Disdainful Stroke

Instant

Counter target spell with converted mana cost 4 or greater.

Discussion (50)

Sorin_Markov_1947 on

1 month ago

Pretty plain Esper Control list. Most of your cards are pretty low in power though.

Unsubstantiate is pretty weak counterspell/bounce. Saw It Coming is better 9/10 times.

Solve the Equation , The Birth of Meletis , Professor Onyx , Archmage Emeritus , even ECD (depending on the matchup) are all pretty slow. Esper lists in Standard right now have a lot of value packed into them. Most of them use Yorion, Sky Nomad as a companion and love to blink things like Omen of the Sea , Treacherous Blessing , ECD, and Sad Robot . Skyclave Apparition is usually pretty good too, as it removes things much earlier than other exile effects.

Speaking of removal, let's work on that. Murderous Rider is not a good rate anymore. Bloodchief's Thirst , Heartless Act , or Eliminate are the removal of choice usually, and Shadows' Verdict the sweeper.

I'd even probably take out the 4x Neutralize for some combination of Disdainful Stroke , Essence Scatter , and Negate .

With Strixhaven coming, I expect Elite Spellbinder to be a good addition to control. It blocks well and disrupts your opponent's curve.

In the sideboard, with the prevalence of control, 4x Mystical Dispute is a necessity. You'll also want something for the mono-red aggro matchup, probably more Shadows' Verdict s. Against mono-white aggro, you want Shadow's Verdicts and maybe some Ravenform . Shark Typhoon is also good in the control matchup (hint: you'll almost never cast it, but cycling can't be countered and gives you a card back). Disdainful Stroke should also add up to 4x between mainboard and sideboard, as the control deck of choice at the moment loves to run big spells. Unfortunately, this deck will fold to Dimir Rogues and I can't think of a sideboard plan that would change that. Their fish tactics are just too good against dedicated control decks.

BrassLord on Destructive Control

1 month ago

Howdy! Looks like an interesting budget brew! I see you run Absorb , but I don't see a way for you to produce white mana. So maybe something to either consider cutting, or making it a white blue deck?

If you do go that route, for your sideboard Disdainful Stroke , Ceremonious Rejection , and Timely Reinforcements are useful against Eldrazi Tron or any single target big creatures, like Death Shadow decks, as the life gain helps you stabilize and the creatures allow you to chump block to get to the late game. Celestial Purge is another cheap card to slot in against relevant decks. Mystical Dispute is useful against the plethora of Snow decks out there.

RinceRaven on Brago

4 months ago

Made some changes to the draft. It needs a couple more cuts and maybe even more changes but I thought I'd leave it here for now.

In: Cast Out, Oblivion Ring, Journey to Nowhere, Reshape, Oath of Jace, Whir of Invention, Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir, Meteorite, and some counterspells.

Out:

Augury Owl, Aether Tunnel, Aqueous Form, Vapor Snag, Whirler Rogue, Prison Realm, Hedron Archive, Archaeomancer, Drannith Magistrate, Kor Cartographer, Mnemonic Wall, Unwind, Momentary Blink, Ghostly Prison, Disdainful Stroke,

note: some of these are good cards and maybe should be put back in. I tried to focus on the combo and decided to cut some more basic synergy pieces that might deserve their places back.

ZendikariWol on Atraxa Infect/Proliferate

5 months ago

Heyya Tanman, taking a look at the list and I have some broad critiques and some smaller ones. Let's start big.

• You don't have enough +1/+1 counter cards to make it worth including payoffs for.

• If you're playing infect, you're gonna need evasion, because no one in their right mind just lets an infect creature through, and honestly they're pretty small bois to begin with. Fleshing out the +1 counter package may help with this, big creatures are more troublesome to block and effects like Tuskguard Captain and Abzan Falconer can provide evasion beyond just being big and chunky.

• You could do with a bit more ramp and a LOT more card draw.

• Cards that are probably cuttable include:

Melira, Sylvok Outcast: This synergizes with Phyrexian Unlife, yes, but what else does it do? I don't think this card does enough to justify ots inclusion.

Oko, the Trickster: I see this walker being cast for 6 mana, putting two +1 counters on one of your dudes, and immediately being focused to death by the rest of the table because its ult wins the game. You'd honestly be better off with Citadel Siege, it's harder to kill.

Arrest, Luminous Bonds, and Pacifism: in our meta, with so many creatures that either don't need to attack or can just be sacrificed, you're better off using kill spells like Mortify, Putrefy, or Swords to Plowshares (especially Swords bc exile beats recursion).

Grave Betrayal: such a sweet card, but much too slow.

Omen of the Dead and Omen of the Hunt: neither of these really do anything to further your gameplan. The fact that they're enchantments doesn't matter to this deck, and there are stronger recursion and ramp options.

Sunbond: There are 5 cards in this entire deck that gain you life. Goes great with your commander but there are a lot of things I'd rather spend my turn 4 on.

Courage in Crisis: Three whole mana for this effect? It's not a horrible card, but definitely inefficient.

Debt to the Deathless: This card would only be okay if damage was your primary win condition. As is? Not good.

Duneblast: The 7-mana slot may not be ideal for a wrath? Maybe this one is fine tho, idk.

Planewide Celebration: 7 mana to proliferate four times? No.

Storm Herd: Once again, this might be fine if damage was your wincon. You'd get a bunch of evasive attackers. As is? Probably not good.

Insidious Will and Memory Drain: probably go for cheaper counterspells, like Disdainful Stroke, Negate, or Essence Scatter.

Altogether though, great first deck, this would've kicked the crap out of my old Marath build back in the day.

TriusMalarky on Underrated EDH Cards

7 months ago

I feel like people discount countermagic sometimes. Literally every blue deck should run Negate, Disdainful Stroke and probably Counterspell. But that might just be my low data count.

Efficient removal is also really underrun. Terminate, Doom Blade and more should find a lot of homes, but really don't.

However, if you're looking for real power, Scheming Symmetry is SO good. In any mill deck it's the best tutor in the game. With some way to draw a card immediately, it makes it really easy to combo off. Also, there's often somebody who's behind... give them the tutor.

Simic Charm is anti-removal and can stop someone from winning. Great 2-use utility.

NoSoyYucateco on

8 months ago

Silumgar's Scorn and Broken Concentration are poor counterspells for this deck. You have two dragons, and very few instant speed effects that make you discard. I recommend swapping these for Arcane Denial, Stoic Rebuttal, Disdainful Stroke, Tale's End, Disallow, or Spell Swindle.

zapyourtumor on Controlling and Thieving Rogues

8 months ago

Alright I did some digging, here are some other options: Dimir Charm for flexibility also dimir = sneaky rogue so passes flavor check; Admiral's Order because rogue attac; Ceremonious Rejection for sideboard; Disallow might be a bit high curve for this deck but its a good counterspell; Disdainful Stroke for sideboard again; maybe Overwhelming Denial following a Thieves' Guild Enforcer?

Summary: I think the best ones to replace Quench with are Admiral's Order and Spell Pierce

wisegreenbean on Arcades, Toughness/Blink

9 months ago

Colfenor's Urn is kind of a lot of elaborate work for a bit of a dubious payoff(it generally seems much worse than just having a counterspell to protect your creatures from dying in the first place, for example.). Mirror Shield is a hyper specific draft card, It's just not very powerful. Also, vigilance isn't really an important keyword for you, so Brave the Sands isn't really helping you much. I'm also skeptical of Sight of the Scalelords...your creatures are probably big enough on average that an anthem isn't really the most important effect for you, particularly not at such a steep rate.

I'd suggest they be replaced with just cheap cantrips and/or interaction, if there's no other cards that immediately are of interest for you. Beast Within, Generous Gift, Disdainful Stroke, Negate, Kenrith's Transformation are a few excellent and budget options. Effects like Rampant Growth or Mind Stone would also probably be fine and generically good additions.