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Legality
| Format | Legality |
| 1v1 Commander | 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 |
| Pauper | Legal |
| Pauper Duel Commander | Legal |
| Pauper EDH | Legal |
| Tiny Leaders | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
Lapse of Certainty
Instant
Counter target spell. If that spell is countered this way, put it on top of its owner's library instead of into that player's graveyard.
Guerric on
[Primer] Helming the Host of Heaven: A Giada Guide
3 months ago
I must not have re-optimized mana well after the previous session because I only drew three lands over the course of the entire first game. That being said, I still won! Even with only three mana and Giada the curve allowed me to do most of what I wanted to do and put most of my angels out, so the curve and the deck's ability to put up a board state quickly even with limited resources is great. The all-star of the first game was Crashing Drawbridge, which, as I suspected, is great in this deck. I finished by playing out Serra Avenger and Angelic Curator (with plenty of counters) and then swinging with them and all of my other angels for lethal because of drawbridge. It helped me close out the game before my opponent could stabilize and hit me with a wipe, which would have set me way back due to my lack of lands. Another great combo was Righteous Valkyrie which is every bit the powerhouse you'd think it would be in this deck and Resplendent Angel, which ensured that tokens were bolstering my army and that my life total was more than padded.
The second game was much more evenly matched and could have gone either way, but I pulled that one out in the end as well. This would not have happened if Eerie Interlude hadn't saved my cast angels from Curse of the Swine, attesting again to the importance of board state protection in this deck. Quite critically, interlude was the only thing in my deck currently that would have saved me from that (other than Lapse of Certainty, so I was glad to have it! The absolute all-star in this game was Thorough Investigation. Wow! What a card! I thought it might be good, but the whole enter-the-dungeon mechanic seemed a bit cute to me and I was ensure if I would want to pay to sac clue tokens. The answer is yes! I amassed so many tokens from Investigation (as well as a couple from Angelic Sleuth when I blinked it with Interlude) that I knew I could refill my hand at any point, which I did! I'm going to put this card in all of my aggro decks- its a hidden treasure! Angelic Skirmisher is also a must-run in the deck. Everyone plays Lyra Dawnbringer but some don't play this card, which I feel like is better. While the life-link aura is the thing in this deck and two copies of it was great, I definitely experienced the utility of the first strike aura when I wanted to swing with Valkyrie Harbinger but was afraid to lose it to a large flying blocker. First strike made it so that he didn't want to block! Vigilance is also great, and Thraben Watcher was already making sure I wasn't in danger on the crack back in this matchup, but Skirmisher could situationally help with that as well. I finished it out by clearing away all of his blockers (including some absurdly large creatures) with Winds of Abandon. He put 13 lands onto the battlefield, but died to my Angelic Armada.
In both of these games, as with in the previous ones I've reported on, the life gain was real and powerful! I finished the second game with 98 life and the first one with life somewhere in the 70s, so this deck works amazingly well that way. I also played a turn one Soul Warden the first game and was quite thankful for it. I wasn't totally sure about the soul sisters in this deck, but I think I am glad for them. Another huge success in several games so far are the Angelic Accord effects. Having four of them makes it a consistent subtheme, and even a couple of free giant angel tokens goes a long way to killing opponents. I think my issues with card draw aren't that I don't have draw or that it doesn't work, just that this deck is hungry for more of it, which I will address in the first revision coming soon. I've already ordered some more cards based in part on suggestions I've received here from some of you, so thanks for those! I will post the revisions once they are made and my reasoning for them. I'll also update the primer and the acknowledgements to offer credit where credit is due!
Guerric on Dealing with politics as an …
3 months ago
Hi Dazard! What a great question! I avoided aggro strategies for awhile for this reason, but as my sneaky combo strategies are hard for some groups I play with to decode, I decided to make some good old honest aggro decks, and I think I've figured out a good balance.
To begin with, don't play like in a 60 card, 1v1 format. In those games you have little incentive not to go for broke all the time, and to commit all of your resources right away. In EDH there are several key principles of good aggro play.
One of them is controlled growth. Even if you can commit all of your resources to powerful plays early you shouldn't do so. You need to make sure that you set up card draw engines and other things to keep your tank full in the long run. You should be attacking, but keep in mind you don't need to attack with everything. Chip away at peoples' life totals rather than hitting one person hard. Once you slam one person you will be the archenemy of all, so don't do that till you are a turn or two from winning or they will destroy you. Knocking out an opponent early doesn't necessarily help as that person is a target for someone else and can help keep someone else under control.
A second principle is try to win all at once via pump effects. Its almost better to keep your tokens as 1/1s as long as possible and then suddenly in a single turn make them gamewinning with Coat of Arms, Shared Animosity, Jazal Goldmane, or Mirror Entity. Don't play these cards early either! Your opponents will just kill them, so play them the turn that you can win. Surprise is one of the most powerful things in EDH. If they know you can kill them you are a threat, if they don't see it coming you will win.
Thirdly is politics via threat assessment, not deals. Sometimes people just think of politics as bribery, but its better to simply point out what other opponents are doing. "Hmm..he just played Ashnod's Altar. That's a combo piece. What's he up to?" is far more powerful than promising not to attack someone. This is self-interested, but it is also helping your opponents play better by noticing more than obvious threats. When I play against aggro I might have a board wipe, and yet hold off if I'm not afraid of imminently dying to let the aggro player do some of my dirty work for me and keep attention away from the combo I am putting together. My one friend who has been quite good at aggro has become adept at pointing out what I am doing and keeping things honest. It's also a good idea with early attacks to take turns attacking different opponents for only a small amount of damage, or even rolling the dice to see who you'll attack first. If your opponents wonder why you're holding back you can just say somewhat honestly that you're trying to spread the love around and keep blockers and critical pieces in play.
A fourth principle is board state protection. Others mentioned Unbreakable Formation and Teferi's Protection as helpful cards. Don't forget also about Make a Stand, Flawless Maneuver, and Cosmic Intervention. The latter won't save your tokens, but it will save other pieces. The same is true with Eerie Interlude and Semester's End which can also dodge even a Cyclonic Rift. Lapse of Certainty can also delay a board wipe for a turn and waste your opponents' investment, and is good tech as well. Eldrazi Monument is also a good card, because you'll have endless tokens to fuel it, and all of your stuff will be flying and indestructible, keeping your opponents from easily stopping you. One final way in your deck is just by making board wipes painful, which you can do with aristocrats. Blood Artist and Syr Konrad, the Grim will make your opponent think twice about wiping the board. Again, don't commit too many resources at once, and hold up mana for protection. This helps with controlled growth and helps you rest easy during your opponents' turns.
A fifth principle that is great is to always have a backup plane for when things go wrong. One way to do this is to have a single infinite combo to win out of nowhere when things are down. When you're playing aggro opponents are always looking at your board state, but they can be taken by surprise when you combo the win. For Markov the best one is probably Exquisite Blood and Sanguine Bond. If your opponents can win with this stuff then its only fair that you can in a pinch too! This also fulfills the old idea talked about on MtgGoldfish that you should always have a way to win out of nowhere. The other and more honest way to do this is just to have a way to recover your board state. Patriarch's Bidding and Haunting Voyage can help you recover all of your creatures in a single turn. Having these backup plans will make life easier.
Don't get discouraged, aggro is better than ever in EDH today due to new board protection and recovery tech Wizards has printed and reprinted in the past couple of years. All you need to do is master the playstyle and you'll have a lot more fun and success!
BruhYouFarted on
WG Aggro
4 months ago
My point was that i feel your aggro strategy is better geared towards midrange. If you want to build a true aggro deck, lower your curve. Cut out these wacky 1-2offs that represent conflicting strategies and overall weaken your deck. For example, Lapse of Certainty. If, when you put this in your deck, thought "yea ill cast this" you are very clearly not playing nor brewing an aggro deck. Lapse of Certainty is basically unplayable on this format, let alone a aggro deck, period. I understand that it is kitchentable and that cards like Fog and Lapse of Certainty are basically eye candy but just replace these cards with actual creatures and you will preform 20x better.
unwucht on
[Primer] Political Subterfuge - Marchesa Aikido
4 months ago
An additional remark: while playing the list I realized that I like to have an additional, Sunforger-fetchable counterspell in the deck. Therefore I currently plan to include Lapse of Certainty into the list. Playing this deck often comes down to a single decisive spell resolving or not resolving. Therefore some fetchable counterspells can do wonders, even if Lapse only delays the spell from resolving this round.
Also, hardly anyone expects to run into a white counterspell :P
king-saproling on
wyleth big bad boy
4 months ago
You might like these: Not of This World, Simian Spirit Guide, Lotus Petal, Rite of Flame, Strike it Rich, Benevolent Blessing, Karametra's Blessing, Red Elemental Blast, Lapse of Certainty, Abolish, Fury of the Horde, Reverent Mantra, Angel's Grace, Chance for Glory, Tithe, Mistveil Plains
rdean14 on Card creation challenge
6 months ago
I love Tibalt's Trickery and the concept of red getting Chaos Warp-style counterspells.
In my opinion, Counterspells should be Blue Primary, White Secondary, and Red Tertiary, with Blue being hard, if conditional or have other stuff going on Arcane Denial, white being tax-based, and Red being replacement style.
To be clear, I think Lapse of Certainty should be blue Memory Lapse, not white, and Mana Leak should be heavily reprinted white counterspell. Mana Tithe is excellent, imo, and should be a more frequently visited effect.
Anyhoo:
Disarrange
Instant
Exile target spell, then shuffle that card into its owner's library. That player then reveals the top card of their library until they reveal a card which shares a type with the spell exiled this way. They may cast that spell without paying its mana cost.
It literally replaces a spell with a random spell of the same type, so it'd be really good against finishers in creature-based decks, and quite lousy against planeswalker spell or finishers in noncreature based decks
I'd like to see a counterspell made with my personal idea of counterspells in mind, so blue would be hard, but maybe conditional/other stuff, white is tax, and red is random replacement-style.
I think I was ninja'd so see the above challenge.
DemonDragonJ on What is Your Opinion of …
9 months ago
Counterspells are a signature ability of blue, and, as such, nearly all counterspells are blue, but WotC does print non-blue counterspells on occasion; there were a number of non-blue counterspells in the early days of this game, before WotC had clearly defined the color pie, but, now that the color pie is better defined, there have been very few non-blue counterspells in recent years.
WotC did print Tibalt's Trickery in Kaldheim, but, prior to that, there had not been a non-blue counterspell since Lapse of Certainty from the Alara block, to the best of my knowledge, so it is clear that WotC is very reluctant to print such cards. Mark Rosewater has even said that he considers both Red Elemental Blast and Guttural Response to be color pie breaks and that white can having "taxing" effects (i.e., making spells more expensive), but not direct counterspells, which I severely dislike, since I believe that non-blue counterspells can be acceptable if they are extremely narrow in their effect.
What does everyone else say about this? What are your opinions of non-blue counterspells? Do you think that such cards should exist, or that counterspells should be strictly blue?
libraryjoy on Balancing my 2 decks against …
11 months ago
Although maybe I'm reading Celestial Dawn wrong, which I could be. So you might disregard that part... There is also Lapse of Certainty which might work against the wave, but only temporarily as they will draw it next turn, so you need to either win right away, or have some way to make it be milled or discarded, neither of which are likely in white - but could be managed with artifacts, although this is getting pretty convoluted to work around a single card. Mana Tithe is another option, but easy to plan around.
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