Force of Will

Force of Will was originally released in the 1996 Alliances expansion for the Magic: The Gathering card game. The card was designed by the Wizards of the Coast development team to provide a necessary counterbalance to the aggressive, fast-paced deck archetypes dominating the game’s environment at the time. By allowing a player to counter a spell for zero mana at the cost of one blue card and one life, it fundamentally shifted the strategic depth of the format, establishing itself as a cornerstone of competitive play.

The World Championship Decks 1997 version, featuring the collector number jk28, is a commemorative reprint that replicates the decklist used by Jakob Söderqvist during the 1997 Magic World Championship. Unlike standard expansion cards, these versions feature gold-bordered backs and the player's signature, serving as a pedagogical tool that allowed the general public to study and play with the specific, high-level card configurations favored by professional competitors during that era.