it is helpful in a thrax deck or a sacrifice deck

Counterbalance is a great card and should be in every mono blue deck ever

How 'bout Strionic Resonator ?

Not sure if this has been mentioned before but I have found Gravestorm to be quite useful in my EDH deck. Forcing people to choose between me getting card advantage or hurting their graveyard (Eternal Witness has appeared in several of the edh events I have attended over the last couple months as well as other gy related things) has led to me winning more than a few matchups.

I completely forgot about Lairs in my 5-colour, thanks!

For a 5-color, compiled list of staple EDH cards, I am honestly surprised at how good this mana curve is.

Theros Legendary Gods are insane, with p/t 5 for low cc, and indestructibles. And the New Elspeth is also awesome.

Intrepid Hero is a nice removal card that is inexpensive. Add a Spirit Mantle or Avacyn, Angel of Hope and you can keep destroying creatures every turn.

I think that Swan Song and Erebos, God of the Dead are both strong enough to be staples. Some of the other theros cards could be included as well. Namely Thassa, God of the Sea

lol Greed isn't on the list, so why should Erebos be? And Swansong just sucks.

@TurboFagoot, you obviously have a terrible conception for what makes a good counter. In an EDH deck that aims to win on turns 3-6, the token does absolutely nothing, making it the most versatile one mana hard counter ever printed (which, in case you didn't know, is good).

Because Greed isn't attached to a 5/7 indestructible body. At worst he forces the use of a Path to Exile or some other valuable removal spell and at best he's a repeatable card draw engine that can double as a beater or a very efficient blocker. That's just my thought process. Is he broken? Nope. Is he useful? Absolutely. As for Swan Song I defer to the explanation given by Blakkhand

@Chinazaur: Intrepid Hero isn't a staple or a power card. It's playable in lower-power metas, but it doesn't offer the kind of effect that would warrant its inclusion in this list.

@TurboFagoot: Actually, I strongly disagree with you about Swan Song . One-drop hard counterspells are very good in competitive games, and a 2/2 token is not a threat. Even in less competitive metas, Swan Song s a powerful, relevant, and very cheap effect to control players.

I'm going to hold off on the other Theros cards for the time being because I want to assess their viability a bit more. I have been rather busy as of late, so I've barely even looked at the spoilers.

I don't know, I'd rather play Spell Pierce on most days. Very few enchantments are actually relevant.

As for a 2/2 flier not being relevant, I disagree. In control v. control, sticking just one creature can get a ton of a damage in. I've won mirror matches just off swinging for two with a well timed Venser. God knows the Beast Within token can do work if you're not smart about it.

Granted, I play exclusively French 1v1 instead of multiplayer games, so I have no idea why I keep commenting in these threads.

@TurboFagoot:
Sylvan Library
Necropotence
Phyrexian Arena
Rhystic Study
Oblivion Ring
Land Tax
Leyline of Anticipation
Leyline of the Void
Mirari's Wake

Those are just some of the relevant enchantments in EDH. And the number of enchantments is less relevant than the prevalence of such enchantments; most decks play several staple enchantments.

2/2 and 3/3 tokens from cards like Beast Within and Pongify have never, in my experience, proven to be relevant to competitive games. Even in casual games I've spectated or played, the tokens are pretty irrelevant (or at least not completely game-changing) in most situations. Besides, if you're using a card like Beast Within , your choice to cast that card is (presumably) predicated on the determination that whatever you're stopping is a larger or more immediate threat than the token could be.

In my experience, Sylvan Library, O Ring, and Phyrexian Arena are the only three on that list (Possibly Land Tax as well. [Necro is obviously a threat, but it is banned in French so I really can't give a darn lol]) that pose reasonable threats. Otherwise, they're tapping a reasonable amount of mana (4+) at sorcery speed. If my control deck (The deck most likely to run Swan Song) can't deal with that scenario, I'm probably behind anyway. There are just better options for counterspells.

The tokens would only be relevant in competitive games (And control mirrors at that), as in casual games people are just dumping big dumb guys on the board that dwarf the tokens.

I'm just saying, 90% of the time a Spell Pierce will get the job done better without a card that's going to stonewall my V. Clique or whatever.

And unlike Beast Within, which I do have more control over when I give them that token (If at all), Swan Song only gives you one chance, possibly forcing you into a bad position.

This list is geared toward traditional EDH players; it doesn't account for French rules.

Spell Pierce is not a hard counter all the time, and I would personally rather have the hard counter and deal with a token than have the possibility of not getting anywhere with the counterspell. Each card has its applications, and each one is ultimately useful.

In addition to Epoch's points, it is also important to note that Swan Song is not a counter for a control deck. It is intended for a combo deck. From the french standpoint, that means it will be played. Not in control decks like GAA4, but combo decks like imperial animar, where you can completely ignore the token. Also, as long as zur is the top deck in french (and Oath of Druids is an archetype), countering enchantments is relevant. From a non-french standpoint, combo is even more diverse and therefore it will be even more widely used. It will be used in EDH for the exact same reasons it is already speculated to see play in sneak and show in legacy.

"Epochalyptik says...

258

This list is geared toward traditional EDH players; it doesn't account for French rules.

Spell Pierce is not a hard counter all the time, and I would personally rather have the hard counter and deal with a token than have the possibility of not getting anywhere with the counterspell. Each card has its applications, and each one is ultimately useful."

• "it doesn't account for French rules."

• "doesn't account for French"

While I have no experience with it I've seen people raving about Burnished Hart across the net. Just thought I'd mention.

Swan Song may see a spot here. Also maybe Prophet of Kruphix and Xenagos, The Reveler . Also maybe Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver due to the abundance of high cmc stuff in commander.

And what about Golgari Charm or Rakdos Charm ? They both have quite good utility. People may also find plenty of ways to abuse Voyaging Satyr

Ashen Rider , Medomai the Ageless and Fleecemane Lion all look good as well.

What about Hoarding Dragon ? I know Red's kind of getting the short end of the stick but an artifact tutor in red is probably worth inclusion.

I've been a red player since I started playing magic 15 years ago. Iv'e made about 20 or so EDH decks, in every red EDH deck that I've made I've included Warstorm Surge so amazing. Think about it with Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker Krenko, Mob Boss or any goblin token producing red decks... even Norin the Wary