Adam Haggerty's Sultai Mill Creature balance
 
Type: Deck Idea
Format (invalid) modModern
Approx. Value:
$977.86

0 Likes 0 Comments
Avg. CMC 1.64
Card Color Breakdown
Card Type Breakdown

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Main Deck - 60 cards, 18 distinct
Columns
Name  Edition $ Type Cost
Rarity Color
Creature (16)
4 Hedron Crab
$5.61 Creature - Crab
4 Jace's Phantasm
$0.21 Creature - Illusion
4 Thieves' Guild Enforcer
$0.18 Creature - Human Rogue
4 Vantress Gargoyle
$0.17 Artifact Creature - Gargoyle
Instant (18)
4 Archive Trap
$14.20 Instant - Trap
4 Drown in the Loch
$0.82 Instant
2 Surgical Extraction
$2.55 Instant
4 Thought Scour
$0.28 Instant
4 Visions of Beyond
$6.10 Instant
Sorcery (8)
4 Glimpse the Unthinkable
$1.50 Sorcery
4 Scheming Symmetry
$5.90 Sorcery
Land (18)
1 Breeding Pool
$16.09 Land - Forest Island
4 Darkslick Shores
$5.20 Land
4 Misty Rainforest
$21.58 Land
4 Polluted Delta
$30.78 Land
2 Snow-Covered Island
$1.75 Basic Snow Land - Island
2 Snow-Covered Swamp
$0.94 Basic Snow Land - Swamp
1 Watery Grave
$13.27 Land - Island Swamp
Sideboard - 123 cards, 86 distinct
Name  Edition $ Type Cost
Rarity Color
Creature (25)
1 Brazen Borrower // Petty Theft
$6.19 Creature - Faerie Rogue // Instant - Adventure //
1 Death's Shadow
$2.09 Creature - Avatar
4 Glint-Sleeve Siphoner
$0.19 Creature - Human Rogue
1 Hexdrinker
$3.72 Creature - Snake
2 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
$8.34 Legendary Creature - Vampire Warrior
1 Kami of False Hope
$1.00 Creature - Spirit
1 Lurrus of the Dream-Den
$0.82 Legendary Creature - Cat Nightmare
1 Nighthawk Scavenger
$0.30 Creature - Vampire Rogue
1 Nimble Mongoose
$0.03 Creature - Mongoose
2 Plague Engineer
$0.76 Creature - Phyrexian Carrier
1 Ruin Crab
$2.31 Creature - Crab
2 Scavenging Ooze
$0.35 Creature - Ooze
1 Skaab Ruinator
$0.60 Creature - Zombie Horror
1 Snapcaster Mage
$15.48 Creature - Human Wizard
1 Soaring Thought-Thief
$0.10 Creature - Human Rogue
1 Spore Frog
$0.26 Creature - Frog
1 Street Wraith
$0.34 Creature - Wraith
1 Thief of Sanity
$0.51 Creature - Specter
1 Zulaport Duelist
$0.03 Creature - Human Rogue
Instant (44)
2 Abrupt Decay
$2.80 Instant
1 Anticognition
$0.03 Instant
2 Assassin's Trophy
$3.16 Instant
1 Become Immense
$0.17 Instant
1 Blossoming Defense
$0.34 Instant
2 Ceremonious Rejection
$0.06 Instant
1 Cling to Dust
$0.19 Instant
1 Commandeer
$17.91 Instant
1 Crypt Incursion
$0.20 Instant
1 Cryptic Command
$7.66 Instant
1 Dark Betrayal
$0.16 Instant
1 Eliminate
$0.02 Instant
2 Fact or Fiction
$0.14 Instant
3 Fatal Push
$1.73 Instant
2 Force of Despair
$5.85 Instant
3 Force of Negation
$40.90 Instant
2 Go for the Throat
$1.12 Instant
1 Infernal Reckoning
$0.16 Instant
2 Mission Briefing
$0.27 Instant
1 Mutagenic Growth
$1.22 Instant
1 Nature's Claim
$1.00 Instant
1 Noxious Revival
$5.01 Instant
1 Pulse of Murasa
$0.07 Instant
4 Spell Pierce
$0.18 Instant
1 Stubborn Denial
$3.61 Instant
1 Suffer the Past
$0.12 Instant
4 Veil of Summer
$6.03 Instant
Sorcery (19)
1 Agadeem's Awakening // Agadeem, the Undercrypt
$16.92 Sorcery // Land
1 Blessings of Nature
$0.16 Sorcery
1 Bloodchief's Thirst
$0.12 Sorcery
1 Bond of Insight
$0.14 Sorcery
2 Collective Brutality
$1.25 Sorcery
1 Creeping Corrosion
$0.55 Sorcery
1 Damnation
$19.02 Sorcery
2 Devastation Tide
$0.49 Sorcery
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
$0.30 Sorcery
1 Liliana's Defeat
$0.05 Sorcery
1 Mind Funeral
$1.36 Sorcery
1 Revenge of the Hunted
$0.38 Sorcery
1 Temporal Mastery
$6.05 Sorcery
1 Thoughtseize
$11.49 Sorcery
Artifact (11)
1 Altar of Dementia
$9.66 Artifact
1 Altar of the Brood
$15.44 Artifact
4 Engineered Explosives
$18.12 Artifact
1 Ensnaring Bridge
$11.08 Artifact
1 Mind Carver
$0.04 Artifact - Equipment
2 Pithing Needle
$0.61 Artifact
1 Sword of Body and Mind
$16.09 Artifact - Equipment
Enchantment (11)
1 Bitterblossom
$18.27 Tribal Enchantment - Faerie
1 Bloodchief Ascension
$14.99 Enchantment
1 Curious Obsession
$0.76 Enchantment - Aura
1 Gonti's Machinations
$0.16 Enchantment
4 Leyline of the Void
$2.67 Enchantment
2 Search for Azcanta // Azcanta, the Sunken Ruin
$2.87 Legendary Enchantment // Legendary Land
1 Vampiric Link
$0.94 Enchantment - Aura
Planeswalker (2)
1 Ashiok, Dream Render
$2.08 Legendary Planeswalker - Ashiok
1 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
$2.49 Legendary Planeswalker - Ashiok
Land (11)
1 Clearwater Pathway // Murkwater Pathway
$5.57 Land // Land
2 Creeping Tar Pit
$0.82 Land
1 Field of Ruin
$0.21 Land
1 Flooded Grove
$1.81 Land
1 Mystic Sanctuary
$0.99 Land - Island
1 Nurturing Peatland
$6.80 Land
1 Snow-Covered Forest
$1.20 Basic Snow Land - Forest
1 Sunken Ruins
$27.26 Land
1 Twilight Mire
$6.52 Land
1 Waterlogged Grove
$2.02 Land

Notes
 
So this is the preliminary pull of an updated creature list. With the coming of Thieves' Guild Enforcer we now have the 1 drop that gives us a bridge and critical mass to make this deck possible. It has been on the verge, and this being our own fully loaded one drop that mills and is a threat. In modern mill this card reads as mill 2 3/2 deathtouch flash in every phase of the game for 1 mana. That's A LOT. It also triggers again from other copies of itself. It's a mill spell, a peace of aggro, and a removal spell. It enables the graveyard matters cards ahead of schedule. I think it is entirely possible to build a minimalist mill shell that can get the job done easily and also pack some heavy hitters for low mana. It's actually crowded with options! My pressure on both aspects should be direct, I can use proactive surgicals, and it should be just too much to cover from anyone deck. A world in which I have trophy, command, drown, ooze activations, and visions up while also applying dual pressure is a great world. Altar of dementia is another card that bridges these worlds, especially as a 1 of with a symetery package. turns all my creatures into mill spells, which can be an immediate KO. Lines up great against spot removal decks. Suffer the past plays a good counterbalance in the opposite direction, turning milled cards into damage and another graveyard hate card. Mana inefficient but versatile and offers reach that is in theme and color.

My first rough shaping of the list is tight and low. I really need to throw it together to see how it feels. The mana is completely eyeballed and just mostly a representation of the options. The numbers are no where near locked, it's just a rough shape of what this deck looks like. I think I'm going to really consistently build up my opponents graveyard from 2 to more and land 1 mana threats. My interaction is powerful, and the blitz version might look like trophy/drown on my top end, which ain't bad. It doesn't seem too much of a stretch to inculde mystic sanctuary which gives my deck more long game than a typical aggro deck. Maybe that's the angle, a aggro deck with controlled inevitability. Like I jam as hard as I can into damage and if they can get past that finish them out by looping mill spells, which I shouldn't be to far behind on doing. The increased spread of creatures means hedron crab lives longer, and we know what happens when that card is allowed to run loose. Drown in the loch, trophy, ooze, and mystic sanctuary allow us to adopt a really strong midrange stance against aggro decks, and I feel like I want full boat oozes and like a flooded grove dual. In my current configuration (and hopefully the final) I mostly incidentally and consistently hit 20 cards in my opponents yard in the first few turns, which turns on all my cards. I then leave up interaction to force through or play protect the queen. I'm not sure if glimpse the unthinkable is the best direction to go, trap is perfect of course, and scheming symmetry with all the cantrips and incidental mill cards is pretty enticing.

07/24/20-I've been doing some work on this shell, it really is excellent. The cards have a really natural synergy now, the smooth parts are roughed over. I really wish tabletop magic was a thing, this is one of the cleanest mill decks I've made. I need to get a tighter handle on the graveyard, a silver bullet or two with symetery seems worthwhile (I'm looking at you crypt incursion). Also, this version is much more reliant on my opponent having a graveyard. In fact nothing in my maindeck even references my own graveyard aside from visions of beyond, and all fail state effects. If I use Lurrus (why wouldn't I?) it would be the one reference. My opponent specifically need to graveyard hate themselves, which should be counter intuitive. Therefore all of my graveyard hate should not blow out their whole yard. I'm loath to cut ooze, but it was good, vantress gargoyle is actually just completely fine. Think of it as a better Tarmogoyf with a fail state mill option. With our other effects it actually forms enough of a cadre of threats that have to be dealt with. Any one can take up the charge, and the package is small enough to work with the condensed mill package and leave a few flex spots. Assasin's trophy may be an easy enough splash. Post board I need to pivot some to be able to deal with my opponent having used graveyard hate on themselves. If I assume they will have the ability to eliminate their graveyard, what does that mean for me, and do I want to hedge against it. Like an early phantasm if they don't have their hate is still a must answer threat. Can I swap some amount of creatures to reinforce the mill plan or other side angle? Can I add some kind of Aura, Equipment, or creature to side step the hate issue. For example, curious obsession out the side turns our defunct creatures into cantrips. This my not be the best example, but it is something I want to look at. Death's Shadow/Thoughtseize is another consideration. Perhaps Mind Funeral is just the cleanest consideration. I also really want to get some amount of assasin's trophy/Field of Ruin back into the deck. The add to much value and disruption to the build with synergy to be missed, and a tutorable vindicate is important. My tron and big mana matches may suffer if I don't.

I just figured out that I almost could pull off bloodchief ascension! Wild. I also just realized Bitterblossum and Thieves' Guild Enforcer work together. I don't know what i do with all those 1/1 flyers, but that is intriguing.

A Lurrus Symetery deck has some really cheeky single inclusions that can completely warp the game. For example, a single spore frog against a creature deck with limited graveyard hate is insane. I can lock a deck like that out of their combat step for 1 a turn. That's a lot of time to buy. Also, a single f(r)og can win races. Another interesting factor is revisting miracles. My initial symetery list did not like them, as having them in your opener or drawing at in opportune times blanked the draw, which was often extremely detrimental. That is still the case, but I am tempted to be able to take a time walk at will more now, given that I have beefy attackers that can make good use of the turn. Similarly, the green miracles will often act like a time walk, as they will progress my clock by a full turn usually. Blessing leaves around power and can be divided, which is awesome (my crab attacks!), but hunt can be such an excellent alpha swing for lethal, and is absolutely insane with an active thieve's guild enforcer. A 9/8 Trample Deathtouch Lured creature. I fail to see how that is not winning games if undisrupted. revenge of Hunted even has good flavor for, taking the aggression to modern after playing defensive for years.

Excerpt from original version:

"So scheming symetery really throws deck construction for a loop. The presence of four 1 mana tutors in the build should reduce variance quite a bit, and act as functional copies of all cards in this deck. This both means trimming redundant effects and diversifying "silver bullets" as they will be generally more accessible. I think this also makes the deck better than previous versions for the London mulligan world as I should be playing more functional silver bullets maindeck and have access to them with frequent regularity. Cantrips are also more incentivised by the scheming symetery paradigm, and have a low oppurtunity cost. Thoughtscour get's very desirable on all fronts, and visions of beyond also seems more worth it if we are actually firing archive traps more often. Mission briefing really compliments this package as well, and also plays well with the force cycle, which pairs well with the increased velocity we are working with.

The ratio's get tricky with how many mill and control spells we want, or how much velocity before we cease functioning as intended. It both encourages a greater spread and less room for a spread, the pressure seems at odds and is a little hard to balance. Can we function as a pseudo-manaless control strategy?

I have to play around with this list. I think I can run 18-20 lands, I want at least 6 cantrips, but I think this is a good base version. Playing 20 land is basically free as I have waterlogged __, field of ruin, and shelldock aisle as really useful utility land options. I remember getting stranded on mana at 18, but I also think my build was clunkier then. With everything being at basically 2 or less I function much lower, so 19-18 might be feasible. Still, that third mana turns on the whole deck and allows me to double spell, which is crucial. I should also look at some legacy bug builds to look at their fetch land ratio's, as I think my build is going to skew that way, but still needs plenty of fetch's for the crab. I really like my removal suite currently, it's like just enough interaction to really stymie some decks.

Sideboard I want some options of silver bullets as well as a full playset of leyline of the void. I also wonder if I can shift into a protect the queen strategy, swapping glimpse for action? Worth investigating, I certainly would be more willing to play counterspells in this version. I feel like I can side into a selective control deck that's light on mana requirements but needs more resources. I also need to look at the play of crab into fetch azcanta targeting myself both times to flip on T3 immediately. I'm really curious how much weight the visions can carry, as like when i played with the trap tutor, the games where my opponent has twenty plus cards in their graveyards immediately will be more often.

My testing with Fredo was fantastic! I feel like I had full access to my whole hand immediately, and with good results. Like, two CMC looked like a lot! I think I might cut search from the main in replacement for two thoughtscours, 1 scour and 1 visions as visions got much better. My takeaway's thus far are that having a more velocity based version really increased consistency. Scheming symetery does a number of things for the deck. I feel like I have more mill spells in a way, making the mind funeral's redundant. It was very typical to archive trap 2-3 times a game, which brings us back to the 5 spells should do it paradigm. It felt like milling was easier, and that I could race more often. It also gave us greater access to our answers, albeit a little slow. The most time I spent deciding was how to navigate my symmetry lines, as I had a lot of ways to utilize it for searching, negate the drawback, and maximize other cards in the hand. It also increased the desire for horizon lands as a way to have a "cantrip on tap". It was also a bit slow at times, as the higher CMC something was the more difficult to symetery/cantrip/cast. This then incentives more alternate cost options. Devastation tide and fog seem like they garner some interest as more fast ways to affect these states. I think I also would like a Jace, Vryn's Prodigy or two for the build, has the same problem as search but casting cards from the GY is really enticing and a looter effect on tap is great. Some other form of passive card draw would be cool to pair with scheming symetery."
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