MTG Salvation

... in a dedicated permission/control multiplayer EDH deck?

I currently have 10 in my Damia, Sage of Stone deck, and I'd be uncomfortable going any lower than that, but I notice that most others that I've seen tend to run something more like 5-8. I'll probably just have to figure out what I'm most comfortable with at the end of the day through extensive playtesting, but I wanted to get an idea where most others stand.

Ive found going over the 5-9 range makes my group hate me with a passion....so im constantly changing them in and out in my teferi deck. But I make a note to not go over 9

Let me see here:
Force of Will
Pact of Negation
Foil
Rewind
Cryptic Command
Forbid
Dissipate
Hinder
Venser, Shaper Savant

That's from Grimgrin, and off the top of my head (tweaked it recently, may be a bit off). So..9 I believe, and that's in a combo deck.

If I had such a deck, I'd run Spell Crumple, Hinder, Rewind, and Dissipate. As was discussed in Off-topic, I can't grok most of the counterspells that exist. I can grok the 4 I listed though. Plus, I'd rather bounce my opponent's stuff and cost them tempo that way. /shrug

I play a Riku Control-Combo Build, which runs 12 dedicated/functional counterspells. Aside from this, I also run the ff. cards w/c sometimes act as functional countermagic

Venser, Shaper Savant
Cryptic Command
Reiterate

Most of the time I use them for other purposes.

I usually play as the "police" of our games, ensuring that no-one combos out too early for anyone to stop.

5-9 is the sweet spot on which I tend to settle, whether or not my deck is control-oriented. The most commonly used counterspells for me are, in no particular order:

- Cryptic Command (okay, I lied -- this is listed first because it's my favorite, and an auto-include in all U or U/X lists I make)
- Spell Crumple
- Hinder
- Arcane Denial
- Forbid
- Dissipate
- Memory Lapse

In my GAA4, I have maybe 8 or 9. When I first built it, I put in a ton of counters, but found myself cutting most of them for plain ol' white removal. Not all counter spells are good in EDH, and running too many clogs the deck.

It depends on the purpose of the control. In my Sharuum deck, for example, I run 4 counters, and use them to protect my board presence more than to shut down other players. In Edric, however, counters are virtually my only answers to anything. Because of this, I have somewhere between 20-30 of them depending on how you're counting. It really just varies based on what the deck needs.

In Rafiq and Sharuum (non-combo/otk) I run

Mana Drain
Snapcaster Mage (counters stuff sometimes!)
Bant Charm (in rafiq)
Spell Crumple
Cryptic Command
Glen Elendra Archmage
Venser, Shaper Savant
Desertion

Niv-Mizzet runs:

• Mana Drain
  
• Hinder
  
• Spell Crumple
  
• Cryptic Command
  
• Time Stop

running ~15 in teferi currently. Sort of depends what you're trying to do. My teferi always ends up with a huge board presence, so stopping wraths is crucial. Also it has a hard time dealing with hexproof/shroud so those often need countering too. Since it tends to make itself a target, counters become pretty necessary.

Depends on the deck, as others have said.

Merieke has 5-9 I believe. The Mimeoplasm has just a few, basically to either protect my graveyard or protect him once he's about to swing for the win. Thraximundar has just a few as well, although in that deck I might take them out for more fun spells.

In decks specifically meant to be heavy control decks, I generally try to have 12+.

Most of my decks have less, 5-8 sounds right.

Also, depending on how you want to count stuff like Misdirection/Trickbind/Remand that number changes.

I just proxied up a Talrand mono blue control deck with 25 counter spells. It has insofar won 66% of the 3 games it was in, but it IS the only "real" blue deck in my meta.

Can't say I'm surprised that thus far the majority of voters voted for 5-9. I am, however, very surprised to see so many people voting for 0-4 counterspells, particularly if they do indeed mean that they run that few in dedicated control decks. Seems very low to me, but I suppose that's why I asked :p.

My meta and I aren't into them so much. Occasionally we'll run redirection or some of the wacky ones, like Spelljack, but control usually takes the form of white or black removal, almost always paired with aggro.

Quote from sH0opdAwoOp

Can't say I'm surprised that thus far the majority of voters voted for 5-9. I am, however, very surprised to see so many people voting for 0-4 counterspells, particularly if they do indeed mean that they run that few in dedicated control decks. Seems very low to me, but I suppose that's why I asked :p.

Quote from The Poll »

How many counterspells do you run...
0-4
5-9
10-14
15+

This is why people are answering 0-4.

I think Nin has something like 4 or 5 counterspells, with another 3 or 4 swerve effects.

Quote from LordSaturn

This is why people are answering 0-4.

Title fail, I guess. I always assumed "..." meant "read on," and it seemed pretty ostentatious to type out full sentence in the title field. I went back and bolded my qualifier in the OP. Maybe that'll help.

I run six counters in my Esper control deck. If playtesting tells me I need more then I'll add a seventh, but I doubt I'd add much more than that. I like to use my counterspells more defensively. I don't care if someone drops a hasty Malignus because it could just as easily kick my opponents' teeth in and if it comes my way well...that's why I run plenty of kill spells. If someone wants to play Darksteel Forge (a card that threatens the entire table equally) or someone aims a Return to Dust at the Propaganda and Ghostly Prison that are keeping the Token Armies of Hell at bay then I'll drop a counter. I don't run many because I don't wanna have to use many.

Plus, it doesn't hurt that I run spot removal (for any and all permanents), sweepers, discard, 'yard hate, Propaganda effects, and Aven Mindcensor so I have a lot of ways to interact with things before I have to fall back on the catch-all of Counterspell.

I think 6 is the most I've *ever* run in a deck, if you count Mystic Snake. Intet currently has that and:
Cryptic Command
Desertion
Mana Drain
Overwhelming Intellect
Spell Crumple

In this format, I think counters need to do something else than just be a hard counter. Otherwise, it's just a 1-for-1.

Honestly it depends on the deck. Dedicated control? I probably run 10, maybe a few more. A multi colored deck that isn't focused on control (Rafiq for example) maybe five.