Is Deprive a good counterspell in modern?
Modern forum
Posted on Dec. 23, 2014, 4:58 p.m. by TheAmazingSalsa
I'm looking to get into modern, but don't currently own most of the staple counterspells.
I'd like to know if Deprive is viable in the modern scene, and/or what other under the radar counterspells are good.
TheAmazingSalsa says... #3
@JWiley129: But if you're bouncing a basic land, for example, the drawback wouldn't be that huge, would it?
December 23, 2014 5 p.m.
notamardybum says... #4
after testing it myself, the hit from returning a land can be significant enough to set you back. i was playing ur delver. mana leak and spell snare are pretty good, as well as spell pierce.
what kind of deck are you running?
December 23, 2014 5:03 p.m.
miracleHat says... #5
Returning a land is normally fine, but there is always the situation in the early game when Deprive is the only counterspell in your hand and you have to counter whatever card (Splinter Twin) and losing next turns land drop could be vital to your winning.
The other example is when your opponent counters your Deprive. Since bouncing the land is an "additional cost", the land goes back to your hand no matter what. It is especially painful with Remand.
December 23, 2014 5:03 p.m.
It depends. It could be the difference between a T6 Scapeshift to win a turn before the opponent would and a T8 Scapeshift where your opponent has killed you two turns earlier.
December 23, 2014 5:03 p.m.
To be blatant, not at all. The tempo loss is WAY to huge, and 2 blue and returning a land makes it pretty bad. The viable counters in modern are less hard counters and more things like Mana Leak and Remand, with some conditional ones being Spell Pierce, Spell Snare, and sometimes Izzet Charm. The only hard counter that sees play is Cryptic Command, but leaving that open isn't so "under-the-radar." However, a counterspell like Rune Snag may be up your alley, but I'm not exactly sure. I hope that helped some!
December 23, 2014 5:04 p.m.
JakeHarlow says... #8
Those extra landfall triggers, though. I guess perhaps that's marginally relevant?
Not for competitive I suppose.
December 23, 2014 5:13 p.m.
TheAmazingSalsa says... #10
@notamardybum: I'm currently building a UR Delver deck, I'm still looking for some cards, though.
I thought Deprive wasn't going to be such a drawback since All CMCs in the deck are fairly low, atm I have 2 Mana Leak, a single Spell Pierce and no Spell Snare.
Also, I wonder why UR Delver decks don't run Spell Rupture, since almost all of the time you have a 3/2 flying on the table by turn 2, it's like a second set of Mana Leak...
@DMR: thank you for your input! I may have to put a bit more money into it than I thought, then.
December 23, 2014 5:29 p.m.
notamardybum says... #11
what if you have no creatures, spell rupture is useles.
December 23, 2014 5:39 p.m.
TheAmazingSalsa says... #12
My logic is flawed, maybe modern is not for me :P
December 23, 2014 5:41 p.m.
APPLE01DOJ says... #13
Whenever it takes 2 cards to make 1 card good it's usually a bad idea. Obviously cards like Splinter Twin are useless by themselves so there are certain exceptions but they typically win u the game.
December 24, 2014 1:13 a.m.
The card is good in a control shell. It doesn't lose value as the game goes on like mana leak and remand do. Also related to previous posts... why do bad players like rune snag so much? I honestly don't understand it.
December 24, 2014 2:05 a.m.
vampirelazarus says... #15
Just to play Devils Advocate, why do people hate rune snag so much?
December 24, 2014 2:28 a.m.
It's just much worse mana leak. It requires two copies of Rune snag to be in the graveyard before it has an upside to mana leak and at that point in the game the card has lost most of its value anyways. It's basically just strictly worse mana leak.
December 24, 2014 6:06 a.m.
Sorry, it needs 1 copy in the graveyard before it gets better. Still, it requires work to be better than mana leak and still loses its value as the game goes on almost the same as mana leak does.
December 24, 2014 6:08 a.m.
Not to mention rune snag has poor interaction with snapcaster mage and they'd generally be played in the same decks if rune snag saw play.
December 24, 2014 6:09 a.m.
APPLE01DOJ says... #19
xlaleclx says... #13
The card is good in a control shell. It doesn't lose value as the game goes on like mana leak and remand do. Also related to previous posts... why do bad players like rune snag so much? I honestly don't understand it.
I used to run Mana Leak & Rune Snag in the same deck. (No CC) I honestly like Rune Snag better of the two.
I think u should play with the card before you condemn it, 1st it's early game value is essentially the same as Mana Leak & the "work" as u put it is often simply game progression.
The main conclusion I've come to is that it isn't ran because (as been pointed out) it doesn't work well with snappy & ScOoze is fairly popular as well. (not as bad as DRS+ScOoze...but still) On top of that, Rune Snag is hell of cheap and Cryptic Command isn't.
December 24, 2014 9:39 a.m.
Another big issue with the card is that mana leak is usually run as a 2-3 of at the moment and rune snag forces you to be playing 4 copies if you want it to be good
December 24, 2014 2:01 p.m.
APPLE01DOJ says... #21
Yes but their is a difference, top decking a Rune Snag late game when there is already 2 in the graveyard is decent where top decking a Mana Leak late game is horrible. Not saying that control typically needs to go into top-deck mode (it shouldn't) just that running 4x Rune Snag doesn't have the same drawbacks as 4x Mana Leak.
Also the decks that are running lower counts have acceleration through cantrip & Treasure Cruise to help find those fewer copies. They also still play Snapcaster Mage as at least a 1-of to be additional copies.
Another counter that I personally feel just became way better than it used to be is Dash Hopes. Not many people are willing to pay 5 life for anything these days & in the right builds (such as 8Rack) both choices are often optimal.
December 24, 2014 2:19 p.m.
APPLE01DOJ says... #22
I read all my spelling errors up "their" and wish this forum had an edit button, even if it's only limited to like 30 minutes or so after your post.
JWiley129 says... #2
Deprive currently sees play in the revamped Jeskai Ascendancy deck, but I haven't seen it anywhere else. Sometimes bouncing a land is just too much of a tempo play for most decks.
December 23, 2014 4:59 p.m.