Repeal
Bounce spells have always been the cantripping safety valve of blue: tempo for the price of a card you immediately replace. What distinguishes this one is the X in its cost, which converts a fixed-rate effect into a scalable one. The catch is that X must equal the permanent's mana value exactly, not merely meet or exceed it, so the spell prices each answer to its target. Against a token (mana value zero), you pay only U and replace your card; against a six-drop, you pay seven, one more than its mana value. That mana-value clause is the leash that keeps the spell from being a universal answer: it can never touch a land, and the tax of paying a mana more than the target's value means you are rarely getting ahead on mana, only on tempo and information. That ceiling is exactly what keeps it honest. The bigger the threat, the steeper the tax, and the more the bounce becomes a delaying tactic rather than a real removal substitute. The draw clause is what carries it across formats: a bounce that does not cost you a card fits any deck willing to spend the mana, whether to reset a planeswalker's loyalty, buy a turn against a board, or recur an enters-the-battlefield trigger on your own permanent. It is a tempo play and a cantrip stapled together, with the X deciding which of the two matters on a given turn.

Rules text
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Other printings
- Ravnica: Clue Edition#94
- Ravnica Remastered#60
- Historic Anthology 7#4
- Time Spiral Remastered#317
- Iconic Masters#70
- Commander 2015#104
- Magic Online Promos#54543
- Duel Decks: Speed vs. Cunning#72








