Avoid Fate is one of those silly little cards that they made before they had much in the way of a color pie. I don't know how much play it's seen in recent years.
I may be a bear of very little brain, but in many Commander decks, one of your top priorities is keeping your commander in play once you've gotten it there. And it seems to me that this silly little card would be a solid way of shrugging off a removal spell, especially if you're playing mono-G. Like a slightly weaker Vines of Vastwood.
But I've been wrong before. What does the community at large think of Avoid Fate?
It is a clever trick, but absurdly narrow. Green cannot easily acquire it and it doesn't stop as much as you might want it to (sorceries, for instance). If you were G/U and had a decent number of ways to find it when you needed it, it'd be interesting, but there'd likely be better choices for that slot.
I dunno, it seems to be a card sans a home. Any deck that wants it probably has better choices. The only big value is going to be surprise or as backup for more robust defenses.
I used to play Avoid Fate in an older mono-GMolimo, Maro Sorcerer deck, and it tended to be merely OK. Not stopping sorceries or activated abilities was frequently relevant. At the time (years ago), it seemed acceptable, but many new cards have been released.
I agree. The mechanic is a good one for Green to have but the words "counter target spell" got too many people whining about the color pie, this and that, so it just got reworded to "target gets Hexproof/Shroud", which is more powerful anyway.
If you want a control card that people don't see coming from Green, play Bind.
As others said, there are many other cards that can protect your creatures from other people's spells.
I think the main reasons you would want to run this card are if: you're already running all those other cards and want to run another card with that kind of effect (probably not likely), or you're also going to use it to counter instants or enchantments targeting noncreature permanents you control (since Ranger's Guile won't counter a Naturalize or Return to Dust on an Asceticism, for example, while Avoid Fate will).
Blue has the strictly better Turn Aside and general countermagic, and white has Faith's Shield and Razor Barrier (and the only thing Avoid Fate has on the last two is being able to counter Ghostfire), so Avoid Fate should probably only be played if you're not running either of those colors.
Well, I used it most in my Scion of the Ur-Dragon semi-combo deck (win cons were things like Skittles + Might of the Oaks, Dragon Tyrant + Tainted Strike, etc, and of course Curiosity + Niv). I packed all the 1 CMC cards I could find in there that would keep my commander alive when he tried to kill someone off. Avoid Fate, Turn Aside, Ranger's Guile, Faith's Shield, all of it.
I guess it has its uses because I saw someone use it to foil a Blatant Thievery. Still I'd say Avoid Fate is kind of a "well I guess I have more room for cards to protect my things with" thing
I guess it has its uses because I saw someone use it to foil a Blatant Thievery. Still I'd say Avoid Fate is kind of a "well I guess I have more room for cards to protect my things with" thing
That actually doesn't work because Blatant Thievery is a sorcery and Avoid Fate can only target an instant or Aura spell.
I think I'd rather play withstand death, as most of the instants my opponents would play that would target my creatures are trying to kill them. I don't think I've seen any auras played on opposing creatures other than control magic effects, and the vow (vow of flight) cycle, which I wouldn't mind anyway.
There’s tons of control magic. A few of the strongest control cards in the game are auras. Song of the dryads for example. If you aren’t playing any of these control auras you’re missing out. There’s also plenty of instants that can be countered with it that I personally think it’s worth it in a mono green deck. There may be some others that do some other things but there is versatility in that I can counter an instant to help my opponent to politicize it too. Stopping a song of the dryads against my commander would be insane. It’s one of like 3 cards that can actually stop a commander from going back to the command zone.
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I may be a bear of very little brain, but in many Commander decks, one of your top priorities is keeping your commander in play once you've gotten it there. And it seems to me that this silly little card would be a solid way of shrugging off a removal spell, especially if you're playing mono-G. Like a slightly weaker Vines of Vastwood.
But I've been wrong before. What does the community at large think of Avoid Fate?
I dunno, it seems to be a card sans a home. Any deck that wants it probably has better choices. The only big value is going to be surprise or as backup for more robust defenses.
Radha, Heir to Keld, Vorel of the Hull Clade, Kemba, Kha Regent, Vela the Night-Clad, Kozilek, Butcher of Truth, Barrin, Master Wizard, Slobad, Goblin Tinkerer, Patron of the Orochi, Oloro, Ageless Ascetic, Thraximundar, Roon of the Hidden Realm, Prossh, Skyraider of Kher, Marath, Will of the Wild, Teneb, the Harvester
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At this point, I'd pretty much never play it, even in mono-G, since we now have Vines of the Vastwood, Ranger's Guile, and Not Of This World. In addition, we now have a few extra protection giving equipments, Darksteel Plate, Swiftfoot Boots, etc. etc. At this point, there is absolutely no way Avoid Fate would make the cut in any of my 99.
If you want a control card that people don't see coming from Green, play Bind.
I think the main reasons you would want to run this card are if: you're already running all those other cards and want to run another card with that kind of effect (probably not likely), or you're also going to use it to counter instants or enchantments targeting noncreature permanents you control (since Ranger's Guile won't counter a Naturalize or Return to Dust on an Asceticism, for example, while Avoid Fate will).
Blue has the strictly better Turn Aside and general countermagic, and white has Faith's Shield and Razor Barrier (and the only thing Avoid Fate has on the last two is being able to counter Ghostfire), so Avoid Fate should probably only be played if you're not running either of those colors.
That actually doesn't work because Blatant Thievery is a sorcery and Avoid Fate can only target an instant or Aura spell.
And it seems absolutely nobody at the table, myself included, was paying attention on that day.
Wow Avoid Fate really is a limited card. I'd stick with instant hex proof granters like Ranger's Guile.