The 31 Best Stifle Effects in Magic Ranked

Stifle | Illustration by Eric Fortune

Sometimes you have to stop things on board. Perhaps your opponent is about to unleash a horrible infinite combo. If you launch a removal spell, they'll activate an ability in response and you'll lose. But once they activate, a removal spell on the stack often won’t help, depending on the ability. Or perhaps you just want to make sure when they crack their fetch land in Timeless that they don’t get to look for another land!

There are so many fewer effects that interact with abilities in MTG (nicknamed Stifles) than there are removal spells or counterspells, and they can be hard to search up given the variety of templating. But we’re here to make sure you have all the tools for one delicious “Gotcha!” to an opponent at just the right time!

What Are Stifle Effects in MTG?

Emerald Dragon | Illustration by Diego Gisbert

A Stifle effect does what that card text says: It counters an activated ability or triggered ability. But there are many variations. Some cards just do activated abilities. Others triggered abilities only. Some cards do one or both of these with other effects.

The very first of these effects were in Legends, with Rust and Ayesha Tanaka, which could target only the activated abilities of artifacts, but the field has very slowly expanded from there. 

Ready to ruin someone’s fun?

Special Mention: Dress Down

Dress Down isn’t technically a Stifle effect since it doesn’t counter creature abilities, it just blanks them. But it’s an awesome card, especially as an enchantment and a cantrip.

Special Mention: Turn-Enders

There are a handful of spells or abilities that end the turn. The most well-known might be combo piece Day's Undoing, but there are others that work at instant speed. Ending the turn exiles spells and abilities on the stack, which feels a bit like countering them. The best of these is Discontinuity, and Obeka, Brute Chronologist is a commander who is only up to nefarious shenanigans. But Time Stop and Hurkyl's Final Meditation are sometimes playable. Glorious End and Sundial of the Infinite are combo pieces you’ll likely not be using as proxies for a Stifle.

#31. Ayesha Tanaka

As overpriced and boggling as most legends from Legends, Ayesha Tanaka does not have a good ability. Their best use is as the only legendary creature with banding, so that allows you to laboriously explain those rules to new players, effectively stifling their love of Magic before it can even kindle.

#30. Brown Ouphe

Rust on a stick is still Rust. And Brown Ouphe asks you to pay 2 mana and tap for that. 

#29. Ouphe Vandals

Ouphe Vandals shifts the mana pattern and destroys the artifact, but it’s still a big bunch of meh.

#28. Emerald Dragon

Having these effects as green instants is very cool. This isn’t enough for 3 mana, especially ignoring creature sources, and being able to later spend 6 to get a 4/4 flying trampler in Emerald Dragon isn’t great either, Bob.

#27. Rimewind Cryomancer

In a snow deck, this seems reasonable and kind of annoying to play against, especially if you can untap Rimewind Cryomancer. Four mana for a 2/3 seems steep, though, especially since it doesn’t hit triggered abilities.

#26. Kadena’s Silencer

I have seen this tally nab someone. But I just don’t have a lot of faith that flipping Kadena's Silencer over is a real answer to real threats in any real EDH scenario that I would run across, given my luck with morph, specifically.

#25. Adric, Mathematical Genius

This Doctor's companion from Doctor Who is not amazing. Their ability to do a budget Lithoform Engine impression is fine, but as a 1/1 it’s so fragile. Sacrificing to stifle is pretty cool and easily forgotten by opponents. I have shocked people with this before in long Commander games.

#24. Voidmage Husher

I’ll bet you didn’t know this blue creature existed! Voidmage Husher is wild in the late game when you have a bunch of mana. And in blink decks, the self-blink here is great for keeping the flow going when you need it going!

#23. Azorius Guildmage

This Azorius card is criminally underplayed! That’s my hill, but I will not have to die on it if I convince you! Azorius Guildmage is the only repeatable, no-restraints stifle effect we have in Commander. Three mana is a ton, especially at powerful EDH tables, but if you’re at tables powerful enough that you can get your big or even infinite mana going, this card can just destroy all combos when the time comes. It’s not an easy tool to use, but it’s a powerful one.

#22. Deny the Witch

A 4-mana, 3-color counterspell is a hard ask. It can also Stifle, but still, for 4 hard-to-cast mana. That last line of text on Deny the Witch is intriguing, though, as it can be a wincon in tokens decks.

#21. Overcharged Amalgam

A much worse precursor to Ertai Resurrected that has a tough time finding its spot. So it’s often a Phantom Monster with flash, which isn’t good enough anymore, as much as players from 1994 would bemoan.

#20. Sister of Silence

Can I interest 1994 in a Phantom Monster with flash that doesn’t need Overcharged Amalgam’s exploit and can also do part of a Negate for 1 more mana? I mean, I’m kinda here for Sister of Silence, but that might just be because I had a Sisters of Battle Warhammer 40K army back in the day, so maybe we should just move on.

#19. Brokers Confluence

I just don’t feel like I want to keep 5 Bant mana up and pass the turn, but being able to save three creatures from a board wipe, add +3/+3 to all your creatures with +1/+1 counters, get your planeswalkers in ultimate range on an opponent’s end step, and then, yes, sure, I guess, stifle something, or three somethings, well, yes, Brokers Confluence is a powerful Bant card. 

#18. Green Slime

It only targets artifact or enchantment sources, but Green Slime is a great rate for that, especially if you foretell it. You can flash in a 2/2 body when you need it. And you can use it as a Disenchant as it stifles. Awesome!

#17. Nimble Obstructionist

Three mana for a Stifle plus a card when you cycle Nimble Obstructionist. That’s a decent rate but not great. The fact that it’s a 3/1 flash flier as an alternative is pretty nice, though.

#16. Voidslime

A much better Simic card back in the day, Voidslime suffers from a tough casting cost. Still, it’s a Cancel variant that also does our trick.

#15. Disallow

Actual Cancel mana works better than Voidslime, but it feels like 3-mana counterspells are a bit of yesterday’s MTG.

#14. Bind

All of these cards are underplayed in Commander, but Bind is a sweet green card that I bet you didn't know existed, having never been reprinted since Invasion. It doesn’t do triggered abilities, but being a green counterspell and also drawing a card means you can use this at will. Some of the most popular commanders in the game rely on their activated abilities, like Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow (ninjutsu is an activated ability, yo!), Kenrith, the Returned King, Krenko, Mob Boss, and Shorikai, Genesis Engine, to name a few.

#13. Tale’s End

I’d actually rather run our next card, an uncommon, than Tale's End if I had to choose. But why choose? Run both, especially in Commander, where there are legends afoot!

#12. Defabricate

For 1 more mana than Stifle you can also counter artifacts or enchantments, which makes this a must include in blue instants Commander decks like Talrand, Sky Summoner. 

#11. Repudiate / Replicate

If we’re in Simic colors, Repudiate / Replicate is awesome. A 2-mana Stifle or a 3-mana clone spell.

#10. Interdict

A much better Bind never reprinted since Tempest, Interdict is kind of everything I want in a blue card for Commander. It doesn’t stop planeswalkers, fine. But otherwise, this is basically Stifle for 1 more as a cantrip. A typical stifle interaction puts you behind on card advantage, but you’re quite happy when you toss in a cantrip.

Note that the final ability doesn’t really work that well. If their activated ability can easily be used more than once they can just load those activations onto the stack in response to your Interdict. It’s still useful, but there’s a better version in Trickbind you’ll see in a sec.

#9. Squelch

A bit of an Interdict riff that has more targets, Squelch is also very much underplayed. 

#8. Trickbind

Trickbind is Interdict with split second technology to actually accomplish that last line of text. This blue instant doesn’t draw a card, but the total shutdown is worth it on its own for different purposes.

#7. Summary Dismissal

There are always times when emptying the stack seems awesome, whether that’s Whirlwind Denial or Summary Dismissal. The Dismissal is 1 more mana, but if you imagine the stack duplicating with triggers like it does on MTG Arena with the placards on the right, you can imagine how lovely it would be to have this at the ready.

#6. Strict Proctor

The go-to card for Lotus Field decks to avoid the sac trigger, Strict Proctor is also annoying in stax decks of all kinds.

#5. Ertai Resurrected

Whatever your problem, Ertai Resurrected has a spare arm or three to help you out.

Need a Stifle, a counter, a Hero's Downfall? Sure! They’ve got your back. And side. And maybe another hand on your shoulder. The other is likely injecting you with glistening oil, though, so watch it.

Ertai lets them draw a card, which is fine with Sheoldred, the Apocalypse and Faerie Mastermind, and leaves behind their creepy body in trade.

#4. Tishana’s Tidebinder

Not exactly a Trickbind on a stick, Tishana's Tidebinder is close. The lockdown ability is awesome for pesky permanents with evil-triggered abilities like Sheoldred, the Apocalypse. This is a great staple across several Magic formats, even cEDH.

#3. Sublime Epiphany

Sublime Epiphany can end the game when it comes down. It has so much value! Sometimes I run this as a Stifle, getting a bounce, a clone, and a card as a bonus for my additional 5 mana. But often that part of the card is used to stop a triggered ability farther back in the stack if a bunch of instants, especially counterspells, are played and the Epiphany is the last word. I guess that’s the hint for how I play this card. Wait until I have 8 or so mana and run out the cheap counter first.

It still costs 6, but what a 6!

#2. Consign to Memory

A super common sideboard card in Modern decks, Consign to Memory counters big Eldrazi, sure, but it’s also a 1-mana answer to a storm win, as it answers a card like Tendrils of Agony. So anywhere where storm combos are lurking, Consign is ready for duty.

#1. Stifle

The classic is still the best. You can’t beat 1 blue mana. You can’t beat being able to squelch their fetch land crack on turn 1 when you’re on the play in a format where this blue card is legal. You could use it in a Lotus Field deck in Historic or you could unleash your Phyrexian Dreadnought without having to sacrifice it in Legacy. 

Can You Stifle a Mana Ability?

No. A stifle effect works on an ability on the stack. Mana abilities do not use the stack. You can see this language on the Stifle card itself.

Can You Stifle Cascade?

Yes. Cascade is a triggered ability. Stifling a cascade trigger on a permanent like Bloodbraid Elf will only counter the cast trigger; the creature will resolve like normal.

Can You Stifle Storm?

Yes. Storm is a triggered ability. Countering a storm trigger effectively counters all copies that would have been created, though the original spell with storm will still resolve.

Can You Stifle a Pact Trigger?

Yes!

Pact of Negation, for example, puts a “lose the game” trigger on the stack in the next upkeep. That can be stifled. This also works on Summoner's Pact, Demonic Pact, Intervention Pact, Pact of the Titan, and Slaughter Pact.

Wrap Up

Tishana's Tidebinder | Illustration by Nino Vecia

If you’re the kind of player that hates counterspells, I’m sure you doubly hate these cards! Me? I love ‘em. There are hundreds of counterspells, discard spells, and removal spells, but not even three dozen of these? As we proliferate enters effects and activated abilities on cards, I think we need a lot more ways to interact with those things. I would want a cheap Stifle in Standard at all times as we continue to power creep the game.

I’d also like to see these effects as options on more modal cards like Ertai Resurrected. While we’re at it, I’d love to see punisher cards in this vein, similar to the way Sheoldred, the Apocalypse punishes card draw. I know, I hate Sheoldred just like you might, but I see why it exists. If not actual stifles, maybe we can get more hate for activated/triggered abilities, like we see on Harsh Mentor and Burning-Tree Shaman.

I get that might just be me, but let us know in the comments or on Discord where you think these effects stack up in Magic design! And if you happen to have an absolutely sickening stifle story, please drop that as well.

Happy Stifling!