MTG Salvation

If you play a mono-colored deck, are there any colorless cards that can get rid of Iona, Shield of Emeria? I had an argument with someone, who thinks Iona is overpowered, because it defeats a mono-deck outright. I told him that he needed some colorless cards to deal with it, so I searched on gatherer for a few, but I wanted to ask here to make sure I didn't miss anything.

All is Dust, Oblivion Stone, Nevinyrral's Disk, Brittle Effigy, Karn Liberated. Æther Spellbomb, possibly.

Duplicant is the one that nabs her the most, honestly.

Thanks for the suggestions. There were a few I didn't consider.

Spine of Ish Sah is another good one.

Quote from Heidtb

if iona dies, can you start to play selected color spells again?

Yes, you can.



I just found Mycosynth Lattice, which gets around Iona.

Nobody's mentioned Ulamog, the Infinite Crusher yet. Eye of Ugin can search and cast it for the low low price of 16 mana[/obviously playing monogreen]

You can also keep some permanents that can kill Iona once she shows up, like Vesuvan Shapeshifter, Dark Impostor, Flameblast Dragon and Silklash Spider.
The easiest color for doing that is probably black, with all the Grave Pact/Abyss effects and recurring creatures.

Quote from Solemn Simulator

You can also keep some permanents that can kill Iona once she shows up, like Vesuvan Shapeshifter, Dark Impostor, Flameblast Dragon and Silklash Spider.
The easiest color for doing that is probably black, with all the Grave Pact/Abyss effects and recurring creatures.

I'm referring to a reactive situation where Iona is on the battlefield first and now the opponent must find a way around it, so these cards would not help if the appropriate color was called to prevent them from being cast.

My brother-in-law is like most casual players, where they want to be able to play their cards, so they don't even try putting a few esoteric cards to deal with troublesome cards that keep coming up (Iona).

Steel Hellkite can do it if you can get it though unblocked. Whispersilk Cloak, maybe?

Masticore with, say, Basilisk Collar can do it.

Wurmcoil Engine wearing Nemesis Mask is pretty good.

Mindslaver might be able to do it.

There's also Argentum Armor, Predator, Flagship, Tower of Calamities, Arena, Heartseeker, Worldslayer, and a bunch of horribly inefficient options.

Just know that even with the above solutions you will lose to it 9 out of 10 times.

lux cannon, hypothetically. or with enough proliferate.

Vesuva + Mouth of Ronom, since it hasn't been listed

It isn't actually as bad as it sounds. I have counted the times where my monogreen lost to a resolved Iona and so far, it is two out of five (since I remembered recording this) and one of them is arguably due to overextension. My monoblue has never lost despite a resolved Iona (how many times would an Iona resolve, anyway? ;)) thanks to the combined efforts of Vedalken Shackles, Memnarch and/or Oblivion Stone. On the other extreme, the only time my monoblack wins against a resolved Iona is when my opponent miscalculated and did not name black (hint: due to multiplayer and flawed threat assessment).

Otherwise, it really depends how ready is your deck in handling Iona to begin with. Given the number of Iona running around in my metagame, I did a fair bit trying defending against Iona. That said, sometimes, depending on the size of the game, it is sometimes possible to maneuver the table into helping you to get rid of Iona ("if you help me get rid of Iona, I will unleash my wrath on that insolent player for the rest of the game").

Gempalm Incinerator works if you're playing tribal goblins (And it's already a great card).

green has channeling Arashi, the Sky Asunder

Smokestack with enough permanents out.

I've got to say, my mono-color decks have actually fared better against Iona than my multicolor decks. Even though fewercards get shut out, they trend to be more important to the game plan, and the mono deck is already relying on artifacts to cover holes, while the multi deck didn't need to.

Proteus Staff will tuck her.

Thanks for the great ideas.

Quote from SuperSonik

Proteus Staff will tuck her.

Its color identity in EDH is blue. I was looking for purely colorless answers.

If your deck can generally generate a significant amount of mana, Planar Portal can both get through Iona's condition and allows you to tutor your answer cards. Not cheap, but very effective if you can afford it.

Tawnos's coffin will (temporarily) remove her, too.

I know this thread is pretty old, but for those who are wondering, I've been compiling this list of Iona, Shield of Emeria answers for some time now. If you find any that aren't listed here feel free to let me know. Here is my list:

Duplicant
Brittle Effigy
Karn Liberated
All Is Dust
Nevinyrral's Disk
Helm of Possession
Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
Spine of Ish Sah
Altar of Shadows
Steel Hellkite
Lux Cannon
Argentum Armor
Gallows At Willow Hill
Heartseeker
Predator, Flagship
Suncrusher
War Barge
Worldslayer
Oblivion Stone
Unerring Sling
Amulet of Unmaking
Proteus Staff
Eye of Doom

Executioner's Capsule is pretty good, just place and forget it until needed.