, but they were not an automatic loss.
See, Richard got paid again, and bought more packs in search of his two cards. Finally, he lands a Balduvian Horde! Immediately a guy asks him if he wants to trade it. (You know that guy, the one who doesn't want to buy packs, but vultures the rares from the younger players.) Richard looks at him shrewdly, and says, "Yea, I'll trade it, but only for a Force of Will." The guys eyes light up and he hurriedly opens his binder and pulls out his last one and offers it to Richard. Richard took the deal happily, then soon after bought the newest Inquest. He was then devastated to find out that Force of Will… is an uncommon. That’s right, Balduvian Horde is a Rare. Back in these days, we didn't have different colored symbols to tell us the rarity, they were all black symbols. So of course, we all laughed at him and showed him our Balduvian Hordes. If Richard was still playing today, and if he still owned that Force of Will, he'd be the one laughing today. Force of Will goes for around $20-25 a piece and the Balduvian Horde runs a mere $1.50 each. Now that I think about it, I wish I had my collection intact, because I had seven of them. It’s funny how quickly times change, considering the fact that in order to get my Balduvian Horde, I had to pay $20 at that time, but that is a different story for a different time. (Damn it!) I relate that story to show you how valuable this card is. It is one of the, if not the, most valuable uncommons ever to be printed. It surpassed the rarest card in its set by $20 and I don't believe it will stop there, especially as long as the Vintage environment continues to get new cards from new expansions to devastate opponents with. Force of Will has many generations of offspring. A few examples of these would be Daze, Foil, Thwart, and Disrupting Shoal. They all require different forms of payment, but the bottom line remains consistent: I can say no to you even without having mana available.
In a game where card advantage is key, one would think that losing two cards to eliminate one would be frowned upon. However, this card maintains a respectable dollar value as well as fanfare - fitting for one of the best looking cards to ever grace a black sleeve. cpn You can discuss this article in the MDV forums here. Articles
Spotlights from 2006 |
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...and
give a sigh of relief. This was a pretty good hand. We had the mana necessary in
the three Islands, a couple countering spells, and even a 'Pump Knight or
Hypnotic blocker' in Wall of Air. 
I
can remember my friend Richard buying almost as many packs of Alliances as I did
when it was first released. Neither one of us could get a Balduvian Horde, or a
Force of Will to complete our sets. Then one day Richard came into the store
with a frown on his face. We asked him what was wrong, but of course he didn’t
want to talk about it. Eventually, he told us his story, and we laughed at him.
What a moron! 
