Authors note: This article got a follow-up article in March of 2024 with 10 more protection cards you should be playing
The first is to counter all other spells, like a fancy Cancel that will normally counter one spell for three mana but here you can counter them all, which is good to end a stack war or storm effect
Turns out a Cryptic Command every turn is all it takes to win the game sometimes
Not just that, with some clever casting you can force cards into the air, and likely at other players
Beyond that, Wizards typically evaluates cards for banning two to five weeks after a new Standard Magic set is released
Considering all physical variations, including foils, the total exceeds 100,000 collectible cards