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

[@iamyourpc]

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

[@jonnymiller1989]

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

[@oonmm]

Congrats, I bought a whole box and got neither of Jeweled Lotus, Mana Drain or Vampiric Tutor. Got just about every other expensive card except for the Cascade [repeat] card though. Commander's Plate is my favorite, even though it's not very expensive.

[@stfinalwrath]

I just cracked two packs of strixhaven and scored a mystic archives demonic tutor. Couldn't be happier lol. I've been trying for a tutor for the last couple sets that be had them, from grim tutor to vampiric and demonic and I finally got one.

[@ViralVenom]

@@stfinalwrath heck yeah! I got my hands on a demonic tutor from a strix set booster. I was just outside the store and almost lost it in public.

[@elipetrou9308]

Did the same and got vamp

[@silastallio2932]

i bought a commander legends box when it came out and the first pack had a mana drain😩😩

[@crawdaddy1234]

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.

[@thorpate1698]

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.

[@NitpickingNerds]

Zzzzzz.... I fell asleep during your comment 😴

[@antfayden]

Wow the nitpicking nerds hate the lore 😭

[@NitpickingNerds]

@@antfayden we like lore but the gatewatch story line was boring. It was not well done in our opinion

[@YuckyRory]

@@NitpickingNerds Have you guys ever heard of THE AVENGERS?

[@raevimati7048]

@@YuckyRory yeah but at least the avengers won sometimes, from what ive heard the gatewatch kinda sucked at their jobs

[@ohno5559]

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.

[@demolisherman1763]

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

[@GabetheFrog_]

Definitely

[@dif4797]

Easy god tier

[@NitpickingNerds]

S+

[@junjiito6298]

The best card really.

[@morgoth2425]

my personal power 9 is just 9 grave titans

[@creepincat7399]

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

[@NitpickingNerds]

No problem at all we are going to be using it in future videos

[@RollieB89]

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

[@EDHCoffee]

The ceiling for this channel is through the roof

[@NitpickingNerds]

Don’t stop us now

[@helmhamerhand733]

Cuz you’re having such a good time?

[@christopherdukett4158]

They are having a ball

[@GabetheFrog_]

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

[@NitpickingNerds]

Only like 7

[@RodrigoCML7]

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.🤣

[@NitpickingNerds]

It is just nit making most list unless you really need cantrips

[@jackwehman6148]

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!

[@vanmccalister3345]

This please.

[@everythingisbizzaaaaaro3694]

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

[@NitpickingNerds]

Hey only like 7

[@hiddenleaf414]

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.

[@stevenpetrelli8964]

Agreed! They broke their own rating system for that card. Should be a B+

[@mattiavenier3898]

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

[@noahz42]

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

[@NitpickingNerds]

Agreed!!!!

[@joshuadempsey5281]

Arcane Denial is hot wet trash.

[@NitpickingNerds]

@@joshuadempsey5281 great input 😂

[@noahz42]

@@joshuadempsey5281 so what do you play instead then for 2 mana?

[@noahz42]

@@NitpickingNerds well, we all have our shortcomings

[@josephfishman9825]

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.

[@dewigarethjones2369]

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

[@NitpickingNerds]

Wow that is high praise thank you

[@ben_clifford]

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

[@NitpickingNerds]

We listen to feedback! :D

[@cursedinfinity]

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

[@toastbreab]

I mean I don’t know what your specific situation is but usually counterspells are used for big threats that opponents have. Using counters generally requires understanding of your opponent’s wincons or just cards that are good in the format in general.

[@JD-gk7eh]

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.

[@NitpickingNerds]

That feels sooooo good

[@mella4376]

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!

[@joshholmes1372]

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.

[@PhazonOmega]

"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.

[@NiaTheMilkTank]

krenko or the new mono red Ragavan.

[@MTG69]

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

[@timothypledger2253]

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

[@NitpickingNerds]

We will most likely revisit colors as well there are a lot of staples

[@timothypledger2253]

@@NitpickingNerds that sounds great! Can’t wait!

[@omghackslol]

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!

[@NitpickingNerds]

What do you me ?

[@MrMac1219]

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.

[@jahpal9275]

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.

[@NitpickingNerds]

That might be true but luckily we are not a cEDH channel :P

[@GT-li8wg]

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.

[@Kerplakistandan]

I agree, also it says draw 3 cards...any card that costs 1 mana and says draw 3 cards then basically do anything else I am down to play. Furthermore putting 2 back on top can set up your next 2 draws perfectly, or if its junk crack a fetch.

[@YuckyRory]

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

[@rotemizhar8426]

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

[@AdvertisingWorldpeace]

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 !

[@NitpickingNerds]

Well we mention in the video that we are not talking about budget 😊

[@nickhughes8179]

I need Dispel for my Baral Deck. Spell Pierce doesn't do it, but I don't have a lot of other 1 mana counters besides Swan Song

[@TheBigPenguu]

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

[@faperito2389]

Isochron scepter with reversal stamped and an extra turn spell? 😳

[@g33kaholic24]

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

[@ultimateretroasd]

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

[@bryanpmcgowan]

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

[@NitpickingNerds]

The tier list format is for messing around

[@NewOldEBM]

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?

[@mthlay15]

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

[@NitpickingNerds]

Thaks for being you

[@100legodude]

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

[@VampiricGamess]

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.

[@stevesmith5883]

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.

[@Johnfredlambert]

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!!

[@nickhughes8179]

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

[@keanonennis541]

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

[@TheMuffinBagare]

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

[@toxicink72]

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

[@tyeklund7221]

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

[@Keanebaconburger]

So glad I found y’all’s channel

[@landphil7535]

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

[@NitpickingNerds]

That was on my Commander Legends bucket list, but I never got to draft Eligeth! The other thing I never got to do was draft that stupid (bad) GB golems deck lol

[@edmundolivier8074]

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.

[@DaBearSquid42]

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

[@jonasbley2602]

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

[@NiaTheMilkTank]

THIS 10000% its turns your 99 deck into 98 and if your running things that can cast out of grave (kess, yagmoths will) its 97 cards in your deck

[@aitorloyola766]

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

[@blaze556922]

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

[@mthlay15]

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*

[@NitpickingNerds]

That is a spicy meatball!

[@22freedom33]

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

[@NitpickingNerds]

Yes!

[@fatjonah]

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

[@seanwechsler6783]

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

[@blackmountain1983]

10:37 I have never had Mystic Remora work for me. It seems good in CEDH but in regular commander people seem to play around it too much. Do you guys normally play it turn 1 or do you wait?

[@emptysentiment7932]

Definitely not turn 1

[@ben_clifford]

5:18 Going off what you said, Brainstorm in other formats is often looking for an effect that can easily be on 2 of your 4-ofs, giving you a 35% chance of finding what you're looking for. Also, you're highly likely to have a fetchland when your deck is built right. In our format, because it's singleton and 100-cards, your odds of finding that effect go way down, and the odds of having a fetchland plummet.

[@grahamoliver1470]

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

[@donman7307]

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

[@BrainlessEd]

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.

[@stephensilverstein4855]

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

[@NitpickingNerds]

We tend to give cards that can be dead F

[@stephensilverstein4855]

@@NitpickingNerds if that's your marker for an f card then it is what it is. Still disagree with it. But if you've ever played with the card then when you know you know. And it's not a 'forget about it' even at casual tables.

[@mella4376]

@@stephensilverstein4855 agreed, especially when you are running combo and you can use all the proactive protection you can get. Definitely good in the right deck even at much lower power levels than cEDH

[@Turkin4tor]

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

[@blackhorizon40k81]

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

[@Kerplakistandan]

Um why no force of negation? Or was that card not live at the filming of this video?

[@NitpickingNerds]

This was just based on most played on EDHrec at the time

[@thisdigitalveil]

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

[@attackkataka6599]

I love this series more please

[@NitpickingNerds]

It’s never gonna stop!

[@golgariguy]

I think I disagree about Swan Song. I would put it at B or even B+, it's one of the best counterspells out there. There aren't so many 1-mana counterspells with such a small downside. Proof of its strength is also the fact that it's played in cEDH!

[@Malverde888]

I like it every game less and less because that 2/2 flier can get super annoying.

[@matthewlugo2417]

Is muldrifter okay in muldrotha?

[@zxxDarkLightxxz]

It's alright yeah. Pretty sure I've ended up cutting mine though.

[@ashutoshmadhu9821]

When is the next deck submission video?

[@djbisson9819]

Big fan of the series guys.

[@georgeakoury7915]

This was amazing. Thanks guys

[@supermassivi1995]

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

[@Malverde888]

Yeah, it’s a lot of fun in a Gruul deck for example.

[@NitpickingNerds]

We aren’t interested in playing a card that can be dead just because of the table you sat at. That is just our take. If you are willing to take that risk then the card will over perform often 😊

[@ricksanchez2116]

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

[@NitpickingNerds]

Kind of just an F if using this scale

[@ricksanchez2116]

@@NitpickingNerds thanks for the reply

[@JD-gk7eh]

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.

[@TheeMasterSword]

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

[@odogz1081]

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

[@twistedsword8612]

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

[@faperito2389]

But it is oh so sweet in counterspell wars

[@twistedsword8612]

This is true

[@greymane1994]

I honestly wonder if you guys have ever played a deck with blue in it as the primary color. A lot of the things that you rated like c or d are A+ cards.

[@tntmage7-250]

Hot take - arcane denial is an A, simply because arcane denial does something that no other (good) counterspell does - keeps your opponent from getting pissed. That is to say, it’s a political counterspell with no restriction that is also 2 mana. And it’s easy to cast, being one and a blue. That’s unique and useful, and honestly deserving of a lot of praise as a card.

[@Arisawa_Heavy_Ind]

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

[@Dubi264]

Don't disagree with the overall grade, but brainstorm is great if you care about drawing cards or have a draw doubling thing like in my Prime Speaker Zegana deck. 1 mana draw 6 put 2 back and put 6 counters on Toothy sounds much much better.

[@stephensilverstein4855]

Eh I kind of disagree with the grade think by their own standard it would be a B- as its a build around but it is the best cantrip when it comes to card quality / selection. They even mention it being bad without fetches but it's trivially easy to shuffle your deck when budget it not a concern.

[@Lnk_Avalon_Six]

Arcane Denial is great for a Nekusar deck or the like.

[@sleepwellmychild]

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.

[@szylaj]

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

[@trytoxania7020]

Exciting series!

[@NitpickingNerds]

Best I ever had!

[@thrillhouse4151]

Mana Drain is definitely the type of card I’d love to have but don’t feel like buying, instead I gambled for it and ended up with a lotus and hullbreacher instead which are also in that category.

[@NitpickingNerds]

I feel the same way. I hate buying auto include staples but play them when I have them.

[@returnoftheduelist9790]

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.

[@gregrichards3032]

Great series you guys rock

[@NitpickingNerds]

Thanks Greg!

[@MatthiasCorvinu]

Mulldrifter is handy in my blink deck. The goal of the deck is to control the board and then draw all my cards and win with lab man lol. All else fails, blink kiora bests the sea god and get a ton of krakens.

[@meatrace]

Mulldrifter is situational. Think of it this way, if it was a MDFC that had a 2/2 creature on one side and a Divination on the other, you'd probably play it IF it synergizes. Sultai graveyard decks, elemental tribal decks, Yarok decks, it's an S easily. I'd still say it's a "budget staple".

[@Nr4747]

I think you're a bit to kind to Narset's Reversal and a bit to mean to Negate - there are plenty of spells that Narset's simply can't hit, not just planeswalkers, but also some really backbreaking enchantments and artifacts that Negate can counter. Narset's also doesn't guarantee you that copying the instant or sorcery will really greatly benefit you *and* your opponent might be able to recast it on the same turn, minimizing the tempo loss.

[@NitpickingNerds]

We actually came back to this point in a recent video on cards we disagree on.

[@AbyssArray]

Hmm.. going to comment on a few * Ponder (also Preordain): I'm surprised it has a higher rating than Brainstorm, if you don't shuffle, then Brainstorm when you can essentially do the same thing at instant speed, both cards dig 3 deep, if you shuffle it's slightly better but it's still Sorcery speed, I would have grouped these 1 mana blue cantrips the same in D, I feel like they should all be D+ but that's just me * Negate/Counterspell vs Arcane Denial: On paper, it'd be: -1/0/0/-1 vs 0/0/0/+1 - honestly, I don't think it's *that* drastically different between them, they're all just counterspells that do their job. I find it to be fairly rare in my decks that having to hold up double blue vs 1 + blue to be that relevant at my table (my only current 5* deck that I have is a First Sliver deck, I don't run any counterspells at all in this deck though), I just think the emphasis between the 3 cards shouldn't be that drastic in grading between all of them. Funniest thing to me actually is that at my LGS, Arcane Denial is a good bit cheaper than Counterspell (like $1.25 CAD vs $4.25 - though Counterspell was like $2 or so last year, I remember being like wow, $2 for a card is real expensive back then) * Fact or Fiction: Is absolutely great, I include it into every single blue deck I have, fun for the table to decide what to pick, especially the panic when every answer is wrong, heck, you can even politics with someone too to give you a slightly better pile, instant speed is always sweet too, and if you care about graveyard.. oh boy

[@groovelord_nito]

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

[@eirikrcopeland8683]

not often a counter spell wins the game? so many games have been won off of the backs a a few well timed counter spells

[@BBGunsPGH]

plenty of people run dramatic reversal and iso outside of cedh

[@asdasdasd9269]

Love these guys