Topic: Suggestions for my Dimir Mil deck

I have built a Dimir mill deck and would like some feedback on what you think about it. Test playing it has done really well, I sometimes get mana screwed or flooded and those are the only times I have lost. Do you have any suggestions? The one card I have in my sideboard is a card I am getting but don't have yet. I don't plan on going out and dropping $100 buying cards - these are just cards I have gotten from boosters and FNM drafts...

****Would like to keep it standard****

Creatures:
Shadow Alley Denizen
Shipwreck Singer
Deathcult Rogue
Undercity Informer
Wall of Frost
Balustrade Spy
Insatiable Harpy
Returned Centaur x4
Jace's Mindseeker x2
Shipbreaker Kraken

Instants:
Boon of Erebos
Killing Glare
Dimir Charm
Essence Scatter x2
Phariska's Cure
Voyage's End
Crypt Incursion
Grisly Spectactle

Sorcery:
Tome Scour x2
Paranoid Delusions
Diabolic Tutor
Psychic Intrusion
Thass'a Bounty

Artifact:
Milstone

Enchantment:
Aqueous Form
Sensory Deprivation
Viper's Kiss x2
Baleful Eidolon
Contaminated Ground
Ordeal of Erebos
Quag Sickness x2

Planeswalker:
Ashiok - Nightmare Weaver

Land:
Dimir Guildgate x3
Island x7
Smap x11
Unkown Shores

Sideboad:
Psychic Spiral

Last edited by MBurly33 (2014-01-22 19:34:17)

Re: Suggestions for my Dimir Mil deck

Just a couple things before I make suggestions for the deck. 

Mill is a bad strategy.  You're opponent starts at 53 life instead of 20.  You don't really affect the board when you play a card that does nothing but mill.  Your opponent doesn't really need every card in his deck to beat you, most games you only see 1/3rd of your deck before they finish. 

In games like magic there are a few important positions to take, board presence, card advantage, tempo advantage.  Milling does none of these and in fact hurts you on all 3 fronts.  You don't increase your board by milling, you don't gain any card advantage by milling (in fact you lose it) and you hurt your own tempo by not doing something that increases the first 2 and you get further and further behind.

If you're okay with all that, then there are better ways to make a "mill" deck.  You really "have" to play a control deck with a mill win condition.  You need to make sure they don't have a board presence so to speak, board wipes are important here and you need the ability to stop their big plays, counter spells work well here.

For your specific deck, your land needs a lot of work.  YOu need the scry lands and shocks, as well as just more mana in general. This type of deck should run no less than 25 lands.

Reduce your number of creatures to only the most essential, and get yourself some more efficient removal, devour flesh is good, doom blade, ultimate price, hero's downfall, dimir charm isn't horrible, you need all of these.  Black is getting a "board wipe" in born of the gods, in the form of drown in sorrow so there's that, or the "whelming" wave from blue.

Last edited by elpablo (2014-01-22 19:52:57)

Re: Suggestions for my Dimir Mil deck

53 life? I have no idea what you mean by this?

Re: Suggestions for my Dimir Mil deck

60 card deck, draw 7 to start, and you have to do "53 points" of mill damage to their deck... That's if they don't have additional draw cards to help you out or some way to get value off their graveyard.

Re: Suggestions for my Dimir Mil deck

He means that with a Mill strategy you are attacking their library.  Which, after the starting draw, will have 53 cards in it.  Your goal is to get that to zero and have him draw a card.

The only advantage to Mill in this regard, is that he will lose at least one "life" every turn. 

So let's say you are on the play.  On your second turn he will likely have 52 cards in his library.  You play a second land and cast the Breaking half of Breaking // Entering he mills 7.  He now has 45 cards in his library.  He'll draw and have 44. 

I love Mill decks but elpablo makes some very good points, just milling their library isn't going to be fast enough to win most of the time.  You need cards in the deck that can manage to do other things, like establish a board presences, keep their board presence down, and gain you card advantage. 

That being said there are some cards, in standard no less, that can help do that and I don't think they are particularly expensive ones.

Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker is a milling madman.  A little expensive mana wise for a 2/4 flyer but his milling ability is top notch for a creature.  Get him out mid-late in the game and find a way to get him in for damage to start closing the deal.

Psychic Strike - 3 drop counter spell with a mill boost.  Perfect for helping to control the board while moving you closer to your goals. 

Pilfered Plans - This is basically Divination with a free mill effect.  Gain card advantage and move closer to the goal. 

Stay in the game with Crypt Incursion 3 life for every creature you've milled. 

Consuming Aberration helps you control the mid-late ground game and gets you added mill effect whenever you cast any spell.   He's the most expensive card I've mentioned so far at about $2-4, but you don't need 4 of him.  Also, he presents an alternate win condition if your opponent can't manage to keep up with your board state.

Now for pure milling, Breaking // Entering is drop dead gorgeous 2 mana for 8 cards is pretty efficient.  That many cards, makes it worth it I think and it powers up your later game Consuming Aberration or Crypt Incursion.

Other than that I think elpablo's suggestion of a bunch of removal to stall your opponent's threats while later you play heavy's like Consuming Aberration and/or Mirko.

Last edited by drock007 (2014-01-24 22:25:20)

Re: Suggestions for my Dimir Mil deck

I agree with all of the comments made so far.

Your strategy should be to kill all of your opponents creatures and counter all of his spells, then mill him out when he has nothing left to do.

I agree with Pilfered Plans, Psychic Strike and removal.  Far // Away, Devour Flesh, Doom Blade and Dissolve are all inexpensive removal/counters.  Finish them off with Mirko Vosk.

Re: Suggestions for my Dimir Mil deck

Splashing White for Supreme Verdict isn't a bad idea either and curves well into those 5 drop creatures. 

T1: Temple of Silence
T2: Island, Breaking // Entering
T3: Swamp, then either Pilfered Plans or stay untapped for Psychic Strike
T4: Land, Supreme Verdict
T5: Land, Consuming Aberration or Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker

Supreme Verdict is devastating card advantage when you're able to use it at the right time.  But it's $5-7 a copy so not exactly cheap and you'll definitely need some shocklands to make sure you can make your mana right playing in Esper colors.

Re: Suggestions for my Dimir Mil deck

http://deckbox.org/sets/587868

Threw this together, Archaeomancer kind of thrown in on a whim since Snapcaster Mage is no longer in standard Archaeomancer is about as close as we've got.  He can bring back a hate card or a Breaking // Entering card then chump block and die for all we care.

Strionic Resonator can be really powerful with both Consuming Aberration and Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker almost hilariously powerful with Mirko... mill until we see 8 lands!

Rogue's Passage gives us a way to sneak Mirko in for the mill or if our Consuming Aberration is enormous, sneak it in for the win by damage.

Re: Suggestions for my Dimir Mil deck

All i have to say is...
Traumatize+ consumming aberration + phenax woot i win
Trama them half deck gone
CA become really big number/really big.number
Play phenax tap CA for the other half
Just need wright of precinct six nighthowler and packrats to fill in mid game probably doom blade heros downfall thoughtseize. Tome scour maybe any other suggestions

Re: Suggestions for my Dimir Mil deck

If you want to see how a mill deck can actually work, check out Ben Stark's Esper Control deck from Pro Tour Gatecrash.  Obviously Nephalia Drownyard is no longer in standard, but there are cards to make up for it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUMLfX2CKcQ

Re: Suggestions for my Dimir Mil deck

Eliterawr wrote:

All i have to say is...
Traumatize+ consumming aberration + phenax woot i win
Trama them half deck gone
CA become really big number/really big.number
Play phenax tap CA for the other half
Just need wright of precinct six nighthowler and packrats to fill in mid game probably doom blade heros downfall thoughtseize. Tome scour maybe any other suggestions

I don't know what this means.

Are you talking about Disciple of Phenax? I don't see how he really helps the Mill aspect.  The Disciple reveals cards in hand equal to your black devotion then they discard a card you choose. 

If you play Breaking // Entering early, then a Consuming Aberration later he's going to be at least an 8/8 most of the time, probably bigger.  Traumatize will trigger Consuming Aberration causing them to mill until revealing a land, then Traumatize will resolve milling half of what's left. 

Consuming Aberration would be huge but tapping him doesn't mill anything.  Though if he isn't blocked or destroyed it's probably game due to damage.

Re: Suggestions for my Dimir Mil deck

http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/attachme … 1390280595

u trama get what 24 cards into the GY
CA becomes a 24/24 atleast
phenax allows u to tap a creature and u mil whatever the creatures toughtness is
so trama gets cast a second time for just tapping a creature

idk if b/u will be a thing but i wouldnt be surprised to see it
im pretty sure imma see a few more g/r, and some b/r minos, black will be around im sure, i think blue might die off a little bit
mono white might be a thing due to the new mythic

Last edited by Eliterawr (2014-01-26 18:22:13)

Re: Suggestions for my Dimir Mil deck

Ah, you're talking about the new Phenax God.

Yeah, that could be pretty boss. 

You could load up on Thoughtseize, Duress, Dimir Charm, maybe even Mind Rot to destroy their hand on a good curve, then Traumatize, then Consuming Aberration, then Phenax and tap Aberration for what should be the rest of their deck. 


I like it.

Re: Suggestions for my Dimir Mil deck

yay another idea i had was a rakdos deck
w/ master of cruelties

play master
play shadow alley denizen, and shadow alley denizen(whenever a creature enters the battlefield target creature gains intimidate)
so off of the 2nd SAD trigger u make master unblockable well most likely unblockable

Last edited by Eliterawr (2014-01-26 19:28:13)