Arcane Denial

Instant

Counter target spell. Its controller may draw up to two cards at the beginning of the next turn's upkeep.

You draw a card at the beginning of the next turn's upkeep.

Discussion (51)

Optimator on SadoArtifacthate

1 week ago

Mana Leak is also a weaker counterspell in EDH (it's pretty decent in 60-card formats). I would only recommend it in very counterspell-heavy decks. If the goal is protecting against removal/boardwipes use Swan Song or Negate . Otherwise, use Counterspell , Arcane Denial , or any of the other good cards that counter anything.

As for Rift Bolt and Lightning Bolt , if they're for removal I would highly recommend something more reliable like Pongify , Rapid Hybridization , Reality Shift , Aftershock , or Fissure . Comet Storm or Rolling Thunder work well with Saheeli too. If they're for going upstairs I'd again recommend things like Comet Storm to have a bigger impact and even end the game outright.

Without counterspelling them, the only way in to handle enchantments is Chaos Warp . I insist you run it. There are a few colorless ways to deal, like Scour from Existence , Unstable Obelisk , and Spine of Ish Sah . The latter two are great with recursion.

Personally, I always run two boardwipes minimum and I try to squeeze more in when possible. You already have the best in Cyclonic Rift, but another could save your bacon (you don't have tutors to find it, nor would I necessarily recommend running any). Even decks that go wide, like ours, need reset buttons in emergencies. Blasphemous Act is the gold standard, but Ixidron , Earthquake , Wash Out , and Coastal Breach are good too.

SideBae on Ezuri, Claw of HELP!

1 week ago

My first suggestion is you include the big three xerox spells: Ponder , Preordain and Brainstorm . They may not look like much, but superior card-selection for one blue is hard to argue with. I run them in every blue deck, though I think you'll need more shuffle effects to make Brainstorm good. Though I don't recommend them, you can also consider second-class cantrips like Serum Visions , Sleight of Hand and Opt .

My second suggestion is that you include the one-mana mana-dorks. I see you have Elvish Mystic , but running Birds of Paradise and Arbor Elf can be very helpful too. Utopia Sprawl works really well with Arbor Elf .

I think some of the two-mana ramp spells could be improved; I've never been a fan of Rampant Growth . Consider Nature's Lore (or its $100 cousin, Three Visits ) and/or Farseek . These can get non-basics, like your Breeding Pool , and Nature's Lore etbs untapped.

Evolution Sage is a card that MAY be good, but I'm not sure. Not having an immediate board-impact is a major downer, but its ability may be good enough to make it worth including. Playtesting can help.

Windfall is an excellent card-draw spell if you're down on cards. I suggest running Narset, Parter of Veils to act as a stax piece that is particularly abusive with Windfall . (Note that if you do end up with proliferate effects, you can proliferate her and get extra activations.) Other good card-draw spells include Fact or Fiction , Concentrate , Tezzeret's Gambit , Harmonize ...

Mystic Remora is a GREAT card. I personally think it's better than Rhystic Study , but I'm sure that'll raise a lot of hell (I also think Griselbrand should be unbanned, so I'm used to getting yelled at).

Wirewood Symbiote is a card you may want to consider. It words well with cards like your Reclamation Sage and can protect your guys from getting Toxic Deluge -d, and can buy you more triggers with your mana elf etbs for your general.

Depending on how many creatures you tend to have out, Slate of Ancestry could be a powerhouse. If you don't want to use that, running something like Collector Ouphe to fetch off Green Sun's Zenith can raise your decks chances against storm and the like significantly.

Opposition is a card I've been seeing more and more in powerful EDH decks these days. If you pair it with tokens and Seedborn Muse , Opposition can win the game on the spot. Adding something like Winter Orb to the mix can yield even more fun.

You can get more 'at the beginning of combat' triggers by having more combat steps. Consider extra-turn spells, like Temporal Trespass , Temporal Manipulation , Expropriate , Karn's Temporal Sundering , Nexus of Fate ...

Finally, counter magic is a good thing. Idk what the budget for the deck is, but the best counters are Force of Will and Mana Drain . More affordable cards that are still REALLY good are Spell Snare , Arcane Denial , Negate , Fuel for the Cause and the like. Counter-counters (I call them 'second-order counters,' since it makes me feel smart) are also good. Veil of Summer is the best right now, but Autumn's Veil and Dispel are also really good.

Right. That's all I got. Good luck!

multimedia on U wont like that

2 weeks ago

Hey, nice budget Esper deck. Looks like you're not finished?

In Esper colors you can take more advantage of opponent disruption and you kind of need more of it if you want to consistently cast Chromium, who's seven mana. Control the game more by slowing down your opponents which can give you more time to prepare the game for when you drop Chromium. I think you should stick with Tocatli Honor Guard . In fact I'm suggesting to expand on it. Of course this means cutting most creatures who have an ETB ability.

Chromium doesn't have an ETB ability and there's not very many creatures here who do. In Commander many decks, much more than not, rely on ETB abilities from creatures to get value or even to win. Shutting this off can give you a big advantage. Creatures who exile other creatures or permanents when they ETB are risky because of board wipes. When these creatures die from a board wipe then the exiled card goes back to the opponent. Board wipes are more important for Control then these creatures.

In Commander 26 lands is very low for a Control deck. This is the amount of land you would play in a 60 card Control deck in Standard. In Commander there's a lot more than 60 cards therefore you need more lands because you want to make your land drops each turn. Mana rocks and other spells that can get you lands in your hand or on to the battlefield can help, but even with these cards you need more land. You really want both. There's only 91 cards here; my advice is start with adding 10 more lands and the three budget Signets: Azorius Signet , Dimir Signet , Orzhov Signet .

Budget lands to consider adding:

• Command Tower
• Exotic Orchard
• Caves of Koilos
• Ash Barrens
• Esper Panorama
• Sunken Hollow
• Prairie Stream
• Irrigated Farmland

Cards to consider cutting to add lands/Signets:

• Fleet Swallower
• Drowned Secrets
• Psychic Spiral
• Psychic Corrosion
• Thought Collapse

Consider cutting the opponent mill theme? Opponent mill is not very good in multiplayer Commander unless your dedicated to it. Graveyards are a huge resource for so many types of decks in Commander; mill will most likely help your opponents rather than hurt them. I wouldn't play mill unless it's the main strategy of your deck. Playing many wheel effects and having infinite mill combos as win conditions.

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Other budget cards to consider adding (some of these are in the maybeboard):

• Aven Mindcensor : disrupt opponents tutors including Fetch lands.
• Notion Thief : deny opponents from drawing a lot of cards.
• Blind Obedience : prevents haste and denies your opponents from using artifacts for mana when they first come onto the battlefield.
• Hushbringer : a supercharged Tocatli Honor Guard.
• Rule of Law : can prevent many combos in Commander and it slows the game down for you to better control.
• Narset, Parter of Veils : allows opponents to only draw one card during their turns.
• Day of Judgment
• Cleansing Nova
• Diabolic Tutor
• Fellwar Stone
• Counterspell
• Arcane Denial
• Brainstorm
• Ponder
• Impulse
• Detention Sphere
• Generous Gift

Cards to consider cutting:

• Final Payment
• Drown in Sorrow
• Absorb
• Deputy of Detention
• Hostage Taker
• Conclave Tribunal
• Shell of the Last Kappa
• Tome of the Guildpact
• Dire Fleet Ravager
• Sphinx's Insight
• Ob Nixilis, the Hate-Twisted
• Nightveil Predators
• Basilica Bell-Haunt
• Dimir Guildmage
• The Haunt of Hightower
• Rise from the Tides

BMHKain on

1 month ago

@bushido_man96: Yeah... It's Ironic I don't remember who suggested Guardian Project in the first place. Whoever did for this particular deck may as well be enshamed; either someone else here entirely, or EDHREC led me too far astray for unintentional logic that's all on me.

As for Delay : It was, strange. Every decklist I had that ran almost always had Mana Drain ; which is no bargain anymore AFAIK. Somebody noticed this (Dunno who in regards of either.), & commented as to whether or not I had THAT many Mana Drains. Now it's confirmed these are just lists for now, I think I have to do something about my Delayed Crisis . Basically, the rules in this case are as follows:

1: This is exclusively Mono-. Any Multicolor or anything Off Color is strictly forbidden.

2: I'm not putting in Force of Will , Pact of Negation , Mana Drain , Mental Misstep , Flusterstorm , etc. I'll save the cEDH Crap for some kind of cEDH Boros Deck.

3: OI! To respond is to do it INSTANTLY; Instants only.

4: Must be Inexpensive, but good. I only excluded both Flusterstorm & Mental Misstep as they're situational. So none of those either, please.

5: NO! Counterspell DOESN'T COUNT!

6: Counterspells that also help your opponents are exempted as well... Arcane Denial …

7: If you want, I actually advise Counterspells that can also add some additional pain to the opponent in question.

OK, this is too much, but you want me to replace Delay . It's temporary, but, yeah... Now I feel it SUCKS. Do you have any ideas by any chance; granted these 7 Tables can be used as anything for help? I'll talk later...

blfngl on Tasigur ctrl

1 month ago

Dispel and Delay are great budget counterspells. I'd consider playing them over Mana Leak and Arcane Denial , although Delay hinges on your deck's ability to win in the next few turns.

Additionally, perhaps try out Necromancy instead of Dance of the Dead . I've found that consistently paying to untap a bomb is fairly annoying and leaves you susceptible to removal. I'd also include a much larger threat than Nezahal, how about something like Void Winnower ?

Finally, Burgeoning seems on the weak side due to your low land count; you probably won't have that many lands in your hand to really abuse it. Maybe Search for Tomorrow (if you're still wanting to have a turn one ramp spell in green), Nature's Lore , Farseek or Rampant Growth . Trying one of these over Commander's Sphere might be good too.

Hapix on The Scarab God's Arisen Horde

1 month ago

@multimedia, your comment is much appreciated! A lot of thought and play testing has gone into this deck (if I’m being honest though, this isn’t the first attempt as this is around the 8th iteration of scarab god due to play testing and not posting until now LOL).

I want to preface my response to your recommendations by saying that lowering the cmc of the deck is not really a priority as I usually have more than enough mana to do, but bringing down the amount of 5 drops and just generally increasing the tempo of this deck is on my radar. Furthermore, some inclusions (such as Consuming Aberration and Noosegraf Mob ) are in response to the meta of my table wherein they perform well (for example, one of my buddies plays an interesting Alesha, Who Smiles at Death homebrew that focuses on controlling the board state by altering base power/toughness of all creatures, Consuming Aberration on its own has saved my hide more times than one against Alesha lol).

Moving onto your recommendations:

“ Wonder > Grimoire of the Dead ”

Just the concept of Wonder alone is fantastic and it was even a part of the original iteration of this deck, but during playtesting (and this might just be me being unlucky) but it was often a mid-game dead draw and when I would have it in my graveyard, having a handful of flying zombies was nice, but not often game ending – hence non-inclusion. Grimoire of the Dead is slow AF and it the second eff is not easy to pull off, the only reason it is in the deck right now is I do not have a Rise of the Dark Realms , not sure what I will replace it with yet but I will take it out.

“ Windfall > Ancient Excavation ”

I like Windfall , it is a great wheel and I would like to include it. As it is right now Ancient Excavation is a card I keep in for the versatility of both self-mill and the basic landcycling, although I might swap it out for the Lim-Dul's Vault that you brought up later in your comment (I really like its’ effect tho).

“ Diabolic Intent > Exsanguinate ”

Diabolic Intent is a good card and that I plan to add in someday, but just to save $ I’m looking at Wishclaw Talisman as a budget alternative with some inbuilt politicking mechanisms. When it comes to Exsanguinate , it was a filler card I tossed in for play testing I’ll replace it with the aforementioned Wishclaw Talisman most likely

“ Relentless Dead > Noosegraf Mob ”

Relentless Dead is a card I used to have in here but I removed it since it felt slow and I just never really utilized the secondary eff I’m looking at getting a Gilded Drake in as a replacement. I agree though that Noosegraf Mob , as a six drop, is quite lackluster in comparison to the other high cmc cards. The potential value of 6 ETBs and/or death triggers is enough to keep him around for now, but if there is something I find I like more I’ll probably take mod out.

“ Graveborn Muse > Liliana's Reaver ”

Graveborn Muse I tested it out and saw myself dying to it more often than not, if I move further away from the zombie tribal aspect I might reconsider it. As for Liliana's Reaver , It isn’t to flashy but it works, no need to remove it rn but if anything better comes along I might.

“2 drop mana rocks > Commander's Sphere ”

Commander's Sphere is place holder card that I had socketed in while I was looking for some better mana rock options. Thanks for bring Arcane Signet to my attention, I’ll probably toss that or the signet in.

“ Arcane Denial > Countersquall ”

Arcane Denial isn’t a card I’d normally consider since the +2 for my opponent kind of hurts, but in a format like EDH with the 99 filling up a library, it seems pretty negligible so I’ll add it but won’t remover Countersquall since Its not that hard to get either {B} or {U} mana on demand. This though does touch on a different subject, I do want to add in some more counter magic, tutors, and removal (I’m looking at Arcane Denial , Swan Song , Pact of Negation , Mystical Tutor , Mastermind's Acquisition , Cunning Wish , Death Wish , Wishclaw Talisman , Victim of Night , Hero's Downfall , Murder , and Doom Blade but am stuck on evaluating which are the most beneficial inclusions).

To wrap up, thank you very much for your input it has been really helpful in reevaluating this deck. I sure do have some tinkering to do, haha. The nature of deckbuilding in EDH to me is everlasting and I hope I can continue to improve and refine my decks with recommendations and insight from other kind folks, like you, on this site :D

One last question, a friend is considering selling their Mana Vault to me at a discount, is this a card that I should seriously consider including or not?

Cheers!

multimedia on The Scarab God's Arisen Horde

1 month ago

Hey, nice version of Scarab, great first attempt.

Some upgrades within the budget to consider:

• Wonder > Grimoire of the Dead
• Windfall > Ancient Excavation
• Diabolic Intent > Exsanguinate
• Relentless Dead > Noosegraf Mob
• Graveborn Muse > Liliana's Reaver
• Arcane Signet or Talisman of Dominance > Commander's Sphere
• Arcane Denial > Countersquall

Wonder can give all your creatures flying including Scarab. It's great with Buried Alive and Entomb to tutor for it and put it into your graveyard. Grimoire has a powerful ability, but it's painfully slow, needing four turns before you can sac it. Scarab's ability can be used on your opponents' creatures in their individual graveyards and Windfall is a wheel which makes all players discard their hands and draw cards filling up their graveyards with potential creatures to exile. Windfall is one of the best blue cards in Commander.

Diabolic Intent is another tutor that can search for any one card. Exsanguinate is a fine card, but Torment of Hailfire is better and I don't see a need for both. Relentless Dead is a good two drop Zombie and there's not a lot of two drop options. Mob is lackluster for a six drop compared to the other six drops such as Titan and Mikaeus. Graveborn Muse is very good repeatable draw with Zombies and Scarab's upkeep trigger can gain you life that you loss from Muse. Reaver is fine, but not as impactful as Muse.

Whenever you can play a two drop mana rock in place of a three drop then this change can speed up gameplay. Arcane Signet is new in the ELD Brawl precons which right now can be hard to find, but you can buy it as a single online for less than $10. Arcane or Talisman of Dominance can make black mana the turn you play it which can be helpful with so many low mana cost Zombies. The single draw from Sphere is nice, but there's lots of three drop Zombie Lords here that would be a better three drop play then Sphere.

Denial is a two drop hard counter with only one in it's mana cost making it good with a heavy black manabase.

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Others upgrades to consider:

• Lim-Dul's Vault > Pull from Tomorrow
• Dark Ritual > Vanquisher's Banner
• Ponder > Consuming Aberration
• Animate Dead > Havengul Lich
• Murderous Rider or Hero's Downfall > Grimgrin, Corpse-Born

These last upgrades to consider are cutting high mana cost cards and replacing them with low mana cost cards to speed up gameplay. The five drop spot has a lot of options with Scarab as the go to play having lots of other five drops can hinder gameplay since you don't really want to play them over Scarab and having a hand full of five drops doesn't help. Good luck with your deck.

SideBae on

1 month ago

Hey man! I got some suggestions. Feel free to ignore any/all of them:

1. There's a reason Ponder and Preordain are banned in Modern, and it's because they're good. I highly suggest running both in any blue deck -- they may not look like much, but being able to dig to what you need and past what you don't for one mana is a deal I'll take any day. You're running a good number of fetch lands, so Brainstorm is one you may want to add in there as well.

2. I don't know what your meta is like, but in general people need to draw a bunch of cards to win the game. Narset, Parter of Veils brings back thoughts of when Leovold, Emissary of Trest was legal... I think almost any blue deck should run her, especially since if you run Windfall (I think you should), she can win you the game. Or your Wheel of Fortune .

3. I don't know how this deck plays, but I suspect you'll have at least one or two creatures out at a time. If you do, Azra Oddsmaker can be a good source of card-advantage; Edric, Spymaster of Trest is similar, though better if you have dorks (see (5)). Painful Truths is another favorite of mine, as are Treasure Cruise , Dark Confidant , Dig Through Time and Thirst for Knowledge . Faithless Looting can also be pretty good.

4. A lot of decks run a lot of artifact ramp. Dack Fayden is a great way to capitalize on that, and if you run Notion Thief (which also pairs with your Windfall ), targeting your opponent with Dack's +1 can produce a four card swing.

5. Dorks. You're in green, so you have access to the best ramp in the game, aside from Sol Ring (which I think you should run). I highly suggest including any/all of the following in addition to your Deathrite Shaman : Birds of Paradise , Elves of Deep Shadow , Orcish Lumberjack , Llanowar Elves , Fyndhorn Elves , Elvish Mystic , Bloom Tender , Arbor Elf ... Though they may not be 'dork'-ramp, I've also been impressed with Utopia Sprawl and Wild Growth , not least because these double the mana from Arbor Elf . If you end up running Edric, Spymaster of Trest , the dorks will draw you cards when you're not using them for mana.

6. If you're looking for the best way to generate infinite mana with your general, I think Isochron Scepter with Dramatic Reversal is the best way. You'd need to run either artifact ramp or dorks (I highly advise the latter), but it's a pretty busted combo and I think you should put some ramp in anyway. This lets you draw your deck with Thrasios, Triton Hero and then win through Torment of Hailfire or the like.

7. Another way to win, if you do end up running dorks, is Craterhoof Behemoth . Pair this with Natural Order for instant fun.

8. Green Sun's Zenith can grab your Azusa, Lost but Seeking and your Ramunap Excavator , as well as Dryad Arbor on turn one (if you end up running Dryad Arbor ).

9. Reflecting Pool is an often-chromatic land you may wish to consider, and Exotic Orchard is frequently at least a tri-land. I may be missing something, but running Strip Mine and Wasteland to pair with your Crucible of Worlds and Ramunap Excavator seems... good.

10. You're running two artifacts (three, if you run the aforementioned Sol Ring ): You should give strong consideration to things like Collector Ouphe (if you don't like the Isochron Scepter loop) or even a janky Energy Flux . These'll make sure opponents don't do nasty things with their own Isochron Scepter while hardly touching you. Also, things like Ancient Grudge or By Force are powerful magic cards.

11. Spell Snare is a counterspell you may want to consider, as it counters a wide range of frequently played cards in EDH like Demonic Tutor , Cyclonic Rift (overloaded or not), Winter Orb , all the talismans/signets, Counterspell , Mana Drain , Arcane Denial , Sylvan Library , Chains of Mephistopheles , Abeyance , Baleful Strix , Nature's Lore ... Also, if you're in an Ad Nauseam -heavy meta (I sure as hell am), consider things like Dispel to keep those decks in check.

12. Lim-Dul's Vault , Dark Petition and Mystical Tutor are some tutors you may wish to consider.

13. If your meta is blue-heavy (most are), consider some second-order countermagic. Things like Veil of Summer and Vexing Shusher can both make sure your spells resolve. Similarly, Carpet of Flowers is a good way to get free mana from blue opponents, and Pyroblast tends to be good as well.

14. Personally, I've found Mystic Remora to be better than Rhystic Study , if only because it is one mana. People are way less likely to pay four mana than one, and in less experienced metas people tend to let you pull off an Ancestral Recall or two in two-ish turn cycles. In more experienced metas, Mystic Remora slows the game down as your opponents wait for it to go away and you just make sure you hit your land-drops.

15. Multi-for-ones are pretty important in a format with three opponents. Fire Covenant has been a favorite piece of removal in my meta since it'll clear out opponents' creatures while leaving yours untouched. Hull Breach and Decimate are also good, although it is important to bare in mind that Decimate requires a bunch of different targets in order to be castable. Windgrace's Judgment and even Casualties of War are also good.

16. If you want to go deep into magic history, there's another way to make infinite mana in your colors in addition to (6): Worldgorger Dragon . Entomb , Buried Alive or Faithless Looting to the graveyard this mo-fo, then cast Animate Dead , Necromancy or Dance of the Dead targeting him, and BOOM you win. (In case you aren't familiar with the combo, Animate Dead returns Worldgorger Dragon to the battlefield, and then Worldgorger Dragon triggers to exile Animate Dead . Animate Dead leaving then makes you sacrifice Worldgorger Dragon , bringing back Animate Dead and then Worldgorger Dragon ... rinse and repeat. Tapping your lands for mana in between each exile trigger yields infinite mana. WARNINGS: 1. You need a second creature in a graveyard to end the loop, or the game is a draw; 2. If someone Nature's Claim s your Animate Dead while the Worldgorger Dragon is entering the battlefield, you lose everything and you're boned. So make sure either your opponents are out of mana/counterspells or you've got your own protective backup.)

I think that's all I got. Good luck!