Spiketail Drakeling

Creature — Drake

Flying

Sacrifice Spiketail Drakeling: Counter target spell unless its controller pays {2}.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	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
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (12)

DreadKhan on Into the Sharknado

1 year ago

I gather you are looking for suggestions in the area of counterspells? I suspect you might consider whether you usually need to counter creature or non-creature spells, as there are Negate and Essence Scatter at 1U, as well as An Offer You Can't Refuse for a mere U. As you're in mono-Blue, if you didn't mind upping the budget a bit there is Counterspell, which is a fine card in many ways if not really suited to more competitive arenas.

Pretty out there, but Spiketail Hatchling, Spiketail Drakeling, and Spiketail Drake can all be sacrificed to counter an opponent using fairly large spells/effects, especially stuff like wipes. There is also Judge's Familiar to help with this, but it's more narrow. You mainly use these guys to protect something more important, including to counter an opponent's board wipe.

If your games tend to go pretty long, Gargoyle Castle can be useful, a 3/4 flyer trumps a Delver. The key is that it uses a land slot to be potentially a very solid body. There is also Mishra's Factory that can offer you a body, with Mishra's Factory being very hard to deal with as it's only a creature on your turn, and you don't have to summon it, so it blanks a lot of solutions and saw play in control decks historically for these reasons. I mention these two because you run a decent number of lands, perhaps you wouldn't notice having some colourless lands with so many Islands, and could benefit from some situational bodies.

_Delta_ on

5 years ago

Hey this looks like a good start but here are some more suggestions.

Swap Tempest Caller , for something else like Sleep which makes you a drake token also.

Swap Coldsteel Heart for either Fellwar Stone or Mind Stone .

Swap Salvager of Secrets for Archaeomancer .

Swap Sage-Eye Avengers for Guile .

Swap Spiketail Drakeling for Lullmage Mentor .

Swap Hall of Triumph for maybe Coat of Arms .

Also consider swapping Perplexing Chimera for Docent of Perfection  ^Flip.

I will think of more over time, hope this helps!

allanwlevy on Milldrotha, the Infinitetide (Muldrotha-EDH)

5 years ago

Huh, that's actually a really interesting combo I hadn't known about. I think it's very workable and cheaply costed, but with one catch. If you're going to run both this and Basalt Monolith + Mesmeric Orb , you're going to want a fair amount of artifact recursion. I put in two more pieces ( Buried Ruin and Rootwater Diver ) just to support the Orb combo. Creature-based combos are nice because they're easy to reanimate without Muldrotha, so definitely make sure you can reliably access your artifacts whether they're in the yard or not. Additionally, the more you focus on LabMan combos, the more important it is to protect those combos against spot removal and counters. If you get interrupted during that combo, you just lose. Good control pieces I've tried for this are Glen Elendra Archmage , Null Brooch , Spiketail Drakeling , and Sylvan Safekeeper .

You're very welcome! Hope your deck does well :)

Izu_Korasu on

6 years ago

I could see dropping the three more underwhelming storm cards, and the (correct me if im wrong) seemingly pointless flicker effects for better cantrips/counter producers/permanents that counter.

Manamorphose(and other rituals), Burning-Tree Emissary, Scarscale Ritual, Trace of Abundance, Abeyance and Gitaxian Probe to cantrip/increase storm.

Hydromorph Guardian, Judge's Familiar, Kira, Great Glass-Spinner, Spiketail Hatchling/Spiketail Drakeling are permanent options for counterspells that are cascade proof

Nivmagus Elemental, Clout of the Dominus, Hardened Scales and Past in Flames, Recoup, Baral, Chief of Compliance and Rashmi, Eternities Crafter feel like useful utility cards to mention.

Hyperalgialysis on Tokemon *Budget* Temmet EDH

6 years ago

Your maybe board looks like one awesome deck. Your main would greatly benefit from including bits of it. Regardless, if you want to keep it under $50 I will try and offer some budget options you may not have considered. Quicksilver Gargantuan is a great Clone and pairs really well with Stolen Identity. Identity Thief is awesome with etb effects. I also like Sram's Expertise, Servo Exhibition and Raise the Alarm all solid token makers. If you start seeing some value in adding more instant and sorcery spells, Talrand, The Sky Summoner and Talrand's Invocation are both solid in that type of strategy. I did see the incovation in the maybe board but if talrand makes it in the invoaction is good too. Elspeth, Knight-Errant starts to get out of price range but is so good I had to mention her. A few good board wipes are Descend upon the Sinful Planar Outburst and Planar Cleansing. The cleansing makes your opponents so sad cause it hits mana rocks too. Judge's Familiar Spiketail Hatchling Spiketail Drakeling and Spiketail Drake are all good targets for copy effects and give that extra value since they are counterspells on a stick, and they fly! One last good thing to cover would be draw. Since you are lacking a little, Jace's Ingenuity and Opportunity are both great at instant speed and really net a lot of cards for the investment. Mind Spring is really good since it can dig so deep late game. Think Twice Catalog Artificer's Epiphany Tragic Lesson all instant speed and most do not require a discard.

PlanarDevourer on Pump UR

7 years ago

Blighted Agent seems like a poor choice for this deck, as it lacks both the ability to pump itself and does not contribute to the damage dealt by your other creatures due to its infect. In its stead I would probably run something like Neurok Invisimancer or even Spiketail Hatchling/Spiketail Drakeling for some disruption. Additionally I think that the Piracy Charms could probably be replaced with Vapor Snags as it is probably a more effective way at pushing past blockers.

foxboy93 on Marchesa, The Accountant [Retired}

7 years ago

flapjackwars

I have added an "Update", saying what was taken out and exchanged for. A few different things were added, such as smaller life gain things. Zulaport Cutthroat, Gray Merchant of Asphodel, and Disciple of Bolas. Disciple might come out for Alchemist's Apprentice, but i haven't really decided. But, it is card draw AND life gain. Ob Nix Planeswalker might also go in, since it can make a demon, gain life from the + ability, and his emblem is Disciple of Bolas on an emblem.

I am considering changing Beacon for a different animate spells, like Corpse Dance, not to mention it has buyback. Mausoleum Wanderer and Spiketail Drakeling might not be bad additions instead of counter spells. Stubborn Denial might be a good addition, since as soon as Marchesa gets a counter, its a 1 mana counter spell. Or anything with power 4 or more. Puppeteer Clique can combo with Mikaeus though, allowing for infinite sac effects and reanimate of my opponents stuff to attack with. I do agree that the CMC could get lower. Grave Titan and Novijen Sages/Helium Squirter COULD come out, probably Squirter over Sages, just due to the card draw. Titan might be able to be removed though. Not too sure. Another low creature I could consider is Simic Fluxmage, since he can evolve and then can move counters elsewhere if need be.

Someone pointed out Ring of Evos Isle, providing a way to give Marchesa a counter, but also a way to give her sudo hexproof. Not entirely sure though.

flapjackwars on Marchesa, The Accountant [Retired}

7 years ago

I think you should try to find room for Vigean Graftmage. Graft is so powerful on curve with Marchesa that the cheapest graft card is, in my opinion, the best. I only run Graftmage, Unspeakable Symbol, Sage of Fables, and Cytoplast Manipulator for counter production, but I almost always find myself tutoring for them because recurring a creature during each player's turn is when Marchesa is at its most powerful. Other decent ways to protect her are Mausoleum Wanderer and Spiketail Drakeling, which can both counter a spell pointed at her the turn she comes in and benefit from her ability. As for lifegain, I only run Gray Merchant of Asphodel alongside tutors, clones, and effects like Puppeteer Clique and Bribery. Lifegain is so situational that I find the easiest way to work it into my deck is to take it from my opponents when I need it.

As for more general suggestions, Alchemist's Apprentice and Baleful Strix come down on 2 when you're probably not doing anything else and can draw you cards turn after turn once you stick Marchesa. I'm really fond of Trinket Mage because it finds Sol Ring and Skullclamp. Grim Haruspex will draw you a billion cards. Big Game Hunter is a nice effect to be able to recur in order to police the boardstate. Same with Sedraxis Alchemist. Oona's Blackguard is such a strong effect if you curve out into Marchesa. Fire Covenant is an insane undiscovered gem that I feel belongs in every black and red EDH deck. Subterranean Tremors and Blasphemous Act have huge blowout potential and more boardwipes in general are just a great way for this deck to beat decks with bigger creatures. As you may be able to tell, I like playing low-cmc creatures in order to curve out with Marchesa. But when you're actually able to curve a sac outlet into a value creature into a +1/+1 counter enabler into Marchesa, it's pretty amazing.

As far as cuts go, I would probably recommend you drop Mephidross Vampire, Novijen Sages, Grave Titan, Hedron Archive, Brutal Expulsion, and Beacon of Unrest. I would personally also drop anything with 6+ CMC besides Flayer of the Hatebound, most of the mana rocks besides Sol Ring, some of the higher-CMC sac outlets like Grimgrin, the counterspells, and some of the more expensive card draw like Erebos.

Hope this helped.