Spell Pierce
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Legality

Format Legality
1v1 Commander Legal
Alchemy Legal
Archenemy Legal
Arena Legal
Block Constructed Legal
Brawl Legal
Canadian Highlander Legal
Casual Legal
Commander / EDH Legal
Commander: Rule 0 Legal
Custom Legal
Duel Commander Legal
Gladiator Legal
Highlander Legal
Historic 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
Tiny Leaders Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Spell Pierce

Instant

Counter target noncreature spell unless its controller pays .

ASalesman on Unesh, Ultimate Guide (Tribal)

1 day ago

I wasn't able to get a whole lot of games in yesterday, but I had one particular game where I lost spectacularly for a few different reasons.

Here is the setup:

I'll hit only on the key points to this story. Turn 1 goes around and nothing crazy happens, Tymna/Thrasios plays a mana dork, I play out my artifacts holding up Spell Pierce. Talion turn 2 plays Mystic Remora, and I decide to counter it with Spell Pierce. This is the wrong decision on multiple fronts. (1) I am first priority, I should've let the rest of the table deal with it because (2) it doesn't actually affect Unesh that much when I want to cast creatures, & (3) letting Talion draw cards in this instance could allow them to combo before me, but that means Talion will consume the tables resources so I can combo off after. Talion passes to me. I play an Island and note that I can power out Unesh with Dramatic Reversal and my 2 artifacts in play. Because I countered Mystic Remora, I should have done this. Instead I pass and basically do nothing, because I didn't have protection for Unesh & I wanted to preserve the combo piece. I think even without protection, it is still a good play to get Unesh on the table. Using the combo piece here is okay because I can get it back using Mystic sanctuary later, and I already have a scalding tarn in hand to fetch it if I need to. Pass to Tymna/Thrasios, they play Neoform sacrificing their mana dork. Had I not countered Mystic remora, I could've countered neoform and paid the Mystic Remora Tax which is what I should've done. With no responses neoform resolves and he fetches Collector Ouphe. At this point I am out of the game for a few turns which was ultimately enough to make me lose to chip damage and mana crypt a turn or 2 before I can combo off. I did take third because I took out the Talion player by casting a spell while their library was empty (granted they misplayed).

There is always unknown in the fog of war and hind sight is 20/20, but there were definitely some things here I could've seen coming. I think the biggest take away I think is that Unesh naturally allies with another blue combo player if they are the only other one at the table.

ASalesman on Unesh, Ultimate Guide (Tribal)

4 days ago

GHoag thank you for your most critical feedback. I agree with a lot you have to say on this. There are a few things I'd like to discuss further. I'll mirror your format so you know how I am responding to what. Thank you for the praise on the list so far, there is definitely some things to be worked out still. "The pinnacle is a concept only to the unambitious" -flavor text from a card I don't remember lol. (sorry for the novel below)

Regarding Fetchlands, I think the deck thinning is negligible or very hard to notice at most. This aspect of them definitely can't be a bad thing. But playtesting has shown that the negative effects of including them are negligible. I have never been upset about running all 4. Also, the synergy these lands has with Vantress Visions (Virtue of Knowledge) feels reeeally good.

Rite of Replication is expensive mana wise. The purpose of Rite is to get through your whole deck in one go assuming Unesh is on the field, which is not always the case. In my playtesting, it has been very hard to resolve due to mana cost, and when you do meet the mana requirement it is never safe from interaction. Given these flaws, this card might as well say "if you are targetting Unesh and this card resolves, you win the game." With the FOFs, you can pick up all counter magic and free mana rocks on the way down your deck to cast & protect Thassa's Oracle. A non-negligible side effect, this makes choosing piles easier to do because you no longer have to grab sphinxs or other wincons. This wincon is still relevant at this mana cost. I think the jury is still out if this is the best choice though. With inifinite mana you can do something similar, and I'll talk more about this below. Q: Why not add Personal Tutor? Simply because you don't need 3 copies of Rite. I already don't like Mystical Tutor, but the versatility to grab any instant makes it worth it. By the time you meet the mana requirement, you will have seen Rite or Mystical Tutor. Personal Tutor is too narrow to have in a slot, even on the 'Rite' plan.

cEDH meta talk, there is Turbo, midrange, and stax (early win, midgame win, lategame win respectively.) The average win without any interaction is turn 6-7 on this revision. This solidly puts Unesh into midrange. I think he can be sped up a bit with more revisions. Turn 4 is a late win for Turbo, but with enough interaction to stop the turbo player we can get to the midrange and win the game. Unesh suffers against a a few stax pieces. The main ones being Torpor Orb (which doesn't see a ton of play these days), and Null Rod and Collector Ouphe. Collectore Ouphe doesn't feel so bad with our interaction suite, and Null Rod is even more of a nuissance. If both are on the field, it is an absolute nightmare for Unesh.

Creatures: Yes a lot of fat was trimmed, and it took some time to really narrow down the best Sphinxs in these slots. There is still room for improvement here. For instance Vexing Sphinx feels awful. The reason I added it a while back was because he can be played early game for a bit of card draw. The card draw from this is not worth the mana spent, the fact that even with Unesh out he is 2 blue to cast also feels very bad. I will definitely replace him with another Sphinx, probably Argent Sphinx or Metallic Mimic. For 2 blue I am much happier to see the mana sink on Argent Sphinx. And for 2 colorless I am happy to see possibly the next cheapest sphinx not already in the deck. Enigma Thief though high CMC, I can reliably cast him for his prowl cost at 2 cmc, and his removal is top notch. Dream Eater though the removal is not the best, it is still good. The kicker here is honestly the surveil 4. You do Unesh FOF first, then surveil 4 and hopefully you can put all 4 in the graveyard. Still dream eater does feel a bit slower than everything else. Scholar of the Lost Trove, upfront I feel very strongly about this card. It's not because this is a pet card, it's because I think its very powerful in this deck. Even at 5cmc which is what I normally cast it for, it feels like insane value. You get the Unesh trigger, and a wincon from the graveyard that the opponents thought they didn't have to deal with anymore. After doing some math on this, the average cost of an Unesh trigger with Unesh on the field is ~2.25 cmc in the current revision (that is the cmc of a card generating the FOF divided by the total number of things generating FOFs excluding Rite). At 5 cmc, casting the Scholar gives you a 4 cmc game winning artifact and a ~2.25 cmc Unesh trigger. Not to mention, it gives you flexibility in choosing piles. For instance, If an opponent erroneously puts Panharmonicon in a pile by itself, you can shamelessly take the other 3 cards in that FOF. Palinchron is also rather expensive to set up, but not as expensive as Rite. I think it is a good back up win condition. If Rite doesn't resolve, or if Isochron w/ dramatic reversal doesn't resolve, we need at least one other way to combo off. With ways to tutor for High Tide this win condition has been online surprisingly often, and is definitely threatening. That said having this AND Rite feels too heavy mana wise. I think I am pretty much sold on Isoscepter because of how inexpensive it is. With recent mana rock additions as well as Mox Diamond and Grim Monolith (mentioned below) the wincon is online for far cheaper than Rite and effectively does the same job, also dramatic reversal can be used as a one time use now which makes it good on it's own.

Lands: After a day of listening to cEDH podcasts, this is what I came up with. Urza's Saga is nuts. After playtesting with these lands I felt a big power spike. Thank you for mentioning Mystic Sanctuary again. I didn't think about it being able to retrieve a wincon which is pretty relevant. I will consider slipping this one back in there. I also think that losing just one more Island wouldn't be very impactful. What do you think about Command Beacon? After playtesting, I think there is such a niche case when this card is good in cEDH. I think I prefer an Island here given the more recent revisions.

Enchantments: Agreed, all of these are great cards. Not much to change here.

Instants: I don't think there are any cuts to be made here. After playtesting I think I need to add more Instants to more reliably shut off early combo wins. Demonic Consultation and Ad Nauseum are rampant. Even fitting in a Dispel or Spell Pierce to the deck would go a long way.

Artifacts: Work needs to be done here. I agree with a lot of what you are saying. Lightning Greaves feels bad because board interaction is light and stack interaction is high in cEDH. Caged Sun is usually too expensive to play without cheating it in with Scholar. But scholar wants to hit other game winning cards anyway, so Caged sun needs to go. Grim Monolith and Mox Diamond need to go in. I have been reluctant to add them to the list because I don't have paper copies. You are spot on with these two though. I am not high on Moonsilver Key, but I do like Wayfarer's Bauble. The bauble putting a land into play is important to getting palinchron online, and this also sees great synergy with Vantress Visions similar to the fetch lands. Though bauable is definitely worse than mox diamond and grim monolith, it would be my last cut. Mox Amber indeed doesn't power Unesh out, but we don't need it to. I will say that my playtests have really favored this card. Being able to play more mana artifacts after a FOF for free will keep the FOFs rolling. Mox Amber feels very good. Mox diamond is superior, but I won't take out Mox Amber for it.

REVISION: After synthesizing both our viewpoints, here is a revision that I will go ahead and push. I think you will like this mostly, but let me know your doubts.

EXPLANAITION: This rev cuts the Rite wincon and adds the less expensive Isoscepter wincon. There is still backup wincon in Aetherflux. Isoscepter is backed up by Palinchron, and Aetherflux is supported by Palinchron. Obviously, the goal with infinite mana is to play Thassa's eventually. Dramatic Reversal is good enough on its own now because of the artifacts added recently. I honestly think this is the cheapest that the wincon package can be while still being robust enough to not fizzle out. With these wincons, Unesh doesn't have to be on the field, which makes the deck less reliant on him, mitigating one of the deck's biggest flaws. Cutting Lightning Greaves will likely be inconsequential due to low board state interaction. Muddle and Spell pierce add some more stack interaction while Muddle can find combo pieces. I went with Spell pierce over Dispel because it can hit stax pieces as well as stopping an early combo win. Cutting a sphinx now relies on Ghostly Flicker to be part of the 20%. Mystic Sanctuary and Scholar of the Lost Trove are used to retrieve wincons from the grave if necessary.

I heavily considered subbing Dream Eater for Argent Sphinx. I will need to playtest that change before committing to it.

IXALAN_Crazy on Izzet Tempo

1 week ago

Some thoughts from a fellow Murktide player:

Expressive Iteration over Serum Visions for greater card advantage.

I would add more disruption such as Unholy Heat and Spell Pierce over cards like Manamorphose and Izzet Charm.

This is more of a meta call but cutting 1 or 2 Ledger Shredders might be a good idea so your first game isn't miserable against Orcish Bowmasters

I've seen other people say this on here, but running a one of or maybe even 2 Blood Moon would be great in here, I would just cut Fiery Islet for off color fetches such as Misty Rainforest and add an island or two.

I like that you included Stormwing Entity a lot but depending how it plays the Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer would put more pressure on your opponent.

wallisface on Mutate, Mutate, Mutate, Mutate

1 week ago

You can’t have Muddle the Mixture in your deck if Jegantha, the Wellspring is your Companion, so one of those have to go (i don’t think Jegantha, the Wellspring is offering you anything useful so i’m not sure why he’s here, bit also if you’re running counter magic you’re better-off with Counterspell or Spell Pierce).

I still see no benefit to Igneous Inspiration and it should really be anything else.

I really think your mutate package should be including a playset of Parcelbeast… that card feels stronger than all these other cards you’re running - and might actually help ramp you somewhat.

wallisface on Whimsical UB

3 weeks ago

Both Peppersmoke and Noggin Whack feel really weak - i think you’d be better off using cards like Spell Pierce, Counterspell, Drown in the Loch, or maybe even Subtlety.

I also think Faerie Impostor, Nightshade Stinger, and Oona's Prowler all feel super suboptimal, and it would be better to ditch these to run playsets of your better fairies (paricularly Spellstutter Sprite, as this is the strongest faerie by a long way and pretty-much the only valid reason to run the tribe), as well as some of the above-mentioned cards.

azja on yuriko edh 500

1 month ago

Hey thanks again for your comments on my primer :)

A few suggestions I have:

  1. Replace 2 mana enablers with weak/no abilities (such as Dimir Infiltrator and Gurmag Swiftwing) with 1 mana enablers (like Gudul Lurker) or stronger 2 mana enablers (i.e., Baleful Strix, Augury Owl).

  2. Replace 3 mana ramp (like Basalt Monolith, Dimir Locket) with 2 mana ramp (i.e., Dimir Signet or Talisman of Dominance).

  3. Soft permission spells such as Spell Pierce and Mana Leak are usually weak in budget/lower-powered pods because the games go longer. Some potential replacements could be Misdirection, Drown in the Loch.

  4. Cancel, Murder, Hero's Downfall, Perplex, Connive / Concoct and Rite of Undoing seem quite weak to me. Some budget-friendly cards I like that you might want to play are Curtains' Call, Portent, Far / Away, Discovery / Dispersal, Submerge, and Murderous Cut.

Good luck in your tournament!

DreadKhan on Competitive dimir faeries- sideboard help!

1 month ago

I've always loved the idea of using Oona's Blackguard with Bitterblossom, I tried it out in a Rogue deck, but I couldn't get it to work the way I wanted it to, so I put the Bitterblossoms in a Faerie deck instead. I also like how Scion of Oona further buffs them, but it's pretty strange seeing the non-Faeries in here. I also think you'll want more control elements, either more counter magic, such as more Force of Wills, or more discard, such as Thoughtseize. Lots of decks like this will run x4 of each, but I did notice you might struggle to have enough Blue spells to work with Force, so perhaps you'll need to look further afield? I use Dispel in my Faerie deck, but I usually need to protect my combo to win from Instants. There is also Spell Pierce that might work. The reason I mention control is because I don't think your Aggro plan is going to be fast enough for Legacy, even Burn decks want to finish the game turns 3 or 4, more control elements will give you that much more time for your Aggro to work.

A lot of people are talking about it eating a ban at some point, but The One Ring is always worth considering, it's hard to kill and while it starts out as a slightly worse Harmonize, it quickly draws a lot of cards, which would have big synergy with your Aether Vials, as well as your generally low MV. It also makes things like Force of Will a LOT better, once you're drawing 3 or 4 cards, you are not only more likely to see a Force, you're more likely to have spare Blue spells.

As for lands, I like a lot of it, but I think Marsh Flats is the wrong dual for this deck, I actually like the idea of running a bunch of Basics so you don't just lose to a Blood Moon, so if you're looking to upgrade your mana base, you could try Polluted Deltas. Blood Moon will still suck, but between Aether Vial and the ability to sneak out the right Basic early you should be in much better shape.

In my Faerie deck I've been surprised at how useful the somewhat janky Exhaustion proves, with your might better Bitterblossom utility (you could be making 3/3s or better), it could feel even better. It is timing sensitive, but when people are tapped out it's 3 mana for what feels very close them skipping a turn if they can't untap while you get to advance your board with Bitterblossom. That said, I do run it with Mistbind Cliques, which I try to flicker to lock opponents out of mana, so Exhaustion is dual purpose in my deck.

Have you thought about using Faerie Miscreant over Faerie Seer? I suspect Seer is usually better, but Miscreant is a Faerie Rogue, which could be helpful with your Blackguards. It can also draw a card now and then.

Cool idea, I hope the upgrades go well!

jdogz32 on Lesser Masticore = Exodia!?

2 months ago

Deck looks good, you have almost nothing to do on turn one. I'd suggest adding something like Spell Pierce or taking Void Snare out of your sideboard. I'd also recommend adding Ceremonious Rejection to your sideboard if you are worried about karn and pithing needle. This will stop both of those threats. Hope this helps

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