Counter spells

[WWolfe]

Thought I would necro this thread as I have actually came to like Arcane Denial more lately. I just swapped it in place of Force of Negation in my Varina deck. I still think Force is the better spell, it's just I was rarely able to take advantage of casting it for free with only running 9 other blue cards. and the double blue is sometimes problematic. I would have replaced it with Mana Drain or even good ol' Counterspell, but again, the double blue in them can also be a problem in the deck. While I'm still down on the opponents draw off Arcane, I think it's a reasonable trade off for you cantriping and getting rid of a potential game ending threat or protecting your win condition.

[Bonethousand]

Silumgar's Scorn does work in my dragons deck.

[Elan Morin Tedronai]

Hindering Light and Ojutai's Command.

[Potato Chop]

imo, Essence Scatter and Negate are underplayed. Only need one blue, so they fit into multicolored decks with ease - Negate is good for protection, and Essence Scatter is great for stopping combos. That is, if your opponents are stupid enough to play their combo into a blue player with 2 mana up

I think the reason these cards don't get much love is that they're outclassed by more expensive counterspells like Mana Drain and Force of Will, but they are really amazing, budget cards that can win you the game or stop you from losing the game quite easily.

[The Golgari Guy]

Thought I would necro this thread as I have actually came to like Arcane Denial more lately. I just swapped it in place of Force of Negation in my Varina deck. I still think Force is the better spell, it's just I was rarely able to take advantage of casting it for free with only running 9 other blue cards. and the double blue is sometimes problematic. I would have replaced it with Mana Drain or even good ol' Counterspell, but again, the double blue in them can also be a problem in the deck. While I'm still down on the opponents draw off Arcane, I think it's a reasonable trade off for you cantriping and getting rid of a potential game ending threat or protecting your win condition.

Another one joins the Arcane Denial club 

https://deckstats.net/forum/index.php/topic,61891.0.html

[robort]

imo, Essence Scatter and Negate are underplayed. Only need one blue, so they fit into multicolored decks with ease - Negate is good for protection, and Essence Scatter is great for stopping combos. That is, if your opponents are stupid enough to play their combo into a blue player with 2 mana up

I think the reason these cards don't get much love is that they're outclassed by more expensive counterspells like Mana Drain and Force of Will, but they are really amazing, budget cards that can win you the game or stop you from losing the game quite easily.

LOL that person would be me. I will play into you holding up that 2 blue mana every time. I figure if you have a counter spell then counter it and if you don't then my spell resolves. I don't think should I play this or not and I just play it.

[Bonethousand]

I forgot to mention Stubborn Denial. I know it's conditional, but if your commander is big or interested in making things big, being able to hold up one mana to counter a board wipe is incredible. I use it in my Esix deck, which can be very mana intensive, so I'm always grateful to have this in hand over a Counterspell.

[The Golgari Guy]

Unsubstantiate is another one that I think it underplayed. Gets around "can't be countered" and can hit creatures on the field.

[The Golgari Guy]

I forgot to mention Stubborn Denial. I know it's conditional, but if your commander is big or interested in making things big, being able to hold up one mana to counter a board wipe is incredible. I use it in my Esix deck, which can be very mana intensive, so I'm always grateful to have this in hand over a Counterspell.

Auto-include for any commander that has 4 or more power and blue in its color identity!

[Aetherium Slinky]

I am silly. Of course I have a favourite counterspell that is not Pact of Negation (even though I love that one, too)! It's called:

Ertai's Meddling

Yup, it's another text monstrosity. It works a bit like Delay but not really. Delay counters, Ertai's Meddling does not. Delay lets you cast that spell later, Ertai's Meddling does not (it simply places the original spell on the stack). In many ways Ertai's Meddling is Phasing for spells on the stack instead of permanents on the battlefield. What I'm really trying to say is that it actually says "{1}{U} Get rid of target Dovin's Veto".

[The Golgari Guy]

I am silly. Of course I have a favourite counterspell that is not Pact of Negation (even though I love that one, too)! It's called:

Ertai's Meddling

Yup, it's another text monstrosity. It works a bit like Delay but not really. Delay counters, Ertai's Meddling does not. Delay lets you cast that spell later, Ertai's Meddling does not (it simply places the original spell on the stack). In many ways Ertai's Meddling is Phasing for spells on the stack instead of permanents on the battlefield. What I'm really trying to say is that it actually says "{1}{U} Get rid of target Dovin's Veto".

This is super cool and I had no idea it existed!

[Elan Morin Tedronai]

I'll also recommend Erayo, Soratami Ascendant for prison-types of Modern decks or EDH in that manner since it's General Magic forum. Whitened Hindering Light, Render Silent, Absorb, Swift Silence  are some of my favorite counter spells. One or two Commands like Ojutai's Command and Silumgar's Command also made me impression and have place in my Draconomicon, but there and there only. I only use however Hindering Light, but I wonder on Render Silent and Absorb for the close art and probable Magic relation, should I put them in my Scria Larsonia: a Sphinx-Archon-Bird flying deck. Therefore, I don't use that many counter spells in Blue decks. I even cherish my Pheres Centaur Pagony for it has cards that recycle the graveyard and oppose the counter spell mechanic. I can only see pragmatic in my friend krgr's (Boris), who uses counter spells like Counterspell and Cryptic Command in a Counter-Burn No-Creature deck. Otherwise creature decks or planeswalker decks usually win at FNMs. Also, I admire dual-color counter spells like Ionize, Double Negative, Essence Backlash, Mindswipe and Counterflux in the Red side. Voidslime, Plasm Capture and Decisive Denial from Green. Black only has Countersquall that is good. Psychic Strike and Perplex for millers and discarders, but I don't like these strategies. Others are mostly dual cards. Enough, I pointed at many counter spells, but in brief only the dual-coloured, even Izzet Charm, are slightly better than the mere "discard a card for an opponent's card to not allow it to make an effect" technique which IMHO is the counter spell. Basically you are down with a card for a card of the opponent. Yeah, I'm mostly in Tribal budget, but there should happen something else beside this in my philosophy. Therefore the dual colors are my answer. Even "choose between" are slightly better.
Regards:
Chavo