As a decades long MTG fan, one of the most useful bits of knowledge every player needs to have is a general awareness of when your opponent is most likely to ruin your carefully laid plans.
What is their preferred method of removing your creatures off the board?
How soon will it start happening?!
IS THERE EVEN ANYTHING YOU CAN DO TO STOP IT!?
I present to you ALL Death Counter cards along with where along the mana curve you can expect to start experiencing their nasty effects!
NOTE: Some cards appear identical in effect but with different mana costs due to omitting additional effects unrelated to these lists. Please look up each card to see what other "surprises" they might have.
| Creature Abbreviations | Keyword Abbreviations | |
|---|---|---|
| [c]reature | (Ab)ility | (F)renzied |
| [r]elic | (A)fterlife | (R)oar |
| (E)nd (o)f (E)ach (T)urn | (S)tart (o)f (T)urn |
——UPDATE: I revamped this section while improving the layout for the next post. Enjoy!——
When it comes to hard removal, Death excels at precisely that. It's possible to build a deck with nothing but "Destroy" cards—how competitive that actually is, someone will have to test ;P—, and we're only talking about hard counters!
I couldn't fit it on the list, but many of these removal cards have secondary effects that harm the caster. With that in mind, unless the deck is specifically built for God Health manipulation (unlikely until higher levels of play), earlier matchups will frequently be limited to the following core cards:
- [1] Blight Bomb
- [3] Dreaming Sceptre
- [4] Dust to Dust
- [4] Void Flash
- [5] Ray of Disintegration
- [6] Blackblood Blast
- [7] Cerberus, Styx Hound
- [7] Rebuild Differently
- [8] End Times
Common cards hit at 1/5/6/7 mana, with everything else being rare+.
This list has more to talk about, as it might not be immediately apparent why I've included certain cards. The prevalence of 1-mana Burn cards is fairly straightforward in that whatever you set on fire is guaranteed to die, eventually. . . probably. . .
I excluded Eva, Baroness of the Dead from the Card Removal list because it isn't always immediate and aligns better with the goal of controlling the board state. That leaves all these "Raise" cards (Pull from Void, Summon from Void, etc.) and Afterlife triggering effects that, while cool, need some context.
So, here's the first combo: Blitz creatures.
Half Life spells out the general strategy despite limiting its effectiveness by slapping Soulless on whatever you're Blitzing onto the board. Death lacks any Blitz creatures, so initially you're limited to Neutral cards like Vanguard Axewoman and Glass Cannon (assume you've overcome the legendary acquisition hurdle). So long as they don't pick up Soulless or get Obliterated, you can repeatedly Raise Blitz creatures to act like on-demand card removal. Phylactery, for example, can provide multiple turns of Blitz raiding after your initial casting.
Knowing this, if your opponent doesn't seem to mind milling themselves early on in the game, there's a good chance they intend to exploit their Void. Be wary of a turn four Raise Dead if you see high-cost Blitz cards like Juggernewt and Achillean Dedicant chilling in their void. If you understand how Raising Blitz creatures work, you can monitor a Death player's Void to watch for this tactic. Half Life to bring Enranged Ally onto a board filled with Zombies is a nasty combo if Neferu's Will is tacked on. That's up to +15/+10 for 17 Blitz damage with Overkill.
Oh, and if you're playing Blitz against Death, be mindful of the possibility that your creatures might (will) come back to haunt you.
Now, the second layer of nastiness: Raising Afterlives.
Canopic Hoarder and Sand Scorpion can trigger Afterlives from the Void, although Sand Scorpion is restricted to Anubians. It can combo extremely well with Sarcophagus, and a carefully built deck can force the RNG to consistently summon something valuable. If milling is in play, getting something like Apep's Doomcaller into the Void provides on-demand AoE Deadly. The better the deck, the more options open up (see Bulwark of the Sky for A: Deal 2 to ALL enemy Creatures).
If you only take one thing away from the post, make sure you're actively watching a Death player's Void. It can often be seen as an extension of their hand, and eventually so will your Void.
That's all for now, but do share in the comments below if you've discovered other strong combos or plays worth learning or being prepared for!
~ Ent
Counter Lists for Each God:
DECEPTION — Card Removal, Board Control, Card Advantage
LIGHT —Card Removal, Board Control
MAGIC — Card Removal, Board Control, Mana Ramp
NATURE — Card Removal, Board Control, Card Advantage
WAR — Card Removal, Blitz, Creature Ramp