Stubborn Denial

Instant

Counter target noncreature spell unless its controller pays {1}.

Ferocious — If you control a creature with power 4 or greater, counter that spell instead.

Discussion (51)

hungry000 on Upkeep, Reveal land on top, flip Delver

2 months ago

Thanks for the comments! I really appreciate the help testing.

I was also thinking of going down at least 1 Snapcaster, but I haven't done very many tests either. I was talking to an online friend and they said Snap loses some versatility without 4 Stubborn Denial, but since I'm only playing 6 >4 power creatures I don't think the deck can activate Ferocious consistently enough to have all four. So cutting Snaps for discard or something could be correct.

I don't know about filling out the playset of Agadeem's Awakening. This deck, while two color, still needs some amount of fixing, and there isn't much space to cut fetch and shocklands for mono-colour lands.

Wizard_of_the_Broke on Upkeep, Reveal land on top, flip Delver

2 months ago

Did some playtesting too. Really good. But- Snapcaster didn't do much. I might rather have more Stubborn Denial or another bit of counter/protection, or maybe 2x Inquisition of Kozilek in most matchups. But this was literally just 3 games so I could be way off. Really strong deck in any case, well done.

Poseidon31 on Grixis Delver

2 months ago

Opt, Serum Visions, Fatal Push, Spell Snare, Mishra's Bauble and Inquisition of Kozilek are perfect cheap spells.

You only need 3 of Tasigur and Gurmag combined and even Pyromancer can be cut down to 2. Sprite Dragon is a great substitute.

You can cut down Stubborn Denial, Izzet Charm, Think Twice and Vapor Snag completely and Mana Leak down to 2-3. Countersquall, Drown in the Loch and Archmage's Charm are great alternatives.

zapyourtumor on Flesh and the Power it holds

3 months ago

yeah I was gonna say if you switch out blue for black the only card thats a big loss would be Stubborn Denial, since you can replace cloudfin with Experiment One, Pongify with push, and Contentious Plan with Tezzeret's Gambit or something idk

zapyourtumor on Boss Bolas

3 months ago

In terms of the cards, I assume you're going for a dragon tribal controlly deck. Silumgar's Scorn and Foul-Tongue Invocation are good and also dirt cheap. Grixis also gives you access to a lot of good non-dragon-themed cards like Lightning Bolt and Terminate. Since your dragons have high power, Stubborn Denial should do well in your deck. Fatal Push also got cheaper with the reprints.

For the dragons themselves, Stormbreath Dragon is pretty good. Same with Glorybringer and Dragonlord Silumgar. Dragonlord's Servant and Dragon's Hoard both ramp.

Xica on Esper Shadows - Plunge into Death!

3 months ago

Like Squirrelbacon said, the flexibility you get by spending mana at instant speed is hard to oversate in ANY deck that runs counterspells. It's the difference between losing to an early Liliana of the Veil, or catching it with Stubborn Denial.

Serum Visions's main strength is setting up the top of library for cards that care, like Delver of Secrets  ^Flip, or any card featuring the miracle mechanic - maybe Counterbalance...

Without the presence of such cards, Opt (supports counters), Thought Scour (helps with delve and escape costs), or even Hieroglyphic Illumination (scales well into late game) can all be superior options.
Of course just because you play esper, it doesn't mean you need to play counterspells.
However you need to make a resultion, and build your deck accordingly. Either run counterspells (with fully playset Stubborn Denial at bare minimum) and support for them, or don't.
Half assing that decision is a terrible idea.

icehit6 on Esper Shadows - Plunge into Death!

3 months ago

Hey there. I appreciate all of the suggestions. I’ve just come back into MTG recently, since my girlfriend plays with me and I’ve been teaching her.

A couple things to address on my end! Ranger-Captain of Eos versus Spoils of the Vault. I did definitely and do definitely see the value of Ranger, but Spoils allows for a few interesting things other than just fetching Death's Shadow.

With Phyrexian Unlife, I can fetch any card in the deck without worry of losing. Loss of life does not count as damage! So no infect. Following that, what makes it strong is I can grab any card in the deck at instant speed, which makes for a lot of other tricky plays past grabbing Death's Shadow.

Spoils of the Vault is also a very effective life dump. I’ve used it in many situations to make my Death’s Shadow(s) lethal without killing myself.

Unearth versus Orzhov Charm I believe is playstyle and preference. Unearth allows for an instant speed graveyard play. For one more mana, I feel Orzhov Charm provides more value overall.

For example, if I have Death's Shadow on the battlefield, and a player uses Path to Exile on it, the only way two ways the deck allows protection is Stubborn Denial or Orzhov Charm by bouncing back to my hand. Overall, I cannot afford to lose Death’s Shadow. Orzhov Charm provides board control, creature protection, and graveyard play all at instant speed, which at two mana is incredibly underrated value.

Opt is a preference. Serum Visions with one extra scry, arguably speaking, can put me one turn ahead in strategy.

Let me know your thoughts Squirrelbacon!

KIRK77 on toil of the roil

4 months ago

Hey thanks for the feedback Reznorboy! I certainly agree with you that counterspells are probably the way to go as they're more synergistic and can do a lot more for me than protect lands. It's my fault for not saying it earlier but my playgroup isn't too hot on counterspells or infinite combos, but I think I'm gonna squeeze in that Stubborn Denial. I'm thinking of running things like Stroke of Genius for my X cost draw so I can play it at instant speed but i'm up for the idea of it being at sorcery speed and drawing an extra card with stuff like Braingeyser. The land creature beatdown isn't super powerful when I'm trying to make all my lands creatures, most people can block a 3/3 with something a lot less valuable than a land and it costs me mana to attack. I like the idea of Brain Freeze but I just don't know if I can cast enough spells to make it happen. I'll work on reworking my win-con to use my big mana though, I think I'll have a lot more fun with that. Thanks again!