Essence Capture

Instant

Counter target creature spell. Put a +1/+1 counter on up to one target creature you control.

"It's not enough to defeat our foes. We must learn from them, too."
—Vannifar

Legality

Legal in: Pioneer, Modern, Legacy, Vintage, Historic, Timeless, Gladiator, Commander, Duel Commander, Tiny Leaders, Oathbreaker, Brawl, Competitive Brawl
Not legal in: Standard, Pauper, Future Standard, Alchemy, Penny Dreadful, Premodern, Old School 93/94, Pauper Commander, PreDH, Standard Brawl

2019-01-25 You can't cast Essence Capture without a target creature spell. If either target is illegal when Essence Capture tries to resolve, the other is still affected as appropriate.
2019-01-25 A creature spell that can't be countered is a legal target for Essence Capture. The spell won't be countered when Essence Capture resolves, but you'll still put a +1/+1 counter on the target creature.

MTGO price: 0.003 TIX, the cheapest non-foil print (average sell price on GoatBots, 29 Oct 2026).

Win rates in Arena drafts and sealed, retrieved from 17Lands (CC BY 4.0).

Win rates of Essence Capture in Limited
Set	GIH WR	vs set	IWD	Games
Outlaws of Thunder Junction (OTJ), Premier Draft	55.2%	+1.1	+5.6	29855
Outlaws of Thunder Junction (OTJ), Sealed	53.2%	-2.0	+3.5	693
Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty (NEO), Premier Draft	54.9%	-0.7	+2.6	7121
Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty (NEO), Sealed	53.1%	-1.2	+4.5	794

GIH WR: win rate of the games in which the card was in the opening hand or drawn
vs set: points above or below the average win rate of all decks in the set
IWD: improvement when drawn: GIH WR minus the win rate when the card stayed in the library
Games: games in which the card was seen