Disdainful Stroke

Instant

Counter target spell with converted mana cost 4 or greater.

Discussion (51)

cannibalfood on Numerical Dyslexia is a Bitch...

1 week ago

Steady Progress out for Stroke of Genius

Charmbreaker Devils out for Borrowing 100,000 Arrows

Spell Shrivel out for Disdainful Stroke

babybrazz88 on Budget Mono Blue Tempo Looking for Suggestions

3 weeks ago

Love the deck so far! Mono blue has always had a soft spot in my heart. I'm going to do some testing with this tomorrow and swap out quench for Spell Pierce . Sure it's only noncreature, but its a single blue which allows you to play most of your deck on tempo and still have a counter up. Mana can be tight turn 2,3,4,5. I'm also going to swap out the 2x Niblis of Frost (By the time this card can go off, you should be closing the game out) and 1x Harbinger of the Tides for 3x Master of Waves . I know the card isn't super cheap but man this thing will close out games almost instantly. Also I'd go ahead and try and get some Essence Capture and Disdainful Stroke in your sideboard.

I will get back to you tomorrow after I test.

Best!

RNR_Gaming on Simic Hydra Ramp

1 month ago

Already, a very established deck in standard. Jam Nissa, Who Shakes the World and you'll really start popping off. Additionally, Disdainful Stroke hits more in standard currently than Negate does. Also, Gilded Goose and Wicked Wolf are basically auto includes in any deck running Oko. Best of luck hope this was somewhat helpful.

Sorin_Markov_1947 on U/G(Simic) Pioneer Merfolk

1 month ago

Okay... I'm going to suggest several things, so pick and choose what you like.

First, the cards you should remove. Silvergill Adept is easily the most underpowered card in this deck. Past that, it gets a little harder. I don't like Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca , because as good as she is when you have plenty of merfolk, you aren't going to have plenty of merfolk oftentimes, even with Deeproot Waters . Do some testing and see if Benthic Biomancer is really necessary. It's good for a one-drop since it can get you some more card filtering (something this deck will rely on), but you really need more room in the deck. Yavimaya Coast is a bad land for a two-color deck, so remove that for basics.

Things to add: Frilled Mystic gives you another counterspell as well as a 3/2. Two more Deeproot Waters are going to be key to this deck, because it combos with so many things (especially Deeproot Elite ). If your main fear is removal of your merfolk, maxing out Kopala, Warden of Waves will be great. If you max out Kopala, you'll be stressing your opponent for mana even more, which allows for such counterspells as Quench . Since this deck aims to win early, stalling the later turns to give you more time will help, so I'd go with a few Disdainful Stroke s. There are other counterspells out there, so just look for some you like.

Senomar on Kykar rules 'em all

1 month ago

You can drop Turn into a Pumpkin for the additional land I talked about. Furthermore, I see Saheeli, Sublime Artificer in your maybeboard, this card is busted. Try to put it in your deck ;) Maybe instead of Elite Guardmage ? I know the lifegain is sweet but appart this the card don't really fit in your deck and has a pretty high CCM.

To me, Disdainful Stroke is better in the format than Negate or Tale's End (maybe I'm wrong).

Moriaatti on Ur-Dragon

1 month ago

Heres some suggestions:

Skyshroud Claim or Kodama's Reach might be better than Khalni Heart Expedition .

Also Counterspell over Disdainful Stroke .

Wrath of God , Toxic Deluge , Kindred Dominance and Crux of Fate are some good board wipes to concider.

Double strike is very powerful with Scion, so Dragon Tyrant and Rafiq of the Many will work wonders.

ToolmasterOfBrainerd on Flame On (Grixis Control)

1 month ago

alexjustdoit Unfortunately, I don't have time to play modern during the school year. And frankly, I don't think this decklist is very good.

But I've been thinking about Grixis in my free time, and I think Unearth should be incorporated into the deck. Graveyard hate has declined, so we can start dipping into graveyard synergies again.

I've become convinced that Force of Negation is not the way to go. I like the card, but modern doesn't require it. It doesn't counter creatures, and Wurmcoil Engine and Primeval Titan are creatures that we want to counter.

I think Inquisition of Kozilek , Kolaghan's Command , and Tasigur, the Golden Fang have never been better. Tasigur and Inquisition are really good vs Burn, which is the most popular deck right now. K-command beats artifacts and midrange, aka Whirza and Jund, so it's really good. Tron is the only problem, but Fulminator Mage out of the sideboard can make the matchup passable.

I really like the idea of Nimble Obstructionist , and I'm going to keep testing it, but I think it's a little too slow in practice. Unearth might be able to fix its problems.

I'm not sure where counterspells fit into Grixis right now. We need to play a few, or we're playing a worse deck than Jund. I think 2 Spell Snare is the best way to start, with a split of Mana Leak and Countersquall , and maybe 2 Cryptic. And I like Force or Dispel or Countersquall or Disdainful Stroke in the sideboard, depending mostly on how the Tron and Burn matchups feel.

If you want to play grixis with counterspells, I highly highly recommend 6-8 counterspells in the main with another 3-4 in the sideboard.

ToolmasterOfBrainerd on Grixis Control

2 months ago

So, I've played a lot of Grixis, and I am very supportive of Bolas in Grixis.

I have a few inputs. First, you have a lot of counterspells. I've had very good luck by playing a little heavier on the removal in game 1 and then packing more counterspells in the sideboard for when you want them. There are too many matchups where counterspells are dead. Humans is the biggest offender, but it has fallen off in popularity. You can maybe get away with the counterspells now, but the meta has been very hostile to them for a long time.

I don't like your particular split of counterspells. You should want to counter Primeval Titan , Reality Smasher , Wurmcoil Engine . Cryptic Command is the best for doing this. I like 3 copies in a grixis control deck, but 4 might be fine in your list.

I'm very on the fence about whether I like Force of Negation . I find myself casting it for 3 mana almost always, and I don't exactly enjoy it even when I pitch to cast it for free. I almost want like 2 Spell Snare , 3 Mana Leak , and 3 Cryptic Command in the main with 2 Countersquall and 2 Dispel or Disdainful Stroke in the board.

So, the thing with grixis and hard control is that we don't have anything like Assassin's Trophy or Detention Sphere . We can't deal with any permanent. I solve this by playing tempo. Tasigur, the Golden Fang is, in my opinion, one of the best cards in Grixis. By playing an early Tasigur, trading for a few turns, and then going Bolt-Snap-Bolt on their endstep into swinging with Tasigur, Snap, and Tar Pit, you can close games out of nowhere. Of course, this isn't the same hard control as you initially set out to play.

Inquisition of Kozilek and Thoughtseize are pretty bad in hard control. They're crappy topdecks and tempo-negative. I totally agree that they're powerful and probably make the deck better, but there's merit to adjusting the deck to support them better.

I advocate for cantrips. Drawing what you want is really helpful. I'm highly opposed to Vraska's Contempt .

Sorry if this is rambly. I'm writing it in a really distracting environment.