The most flexible category, this is highly dependent on your metagame. Some of these cards I feel are absolutely core, however. Most of these are only okay in your opening hand, because it's more important to establish your own gameplan before disrupting your opponents, but having them makes you feel very safe. The faster your meta is, the better these get.
Agent of Treachery
: All your cards are belong to me. This is the big blowout “screw you” card. It’s very much a wincon but can definitely fit in as a piece of interaction; it answers opposing threats by making them your threats. Really satisfying to take a planeswalker that’s about to ult or stealing bounce lands if you feel particularly mean that day. Super expensive, so it’s bad in the opener.
Aura Shards
: I love bullying my friends. Its true power lies not so much in destroying powerful enchantments and artifacts, but in preventing them from playing them while blowing up mana rocks.
Counterspell
: Tried and true. The easy answer to anything, as long as you have mana open, which in this deck you should. Counterspells are good because they prevent anything problematic from hitting the board, with the exception of cast triggers. Recurring this a lot can help with your softlock. Okay in the opener.
Dovin's Veto
: Yum, more counterspells. Being able to literally Veto an opponent's spell is amazing, especially against dirty combo players. Okay in the opener.
Gilded Drake
: Watch out, it's mister Steal yo Girl. Can be used as a creature removal spell, but when you get going you just steal everything on board. Quite expensive (money wise), but makes for good stories, like that time I killed a friend with his own
Vraska the Unseen
Assassin token. Good times. Depending on what decks you are facing this goes from okay to good in the opener, as some decks that would normally be threatening to you become worthless without their commander.
Glen Elendra Archmage
: Counterspells are good, but they get even better when you have an infinite amount of them. Blinking the Archmage resets the -1/-1 counter, making it reusable. Okay in the opener, but if you can play it on turn five or six while keeping Roon up, it can really establish your board by dissuading boardwipes.
Hullbreacher
: New, shiny and disgusting. This lovely (?) merfolk can shut down entire game plans and ramp you by a significant margin in the process. It's a huge target and makes you one as well, but its power can't be denied. Okay in the opener.
Mana Drain
: My second copy of
Counterspell
. Really, while the upside of gaining you mana is very good and can definitely win you games on occasion, the fact this is just another no-questions-asked two mana counterspell is the real reason it’s here. Okay in the opener.
Reflector Mage
: Removing an enemy commander and making it so they can't play it for a turn cycle can be a massive blowout and/or tempo swing. Even if they let it go to the command zone, they can't replay it for a turn. Just a solid card. Okay in the opener.
Scavenging Ooze
: This one is a little weird. The games it's good it's amazing, but when it doesn't do much it... well, doesn't do much. Still one of the best graveyard hate cards in the format and now that I finally found room to play it, I do. How good it is in the opening highly depends on what your opponents are playing.
Skyclave Apparition
: Such versatility at such a low cost. Any nonland permanent! The fact it only hits CMC 4 or less doesn't feel like a big drawback in a world of
Sol Ring
and
Rhystic Study
. There's some things it misses for sure, but I feel it's a must have for these kinds of decks. Good in the opener, as it can hit pretty much anything early on.
Swan Song
: Heiki, hecchara! It'll almost certainly be all right when you have this in your hand. One mana counterspells are generally not amazing due to their drawbacks or narrow uses, but Bird hitting three card types is just amazing. Giving your opponent a 2/2 flier is nearly irrelevant, especially because Roon's ability kills tokens if you really have to. Also, I can never pass up an opportunity to promote Symphogear. Good in the opener due to its minimal cost.
Venser, Shaper Savant
: Baby Venser can return any permanent or spell to their owner's hand. Great for getting rid of pesky commanders and Overloaded
Cyclonic Rift
s alike. Not great against ramp decks and decks with a lot of cheap cards, which is currently meta where I play, but just barely makes the cut by also being a combo finisher. Okay in the opener.
Wickerbough Elder
: This is, in my opinion, the best artifact/enchantment hate card you can play in Roon. You only have to be
Torpor Orb
’ed once to start hating every ETB removal card in the deck, and this gets around that. It also has the notable upside of being instant speed due to its activated ability. It can still be reused after a blink because it gets its -1/-1 counter back.
Notable cards I'm not playing:
Only
Agent of Treachery
,
Gilded Drake
,
Glen Elendra Archmage
and
Skyclave Apparition
are core in my opinion (budget notwithstanding), although with
Spellseeker
you do want at least one 2 mana counterspell in the deck. Feel free to experiment with any of these cards below. All of them have a place in the right deck/meta.
Acidic Slime
: I actually won this promo during an FNM, so I’m very proud of it. I don’t actually think it’s the best noncreature hate-card in these colours,that honour goes to
Wickerbough Elder
, but if there are a lot of problematic lands, this is great.
Force of Will
and
Mana Drain
: Force is one of the best counterspells in the format, but the low CMC of the counterspell package I'm playing allows them to be fetched up by
Spellseeker
and they are better if you want to keep recurring them with
Eternal Witness
. Still a good card. Drain should be in the deck, as it's just a better
Counterspell
, but is expensive enough I haven't gotten around to getting it yet.
Gaddock Teeg
: Gaddock doesn't make friends, which is a good reason to not play him. He is very good, but I don’t like the reactions (both gameplaywise and emotionally) he provokes.
Perplexing Chimera
: All the reasons that apply to
Gaddock Teeg
apply here, but it’s five mana and even more hateable.
Beast Within
and
Generous Gift
: I've played Beast for a long time and it's a great card as it hits any permanent, but I just find I have enough/better answers. Them being 3 CMC makes it harder to keep open the mana for these and they are not tutorable by
Spellseeker
. If only Bant had access to
Assassin's Trophy
.
Krosan Grip
: Has a problem similar to
Beast Within
in that it costs three. The raw power of this card always makes it a consideration, however.
Swords to Plowshares
: The golden standard for EDH removal. Unfortunately, we are a creature-light metagame, so this just doesn't warrant a slot as a noncreature-spell.
Strip Mine
: I kinda want this, but playing more colourless lands makes me feel uncomfortable.
Lavinia of the Tenth
: The Azorius just don't allow fun. At least, not without the proper paperwork. Very similar to
Gaddock Teeg
, she makes people mad. She also has the same problem as
Scavenging Ooze
, in that she’s only good in certain situations/meta’s.
Veil of Summer
: Very good, but mostly at defending your own stuff, where I prefer the counterspells' ability to also interfere with my opponents.
Stonehorn Dignitary
: A great card in the right meta. Unfortunately, we are not the right meta.
Knight of Autumn
: The card is good, but not that good. I’d rather play
Acidic Slime
for its multifunctionality.
Mangara of Corondor
and
Fiend Hunter
: Slow and clunky respectively. Mangara can still be good, even if you don't immediately blink it but the Hunter is a waste of cardboard if you don't play any infinite combo's that involve him (which I don’t think are particularly good anyway).
Duplicant
:
Reflector Mage
and
Gilded Drake
seem to do a better job of hating on creatures, mostly because they cost so much less.
Frilled Mystic
and
Mystic Snake
: These can be good utility cards that have some neat interactions, but they are pretty expensive for counterspells. Of these, I find snake better due to its synergy with
Reveillark
.
Angel of Serenity
,
Diluvian Primordial
,
Luminate Primordial
,
Terastodon
and
Woodfall Primus
: Really hard to find the time to get these into play. Seven+ mana is a lot and makes these ridiculously clunky. Diluvian is probably the best out of these and very playable in a spell-heavy metagame.
In budget lists
Beast Within
,
Generous Gift
,
Swords to Plowshares
and
Acidic Slime
are on my list of recommendations, but you can use a lot of cards you have in your collections. The expensive cards from the previous paragraph can also be very powerful. Just keep in mind that no matter your budget, it’s important to adapt to your local metagame.