My decklist for Lazav, Dimir Mastermind. This deck is constantly being updated and upgraded. It's current powerlevel isn't phenomenal, but it's drawn some ire. Enough to be called "the Mill deck" in my playgroup. It's become one of my favorites, simply because it's use of mill is almost completely unrepresented in the format.
The original incarnation of this deck was a "thief" deck, using solid Blue with the general Thada Adel, Acquisitor. I used various thievery type spells, some pillowfort and lockdown plus a lot of unblockable.
It went horrible, and I moved over to U/B to try and add Black recursion mainly. At the time I was using Wrexial, the Risen Deep (who still rocks) and started to realize what an asset my mill cards were becoming. My general wasn't lasting very long though, and he drew a lot of attention immediately with the other U/R users in my playgroup.. they didn't seem to like me just knocking into them with a unblockable Cthulhu.
So, I resolved to get a copy of Lazav who was pretty new and had a great ability with what my deck was becoming.. and was Hexproof. I immediately noticed the potential of milling out my friends largest/most relevant creatures and started dropping most of my thief effects.. adding tons more mill.
The man, Lazav, Dimir Mastermind.. I less than three him. The low cost, early drop, ..the in-house protection. Follow with mill and you can see some atrocities by turn four. An early Eldrazi, Avacyn or Vorinclex really puts a damper on an opponents mood.. and it's only their fault for running such things in their decklists. Lazav sneaks up to expose the horrors his opponents generally inflict upon one another and throws it right back at them. The ghost of their own decklists as they enter the graveyard.
You'll may enjoy this deck if...
..You like stealing. Oh Lazav, you rogue...
..You enjoy odd strategies to win, or Mill in another format.
..You like playing in graveyards.
You may think this deck sucks if...
..You prefer U's safety harness. Counterspell light, ..entirey devoid actually.
..You're fun is always winning. Sometimes we suffer for our win-con.
..You prefer any of the Naya colors we are missing!
When it comes to our options of generals that fit a Mill EDH deck theme, we are swarming with possibilities. The advantage we have here, is that they all fit neatly in the 99 or as the leader of the deck. While I prefer the less threatening appearance of Lazav, others prefer the more outright "brute force" of his friends..
We have Phenax, God of Deception, one of the newer U/B Legends in town whose ability screams out to this deck with ear shattering depth. He is built with in-house Indestructibility, and himself as a Creature poses the threat of milling a whole fistful of cards. The problem I've found taking him to the lead, is he also screams "Kill this player first." In the 99, with Lazav at the helm (and out) he is generally one more creature away from being active himself, and a perfect target for a pair of booties.
Next up, there is the champion of the "land-mill" effect from Return to Ravnica.. the U/B Vampire Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker. This guy scares people, plain and simple. He is in the air, and has a slap in the face the feels an awful lot like Mind Funeral. Sadly he shares the dying quick tendencies of his watery friend...
Cthulhu himself, Wrexial, the Risen Deep. He is at the height of our creature curve, standing at 6CMC. I love this guy mid-late game, when intense removal has been wasted and/or mill has put "evil" spells into an opponents graveyard. Exiling someones Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger with their own Swords to Plowshares has an interesting tingle.. in the cockles of my heart. Maybe just below the cockles.. in the sub-cockle area. Of course I've already spoken of my fears with him out front..
You're only running 11 black creatures. How often is Crypt of Agadeem actually going to be worth its slot? Especially since you need three of said creatures in your grave to break even with it, barring shenanigans with Crypt Ghast and Urborg.
Sepulchral is on my list of possibles, actually was just thinking he'd probably be better than Szadek in the long run (for 7) before your post. I actually forgot that Crypt only worked for Black critters, even with some self mill you are correct that I'd be left without much return on that, so it is a likely cut.. might still be worth trying for the time being though, just to see the results.
Body Double seems like a stark exclusion. I would also contemplate adding River Kelpie. Swiftfoot Boots doesn't seem to do much for you. You also lack disruption.
I kind of like Body Double, as he does activate ETB effects.. for some reason I was saving him for the Clone (Present) list, even though he targets the Graveyard. I think that was an oversight because I was thinking shapeshifter. As for River Kelpie, he was on the list originally, but I had major dilemmas with some cuts.. in actuality I could probably easily replace Thada with him.. I'll just miss her, of course the added draw would probably be welcome.
Swiftfoot Boots is mostly in there for the additional protection for my other creatures, since Lazav himself doesn't have to much trouble keeping his hood up. Does two protective equips seem like overkill? It very well may be, there is a lot of rampant artifact removal in my meta though thanks to the Karn deck.
As for the lack of disruption, I'm aware, but it doesn't feel to on theme to worry about it.. I don't think I'm overtly worried about death with this deck.
That is an amazing suggestion. I can't tell you how much faster this would have won me the games I played last night, so abusive given how fast I was digging in and how low on Black my meta is. As for Mindcrank, I was actually avoiding that infinity.. because I like the abuse I can inflict, and don't wanna miss it instantly.
Heh, biter ordeal... good times. Doppelganger seems like an oversight on my part, as I know I have at least three of her. Nemesis of Reason isn't in for two reasons.. first, I don't have one, secondly the next phase of tuning is getting rid of some/most of my single target mill. Although, the effect is repeatable as long as he gets to attack multiple times. I've looked for him before, I may still.
Top priority card is currently Crucible of Worlds, followed by Yawgwin and some others.
It went horrible, and I moved over to U/B to try and add Black recursion mainly. At the time I was using Wrexial, the Risen Deep (who still rocks) and started to realize what an asset my mill cards were becoming. My general wasn't lasting very long though, and he drew a lot of attention immediately with the other U/R users in my playgroup.. they didn't seem to like me just knocking into them with a unblockable Cthulhu.
So, I resolved to get a copy of Lazav who was pretty new and had a great ability with what my deck was becoming.. and was Hexproof. I immediately noticed the potential of milling out my friends largest/most relevant creatures and started dropping most of my thief effects.. adding tons more mill.
You'll may enjoy this deck if...
..You like stealing. Oh Lazav, you rogue...
..You enjoy odd strategies to win, or Mill in another format.
..You like playing in graveyards.
You may think this deck sucks if...
..You prefer U's safety harness. Counterspell light, ..entirey devoid actually.
..You're fun is always winning. Sometimes we suffer for our win-con.
..You prefer any of the Naya colors we are missing!
When it comes to our options of generals that fit a Mill EDH deck theme, we are swarming with possibilities. The advantage we have here, is that they all fit neatly in the 99 or as the leader of the deck. While I prefer the less threatening appearance of Lazav, others prefer the more outright "brute force" of his friends..
We have Phenax, God of Deception, one of the newer U/B Legends in town whose ability screams out to this deck with ear shattering depth. He is built with in-house Indestructibility, and himself as a Creature poses the threat of milling a whole fistful of cards. The problem I've found taking him to the lead, is he also screams "Kill this player first." In the 99, with Lazav at the helm (and out) he is generally one more creature away from being active himself, and a perfect target for a pair of booties.
Next up, there is the champion of the "land-mill" effect from Return to Ravnica.. the U/B Vampire Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker. This guy scares people, plain and simple. He is in the air, and has a slap in the face the feels an awful lot like Mind Funeral. Sadly he shares the dying quick tendencies of his watery friend...
Cthulhu himself, Wrexial, the Risen Deep. He is at the height of our creature curve, standing at 6CMC. I love this guy mid-late game, when intense removal has been wasted and/or mill has put "evil" spells into an opponents graveyard. Exiling someones Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger with their own Swords to Plowshares has an interesting tingle.. in the cockles of my heart. Maybe just below the cockles.. in the sub-cockle area. Of course I've already spoken of my fears with him out front..
(F) = Foiled
(A) = Altered
4 Lazav, Dimir Mastermind (F)
Creatures (21)
3 Jace's Archivist
4 Crypt Ghast (F)
4 Dreamborn Muse
4 Evil Twin
4 Necrotic Ooze (A)
4 Notion Thief
4 Phyexian Metamorph
4 Sakashima the Impostor
4 Undead Alchemist
5 Body Double
5 Consuming Aberration (F)
5 Guiltfeeder
5 Havengul Lich [X]
5 Magus of the Jar
5 Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker
5 Phenax, God of Deception
6 Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni (F)
6 Geth, Lord of the Vault
6 Oona, Queen of the Fae [X]
6 Wrexial, the Risen Deep (F)
11 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
Instants (4)
1 Pongify
1 Rapid Hybridization
2 Cyclonic Rift
5 Psychic Spiral (F)
Sorceries (19)
1 Reanimate
2 Demonic Tutor
2 Diabolic Vision
2 Mind Funeral [X]
2 Stitch Together
2x Curse of the Swine
2x Mind Grind (F)
2x Profane Command
3 Biter Ordeal
3 Sadistic Sacrament (F)
3 Toxic Deluge
3 Windfall
4 Whispering Madness
5 Bribery
5 Increasing Ambition
5 Telemin Performance (F)
5 Traumatize (F)
8 Decree of Pain
9 Rise of the Dark Realms
2 Animate Dead (F)
3 Memory Erosion
3 Propoganda
3 Rhystic Study
4 Seer's Vision (F)
Artifacts (14)
1 Expedition Map
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Sol Ring
2 Lightning Greaves
2 Mesmeric Orb (F)
2 Swiftfoot Boots (F)
2 Talisman of Dominance
2 Trailblazer's Boots [X]
3 Coalition Relic
3 Sword of Body and Mind
3 Sword of Feast and Famine
3 Whispersilk Cloak [X]
5 Gilded Lotus
6 Keening Stone
Lands (36)
1 Academy Ruins
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Cabal Coffers (F)
1 Drowned Catacomb
1 Exotic Orchard [X]
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
1 Mystifying Maze
1 Nephalia Drownyard (F)
1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
1 River of Tears
1 Rogue's Passing (F)
1 Shizo, Death's Storehouse
1 Sunken Ruins
1 Tainted Isle
1 Temple of the False God
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Volrath's Stronghold
1 Watery Grave
8 Island
9 Swamp
Sig by Self
Also, wouldn't Sepulchral Primordial be on-theme for you?
Sig by Self
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Swiftfoot Boots is mostly in there for the additional protection for my other creatures, since Lazav himself doesn't have to much trouble keeping his hood up. Does two protective equips seem like overkill? It very well may be, there is a lot of rampant artifact removal in my meta though thanks to the Karn deck.
As for the lack of disruption, I'm aware, but it doesn't feel to on theme to worry about it.. I don't think I'm overtly worried about death with this deck.
Sig by Self
Think about Puppeteer Clique and Guiltfeeder, they're a lot of fun
P.S. Almost forgot about Mindcranck. Awesome card for milling in multiplayer, and it comboes with Ascension! Yay!
Sig by Self
Sig by Self
Crumbling Sanctuary makes for dangerous mill, but might be better alongside red.
Dimir Doppelganger and Nemesis of Reason work well in my non-EDH mill deck. Devastatingly well, actually.
Cheers!
Krichaiushii on PucaTrade.
Top priority card is currently Crucible of Worlds, followed by Yawgwin and some others.
Sig by Self