Draining Whelk

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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
Oathbreaker Legal
Planechase Legal
Quest Magic Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Draining Whelk

Creature — Illusion

Flash (You may cast this spell at any time you could cast an instant.)

Flying

When Draining Whelk enters the battlefield, counter target spell. Put X +1/+1 counters on Draining Whelk, where X is that spell's converted mana cost.

thefiresoflurve on [Needs Trimming] Blue Fliers Budget EDH

7 months ago

Hey there!

I would go for slimming down each category, rather than just creatures/control.

Some low drop creatures can be worth running in the right context, but some of yours can probably be cut: turns 1-2, I'd much rather be casting things like Ponder or Brainstorm to prepare for future turns than drop a Faerie Seer which isn't terribly impactful. Some of your low CMC creatures can stay, like Cloudfin Raptor which is an absolute beast, but if I were you I'd just playtest some of them and see what you like best.

There's no such thing as "too much card draw", as long as you don't deck out or die due to not doing other things that actually win you the game. A good thing to do in blue is make sure your card draw spells are instants, so you can hold up mana for a counterspell if you need it, then if your opponents change phases to their end steps without doing anything crazy, you can cast a Brainstorm / Deliberate.

Draining Whelk can be really good, depending on what you counter. It's a 6 drop Counterspell & 4/4 + flier in one card slot. Only downside is the steep CMC.

Some things you could trim: Wingspan Mentor - a bit slow and win-more: if you have enough creatures out for its counters to matter, you were probably dealing good damage without it.

Charix, the Raging Isle - same CMC as your commander, so you'll probably want to cast your commander instead 9/10 times you draw it.

Floodgate - as above, also you have better control options.

Sludge Monster - slow, not quite a fit here.

Thryx, the Sudden Storm - a bit better of a fit, but still not quite worth it.

Windstorm Drake - small toughness boost is not worth the cost.

Sphinx of Jwar Isle - sometimes it can be nice to know what's coming up next in your library, but this isn't worth the cost and top deck manipulation doesn't really have much synergy here.

You could cut a few of your worse counterspells: Intervene, Crypsis, Nullify.

lastly, with your average CMC, I think you could comfortably cut 4-5 Islands.

Hope that helps. Sorry for the wall of text, but I wanted to explain some of my reasoning on cuts and such.

GL, HF!

legendofa on Memnarch by ChatGPT

11 months ago

ChatGPT seems to have a pretty good grasp that people sometimes do certain things, but not why people do certain things, or whether it's correct to do certain things. Here, Command Tower is basically a nonbasic Island, the fetch lands aren't much more than that, and Inkmoth Nexus is very optimistic with no other infect or proliferate. Chromatic Lantern is basically decoration. Training Grounds only interacts with three cards, but one of them is Palinchron, so I'll give half a point back.

On the better side, it picked up a lot of the standard control options, and Deadeye Navigator has some good options to work with, like Draining Whelk and Venser, Shaper Savant.

Epicurus on Timing question about recursion and …

1 year ago

Short, general version: If a spell or triggered/activated ability added to the stack returns a permanent to the battlefield, would an ETB effect of that permanent be added to the stack?

Long, specific version: If someone casts a spell, and in reaction I do something that completes a dungeon, thus activating the Create Undead ability of Sefris of the Hidden Ways, and I use that ability to return Draining Whelk to the battlefield, can I use the Whelk's ETB trigger to counter that spell?

Joker4242 on Day's Recasting

1 year ago

Batman18:

Well, I already got Snapcaster Mage.

You know, I thought about the Hermit. I like that he can be played from the graveyard, even after being milled or killed. I don't think I'd play Draining Whelk or Voracious Greatshark because of their mana cost. One of the reasons I took out Cryptic Command. Great card, but slow.

I do think adding another creature to the deck would do it some good however.

carpecanum on Yuriko, Ninja Deck

2 years ago

Reins of Power is amazing in multi-player. Why bother ninjitsu-ing with your own creature?

Octopus Umbra, maybe Soaring Seacliff

Draining Whelk and Pilgrim's Eye both have flying (to replace unblockable) and are great to cast and recast.

Lanzo493 on Paths of Pain Commander

2 years ago

When I think of Nagato, the card that comes to mind is K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth since he uses his life as a means for power. Reminds me of Nagato and how messed up his body ends up being. But being mono black wouldn't let you represent his other abilities effectively. I would use Jodah, Archmage Eternal since he has that "I can do anything" feel that Nagato has with all of his insane abilities.

As far as the attractive and repulsive forcers are concerned, I think of Kira, Great Glass-Spinner, Erayo, Soratami Ascendant  Flip Mass Manipulation, Perplexing Chimera, etc.

The summoning Pain can be represented by Tooth and Nail, Genesis Wave, and the like.

Absorbing chakra sounds like Mana Drain, Draining Whelk, Plasm Capture, and Spell Swindle.

Mind's Dilation could work for reading a person's mind. There's also Sen Triplets.

Living Death, Necromantic Selection, Ruinous Ultimatum, Eerie Ultimatum, and many other cards can represent his control over life and death.

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