Spell Pierce

Instant

Counter target noncreature spell unless its controller pays {2}.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Alchemy	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
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pauper	Legal
Pauper Duel Commander	Legal
Pauper EDH	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Pre-release	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Standard	Legal
Standard Brawl	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (45)

nuperokaso on Merfolk Brew

1 month ago

• Your mana curve is missing 1 mana drops, which is a problem in your aggro deck.

• Merfolk decks usually play a lot of creatures, since the lords add up. Each creature you play also taps something with Merrow Reejerey, acting as a removal. 25 creatures is thus a low number.

• Play Tide Shapers - it's a one drop creature which enables Islandwalk on your creatures and disrupts enemy mana.

• Play Lord of Atlantis and Vodalian Hexcatcher if your budget allows it.
• Svyelun of Sea and Sky may be better than Tempest Djinn since it's a Merfolk.
• Silvergill Adept is still somewhat playable.
• Unsummon was made obsolete by Fading Hope
• Sinister Sabotage is too expensive. Replace it by some 1 mana spells such as Dismember, Spell Pierce, Mist-Cloaked Herald.
• AEther Tradewinds - Don't play this at all. Your only permanents are creatures anyway.
• Boomerang - Don't play this. If your target is not a land, there are better options. And the only time you want to target a land is turn 2, on which you want to play creatures.

Icbrgr on Can spells with Split Second …

1 month ago

Can spells with Split Second on them be used to avoid countermagic?

if i cast Pillage can i hold priority/respond to it with Siege Smash before the opponents can respond with Spell Pierce?

I dont %100 Understand this Show

408.1c The active player gets priority at the beginning of most phases and steps, after any game actions are dealt with and abilities that trigger at the beginning of that phase or step go on the stack. No player gets priority during the untap step and players usually don’t get priority during the cleanup step (see rule 314.3). The player with priority may play a spell or ability, take a special action, or pass. If he or she plays a spell or ability, or takes a special action, the player again receives priority; otherwise, the next player in turn order receives priority. If all players pass in succession (that is, if all players pass without taking any actions in between passing), the top object on the stack resolves, then the active player receives priority. If the stack is empty when all players pass in succession, the phase or step ends and the next one begins

nuperokaso on Ultra Budget Mono-Blue Spirits

1 month ago

• Remove Hidden Strings. It offers nothing for you except the possibility to tap 2 creatures as a sorcery. Cipher is irrelevant after that. Play Nebelgast Herald or Dreamshackle Geist instead. Both offer possibility to get rid of unwanted creatures while adding pressure on the table. With 16 lords, you want to add creatures.
• Shore Up is better than You See a Guard Approach. You already play Rattlechains. As such, you want something more than yet another hexproof. Shore Up adds a little stats and untaps the creature, giving you a chance to kill a creature in combat.
• I would maybe add 1 Island.
• 1 random Counterspell or Spell Pierce could make a way into the deck. In low numbers, it's hard to play around them.

wallisface on Sheoldred Control

4 months ago

Some thoughts:

• As already mentioned, both Teferi's Protection and Thriving Moor are not modern legal.

• Also as already mentioned, you always want your deck to be at 60 cards - anything above this is a concession of both power and reliability. The first thing you should be doing is ditching 19 cards to get back to 60.

• your deck is running a LOT of really suboptimal versions of cards. Specifically, i’d be expecting countermagic like Counterspell, No More Lies, and Spell Pierce. And interaction like Prismatic Ending, Fatal Push, and Leyline Binding. And, board-wipes like Supreme Verdict or Damn.

• some of these cards seem more “cute” than “useful”. Specifically looking at Smothering Tithe, Palantir of Orthanc, and Approach of the Second Sun.

• the landbase needs a lot of work, soecifically fetchlands and shocklands (allied fetchlands are getting reprinted in mh3 this year so should get a lot cheaper when that happens).

wallisface on Azorius Aggro-Control deck

5 months ago

• Preordain is miles better than Serum Visions

• yes you can trigger Lion Sash multiple times. You’d presumably always do it in the opponents end step.

• I should reiterate as I have been this whole thread that your artifact creatures aren’t very-well suited for a control or aggro shell at-all… this is why i’d suggested a bunch of creatures that would actually help you. I know you like Ethersworn Canonist but this is a really bad home for it - trying to force it into this deck is going to make it’s performance bad, and the deck worse.

• Haughty Djinns 3-mana cost can be a little awkward, but i’ll note Murktide Regent is two mana and survives fine. The trick is to know the matchups well enough to gauge when to ”shields down” to cast it - or wait till you have 4-5 lands so you can also Spell Pierce or Counterspell.

• Tolarian Terror is 1 mana and wins the game on its own. You’re in no massive rush to dump it down, but tempo-control builds could often get it down by turn 3-4 no problem.

• Touch the Spirit Realm is fine, but not great. You’re unlikely to ever channel it, but it’ll still be decent-enough.

• Detention Sphere is decent.

• of course opponents will be paying 2 mana to crack clues, but only if its the best thing for them to be doing fir their turn. Them gaining clues is an advantage for them.

9-lives on Azorius Aggro-Control deck

5 months ago

What I'm saying about Assemble the Players is that since it is automatically casting on my turn a creature spell of, say 2 mana, it is not a loss at all even if I only spend 1 turn with it on the field. Thus, it is no loss at all, and if it stays on the field for 2 turns, then it gives an advantage.

Ahh. I agree that Spell Pierce is better! Thank you for recommending it, because I'll be running it!

Oppressive Rays is good considering that I want to tie up as much mana as possible. 3 mana per creature is really nice, considering that oppressive rays is 1 mana cost. I have played this card whenever I was running my Azorius Defender-Damage deck, and it worked really well. Can you recommend any mana-tying up cards that are like Oppressive Rays but better?! I'm thinking Lawmage's Binding is nice, but I really want a mana-intensive card that ties up mana.

Ahh, you're right about Urza's Saga. I was thinking that it would allow me to search for 1 white mana cards, but yeah. So, I'll just use it to tutor out Mishra's Bauble, I guess.

Mishra's Bauble is amazing. I really don't know why you're arguing against it, considering that it is a staple in a lot of competitive decks. And, yes, they may shuffle, but I'm counting on that they don't, and looking at the top card is great for predicting what will happen. Do you think this hand-knowledge is good? I think it will give me the heads-up for using counterspells on the opponent's turn.

Defiant Strike is just a suboptimal draw card, and adds +1 power. Nothing too bad or too good about it. I don't mind running it, considering that I need to increase the power of my creatures as a support for my aggro-control archetype.

I have a question for you! What is a good card for granting haste in Azorius colors?? I don't even know if they have this type of card available.

wallisface on Azorius Aggro-Control deck

5 months ago

9-lives

For Defiant Strike you yourself even admit that Opt and Preordain are better - and that's the exact reason why this card is bad.

I have no idea what you mean by "And, no, I don't have to cast two creatures for it to be worthwhile, as whenever i cast it I would lose nothing if I didn't keep it for over 2 turns.". Assemble the Players does effectively nothing on its own. You play it, and now you have 1-less resource in-hand, for no inherent board-state advantage. Once you play the first creature from the top of your deck with it, now you've at-least "broken even" - that is, the cards you've invested into it have equaled the gain in boardstate you have acquired (albeit, costing 2 additional mana and having to wait an undetermined number of turns, so still being more hassle-than-value). Only once you've cast your second creature from the topdeck, has the card made any kind of net-advantage. The problem is that the sheer amount of time it would take to achieve that is ridiculous.

You are saying "Oppressive Rays is far underrated" but this is just your unfounded opinion. There's good reason why it sees no play at all, even in budget decks or in Pauper (where you can only play commons... if it's not even seeing play there then alarm bells should be ringing!).

Spell Pierce is infinitely better than Miscast, simply because it hits a much, much wider berth of spells. The difference between an opponent paying {2} or {3} is far less-wide of a gap than the one between only being able to target instants and sorceries, versus being able to target instants, sorceries, planeswalkers, enchantments, artifacts, and battles.

Mishra's Bauble doesn't let you look at the opponents hand at all, just their topdeck (which may get shuffled away before they draw anyway). Urza's Saga can only specifically search for artifacts costing exactly {0} or {1}, which none of your artifact creatures are, so you cannot grab them with this card.

I am looking at the whole deck. Some of the cards I have said are bad here can conceivably work in different shells. Just not remotely this one.

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I have asked you twice now already what your budget is for this deck, so that people giving you card suggestions can cater this for what you are wanting to spend. If you want people to be able to help you, you need to include this information!

The biggest problem holding your decks back at the moment, as far as I can see, is that their constructor is too stubborn and not-open enough to feedback. By getting super-combative with every suggestion/response people give you, these decks are not going to be able to improve, and instead cycle around in a rut indefinitely. The best thing you can do to help strengthen your deckbuilding is learning to be more open to healthy non-combative discussion, and being more open to listening to others ideas. Coming to a pre-determined decision that everything you've done is correct from the start only serves to leave you exactly where you began.

9-lives on Azorius Aggro-Control deck

5 months ago

What is so bad about Defiant Strike if it's simply a addition to having the ability to draw a card? It's no Opt or even Preordain, but it's good for my purposes.

And, no, I don't have to cast two creatures for it to be worthwhile, as whenever i cast it I would lose nothing if I didn't keep it for over 2 turns.

Oppressive Rays is far underrated for its power.

I have 13 counterspells out of around 70 cards. Miscast is not better nor worse than Spell Pierce. Spell Pierce is targeting other things, and also has a different mana cost to the opponent.

Urza's Saga and Mishra's Bauble are great. The latter lets me look at the opponent's hand. The former is good for artifacts, and can search for artifact creatures as well as Mishra's Bauble.