The 11 Best Green Counterspells in Magic Ranked

Last updated on February 9, 2026

Veil of Summer | Illustration by Riyou Kamei

Blue is the undisputed counterspell master, and countering spells are firmly in the blue part of the color pie. But all colors of Magic can mess with the stack somehow and prevent effects from happening. Today we take a look at all the green counterspells.

They’re very narrow and usually aim to stop artifacts from working since green is an artifact’s public enemy #1. Is there any green counterspell worth playing, or are they all too bad?

Let’s find out!

What Are Green Counterspells in MTG?

Emerald Dragon | Illustration by Diego Gisbert

Green counterspells in MTG are green cards that can counter a spell on the stack or stop an ability from resolving. I only include cards that are mono-green, although there are interesting multicolor counterspells that dip into green. The main color that’s allowed to counter spells is blue, but green has been allowed to put a stop to abilities here and there (especially in the old days).

Honorable Mentions: Split Second

To a casual, non-counterspell player, Legolas's Quick Reflexes, Krosan Grip,Quagnoth, and Stonewood Invocation work about the same. However, to someone with counters in their hand, these cards basically read uncounterable. Since countering is all about controlling the stack, I figured it important to mention these spells that shield the stack from interaction.

#11. Brown Ouphe

The Brown Ouphe is a cheap 1-drop, but you stand less of a chance of breaking even on mana spent if the opposing artifact player spends two or less to activate their ability. Thus, this counter-in-creature-clothing should have difficulty earning a spot on your decklist.

#10. Ouphe Vandals

The Ouphe Vandals from Fifth Dawn won't be a surprise, which is an inherent weakness of cards that counter from the battlefield rather than your hand. The good part is the cost for the effect is a single , and you get to kill the artifact! Those pesky mana rocks are protected though, on an ability that's already limited to dealing with artifacts.

#9. Lifeforce

Lifeforce is the green mirror to Deathgrip. It’s an enchantment that allows you to pay to counter a black spell, and you should play it depending on your meta. A black EDH player hates to see this card around the table, that’s for sure, but it’s hard to justify including this since it’s too slow and narrow.

#8. Rust

With Rust, you can counter an artifact’s activated ability. It’s a really, really narrow card that will work in some situations. Perhaps you shut down something with sacrifice as part of the cost, like Mind Stone. It has huge upside potential, so give it a quick consideration and think about your local EDH meta.

#7. Autumn’s Veil

Autumn's Veil is a nice card but never got the Constructed spotlight. It’s not technically a green counterspell, but you can answer a blue counterspell with it, a blue bounce spell, or a black removal spell. It is considered mostly a sideboard card in Limited or in Constructed against Dimir cards.

#6. Bind

Bind has the magic text “draw a card” that makes everything better, so there’s that. You can counter activated abilities and draw a card. Sometimes you’ll just cycle Bind and get little benefit.

#5. Emerald Dragon

Emerald Dragon has the adventure Dissonant Wave that counters an activated or triggered ability, but it must come from a noncreature source so you can’t counter an ETB trigger or a creature’s activated ability (it won’t matter for Thassa's Oracle, basically). It’s a Stifle variant and can get a lot of different permanents, from fetch lands to Thran Dynamo, and prevent a planeswalker's loyalty ability. The big 4/4 flying trampler can be especially worthwhile in a multicolor dragon tribal deck.

gets to be a Granted,

#4. Avoid Fate

Moving on, we have a serviceable card in Avoid Fate. It’s a protection spell, so you can save your permanents from auras and removal or bounce spells. Green and white cards nowadays have ways to give protection or hexproof, so this is an older and less-effective card. It’s also useless against sorceries, so consider “avoiding” Avoid Fate unless you’re in need of more ways to protect your commander and big threats. On the bright side, it works for any kind of permanent, unlike cards like Ranger's Guile that work only on creatures.

#3. Verdant Command

With Verdant Command, I rate the card more for the different possibilities than the counter effect. It’s a very narrow counter ability since it only gets loyalty abilities from planeswalkers, and is best when you stop a planeswalkers minus ability from sweeping the board in some cases (Elspeth, Sun's Champion comes to mind), but at least they lose the loyalty counters as the cost to activate that ability.

The modes that see the most play are usually the token making and the exile/lifegain abilities. Still, these are very situational abilities, and squirrel/token decks get a buffed Raise the Alarm variant.

#2. Green Slime

Green Slime can be a Reclamation Sage with flash from time to time.  

The nicest thing about this card is that you get to destroy the permanent whose ability gets countered. Your opponent has tapped a mana rock for mana. Not only will you deny the mana generation but also destroy the mana rock and get a 2/2. Or you’ll counter a good ETB from an artifact creature like Cityscape Leveler and destroy it. It’s even got foretell to have a little extra functionality, whether you care about paying mana on the course of 2 turns or casting cards from exile.

#1. Veil of Summer

Veil of Summer has the potential to be a “counter target counterspell and draw a card.” This multiformat staple can protect your creatures against black removal spells, make your spells uncounterable, and prevent effects that target you as a player (like Diabolic Edict). We all know that Invoke Despair is one of the best black removal spells, so powerful that it got banned in Standard… But what if you could get rid of all its negative effects while also drawing a card for just a single ? Veil of Summer is banned in formats like Pioneer because it’s a card that invalidates many game plans and it contributed to green’s dominance for a time.

Can You Cast Veil of Summer in Response to a Counterspell?

You can cast Veil of Summer in response to a counter. If you do and it resolves, you’ll draw at least one card because your opponent has cast a blue spell, and your spell on the stack won’t be able to be countered. Of course, your opponent can counter your Veil of Summer and in this case, nothing will happen.

Wrap Up

Verdant Command | Illustration by Mark Poole

Most of the green counterspells are very narrow, and they must have some limitations based on what green hates best, which are noncreature permanents and its enemy colors, blue and black. So, a card like Green Slime can be a super Naturalize that also invalidates the permanent’s ETB effect. Veil of Summer is a nightmare for blue and black players.

But as you can see, mono-green counterspells are very bad, and you should think twice before including them in your deck. Unless you are that Force Spike player. Did you know any of these cards? Did you play any of these and feel like the impacted the game? Let me know in the comments section below, or leave a message at our Draftsim Twitter.

Thank you for reading, green means go, and stay safe out there.