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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 |
| Modern Beyond Horizons | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Planar Constructed | Legal |
| Planechase | Legal |
| Quest Magic | Legal |
| Tiny Leaders | Legal |
| Vanguard | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
Counterbalance
Enchantment
Whenever an opponent casts a spell, you may reveal the top card of your library. If you do, counter that spell if it has the same converted mana cost/mana value as the revealed card.
DawnsRayofLight on
Miller? I hardly know 'er
1 month ago
Out
2 land (for Abstergo Entertainment and Hydroelectric Specimen Flip)
Confounding Conundrum: decent hate piece but very matchup dependent and easy to play around
Narset, Parter of Veils: while a good hate piece, it may not work well in this deck since you sort of want your opponents drawing to speed up your game plan but maybe also you don't want them drawing into interaction, I can see arguments for and against.
Curse of the Swine: It is also sort of an iffy card, like on paper it looks decent but I stopped running it after seeing it rarely made a difference in every deck I played it. I guess it can get rid of a couple of troublesome creatures so like Narset I am iffy on if dropping it is a good idea or not
Chrome Mox: This deck sort of feels a bit slower and I do not think this gives it any extra speed it needs, Mana Vault would be better
In
Abstergo Entertainment (graveyard hate and can get back something useful)
Lantern/Top deck manipulation pieces: maybe a suggested package
Grave hate
Soul-Guide Lantern / Tormod's Crypt / Ghost Vacuum / Grafdigger's Cage
Hate pieces
Wandering Archaic Flip (protection)
Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir (protection in your turn) Interaction
Hydroelectric Specimen Flip (protection)
other
Displacer Kitten: Blink Jace for repeated mill and The Ring for protection
Jace, Wielder of Mysteries: works with your game plan and lets you flip the script and traumatize yourself then +1 him and win.
keizerbuns on
Rigging the Heart of the Cards
2 months ago
Counterbalance has definitely been an interesting card to try, but it feels a little clunky in this deck. However, that might just be because I’m goldfishing the deck and it might play out a lot better in an actual game. The current version of this build is also a little light on ways to rearrange the top card of the deck, so that’s also a contributing factor. Maybe I’ll make another version of this deck and focus more on that aspect and see how Counterbalance feels then.
Also, you’re right about Serum Visions being the better rig card than Preordain for Galvanoth’s ability, I will definitely be making that switch.
Thanks for the insight!
NV_1980 on
Enchanted I'm Sure
5 months ago
Hi there,
This looks excellent! Would Greater Auramancy make sense in here? I've found Grasp of Fate to be really excellent at stopping opponents' key cards (simultaneously), although that sometimes unites them against you of course). Also curious whether you've left out Smuggler's Share intentionally (and if so, what your reasoning for that was). I would definitely recommend Burgeoning, as in play-groups of 4 or more this grants you much more of an advantage than Exploration does, though it wouldn't hurt to have both in here either. How would you feel about Counterbalance? Obviously it depends on luck, but in my experience it can really prove its worth from time to time. And that look of dread on opponents' faces whenever they cast something and they don't know whether you'll be able to retaliate ... glorious :) Aside from that, wonder what your take on Archmage Ascension and As Foretold would be in a deck like this.
Keep up the great builds!
fluffyeel on
Urza Lord High Combomaster
1 year ago
Some small thoughts for fun things and stuff:
- In addition to Echo of Eons, I'm quite a fan of Time Spiral. It's not as abusable, sure, but untapping your lands is quite nifty. Given you have Narset, Parter of Veils in the deck, maybe you could also go for the Teferi's Puzzle Box lock with it...
- A "given" for me, in any monocolor deck, is going for the Extraplanar Lens strategy with snow-covered lands. You could also think now about Winter Moon, which seems like a lot of fun (for you).
- Mystical Tutor might be something I would prefer over Merchant Scroll, primarily because you can imprint it with Isochron Scepter and get lots of instants and sorceries. (On the other hand, you do have a lot of targets for Scepter...)
- In terms of zero-mana disruption, perhaps Commandeer and/or Misdirection are worthwhile. In a deck like yours, maybe Counterbalance could also be worth consideration, given how competitive decks have lower/more consistent mana curves (and you have Sensei's Divining Top
...). - Hurkyl's Recall seems also like a "fun" toy, especially in conjunction with Mycosynth Lattice, and given how artifact-heavy a lot of strategies/decks are...
DreadKhan on
I'm Playing Blue So...
1 year ago
Pet decks are so much fun to play, just drawing into certain art (even if they're dead cards at the time) can feel pretty sweet. Here are a few of my favorite Blue cards that can also make an opponent's life difficult! War Tax can be really crazy, you can use it during anyone's turn to limit their attacks. Cultural Exchange can let someone else enjoy your Seacoast Drake (it seems mean to hog fun cards like that, right?), it can also generate a lot of advantage. Mass Diminish is a weird card even by the standards of weird cards, the effect last for a REALLY long time in a bigger game, and it inexplicably has Flashback at a low MV. I'm not sure if it needs support to 'work', but not many cards are as annoying to a table as a resolved Counterbalance. She used to be pricey, but Empress Galina is a REALLY weird Blue card to throw in, if people can't answer it they are going to lose their Commanders. Callous Oppressor is pretty good, steal the best thing and then use it to chump the new biggest thing (and then steal that thing with Oppressor). Fatespinner is a nifty Stax piece that can slow your opponent's game plan quite a bit (but it doesn't nothing if they're wildly ahead, so it's still 'fun'). Not sure if you want the removal, but Transmogrifying Wand is a very good effect if it sticks around, but Oxing even 1 creature can be pretty helpful.
legendofa on Rat Colony hub
1 year ago
Taking this point by point, skipping what I've already mentioned:
Decks based around the Tribal supertype are much less common, and much more gimmicky, than decks that are built around a specific subtype. Also, the Tribal hub got deactivated several years ago, when the subtype checklist got introduced. (Or, it should have been. If it's still selectable, let me know.)
Budget is definitely subjective, and I have it defined as "a deck that costs less money than a deck of the same format or strategy. This is a fairly subjective term." This definition is here (ignore the Commander bit; hub pages are just linked to formats based on the deck you got there from). Each hub has its own page with my definitions. So for your really nice budget deck, $2,000 is extremely high for Pioneer, very high for modern, but very budget for Legacy and unheard of for Vintage. Commander is all over the place. So for Budget, Casual, Competitive, and similar hubs, it does strongly come down to the builder's intent. Which format would that $2,000 deck be in?
"Card draw matters" and "top deck matters" are relatively recent hubs. Parallel to "legendary matters", CDM's not just the act of drawing. It's using cards that interact with drawing, such as Dream Trawler, Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind, Queza, Augur of Agonies, and so on. Similarly, TDM is for Aminatou, the Fateshifter, Counterbalance, Miracles, etc. I added the word "matters" because, like you said, every deck wants to draw cards and wants good topdecks, but the act of drawing and topdeck manipulating can be built around. That's why they're not just "card draw" and "topdeck".
"Goodstuff" describes a deck that simply uses the best individual cards available, with no concern for synergy or interactions. This is a term with a specific definition that I believe is well-known enough to use as a hub title.
I have three goals for hubs: clarity, conciseness, and objectiveness. Sure, some of the terms aren't natural English, but they make sense in Magic-ese. If you have suggestions for name changes or clarifications, please let me know.
hootsnag on
1 year ago
Yeah there just aren't many cards like Presence of the Master. Counterbalance is a good one though.
