Force of Will

Instant

You may pay 1 life and exile a blue card from your hand from the game rather than pay this spell's mana cost.

Counter target spell.

Discussion (49)

Durkle on Manaless Dredge

3 days ago

Hi. I've played Manaless Dredge on and off for 6 years or so. Just a couple things I want to throw out there based on my experience.

The most important thing: I HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend trying the heavier green splash build. I.e, the build that plays Once Upon a Time, Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis, and Vine Dryad. UOaT makes finding a Phantasmagorian on turn 1 WAY more likely. Instead of 8 hits at it, you get 13. Hogaak comes up a lot more often than you'd think, and he seriously boosts the deck's power in fair matchups. He's super easy to cast over and over, and decks that only have interaction via Force of Will simply cannot keep him off the board. They basically need to hit it with Swords to Plowshares or else you have an extremely recursive 8/8 trampler. Vine Dryad looks weird I know, but it's another green card and it blocks Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer at instant speed and kills it, which is VERY important in this meta. Most people haven't heard of the card, so it makes for a lovely little surprise. And, as somebody mentioned above, the green cards are EXTREMELY important to then pitch to Force of Vigor post-board.

Beyond that, just 2 more things I want to say.

1, it's a misconception that you never mulligan. Sometimes, you're forced to. If a hand simply isn't workable, don't keep it. It's better to have a good hand that can't get going until turn 2 or even 3 than a bad hand that might not get going at all.

2, I don't believe you need to be playing Flayer, Giant, AND Zealot. I'd pick just one of em and play that one. There's arguments for all 3, and personally I'd advocate for Flayer, but you really can't go wrong with any of em. Playing more than 1 is simply overkill imo, as you're basically only casting one after you've returned a Balustrade Spy, and at that point any of them win on the spot.

Rock on, my Manaless Dredge friend.

Davinoth on Urza's Gamble [Stax EDH]

1 week ago

     DawnsRayofLight: Thank you, great suggestions!

     I am running Counterspell, so I'm not quite sure what you mean about running Stoic Rebuttal over it. I've considered cutting SR a few times for Negate, but I always end up deciding against it, as it's nearly always another Counterspell. This slot is more likely to become Disallow and eventually Force of Will. =)

     Absolutely love AEtherize! Used it a lot in standard back in the RTR block; I should definitely find a home for it here! I think I'll definitely consider Aetherspouts as well. Propaganda is really good with the land control, but I always feel like without running a whole Pillow Fort package, it's an enchantment I can't tap for mana. Same kind of feelings for Dissipation Field, despite the strength of the card.

     Manascape Refractor is an awesome suggestion that I hadn't considered! Definitely going to look to make room for it. Field and Vale, though, I feel would just slow me down more than they would be beneficial in the face of some of my stax effects. I'd be more inclined to add Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx back into the deck, I think.

     This deck honestly doesn't need more win-more cards. I used to have it very full of big value creatures like Darksteel Colossus and Sphinx of the Second Sun that I could turn up with Urza's active, which was fine - but I'd frequently find myself stuck with too many in my early hand, and was way more susceptible to being mana-screwed. At this point I'm down to one big fatty in Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur. All that being said, I am planning to eventually cut God-Pharaoh's Statue for Blightsteel Colossus haha. =P

     Metalworker would be a great pickup too, but I'd definitely be more inclined to trade for than buy, and finding someone willing to trade one is easier said than done lol

     Thanks again! =)

ThousandOaks on More Hugging, Less Mugging

1 week ago

Remove

Silent Arbiter

Lightning Greaves

Wandering Archaic  ^Flip

Consecrated Sphinx

Gemstone Caverns

City of Brass

Mana Confluence

Urza's Saga

Force of Will

Fierce Guardianship

Cryptic Command

Flooded Strand

Ancient Tomb

Mana Drain

Hengegate Pathway  ^Flip

Pulsemage Advocate

Eidolon of Rhetoric

Esper Sentinel

Keeper of the Accord

Tidal Barracuda

Sensei's Divining Top

Rhystic Study

Ominous Seas

Kami of the Crescent Moon

Triskaidekaphile

Laboratory Maniac

Mana Crypt

BEDECK on WEIRD LAND DESTRUCTION

2 weeks ago

Hmmmmm I understand your concern. As it turns out Legacy is actually slower than Modern (despite the turn1 combos) and it isn't a format where Birds is too popular. Looking at it now I do feel more interaction could be put in place (although I'm not very sure how), but Bone Shard in a format with Daze and Force of Will would hurt like hell.

But you are right about the Modern thing tho. Modern demands a ton of early-game interaction.

But that is thinking of using this in a very competitive game, which I'm not sure it is meant to xD

QuestionMarc on Vadrik's Discount Spell Emporium

2 weeks ago

It's not really fair to suggest a bunch of additions to a deck without suggesting some cuts, so the ones I am seeing so far are:

1. Clone Legion This is a huge spell but not necessarily a game ender when for 9 mana it probably should be. If it doesn't end the game, it will create a bookkeeping nightmare of tokens that are copies of a variety of creatures that don't have haste and are permanent. Seems the most straight across replacement would be Insurrection which for 1 mana less steals ALL creatures (not just one player's), gives them haste, and guarantees you have all the power and your opponents have no blockers. You should be able to end most games that way or at least take out a player or two, or just wait a little longer until that is the case.
2. Diluvian Primordial A very expensive creature with no cost reduction, no tribal support, no flash or anything to keep it flexible, and it allows you to cast one spell from each opponent's graveyard? Your spells should be better than theirs. you don't need their spells. Certainly not at this cost. My straight across replacement recommendation? Spark Double! If you have your commander out, this seems like the best creature you could possibly cast!
3. Double Vision 5 mana is a lot to spend on an enchantment that does nothing on its own, and when it is really good it is kind of a win more card. What this card needs more from an enchantment is more stuff to do early game and more repeatable card draw, so it may be cliche but you could put Mystic Remora or Rhystic Study here and I'm sure they would prove useful to keeping the deck fueled.
4. Foil Seems like the worst of your counterspells, and you already have a lot! You want one you can cast for free? Force of Will, Fierce Guardianship, and Deflecting Swat are all likely better but expensive. Mana Drain too. But IMO, you already have plenty of counterspells and could use more stuff to trigger day/night so I recommend Leyline of Anticipation here so you can make it night on your turn easy and keep all your tools available at all time. Not to mention dropping creatures and artifacts and stuff right before your turn to protect them!
5. Galecaster Colossus I'm not sure what another 7 mana creature is doing in this spell slinger deck. You wanna tap out for this on turn 8? No. I found a few other Wizard synergies that would probably work better like Sage of Fables or Metallic Mimic, but probably the Wizard that I would hate seeing the most here and is therefor probably correct is Fatespinner. This will also encourage a lot more day/night flipping I imagine when some people have to skip their main phase!
6. Homeward Path Are you worried about your commander being stolen? That doesn't seem like a likely occurrence in our meta, and even less likely with all the counterspells and protection equipment you are playing. Instead how about Tyrite Sanctum? You can put a counter on Vadrik at instant speed repeatably for a low price, and when the time comes you can make him Indestructible permanently!
7. Stifle I find this effect is often too small to be worth running defensively. You could replace it with a slightly bigger version like Disallow, Trickbind, Interdict, or Squelch. You could also replace this with kind of anything proactive and I have a lot of suggestions that could go here with Commander's Plate probably being the safest and Galazeth Prismari being the wildest! (He allows you to tap your equipment for mana!)
8. Theoretical Duplication I just don't think copying your opponent's creatures for the turn (or more likely creature, singular) is that strong. And the bookkeeping again. You know what IS frustratingly strong? Capsize. Oof. I kinda hate myself for recommending it though. Alternatively if you wanna buyback something fun how about Seething Anger, Haze of Rage, or Lunar Frenzy to build up a huge Vadrik turn!

And a few basic lands for some of the nonbasics I recommended. Also we probably have too many Mountains given that 73% of your mana costs are blue. That's a good start I think at tweaking this deck!

QuestionMarc on Vadrik's Discount Spell Emporium

2 weeks ago

Looking over the deck and playtesting it a few times I have what I consider a pretty exhaustive maybe list with some cards being worth considering and discussing and a few being real treasures! Here is the full list and if I did it right hopefully all the cards are links.

1. Call the Skybreaker
2. Capsize
3. Cascade Bluffs
4. Champion's Helm
5. Clockspinning
6. Coalition Relic
7. Commander's Plate
8. Contagion Clasp
9. Darksteel Plate
10. Deflecting Swat
11. Door of Destinies
12. Drown in Dreams
13. Elementalist's Palette
14. Expanded Anatomy
15. Expansion / Explosion
16. Fanning the Flames
17. Fatespinner
18. Fierce Guardianship
19. Finale of Revelation
20. Fists of Flame
21. Flux Channeler
22. Force of Will
23. Galazeth Prismari
24. Haze of Rage
25. Illuminate
26. Insurrection
27. Izzet Boilerworks
28. Jaya's Immolating Inferno
29. Jeska's Will
30. Leyline of Anticipation
31. Lonely Sandbar
32. Lunar Frenzy
33. Mana Drain
34. Mana Geyser
35. Metallic Mimic
36. Midnight Clock
37. Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
38. Mystic Remora
39. Mystic Sanctuary
40. Oona's Grace
41. Opal Palace
42. Prismari Campus
43. Reality Ripple
44. Reality Shift
45. Reiterate
46. Rhystic Study
47. Ring of Evos Isle
48. Riverglide Pathway  ^Flip
49. Runechanter's Pike
50. Sage of Fables
51. Scour from Existence
52. Sea Gate Restoration  ^Flip
53. Seething Anger
54. Shatterskull Smashing  ^Flip
55. Spark Double
56. Storm-Kiln Artist
57. Swiftfoot Boots
58. Sword of Truth and Justice
59. Temple of Epiphany
60. Tezzeret's Gambit
61. Tyrite Sanctum
62. Unleash Fury
63. Valakut Awakening  ^Flip
64. Vandalblast
65. Vedalken Orrery
66. Volcanic Island
67. Volcanic Vision
68. Wandering Archaic  ^Flip
69. Whispers of the Muse
70. Zaffai, Thunder Conductor

DuTogira on Where do you personally draw …

3 weeks ago

For me it’s the mentality.

Not from just a play perspective even, but also a deck building perspective.

Within my Sharuum the Hegemon deck, I run what I call the “path of exile” combo of Cataclysmic Gearhulk + Portcullis. The combo works such that, if I drop Cataclysmic Gearhulk after the Portcullis is active, I not only wipe most of the board, but I also can stick gearhulk into the Portcullis so that it clears anything that gets locked behind the portcullis. When Portcullis is removed and gearhulk comes back, I can cast Sharuum the Hegemon bringing back Portcullis and lock up the board with my 2 creatures. It’s a 5 turn clock per player from there.
That clock doesn’t change for commander damage vs normal combat.
Basically: even if I build the entire rest of my sharuum deck to win on turn 4, I can actively choose to tutor for this durdle-fest of a combo against decks that I can tell are much weaker, and still create an interesting board state that demands some interaction from my opponents. Even the most casual of decks run something like a Bane of Progress or Austere Command, so they can interact. There’s some allowance that of course must be made (like not Force of Willing your opponents’ removal if their decks are significantly weaker), but you can approach just about any table with a gameplay line that allows for some level of fun and friendly competition.

If you build a deck to only win in the most competitive way possible, it’ll do that. If you play to win every game, you’ll do it. But if you intentionally build a way to play at a variable level into your deck, and actively choose to play according to your table’s level… well that’s where the magic happens

NeoLegacy on

1 month ago

What I'm currently torn between is if there is a better option for Spell Pierce... I love the absolute hard counterspells like, Counterspell, Force of Will, where you can just flat out counter the spell period. But I also want to be very conscious of mana costs, the type of mana a spell requires, how does the counterspell fair in the later rounds vs the early game. Does it have good synergy with the rest of the deck. I'm really struggling with that.