I have a casual play milling commander deck. Phenax god of deception is my commander, so I'm trying to focus on creatures, versus milling when i draw cards. right now my deck is extremely slow, and im not capable of producing creatures fast enough. I have 39 mana plus a little mana ramping. any suggestions on blue black creatures? also any way to give my things haste? I have quicksilver amulet, so i can flash em all in, but they still have summoning sickness. also whats a good plan b for milling?
I'd recommend reading Wallabe's Primer, found here: linky
Perusing EDHRECs for Phenax, my focus would be on having a good curve of creatures - you really want to drop a turn-five Phenax with two+ creatures already on the table, so it's crucial to have a good mix of 1, 2, 3, and 4 mana creatures that play well with him. Like what? Well, we'll be looking for stuff with high toughness for its CMC (since Phenax keys off of toughness), stuff that grows as we mill, or stuff with Inspired to take advantage of Phenax letting us tap without attacking. We also generally would want to avoid creatures that win via attacking or have other tap abilities they rely on, as we have no intention of attacking to win the game and don't want the "Anti-synergy" of choosing between tapping to mill and tapping for somethign else. I'll try to suggest cards for a wide variety of budgets.
One card to shout-out too is Duskmantle Guildmage which doesn't fit any of the criteria I laid out but should be in every Phenax deck, as it gives you a strong, deadly "plan B" should opponents be immune to mill. Another strong "Plan B" card not mentioned is Undead Alchemist, which potentially goes infinite alongside Altar of Dementia, Altar of the Brood, and/or Intruder Alarm.
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I'd recommend reading Wallabe's Primer, found here: linky
Perusing EDHRECs for Phenax, my focus would be on having a good curve of creatures - you really want to drop a turn-five Phenax with two+ creatures already on the table, so it's crucial to have a good mix of 1, 2, 3, and 4 mana creatures that play well with him. Like what? Well, we'll be looking for stuff with high toughness for its CMC (since Phenax keys off of toughness), stuff that grows as we mill, or stuff with Inspired to take advantage of Phenax letting us tap without attacking. We also generally would want to avoid creatures that win via attacking or have other tap abilities they rely on, as we have no intention of attacking to win the game and don't want the "Anti-synergy" of choosing between tapping to mill and tapping for somethign else. I'll try to suggest cards for a wide variety of budgets.
1 Hedron Crab
1 Jace's Phantasm
2 CMC:
1 Disciple of Deceit
1 Duskmantle Guildmage
1 Fog Bank
1 Manic Scribe
1 Persistent Petitioners
1 Wall of Junk
1 Wall of Mist
1 Wall of Souls
1 Wall of Tears
1 Wight of Precinct Six
1 Dimir Doppleganger
1 Drift of Phantasms
1 Geist of the Archives
1 Guard Gomazoa
1 Glacial Wall
1 Horseshoe Crab
1 Hover Barrier
1 Nighthowler
1 Riddlekeeper
1 Siren of the Silent Song
1 Wall of Frost
1 Dreamborn Muse
1 Fallowsage
1 King Macar, the Gold-cursed
1 Knacksaw Clique
1 Lazav, Dimir Mastermind
1 Mortivore
1 Sewer Nemesis
1 Surgespanner
1 Tree of Perdition
One card to shout-out too is Duskmantle Guildmage which doesn't fit any of the criteria I laid out but should be in every Phenax deck, as it gives you a strong, deadly "plan B" should opponents be immune to mill. Another strong "Plan B" card not mentioned is Undead Alchemist, which potentially goes infinite alongside Altar of Dementia, Altar of the Brood, and/or Intruder Alarm.
That's not to say you shouldn't run creatures that cost more than four mana but I'd be selective - focus on stuff that is insanely synergistic with Phenax (like Consuming Aberration, Eater of the Dead, Morphling, Endbringer, The Haunt of Hightower, Arbiter of the Ideal, and Oblivion Sower with enough graveyard hate) or stuff that works well with the deck and is effectively its own win condition if left unanswered (like Oona, Queen of the Fae, Geth, Lord of the Vault, The Scarab God, Sire of Stagnation, Sepulchral Primordial, and Sheoldred, Whispering One). Stuff that's exactly five mana and simply very efficient is also fine (Mnemonic Wall, Mulldrifter, Puppeteer Clique). Don't run all of that though; look at Wallabe's list. He runs only 7 creatures that cost as much as Phenax or more, and I'd take a page out of the book and keep your endgame under ten cards (as he also runs Ghastly Conscription and Jace, Memory Adept as more expensive endgame cards).
Many Phenax decks choose to run stuff like Nemesis of Reason, Avatar of Woe, Szadek, Lord of Secrets, Wrexial, the Risen Deep, and Guiltfeeder but I feel like all of those are fools gold - win-more cards that don't necessarily harmonize with the gameplan.
RCRDaretti: Superfriends Forever RCR
WGBDoran: Ent-mootWBG
GGGMultani: Group Bear HugGGG
GB(B/G)The Gitrog Monster: Dredgefall DurdleGB(B/G)
RGWGahiji, the Honored Group Hug MonsterRGW
UB(U/B)Yuriko, Ninja Trinket AggroUB(U/B)
WUBRGAtogatog: Assembling a OHKOWUBRG
As for Plan B, a typical mill deck has some room for some in-theme heavy hitters like Oona, Queen of the Fae, Consuming Aberration, Szadek, Lord of Secrets, and Dread Summons.