MTG Salvation

UUU MIRKO VOSK: BOTTOMS UP! BBB

My new Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker deck. The two main strategies consist of 1) abusing Blade of Selves and 2) disrupting opponents with mill. Mirko and disruption won't always win you the game but it will definitely mess with opposing strategies long enough to pull off a combo or two.

Sundering Titan is banned in commander. Swap it out for Eater of the Dead, which combos deliciously well with Phenax, God of Deception.

Good catch for Sundering Titan. You just saved me 10 bucks! I really like Eater of the Dead. GY hate is always relevant and while I'm not a huge fan of loops, adding another infinite combo into the deck does make it more viable for competitve play.

I'm also considering Geth but honestly this deck is closer to an ETB or even closer to voltron than it is a big mana deck. I'm even considering removing Dread Summons and maybe even Hedron Crab for either more draw or tutors. The more I playtest it, the more I want to be able to abuse Blade of Selves.

I'm also considering Vela the Nightclad over Grave Titan. She interacts splendidly with Mirror Gallery, Blade of Selves and Rite of Replication. Thoughts?

You should keep Eater of the Dead - it's just too broken.

Vela the Night Clad is definitely better than Grave Titan. However, Grave Titan produces a ridiculous amount of zombies with Blade of Selves, which means lots of chump blockers in any case. I would swap her for Hedron Crab instead.

I think you could keep Dread Summons. But, if you're not about milling yourself, you can scratch that. I would put Guiltfeeder in its place. Guiltfeeder equipped with Blade of Selves is pretty much an instant opponent killer.

And yeah, I concur, the deck needs more tutors to be consistent. If Mirror Gallery and Blade of Selves are key to your strategy, you need to be able to consistently fish for them or draw them out. So adding Greed, Erebos, God of the Dead, and/or Necropotence could also potentially go a long way. Pro-tip: Necropotence loves Reliquary Tower.

With so much mana production a good mana sink is Exsanguinate. Get all the life and potentially off some opponents while you're at it.

I love your suggestions. I just need to find space! I'm currently considering cutting Sepulchral Primordial. I know that sounds crazy considering how bonkers it could get with mill and Blade of Selves but my mana curve is really starting to get up there and I don't know what else to cut.

I'm also adding Muddle the Mixture and Dimir Infiltrator because they can transmute into Blade of Selves, Mindcrank and Duskmantle.

Help me make some cuts please !

What do you think of Jace's Archivist and the wheel effects? They seem strong with Sphinx's Tutelage and they also help the mill strategy by forcing them to dig deeper into their deck. Having said that, replacing with tutors would allow me to aggressively search for and abuse Blade of Selves earlier in the game.

I don't have too much experience with wheels in mill decks so if someone could chime in on the subject, I would love to hear it.

Updated 11/11/2015.

Added Guiltfeeder, Vela the Night-Clad, Abhorrent Overlord and Jace, Memory Adept.

I don't think you should put too much stuff into the deck. I don't think wheels are all that necessary (though it can help you fill your hand when you run out of gas). I'm glad to see you were able to add Guiltfeeder and Vela the Night-Clad. Abhorrent Overlord seems like an interesting addition. Do you really have the devotion to pull it off? What did you swap out for the 4 changes?

I would still add more tutors since your deck is dependent on certain cards and you run B.

As to what to cut? Ashiok I don't think is that powerful in multiplayer EDH. Also, Trade Secrets is banned so you get a free slot there, as well.

Hey man. I removed Grave Titan, Windfall, Whispering Madness, Hedron Crab, and Ob Nixilis, the Fallen.

About Abhorrent Overlord: Blade of Selves puts copies into play but they are tokens... are they copies or not? Because if they are copies of the card, then they should generate devotion which would make the whole thing bonkers. But I would appreciate someone confirming this hypothesis.

I'm also considering removing Ulamog the Ceaseless Hunger and maybe Conduit of Ruin mostly for budget reasons. They will most likely make their way back into the deck at some point but I could replace them with some tutors which may even end up being better in the long run. I currently use Demonic Tutor, Fabricate, and transmute Muddle the Mixture, Dimir Infiltrator, Perplex to fetch key components. Vampiric Tutor aside, which tutors should I be looking at?

Ah yes, the purpose of your deck is to abuse Blade of Selves. Yeah, each copy token makes the harpy tokens because the enters the battlefield trigger still occurs. The trigger that doesn't occur with the tokens produced by the myriad ability are attack triggers.

I suggest you try to scramble some $15 for Ulamog v2.0 before Oath of the Gatewatch spoilers come out. It's relatively cheap compared to what I expected it to be. When new cards are released for standard that make Ulamog broken, the price is gonna skyrocket. If there were ever any chance to get him, now would be that chance.

Well, for budget reasons, Diabolic Tutor seems reasonable. Also, tutors I love are tutors with bodies: Rune-Scarred Demon and Sidisi, Undead Vizier. One of my favorite tutors in a B-heavy deck is Diabolic Revelation. With Cabal Coffers and Urbog, Tomb of Yawgmoth, that X can become quite the hand.

Since you're building around one or two artifacts, some recursion for them would be nice. Buried Ruin has a very low opportunity cost since you're in two colors, and Trading Post is just all around awesome.

Quote from sleeper_agent007 »

Here are a few notable combos (assuming 4 players):

Blade of Selves + Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger + Mirror Gallery = Exile 80 cards.

Blade of Selves + Gray Merchant of Asphodel = Each opponent loses minimum 18 life, gain minimum 18 life.

Just as a note: Blade of Selves doesn't work with Ulamog. Like all the big eldrazi, he has a cast trigger, not an ETB trigger. This also extends to Conduit of Ruin and Oblivion Sower, they don't work with blade of selves either. Attack triggers like Ulamog and Nemesis of reason don't work either.

Your numbers are also based on 4 opponents rather than 4 players.

Your math for Gary is also off. With 4 players, 2 Garys will ETB making your minimum devotion 6. Each of your 3 opponents will be drained for 6 by each Gary, giving you 2 x 6 x 3 = 36 life gained and they each lose 12. If there are 4 opponents, 3 Garys enter with minimum devotion 8, draining 4 opponents for 8 each, giving you 3 x 8 x 4 = 96 life and they each lose 24.

Enter the battlefield abilities like Mulldrifter also love Blade of Selves.

Good tips. Alright yeah it would be a shame to miss out on Ulamog while it's still affordable. I can definitely add Diabolic Tutor and Diabolic Revelations. Rune-Scarred Demon is already in the deck. Sidisi will most likely make it but it's getting harder to find room. Most of my creatures are also combo pieces or prime targets for Blade of Selves.

@Hunding: I've been thinking about it. Totally right. I was also considering Beacon of Unrest.

I'm questioning the inclusion if *gasp* Necromancy and Animate Dead here. Yes they are considered staples, moreso in mill decks but this is more like a combo deck and with space being what it is, I'm thinking of replacing both and adding Beacon in their place.

Thoughts in what else to cut?

Why not just good ol Ulamog's Crusher or an other non-legendary annihilator?

@shadowfate: I totally understood the attack trigger for Nemesis and co. I don't know why I typed the Ulamog non-bo haha. Thanks for clearing up the math!

Quote from Deep_Woods »

Why not just good ol Ulamog's Crusher or an other non-legendary annihilator?

Myriad doesn't allow for the attacking clause of annihilator to trigger.

Updated 13/11/15

Removed:
Animate Dead
Necromancy
Ashiok, Nightmare Waver
Trade Secrets
Leyline of the Void

Added:
Beacon of Unrest
Geth, Lord of the Vault
Cabal Coffers
Diabolic Revelation
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

While Leyline of the Void is nice against GY decks, it also prevents me from abusing cards like Spoils of Evil, Corpse Augur, Guiltfeeder, and Consuming Aberration. Some of these (Spoils of Evil, Guiltfeeder and Consuming Aberration) are potential wincons. I have other more controlled ways of exiling stuff so Leyline was cut.

I don't know if removing Necromancy and Animate Dead is the right call but they have been replaced with Beacon of Unrest and Geth, Lord of the Vault. While higher on the curve, Beacon also allows me to return artifacts and Geth doubles as reanimation, mill and another potential wincon.

Finally, I've added big mana lands Cabal Coffers + Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth. I'm still trying to find a single slot for Exsanguinate which keeps bouncing in and out of the deck. I know it should definitely be in here, especially since adding big black mana land but I'm still trying to figure out potential cuts.

Updated 13/11/15

Removed
Seal of the Guildpact

Added
Keening Stone

I never played with Keening Stone, it's high up on the curve but it could be brutal. Meanwhile, Seal of the Guildpact is too expensive for what it does and I already run Heartless Summoning and Conduit of Ruin for significant mana cost reduction for the most expensive spells in the deck, i.e. creatures. For everything else, see Coffers + Urborg.

Any thoughts on Fireshrieker and/or Trepanation Blade? Considering beaters like Lord of the Void, Szadek, Lord of Secrets, Thada Adel, Acquisitor and of course Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker, Fireshrieker seems like it could be a very strong equipment in here.

Anything that gives double strike seems pretty good for what you want to do with the deck. I would add Grappling Hook instead of Trepanation Blade.

I would cut some cards from the deck like:

• Shriekmaw: haveing a single Terror on a stick in a deck with no other targeted removal seems pretty random. I would take it out in favor for Exsanguinate which is much better.
• Sire of Stagnation: if you want control of what gets exiled from an opponent's graveyard, I would suggest a card with more control (and cheaper to cast) like Withered Wretch.
• Terramorphic Expanse and/or Evolving Wilds: Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker can get pretty expensive if he dies too much. Command Beacon can help with that and it actually taps for mana.
• Mindcrank: I know it seems strange that I would suggest cutting this, but 21 commander damage is easier to do than milling 80+ cards. You can even swap it out for Fireshrieker or Grappling Hook and get more bang for your attack. (If you also take out the other of the cheap fetchland, you could add one of the other two double strike equipment.)