TL;DR: Start with an interaction package of about 10–12 total removal and counterspells in most Commander decks: 8–10 spot removal, 2–3 board wipes, plus 3–7 counterspells if you’re in blue (fewer for proactive decks, more for control). Make sure your “removal” isn’t all creature-kill—include artifact/enchantment answers and at least 1–2 graveyard/combo stoppers. If you keep dying before you can respond, add cheaper interaction (or more draw); if you keep drawing answers and not progressing, trim it back.
If you’ve ever lost a game while holding three “answers” that didn’t answer the thing killing you, you already understand the problem. We all want our decks to “do the thing.” But we also want to not instantly die to the other guy’s thing.
That’s why Interaction Packages matter. The real question is not “should i run removal or counterspells?” It’s “how much do i need before my deck stops feeling helpless, without turning into 99 cards of polite disagreement?”
This post is about building an Interaction Packages baseline you can start from, and then tuning it so it fits your deck, your pod, and your format.
Why “enough” is a moving target
“Enough” depends on two realities:
- Your opponents are not goldfishing. They’re trying to win, and some wins happen fast.
- Every interaction spell you add is a card that isn’t ramp, draw, synergy, or your actual win condition.
So the goal of Interaction Packages is not to “answer everything.” It’s to reliably answer the few things that beat you most often.
And yeah, that means you need to know what those things are. (Painful, but true.)
A baseline Interaction Packages template (Commander vs 60-card)
Let’s get practical. Here are starting points that show up again and again in deckbuilding advice and real lists.
Commander (EDH) baseline
For a typical mid-power Commander deck, a clean starting point looks like this:
- 8 to 10 spot removal (cards that remove a specific threat)
- 2 to 3 board wipes (or fewer if your deck is creature-swarm and hates wiping)
- A small stack package if you’re in blue (often 3 to 7 counterspells, more if you’re control)
- 1 to 3 “weird answers” that hit graveyards, combos, or hard-to-remove commanders
If you’re building hard control, your Interaction Packages shift heavily toward stack interaction. At that point, double-digit counterspells can be normal because stopping haymakers is basically your whole plan.
60-card Constructed baseline
Constructed decks are more consistent (four-ofs), so you can run fewer “kinds” of answers and still find them. A simple baseline:
- Aggro: 4 to 8 removal spells, mostly cheap
- Midrange: 6 to 12 removal spells, plus some flexible interaction
- Control: lots of interaction, but the mix matters (cheap answers early, bigger answers later)
Control decks lose when they can’t interact early, and they also lose when they draw only answers and no way to turn the corner. That balance is basically the whole job.
Don’t count “removal” as one bucket
One reason Interaction Packages feel wrong is that players treat removal like it’s all the same. It isn’t.
Here’s a better way to think about it.
1) Creature removal
You need it, because creatures still kill people the old-fashioned way.
But creature-only removal is where a lot of decks stop, and that’s how you lose to:
- a value engine artifact
- an enchantment that turns off your plan
- a planeswalker that quietly takes over the table
2) Artifact and enchantment removal
In Commander especially, you will face artifacts and enchantments that are basically “must answer.” If your deck can’t touch them, your Interaction Packages are lying to you.
Also, “utility artifacts” are a whole category of stuff people play that isn’t a win condition, but it makes their deck feel unfair anyway. If you want examples, Kraken Opus has a solid rundown here: What Are Utility Artifacts in MTG.
3) Graveyard interaction
You don’t need to turn into the graveyard police. But you do want at least one or two cards that can stop the “oops, i reanimated half my deck” player.
In some metas, graveyard hate is not optional. It’s just part of responsible adulthood.
4) “Answer the player” interaction
This is the stuff that stops combos, protects your win, or buys a turn:
- counterspells
- protection spells
- silence effects
- stax pieces (if your group is into that)
Not every deck needs all of this. But every meta has something that demands it.
Counterspells: the stack tax, and when to pay it
Counterspells aren’t “better removal.” They’re different removal.
They trade one thing for one thing, but the timing is the whole point: you stop the threat before it hits the battlefield, before it triggers, before it becomes a problem that needs a second answer.
So how many should you run?
If you’re not a control deck
Most blue decks don’t need to be Counterspell City. A small stack package is often enough:
- a few hard counters
- a couple “protect my board / protect my combo” counters
- maybe one “oh no” button
That’s it. Your Interaction Packages can lean on permanent removal for the rest.
If you are a control deck
Now you’re paying the stack tax on purpose.
Control wants enough countermagic that you can stop the spells that matter, not just the first scary thing someone casts. That usually means a lot more counterspells and a lot more card draw, because control without draw is just “eventually you run out of permission and die.”
Also, be honest about your pod. In some casual Commander groups, 20 counterspells is not “strong.” It’s “congrats, you are now the villain in three separate group chats.”
Tuning Interaction Packages to your deck’s job
Here’s the simplest way i know to tune counts without overthinking it: ask what your deck is trying to do during turns 1 to 6.
Proactive decks (aggro, stompy, go-wide)
You’re trying to end the game before the table stabilizes.
Your Interaction Packages should be:
- cheaper
- narrower
- mostly about removing blockers, stopping one key engine, or protecting your board
If you stuff your deck with too many answers, you’ll stall out and do the saddest thing an aggro deck can do: pass the turn with seven cards in hand and no pressure.
Midrange decks
Midrange decks win by trading resources and ending up with the last meaningful threat.
So your Interaction Packages should be:
- flexible answers
- a spread across creatures and noncreatures
- enough density that you can interact early without mulliganing into it
Midrange is the archetype that gets punished the hardest by “all my removal only kills creatures.”
Combo decks
Combo is weird, because your interaction is often defensive.
You’re not trying to stop everyone from playing Magic. You’re trying to stop the one spell that stops you.
So your Interaction Packages can look like:
- fewer total answers
- more protection
- more “force through” tools
Combo decks that run lots of removal but no protection often lose the same way every time: “i had it, and then my thing got removed.”
Control decks
Control wants to answer threats efficiently, then win once the table is out of gas.
So your Interaction Packages should be:
- high density
- heavy on stack interaction
- backed by real card advantage
If you don’t have the draw engine, you’re not control. You’re just delaying your own loss.
A quick self-test: are you seeing interaction when it matters?
You don’t need perfect math to feel this out. Play 5 to 10 games and notice:
- Do you regularly have one piece of interaction by the time the first “must answer” card hits?
- Do you often have the wrong kind of answer (only creature kill, no artifact/enchantment hate)?
- Are you holding answers but can’t cast them because you’re tapped out every turn?
- Are you interacting a lot, but never actually advancing your own win?
If you keep missing your answers, raise the count or add more card draw. If you keep drawing answers and falling behind anyway, lower the count or swap to more flexible interaction.
That’s the boring truth: Interaction Packages aren’t a sacred number. They’re a tuning knob.
Common mistakes that make Interaction Packages feel bad
“I have removal” (but it’s all the same removal)
If 9 of your 10 answers kill creatures, you will still lose to the enchantment that shuts off your deck. Diversify.
Too many expensive answers
A hand full of five-mana answers looks great until you die on turn five with five mana in play.
Cheap interaction is what keeps you alive long enough to cast the big stuff.
You built answers, but not access
If you want a heavier Interaction Packages plan, you usually need more draw, filtering, or recursion. Otherwise, you burn through answers and end up topdecking lands while the table rebuilds.
Being “the table’s removal service”
If you’re answering everyone’s threats and not building toward a win, you’re basically doing unpaid work. Sometimes the correct play is letting Player B deal with Player C’s problem.
Yes, it feels wrong. No, you are not the table’s dad.
Closing thoughts
So how many removal spells and counterspells is enough?
Enough is when your deck stops losing to the same two or three patterns, and you still have room to actually win the game.
Start with a baseline. Tune it after real games. And keep your Interaction Packages honest: answers should match the threats you actually face, not the threats you imagine when you’re building at 1:00 a.m.
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