Using Sanctum Prelate correctly always depends on what kind of commander your opponents are using, what their playstyle is and what stage you're at in the game.
Most likely it's 1, 2 or 3 because of the amount of cards CEDH decks play below 4CMC to keep their Average CMC as low as possible!
- 1 and 2 hits most cantrips/tutors and also most played counterspells.
- 2 and 3 stops removal / Deluge and some janky 3 mana counterspells... if you're against black, red or white I'd suggest 3. Most value cards are at 3 as well as yawgmoths will and doomsday for example if you are unsure what they play or don't know yet...
If your meta is leaning towards a late game, 3 would be better, But when you're against storm for example 0 or 1 would be a better choice. Just check the commander the colors and the player you are up against and choose wisely.
(You might wonder why Rule of law effects against Doomsday they can just do it turn per turn... This is where you are Wrong... Playing Doomsday and winning on the same turn is how it is intended to be played and passing the turn is the easiest way for others to keep open just to screw you over fairly easy 3v1... If for some reason your strategy is Doomsday pass turn I'd suggest playing with something easier as this will lose you the game 95% of the time...)
(First number is the safer choice if you are ahead and pair it with other hate against them)
under eternal construction: Have been taking notes of most commander players in our store and on tournaments and other sites etc..., soon I will add a list of what would shut them down most! Sanctum's numbers and also what you should pair it with to stop them;
** "Tempest Keep was merely a setback." **
Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder storm:
Yidris Storm/Doomsday 2.0 + Melt Banana or Any other variant wants to play as many spells in one turn and finish you off with either Aetherflux Reservoir or Doomsday and generate high storm counts trough cantrips, rituals , tutors, timetwister effects and Paradox Engine for example. This deck is stopped with a simple rule of law effect in play and paired with the normal sphere effects it can't recover... stopping them from tutoring or drawing more than one card a turn also cripples them a lot.
---- Conclusion ----
or because it stops them storming out a shit ton! is the safest pick still. as it is the most used CMC in the deck.
(Paired with Rule of law effects and Sphere effects...)
Oona, Queen of the Fae Storm/Doomsday: Same applies to Oona for the storm part compared to yidris... Although this deck has the ability to present another win con fairly easily by generating absurd amounts of mana and exiling your deck with a simple artifact/enchantment combo (Grim Monolith + Power artifact, Basalt M + Rings or dramatic scepter). It tries to tutor very often and sphere effects may not always stop it with its high tide and infinite mana package. Tutor denial and rule of law effects combined with some artifact hate works wonders here...
---- Conclusion ----
or . 2 hits most cards this deck normally runs, but under a soft lock 1 is a better choice.
(Paired with Tutor Denial, Rule of law effects, Artifact hate...)
Queen Marchesa A Stax or heavy Removal variant: is very hard to deal with as derevi because this does very well against creature based decks but it has no "real" wincon so basically they either focus you or help you establish stax.
---- Conclusion ----
or , preferably 3 due to the amount of removal on 3...
General Tazri : Food Chain : This deck is also stopped by rule of law effects but paired with enchantment removal this deck has a very hard time to recover.
---- Conclusion ----
or ... 1 Hits most of his tutors, While two is his control is chosen if you have no way of dealing with food chain itself...
(Paired with rule of law effects, Enchantment removal or insert extract -> food chain and ROFL)
Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge Storm: Yes more Rule of law effects, please!!! Artifact hate also does wonders here...
---- Conclusion ----
or , 1 Stops the storm here, where 2 stops the ramp/control mostly, I'd go 1 if you have artifact hate here...
(Paired with rule of law effects and sphere effects + Artifact hate)
Prossh, Skyraider of Kher *f-etch* Food Chain: This deck is also stopped by rule of law effects but paired with enchantment removal this deck has a very hard time to recover.
---- Conclusion ----
or 3 stopping food chain. 1 stopping most of the tutors/cantrips it plays.
(Paired with rule of law effects, Enchantment removal )
Teferi, Temporal Archmage Chain Veil: This deck can win trough Stax fairly fast but is very weak against sphere effects and artifact hate.
---- Conclusion ----
or these two stop most infinite mana combo's, as well as counters... + some artifact hate cockblocks this deck really hard...
(Paired with Sphere effects and artifact hate)
Thrasios, Triton Hero & Tymna the Weaver *f-etch* .... This deck is special and different from the others as it will likely try to present a turn 2 or 3 win and do it faster and easier than all the others... this will require you to toss out hate turn 2 instead of Derevi most of the time or open yourself to a loss. Rule of law effects stops part of the combo turn but isn't enough most of the time as they can shortcut their win. Making grave hate it's worst enemy which makes it very hard to recover from for them.
---- Conclusion ----
or if they upgraded to Muldruid!!! ( Stops dread return if you can't get grave hate or sphere effects live)
(Paired with grave hate and sphere effects or rule of law effects depending on the version or insert extract -> Lab Man and ROFL unless they walking ball :'( )
Zur the Enchanter AD Naus, Doomsday, Control Zur, Shimmer Zur: Rule of Law effects, Sphere effects and enchantment removal will stop this deck and eventually use more sphere effects to remove them from the game...
---- Conclusion ----
or unless you can't deal with Doomsday you put it on ...
(Paired with rule of law effects, Enchantment removal or insert extract -> Lab Man and ROFL)
Kess, Dissident Mage Grixis Twin, High Tide, Grixis Flux, Tainted Twin, Turns: So this deck is mostly very graveyard heavy and grave hate breaks most of its strategy although it can still burst out wins other ways as there are many variants of the deck. So I went in a little more in detail how these decks are packed with different CMC costs... sadly this commander doesn't show its strategy of the bat and can play the waiting game before you could guess the right Stax... You should try and get grave hate out first as it is the most common way to play her and after that try and deal with kiki/twin combos with ETB-stopping effects/activated abilities of creatures hate or Sphere effects in general.
---- Conclusion ----
-
grixis twin : cmc
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Hight tide cmc
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grixis flux cmc
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Tainted twin cmc
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Turns kess cmcm
(Paired with grave hate first and after that, it depends on your ability to use know information on what these decks can do)
Inalla, Archmage Ritualist Reanimator: The title of this deck kindly shows us how to stop it, It is very straightforward what hate to go for... Grave Hate...
---- Conclusion ----
Hits most of this decks tutors/cantrips/rituals/etc...
(Paired with grave hate and also loads of creature we run they can never really do combat damage to us with Wanderwine Prophets)
MORE COMMING SOOOOOOOON !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Up next for research and review : (You can do this as well by going to Many CEDH versions of these decks and checking the average mana and spells they play at 11 2 or 3 cmc)
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Control Baral
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High Tide Jace
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Ad Nauseam Sidisi
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Buried Alive Razaketh
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Brostorm Selvala
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Midrange Yisan
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Control Grand Arbiter
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Control Taigam
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Stax Brago
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Doomtide Dralnu
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Scepter Nin
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Storm Mizzix
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Doomsday Grenzo
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Gitrog Dredge
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Nath Stax
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Varolz Hulk
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Edric Tempo
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Hackball Momir
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Rashmi Control
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Marath Kiki Pod
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Combo Bruse/Tymna
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Razaketh Markov
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Doomsday Leovold (Just in case)
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Brood Tyrant Combo
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Control Tasigur
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Mimeoplasm Hulk
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Ghave Combo
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Control Breya / Doomsday Breya
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Control Kraum
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Blood Pod Tana/Tymna
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Paradox Ascendancy
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Boonweaver Combo/Control
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... More might be added here (under eternal construction)
(If I left something out I either don't know about it yet, I didn't deem it fast enough or it is just too obvious how to stop it?)
Most people here tend to agree that tier lists don't really exist as there simply isn't enough data to quantitatively track tiers. So I am just going over decks that are known in CEDH...
MORE COMMING SOOOOOOOON !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(Small side conclusion down in "Anomalies")