MTG Salvation

Several ppl said aura shards, that would work well.

tuck effects seem like they would be helpful here, you could hit ghave with the following:

[card]Hallowed Burial
Chaos Warp
Oblation[/card]

She's pricey but Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite could help to, to a lesser degree Crovax, Ascendant Hero might help.

Return to Dust Exiles enchantments (and artifacts), Ray of Revelation isn't to bad an option either.

Aura of Silence would sting grave pact or martyr's bond costs and even if they're cast they might be destroyed.

EDIT: oh and Dingus Staff that would hurt the ghave player pretty good.

I'm not sure what creatures you run in your deck, but Cursed Totem has been a real all-star in my Uril deck since I found it in the dollar bin at my LGS. The only creature in my deck with an activated (read: not triggered) ability is Birds of Paradise, so it's not a huge loss when I have them both out. This would be a huge detriment to a ghave deck, since it stops them dead in their tracks and isn't specific like Pithing Needle. I also really like Aether Flash in my Uril deck, but unfortunately, it doesn't stop grave pact from triggering.

Without reading through the rest of the posts - has anyone mentioned Melira, Sylvok Outcast + any creature with persist (Woodfall Primus, perhaps?) You sac a creature - it comes back into play, but without the -1/-1 counter thanks to Melira, and is available to sac again and again.

Quote from GFireflyE

I'm running a fairly potent sac themed deck myself. The decks that I have the hardest time dealing with are the ones that are able to generate many tokens or have many cheap creatures fielded.

Really, I don't tend to have that problem with my Ghave deck (probably because I've got several ways to generate infinite death triggers for a win with Bitter Ordeal). I have issue with people who run cards that trigger off any creature dying... like Vicious Shadows... I had a guy lock me down completely for half the game because he just happened to play Vicious Shadows and I couldn't draw an answer for a long time.

Quote from Lithl

I have issue with people who run cards that trigger off any creature dying... like Vicious Shadows...

Nice! I gotta pick one of those up for my RB Punisher deck.

Yeah, I started building a deck in anticipation of Maelstrom Wanderer coming out this summer and I put Vicious Shadows in it. In a playtest, the Vicious Shadows turned a board-wipe into very nearly a win. (VS knocked out 2 opponents and got the third into the low double-digits. Unfortunately, the MW deck was down to single-digits and each opponent either had a hasty general or a means to give their general haste, for lethal in all cases)

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Karmic Justice. That'll make him think twice about doing this kind of thing, and costs less mana than Martyr's Bond.

Quote from 3drinks

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Karmic Justice. That'll make him think twice about doing this kind of thing, and costs less mana than Martyr's Bond.

Sac effects don't destroy, and it's only noncreature.

Each card that remove card for being drop into the grave prevent the triggering ability of gravepact.

Samurai of the Pale Curtain prevent the triggering ability of Gravepact...

Or you can pact a lot of removal...

For your information, every EDH deck has his weakness and you cannot have a deck that win 100% of the times. Otherwise it's not fun to play Magic if you know you will win. How interesting was the game if you always know you will be the winner. When Ghave drop GravePact. You can remove Ghave in instead and after that try to found a removal for Gravepact... Put more removal, control and ramp and you will be fine if you play correctly.

Quote from Fenris211

... Put more removal, control and ramp and you will be fine if you play correctly.

This is sound advice. I do not build an EDH deck without the ability to remove most kinds of permanents or spells. An EDH deck is not a straight razor, it should be a Swiss Army knife to some extent- with the ability to handle a variety of situations. Most people play EDH as a multi-player format, so you will likely see many different strategies.

Try using leyline of the void.

It make your opponent grave pactand martyr's bound not trigger as it exile the card/token instead of going in the GY.

hex parasite is a good ghave remover i guess... or vampire hexmage.

Good in a black colored deck altough.

Aether Flash. White can tutor for it easily. See how he likes that. I don't know if it stops everything but it will limit all his sacrifices to instant speed at least.

Otherwise, edict effects have always been a problem for voltron generals. You've got to suit up and blow up the lands/sac outlets before he gets set up. Thankfully you're in Naya colors at least so killing enchantments and artifacts should be no problem.

You're attacking him in a very linear and predictable way that his deck is heavily prepared for. He's a 3-color build with a somewhat costly general. I'd recommend stuff like Armageddon, Boom-Bust, Thoughts of Ruin, Impending Disaster, and Keldon Firebombers. Focus on 2cc enchantments. That way you can drop one on Uril the turn after you cast him, and then immediately destroy the lands, beating him down before he can recover.

Don't forget to ramp! Land Tax, Weathered Wayfarer, and One with Nature can help you recover faster than him, and Destructive Urge can lock him down.

You could instead use stuff like Stone Rain, Ice Storm, Thermokarst, Winter's Grasp, Molten Rain, Mwonvuli Acid-Moss, Creeping Mold, Strip Mine, Wasteland, and Tectonic Edge to slow him down. This works better against Zur, but isn't as good in multiplayer.

Also, Crovax, Ascendant Hero gives Uril a small pump, but more importantly, keeps Ghave from having any tokens.

Also, keep in mind that Ghave and Zur are both just simply more powerful generals than Uril, so it isn't your fault that you're having trouble winning with him. To make matters worse, you can't really use mass enchantment destruction without hurting yourself as well. I think you might just be having a nightmare matchup. Land destruction should hopefully give you and edge though, and don't let anyone using such busted generals complain about it, because Ghave and Zur are both top-tier and it's difficult to win otherwise.

Good luck!

idk how old this link is or what....im having the same problem with someone running a ashling, the extinguisher (super annoying and dirty). They like to give her intimidate etc. anyways idk why nobody recommended sigarda host of herons she is a little spendy but you have the mana ramp with green. otherwise the flicker previously mentioned would be great, or also good token generation like dragon broodmother or dragonlair spider <also could again infinite combo's. Also Avenger of zendikar and mycoloth and chancellor of the forge. a good card with those is genesis (put him on the feild, sac him, then get to birng stuff like avenger or chancellor back from the graveyard and have indefinite tokens. yup

assault suit?

Sigarda is nice but why no
Angel of Jubilation?

Why did it take so long for Sigarda, host of herons to be mentioned? that is basically the more obvious choice.

Bring the hate! Rest in peace, damping matrix, crused totem, pithing needle, darksteel mutation, prison term, faith's fatters. you can probably tutor for the aura's with Heliod's pilgrim and they likely have synergy with your deck. Seal of primodium you can leave it in play and pop it when you need to remove grave pact.

Quote from Narvuntien »

Why did it take so long for Sigarda, host of herons to be mentioned? that is basically the more obvious choice.

Because the last post before this thread was necroed by a newcomer was before Sigarda was printed.

Also, don't graveyard replacement effects (Wheel of Sun and Moon, Black Leyline, Samurai of the Pale Curtain, and Rest in Peace) prevent "die" triggers (on grave pact) by setting up a replacement effect where the destroyed creatures do not at any point enter the graveyard ?

I wonder if "can't be sacrificed" will eventually be a keyword of "preserve" for stuff like Assault Suit.

Locked necro thread. Please start a new thread if you want to revive discussion. Thanks.