Ertai's Meddling

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Legality

Format Legality
1v1 Commander Legal
Archenemy 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
Oathbreaker Legal
Planechase Legal
Premodern Legal
Quest Magic Legal
Tiny Leaders Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Ertai's Meddling

Instant

X can't be 0.

Target spell's controller removes it from the game with X delay counters on it.

At the beginning of each of that player's upkeeps, if that card is removed from the game, remove a delay counter from it. If the card has no delay counters on it, he or she puts it onto the stack as a copy of the original spell.

TetrAggressive on Zaxara, Nightmare Hydra

3 years ago

Hey I also recently built a Zaxara deck. I'm opting not to run the infinite mana enchantments so my deck differs from yours in power level but I still have a couple suggestions you might like:

  • Ertai's Meddling not only is it on theme but in a pinch (in a scenario where your opponent could easily pay the mana, or maybe you only have 3 mana leftover after a turn) you can use it as a hard counter even if the suspend counters aren't that high. Any other X spell counter in that scenario would be dead so I think it's a solid include (it's also hilarious to suspend someone's spell for like 10 turns).

  • On the topic of counterspells, Mana Drain and Plasm Capture are very on theme for gorging a huge amount of mana off someone else to not only offset tempo but also funnel it into an even bigger X-spell/hydra. Drain is pricey for sure so Spell Swindle could be another option as it accomplished the same thing.

  • Since you're running Protean Hydra I cannot recommend Retribution of the Ancients enough. This card has been an all-star in my deck on its own with by turning all your hydras into removal, but with Protean Hydra specifically it can be used to abuse the second clause of its ability, netting massive amounts of counters alongside the removal. Say for instance you have some leftover mana and an 8/8 Protean Hydra, as long as there is any valid target on the board, right before EoT you can remove all but one counter to hit the creature with -X/-X and then add twice that many back growing the hydra. It's very powerful.

  • Wilderness Reclamation is a worse Seedborn Muse but does allow you to do one trick that can be pretty powerful. Once the trigger to untap your lands at endstep goes on the stack you can float all your mana, then also use all the mana that just untapped and sink it into a big instant speed X spell which can catch people off-guard. This also works well with flash-enablers like Alchemist's Refuge and/or Winding Canyons which I also recommend.

Lastly here's some cards I'd look into that are pretty self-explanatory: Hadana's Climb  Flip, Greater Good and Mana Reflection.

If you want to check out my list it's here: X Spell Tribal?

Good luck in your games with it!

Tsal on Nissa's Story

3 years ago

If there's room, here are some goofy and fun counter ideas:

Sagas use lore counters

Level up cards - kind of underpowered but might be neat

Iceberg

Myth Realized

Gemstone Mine

Private Research

Malefic Scythe

Grimoire of the Dead

Legacy's Allure

Mercadian Lift

Wishclaw Talisman

Archery Training

Ertai's Meddling

sergiodelrio on Why is WotC Now Allowing …

3 years ago

One might argue that, even if the effect at hand in this form is new, we've certainly had all pieces of the puzzle before. You mentioned Instants/Sorceries being copied already. Then we have Ertai's Meddling and there's Commandeer, which can get permanents. Heat Shimmer creates copy Tokens of permanents. This new spell is merely an extrapolation of things we already had, albeit not in this exact form.

Archon_Bel on Need Help Developing an "Ertai, …

3 years ago

Massacar Decree of Silence is definitely going into the deck. Because why should anyone but me get to play the game lol? A bit pricey, but it's not too over my budget and probably won't be too hard finding a deal on. Dark Depths is a card I forgot existed, but between it and Decree, I'll probably opt for Decree. Will definitely keep it in mind, though, and might use it in my online builds if anything. Cauldron of Souls is neat, but sadly the creatures given Persist lose it after they return to the battlefield. Still, if I have enough creatures on board I'm probably not going to sacrifice the same creature anyway.

saluma That's fine, I think the people I played with already hated me anyway because of Yawgmoth lol. I definitely wouldn't mind building this deck in such a way that it becomes very hard to successfully resolve anything and advance your gameplan, but I'd still like it to be as proactive as possible so I'm not just standing on a back leg the whole time. I like a lot of the cards you mentioned, particularly the first 4.

Omniscience_is_life Aphetto Alchemist and Minamo, School at Water's Edge are the best of these due to low to no cost and free or low activation requirements. I would prefer to have free untap effects, that way I still have mana open for Ertai's ability.

RiotRunner789 Hexmage is cool, though I do wish it was a repeatable effect. That might have been broken if it was, though. Anyway, were I to go Aristocrats, what cards would you recommend that sacrifice for value? I have a Yawgmoth Aristo deck, but that essentially runs solely off of Yawgmoth, Thran Physician. Additionally, I think wheel effects might be preferable to mill effects, especially since in these colors I can use stuff like Notion Thief to ruin everyone's day.

And yes, I was definitely going to include Ertai's Meddling in the deck for the flavor AND utility. The best kind of flavor inclusions, really: stuff that's in theme and that's actually effective on its own.

SynergyBuild Very cool post! I was initially thinking of making this an enchantment-based deck, but I couldn't really find a lot of worthwhile enchantments that provide immediate value or value when they leave the field. They also seem fairly hard to recur; Heliod's Hall and Hanna, Ship's Navigator are the only two cards I can think of that let's you consistently recur them. I looked at the Enchantment Creatures as well, but... a lot of those kind of suck lol. Do you have any other enchantment suggestions of the kind you mentioned? Maybe a list I could look at for ideas?

I definitely didn't want to just make this a counter on a stick kind of deck, which is why I wanted to take this in a reanimator/theft direction so that I'm always doing something each turn.

I think overall, I'd like this to be primarily a reanimator deck with an aristocrats subtheme, but I'm definitely open to many other suggestions seeing how this commander is pretty foreign to me. Tried to build him a long time ago, actually, but it sucked. Now that I'm (hopefully) a better deck builder, I'm trying my hand at it again.

RiotRunner789 on Need Help Developing an "Ertai, …

3 years ago

Vampire Hexmage get's rid of counters on any one target (though doesn't prevent them).

I think an aristocrats strategy would would best with theft as a sub-theme but if you do go theft, you'll probably want mill as a sub-theme to give get more targets from the yard.

Also, don't forget about Ertai's Meddling. Amazing counter spell that is under appreciated. It can counter the un-counterable as well.

RiotRunner789 on [Active] Zaxara`s X-citement

3 years ago

You could cut some of the less exciting hydras such as Capricopian, and Feral Hydra. Capricopian ability is actually a downside if you are trying to kill the bothersome opponent. Feral is just wanting. Recommended Stonecoil Serpent or Voracious Hydra, or Steelbane Hydra.

I would put in Mass Manipulation over Entrancing Melody because the hope is you have infinite mana plus Manipulation steals planewalkers.

A bit more expensive, but Rhonas the Indomitable or Nylea, God of the Hunt allow you to kill any player per creature you have with infinite mana.

Ley Weaver can be a good alternate target for pennim's aura/free to allow infinite mana. Plus, the partner, Lore Weaver gives you the game with infinite.

Last few recs would be Demonic Consultation with Thassa's Oracle and Ertai's Meddling. Demonic is instant speed, card to hand. So, if everyone is tapped out it can be a hail mary (rather than a combo piece) for one of the infinite mana enchantments. Ertai's meddling is a great counter and it gets you a hydra.

RiotRunner789 on Zaxara, Stay Hydrated

3 years ago

Would recommend Ertai's Meddling over Delay.

Deck looks fun. First Zaxara I've seen though that doesn't run Freed from the Real and/or Pemmin's Aura.

RiotRunner789 on Hail, Hydra! *RETIRED*

3 years ago

How does Zaxar and Thousand-Year Elixir give you infinite mana?

Deck looks fun. Would recommend you consider Primal Vigor as a back up to Doubling Season. Yes it only does +1/+1 counters and helps your opponents too, but just about every spell you cast will get you double tokens with double counters.

Insight could also be a budget replacement for Rhystic Study on your maybe board. It's also just a good card in its own right.

Would recommend swapping out either syncopate or condescend with Ertai's Meddling. Two mana and its a hard counter against other counters and it also stops the un-counterable. That, and its nice to not have to worry if your opponent has to much mana open.

If you go the coffers/tomb route just remember you'll end up needing a few land tutors to properly support it. I dislike tutors as well but don't typically have the same negative feelings towards land tutors as compared to demonic tutor and the like.

Hope you like the recommendations. I'm a bit biased myself since I just built a Zaxa deck but I enjoy looking at other builds.

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