Veil of Summer

Instant

Draw a card if an opponent has cast a blue or black spell this turn. Spells you control can't be countered this turn. You and permanents you control gain hexproof from blue and from black until end of turn. (You and they can't be the targets of blue or black spells or abilities your opponents control.)

Discussion (51)

DrkNinja on The Beamtown Bullies

3 days ago

Replace Guttural Response with Veil of Summer just a better version for the same cost and it draws you a card

jaymc1130 on cEDH is going to have …

1 month ago

At least, that is what some of my preliminary data is suggesting. There is a particular 15ish card package that fits into any deck with green that covers a deck's ramp needs, control needs, and combo win needs while also having synergy with each of the independent components leading to some unbelievably robust and powerful play patterns. Right now, in a limited sample size mind you, this package is winning better than 40% of it's games.

There aren't many instances of this occurring in our group's data set. In fact, there are 3.

1. Paradox Engine. Before this card got banned we were seeing a vacuum win rate potential for this card of 40%+, which was absurd. We assumed it would get banned, about 6 months later, it was.

2. Hullbreacher and Opposition Agent. When these cards were spoiled our group knew immediately they would eventually be banned, they are that fundamentally broken in cEDH settings. Sure enough, this 2 card package instantly began posting vacuum win rate potentials of 40%+ (over 50%+ before we learned play patterns to cope with how abusive the play pattern of this package was). Hullbreacher got banned, Oppo Agent is awaiting it's inevitable ban hammer.

3. The Inception Package. This was a concept focused around using Extract and targeted discard to neuter fast glass cannon combo archetypes back in the hey day of the Flash Hulk meta. The concept dominated the meta completely and utterly 4 and 5 years ago and posted vacuum win rate potentials of 40%+ because the cEDH community had yet to realize that running 10+ critical cards devoted to a single combo line of play was very ineffective in the face of any exile effects hitting those critical combo pieces and turning the remaining 9+ cards into dead card slots for the remainder of the game. Over time, as more new cards were printed, the resilience of the metascape improved and the printing of Veil of Summer largely brought the Inception package back to parity within the metascape. Post Flash banning the concept became a less enticing option. Lucky break, no bans needed.

Which brings us to the current issue. The Summer Bloom package that has been powered up as of late with new card printings. It's too soon to tell if this package is problematic enough to require a ban, but it's possible that Summer Bloom should simply get the axe at some point, it is a degenerate combo card after all. The crux of the issue is that the play pattern enabled by this package covers every requirement of a competitive deck within these 15ish cards. Accelerated board development, covered. Combo win line, covered. Card advantage, covered. Consistent deployment of primary game plans by turn 3, covered. Ability to interact with and control opposing board states, covered. Now, it's not too much to ask for all these things from a set of 15 cards in competitive settings, but usually these 15 cards won't all work together to enhance each other's effectiveness and make those 15 cards feel more like 30 cards worth of value in game. This could be a real problem in due time, particularly since the package can be used in any deck with green as a color at the moment, which means the package can be ported into a wide variety of shells.

The package in question: Bala Ged Recovery  ^Flip, Life from the Loam, Summer Bloom, Azusa, Lost but Seeking, Dryad of the Ilysian Grove, Lotus Cobra, Tireless Provisioner, Gaea's Cradle, Boseiju, Who Endures, Strip Mine, Cloudstone Curio, Crucible of Worlds. Personally, I recommend a supplement to the package of Green Sun's Zenith, Dryad Arbor, and at least 5 mana dorks. Utopia Sprawl and Wild Growth can also be used to supplement the ramp efforts, but aren't critical to the concept and are, in fact, vulnerable to opponents who employ the concept themselves.

Why is this package a potential problem and why is it posting win rates over 40% at the moment in testing? Well, it largely boils down to some fundamental principles of cEDH. Those principles? Playing more cards than opponents is good and improves the odds of winning, seeing more cards from your deck than opponents is good an improves the odds of winning, and using fewer cards than opponents to achieve a desired result is good and improves the odds of winning. Conversely, opponents that see fewer cards, play fewer cards, and who use more cards to achieve desired goals also improve your odds of beating those opponents. This particular package hits along each of these axes, it plays a lot more cards because it keeps reusing the same cards over and over again, it sees a lot more cards because it's constantly thinning it's deck as part of this play pattern reusing lands in particular, and it gets to save space because the core components every competitive deck needs are included already in just these 15ish cards meaning it needs to use less card slots to achieve more things, and the gameplans are consistently able to be deployed and put into place in the early turns of a game. Simultaneously the play patterns of this package are an extreme hinderance to opponents because their board states have a very tough time developing into useful configurations when their lands, artifacts, and enchantments keep getting wiped every turn cycle.

Again, it's very early in this, and I would hesitate to say it's Boseiju that's putting this package over the top right now, but something about this set up is very clearly problematic for the health of the format. I'd abuse this set up while you have a chance, the cEDH community is incredibly slow to adapt to new trends so there's a good chance this package will be abusable for a couple extra free wins per 100 games played for about a year or so. At some point I kind of expect some portion of this package to get the ban hammer, but I don't expect it soon. It took them almost a year for Hullbreacher and Golos after all, and I thought those were cards that ought to be preemptively banned from the format the day they each got spoiled.

grimcase21 on Varolz, the Scar-Striped EDH - Competitive

1 month ago

If you are still looking to improve the deck, I've also been working on this deck for a long long time (when the card came out). I've always like the voltron big swing style as it was unique to commander, but my deck is solely for 1v1 and does not work very well in multiplayer. Here is a list of cards that I would recommend that have worked wonders for me.

Budget options

Tainted Strike - 2nd berserk (if you're ok with infect)

Belt of Giant Strength - after you scavenge, 2 mana equipment, free equip for another 8 power

Not of This World - my secret tech, after you make it big it's free

Veil of Summer - with this style of deck protection is very important

Sylvan Safekeeper - free protection that they constantly have to respect Wild Shape - flexible, mostly used for hexproof or trample

Jarad's Orders - the 2nd best tutor after buried alive, because there will be 2 creatures you always search for and it's on curve. you always look for Elvish Spirit Guide and Phyrexian Dreadnought. Phyrexian Dreadnought goes to graveyard and Elvish Spirit Guide goes to hand, exile, scavenge, swing with 14 power on turn 3-4.

Unmarked Grave - entomb #2

Demonic Embrace - you can entomb this and give you commander evasion and +3/+1.

Bramblewood Paragon - play this turn 2, minor buff counter, and gives trample because Varolz, the Scar-Striped is a warrior

Rancor - buff and trample, you need to get through

Destiny Spinner - one of the few ways green has to fight counters

Solidarity of Heroes - 2 mana double the 12/13 counters

Wild Growth - it may not be a creature, but it does get our commander out on turn 2

Mausoleum Secrets - 2 mana instant demonic tutor, you sac a dork in response, go find Phyrexian Dreadnought/Death's Shadow, protection spell, or in 99% of cases that I use this one is Berserk

Non-budget additions

Elvish Spirit Guide - serves 2 purposes, the Jarad's Orders trick and making all your turn 2 plays turn 1 (like Sylvan Library), you can also end the Survival of the Fittest chain with elvish spirit guide to do the same trick

Sylvan Safekeeper - free protection that they must always respect, it's very good

Collective Brutality - I value discard highly in 1v1. It also allows you to ditch your scavenge target from your hand to the graveyard while seeing the coast is clear. But in multiplayer, less useful.

Lightning Greaves - haste and protection, yes plz

Dismember - takes care of many of the early problematic targets

super non-budget

Hatred - 1 card win with commander

Necropotence - sculpt your hand for next turn kill

Cards that I would recommend reconsidering/taking out

Harmonize - a bit too slow imo

Arbor Elf - the amount of targets you actually have isn't enough to make it consistent

Asceticism - a bit too slow, you only care about the creature you scavenge on so in terms of mana efficiency something like Sylvan Safekeeper or Lightning Greaves

Quirion Elves/Devoted Druid - we want to go 1->3 mana, so we get our commander out on turn 2, this doesn't help to do that

Lanzo493 on What I Learned About This …

1 month ago

Something I learned that was really cool is how great Narset's Reversal is in a counterspell war. It can easily 2-for-1. If there’s a lot of counterspells a on the stack, you can bounce your own counterspell and retarget something else, effectively saving your own card and making the other players counter pointless because the spell got bounced. On the other hand, Pact of Negation can suck in counterspell wars because people will try to allow it to resolve if possible and work around it. The first time I used Veil of Summer against it was quite memorable.

nbarry223 on Viga-BOOM! (Turn 2)

2 months ago

I'm also considering Mind Bend/Spectral Shift as some sneaky tech to change Blood Moon into forest moon, or even change Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle to work with Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth. If I go with Spectral Shift, I could combo it with Summoner's Pact to tutor for basically any creature (not sure if any non-green are that back-breaking). Veil of Summer would technically be a target as well, but I don't see that being worth it.

There's not much in the way of protection from green being played, because that would be the one coincidental upside, messing with opponents protections.

They probably aren't worth it, just figured I'd share in case it inspires anyone.

nbarry223 on Viga-BOOM! (Turn 2)

2 months ago

I like Sejiri Steppe a lot, it works as instant speed protection with Sakura-Tribe Scout and can be bounced or copied for re-usability. It is a nice thing to make Primeval Titan unblockable, but it does more than that for the deck.

I usually have either Dragonlord Dromoka or Sigarda, Host of Herons in the side, but I had The Gitrog Monster in the side as a second copy as well for a bit, but found I really wanted a white cost instead of black, since I didn't always have the access to both colors - this was when I completely cut the other 2. So I added back Dragonlord Dromoka since he does more for me overall.

I really only need 1 multi colored creature in the side, but I found having a choice of abilities was nice, so I now have 2 options, thanks to trading out the Leyline of Sanctity for Veil of Summer gaving me the space to play with the sideboard slots a bit more.

I've also found that having a lower CMC creature which impacts the gamestate in some way (The Gitrog Monster) really helps when I don't have enough mana for a Primeval Titan, so I've also liked that change.

nbarry223 on Viga-BOOM! (Turn 2)

3 months ago

I think my weakest cards are now:

Main
Wayward Swordtooth (doesn't do much early)
Mosswort Bridge (significantly worse because of Heartless Summoning)
Wooded Bastion (sort of unneeded most of the time)

Side
Hokori, Dust Drinker


Also, surprisingly enough, my 5 card wish package of:

Abrupt Decay
Anguished Unmaking
Unmoored Ego
Culling Ritual
The Gitrog Monster

covers just about everything I need it to, so I can actually use the other slots to improve various matchups by siding things in.

I don't particularly need Slayers' Stronghold + Boros Garrison if I cut Mosswort Bridge either, since it is mainly there for an enabler of the bridge (vigilance is nice though) - so there's quite a few slots to play with and enough space to manafix for just about anything.

There's still plenty of room for potential improvements, and honestly I'd like to double up on an Unmoored Ego type of effect (Necromentia) and maybe run 2x Culling Ritual. However, targeted discard is just so brutal to face without the leylines. Veil of Summer could be an option I guess, but I generally prefer the leylines since I don't need the {G} and they are still good going second instead of first, since they go into play immediately.

SirHerpaderp on Bring out your Dead!

3 months ago

Hey KanisxKoda, huge thanks again for your time; I really appreciate it! A lot of cards you suggested werein the deck or in the maybeboard at some point but got cut as the deck got more streamlined since they felt too slow (like Burnished Hart) or simply not necessary.

Oakhame Adversary,Culling Ritual and Heroic Intervention are indeed more meta specific but provide me with an early advantage until I'm able to assemble my combo and protect the individual combopieces better than Veil of Summer (which is ofc an absurdly powerful card).

For Junji, the Midnight Sky, I'd actually consider cutting Dread Return since it feels like the weakest of the reanimation options. Life / Death can be really helpful with Razaketh! The Apprentice Necromancer is also too good with Hulk because he can give you an instant way to reanimate/sac Hulk since you can sac Necromancer at instant speed (to quote Multimedia at this place).

While I think Higeki, Jukai Visionary doesn't provide enough relevant abilities for my playstyle I think the recently spoiled Gravelighter might be a better Demon's Disciple sind he has a better body and can draw you a card. Downside here would be taht you can't always get a sac when you need it.