Thrasios & Ishai's Counters & Counterspells

Commander / EDH Control GWU (Bant)

Scarecrow1779

Instant (29)

• 1x Beast Within
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Deny Existence
• 1x Desertion
• 1x Dismiss
• 1x Dissipate
• 1x Dissolve
• 1x Enlightened Tutor
• 1x Exclude
• 1x Faerie Trickery
• 1x Fate Forgotten
• 1x Harrow
• 1x Mystic Confluence
• 1x Path to Exile
• 1x Ray of Distortion
• 1x Return to Dust
• 1x Return to the Earth
• 1x Rewind
• 1x Settle the Wreckage
• 1x Solidarity of Heroes
• 1x Spell Crumple
• 1x Spell Swindle
• 1x Swan Song
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Teferi's Protection
• 1x Vines of Vastwood
• 1x Void Shatter
• 1x Voidslime

Artifact (7)

• 1x Darksteel Plate
• 1x Expedition Map
• 1x Horizon Spellbomb
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Loxodon Warhammer
• 1x Wayfarer's Bauble
• 1x Whispersilk Cloak

Land (37)

• 1x Azorius Chancery
• 1x Bountiful Promenade
• 1x Breeding Pool
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 1x Flooded Grove
• 6x Forest
• 1x Glacial Fortress
• 1x Graypelt Refuge
• 1x Hinterland Harbor
• 8x Island
• 6x Plains
• 1x Port Town
• 1x Seaside Citadel
• 1x Sejiri Refuge
• 1x Selesnya Sanctuary
• 1x Simic Growth Chamber
• 1x Temple Garden
• 1x Thornwood Falls
• 1x Transguild Promenade

Creature (12)

• 1x Coalition Honor Guard
• 1x Deepglow Skate
• 1x Draining Whelk
• 1x Elvish Harbinger
• 1x Kalonian Hydra
• 1x Magus of the Moat
• 1x Rafiq of the Many
• 1x Rashmi, Eternities Crafter
• 1x Scavenging Ooze
• 1x Seedborn Muse
• 1x Tuskguard Captain
• 1x Vorel of the Hull Clade

Commanders (2)

Enchantment (7)

• 1x Finest Hour
• 1x Ghostly Prison
• 1x Hardened Scales
• 1x Mirari's Wake
• 1x Privileged Position
• 1x Propaganda
• 1x Training Grounds

Sorcery (6)

• 1x Collective Voyage
• 1x Cultivate
• 1x Idyllic Tutor
• 1x Kodama's Reach
• 1x Revoke Existence
• 1x Steelshaper's Gift

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This control deck is based on a very simple idea. Holding up mana for counterspells and other instant speed interaction can slow decks down a lot if you don't have an alternative way to use that mana when you don't need to use your interaction. Thrasios acts as our mana sink so all that held up mana doesn't go to waste, while Ishai acts as our wincon by getting massive and one-time or two-shotting players.

This deck has a ton of flexibility with what you put in it. So long as you still have more than 25 instants and a few extra activated abilities that you can use at instant speed, you should be fine. Most of the deck is instant speed spot removal, but there is also ramp to power Thrasios and your spells, supplemental card draw to help you never run out of interaction, and offensive enablers like Finest Hour that allow you to quickly turn Ishai's killing potential up a few notches so you can surprise your opponents.

This deck is very easy to make budget. I did just fine with only taplands in it for a long time, and since you're already holding up a decent amount of mana for Thrasios, it's no problem to use more mana-intensive counterspells that tend to be very easy on your wallet. The few expensive cards like Enlightened Tutor and Idyllic Tutor can be left out, too, as they are just in the deck for extra flexibility, allowing you to search out Training Grounds, Propaganda, Finest Hour, or Privileged Position, depending on whether you need draw power, defense, offense, or protection, respectively. You can even do without Teferi's Protection, since your ramp should allow you to recast Ishai just fine and she will grow out of control again very quickly.

Three of the best cards for extra draw power are Rashmi, Eternities Crafter, Training Grounds, and Seedborn Muse. Rashmi rewards you for playing instants, while Seedborn Muse and Training Grounds allow you to use Thrasios's ability much more often. The three best ways to suddenly boost Ishai's power is by playing Rafiq of the Many, Deepgliw Skate, or Finest Hour. The three of these all but guarantee you can one-shot somebody, and Finest Hour will sometimes let you kill two players in a single turn.

For future improvements, I have my eye on more ability cost reducers like Biomancer's Familiar, more untapped effects like Wilderness Reclamation, and some possible non-combat wincons like Simic Ascendancy.

Date added	5 years
Last updated	4 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	5 - 0 Mythic Rares 33 - 0 Rares 20 - 0 Uncommons 21 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.02
Tokens	Beast 3/3 G, Bird 2/2 U, Treasure
Folders	EDH