Pact of Negation
Set Price Alerts

Combos Browse all Suggest

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
Gladiator Legal
Highlander Legal
Historic Legal
Historic Brawl Legal
Legacy Legal
Leviathan Legal
Limited Legal
Modern Legal
Modern Beyond Horizons Legal
Oathbreaker Legal
Planar Constructed Legal
Planechase Legal
Quest Magic Legal
Tiny Leaders Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Pact of Negation

Instant

This is blue.

Counter target spell.

At the beginning of your next upkeep, pay . If you don't, you lose the game.

jsnrice on Atraxa, Grand Unifier

3 weeks ago

Deck Title: Ascension Through Unity – Atraxa cEDH Food Chain

Commander

Atraxa, Grand Unifier
Color Identity:

Introduction

Welcome to Ascension Through Unity, a competitive EDH build centered around Atraxa, Grand Unifier, the ultimate value engine and a uniquely powerful commander that bridges midrange resilience with combo potential. This list leverages the raw card advantage of Atraxa’s ETB trigger to dig for win conditions, interaction, and fast mana — all while supporting a Food Chain combo core.

This deck is tuned for high-level pods and aims to win fast, interact precisely, and grind smart when necessary.

Win Conditions

Primary Wincon:
- Food Chain + Eternal Scourge / Misthollow Griffin / Flesh Duplicate
Infinite creature mana via Food Chain and one of the exile-recurring creatures.
→ Cast Atraxa, Grand Unifier, dig for Thassa's Oracle or Tainted Pact / Demonic Consultation combo.

Backup Wincons:
- Thassa's Oracle + Tainted Pact / Demonic Consultation
- Finale of Devastation for lethal with infinite mana
- Displacer Kitten combos with The One Ring, Teferi, Time Raveler, or mana rocks for infinite value/actions

Notable Synergies

Staples and Interaction

This deck plays nearly every blue interaction spell you’d expect: - Free Countermagic: Force of Will, Force of Negation, Pact of Negation, Mindbreak Trap, Flusterstormfoil
- Removal: Swords to Plowshares, Abrupt Decay, Chain of Vapor, Toxic Deluge, Culling Ritual
- Tutors: Vampiric Tutor, Demonic Tutor, Worldly Tutor, Enlightened Tutor, Imperial Seal

And it runs every relevant fast mana: - Mana Crypt, Lotus Petal, Chrome Mox, Mox Diamond, Mox Opal, Mana Vault, Ancient Tomb

Why Atraxa?

While many commanders offer value, Atraxa’s Grand Unifier trigger is uniquely broken in a deck like this. With a proper build, she can hit: - A creature (e.g. Eternal Scourge, Deathrite Shaman)
- A non-creature spell (e.g. Demonic Consultation)
- An instant (e.g. Swan Song, An Offer You Can't Refuse)
- A sorcery (e.g. Finale of Devastation)
- An artifact (e.g. Sol Ring)
- An enchantment (e.g. Rhystic Study)
- A planeswalker (e.g. Teferi, Time Raveler)

This makes Atraxa a one-card value engine that refills your hand and pivots you into a win turn with proper sequencing.

Power Level & Goals

This deck is firmly cEDH (power level 9.5–10). It’s built for pods where interaction is heavy, turns are fast, and wins are clean.

You’ll thrive if: - You can protect Atraxa, Grand Unifier for at least one trigger
- You pilot your combo lines efficiently
- You mulligan aggressively for interaction or ramp

Mulligan Strategy

Look for: - Turn 1–2 dorks/rocks + tutor
- Food Chain + exile creature opener
- Strong card draw pieces + interaction
- Always mull away clunky high-CMC hands

Weaknesses

  • Susceptible to Drannith Magistrate (unless we remove it)
  • Hate for graveyard/exile recursion (Rest in Peace, etc.)
  • Heavy counterspell matchups if we stumble on mana

Closing Thoughts

Atraxa, Grand Unifier doesn’t just unify card types — she unifies power, control, and combo under one elegantly devastating package. Whether you’re tutoring with efficiency or slamming a turn 4 Food Chain win, this deck rewards mastery and punishes hesitation. Perfect for cEDH players who love versatility and inevitability.

Thanks for reading! Let me know if you want a sideboard package or metagame tweaks.

burferking on Turn 0 win vs Chancellor of dross (100%)

1 month ago

Well, if you can play conspiracies, I would use Emissary's Ploy in the sideboard as "A conspiracy doesn't count as a card in your deck for purposes of meeting minimum deck size requirements."
3 Pact of Negation, because in a deck of 60 FoW, each Force of Will needs to exile another one. In a starting hand of 7, three could be played.

Main list 53x Contract from Below 2x Elvish Spirit Guide 1x Flash 3x Pact of Negation 1x Thassa's Oracle

Sideboard 1x Emissary's Ploy

Mortlocke on The Queen's Egg

5 months ago

LordDonato,

Cutting Cyclonic Rift or Pact of Negation are bold suggestions that i'd find myself very much against. Sure Cyclonic Rift is expensive being a 7 CMC spell - but it's a one sided untargeted mass removal spell at instant speed - 7 CMC for that kind of effect feels like a bargain. Pact of Negation is great because I can bait out my opponent into casting a big spell once I am all...tapped out. Losing the game is almost irrelevant if I am popping off on my turn and am able to counter an opponent's attempt at interacting with one of my combo pieces. I will however revisit these thoughts and opinions if my meta changes or shifts toward cEDH.

Seuchenschutz,

Path of Ancestry has a solid effect - but the cost of entering tapped is far too high a price to even be considered. Sliver Hive was once in this deck many iterations ago. I chose to cut it however as the colored mana it provided was exclusive to creatures - which is a pretty big drawback. It's last ability is pretty much irrelevant, as I'm never going to spend 5 mana - and tapping a land to create a 1/1 creature token. If Sliver Hive didn't need to be tapped to activate it's second ability then it'd be auto include for sure, and probably way more expensive than roughly 20 USD. Bring to Light was also in this deck many iterations ago, and I see what you mean when it comes to paying WUBRG, tutoring and casting one of the legendary Slivers. I'll need to think more on this spell before giving it another run. Patriarch's Bidding was also in this deck many iterations ago, but more often than not I would find this spell backfiring on me massively as it also assists all of my opponents as well. It's a cool spell - but it can also enable my opponents to combo out before I do - or at the very least enable them to thwart my plans.

Xica on Madcap Control

7 months ago

I had a similar-ish list to yours - with moderate success - around hogaak winter (when meta was hogaak + amulet titan).

With no blockers, and only counterspells for ineraction t7 is too slow.

I abused Madcap Experiment to ge around he issue way back then. Frankly in a package like yours Pact of Negationfoil should be THE counterspell as far as free ones go. You have little to no card draw engines - as such pitch spells are an enormous liability.*

And depending on how the meta ebbs and flows (mostly on presence of noncreature removal)) Robe of Mirrors can be backbreaking.

*card selection cantrips are where card advantage is at. Read up turbo xerox principle. T4 JTMS or suspended ancestral vision is not timely enough.

Icbrgr on Using Disrupting Shoal

7 months ago

the main point to consider with shoal or at least what i've been getting hung up on is the being able to cast on your turn. Force of Negation is amazing but if you go to tap out on your turn to play a threat like Goblin Charbelcherfoil/Jace, the Mind Sculptor or something like that... the build im doing doesn't have the means to use Flare of Denial as anything but a Cancel.

in my more COMBO style decks ive used Pact of Negationfoil where i just planned on going all out to win the game when i tapped out/played my combo pieces... but this brew doesnt quite play that way.

MLS91 on Aminatou, Veil Piercer

7 months ago

if youre running Hive Mind at the very least run any of the pacts, in this specific case i would suggest Pact of Negationfoil

steveoowns on Mono Red Legacy

8 months ago

Okay, so the infect is practically gone from this deck, and with it go most the artifacts that can't be used for the red free spells. I sill have the Inkmoths because I think they're good for my turn 2 consistency with the built in evasion, but Pact of the Titan giving me the 4/4 for free should step things up a bit, and the 4/4 body made me look back to the comment klone13 to go for a bigger shoal bonus, and taking the biggest one I could find in Volcanic Salvo puts me in a position where if I'm on the draw the 4/4 titan can swing pretty reasonably for 20 outright. Another newer haste enabler in Samut's Sprint was added to help with hopefully getting it off the ground since infect is now more of an alt wincon. Pulled Red Elemental Blast out of the sideboard since the deck cant afford the mana opting for Pact of Negation instead, I can't pay the cost but if the deck is working right, even if I have to delay a turn, I shouldn't be worried about having to pay the cost, either I win when I'm playing the cards or I have already lost.

Kjartan on The Book of Exalted Deeds

10 months ago

4x Pact of Negation seems really excessive seeing it can't feasibly protect you casting a combo piece, unless you're comboing out of Lotus Bloom. It's not online unless you're set up to do a one turn cast + activate book with Mutavault left over as well.

Maybe if you played Angel's Grace, it would work better? It would give you an option to use Pact of Negation before you've achieved a winning board-state, an it's also a decent card to put under Isochron Scepter meaning it works on two axis in your deck.

But ultimately, I'd just move pact to the side-board, I think.

Load more