Countervailing Winds
Instant
Counter target spell unless its controller pays 
for each card in your graveyard.
Cycling 
(, Discard this card: Draw a card.)
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Hour of Devastation
- Price
- $0.22
- EDHREC rank
- #8860
Countervailing Winds is a counterspell that scales with your graveyard — the more instants and sorceries you've cycled away, the cheaper it gets, often hitting hard counter territory for two or three mana by mid-game. In Gavi, Nest Warden decks specifically, the cycling engine fills the graveyard so fast that Countervailing Winds is effectively a Counterspell with upside by turn four.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Gavi, Nest Warden
Gavi, Nest Warden decks cycle so aggressively that Countervailing Winds routinely costs one or two mana in the mid-game, making it one of the most efficient counters in the 99 — over 60% of Gavi lists run it for exactly that reason.
Sharuum the Hegemon
Sharuum the Hegemon sits in Esper, and blue control shells there want cheap, reliable interaction — Countervailing Winds fills that role once the graveyard accumulates enough spells over a long game.
Brallin, Skyshark Rider // Shabraz, the Skyshark
Brallin, Skyshark Rider // Shabraz, the Skyshark is another cycling-heavy commander where Countervailing Winds earns its slot the same way it does in Gavi lists — the deck cycles enough to make it a hard counter for free or near-free by the time it matters.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Countervailing Winds is a role-player rather than a staple — it's good in dedicated cycling decks and underwhelming everywhere else, since a graveyard-dependent counterspell needs a specific engine to reliably discount itself. In Pauper, it sees occasional play in blue control shells where the format's slower pace gives you time to fill the graveyard with cantrips, though Counterspell itself is legal there, which limits the ceiling. In Legacy, Modern, and Pioneer, the competition from unconditional two-mana counters is steep enough that Countervailing Winds rarely sees serious play outside of niche cycling brews.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.22 bulk tier
At $0.22, Countervailing Winds is deep bulk — pick it up without thinking twice if your cycling deck needs it. Bulk counterspells this narrow don't move much in either direction, so there's no timing consideration here.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Gavi, Nest Warden
- Sharuum the Hegemon
- Brallin, Skyshark Rider // Shabraz, the Skyshark
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.