I first built this deck back in 2007, and have been updating it periodically until around 2011. It was originally conceived as a creatureless control deck with aggressive milling, but has since been modified to include creatures as additional win conditions. I would still like to keep mill as a central theme though! Playing this deck is like visiting an old friend... full of memories of great conversations, youthful innocence, fascination with all things magic... ahh the bygone days! Anyway, here it is!
I try to avoid cards that are banned even in legacy. Other than that, no restrictions other than cost. Let's try to keep it at below $25 per card for improvements? Thanks!!
I'd try to work on your removal suit.
My suggestion, is 1 black sun zenith because it shuffles back into your deck and require a decent amount of mana to take down big guys. So if you do that I'd try to add in a play set of Go For The Throat (Gftt).
I also think you only need 1 damnation just because if your opponent has a big field,this restarts them and, I don't think I'd ever use it on a field with 2 or less guys. So more Edicts or Downfall is your choice. Hope I helped some what.
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It's easy to believe you're a god when you're twice as powerful as everyone else.
Maybe cut some Hedron Crabs? They do pretty much nothing as blockers, and mill respectably but neither massively quick nor particularly resiliently.
Instead, what about a few Nephalia Drownyards? Some old INN-RTR Esper control decks played it as their only win condition... their gruesomely slow, impossible-to-interact with win condition. (This was when Sphinx's Revelation, Detention Sphere, etc. were all in the same block. It was an issue.)
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"It is better for all the world if, instead of waiting to execute degenerate offspring for crime or to let them starve for their imbecility, society can prevent those who are manifestly unfit from continuing their kind. The principle that sustains compulsory vaccination is broad enough to cover cutting the Fallopian tubes... Three generations of imbeciles are enough."
--Buck v Bell, 1927. This case, regarding the compulsory sterilization of inmates at mental institutions, has -- somehow -- never been overturned. Just a wee PSA for ya.
Interesting suggestion, thanks! Would your opinion change of I add fetch lands to my mana base? I managed to get my hands on 4x polluted delta and I am considering changing my mana base to the one below.
I play-tested it a bit. This deck is now slower but much stronger in terms of control. The Arcane Denial are amazing! Letting my opponent draw 1 more card than me actually helps more than hurts.
Unluckily, my second game was against bloodghast and co., which I believe is one of the hard counters to this deck. I managed to win 1 game regardless, which I am quite pleased with.
With the original you had I'd replace the hedrons with Traumatize and I'd add Tome scour ,as well as Mindsculpt. Get a playset of all three and feed the abberation!!!its at its best with a full set in a fast deck.With that kind of milling you can counter or remove any big threats as you go with spells and your opponent will have a ton of pressure on them in a very short time.Keep the weenies as yes they are big but they are more of a way to distract your opponent even further.
I've strayed away from the mill-heavy playstyle of the original deck and made it much more control-heavy. My latest change is replacing those Arcane Denial with Mana Leak.
The games are all very similar. I play counterspells, removals, and board wipes until I have a fairly comfortable position. I throw down Ashiok, Nightmare weaver and start grinding away at their library while stealing creatures (of course removing threats as them come). As a finisher, I drop Consuming Aberration and just sit back and respond to threats while the aberration mills them down. Of course, if the coast is clear, the aberration is a 1HKO on its own. I love the combat tricks I can do with aberration! Swing with a 8/8 Consuming Aberration, opponent thinks 20 life is safe and doesn't block. Play diabolic edict, Remand, and then replay diabolic edict and suddenly it is at 20/20 haha.
Still the 2 things this deck cannot handle: Burn and Bloodghast! I was even able to beat reanimator (entomb/exhume) decks without much trouble.
Both Mind Funeral and Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker do work in my rarely-played casual mill deck (it is mostly EDH for me, these days). Circu, Dimir Lobotomist requires some large scale deck reworking to maximize, but wow, does he irritate people!
Bait people into Archive Trap's alternate cost by running Noble Benefactor?
Cheers!
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If in the area, check out Gamers N Geeks and Mini War Games in Mobile, Alabama and Underhill's Games in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio.
I added four abberations as I found they were targeted and that my opponents would hold off looking for him.So with this in mind I added a few land destruction and return spells using u/b.With 4 unthinkables,sculpts and tomes and tramatizes.Mess with your opponent.dont mill yourself right away unless you can make the abberation work for you.start milling their deck and it'll catch em off guard and bury a land or return it every chance you get.when u get a search card use it,grab the abberation and counterspell the threats.I found I won more because of keeping them guessing.Whats more dangerous and when,when milling yourself or them,and start messing with their lands and they can't formulate a plan.temporal fissure is a nightmare...sculpt,scour,abberation,fissure.no combos no tricks but hunt for the abberation early.i had thought about a few [c]gravecrawler[c/] as pingers but it slowed it down.The way it works now it turbo mills opponent and dropping the abberation clinches it.Have fun messing with it,i had fun building mine but you won't make friends with it.
@6jerfz: Memory Lapse over Remand is very interesting. That being said, I'm not sure whether I would rather replace Remand or Mana Leak in this case. Mana Leak is a dead draw late into the game, but the cantrip offered by Remand is always valuable
@Xyx, agree. Aggro Mill doesn't work too well. I'm working on the second type right now.
@Krichaiushii: Thanks for those suggestions. I can consider subbing some of those for the consuming aberration and see how it works. The consuming aberration are much more aggressive though.
@guntius: Your deck seems to be a more aggressive mill deck than mine. For me, the consuming aberration are late-game win-cons. I don't drop it as soon as I hit 5 lands (unless the opponent looks really weak). In fact, I don't need to cast the aberration at all if I don't think it's an appropriate play. Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver and Nephalia Drownyard alone are sufficient to decimate the opponent's deck while I hold counters and removals to deal with threats. Ashiok has the added benefit of grabbing an opponent's creature from the graveyard. A very memorable game happened when I grabbed an Essence of the Wild from my opponent using Ashiok, and then every single 1-mana and 0-mana creature I stole from then on became 6/6.
I've never had a problem with my opponent's mana base. In this deck, I'd rather hold a counterspell in my hand than a sinkhole. Games run longer than usual, so blasting a land when my opponent already has 6 lands doesn't do much to slow them down.
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6 Island
3 Swamp
4 Drowned Catacomb
4 Watery Grave
3 Darkslick Shores
1 Temple of Deceit
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Hedron Crab
4 Jace's Phantasm
2 Consuming Aberration
Removal (10)
2 Go for the Throat
2 Diabolic Edict
2 Hero's Downfall
2 Damnation
2 Black Sun's Zenith
4 Counterspell
4 Remand
Planeswalker (2)
2 Jace, Memory Adept
Mill and Cantrips (8)
4 Glimpse the Unthinkable
4 Preordain
The deck wins in 3 ways:
1. Turn 1 Jace's Phantasm followed by turn 2 Glimpse the Unthinkable, then swing with a 5/5 flyer for a few turns
2. Creature removal and counterspell until I drop my Consuming Aberration, which easily swings for lethal.
3. Control and mill for the win with Jace, Memory Adept, Consuming Aberration, and Glimpse the Unthinkable
I try to avoid cards that are banned even in legacy. Other than that, no restrictions other than cost. Let's try to keep it at below $25 per card for improvements? Thanks!!
My suggestion, is 1 black sun zenith because it shuffles back into your deck and require a decent amount of mana to take down big guys. So if you do that I'd try to add in a play set of Go For The Throat (Gftt).
I also think you only need 1 damnation just because if your opponent has a big field,this restarts them and, I don't think I'd ever use it on a field with 2 or less guys. So more Edicts or Downfall is your choice. Hope I helped some what.
My Decks:
All my Decks are budget
EDH:GRWHazezon TamarGRW, RKazuul, Tyrant of the CliffsR, BMikaeus, the UnhallowedB, UTalrand, Sky SummonerU, GRXenagos, God of RevelsGR, BGPharika, God of AfflictionBG
Standard:BMono Black Control(devotion)B- retired
Casual:UWHeroicUW, UGWall tribalUG, BPhylactery LichB
Modern:UBAbyssal PersecutorUB, WKnight TribalW
I could take out some mass removal for targeted removal and consider Ashiok.
I welcome other suggestions too!
Instead, what about a few Nephalia Drownyards? Some old INN-RTR Esper control decks played it as their only win condition... their gruesomely slow, impossible-to-interact with win condition. (This was when Sphinx's Revelation, Detention Sphere, etc. were all in the same block. It was an issue.)
--Buck v Bell, 1927. This case, regarding the compulsory sterilization of inmates at mental institutions, has -- somehow -- never been overturned. Just a wee PSA for ya.
4 Polluted Delta
4 Watery Grave
4 Sunken Hollow
4 Drowned Catacomb
5 Island
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Btw, does Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth make non-basic lands "basic?" Meaning if I have Urborg, would Sunken Hollow come into play untapped? Thanks!
Would it be a good idea to add polluted delta even though I only have 8 fetch-able swamp/island lands with them?
Sorry, I just deleted my previous comment because I made alterations to the deck. Please let me know what you think!
4 Hedron Crab
4 Jace's Phantasm
2 Jace, Memory Adept
1 Black Sun's Zenith
4 Arcane Denial
3 Ashiok, Nightmare weaver
2 Nephalia Drownyard
1 Consuming Aberration
1 Damnation
I play-tested it a bit. This deck is now slower but much stronger in terms of control. The Arcane Denial are amazing! Letting my opponent draw 1 more card than me actually helps more than hurts.
Unluckily, my second game was against bloodghast and co., which I believe is one of the hard counters to this deck. I managed to win 1 game regardless, which I am quite pleased with.
What do you guys think? Thanks!
I've strayed away from the mill-heavy playstyle of the original deck and made it much more control-heavy. My latest change is replacing those Arcane Denial with Mana Leak.
The games are all very similar. I play counterspells, removals, and board wipes until I have a fairly comfortable position. I throw down Ashiok, Nightmare weaver and start grinding away at their library while stealing creatures (of course removing threats as them come). As a finisher, I drop Consuming Aberration and just sit back and respond to threats while the aberration mills them down. Of course, if the coast is clear, the aberration is a 1HKO on its own. I love the combat tricks I can do with aberration! Swing with a 8/8 Consuming Aberration, opponent thinks 20 life is safe and doesn't block. Play diabolic edict, Remand, and then replay diabolic edict and suddenly it is at 20/20 haha.
Still the 2 things this deck cannot handle: Burn and Bloodghast! I was even able to beat reanimator (entomb/exhume) decks without much trouble.
If I had a sideboard, I'd put in graveyard hate and also some red-hate.
Archive Trap is a decent mill card. Not sure what you play against to ever cast it for 0, but it's worth a shot. Also, Nemesis of Reason and Forced Fruition.
Bait people into Archive Trap's alternate cost by running Noble Benefactor?
Cheers!
Krichaiushii on PucaTrade.
@Xyx, agree. Aggro Mill doesn't work too well. I'm working on the second type right now.
@Krichaiushii: Thanks for those suggestions. I can consider subbing some of those for the consuming aberration and see how it works. The consuming aberration are much more aggressive though.
@guntius: Your deck seems to be a more aggressive mill deck than mine. For me, the consuming aberration are late-game win-cons. I don't drop it as soon as I hit 5 lands (unless the opponent looks really weak). In fact, I don't need to cast the aberration at all if I don't think it's an appropriate play. Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver and Nephalia Drownyard alone are sufficient to decimate the opponent's deck while I hold counters and removals to deal with threats. Ashiok has the added benefit of grabbing an opponent's creature from the graveyard. A very memorable game happened when I grabbed an Essence of the Wild from my opponent using Ashiok, and then every single 1-mana and 0-mana creature I stole from then on became 6/6.
I've never had a problem with my opponent's mana base. In this deck, I'd rather hold a counterspell in my hand than a sinkhole. Games run longer than usual, so blasting a land when my opponent already has 6 lands doesn't do much to slow them down.