Modern counter spells

Modern forum

Posted on March 26, 2014, 10:20 p.m. by filledelanuit

I'm attempting to get into modern and have started building a simic deck. While building it I decided that it wanted a few counter spells but I don't know enough about the meta to make any judgement calls and the standard legal ones are not up to par.

So, does anyone have any suggestions for good hard counters for a simic modern deck?

IzexD says... #2

Cryptic Command mostly, modern doesnt have that many viable "hard counters" it usually runs things like Mana Leak and Remand

March 26, 2014 10:33 p.m.

JakeHarlow says... #3

Spell Snare and Spell Pierce are also seen often. Mental Misstep is banned for obvious reasons.

Pact of Negation is also seen on occasion, though it's usually played at the very end of the game, since the mana requirement on the next upkeep would fatally slow down any modern deck in a competitive environment.

Modern is a "T4" format, so countermagic is usually limited to 2 CMC and below. The only time you'll see hard counters of 3-4 CMC in modern is in dedicated control decks, and even that is rare just now, as competitive modern control is not super successful in the metagame at this time.

March 26, 2014 10:41 p.m.

GoofyFoot says... #4

what you're deck does depends a lot on what kind of counter spells you should run. Mana Leak is generally a staple no matter what, but if you're running a tempo deck, one which doesn't NEED the spells to go to the graveyard, only not to happen, Remand and Delay are good stuff. Cryptic Command is the catch-all, best counter in modern, followed shortly by Pact of Negation , but they are also limited prints, and incredibly pricey. Most people want counterspells that cost 2 or less, so at this point it's what hurts your deck the most. Spell Snare , Spell Pierce , Dispel , Rune Snag , Dissolve or Dissipate , Trickbind , and even Chalice of the Void are honorable mentions. Spell Snare and Spell Pierce are pretty big staples as well.

March 26, 2014 10:58 p.m.

HandOfLife says... #5

I personally like to run mana leak and spell snare, two staples, but counters like delay and condescend are pretty fantastic too.

March 27, 2014 3:04 a.m.

ElPared says... #6

since you're playing Simic I'd consider Voidslime and Plasm Capture pretty solid choices. Mystic Snake is also legal in Modern and I consider it one of the best counters out there, especially for Momentary Blink or Crystal Shard type shenanigans

for soft counters you mostly run into Mana Leak and Remand , but I prefer Rune Snag to mana leak simply for the late game relevancy.

March 27, 2014 3:29 a.m.

HarbingerJK says... #7

it's definitely not considered competitive but I run 2 Dissolve in my modern U/B control deck. Something I save for late game

March 27, 2014 11:11 p.m.

APPLE01DOJ says... #8

My favorite is Rune Snag

It's not really ran because Snapcaster Mage makes Mana Leak a better choice.

A fan of the 4x Remand Repeal Condescend setup myself.

March 28, 2014 12:17 p.m.

This discussion has been closed