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 (50)

multimedia on The horde

1 week ago

Hey, well done so far on a budget.

Your deck doesn't have a Commander yet. If The Scarab God is the Commander then in the deck editor add the CMDR tag after The Scarab God text.

The Scarab God *CMDR*

When you save and reload the decklist Scarab will show as Commander with an image.

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The 17 cards to consider cutting to get to 100:

• Submerged Boneyard
• Dimir Keyrune
• Dimir Cluestone
• Dimir Locket
• Wight of Precinct Six
• Hall of Triumph
• Price of Fame
• Drunau Corpse Trawler
• Brass Herald
• Geth, Lord of the Vault
• Ascendant Evincar
• Paragon of Open Graves
• Consuming Aberration
• Possessed Skaab
• Door of Destinies
• Caged Sun
• Gauntlet of Power

Several of these cuts to consider are high CMC cards, by cutting them you can reduce the mana curve which helps gameplay. The Scarab God is the high CMC creature you want to cast more than rest and you want an established battlefield of Zombies before you play Scarab. For five or six mana you want to cast Scarab or others Zombies not ramp.

Door of Destinies is an expensive price card that you don't really need. Door is too slow, you have better artifact anthem effects such as Coat of Arms. Caged Sun and Gauntlet of Power are other expensive price cards for small anthem effects and ramp that are not needed. Endless Ranks of the Dead, Gravecrawler or Grave Titan, any of these for about the same price would do a lot more for Zombies.

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Some other upgrades to consider (close to price matching):

• Arcane Signet --> Sky Diamond
• Cryptbreaker --> Adaptive Automaton
• Carrion Feeder --> Loyal Subordinate
• Wand of Orcus --> Risen Executioner
• Patriarch's Bidding --> From Under the Floorboards
• Shepherd of Rot --> Gempalm Polluter
• Murderous Rider --> Drag to the Underworld
• Dark Prophecy --> Corpse Augur
• Vile Entomber --> Corpse Connoisseur
• Windfall --> Tymaret Calls the Dead
• Negate --> Didn't Say Please
• Arcane Denial --> Sinister Sabotage
• Unclaimed Territory --> Swamp
• Choked Estuary --> Island
• Sunken Hollow --> Island
• Temple of Deceit --> Island

Try to reduce the amount of casting cost cards since these will be more difficult to cast with so many Swamps. Having much more black sources from lands in the manabase is better overall for Zombies.

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There's a new Magic set releasing Sept 24 called Innistrad Midnight Hunt and Zombies are part of it. Cards that can create Zombie tokens is a theme in the set. All the cards in the set haven't been revealed yet, but these are some cards to keep an eye on:

• Champion of the Perished: hopefully he's in the Commander precon.
• Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver
• Infernal Grasp
• Siege Zombie
• Ghoulish Procession

Of these I think definitely Champion and Wilhelt as well as Grasp are upgrades. Poppet Stitcher  ^Flip and Tainted Adversary are Mythics in the set that would also be upgrades, are expensive prices right now, but watch hopefully their prices drop when the set releases. The new rare land cycle in the set is a good one for Commander. Shipwreck Marsh is the Dimir land, but it's unlikely the prices of these lands go down much more than $5 because they're going to be wanted in Standard.

Innistrad Midnight Hunt has two Commander precons that will release when the set releases. One of these precons is Undead Unleashed, it's Dimir colors, Zombies with Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver as Commander. We don't yet know the precon decklists, we will soon, but we do know the price point. These precons will cost $40 meaning there will be at least 15 new cards designed for Commander in them. There's going to be Zombie goodness in Wilhelt's precon including hopefully some good card reprints.

Good luck with your deck.

KaptnK on Duality regality

1 week ago

Asmoeus here are some suggestions around what I would do to improve the deck on a budget

Lands

• Remove Desert of the Fervent (enters tapped with no effect) > Add Evolving Wilds (will let you find a specific colour if you are missing one)
• Remove Desert of the Mindful (enters tapped with no effect) > Add Terramorphic Expanse (will let you find a specific colour if you are missing one)
• Remove Forgotten Cave (enters tapped with no effect) > Add Mountain
• Remove Lonely Sandbar (enters tapped with no effect) > Add Island

Artifact

• Look decent. Gilded Lotus does have a high mana cost so would keep an eye on how often you cast it.

Sorcery

• Remove Creative Technique (with your lower mana curve odds of you revealing something really good is low) > Add Arcane Denial as a good, cheap counter spell
• Remove Fiery Encore (expensive and requires you to discard a high mana cost card to deal decent damage) > Add Solve the Equation (Tutor for the spell you need)

Creature

• Remove Charmbreaker Devils (returning spell at random will not often get what you need, and does not have a way to get around blockers) > Add Runaway Steam-Kin (Will help you cast more spells and give you mana)

Other Considerations

• Stormchaser Mage
• Mulldrifter
• Archaeomancer
• Mnemonic Wall
• Turn Aside

Scytec on Breaking the Stack (Advice?)

1 week ago

Given your quantity of instant and sorcery spells, Overwhelming Denial could just be another copy of Counterspell for you. Arcane Denial and Wizard's Retort would also be valid options in the counter slot. Curiosity combos really well with Niv-Mizzet, Parun, if you run a card such as Thassa's Oracle, Laboratory Maniac, or Jace, Wielder of Mysteries this combo will just win you the game. I know it isn't a win via copy shenanigans on the stack, but it is consistent and powerful. Good luck, have fun!

FoieGras on Chromium, the Dragon's armory!

2 weeks ago

Removed: Dark Petition Grim Tutor Torrential Gearhulk Monologue Tax Keeper of the Accord Dance of the Manse Fierce Guardianship Dovin's Veto Arcane Denial Generous Gift Conqueror's Flail Archaeomancer's Map

Added: Demonic Tutor Vampiric Tutor Vindicate Sigarda's Aid Haunted Cloak Azor, the Lawbringer Clever Impersonator Inquisitor's Flail Open the Vaults Bolas's Citadel Vorpal Sword Disallow

IdioticYsgard on Official missing/incorrect card/token thread

1 month ago

Following up to Sly985's comment, I tried using the multiverse ID to denote the art for this card in a decklist and can confirm it did not work for me either. I've tried the same in this comment, ID#3097 Arcane Denial and #3098 Arcane Denial, and it also does not seem to work. I also couldn't get Astrolabe and Astrolabe from that set to work either.

Sly985 on Official missing/incorrect card/token thread

1 month ago

Arcane Denial from Alliances but the "Sword" version as opposed to the "Axe" version which is currently the only option available.

Scryfall - https://scryfall.com/card/all/22b/arcane-denial

DemonDragonJ on Top 5 Counterspells Of All …

2 months ago

I think that Mana Leak is severely underrated, and I am surprised that no one has yet mentioned it. It is a soft counter, rather than a hard one, but it still is very effective, as it can counter any spell unconditionally and most players will not be able to afford to pay 3 mana until later in the game, and the fact that it costs only 2 mana (and only one of which is colored) means that it can be cast early in the game.

Counterflux is another excellent card, in my mind, because it, itself, cannot be countered, and its overload ability is very nice, as well.

I also think that Countersquall , Undermine , and Thought Collapse deserve to be mentioned, as well; while they may not be the most powerful counterspells in the game, the fact that they add insult to injury with their additional effects should not be overlooked.

Arcane Denial is also an excellent counterspell, as well; while allowing an opponent to draw two cards may be less than ideal, the fact that it can unconditionally counter any spell for a very low and easy cost.

jakeelephant006 on Mill likes Big Butts

2 months ago

Couple of card swap suggestions. I don't really like Fatal Push in here. Pretty narrow in commander. Feed the Swarm is flexible and effective and feels like a great card for this deck. You could also probably cut Doom Blade for another counterspell. I'll recommend Arcane Denial or Drown in the Loch .

Also, Psychic Corrosion , Maddening Cacophony and Ruin Crab are nice for milling all of you opponents. Syr Konrad, the Grim and Into the Story seem like good payoffs for getting those cards into graveyards.

Other cards that don't seem to fit are Diabolic Tutor since you already have 2 other strong tutors for this deck. I think some of the above payoffs or mill cards would be a better fit. Trinket Mage since it only gets you a few artifacts that don't seem super impactful. If you really believe that you need those one and zero-drops, I can respect that. It seems like Tribute Mage might be better, though to secure your 2-drop combo and protection pieces + ramp.

Speaking of ramp my last main comment has to do with the low amount of ramp and card draw in your deck. 2 and 3 mana ramp work great to get your commander out ahead of curve and keep your deck running smoothly. I'll recommend Mind Stone and Dimir Locket as those help to kill two birds with one stone.

Also, keep an eye on Bruvac the Grandiloquent 's price. It's slowly decreasing currently but will probably go up again the next time they print a semi-decent mill commander.