Grading Blue Commander Staples of EDHREC | Which Blue Staples are Worth Playing? 

This series, 2 whole episodes in, is already a solid A+

Swan song sees play in CEDH so hard to say it's power goes down

I cracked 3 packs of commander legends and got a mana drain today 🎉🎉🎉

Hugely underrating the cantrips imo, the reason they’re so powerful in 60 card formats is because their impact (consistency) is disproportionate to their costs (1 mana, zero cards, a little information). In EDH, the cost is even smaller and the benefit is even larger.

The thing I love about Pact of Negation’s design is that the mana you need to spend to not lose is Force of Will’s mana cost.

For you all not knowing, Dramatic reversal is the card about the climax of the duel between Tezzeret and Chandra. After gaining the upper (metallic) hand and going for the coup de grace , Tezzeret is met with the arrival of the Gatewatch and gets stomped.

The ceiling for this channel is through the roof

The top 30 ways to tell your opponent "no".

Narset Reversal: "Very rarely a counterspell can win you a game" But when it does it feels so sweet

Can’t wait for grading black staples, Grave Titan is totally going to be #1

Thank you for posting the rating on the screen. Made it easier to listen while working and glance over occasionally

Can’t wait to see you grade 30 counter spells!

These videos are fantastic, I can’t wait for black and red. You should do a follow up where you pick the top 5 cards in each color that should make the top 30 but didn’t!

The closer you get to a higher power level swan song is amazing. The free counterspells two for one you so they are an emergency scenario. Swansong is better than spell pierce, miscast and dispel which are already awesome and see lots of play. Ponder at a C?! Sometimes I feel like I don’t get you guys.🤣

This series is helping me so much doing cuts to decks I am building. Thanks guys!

If your a blue player you gotta OPTimize your deck overtime.

I'd say the opposite of swan song. As you go higher in power almost every blue deck runs it. The cheaper the better and the drawback is minimal.

Arcane Denial is by far one of the best counterspells. It replaces itself and turns their spell into a strictly worse divination

I did't think another EDH channel could bring more to the table, but this does!

I love that you used the memory-help from the comments of your previous grading video

So I definitely disagree with the Brainstorm rating, it's got so many uses as an instant, and I've used it a 1000 times to dodge discarding important cards off wheel effects.

This channel is on a subscriber rocket ship, and rightfully so.

Thank you for doing these! I would love for you all to finish out the series of colors.

"F is for cards you should never use for any reason, like Red Elemental Blast." I could agree with D, but RED is an amazing counter spell for protecting your combos. It's not for every deck or every meta, but there are definitely situations for it, especially at higher levels.

I've found dramatic reversal to actually be a very powerful ritual if you're ramping with artifacts or creatures. I run it in two of my decks and it allows explosive turns in both of them.

So glad I found y’all’s channel

This was amazing. Thanks guys

I'm blue, dabadee dabadyeeee, dabadee, dabadyeeee, daba dee dabadyeeeeeee NOW LISTEN UP HERE'S THE STORY ABOUT TWO DUDES WHO GRADE ALL THE BLUE CARDS

Thanks for running such a great channel and having a solid discord

I would say if you’re grading Frantic Search by what it can do with other cards like double lands or ritual effects like you said then you should take that into consideration for all the cards, especially Brainstorm and Ponder which also gets as good if not better when paired with any kind of fetch, search your library effect or top deck manipulation.

We might disagree on some of the criteria and arguments, but this is stil a lovely series and a very insightful look into your meta and card evaluation process!

I would love to see a video on how to properly play counterspells, protection spells and such. I suck at timing and stacks.

Don't think of Narset's Reversal as a counter spell, think of it as a combo enabler that doubles as a counter spell.

Even if you never get a good target on your opponent for Narset's Removal you can hit yourself with it and retain the spell for a second cast.

Exciting series!

Love these guys

Disagree : Dispel. Actually a pretty amazing spell. Saved me hundreds of time. For every Combo Deck, its the golden budgte alternative to Fg/FoW/PoN and all the other "pay Zero" Counters. OF cause, if u can afford them, they are better. BUT, if not so, its a pretty good thing to save your Win, keeping one blue open. Dispel for the Combowin !

Great series you guys rock

Big fan of the series guys.

Swan song actually gets better the higher you go in powerlevel, because creatures gets worse in efficiency as you go up and combo gets more and more omnipresent. It might be one of the best counter in CEDH behind FoW and Mental misstep across all decks.

I think you are somewhat underrating the value of blue digtrips (cantrips that dig). I used to feel the same way, but the more I play Talrand, the more I find I like them despite digging being worse in EDH. You need enough U to be able to cast them early with reliability, but even in Talrand, where I want to sit on them, I *still* love casting them early to dig. They can easily turn a mediocre hand into a threat, though they can also whiff, but even if your Preordain scrys 2 to the bottom and draws junk, that was 3 cards you didn't have to sit and draw normally, likely turning a horrible situation into a fighting chance. That said, I don't run *that* many of them in Talrand, but Blue has so many digtrips that even budget Talrand has lots to cut. Narset's draw thing is pretty annoying to me because I still think this should be a W thing. I usually think of Spirit of the Labyrinth is the 'fun' version of Hullbreacher, where nobody gets extra card draw, but honestly, the only deck I run Spirit in uses it with Teferi's Puzzle Box to wheel away everyone's hand during each player's draw step, so maybe these kind of cards are just unpleasant as a rule? Spirit seems a really reasonable card in Mono-White, where you aren't drawing much anyways, but it doesn't see very much play, while Hullbreacher sees tons obviously. Blue should not get tax effects as a rule I think, but it's a bit late for that, they seem to love giving Blue more stuff. I run Narset's Reversal in one deck, Talrand. I think it makes sense in mono-blue, but it is usually either the best card in the deck or I have to use it on my own stuff for shenanigans, which can feel really 'big brain', and thus is super fun to have access to. I don't think of it as a counterspell, more of a 'save my bacon' card akin to Teferi's Protection for decks that don't run W, though much less versatile. I think I use it on my own stuff more often than not, crazy as it sounds. Getting a second cast of something like Aetherize can be devastating for opponents, since they know the card is still in hand after it's been used, and have to play around it if I have mana up. Worst case scenario it's pay UU to be able to later recast any instant/sorcery, which makes it pretty interesting if you run many spells or payoffs for casting spells. I would argue Force of Will is slightly overrated because it requires a blue card, which is a real cost in 5 color decks, but as long as you've got access to card draw, it plays quite well anyways. It doesn't play $80 better than Counterspell, but the ceiling is still wildly higher. Depending on your power level and how many blue cards you run, Fierce Guardianship is much better, but there is no question I'd use FoW somewhere if I had one. My cEDH deck doesn't use it, and wouldn't if I had it, because it just doesn't run enough blue/draw enough cards to make it reliable. I'd love a copy for Talrand I suppose, or Tatyova even, but I don't really think of it as an auto-include in all decks that have blue the way Fierce Guardianship is in my opinion.

I agree on arcane denial, but on the other hand I love how Narset's reversal can turn opponent's key plays against them

Thought Scour is a really fun card if you have use for the self-mill. I play it in my Yuriko but most of the time I end up using it to nail someone's VT or MT target.

I love this series more please

I don't know what you're smoking but Brainstorm and Ponder are absolutely cracked.

Keep em coming

What kind of green spot removal do you play over reality shift? Surely it still works it's way in being exile? Or do you edge it out between beast within and pongify/co?

When I can imprint narset’s reversal onto isochron scepter wirh my kess deck... it feels more than amazing

Great videos! Different color, but out of curiosity what would you grade the eldest reborn? It's number 81 for black so it won't be in that video.

The ceiling is through the roof. nuff said. A+

Hello Nitpicking Nerds, the "grading staples" videos are stellar. I would love to be able refer back to the final graded list stacked against the other cards, is this something that already exists on the Discord or Patreon? Thanks for the video!

Finally Reality Shift is getting some love. Simic and Izzet love this card, even some corner cases in Grixis for creatures like Animar.

I feel like negate is a C like Counterspell because of the flexibility. Great vid as always gentlemen :)

For the windfall discussion: I think you can add one more theme where such effects are great - reanimate decks.

I love these videos, great job. I have a doubt about narset reversal and kalamax, say we cast it on a cultivate the opponent casts (kalamax is tapped). What does the copy of Narset reversal do? Get another copy of cultivate? Return the original Narset reversal to my hand and then I lose the first copy of cultivate? When the copy resolves there are no targets for the original? Thanks

Plz continu e this series! ;)

swan song is in every deck in cedh if you didn't know

niv-mizzit be like cantrips got you down well now you can shock

I like this series. I was wondering if you'd want to use the tier list video format for this series as well. I think that'd work here, but I get it if you don't want to switch halfway through

can't wait for black!

Grading cards right after Strixhaven's release, I see what you did there. Joking aside, this series is great.

Please start zooming in on the card for 3-4secs when you show it. I love being able to see you guys and your dialogue, but a quick zoom will help the audience on phones read it easier. ❤ Great content, as always though!!

These guys are the best can trip ever... they look at the top 30 cards.

It's called dramatic reversal because Shawndra was fighting her Nemesis, and Jace put all of the gatewatch in the arena with them. If you read the flavor text, it explains it

[[STEAL ENCHANTMENT]]. GUYS PLEASE PLAY [[STEAL ENCHANTMENT]] IT'S SO FCKIN GOOD

Beezy should build an Eligeth deck. He turns Preordain into Ancestral Recall.

I know this is a specific context, but in Thraximundar decks Mulldrifter is so awesome

Negate got a D, and yet it counters all these other counterspells, touchée Nitpicking Nerds lol

I think of Dispel as a purely Defensive counterspell because most of what your opponents can do on your turn is gonna be casting an instant. it's like a better Rebuff the Wicked/Turn Aside.

I wanted to use a bounce spell last night against a K'rrik but they were able to equipt Greaves before I had the available mana. I was kinda bummed until another opponent also played a K'rrik....the Echoing Truth in my hand became just *chef's kiss*

Not sure if anyone said, but muldrifter is amazing in a Muldrotha deck, evoking it most turns is super good imo

I would be interested in knowing between the five colors which color would be the most expensive. I would like to think blue has it but I would be interesting to see.

19:40, this is me with lands haha. I'll buy expensive cards that are exciting, like a Metalworker for my Jhoira deck, however buying lands just seems so boring unless they directly synagise with the deck, like Eye of Ugin in my eldrazi deck. This has led to some funny things such as my Jhoria deck having Metalworker and every high tier counterspell before it got any shocks or fetches.

I love both Ghostly Prison and Propaganda. Great cards. Won me serval games. 👍 Great list.

JOIN THE DISCORD. I play in there quite often and enjoy the alternative to playedh.

Narset’s Reversal isn’t just a counter spell. It also makes every instant or sorcery have a blue blue buyback

3:22 GUILE HAS SYNERGY WITH COUNTERSPELL, PRAISE THE CHIKENWORM

I would hard disagree that red elemental blast is F outside of cEDH card is still very strong in non blue red decks.

i too love preordain. i found out that i had a foil m12 preordain sitting doing nothing in my collection not too long ago:D

Arcane Denial has the issue of scaling very poorly as your pod's power increases. You don't want to be casting it in cEDH because you can only use it to stop a no-ambiguity game winning card (e.g., Consultation when Oracle has been cast). At higher power levels, like 8-9, it has the same problem. Giving someone two cards to counter, say, Rhystic Study is going to be worse than simply letting the Study resolve because there's ways around the Study draw. It can also be destroyed. You're just better off with something else, like the vastly underrated Memory Lapse, for example, if you want a single-blue pip counterspell.

I put mulldrifter in my Yorion and Roon deck.

As a Blue player ... I can confirm ... This list miss spellsnare lol

Narsets reversal works best in decks where its both a counterspell... and can copy your Extra Turn spells

I was wondering what are your thoughts on miscast as budget swan song?

This is an easy, great choice as a series.

I love mystical tutor in Yuriko

More please.

It was today that I learned Flusterstorm only hits instants and sorceries, I definitely read my cards....

Isochron scepter with narset’s reversal + any extra turn blue spell.

When is the next deck submission video?

Frantic search in my rielle the everwise deck is nasty. I have so many draw and discard spells and i get extra draws off all of them while voltroning rielle. One of my top decks for sure. Also ghostly prison and propaganda aren’t great I agree but i made alela and i put them in since it generates me a token and will stop my friends flying infect deck he made as well as a couple combat heavy decks at locals.

08:32 stupid bird! 😆 I need to make that token now.

HELL YEAH

Could I send you guys my deck list and get some feedback? With blue being my favorite color in mtg, this video is making me wonder how I could improve.

I don't get why you rank the good cantrips so low. I mean including a gitaxian probe will make any deck just a tiny bit better, including preordain and ponder will make your deck better as well. Often it helps you make your land drop, find a removal spell faster etc. I doesnt do much obviously but its always better than nothing

as a customer request I would love to see kamigawa, newcapenna, jumpstart, commander legends, theros beyond death top 50 mono blue cards.

21:00 "In the beginning of the format" Bruh

Counterspell doesn't need to have synergy. It's a counter spell - most counter spells won't synergize with most commander decks. It's not meant to synergize, it's meant to stop a thing. At the very least it's a B because you would Build Around it, since it's 2 on color. Don't throw it in a 3-color deck, but it's definitely not Cuttable. I would rather pay 2 on color than give my opponents advantage with something like Arcane Denial any day. It's no Mana Drain, but it is the definition of versatility.

The fact that did nothing but hype your bias rather than explain your decision on Propaganda only fuels my desire to continue using it. Lol

I can't get why do u think Red Elemental Blast is a F outside of cEDH. It's rare to go in a EDH table and no one is playing blue, 5 of the top 10 Commanders are blue creatures and 8 out of 10 have blue in the color id. U can counter their commander or kill it for one red