"May the ocean take it"
—Nephalia expression meaning
"good riddance"

Wash Away

Cleave {1}{U}{U} (You may cast this spell for its cleave cost. If you do, remove the words in square brackets.)
Counter target spell [that wasn't cast from its owner's hand].

The List

Innistrad: Double Feature

Innistrad: Crimson Vow

A cleave cost is an alternative cost that's paid instead of the spell's mana cost. Casting a spell for its cleave cost doesn't change the spell's mana value.

Copies of spells are never cast from a player's hand, so Wash Away can counter copies of spells even if its cleave cost wasn't paid, regardless of whether the original spell being copied was cast from a player's hand.

If an effect allows you to “cast a spell without paying its mana cost,” you can't cast that spell for its cleave cost.

If you cast a spell for its cleave cost, that spell doesn't have any of the text in square brackets while it's on the stack.

You can't cast a spell for both its cleave cost and another alternative cost. For example, if an effect gives an Alchemist's Retrieval in your graveyard a flashback cost of {U}, you can't cast it from your graveyard for its cleave cost.