Forceful Denial
Instant
Cascade (When you cast this spell, exile cards from the top of your library until you exile a nonland card that costs less. You may cast it without paying its mana cost. Put the exiled cards on the bottom in a random order.)
Counter target spell.
- CMC
- 5
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Commander Legends
- Price
- $0.27
- EDHREC rank
- #9055
Forceful Denial counters a spell outright and replaces itself with a cascade trigger — that's two cards' worth of work for three mana. The catch is that the cascade payoff only matters if your deck is built around it, and outside of Averna, the Chaos Bloom shells, you're paying full price for an underpowered counterspell.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Averna, the Chaos Bloom
Averna, the Chaos Bloom turns every cascade trigger into a free land drop, so Forceful Denial does double duty — it stops a threat and advances your mana development simultaneously, making it one of the few counterspells that actively fuels the engine rather than just protecting it.
Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty
Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty grants cascade to spells with mana value six or greater, so Forceful Denial's built-in cascade fills out the interaction suite for decks that want to chain spells together — though at a 0.08 synergy score, it's a role-player rather than a cornerstone.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | not legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Forceful Denial earns its slot only in dedicated cascade builds — outside that context, three mana for a conditional counterspell is simply not competitive with available alternatives. In Pauper, where the card pool is restricted, the cascade upside has more relative value and the three-mana cost is less punishing against slower formats. Legacy and Vintage have the raw card quality to make Forceful Denial look embarrassing — no serious list there touches it. Oathbreaker mirrors the Commander calculus: cascade synergy in, generic blue shell out.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.27 bulk tier
At $0.27, Forceful Denial is deep bulk — pick it up without a second thought if the deck calls for it. Bulk counterspells with narrow synergy requirements don't appreciate, so buy it to play it and don't expect the price to move.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Averna, the Chaos Bloom
- Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.