Countersquall

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Legality

Format Legality
1v1 Commander Legal
Archenemy Legal
Block Constructed Legal
Canadian Highlander Legal
Casual Legal
Commander / EDH Legal
Commander: Rule 0 Legal
Custom Legal
Duel Commander Legal
Highlander Legal
Legacy Legal
Leviathan Legal
Limited Legal
Modern Legal
Oathbreaker Legal
Planechase Legal
Quest Magic Legal
Tiny Leaders Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Countersquall

Instant

Counter target noncreature spell. Its controller loses 2 life.

SufferFromEDHD on Hootsnag Dimir Control

4 months ago

I do too. There is a beauty to how both of these flow. They both efficiently establish control they just go about it in slightly different ways. I will be using one of them in a future prize tournament.

Absorb/Dovin's Veto to Undermine/Countersquall

Celestial Colonnade to Creeping Tar Pit

Helm of Obedience works as a win condition in both lists off of different enchantments.

This has been a stellar month for deck design. I'm still goldfishing the Numot list. Winning with animated mana rocks after nuking all lands is awesome.

DemonDragonJ on Eislinda and Vernalia

5 months ago

I have designed my own character inspired by the Snow Queen from Hans Christian Anderson’s fairy tale of the same name, a rival for her, as well as several cards associated with each of them. I assure the users here that my posting of an ice queen shortly after WotC revealed theirs is pure coincidence, as I had this idea in my head for some time, but simply never had sufficient free time to post it, before now, so here is what I have produced.

Eislinda, the Ice Queen Show

Eislinda represents calm logic and deliberate, methodical action, as evidenced by how her ability is an activated ability, and her name contains the word "eis," which is German for "ice."

Eislinda's Disdain Show

This card is a smaller version of Punish Ignorance in the same way that Countersquall is a smaller version of Undermine.

Icy Rebuke Show

I modeled this card after non-blue counterspells, such as Dawn Charm and Rebuff the Wicked, because I found those spells to be too limited but I do not believe that this spell is too powerful or a color pie break, since it still is fairly limited in what it can do.

Eisheim, the Frozen Palace Show

Most utility lands do not produce colored mana, so I wished to make one that did, and I ensured that it also had an ability for each color of mana that it could produce. I hope that this land is not too powerful, but, if it is, I certainly would appreciate feedback on how to better balance it.

Now that I have displayed Eislinda and cards associated with her, I shall introduce her rival.

Vernalia, Herald of Spring Show

Vernalia is the opposite of Eislinda; she represents growth, rebirth, and passion, while Eislinda represent death, darkness, and apathy, but she also represents instinct, intuition, and unconscious action, as demonstrated by her abilities being triggered abilities, while Eislinda's abilities are activated abilities. Her name contains the word "vernal," which is Latin for "of, or relating to, Spring."

Vernalia's Grasp Show

I am very surprised that WotC has not yet printed a card that combines Artifact Mutation and Aura Mutation, so I have made such a card, and I feel that it is perfectly balanced at costing 3 mana, while the other two cards have a combined mana value of 4.

Grunwald, Cradle of Spring Show

I had contemplated having the green ability put a +1/+1 counter on a creature, but that would require that there be a creature on the battlefield, so I changed it to always be useful. "Grunwald" is German for "green forest," which, I suppose, is somewhat redundant, in the context of this game.

What does everyone else say about these cards? I spend a great amount of time and effort designing them, so I welcome any feedback that anyone has to offer!

DingoLingo03 on Goaded With The Sauce

11 months ago

Licecolony Thank you for the comprehensive message! I appreciate the input, especially on adding the smaller, more evasive creatures into the mix and removing some counterspells. Any time I build I have a knee-jerk reaction to slot in some counters, even when they're not really necessary in the overall scheme of the deck.

Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker, Gisa, Glorious Resurrector and, sadly, Taniwha are getting chopped. I share your love for the 'ol phasing sea serpent, but I agree that it's far too slow in games where it's seen play to warrant an inclusion. My thought process behind adding Mirko was to shift aggro onto an opponent's board. His ability certainly has bite, but I find he often becomes a pain in the neck for me in the late game. Puns intended. Gisa's just sorta not great.

I'm not so sure about cutting Tergrid. She acts as a foil to Jon: when my donations cause opponents to sac their good creatures, they become my defensive line against the hot garbage I've gifted them. I'll have to do some trial runs with and without to see if I can cut her out of the 99.

Plague Reaver is, tentatively, on the chopping block. Reaver's value and ability is just grand, but it does suck having to lose Jon for a turn. Assault Suit was a means of mitigating that issue, by keeping Jon off the board I could cast both cards while not having to face the backlash, then toss it around to all my opponents at their upkeeps. Suit is probably going to stay in the 99, because it still has great synergy with other creatures, especially those that sac at the player's upkeep.

Good calls on Dissipation Field, No Mercy, and Grave Betrayal. Diplomatic Immunity doesn't really work as intended anyway, and I very much prefer your replacements for AEtherize, so consider those cut. Dark Ritual I think will stay, always good to get a discount on higher cost spells. I'm leaving in Countersquall for now. I tend to shy away from cards that gift treasures to opponents, unless I've got a Dockside slotted into the 99. Redirect is, hands down, one of my favorite cards ever, and while Reversal is good, I think Redirect will stay.

I'm also going to take your suggestions on the sac-based removals as well.

Thanks again!

Licecolony on Goaded With The Sauce

11 months ago

I really like your manifest take on Jon. Consider Dulcet Sirens. It's a clever way to mitigate risk of having those horrible creatures for yourself. I'll definitely be adding Crawlspace and Endless Whispers to my list.

Suggested removals from deck Plague Reaver. While it's a nice card to give away, the turn you play it you'll have to sacrifice Jon Irenicus to Plague Reaver's trigger regardless of which order you put the abilities onto the stack. You'd rather not lose Jon.

Gisa, Glorious Resurrector. It's something you can't give away, which means it's good when you're ahead, but not great when you're behind,. Your mileage may vary, but I think getting something more immediately impactful on the board tends to be best.

Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker. You're not running a mill strategy, you'll only be filling the graveyard of dedicate graveyard decks.

Taniwha. I love this creature and totally understand running it for the memes, but phasing triggers before your upkeep, which means that when you give it away, it'll be phased out for the first turn under your opponent, so they'll keep their lands and you won't draw a card from Jon's ability. The turn cycle has to make two full rounds before Taniwha does anything.

Tergrid, God of Fright  Flip. Unlike Sheoldred, Tergrid doesn't make the opponent do either of its effects. It's another creature you don't want to give away, and Jon makes cards unsacrificeable. It just won't trigger much unless you're against a sacrifice deck.

Ensnaring Bridge. The creatures you donate will often be quite big. Ensnaring bridge will prevent them from attacking your opponents and deny you card draw.

Chromatic Lantern. It's only good if you need the mana fixing. You don't need the mana fixing. Try something like Thought Vessel or Decanter of Endless Water or Midnight Clock instead.

Assault Suit doesn't goad the creatures itself. Often they'll swing at you if possible.

Dissipation Field. Not as good as it looks. Doubles ETB triggers. Anti synergy with cards like Endless Whispers.

No Mercy Jon just has better options for this slot. If you can replace a non-creature with a creature in this deck, you usually want to.

Grave Betrayal. That's 7 mana for a card that could ruin your game by forcing you to revive bad cards you do not want.

Diplomatic Immunity. You want instant speed protection and protection from board wipes. Something like March of Swirling Mist is more versatile offensively and defensively.

Dark Ritual. I'm uncertain what you're trying to ramp into so quickly that you would need this. Maybe I'm wrong.

Countersquall. You may as well play the one mana version in An Offer You Can't Refuse.

Redirect may be bested by Narset's Reversal? That's a matter of opinion.

AEtherize risks bouncing creatures attacking other opponents such as those you've goaded but want them to keep. Try replacing this with a more versatile effect like Reins of Power or a more aggressive effect in Illusionist's Gambit.

Damnation. Jon prefers sacrifice board wipes so that your opponents keep their shit creatures.

Overall I think you could run less counter-magic in favor of more proactive effects.

Cards to Consider Creatures Generally I want to focus on adding creatures that you can give away and then steal back later to win the game.

With Jon, you often want cheap evasive creatures to give out for early card draw with his ability. Right now you have 1 two-drop creature. Throwing in a Changeling Outcast or a Slither Blade can mean you can give a creature away for cheap and still hold up mana for other things. Slither blade wouldn't die to Heartless Summoning too.

In the two-drop slot, you can run creatures that are more defensive like Baleful Strix, or give you card draw like Sygg, River Cutthroat or just more powerful creatures like Flesh Reaver which is a goaded 6/6 that can deal 12 damage a turn or Wretched Anurid. Heck, you can even add a versatile two-drop in Dimir Infiltrator which can be given away in the early game or used as a tutor in the late-game.

In the three drop slot, I think your idea of adding Steel Golem is a great one to make sure the only creatures your opponent has are the ones you're giving them. It's a brutal card. Rotting Regisaur is a card you don't mind giving away early, and can take back later to win. Phyrexian Soulgorger can be donated to an opponent as a goaded 10/10. They won't have to pay the upkeep, but that's a great body to give someone as a political tool. Cephalid Facetaker is also worth consideration though I personally don't run it.

In the four-drop slot, like you mentioned, Grid Monitor is a proactive creature counter. Abyssal Persecutor can save you from death. Archfiend of the Dross is risky but fun (it comes back to your control after the opponent dies).

In the 5-drop slot, both of the evil-eye cards are absolute ALL STARS. They work so well every game I've drawn them. They can also replace some of your weaker defenses like No Mercy and Dissipation Field

As a sidenote, I also like Deep-Sea Kraken as an unblockable 8/8 that can win you the game with homeward path.

Removal I recommend running more sacrifice-based removal since it'll mean your opponents keep the crap you give them. Things like Tergrid's Shadow or Vona's Hunger or All is Dust (one of my favorites) or Killing Wave. I also prefer Toxic Deluge to some of your other removal since it goes through hexproof. Curse of the Swine is also an exile effect that can be selective and works really well. You can also run single-target removal like Reality Shift or Pongify if you'd rather instant speed interaction. Feed the Swarm is quality. If you really don't care about cruelty, you can run Torment of Hailfire, but that card is honestly always too boring for me to want in my decks.

Card Draw Jon has access to some great card draw that most decks can't take advantage of. Fateful Handoff is a card draw spell that also donates (though does not goad). Sygg, River Cutthroat works well with evasive threats you give away (though should not be donated). Verity Circle works great with Jon's ability since it donates the creature first, and then taps it down. Teferi's Ageless Insight allows you to double your draw triggers from Jon.

Equipment Remember that you can donate creatures while they're equipped and you still control the equipment so they can't re-equip it. Pact Weapon makes the attacking creature bigger, while ensuring you can't die, and will draw you another card whenever the donated creature attacks. Dowsing Dagger  Flip works effectively on evasive creature to get you ramped. Vorpal Sword is a win condition on your unblockable evasive creatures.

Goad Dulcet Sirens, Bloodthirsty Blade.

Misc Graveyard removal is king. Throw in a Scavenger Grounds. My favorite card to run is Reality Shift. Make an Avenger of Zendikar spawn a dozen Wretched Anurids. It's not GREAT, but it is always funny. Cultural Exchange is a fun time too with all your manifest and shitty creatures.

That is all. Hope it was helpful.

DemonDragonJ on All Will Be One

1 year ago

I have replaced Countersquall, Recoil, and Grim Affliction with Reject Imperfection, Serum Snare, and Staff of Compleation, which sadly reduced the prevalence of black in this deck, but I feel that those replacements are far superior compared to what I had, before.

AstroAA on Should I Make These Replacements?

1 year ago

I could see where maybe Reject Imperfection has a place, but in a four color deck I'd ideally like to try to keep your spells to single color pip cost. Like for example, Countersquall uses a single blue and a single black pip, whereas Reject Imperfection uses two blue pips and a generic pip. I get you're trying to get the proliferate ability from it, but if you do something with two blue pips - I'd just rather run something straight up like Counterspell or Mana Drain where it's 2CMC over 3CMC.

I second what bushido_man96 said - bounce spells outside of Cyclonic Rift (and in fringe cases Chain of Vapor) aren't that great and should generally be avoided. I get that, again, you're trying to get the proliferate trigger off but there are times where it'd just be easier to exile/destroy the thing with the likes of Path to Exile/Nature's Claim/Pongify/Tragic Slip.

DemonDragonJ on Should I Make These Replacements?

1 year ago

I have copies of Countersquall and Recoil in my Atraxa, Praetors' Voice EDH deck, but I am considering replacing those cards with Reject Imperfection and Serum Snare, since I feel that those latter cards better fit the theme of the deck. Regrettably, making those replacements would further diminish the prevalence of black in that deck, but that is an acceptable sacrifice for a more powerful and efficient deck.

What does everyone else say about this? Should I replace Countersquall and Recoil with Reject Imperfection and Serum Snare?

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