Ionize
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Legality

Format Legality
1v1 Commander Legal
Archenemy Legal
Arena Legal
Block Constructed Legal
Canadian Highlander Legal
Casual Legal
Commander / EDH Legal
Commander: Rule 0 Legal
Custom Legal
Duel Commander Legal
Freeform Legal
Gladiator Legal
Highlander Legal
Historic Legal
Historic Brawl Legal
Legacy Legal
Leviathan Legal
Limited Legal
Modern Legal
Modern Beyond Horizons Legal
Oathbreaker Legal
Pioneer Legal
Planar Constructed Legal
Planechase Legal
Quest Magic Legal
Tiny Leaders Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Ionize

Instant

Counter target spell. Ionize deals 2 damage to that spell's controller.

DragonMaster420 on Grixis Counter Burn

3 months ago

wallisface its also clear you didn't read the deck name or deck description, otherwise you'd know there's a reason i chose Ionize, Countersquall, and Psychic Barrier. they are literally the only counter spells in the game that counter and deal damage.

wallisface on Grixis Counter Burn

3 months ago

I have to agree with what psionictemplar is saying. And i'll add my own thoughts about the deck below:

  • Your suite of counter magic feels incredibly lacking. In particular, running 3-mana counterspells (i.e. Ionize) is generally a really bad idea. Even Invert Polarity, which is better that Ionize in every way conceivable, doesn't see any play in Modern. Psychic Barrier and Countersquall feel incredibly narrow/weak for 2-mana counterspells when there is just a lot of better options out there.

  • As psionictemplar already mentioned, mixing counter-magic and hand-disruption is generally a really bad idea. One plan is reactive, and the other is proactive - and mixing the two almost always leads to the deck tripping over itself. In the early game, you'll only have the mana to either hand-disrupt or counter... and if you choose to hand-disrupt then you leave your shields down and the opponent can do what they want. Later game when hand-resources are low, top-decking a hand-disruption spell means you lose your ability to control what the opponent does - i.e. they can play their topdeck without being countered. Decks generally want to be geared towards being either reactive or proactive, but not both.

  • Delver of Secrets  Flip is just such a bad card in 2026, and there are just much, much better options (why not just run Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student  Flip??). At absolute best Delver is going to deal 3 damage before it dies. More likely than not the opponent will just killspell it (which you have far too limited resources to justify defending. Modern has sooo much interaction that there's just no way this lives if the opponent wants it gone). The only reasonable reason for this to deal more than 3 damage (outside of a late-game-grind) is that the opponent doesn't care, because they're pushing for a win before that damage is relevant.

  • Your opponent is going to resolve spells - there is no way around that (even the strongest control decks accept this reality). Your deck has almost no way to deal with threats once they're in play, and that is a massive issue. several turn-1 or turn-2 threats could just win the game on their own unanswered, and your ability to deal with them seems close to zero once they get past your counter magic.

  • With your deck trying to focus on reactive plays, as psionictemplar has mentioned, the amount of actual threats you need to play is very low. The more important factors are that those threats need to be very hard to remove (not the case here, except for kindof the Terror), and that you need the inevitability to be able to reach those threats in your deck (also not the case here, as your deck has no way to gain card-advantage, you'll inevitably get overwhelmed). Moving outside of dedicated control, tempo decks often run between 8-12 creatures, though those creatures usually have a lot more immediate board-presence in that they create a lot of pressure/value (e.g. Murktide Regent, Psychic Frog, Dragon's Rage Channeler).

I would suggest looking at how old (pre-mh3) Murktide lists were built. That deck is the closest in concept to what you are doing and should be a solid starting ground to work from when trying to figure out this brew.

DragonMaster420 on UR Pteramander

3 months ago

Tolarian Terror, Cryptic Serpent, Thought Scour, Consider, Ionize

VladMarkov on First

1 year ago

I reckon, what the deck really needs, is lots of cheap spells that can be cast on every player's turn, to get the most value out of the flurry mechanic. The game plan should be to cast Shiko and Narset, Unified on turn 4, prepare the board beforehand, and then spam small, damage-dealing spells that can easily be brought back with tricks like Underworld Breach, Lier, Disciple of the Drowned, or by recasting copies with Narset, Enlightened Exile. You could then replace draw-discard effects with more "pure" card draw options like Treasure Cruise (if you have a lot of cards in your graveyard), Quick Study or flexible draw like Flame of Anor. The main gameplay should revolve around cheap, repeatable spells, but there can also be some utility from the Magecraft mechanic. Most importantly, the deck should keep continuous pressure on opponents by dealing large amounts of damage through copying small spells.

Must have: Path to Exile, Cyclonic Rift

Useful: Cori Mountain Stalwart, Devoted Duelist, Monk of the Open Hand, Ashling, Flame Dancer, Jori En, Ruin Diver, Ledger Shredder, Smoldering Egg  Flip, Burst Lightning, Electrolyze, Virtue of Courage, Fire / Ice, Galvanic Blast, Heartflame Duelist, Ionize, Lightning Bolt, Lightning Helix, Lightning Strike, Magma Jet, Parch, Play with Fire, Punishing Fire, Risk Factor, Sacred Fire, Searing Spear, Shock, Skullcrack, Thunderbolt, Wild Slash

Possible: Taigam, Master Opportunist, Breeches, the Blastmaker, Gale, Waterdeep Prodigy, Rammas Echor, Ancient Shield, Storm of Saruman, Turn / Burn, Price of Progress, Finale of Promise, Increasing Vengeance, Frolicking Familiar, Molten Influence, Slaying Fire, Wizard's Lightning,

DemonDragonJ on Double Trouble

1 year ago

Kazierts, this deck does not have a strong focus on dinosaurs, so I am not certain about Marauding Raptor or Intrepid Paleontologist.

I definitely considered putting Dryad of the Ilysian Grove into this deck, but this deck has very few, if any, cards that care about basic land types, and I also need to be careful about putting too many creatures into this deck, since each additional creature is one fewer card that shall synergize with Wandering Mind.

This deck already contains a copy of Terror of the Peaks, and I have no problem with removing Ionize, so what would you recommend as a replacement, for it? I do need to keep at least several counterspells, in this deck, as it is a blue deck.

Kazierts on Double Trouble

1 year ago

Before I make any proper recommendations, you should stop worrying so much about the average CMC. Yes, having a lower curve is better (usually), but you take note of every little change, and that's not gonna help you build a better deck.

Onto the recommendations themselves:

Icbrgr on

3 years ago

@TheoryCrafter Honestly I never thought of or knew about the interaction between Darksteel Citadel and Cleansing Wildfire; that sounds neat! I really like the Render Silent suggestion too.... but Ionize is actually really tempting too because of the lack of demand in its cost.

Thank you!

TheoryCrafter on

3 years ago

Have you considered just putting a full playset of Cleansing Wildfire into the deck? Combine this with Darksteel Citadel, the card draw and the ramp would be more effective than just the cycling lands. Especially since many of your spells and abilities have a mana cost of 4 or higher.

Other counterspells you may want to consider for this deck are Ionize and Render Silent.

I hope this helps. Happy Hunting!

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