Well, why not? In my opinion, he's one of the most flexible Dimir commanders in the first place. He has double evasion, a nice 5/8 body, and an incredible on hit ability, all bundled up for the cheap price of 3UUB. He can be played in a variety of ways, from voltron to control, but the strategy I use is a bit less straitforward.
I play Wrexial as a mill/graveyard commander. My deck's main win condition is going to be mill, but runs a lot of ways to abuse the well-fed graveyards it creates, which often opens new avenues for victory. The deck ALWAYS plays different, so it's never boring to play twice at the table.
You love to live in the graveyard. It's a mill deck. Graves are stocked, dive right in!
You find underplayed strategies interesting. Unless it's exile mill, it's generally a bad strategy, we'll get into why later.
You want a deckbuilding challenge. The math behind Mill is definitely not on your side. The more players, the harder it gets.
You like to be highly interactive with other decks. A good portion of the deck uses others cards. If that's not interactivity I'm not sure what is.
You like your deck to play differently every time. Opposing graveyards will never be the same, so your deck will never play the same.
You like the freedom to change your commander around. Wrexial is Certainly a supplement to the strategy, but by no means is he built around.
You like making unexpected explosive plays. It's not a spike deck, but once you get a chunk of mana to work with, you can do a lot of stuff in one turn.
You want to play UB, but want to avoid the control/combo stigma that follows. My deck runs no in-house counterspells, and no infinite combos, and unless a meta change demands otherwise, I intend to keep it that way.
You dislike being bullied early game. People don't like getting milled, despite it probably helping them. Taking their stuff probably doesn't help.
You dislike working around snags, such as Ulamog, Kozilek, Time Spirals, and things of that nature.
You feel the need to build around your general. Of course, you can. I prefer to use the commander as a supplement, not the whole show, but there's nothing stopping you from building differently than myself.
You feel powerless in UB without playing control or infinite combos.
Circu, Dimir Lobotomist: He's not a terrible choice, and if you wanted to assemble a storm combo you could certainly do so. However, it's a singleton format so the mileage you'll get out of his ability is limited. It is funny to exile a Sol Ring off of him though.
Dralnu, Lich Lord: He has to be built around to some degree, at least to try and give him hexproof or shroud. He offers INCREDIBLE card advantage on the cheap, but god help you if he takes damage. Still, he's really fun and I use him sometimes as an alternative to Wrexial.
Grimgrin, Corpse-Born: I most often see him used as a zombie tribal, but he can also be used for stax or general UB sac recur type deals. He's incredibly fun as a commander.
Lazav, Dimir Mastermind: Hot damn, now there's a mill commander. Tons of fatties go into the graveyard in EDH without mill, imagine the potential! He can constantly shapeshift and has hexproof. He's incredibly fun, and is the #1 alternate commander I can recommend.
Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker: Another good option. During Gatecrash Lazav was a hot choice for new on-the-rise mill decks, but some preferring a more traditional Szadek like approach took a liking to Mirko. He's pretty good. Mind Funeral on hit is great, but flying isn't quite enough evasion for me to use an on-hit commander. good in mill-tron.
Nebuchadnezzar: He kind of works like Cabal Therapy He's not terrible, but I wouldn't use him. He's fun as a blank-slate commander though.
Oona, Queen of the Fae: As I stated before, probably the best competitive Dimir commander. UB has a lot of access to infinite mana, and any of those in combination with Oona as your general means a win unless someone can instant speed shuffle their grave into their library (and even then, you can probably just exile again in response to draw). Even if they manage to work around having no library, you've got a huge army of flying faeries. She IS sometimes used for a Faerie tribal.
Ramirez DePietro: Another blank slate, but this one's got first strike. Her name is incredibly fun to say.
Ramses Overdark: Good in certain metas, of if you do the enchanting. Original gangster from Legends.
Sivitri Scarzam: Another fun one to say his name, but he's a blank slate, nothing more.
Skeleton Ship: It's another good blank slate. It'll kill weenies all day, and with tap/untap stuff he can machinegun clear the board.
Sygg, River Cutthroat: My second favorite general for UB. He works great in both control and aggro strategies, netting you a lot of card advantage.
Szadek, Lord of Secrets: I feel like he's the "go to" commander for UB mill, but that's all he really does, mill. He's expensive and takes time to get going. Hilarious to use with Essence Harvest.
Ur-Drago: Ironic, because the only time I can see him being good is if your meta is filled with Wrexials and Sheoldreds. Just another blank slate.
Vela the Night-Clad: She came with ninjas as the ninja commander, and I think they could have done better with her design. Rite of Replication kicked on her becomes a win condition though, and she DOES give your entire board evasion, which is a thing.
Wydwen, the Biting Gale: I'm not sure why I like Wydwen so much, but she's really fun. having flash on your commander may as well be haste, which makes her great for voltron and her bounce ability is incredibly useful. Dire undercurrents Makes her an absolute star when she cantrips you and makes someone discard. She'd be my go-to for a faerie tribal or UB Voltron.
I enjoy writing about things I like, so sometimes I get a bit lengthy in my writings so I've condensed it a few spoiler tags. My Introduction to EDH
As far as most would go, I'm fairly new to magic. The first deck I ever played was a jib-jabbed deck I threw together on the old Apprentice program, which only had sets through Lorowyn at the time. After a bit of explanation from my friend Gabriel, I threw together a Mono-B Zombies deck based around Korlash, Heir to Blackblade and knocked his deck down my first time, and from there, I was instantly hooked. I learned about the MTG Workshop and MTGplay and played consistently every day for a long time, but eventually dropped off. It wasn't until I decided to take a few friends to a Magic draft that we all got back into it again.
I was the first of my group to take an interest in EDH, with Korlash, Heir to Blackblade being my commander only seeming natural. Innistrad had just came out, and with the zombies at the time I threw together a deck. I never got to use it until Dark Ascension came out, and out of boredom my friends bought Commander sets to try it out to kill time for the midnight release. I pulled out Korlash and good times were had as we were taught by a more seasoned player.
We all threw standard aside basically. Korlash wasn't keeping up with the preconstructed, and I didn't have the card knowledge at the time to branch out on my own. I bought the Devour for Power preconstructed commander deck, and I don't think I could have been happier. I love the graveyard, I always have, and this deck was completely dedicated to reaping the benefits of both my own and others' graveyards. Still, I felt the need to branch out and try a new deck because playing a preconstructed is pretty lame. During the playing, Wrexial, the Risen Deep took a shine to me. At first, I actually thought on hit I got to cast a card out of my own graveyard for free, and was ecstatic. I immediately tossed together a deck for it, but the first time playing it someone read the card and corrected me. I was a little bummed, but I still had fun no less.
History of the Deck
The first incarnation of Wrexial was a Quest for Ula's Temple deck, and by that I mean it was basically a multi-tribal including Krakens, Leviathans, Serpents, and Octopuses...Octopi? Anyways, this was incredibly slow, and mana wasn't working, so I put mill in it and used it to mull my own cards away to bring them back out with the equipment The Mimeoplasm so graciously gave to me. Living Death after a Traumatize was an easy win condition, but my own Kederekt Leviathan often foiled my plans, as well as Political Puppet's False Prophet did. It was time to change. The next incarnation was Voltron, where I focused a lot more around Wrexial. It didn't go so well, so I changed it yet again. Steal/Clones was next, and this one was a blast. Generals were incredibly easy to remove with almost every clone at my disposal, and every game was different. However, the mana curve was atrocious, and eventually lead to it's downfall.
At this point, I actually switched commanders. I had a UB token deck with 2 commanders I could never decide between, Grimgrin, Corpse-Born and Oona, Queen of the Fae. Regardless of which one I used, I was always ecstatic to see the other drawn, as they work great with one another. It was tribal faeries/zombies, and was an awkward deck but functioned. At this point my playgroup got wrath happy and it was of no use to run, and the faeries were cut in favor of Grimgrin, using a zombie tribal theme. The first time I comboed out it was fun, but it was too hard to pull off with 5-6 moving parts, and zombies are rather inconsistent as it is. At this point, my playgroup was leaving me behind. I was being inconsistent with my UB deck and constantly changing it so much while others were fine tuning their decks to be even better. I had to decide on a theme. I went online, and found a few lists, and the one that was most interesting to me was a UB mill strategy they were using. Mill seemed stupid at first, but as I read it it made sense. It's not supposed to win, its supposed to just be interactive and fun. The deck was packing a few infinite combos, standard Hinder+Tunnel Vision, Mind Over Matter+Temple Bell type stuff, and I used that list as a backbone. It was inconsistent, but I expected it to be. Over time i slowly started putting more money into it and finding new engines to run off of. A delicate balance between mill, steal, and reanimation was found, which is where we are today.
The Deck Today
Honestly, even now I'm surprised the deck runs as smooth as it does. They say if you're playing 3 people, your deck should be able to do 120 damage. This isn't necessarily true, as any damage your opponents deal to each other is synergistic to your own. However, mill is incredibly rare in EDH, so the chances of someone helping your strategy, other than a rogue dredge reanimator deck, meaning you literally need to come expecting to mill close to 300 cards. That alone is terrible math. Mindcrank and Crumbling Sanctuary help, but the latter of the two is scary as hell to use and near killed me the first time I used it, and was immediately cut. I wanted to stick to non-combo, simply because it was rare and I had never heard of anyone making it work consistently before.
The reason the deck works as well as it does is due to constant frustration and many lost games. Finding a balance between Mill, Steal, and Recursion of both my and others things while steering clear of infinite combos insane as it is, but the gears finally clicked together at some point. To borrow a metaphor from Cyrogen's Daakon Blackblade Primer, If you rate decks from 1 to 10 where 1 is Norin the Wary with 99 mountains, and 10 being a 2000$ Five-color Hermit Druid deck, then I'd place this in a 4-8 range. The wide gap is due strictly due to how reliant this deck is on opposing deck's quality of spells. 18 out of the 66 non-land cards in the deck are primarily used to take things out of opposing players libraries or graveyards. You can get lucky and get really powerful really fast, or stall. A powerful tutor package as well as a way to still achieve a lot of mana without infinite comboing still rests as a back up plan. It could be a lot more consistent with Oona, Queen of the Fae at the helm, but the chances are if you're doing non-combo mill, it's not going to get much better
The left list sorts by function, to where they are most applicable. Undead Alchemist is an example of multipurpose, as he acts as grave hate as well as making milling worth it in the first place. The right is done simply by type. Note: To decrease confusion for counting the total number of land slots in the deck, regardless of what category they fall under, they are listed in one clump under "lands".
The reason I chose Wrexial over other great choices like Oona and Dralnu is because he offers the most interactive ability out of the UB legends. He allows me to answer the board with my opponents cards, including the ever elusive artifacts and enchantments UB is known for having difficulty with. That, stapled to a 5/8 double evasion body makes him EDH gold for 6 mana in my opinion. Another reason I chose Wrexial over the others is BECAUSE his ability answers problems. My control package is honestly quite light in comparison to most, most notably I'm only packing two board clears. The reason for this is Wrexial has no complaints being sent headfirst into cast Wrath of God off of a white player's graveyard. He was never intended to be a win condition via general damage anyways, the win condition is mill! He is a 5/8 which means if you needed to for some unknown reason, you could use general damage. I personally tutor out Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth quite early as both a manafix and to make him unblockable. The obligatory Cabal Coffers normally shortly follows.
Condensed for reading convenience, but this is a complete guide of every card in the deck and why it's there. Don't worry, every update will have the cards changed!
Mill Package in Depth
It wouldn't be a mill deck without the mill package. These cards are that are specifically included to flip cards from the deck to the grave.
-Altar of Dementia
It's primary function would be to just sac things as they're on thier way to the graveyard, but it gets pretty tricky with Undead Alchemist. You can potentially keep sacing zombies to mill to make more zombies for quite a power turn.
-Brain Freeze
This card is your finisher to a Yawgmoth's Will or a heavy punish to a player having a big turn. With only 3 spells cast in one turn, this surpasses Glimpse the Unthinkable (3 times 3 storm plus 3 for the actual card) for an even easier mana cost, with the potential for so much more.
-Chronic Flooding
This card I wasn't too sure about at first, but three cards a turn does get hefty and I've found that most people will just choose to not use the land, making it just as good as a Sinkhole, which is just as fine. Getting this on an important land, such as a bounceland or filterland forces them to mill for just using mana, which is better than one would expect.
-Consuming Aberration
At first, I thought this card said "when Consuming Aberration does combat damage to a player".. and I thought to myself "If I swing with that thing in EDH, there's a significant chance they're going to die, not mill." and was turned off. Re-reading it, I realized its ****ing amazing, and took out Brain Freeze for it. Brain Freeze had a nice synergy with Yawgmoth's Will, blasting half of my graveyard out with lots of mana then finishing someone off with a brainfreeze for 27 or something, but the Aberration gets the job done quicker for only a bit more mana, I just have to play him first rather than last, and its multitarget. Strictly an upgrade, and it was the sexy prerelease foil.
-Crosstown Courier
This little guy may not appear much, but it's a 2/1 for two that has a Mindcrank built in, well at least for combat damage. I don't have many ways to pump him but he holds Sword of Body and Mind like a champion and offers early blocks if he cant swing in.
-Dreamborn Muse
Take back everything about the Mesmeric Orb, this is the most hated card in the deck. The entire table tries to kill it pretty much, but even after 1 upkeep it's done its job of baiting removal and milling 4-10 cards.
-Extractor Demon
A good flying 5/5 body for 6 that also makes players think twice about murdering creatures all willy nilly. It also has unearth which can be used to spike a Damnation or opposing players Wrexial'd board wipe for a hefty amount of mill.
-Jace, Memory Adept
I like Glimpse the Unthinkable, but as prestated it's too weak. However, Jace makes himself easily the king of mill by making it abusable and reusable. I like being political with him and saying I'll let players draw 20 cards once he goes off. Sometimes I keep my word, others I don't; That being said, the -7 can actually be used to kill players who's libraries are getting a bit too thin.
-Jace's Erasure
Although it may not seem like much, it adds 1CPT for mill and works beautifully with any Windfall effect or draw engine you may come across. Left unchecked, it can become a real problem.
-Keening Stone
Pretty self explanatory. It's expensive, but it will kill someone in a matter of just a few turns even from just a few cards in the graveyard.
-Memory Erosion
This card punishes others getting ahead and puts a drawback on ramp, counters, and other simple effects that are normally a 1 for 1 basis. This in an opening hand can cause a lot of havoc if left unchecked for too long.
-Mesmeric Orb
THIS DRAWS SO MUCH HATE, but it is one of my most powerful millers. Untapping lands is pretty common in EDH, and most likely be chunking at least 10% of someone's library an upkeep. The payoff is too good to ignore and I don't mind dumping my cards in my own grave because I'm generally more prepared for that than others.
-Merfolk Mesmerist
While she may not seem to do much, just a few turns out and he can do some serious damage. Being an early drop to be on the defensive is also a very welcome inclusion.
-Nemesis of Reason
Wrexial's Little Sister. Even without connecting, 10 cards are gone. Good stats for its cost too.
-Phenax, God of Deception
Our god, and I couldn't be happier. Just he and Wrexial out puts him at 5 of 7 devotion, easy to turn on at that point. Once online, just between him and Wrexial that is 15CPT off the tops of libraries. Left unchecked, that can end a game quickly. Phenax goes nuts also if there is Undead Alchemist and Lightning Greaves out, making each zombie able to tap to mill and potentially make more zombies. Oh, and if there is an Alter of Dementia or Altar of the Brood out? Oh man. Don't get me started.
-Psychic Spiral
This is your killshot. Between Dreamborn Muse and Mesmeric Orb at some point you've gotten a good amount of cards in your graveyard, and this can be used to not only reset that but also dump it all on someone else. However, BE CAREFUL of it getting stolen!
-Shriekgeist
A cheap 1/1 flyer for blocking or hits for two cards on hit. It's nothing fancy, but it can get mill going very early.
-Sphinx's Tutelage Jace's Erasure was already decent, but this doubles that effect and potentially even more. Combined with any Windfall effect or any draw engine really, and this will really churn away. The second ability is expensive at 5U, but it's instant speed and works with itself, making it a nice manadump.
-Sword of Body and Mind
+2/+2, evasion, glimpse the unthinkable on hit, and get a chump blocker. Seems efficient right?
-Szadek, Lord of Secrets
Though pricy, this man gets it done. Even from a full 92 card library (if somehow you pull off a turn 1 via planechase or something), it takes only 5 hits to sufficiently murder someone's library. In addition, with Phenax, God of Deception and Altar of Dementia, you can add insult to injury once more.
-Telemin Performance
This card normally isn't to useful for the creature it actually gets, but it makes a body and will absolutely demolish a deck that doesn't run very many creatures. It's particularly nice against decks that run rampant with fatties, like my very own Sedris, the Traitor King deck, becasue you're normally guaranteed to even the playing field or at least get a solid blocker.
-Tunnel Vision Hinder, Spell Crumple and Condemn are staples in EDH, so it's funny when you can get to Vision someone's whole deck, but thats not why it's here. What do I look like a combo player? No, it's here because it hits a LOT of cards, and it's almost scary. Normally, the best way I know of to use this is ask a player if they would like to tutor something, if they reply yes, ask them what they would tutor for. Grant them their wish! Tunnel Vision puts the card on top of their library and since they get the card they want, the heat normally won't come sparking your way from that player because you just chunked their library. I've been in situations where I've done it to myself as a tutor because I really needed something as well. It has a lot of things it can do, and it mills a lot of cards.
Pseudo Mill in Depth
Not everything included in the mill package technically mills, and much of it is a side effect. Some pluck problems out of people's decks (namely the legendary Eldrazi), some take things, etc, but don't directly flip cards over.
-Anvil of Bogarden
This falls in with the Windfalls in that it doesn't mill, but it does get cards ultimately from the deck to the grave. It's parallel, forcing you to do it as well, but in exchange you no longer have a maximum hand size and you get card selection all the same. It's surprising how much a difference losing one more card a turn from your library can matter.
-Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
Exile technically isn't mill, but whatever. He exiles 3 cards a turn and sometimes gets something sweet. If he gets to 10, damn right I'm going to pop him. Identity Crisis on all opponents seems good.
Fathom Feeder
This little guy turned out to be a powerhouse. The deathtouch makes him a great blocker as well as a nigh-unblockable swinger. The devoid ensures he can always block pro-color creatures, namely those with swords; The ingest is just nice pseudo mill that adds up, and the activated ability is welcome card draw, even if it is a 3UB dump, which has the added bonus of psuedo milling even more. Quite the house.
-Life's Finale
In a weird way, it does mill. Pulling three cards out makes it like a Buried Alive for your opponents. Generally speaking, that's not helpful because I don't have very many cards to nor do I want to reanimate opponents creatures anymore (usually, anyways), but I can dump Eldrazi Titans or other problem creatures in and then Tormod's Crypt or Nihil Spellbomb it with the trigger on the stack, making it more than *just* a board wipe. Quite the tech if I do say so myself.
-Oona, Queen of the Fae
I said it before, this is probably the better commander if you're trying to actually win every time. 6 mana for a 5/5 Flyer isn't bad on its own. add a X(B/U) EXILE MILL TOKEN MAKER ability, and I have one ridiculous card. She is often usable the turn I pull her out also.
-Praetor's Grasp
My favorite Praetor's Grasp target? Praetors Grasp. But normally, its used to Grab Kozzy or Ulamog. Those guys are giant middle fingers in the face of mill. It's best application is to tuck away combo pieces, but if someone's commander is tucked, you can make it gone forever. Talk about mean though.
-Raven Guild Master
Only pseudo for exiling. This guy may be small but packs a wallop. 10 cards on contact is nuts. With Sword of Body and Mind he hits for normally at least 1/4th of their remaining library.
-Sadistic Sacrament
3 mana rip 3 things or 10 for 15. give the middle finger to Mr. Combo and be a bit proactive. Also somewhat combos with Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker, and you can rip up all their lands.
-Sire of Stagnation
Giving your opponents a landfall ability that hurts them and helps you is great. It's a powerhouse draw card and has a great body for Phenax, God of Deception, and strangely enough, even devoid it still gives devotion for said god.
-Whispering Madness
See Windfall above. The Cipher is a nice added bonus.
-Windfall
Wonderful Groans across the table if played turn 3. I burn through my hand quickly, this refills it and sorta mills cards in the process. Ran alongside Whispering Madness for double the fun!
Tutor Package in Depth
My NUMBER ONE tutor target is going to be Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth followed by Cabal Coffers. Getting large amounts of mana early sets me ahead much farther than you can imagine, and Urborg makes Wrexial Unblockable. That aside, here's our list:
-Expedition Map
3 mana, in partial payments, to tutor out any land. Normally what is tutored for early is urborg anyways, its an easy inclusion.
-Demonic Tutor
It's considered the best colored card in EDH for a reason.
-Vampiric Tutor
It fetches a handful of answers or powerful cards, lands, you name it. 2 life is negligable, snapcasts easy and Dralnu loves it. Easily one of the best tutors in the game. #2 in my book, only behind Demonic Tutor.
Making Mill Worth It in Depth.
JUST milling unfortunately is like trying to saw through a desk with a butterknife; You can do it, but it will take a while. As a result, a supplement of cards taking advantage of both my opponent's as well as my own enlarged graveyards have been included. Cards mill yourself as well as your opponents, and I'm well prepared for this.
Animate Dead
This card needs no introduction. It's 2 mana to get a dude from any graveyard. Very affordable, and I don't give any care about the irrelevant -1/-0.
-Beacon of Unrest
Strictly better than Rise from the Grave unless you REALLY want it to be a black zombie or REALLY have trouble with double black. Hits all graves, sees both creatures and artifacts, and shuffles back into deck. Just all around good!
-Codex Shredder
While it aids the mill package as well, lets face it, the regrowth ability is where it's at. Academy Ruins compatible, gets back powerlands and other things. Added bonus of actually milling (which in this deck is actually relevant for once), stops topdeck tutors, Liliana Vess, Sensei's Divining Top, Future Sight, and other things. It does so much for so little!
-Dralnu, Lich Lord
Fun as an alternate commander, but for the love of god, I refuse to play him against a red player. Taking annihilator damage hurts a LOT. That aside, he craps card advantage everywhere so why wouldn't I run him?
-Snapcaster Mage
2 mana flashback tax is cheap as it is, add a 2/1 and you have a legacy staple. Being able to access your grave in a pinch is amazing. Even just flashing back Demonic Tutor is a powerful play. I can't wait to snap a Yawgmoth's Will to end up the game.
-Undead Alchemist
WHY NOT make mill have a side effect? Not only does he prevent milled Eldrazi from doing their business, he gives me zombies which mill more, which ultimately forces a board wipe, which will likely help me more than others, since I'm light on creatures. Way too good. Even if he's spot removed, unless it's right away, I'm left with a bunch of zombies to do real damage with, which is fine with me.
-Visions of Beyond
Hm. I wasn't informed that Ancestral Recall was reprinted. Under most circumstances, I think this card would be good even in a non-mill EDH deck because games tend to run long and graveyards fill decently over time. After 10 turns it's not uncommon to see someone with a >20 yard, and U for 3 cards is incredible. Even if it's not functioning to full potential, its 1cmc INSTANT cantrip that will get you through your deck a bit faster. I found a nice foiled one and I'm happy with its inclusion
-Yawgmoth's Will
I lied, there is one true combo in this deck. It's called 'Yawgmoth's Win'. This card by itself is a combo. This is the 3rd highest rated card on Gatherer for a reason. For something of power-9 power its only 20$. Scoop it up, it is the best card ever printed, period.
Mana Rocks in Depth
No deck goes without at least a few of these. I kept the package light but powerful.
-Coalition Relic
Easily one of the best mana rocks in the game. Few rocks are worth paying more than 2 but this is one of those rocks.
VIP of the mana rocks(not that it had much competition). Rushing coffer-urborg is normally how we do things, this makes it all the more busted. If you managed to take a Voltaic Key or something off beacon, things get just silly. This is a primary target for Phyrexian Metamorph also. with 15 mana and 2 cubes, you end with 42 mana. starting with 15, Yawgmoth's Will to 12, 2 to drop cube from grave, 3 to activate, go to 14, metamorph with phyrexian mana to 11, double to 16, not only did I profit 1 mana but now I have 2 cubes!.
It's UB, it'd be difficult to not have some sort of control package. As prestated, board wipes are low due to their abundance in enemy graveyards.
-Cyclonic Rift
The synergy of this card with Windfall and Whispering Madness is ridiculously powerful, and potentially gamewinning. Even on it's own, it's a great tempo card offering spot removal (well, stall since it's bounce but whatevs.) for 2 mana, or a one sided board bounce for 7. It's just overall good!
-Damnation
Duh. Wrath of god is good, and even better in black. Kill everything!
-Nihil Spellbomb
One of the best gravehates you can get really. Its cheap and cantrips itself, what more can you want?. It also helps the Eldrazi issue, blow up their grave with the trigger on the stack. As long as the bomb is out, there is no need to fear for milling.
-Soul Manipulation
I'm forever torn between using this and Perplex, but overall this card has two modes that are both very relevant at instant speed. Doing both just adds insult to injury and can really turn a tide against an otherwise huge problem.
-Tormod's Crypt
It's free, save for card disadvantage, and does everything the spellbomb does only it's Tolaria Westable and doesn't cantrip. Redundancy is your friend.
-Silumgar's Command
The moment I saw this card I recognized it's greatness for this format. It solves virtually any problem and has a very beneficial side effect to boot. These modes will ALWAYS be relevant, and at the worst case scenario, do one then bounce a land.
-Trickbind
This can stop Eldrazi reshuffle triggers, ETBs, fetchlands, powerful tap abilities, cycling decrees, and more. You'll always find something to use this on.
-Wipe Away
Continuing on a small subtheme of bounce+windfall, this is one of the best, even able to hit lands. The split second mechanic has it basically uncounterable and will even remove a pesky Elixir of Immortality without fear of them being able to crack it.
-Whelming Wave
Tailor made tech for Wrexial. By side effect, Nemesis of Reason also sticks around. This can be used to simply slow down opponents, clear the way for Wrexial against an opponent he can't walk on, or use in conjunction with a Windfall effect for a board wipe that sets off next to no triggers. It's like our blue Damnation+1!
The Unfair Advantages in Depth
It's UB. there has to be at least a little bit of good stuff for no real reason.
-Brainstorm
This will smooth out a bad or awkward hand or help tuck cards back on top of the library before a Windfall effect. Pretty cool trick on an already decent card.
-Clever Impersonator
It is what you want it to be, plain and simple. Make more dudes or make more mill engines. The possibilities are endless.
-Lightning Greaves
I find myself wary to play Wrexial without haste, same goes for almost all of my legends with tap abilities. Problem solved, and some protection to boot. See what I did there?
-Phyrexian Metamorph
Mesmeric orb is my favorite target, but its also legend removal and so much more.
Lands
Considering their abundance, we're not going to hit every single one, just the major ones.
-Academy Ruins
Gets back artifacts, has great synergy with Expedition Map if I'm sitting on lots of mana. What's not to love? If I mill out, it offers a glimmer of hope also.
-Ancient Tomb
Originally, I was using Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx in its slot. Oddly enough, this deck is so evenly split between black and blue as far as permanency that getting 4 devotion to profit on either side was proving very difficult. I put Ancient Tomb in it's slot and am happier as it consistently makes one more mana than nykthos made, for a little stab. It can lead to some pretty powerful plays early, like T2 Windfall. It's comparable to Sol Ring, but it takes up a land slot.
-Cabal Coffers
This is my version of mana ramp. I rush this with Urborg to get ahead as fast as possible. My fun is doubled with a Vesuva
-Creeping Tar Pit
This man land is responsible for ending many an EDH game. Although it can be expensive to bring out, when you're low on gas and have an empty board, getting 3 damage in can be a big deal. Provides emergency blocks if need be, and can hold a sword (temporarily) if need be. It ETBs tapped, but for getting that kind of value AND tapping for both colors, it's an autoinclude.
-Deserted Temple
Abuses coffers, and others in a silly extreme. It comes in untapped, so it's fantastic. I'm not a combo player, but if I ever put a Death Wish in, Rings of Brighthearth will be included for infinite mana off these 3 cards.
-Exotic Orchard
a dollar dual land. U and B are common EDH colors, so I always get at least one of the two.Comes in untapped, cant complain.
-Hall of the Bandit Lord
I like setting up for a hastey wrexial,and with Urborg it doesn't hurt to use otherwise.
-Minamo, School at Water's Edge
It comes in untapped, makes colored mana, untaps Wrexial and friends, can be used politically, and abuses Dralnu. What's not to love?
-Petrified Field
Aside from YawgWin, this is my only option for retrieving precious lands from my graveyard. Comes in untapped, and doesn't cost mana to activate. What's not to love in a deck that willingly dumps it's own cards into it's graveyard?
-Strip Mine
Simply the best Land destruction land there is. My group has some money lands like Gaea's Cradle in it, and bouncelands are pretty common so being able to stunt people from getting out of control is good. I also enjoy stripping someone else's strip mine-esque lands to force them to use it before I drop Urborg or Coffers.
-Thespian's Stage
It's disappointing to drop a Vesuva with nothing great to copy. This doesn't have such disappointment.
-Tolaria West
Tutors for Urborg/Coffers, and takes a land slot. whats not to love.
-Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Most important land in deck. Fixes colors, makes Wrexial unblockable,and pumps coffers. All of my love.
-Vesuva
Found myself a FTV foil of it. Copies a land, more specifically Coffers. Whats not to love?
-Volrath's Stronghold
I like Academy Ruins, and this is that for creatures. One of the best utility lands available to UB. Like Academy Ruins, it can prevent myself from milling out also, though it's a last ditch effort.
Now, not everyone will agree with this, but when I made Wrexial I sought out with a goal and a vision. I wanted to create a mill deck that could compete without infinite combos or a clutched control package and prove truly any strategy is viable. I've gone through great lengths to make sure that this laser-focused goal is fulfilled. Every time I've swung a creature in this deck I've made sure it was always for a purpose other than doing damage. It is CRITICAL that this stays true to me. I feel this is one of the things that separates mill from the rest; Everything done is toward a laser focused goal in the end that can only be achieved through proper planning and execution. It's the ultimate test of deck knowledge and piloting ability.
Mulliganing is quite important in this deck. In my group, we are pretty easy going on mulligans, offering a free full/partial then partialing down from there. Normally what you're looking for is lands. Getting blue mana is for whatever reason much harder to come by than black mana, so if you see an Island be sure to keep it. Keep note of the quality of lands. 5 lands is a great starting hand but if 3 of them don't tap for color what good is it? Also make sure that the lands that you have correspond what you have in your hand. If you opened your hand with a Fathom Feeder, making sure you can get the UB mana is important. Aside from Lands, just try not to get stuck with big high drop creatures to start.
The first few turns are the strangest. Generally, just focus on your land drops, tutor out either an answer or try and get Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth for manafixing and swampwalking. One thing you *don't* want to do is drop a Mesmeric Orb or Dreamborn Muse within the first few turns. Both of these chunk libraries very fast, and if nothing else has happend in the game, you've made yourself public enemy number one, even if you are milling youself just as much, maybe more than eveyone else. Hold them until someone drop something big so your milling can be considered the lesser of two evils. Don't hesitate to claim that you only played Dreamborn Muse to have a blocker for X creature. Play in the background like a Dimir agent until your mana base is good enough to support bigger plays.
Actually playing Wrexial isn't quite as straitforward as it may seem. Wrexial is odd in that he is by no means a hated on general, but he can be. Dropping Wrexial turn 6 when graves aren't very stocked won't draw much attention to him often, but putting him in late game when there is some bombsy spell like Time Stretch or Armageddon(with a good board state, extreme example) will make him the most relevant threat on board. As time has gone on, I've found that broadcasting when I'm going to play Wrexial by rifling through each of my opponents graves can be used a political tool, but for power plays its better to try and simply take a mental (or physical) note of the threating spells you can take; This gives Wrexial a bigger chance of sticking around for players who aren't on top of their game, and that little advantage has won games. That being said, The best time to play Wrexial is either A: Just after mill has started (the turn after Mesmeric Orb) or B, before doing a bigger mill spell like Tunnel Vision. I try to have him on board when the cards actually go in, preferably without summoning sickness as it maximizes his chances of sticking around. Wrexial will net you sick card advantage and often multiple tutors, so don't be afraid to try and reap those benefits.
Mid game is when you need to start making more noticable plays. I'd say Mid-game starts at turn 5 or 6 in EDH, at least on average. This is normally when people are going but haven't reached full speed yet. Drop your Orb, Muse, or Archivist, pull a few Eldrazi Titans out of a players deck with Sadistic Sacrament or Praetor's Grasp, but nothing to make any particular player your nemesis for the game. Start playing creatures if you have them avalible. The mana curve starts at 4 for creatures, but a lot of reanimation cards can get you creatures out before then. Just do what you can to keep the cards flipping over into thier graveyard without getting yourself too beaten up. Diplomatically use Whispering Madness and Windfall at times that benefit both yourself and others. Try to make some allies if you can.
Stablizing: My deck more often than not is a contender for one of the decks that need to be dealt with by this point. I lose life pretty often through suicide cards, pain lands, and other sources, so often I find myself having to "stablize". Life is often the big problem. If you've gotten your engines going early it's very easy to turn into a punching bag. There isn't really any in-house answers to life gain anymore, but Profane Momento, Psychic Drain, and Whip of Erebos are all great options if you choose to run them. However, as we all may know, life isn't the only problems that you can have at times. If mana becomes an issue, say to stax or MLD, consider adding Crucible of Worlds or Gilded Lotus to keep yourself in the game.
There so far hasn't been many ditches I couldn't climb out of... Except for Rest in Peace. That card can die in a hole.
Late game is when it's time to drop Wrexial, the Risen Deep. By now, each grave should have anywhere from 30-40 cards and upwards if everything has gone well, and there will likely be something you're going to want Wrexial to pick up for you. If you've made a few allies then they won't be too frightend by Wrexial, but those who you haven't normally get nervous. Although he has to slap someone in the face a tedious five times to kill them with commander damage, simply being unblockable (assuming urborg is out) makes people quite uneasy. Haste makes him 3x better, but normally he wont be removed right away. He's a 5/8 so block to your content, that rear end of his isn't sideways yet. Drop bombshell spells like Blatent Thievery to push yourself as the controller of the board, but don't get too crazy. SAVE Yawgmoth's Will until you either need it or can do an explosive play. It's singlehandedly the most powerful card in the deck and with enough mana can often pull out a win on it's own. I refuse to run Exsanguinate or Mind Grind because by the time you have the mana to use them you're normally already in a winning position. Granted no Eldrazi or shuffle-itself-into-library cards stand in your way, it can chunk all of your opponents librarys down to a very small amount.
Although Mill is the main win condition,, there will be times you are going to be a bit more agressive on damage also. Many other any-graveyard reanimators often provide big beaters to start chunking people's healthbars, and shouldn't be ignored. The deck is heavily laser-focused on making mill work, but if Oona, Queen of the Fae offers an army of faeries to you, don't decline it. Despite all of the grease to make this engine run properly, it's some high quality grease. If you need to play it out like a UB goodstuff deck, well, it happens.
As you may have guessed, the main strategy of the deck is to till every card of a libary into their respective graveyards uninterrupted by Kozilek or Ulamog, and pass turn for a kill-well, it's not a kill. The main Win con of this deck doesn't kill, it simply says "You went insane, and lost." But, this is a bit more difficult than it may appear. Even if you're focusing down one deck, that is still 92 cards out of the starting gate you have to mill out of their libraries, and with cards like Time Spiral and Elixir of Immortality being very popular in EDH, simply blasting libraries doesn't always cut it. Here's how to address various problems that may stop your master plan:
You'll figure out ways to deal with your meta in your own way, but here's a few various problems that came up in mine from time to time and how I dealt with them. PLEASE NOTE: Some cards will appear a few times. This is because they fill multiple roles, and therefore some redundancy may be present.
The picture shown is a pretty accurate representation of how it feels to be playing Mill vs Eldrazi. These two cards alone are responsible for mill being as unpopular as they are. Luckily, Emrakul received a ban a few years ago, chopping down one of the three headaches. Kozilek isn't seen much outside of control decks, but Ulamog is a colorless, indestructible behemoth that will win the game alone if unanswered, and as icing to the cake blows something up on the way, in any color. But I'm not concerned about removing them from the field, thats what Silumgar's Command, Wipe Away, and others are for. The issue at hand is that unlike most cards that wizards wants to prevent being anally abused in the graveyard, these two greedy bastards shuffle the whole graveyard back in with them.
So how do we deal with it? Knowing who has them, first off. I have a consistent playgroup, and know which decks have them, and which don't. Those that do, I lay off and committed mill like Tunnel Vision until the problem is solved. The best answer to them is simply have Tormod's Crypt or Nihil Spellbomb on board. They offer safety nets to anything froggy, but especially eldrazi.
Sadistic Sacrament, kicked or not, is the preferred Eldrazi shredder. I first pick of the 3 or 15 should be Ulamog or Kozilek, or both if they had them, then focus on cards that will be a problem or will end the game. examples include Mikaeus, the Unhallowed/Triskelion, Mind Over Matter, Phyrexian Altar and many more. Just knowing my opponents deck and taking my time looking through their deck makes is worth the effort.
Praetor's Grasp can also pluck an Eldrazi, and if conditions are right I can even use it, I just have to be aware once it dies your efforts on their graveyard are obliterated. I normally use it to grab Demonic Tutor, Sol Ring (still nice at 2BB), or a combo piece of theirs to prevent them from going off.
Other ways to deal with it include: Tunnel Vision will force it onto their topdeck, and deny them of a useful topdeck next turn if they don't have the mana for it. It is safer in their hand than it is in their deck, unless they have some way to discard it. Giving them a possible opportunity to use an eldrazi titan is less than favorable, especially in the event of a Ulamog blowing something up, but at least we have a few ways to exile him.
Oona, Queen of the Fae
Exiling does not hit graveyards, however being the trolls they are you cant turn them into faeries, still safe mill.
Undead Alchemist
I have no fear of milling if he's out. Any creatures milled turn into zombies and exile themselves. The trigger will go off, but its worth it since I now have a mill-army with no eldrazi to stop me.
Whether the player intend for being milled not, ALL EDH DECKS SHOULD INCLUDE SOME FORM OF GRAVE ABILITIES.
Whether it be flashback, unearth, return-to-hand recursion, reanimate, whatever. It gives an incredible amount of card advantage and can save your ass late game. That being said, this deck can sometimes fueling a decks fire if they intended to stock their own yard anyways. Fighting a self-mill or graveyard deck is a double edge sword. Without mill at the table, grave decks have to work harder to make their strategy work, but with it half the work is done for them. I can control how much mill I target at them to fight it, but on the other hand if I focus them down I can drown them in their own strategy of them hitting themselves, just like playing burn against a deck with lots of shocklands. I just have to decide from the start.
[SPOILER]
It works equally as well on heavy control decks. Knowing how many creatures, and how many (relevant) spells each opponent is running will help chose who you should mill the most.
Beacon of Unrest, Animate Dead.
Grouped together for all doing similar but different things. Take their things from them plain and simple. They all do it a bit different, and some can be used to recur your own things, but they're all powerful
If your group has copious amounts of grave shenanagins but you're still crazy enough to try non combo mill make sure you have a Bojuka Bog. That aside, my go-to's would be Nihil Spellbomb, and Tormod's Crypt. Spellbomb is cheap and replaces itself, so even as a 1B bog+draw a card, its still good being used immediately. Withered Wretch is slightly more efficient ability wise, but it's cast is more color demanding. The graverobber is still great surgical grave hate with the potential to become a repeatable, abusable Rise From the Grave on a stick.
I find Aggro to be a rather weak strategy for EDH, what with 40 life and what not, but then again, mill without combo is as well so I'm not not one to judge. Although it's more difficult to just shove cards into a deck and intend to just turn cards sideways, it is present among Goblin, Elf, or Voltron decks. This is a weak point in the deck, but I'd say there are still a good number of responses.
Generally speaking, a board clear will do the trick almost every time. This used to be an issue, not having many hard board clears, but the additions of Damnation and Whelming Wave both offer early options to bomb the board. Of course, they're sorcery speed so be wary of haste. If your meta has rush tactics with small armies, consider cards like Infest(Horobi's Whisper is an awesome 4CMC instant version).
Artifact Aggro is a bit of a different story. Though it is certainly dramatically different than say a red aggro deck, it's still aggressive. Pumping out combos quickly or eldrazis, titan or not, is scary stuff. Blue has a handful of ways to deal with artifacts, though most involve bouncing, as to where black basically has Gate to Phyrexia and that's it. Hurkyl's Recall is fun to use against a artifact deck, and very cheap. Reduce to Dreams is slightly worse CMC wise and speed wise, but it hits enchantments also. I'd put Devastation Tide and Cyclonic Rift if you're trying to spread the carnage board wide. Otherwise, you're limited to Oblivion Stone and other artifact sweepers. Artifacts are scary ;_;
Other than that, I wouldn't worry too much. This deck doesn't have many big plays early on, so focus on just trying to tempo up lands mostly so you can step into the game and show presence when it matters. Tutoring Hall of the Bandit Lord or Lightning Greaves may be a favorable idea to make sure you can haste out Wrexial in a pinch for an answer from someone else's graveyard.
If for whatever reason aggro continues to be a problem, you'll inevitably have to lower the mana curve of the deck and include creatures like Baleful Strix as deterrents. This deck matters a lot more about how you play the deck rather than the draws themselves. Don't drop a Mesmeric Orb turn 1 or 2 if you know that someone is playing a faster deck, because during the first 5 turns, there's no better target for them, so the slight annoyance the orb is causing is good enough to make you a target.
This deck is actually quite strong against combo with Sadistic Sacrament and Praetor's Grasp and unless they have ways to recurse their combo pieces, it will often get thrown into the grave before they ever see it. It's straitforward how to fight against it, so I'm not going to give a whole section to it.
Wrexial, the Risen Deep was inspired and based upon Cthulhu from H.P. Lovecraft's Call of Cthulhu (and various other novels). The novels are revolvent around many mental disorders, insanities, and unexplainable horrors. His work is great and I would reccomend it to anyone who likes reading.
Even still, Non-Combo mill in EDH is frankly insane, which is perfect for a deck with what is for all intents and purposes our favorite elder god, Cthulhu himself. I find that over the course of the game, graveyards run high, which is good, but that isn't limited to my opponents. Between Dreamborn Muse, Mesmeric Orb, and even other cards like Anvil of Bogarden continually fill my own graveyard. Normally, this isn't a problem because decks like The Mimeoplasm that know that this happens normally run either Kozilek or Ulamog, or even so much as a bootleg Elixir of Immortality to counteract that. My deck runs none of these cards to recycle it's library. Some may ask why, but that is honestly half the fun to me. Because of the nature of how the deck works, I will eventually deck myself, but it will hopefully deck everyone else first. Essentially the deck turns the game into is a giant race (for last place!) to see who goes insane first, them or me. The risk of being your own demise is both exciting and an extra challenge, which to me adds an entirely new level of flavor. If things get bad enough, normally I can find some way out of it through a Praetor's Grasp recycled off of Yawgmoth's Will or Dralnu, or even from Wrexial himself, but that is a desperate last resort.
Have fun, be disruptive but not a dick, do some big splashy plays. This is what EDH, and by extension Magic is all about. It'd be very easy to throw in a couple cards and make this a consistent winner just because it's running tutors, but that's not why my build is all about. Try to just have fun and keep it casual. Keep your competitive deck for "once in a while" when you're on a losing streak. Kitchen-table games are meant to be fun, not about winning.
If Timetwister, Time Spiral, Mnemonic Nexus, or any cards of this ilk are in your playgroup on a pretty consistent basis, it can be discouraging to play mill. All of the tools you have to deal with Eldrazi Titans also works in this, but generally if the game runs long enough the problem will fix itself, because after a use, most of these cards exile themselves or are left as the only card in the graveyard afterwards, which likely will not be retrieved. Regardless, it's a hard reset for any milling you've done basically.
If your meta has these, Eldrazi Titans, Elixir of Immortality, and various other things to protect their yard, then you're going to have to run more hate. Run Planar Void and Leyline of the Void, things like Relic of Progenitus and Nihil Spellbomb, etc. Basically, make sure you can get the damage to stick by making sure it doesn't come back. Crumbling Sanctuary is yet another way to achieve this results, but that card is scary as balls to use. Surgical Graveyard hate liked Withered Wretch and Nezumi Graverobber are also good for dealing with reanimator decks.
Overall, if you're still man enough to attempt non-combo mill in this kind of meta, you're going to have to up your mill package, up your hate package, and lower your dependency on your own and others graveyards, and may want to consider changing your commander even. This type of deck isn't the kind that does well in metas like this, but they're rare so I doubt it will be a problem. I figured it was worth mentioning though.
This is all about the little interactions that the deck does along the way. This is by an incredibly large margin my most synergistic deck, as almost every card drives toward a common goal. Still, here's the showcase for the cream of the crop!
Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker + Sadistic Sacrament
For whatever reason, I'm normally the second to last person standing at the table when I'm playing Wrexial. This is a finishing combo for late game, shred their lands and deck them with grind. It's less mana intensive to use Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker or Consuming Aberration, but the ability to control Consuming Abberation makes it all the more valuable. You can Sad Sac and just count thier lands if you can. This normally only happens in a YawgWin situation.
Windfall + Cyclonic Rift
One sided Oblivion Stone? Don't mind if I do. Flushes all permanents opponents control into their graveyards while you keep yours. If that's not value I'm not sure what is. AND you get to windfall. Whispering Madness works as well of course. If you ever draw into Cyclonic with Memory Jar it's a no brainer to do it.
Mesmeric Orb + Phyrexian Metamorph or Clever Impersonator
If an orb sticks, the game ends rather quickly. If two orbs stick, everyone gets scared to tap permanents. Three? May as well be a browbeat version of Stasis This is really fun to see chunks of a library go into a graveyard in swoops, and it makes for a quick game. I normally find that in an orb-race situation I'm first to go though. It's just fun to do!
Nemesis of Reason + Wrexial, the Risen Deep
There's a reason Nemesis of Raisins is called Wrexial's little sister. On top of similar flavor, body type, and colors, they work SO good together! Swinging both means you mill 10 before Wrexial's trigger, giving you even more options. That's some kinship right there.
Expedition Map + Academy Ruins
Fishing out Urborg+Coffers early with this is powerful, but it can be used as a bootleg any-land Journeyer's Kite, though the loss of topdeck will catch up to you eventually if you don't have an arena or something. Keeping 2 land hand with map and ruins is doable though. T1 land map, T2 land crack map, T3 land ruins map.
This version of Wrexial is built over years of time and progress collecting cards. Along my travels, I've been able to trade up or save up for some pretty spectacular cards, such as my my two swords, fetches, a large list of utility lands, and more. I would never recommend to anyone starting a new deck to invest that much until they know they're going to continually enjoy playing that deck. That being said, there's a sizeable chunk of stuff to drop to be on more of a budget.
Where to start.
It's always awkward collecting what you assume to be the essentials for building a new deck. Here's a short list of what I recommend to get started up for as cheap as possible. Though it may seem like a lot, prioritize that in bold and use what you have currently, then work your way up.
Animate Dead: Even for the Graveborn foil, it's about a buck. If you can find Necromancy, even better.
Beacon of Unrest: About 3$. You'll find it quickly becomes one of your favorite cards.
Bojuka Bog: About 25¢. One of the best taplands in the game.
Consuming Abberation: Either it sticks around and mills or it one shots someone for the low price of about a buck.
[*Increasing Ambition: As far as tutors go, it's the most efficient. It's only like a buck.
Jace, Memory Adept: Contrary to what you may think, he's only about 5$. I got my foil for 10. His 0 is the breadwinner, but the +1 will save your life.
Jace's Archivist: Can't have Jace without his book keeper right? He's a powerful, repeatable source of hand disruption, mill and card advantage if you play it right.
Mesmeric Orb[/CARD: This is the strongest mill card in the format, and your best chance at winning via milling. It's about 2$, and you cannot bypass this.
Magus of the Jar: It's a 50¢ card. Use it.
Mind Grind: A cheap dollar rare that can act as a win con.
Nemesis of Reason: It's steep for what it does at 5$, but it's aggressive toward the goal and well worth getting.
Praetor's Grasp: Criminally cheap. Criminally effective. Criminally... criminal. I mean, stealing stuff is just rude. Beyond worth it.
Sol Ring: It's one of the strongest cards in the format, and thankfully Wizards has reprinted it into the ground, so now it's as low as ONE DOLLAR. Yup, ONE dollar. No excuse to not have one.
Strip Mine: It's about 3$, but crucial for every deck. It might bring hate, but it's necessary if your friends play good lands.
Tormod's Crypt: 0 Drop, Eldrazi Safety net. Grave hate is a downright necessity.
Tunnel Vision: Again, only about a buck and it is a swiss army knife. Tutor for yourself, tutor for someone else, or just hit a lot of cards. Tuck effects are popular. I don't run them myself, but you certainly can to abuse this. Others will use it, punish them!
Undead Alchemist: Such a fun win condition and puts all the mill to hard work. Only 40¢.
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth: As much as I'd like to say it's ignorable, it's not. It fixes all your mana. It lets utility lands tap for black, or even at all for mana, and makes the big man in charge unblockable. It's only 5$ for the M15 reprint, so please, please pick this up.
You'll notice this left a lot of the control, goodstuff, mana rocks, and land open. This is what can easily be warped around and keep the deck fairly true to what it is. Experiment around with what you have and what you like. No one list is going to be the best, so I encourage you to branch away from the skeleton I've provided. Tell me what has and hasn't worked for you!
What's Worth Getting First
Assuming you have a dispensable income, you likely can afford to spring for a 7 or 10$ card here or there. Here's my top 7 cards worth springing for first:
Demonic Tutor: Considered by many to be the best colored spell in EDH. 2 mana get a card, and only about 10-15$. I highly recommend getting this.
Yawgmoth's Will: Criminally only about 12-17$. Banned in every format but EDH, and restricted in vintage. It's considered one of if not the most powerful card in magic, and is one of the top 4 highest rated cards on gatherer. Barring all combos aside, 2B flashback for your graveyard is absurd. Even getting one or two cards and a land made it well worth it. Easily a game winner.
Cabal Coffers: As vital as Urborg can be to the deck, it's a shoe in for big mana. About 9$.
Academy Ruins: Recursion on land. Saves from decking out. About 7$
Memory Jar: People who don't use this in almost every deck obviously haven't used it much before or have high CMC decks. Trust me, it's worth springing the 7$ for it.
Sword of Body and Mind: Averages about 7.50$, and well worth it. It provides evasion and turns anything that would otherwise sit there such as Dreamborn Muse into a very aggressive mill machine.
Crucible of Worlds: Having it out with Mesmeric Orb almost gaurentees you a land drop per turn. Also allows some durdle combos.
Avoiding these should keep the cost of the deck under 300ish dollars What to Avoid Until You're Ready to Invest.
Underground Sea: Swap it for a basic you need or a cheaper dual. it's 300$ and climbing, so it's a deep cut into the fat.
Ancient Tomb: It's only about 10$, but it's one of the weakest lands in the deck. Without a fleshed out deck I see it doing more harm than good.
Volrath's Stronghold: It's almost 30$, but I strongly suggest getting it as soon as you can. You'll find the more repeatable recursion you can get, the better you're gonna be.
Sword of Light and Shadow: It holds a weird spot in the deck. It's a gateway to a more aggressive play should the need arise for it, fits a much needed health stabilizer, protection, and the recursion is honestly a nice bonus on top of it all. Figure out which of these you need the most, and plan accordingly. I'd recommend Swiftfoot Boots for protection.
Damnation[: There are an abundance of black wrath subs you can use. I'd still recommend the 7$ investment for Toxic Deluge, but you can easily use Black Sun's Zenith
Cards that at one point or another, were in the deck but are not any longer. These cards didn't pull their weight and were replaced, but here's why.
Multi
Baleful Strix
This card does an absurd amount of things for two mana. However, it's off flavor and I have better options for it's slot.
Circu, Dimir Lobotomist
Adorable for standard/legacy, but in EDH it hardly does more than mill a top card from the game per spell you cast, maybe two. It was cute to mill a sol ring and lock everyone else out of one, but it is nothing incredible. Was cut in favor of Nemesis of Reason
Dimir Doppelganger
He's good, but mana intensive. In a more creature heavy, battlecruiser-esque meta, he'd be better.
Lim-Dûl's Vault
First and foremost, I hate autocarding it, so this'll be hopefully the last time i'll have to. Secondly, it's an amazing card, but when slots are limited, other tutors are better. I did like that it stacked my deck in addition to finding what I needed, but in situations with Mesmeric Orb, unless I have a way to draw the rest, I know what I'm going to be losing, and that's sometimes dissapointed. If they just go in and I don't know it's going to happen, it's not as heartbreaking.
Mind Funeral
Like Mind grind, it hits a lot of cards. Unlike mind grind, it only hit's one person, so I can't really use it. The only single-target dedicated mill card that has made the cut is Tunnel Vision.
Mindleech Mass
Dumb fun to use, but 8mana was proving to be a bit out of curve so it was removed. Has a permanent slot in my Sedris deck however!
Perplex
Great flavor, interesting effect, and transmute to boot. I eventually got to the point where the counter was becoming less relevant and my tutor targets depleted from it's once abundant stature. Interesting, but not idea.
Phenax, God of Deception
He really needs to be built around to shine his brightest. I tried him, and it just wasn't cutting it.
Soul Manipulation Essence Scatter+Disentomb. A decent two-for-one, but I came to reason that my light-creature deck didn't benfit from it as often as it should, and its a dissapointing counter early game.
Black
Bloodchief Ascension
Makes all the sense in the world why I'd run it right? Well I did for a very long time but in my meta its now a dead draw. They'll let it sit on the table until it's at 2 counters, but once it even threatens to go to 3 it'll be destroyed. It's slow, it's easily broadcast when it's going to happen unless I pull some sly moves, and if I need all that setup to make a card work, it's not worth keeping in the deck.
Black Sun's Zenith
I used this when tokens ran rampant in my playgroup, and we had a steady Ghave, Guru of the Spores. It shuffles back in and the -x/-x is permenant. Solid, but this deck doesn't need that many board wipes due to Wrexial making them easy. It is very solid and should be ran if boards tend to get out of control often.
Decree of Pain
Strait up too expensive to do what I want with it.
Diabolic Tutor
There are better, but this is still solid. I used it for a long time but my budget has trancended the need for it.
Exsanguinate/Psychic Drain
The former card sees a LOT of play in EDH. Even with 5BB you're gaining upwards of 15 life. Still, killing isn't the goal, its milling, so Mind Grind was favored. If you have problems living to late game, Psychic Drain, or Exsanguinate is the better choice.
Extractor Demon
A beatstick that in certain situations will shut down infinite combos if they involve sac, will mill a lot of cards in the event of a board wipe, and has unearth. It's decent, but too situational for the consistency needed.
Kagemaro, First to Suffer
If you're a bit more draw heavy, give him a whirl, he's awesome. I just found that in my version I normally am not sitting on more than a couple cards, so his active isn't big enough to kill the table when I need it to be.
Insidious Dreams
An abusable card with windfalls and jars everywhere, but quite simply, falls flat in a non-combo deck. It often draws more hate than it's worth. Leyline of the Void
This is probably going to come up more than once, but I've tried running it and the result was incredibly dissapointing. Dropped late game it was solid, but early it ruins the whole strategy. Many of your cards are dead without graveyards to abuse, and all it does is draw hate across the table. It even shuts down the one semi-combo in the deck (Bloodchief Ascension and Mindcrank). It is a great card, but very unsynergistic with the deck, and as a result was taken out.
Liliana Vess
Strait up, she's too slow. I've never seen her ult go off either.
Lord of the Voild
Eats libraries for breakfast and gets dudes. What's not to love? the 7CMC. In a deck that turns into a punching bag the curve can't afford it.
Sepulchral Primordial
Should be a shoe-in right? Not quite. Realise, with this primordial in specific, he's literally the only reanimation target if you're not digging from you own. Clone effects get out of hand, flickers, it's just a headache and you're going to regret playing it in the end.
Shadowborn Demon
In a more creature heavy deck, he'd be awesome but his condition is a bit hard to do. At 5CMC for my list, Kagemaro was better.
Shred Memory
2CMC tutor or grave hate was decent, but its primary intention was to respond to Kozilek or Ulamogs grave trigger, meaning it sat in my hand doing nothing, and I didn't want to use it to tutor because I wouldnt have it when I needed it, so it was dropped in favor of Long-Term Plans
Sorin Markov
Too mean. Even though I primarily use him for his +2 and -7, just having a -3 scares everyone. Sad too, I've had a foil one sitting in my binder for a while. Artifacts
Altar of Dementia
2CMC drop that gaurentees if anything dies on your side, mill is happening. It went nice with Kagemaro, First to Suffer and Mortivore when they were used in the deck, but after they were cut it is deemed no longer efficient enough to run.
Fireshrieker
I still want to find room for this in the deck. Wrexial-ing twice is sexy as hell, or even moreso with Szadek, Lord of Secrets. It's nuts in the right scenario, but right now I haven't enough to take full advantage of it. Maybe when Gatecrash hits?
Helm of Obedience
The removal of Leyline of the Void revealed this as a combopiece, despite me trying to convince myself otherwise. it is too expensive for what it does, and won't take a Kozzy or Ulamog, so it was cut, and sold.
Keening Stone
Single target, it's simply not powerful enough. Phenax, God of Deception + Consuming Aberration can fill the void if you feel it's too clunky, but even then it being a 2 card killer instead of 1 takes a bit of the bad taste out of my mouth as well.
Mindcrank
Without Bloodchief Ascension it really doesn't do much. I'd rather mill someone out than kill them and have cards flip. I don't want a reason to attack like this...
Nevinyrral's Disk
I'm still not sure how to pronounce that. Nev-in-yuh-rals? No idea. That aside, comes in tapped so O-stone would be better in my opinion. I just don't need it.
Oblivion Stone
I love O-stone, but i Reserve it for decks that can't deal with artifacts or more importantly enchantments first. What? I'm running UB so I can't deal with them either? Please, talk to my homie Wrexial.
Solemn Simulacrum
Some people love him so much he's in every deck. I just don't see it necessary for this deck. If I were to run ramp, it'd probably artifact ramp over him. I run no ways to abuse him either.
Trepanation Blade
Very hit or miss. Could give +1/0, could give +8/0. Its solid but there isn't enough creatures to abuse it with, and gives no evasion like Sword of Body and Mind. Its a nice pick, but not nice enough.
Blue Acquire
Normally pretty dissapointed with it. Grabbing Sol Ring is cool and all, but paying 5 to get a sol ring? I know it's still good but cmon now. If there were some real power artifacts, then we'd talk.
Body Double
I love him, but 5CMC is iffy on the curve. I'd rather just take someone's things for less and not risk the chance of them getting it before I do.
Boomerang
Still one of my favorite cards ever. Bouncing lands turn 2, ESPECIALLY if its a bounce land is worth it to me, but this is primarily a black deck so turn to UU was a bit of a stretch. I later discovered Recoil and was content with a turn 3.
Brainstorm
I'm pretty sure Lim-Dûl's Vault is better. I don't really need that much topdeck control when everything I draw is quality in the first place.
Evacuation
Every blue deck just about should run it, and with my creature light build its perfect, but I've told you many times how I feel about running a ton of board clears in this deck. Still, it may find it's way back in.
Fatestitcher
Abuse the **** out of a Necrotic Ooze, Archanis, Dimir Aqueduct, Doubling Cube, and more? Hell yes. Unearth!? **** yea! Fits theme of deck? NOOOPE.
Intuition
It's an amazing card, but unless you're benefiting from the other two cards actually being in the grave, you're just doing work-arounds to make a blue tutor work. We have black, so we've no need for games.
Long-Term Plans
An awesome 3CMC tutor, but kinda wonky. It's awkward to use with Mesmeric Orb and Dreamborn Muse but still works. I might find room for it again one day.
Minds Aglow
Like Trade Secrets, people are greedy and like drawing cards. Not only can it be used to make the whole table, including yourself draw a lot of cards at little to no expense of your own, you can fake people into tapping out, even blue players!. Still, for the same reasons as Howling Mine and Font of the Mythos, it gives your opponents too much draw advantage, and was cut, just like Trade secrets
Mystical Tutor
Too restrictive when Instants and sorceries are normally the last-tutored-for card types. In addition to being awkward with Mesmeric Orb and friends, it's just better to stick to just the Vamp tutor.
Pact of Negation
another issue of not knowing what to cut. It'd be the only counterspell in deck but well worth running.
Spell Crumple + Hinder
Hinder in this deck I believe is strictly better, since you can place it on top if you wish, then mill it off. Both were removed due to the obvious combo with Tunnel Vision, and it's not fun to remove someone's commander from the game for a long time. Spin Into Myth is bad enough.
Rewind
A staple counter, but 4CMC for a counter is ugly to me, I try and stay as close to 2 or below as I can. Normally after I counter once my leftover mana is moot, so its unneccesary.
Riddlekeeper
Propaganda-mill is decent, and he is a 3CMC blocker, but its nothing fantastic unless a stormherd is on field.
Rite of Replication
Too expensive and too easy to disrupt. With no Boseiju or counter support, it's too risky.
Spelltwine
I used it before to cast my own spells more than others, often either my grave or opponents lacked something and I only wanted one spell, so it was cut to save my mana curve. Yawgmoth's Will gets the job done plenty. I do miss some of the shenanagins I could pull off with it though, but Blatant Thievery replaced it, which is undoubtedly better. I may find room for it again in the future.
Time Stop
This card is retardedly fun as the user, complete ass as the recipient. I may put it back in, as it does stop eldrazi triggers, but I'm not sure. it draws hate from one person for the rest of the game normally, but the sillyness that follows is always worth it. If I can find a cut for it, then it's going back in.
Time Stretch
Busted as hell. Generally this card alone shuold win you the game. As great as it is, it doesn't promote a fun enviornment, and was removed as a result.
Traumatize
A STAPLE they yell at me. you HAVE to run it they tell me. Stop. Now. This card DOES hit a ton of cards, but thats ALL it does for 5 mana. Your big play is flipping half of an opponents library over, MAYBE. But you've got like 4 libraries to crush, it's not going to get you there, and if it does you RFG'd one player who is now bored. Talk about anti-fun. Mill cards NEED to hit all opponents or do something rediculous like Tunnel Vision or Telemin Performance.
To give fair warning, the styling on the changelog is a little inconsistent as over time I improved the way that I formatted it and didn't retrograde it to the previous because it would take a copious amount of time. Still, below is every change I've made to the deck thus far alongside an explanation for each change. If there is a card you're thinking about using consider thumbing through the changelogs, and it may offer some insight on why or why not I didn't use it, or did use it in the past and why I opted to change it out.
This is the largest update I'll be doing for quite a while. I've reworked a lot of what the deck is supposed to do and overall tried to up the creature count, permanency, and consistency of milling. I have taken out a handful of staples that I'm sure will bring controversy, but I think overall Wrexial has been stronger than ever.
Removed Cards
-Mind Grind
Although this card is excellent for finishing up games, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth the same as Exsanguinate does. Feel free to run it, but I don't personally like it.
-Body Double
Slightly too bulky on the curve, and more often I want my own things instead of others, so Clever Impersonator was just better.
-Dark Confidant
It would be nice to still have, but it doesn't help me mill at all and it's just a lump of money that I could redistribute elsewhere. I really want to hammer in mill consistency and this was one of the first to make the cut.
-Phantasmal Image
Although a two mana clone is always nice, consistency is the key. And opening with a hand of four clones and nothing to clone isn't helping to mill. I'm sad to see it go but it's for the greater good.
-Necrotic Ooze
Forever on the fence, forever unsure about it.
-Geth, Lord of the Vault
Too many times Geth has sat in my hand and not been able to be of too much use. Too many times I've cast him and then really had just better things to do. Unlike Oona, Queen of the Fae, his ability requires specific mana and targets to do his job, and then more times than not anything I take really isn't helping so the mana would have been better used elsewhere. It's been fun Geth but your time has come.
-6 Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni
This is great at taking other people things, but I'm really trying to home in on milling people as a wincon, not as an avenue to beat the curve. Sorry Inky!
-Curse of the Swine
Pigify will be missed as well, but normally it doesn't help the field too much. 2/2s are still just as much a problem. If this were an instant, it would make the cut undoubtedly but until then I'm going to favor catch-all bounce cards.
-Toxic Deluge
A great card and a great boardwipe, but hurts quite a bit. I've decided to use Whelming Wave instead, as it gaurentees Wrexial, the Risen Deep and Nemesis of Reason to stay, and there is a good chance I can cast a few smaller creatures back out before Windfalling the rest away before my opponents can use it.
-Consuming Vapors
A great card but again I'm trying to move to more mill, and what control I do have I want to be at instant speed to increase the reactivity of the deck.
-Bribery
The same issue I had with Geth. Rarely is this helping me mill, making it just another goodstuff card that isn't helping the cause. I will miss it being a Naturalize by grabbing Acidic Slime though.
-Vamipiric Tutor
Often I can't use it as a true instant because I may mill the top card of my library on my upkeep, making this only work if I'm paying the mana that turn, then stunting my draw and losing two life. Now that may not seem too bad, but I sat down and looked at it and I really won't need that many tutors with a higher consistency of mill cards and draw, so this is getting the axe along with Mystical Tutor.
-Rapid Hybridization
I've toyed around with this and Murderous Cut but ultimately I'm never happy with it. The real problems lie with indestructible creatures or creatures with shroud/hexproof and this aid's neither. In addition, the 3/3 is often worse for them to have than whatever they already had.
-Shadow of Doubt
I've really been trying to find more ways to hate on ramp and I had tried this card out for it but it's not enough. It may see play later in the future but for now it's going to rest.
-Shred Memory
Even with it's transmute being stronger than ever, I find that it's still awkward in that I'm never sure to use it as a tutor or to try and hold it if I need it. Ultimately, it was cut in favor of just more mill.
-Fact or Fiction
Once an obvious inclusion has been made obsolete in that I'm not using my own graveyard quite as heavily as before.
-Memory Plunder
Originally there for redundency on my commander's ability, it is awkward to cast still and often doesn't help the current situation. It's primary use was to get a Naturalize effect or a board wipe, but often i can get wrexial out with haste and solve the problem that way. I may eventually remove Silumgar's Command in favor of this, but not today.
-Copy Artifact
Still good at a 2CMC Sculpting Steel even if it does make a wonky enchantment-artifact, but I want to have more diversity in the types of mill rather than just cloning the one powerhouse over and over. I still have Clever Impersonator and Phyrexian Metamorph, so I still can should the need arise.
-Phyrexian Arena
Although a staple, there are better less painful ways to get card draw. With the inclusions of Fathom Feeder, Sire of Stagnation, Brainstorm and others, I don't see the need for this kind of card any longer.
-Doubling Cube
Although it served as one of my only ways to achieve big mana, it's slow, clunky, and has no place in the much faster version of the deck I have now. I'm going for consistency rather than explosiveness, and this card is about as explosive as you're going to get.
-Crucible of Worlds
Another staple getting the boot. Don't get me wrong, it's an excellent card, but there aren't a whole lot of situations it works in unless I'm already winning. The only three cards that really make myself mill is Mesmeric Orb, Dreamborn Muse, and Anvil of Bogarden, so the usefulness of the crucible is limited as it is. I still have Petrified Field in a pinch, and I may consider Grim Discovery if I find I need more recursion.
-Sword of Body and Mind
This may return one day, but overall it just wasn't doing enough to justify it's spot. Often the most it did was serve as a lightning rod for removal, as most staples do.
-Crumbling Sanctuary
This was removed a while ago, predating most of these changes, for the express reason that I often got myself killed because a lot more of my mill was parallel across the board. Now, that isn't as much the case and I'm waiting to see to what extent I get the advantage before putting this back in. We may see it return in the near future, stay tuned!
-Gilded Lotus
A great rock but nothing more. I've found that having more consistency and land dropping ever turn has helped more than getting ahead. There is a lot of hate on artifacts in my meta as well, so I'd perfer not to rely on artifacts for mana.
Additions
+Psychic Spiral
The much ignored killshot. I've been stringent for a long time to not run any "Failsafes" for flavor reasons, but if there was one way to save my graveyard this is is. Late game, this wraps it up and knocks out remaining players and cements your position on the board. Just be careful of it getting stolen!
+Merfolk Mesmerist
Initially I had thought about using the 4 drop version of this from the innistrad block, but hten I found this and it is perfect. It's a cheap blocking body at two mana and has a cheap and repeatable ability to do at instant speed. I often find myself with just one or two man left over, so it was an easy inclusion.
+Brain Freeze
My roommate convinced me to put this in and I've been loving it since. It punishes a player for a big explosive turn or just wraps up a Yawgmoth's Will beautifully.
+Telemin Performance
This card normally isn't to useful for the creature it actually gets, but it makes a body and will absolutely demolish a deck that doesn't run very many creatures. It's particularly nice against decks that run rampant with fatties, like my very own Sedris, the Traitor King deck, becasue you're normally guaranteed to even the playing field or at least get a solid blocker.
+Wipe Away
Continuing on a small subtheme of bounce+windfall, this is one of the best, even able to hit lands. The split second mechanic has it basically uncounterable and will even remove a pesky Elixir of Immortalitywithout fear of them being able to crack it.
+Memory Erosion
I had this card in the deck in the past, but never realized just how powerful that effect is. If another player is getting ahead, this hard punishes them for it. Even moreover, it adds drawbacks to cheap simple effects such as ramping that otherwise go unchecked. Quite a powerhouse and I'm glad to have it back
+Chronic Flooding
This card I wasn't too sure about at first, but three cards a turn does get hefty and I've found that most people will just choose to not use the land, making it just as good as a Sinkhole, which is just as fine. Getting this on an important land, such as a bounceland or filterland forces them to mill for just using mana, which is better than one would expect.
+Sphinx's Tutelage
This card is bonkers. Jace's Erasure was already decent but this doubles that and more. Combined with any Windfall effect you can easily chunk someones library for fifteen cards or upwards.
+Sire of Stagnation
Hurts them, helps you, punishes ramp, and has a good body for Phenax, while interestingly still giving devotion.
+Life's Finale
In a weird way, it does mill. Pulling three cards out makes it like a Buried Alive for your opponents. Generally speaking, that's not helpful because I don't have very many cards to nor do I want to reanimate opponents creatures anymore (usually, anyways), but I can dump Eldrazi Titans or other problem creatures in and then Tormod's Crypt or Nihil Spellbomb it with the trigger on the stack, making it more than *just* a board wipe. Quite the tech if I do say so myself.
+Anvil of Bogarden
This falls in with the Windfalls in that it doesn't mill, but it does get cards ultimately from the deck to the grave. It's parallel, forcing you to do it as well, but in exchange you no longer have a maximum hand size and you get card selection all the same. It's surprising how much a difference losing one more card a turn from your library can matter. Consistency is the goal here, and CPT (Cards per turn) matters!
+Crosstown Courier
This little guy may not appear much, but it's a 2/1 for two that has a Mindcrank built in, well at least for combat damage. I don't have many ways to pump him but he holds Sword of Body and Mind like a champion and offers early blocks if he cant swing in.
+Keening Stone
I need to stop whatever it is I'm smokin because this card should never leave this deck. Apologies for my temporary insanities.
+Altar of Dementia
I had toyed with this in the past but ultimately didn't have the creature concentration to make it worth it. Now that I have more creatures and a bit higher power curve, it is once again welcomed. It is a bummer that it says Power rather than Toughness, but it's still good to have in the event creatures are going to the grave anyways.
+Jace's Erasure
It's back, and better than ever with more card draw and windfalls. Getting this out with Sphinx's Tutelage at the same time can really lay the hate down on one individual or spread the love to the whole table.
+Whelming Wave
A card I've wanted to include for quite a long time. Tailor made for Wrexial himself, and by side effect Nemesis of Reason sticks around too. With as many Windfall effects as I have, this can easily be made permanent if need be, but will always open the path for Wrexial against a non U non B player.
+Fathom Feeder
This little guy turned out to be a powerhouse. The deathtouch makes him a great blocker as well as a nigh-unblockable swinger. The devoid ensures he can always block pro-color creatures, namely those with swords; The ingest is just nice pseudo mill that adds up, and the activated ability is welcome card draw, even if it is a 3UB dump, which has the added bonus of psuedo milling even more. Quite the house.
+Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker
A decently priced 2/4 flyer with Mind Funeral on hit. Repeatable, powerful. Exactly what we need.This really should have been in since it's release in Gatecrash.
+Soul Manipulation
I'm forever torn between using this and Perplex, but overall this card has two modes that are both very relevant at instant speed. Doing both just adds insult to injury and can really turn a tide against an otherwise huge problem.
+Shriekgiest
2 mana, 1/1, flies, mills cards. It's aggresive and offers one more flyer to the deck which is much needed. Often I just get pummeled in by fliers, but this will block at least one, even late game.
+Brainstorm
I'm not a huge fan of brainstorm as a whole, but in this deck it gets work done. It can be used to smooth out an awkward hand or more importantly hide two cards back on top of my libary in the event of a Windfall effect.
+Phenax, God of Deception
With more creatures and permanents comes our god back. I never realized just how easily he turns online, needing only two devotion plus himself and Wrexial. Once online, just between Phenax and Wrexial that is 15CPT, something that if left unanswered will quickly finish a game up.
+Szadek, Lord of Secrets
Though pricy, this man gets it done. Even from a full 92 card library (if somehow you pull off a turn 1 via planechase or something), it takes only 5 hits to sufficiently murder someone's library. In addition, with Phenax, God of Deception and Altar of Dementia, you can add insult to injury once more.
I did like the guild mage, but that begins to make Mindcrank a central combo piece, interacting with both it and Bloodchief Ascension. Bloodchief is put in as a way to turn mill into a more viable win, and more importantly for life gain as mill decks take quite a beating. I'll have to think on it.
Whispering Madness Will definitely be going into the deck, not as replacement to windfall but as a secondary one. I'm not sure how many times i'd actual cipher it, but even on its own it is worth running. It screws people's hands up bad and using it hellbent is sweet. It is awesome to draw like 20 cards off of Decree of Pain then force everyone to draw that many.
I do find myself nearly making myself mill out though, but. I like this risk because the bigger my graveyard gets the stronger my deck works. Yawgmoth's Will with a lot of lands and coffers, along with a doubling cube or two (with metamorph) makes for spewing your whole graveyard on the field great.
BIG update as I just got some gatecrash stuff, and a Dimir intro pack.
Sylized Changelog, removed Gatecrash Acknowlegement as cards from Gatecrash have been added. Added (foil) tag to cards in my deck that are foil, as foiling out the deck is a side project of mine.
Card Changes
RemovedBrain Freeze for Consuming Aberration
Strictly an upgrade in my eyes. A body, more powerful mill for my spells, I just cant use it during other people's turns but it is most often me who gets the storm count really high with Yawgmoth's Will anyways. Very powerful, and a very big creature.
Removed Trade Secrets for Whispering Madness
While it may not mill out as much of an opponents library, or net quite as much draw advantage, it is more disruptive and interactive, and doesn't let a person simply draw out their deck and combo next turn. Though I don't forsee the Cipher being used much unless I flash it back with Yawgmoth's Will or Dralnu, Lich Lord (At which point you may as well put it on a dude, its on its way to exile anyways), but it has its uses if i'm in a position to do so. Cipher doesn't target, so I can even put it on a shrouded target. Seems nice.
Removed Talisman of Dominance For Dimir Keyrune
A great synergy with Cipher, even if I only have 1 in the deck at the moment. the ability to make a dude for blocking or attacking is too good to pass over, and there is a ton of flavor on it, so how could I not run it! I'm also no longer hurting myself, not that I ever minded.
Removed Echo Mage for Duskmantle Guildmage
The Echo Mage, despite how good it looks on paper takes 7 mana to start copying spells, or a ghastly 11 mana to start tripling spells. The deck produces a lot of mana, don't get me wrong but thats too much. The guildmage allows me to turn mill into damage, or manadump for 2 cards if I've nothing better to do. It's synergy to kill one player with Mind Crank is also worth it. Abilities aside, a 2/2 for 2cmc alone is solid.
Removed Vile Consumption for Grisly Spectacle
Vile Consumption is one of my favorite enchantments in the game, but is hardly synergistic to the theme of the deck, and normally if it is really worth keeping they will pay the 1 life and I've achieved nothing. I've enough answers to token that this simply isn't cutting the cheese. Grisly spectacle is decently (not great, but decently) priced 2-for-1 effect of killing just about anything, and milling on average 5 cards, which is SOMETHING. With Sygg being removed also (below), it is definately no longer worth running.
Removed [/CARD]Negate[/CARD] for Dinrova Horror
I'm almost never happy drawing counterspells, because with Doubling Cube I almost always tap out on my turn unless I've got something nice. My counterspells are more of an effort to protection, rather than disruption. I have answers to most things after they hit the board. Dinrova Horror is such an answer, with a body on it to boot. It's a bit expensive, but when you compare it to Recoil, 3CMC for a dude on top of it isn't bad at all. I wish it had flying, but you can only ask for so much.
Removed [/CARD]Psychic Drain[/CARD] for Shared Trauma
This update added 2 Creatures, which means more blocking at least, so I'm not as concerned about the gaining of life, and for the most part it was underwhelming anyways. My mana into an X spell with Shared Trauma goes a lot farther as it hits every player, even if it is including myself. This and Bloodchief Ascension or my new Duskmantle Guildmage could easily kill the table on that synergy alone!.
Removed Countersquall for Animate Dead
Again, this deck is not designed to be a control deck, and almost all of its control aspects is a desperate attempt to keep living long enough to deck someone out, which takes time. Aggro and combo is rampant in my playgroup. Countersquall doesn't hit creatures, and even if it did one creature wont save me, and combo I have Sadistic Sacrament and cards like Windfall to disrupt those. I added Shared Trauma and two more creatures to the deck than before, meaning I'm going to be milling myself slightly more than before (Mesmeric Orb is normally the biggest culprit, followed by [/CARD]Dreamborn Muse[/CARD].), so I can justify a bit more recursion as to where before I couldn't. Animate Dead is still likely the second best recursion spell behind Reanimate, which is already auto-included as I'm playing black. Makes for more efficient Yawgmoth's Will blowouts, and provides creatures to beat or block with. Whats not to love? I will keep Dissapate in the deck, leaving at least one way to interact with big bombs like Rite of Replication or [/CARD]Exsanguinate[/CARD], but three seemed to be trying a bit too hard.
Removed Sygg, River Cutthroat for Blatent Thievery
Jesus bananas. Sygg, you're a good man at 2CMC but clear the hell aside for Blatent thievery. The name, flavor, and power behind this card is just astonishing. I thought it said take target creature at first but no, its mother****ing PERMANENT. So, take 2 good things and 2 mana rocks or bouncelands? the mana producers that you can take alone make it worth running this card. 7CMC is a bit of an investment, but the payoff is certainly worth it. and it is not an enchantment like Volition Reigns or cards similar to it, so there is zero fragility to this. The only way it could be better is if it didn't target, at which point it'd be broken as **** and too expensive to justify owning.
Life loss hasn't been quite as big of an issue, and I've come to the conclusion if I focus an Aggro player down the amount of disruption insued is normally enough to shut them down or at least turn them elsewhere. Less controling, more milling power.
[B]2/3/31: Gatecrash Update 2[/B]
More gatecrash things! I also took the liberty of changing the entire post to first person from third person, because it made no sense for it to seem like someone else was playing my deck! Restylized it a bit more also. 23% Foiled now!
[B]Card Changes[/B]:
[B]Removed Secluded Glen for Vesuva
I honestly am not sure why I had secluded glen in the first place, when Oona was the only faerie in the first place. Vesuva copies Cabal coffers, which is fantastic, or some other great land in play. Comes in tapped but you can only ask for so much.
[B]Removed Grisly Spectacle for Death's Approach.
Snagged a foil of it at my FNM draft. CMC wise and usefulness wise it's all around better, and is shiny. Even if it won't kill the creature it will weaken it. 4 mana for removal is honestly too much for EDH, and more times than not I had wished it was cheaper.
[B]Removed Szadek, Lord of Secrets for Diluvian Primordial[/B]
Sadly, it was only a matter of time before Szadek was replaced. The fact I have to hit players with him to get him going and the initial cost is so much for so little, it is often disappointing to draw him. Diluvian Primordial I doubt will ever receive be dissapointing to topdeck, and after it's done its duty will be a 5/5 blocker or beater. I'm sure this will contribute to blowout Yawgmoth's Will turns heavily. I told you YawgWin was its own combo XD.
[B]Removed Dissipate for Necropotence
Yeah, it was only a matter of time before I broke down and got one. This is still one of the most busted cards in magic, and if we're not doing combo, we're going to use the best cards in the game to our advantage. Dissipate was my only counterspell, which is hardly worth running if its the only one. 90% of the time I don't have it when I need it, and when I do I never need it. Memory Plunder still acts as a counter in most situations, and I don't often need to worry about someone comboing out considering how proactive the deck is. I have the FTV:Exiled copy of Necropotence also, which aids in my foiling of the deck also.
I'm currently building a Lazav mill-based deck, and I've got a lot of ideas from this thread, so thank you for that:-D
At the moment, I'm wondering if you've used Ambassador Laquatus in the past, or what your opinion of him is? He seems like a nice butt early on with a reasonably useful ability, but I worry he might be too slow.
I'm currently building a Lazav mill-based deck, and I've got a lot of ideas from this thread, so thank you for that:-D
At the moment, I'm wondering if you've used Ambassador Laquatus in the past, or what your opinion of him is? He seems like a nice butt early on with a reasonably useful ability, but I worry he might be too slow.
Thanks for taking the time to read it! I've always seen mill as a viable strategy in EDH, but gatecrash blew the coffin lid off. I suspect soon we'll see a lot more mill decks that run similar to this one, but probably splash a few combos. Handling Eldrazi is a real pain though.
Like Oona, he has a powerful effect but only if you have an incredible amount of mana or infinite. If you're using some combos, he's a decent addition but for my deck I'm trying to steer away from combo, and he makes it a bit easy. I was wary to include Oona, but she is far too powerful to just ignore. If you're wanting early mill power and a blocker, Dreamborn Muse or even Jace's Archivist Will get the job done faster.
If you want a similar effect for cheap, Mindshrieker is a 2ManaMill1 1/1 flyer for 2CMC which gets bigger temporarily the more you mill, and it's instant speed. Not quite as efficient, but due to it being able to chunk faces pretty early on, or provide a flying body to block with (combat tricks if you pump it) is very nice for what it costs. I opted against it for Baleful Strix, but Mindshrieker better fits the theme, and is MUCH more budget (Strix is like 16$ or something dumb. I got 2 in my Planechase ninjas deck).
I got a Lazav today, and jesus he is good. It's almost tempting to run him as commander, Hexproof is so sexy!.
My play of the day:
Twincast+Profane Command(for 5) returning Consuming Aberration and Lazav, Dimir Mastermind then on the second command -5/-5ing Mikeaus, the Unhallowed and Jor Kadeen, The Prevailer (becoming Mikeaus) after a player threatened to Planar Cleansing. All I had out at the time was Necropotence (Which I have a bad tendency to put myself ridiculously close to death every time), and Arcanis, the Omnipotent who I was using instead of Necro-pants to draw. So basically, returned two bombs from my graveyard, killed two threats, and secured my board (at least the creatures, the only ones I gave any care about) from a board wipe, as well as milling each opponent til they hit a land.
next turn I drew 3 and Whispering Madnessed, then played two other spells milling each opponent until they hit 3 lands, and RFG'd someone with a 30/30+ Aberration. I was focused the next turn and died, but jesus it was fun xD.
I've a lot of things to change in the deck with a few more gatecrash things. The Baleful Strix is still very on the fence for me. I have a feeling it'll come out for Duskmantle Seer once I attain one.
More Gatecrash updates, I've been putting most of my $ efforts into getting my UB Aggro/Mill standard deck to be at least presentable but I traded a few things away from other decks to try and get ahead, and pulling an Aurelia's Fury helped my cause.
Card Changes Removed Baleful Strix for Lazav, Dimir Mastermind
The bird is good, there is no question, but again it was unfitting in the overall theme of the deck. Lazav is a shoe in, and he's only a little more expensive. The bird I can use for trade fodder or a different deck. It seems like a logical change.
Removed Shared Trauma for Mind Grind
I'm partial to Shared Trauma because it mills myself also, which often helps, but in terms of sheer power Mind Grind cannot be ignored. It is incredibly powerful and getting even just 25 mana is probably enough to end the game, which with coffers or doubling cube isn't hard at all. Very powerful.
Removed Avatar of Woe for Sepulchral Primordial
This is just obvious. Avatar often gets killed before I can use it, and the Primordial is a 4+ for 1 spell, which if removed only allows for more abuse. Ridiculous potential and power in EDH.
Removed Dimir Keyrune for Talisman of Dominance
Turn 1 land-sol ring-talisman made me smile too much and I began to miss it. 2 mana to get 1 ahead is better than 3 for 1. I don't run enough cipher to make the key worth it, and overall I think it offers more power to the deck. I can also use the key in my standard deck, which is nice.
Overall, in the past two changes, my mana curve on average has jumped up a bit. So far this hasn't proven to be a problem, but I do recognize it. I'll assess the situation in future games and act accordingly. I may need to drop a few late game bombs to try and get my mana back in order, but I feel that the bombs I drop are game changing enough that it is worth it even if that is the only spell I play for the turn.
Cards I'm considering cutting are:
Jace, Memory Adept
(draws focus quickly and there are better card advantage or mill spells I could be using)
Lord of the Void
(as much as I love him, unless he was cast with Hall of the Bandit Lord or I have Lightning Greaves at the ready, there is a pretty good chance of spot removal or a board wipe before it swings around again. Good, but I could probably do better)
Dinrova Horror
(I adore him, but at 6CMC there are better things I could be using. Whatever it is, I want for it to be able to remove just about anything, as he is consistently a problem solver for me. Fireshrieker is also considered, as it allows for 2x triggers on any on hit effects. I'll think about it)
I'd like to see a bit more draw power go into the deck, like Fact or Fiction or one of my favorites, Moonlight Bargain. Both of these give me options between what to put in my hand or what to put in my grave, which both have great advantages. I don't foresee myself taking advantage of the instant speed on it much, but burning through my hand is becoming more and more of a natural occurrence with all the mana I generate.
Dang it. My post disappeared, because I closed out the window by accident. Oh well.
So, I enjoyed what you did here, as I've built a Lazav mill/reanimator-type deck recenly, but I came to post to ask you if have tested Withered Wretch at all? The mana sink seems great within the game plans you've laid out already. I wouldn't be surprised to see why you might have excluded it from your list, though- Wretch is pretty terrible early game, unless you're facing a reanimator player, but I find getting a few activations out of him is pretty clutch, especially in environments where players are recurring more than just creatures onto the battlefield-- like enchantments using Replenish/Open the Vaults, artifacts using Goblin Welder, and spells using Archaeomancer/Mnemonic Wall/Izzet Chronarch/Mystic Retrieval, etc. My meta contains a decent amount of decks that do so on occasion (or even on the regular), so I find relying on gy-hate that focuses on creatures in the gy, like Undead Alchemist and Dimir Doppelganger, doesn't do enough- they need to supplemented with something else. I'm not sure if Relic isn't just much better at the job. I get overwhelmed a bit when I have too many decisions with Wretch out- Relic just says bye to everyone's gy, with the added detriment to all your gy-based trickery (your general, recursion and spellcasting from other players' graveyards).
One other thing, how worth it is Doubling Cube in a two-color deck? I used to play it a ton in mono-black EDH decks years ago, but I found it less than stellar when I attempted to play it in 2-3 color decks awhile ago. I run less tutors than you (just Demonic, Vampiric, Liliana Vess) in my Lazav EDH deck, and generally play in a color-balanced playgroup, so I'm never short of enough games against white / green decks with artifact removal where it'd last long if I'm making 40+ mana every turn with it.
I recently discovered that adding a Thespian's Stage made Cabal Coffers (although Geth never living and a lack of a hand made the excess black mana irrelevent for the few turns I had both of those out) even more ridiculous in my Lazav deck. I suggest you look into it- I noticed you hadn't tested it out since Gatecrash came out.
I feel like you could find space for Geth's Grimoire + Words of Waste tech.
I mean, discard is just as, if not more effective for Wrexial and all of your other reanimate goodstuffs.
Also, is Havengul Lich no good in your meta?
He always worked wonders in my old Wrexial deck.
I do really like your list, though...it almost makes me want to rebuild Wrexial.
He's just...so fun, and plays differently every game.
I don't understand how Havengul Lich works wonders in a meta. You can't play creatures outside of your colors with it, and generally he has to stick around for awhile if you want to recur a large creature from it or recur consecutive large creatures. I play it and it dies immediately. If my opponents don't have spot removal for it, I get to recur 2-3 creatures, then someone board wipes and I cry. =/
I don't understand how Havengul Lich works wonders in a meta. You can't play creatures outside of your colors with it, and generally he has to stick around for awhile if you want to recur a large creature from it or recur consecutive large creatures. I play it and it dies immediately. If my opponents don't have spot removal for it, I get to recur 2-3 creatures, then someone board wipes and I cry. =/
Dang it. My post disappeared, because I closed out the window by accident. Oh well.
So, I enjoyed what you did here, as I've built a Lazav mill/reanimator-type deck recenly, but I came to post to ask you if have tested Withered Wretch at all? The mana sink seems great within the game plans you've laid out already. I wouldn't be surprised to see why you might have excluded it from your list, though- Wretch is pretty terrible early game, unless you're facing a reanimator player, but I find getting a few activations out of him is pretty clutch, especially in environments where players are recurring more than just creatures onto the battlefield-- like enchantments using Replenish/Open the Vaults, artifacts using Goblin Welder, and spells using Archaeomancer/Mnemonic Wall/Izzet Chronarch/Mystic Retrieval, etc. My meta contains a decent amount of decks that do so on occasion (or even on the regular), so I find relying on gy-hate that focuses on creatures in the gy, like Undead Alchemist and Dimir Doppelganger, doesn't do enough- they need to supplemented with something else. I'm not sure if Relic isn't just much better at the job. I get overwhelmed a bit when I have too many decisions with Wretch out- Relic just says bye to everyone's gy, with the added detriment to all your gy-based trickery (your general, recursion and spellcasting from other players' graveyards).
One other thing, how worth it is Doubling Cube in a two-color deck? I used to play it a ton in mono-black EDH decks years ago, but I found it less than stellar when I attempted to play it in 2-3 color decks awhile ago. I run less tutors than you (just Demonic, Vampiric, Liliana Vess) in my Lazav EDH deck, and generally play in a color-balanced playgroup, so I'm never short of enough games against white / green decks with artifact removal where it'd last long if I'm making 40+ mana every turn with it.
I recently discovered that adding a Thespian's Stage made Cabal Coffers (although Geth never living and a lack of a hand made the excess black mana irrelevent for the few turns I had both of those out) even more ridiculous in my Lazav deck. I suggest you look into it- I noticed you hadn't tested it out since Gatecrash came out.
Withered Wrech was tested, but in my meta I don't have a need for that much grave hate, and if I did I'd favor Nezumi Graverobber over it for the kicker if I manage to get it to flip. With the amount of tutors I have, Bojuka Bog is enough to shut down the player in question, but even then because of my synergy with a Grave Deck normally they'll target me last as I am generally helping them out. The deck consistently taps out on its turn, and begs for a Leyline of Anticipation or a Vedalken Orrey, but there simply isn't the slots in question, which leads me right into your next point.
Doubling Cube is a VIP in black decks that abuse Cabal Coffers once you have 7 mana, you actually have 8, at 8 you have 10, and so on. It only incrementally gets better from there. Its only a 2 drop so you don't always have to use it, though I normally will. This in combonation with Coffers and Yawgmoth's Will normally means endgame. It is terrible early, but Again, I always tutor out Urborg+Coffers to ramp as fast as possible, given my lack of ramp on my own. I also have a decent amount of X Cards to dump mana into, like Sands of Delirium and Mind Grind. There is enough card advantage producing items in the deck to make it worth it. Thesbian's Stage is in the deck now, but I haven't updated the decklist it seems.
I feel like you could find space for Geth's Grimoire + Words of Waste tech.
I mean, discard is just as, if not more effective for Wrexial and all of your other reanimate goodstuffs.
Also, is Havengul Lich no good in your meta?
He always worked wonders in my old Wrexial deck.
I do really like your list, though...it almost makes me want to rebuild Wrexial.
He's just...so fun, and plays differently every game.
I've experimented with Discard, but what became of it was a Nath of the Gilt Leaf deck, which is tons more effective because the green let me ramp into it (discard is expensive but powerful.). As good as discard is, it's not effective mana wise unless its global (Delirium Skeins is a prime example). Because of this, only Recoil and River's Grasp are used for discard, simply because they are both bananas at what they do. So in point, although Discard is good, there is more than enough to deal with things on the board at a given time. Plus, setting up little synergies is good but too much effort.
Havengul Lich IS good, but not for my meta. Blue is oddly enough our rarest color, so it's already cut in half. The activated ability thing is nice, but Necrotic Ooze does it better. Yawgmoth's Will is plenty for a blowout turn with a ton of mana. He's better saved for Zombie Decks with Rooftop Storm and Conspiracy, or really low CMC decks.
And I'm glad my list inspired you. It's really fun and because of all the tutors and reliance on using opposing decks as it's engine, it is very fun. I tried to keep it non combo to keep the fun at a maximum, because I hate when players just drop two cards and end the game. This deck excells at stoping them with cards like Sad Sac, so it puts it on a even playing field very quickly. It's really fun!
The only card in UB that lets me play cards outside of my colors is Mycosynth Lattice and more times than not, that hurts a hell of a lot more than it helps. My meta has both a Arcum Dagsson and Karn, Silver Golem so that is definately not a bright Idea. This is why all of my "steal" cards say "without paying it's mana cost", to avoid this issue. It's for this same reason Nightveil Specter never hit the list.
So again, I appreciate all of your feedback. I am considering adding a bit more draw power into the deck. In circumstances where I'm not hitting any of my tutors being able to try and dig for one is invaluable, and might hit what I was looking for also. Any suggestions there?
[B]2/13/13:[/B][SPOILER]
Been busy and ridiculously low on cash the past few weeks, but I managed to make a few changes, including getting a Thesbian's Stage.
[B]Card Changes:[/B][SPOILER]
[B]Removed Dimir Doppelganger for Rapid Hybridization[/B]
This change was painful to make, but more times than not I find myself utterly disgusted by Dimir Doppelganger. Not because it's bad, but more because it takes so much initial mana to do in one turn, and it doesn't trigger ETB effects, which is huge. Rapid Hybridization is [B]1CMC Destroy target creature. It can't be regenerated[/B]. That alone is bananas. The 3/3 dude they get is moot. It can also trigger Tragic Slip under ideal conditions. So many uses for one card, and I even got a nice foil of it.
[B]Removed Ghost Quarter for Thesbian's Stage
Realistically I should have removed Bad River, as there isn't that many targets for it anyways. I need Strip Mine or something better if I'm to include it. Ghost Quarter was simply saddening to me, and this fixed the problem there.
[B]Added Tribute to Hunger to the list.[/B]
It was left out accidentally.
[B]Removed Talisman of Dominance for Fact or Fiction
FoF should need no introduction, but why take out the mana ramp? One of my friends recommended it, and explained that "Draw is like Blue's ramp. Just as Discard and tutor is black's ramp." This struck home to me. FoF is one of the best blue cards in magic, so it immediately went in. I've been pleased with the results. With my group, its almost always a 5-0 split, giving me 5 cards for 4 mana at instant speed with no drawback. Even if they do it properly, I'm still winning, its a grave deck.
[/SPOILER]
Still looking to get one more draw card in the deck. Promise of Power is nice but hurts and there are plenty of blue cards to get the job done. Recurring Insight and Deep Analysis are two I'm looking at very hard due to one being just really good and triggers twice, and the other has flashback which is invaluable in itself. A really cheap flashback at that.
Been a while since I've been able to post, but not much has changed due to financial issues, but tax returns are coming! woo!
Removed Dinrova Horror for Visions of Beyond
This was largely an effort to both lower the mana curve of the deck which was getting a LITTLE high with the recent inclusion of the primordials, but I'd like my landbase to stay at 24, where it is now if at all possible. This addition both helps to hit land drops early in tight spots and dig through my library late game. It is cheap but powerful draw, and no deck can say no to that.
Also added a few (foil tags). I broke down and got a foil cabal coffers for only 12$, then gave the non foil as a hand-me-down to my mono B deck.
I'm seriously reaching a standstill with this deck. It's a complicated problem that I almost feel I've solved completely to the point of no improvement without dropping large amounts of money. (Underground Sea and a few other fetch lands could make minor improvements, but I feel they are negligable as I never have mana issues.) This cant be true though, as no deck is perfect at what it does. Still very open to suggestions!
So, I'm not that experienced with EDH milling. To me it seems like you have a pretty nice build for it though. You've got a lot of mill, ways to take advantage of it, and some nice game enders. So one thing I noticed is that you dont run Leyline of the Void and your reasoning behind it seems solid. Have you considered one shot grave removal effects though? I was going to say to run Bojuka Bog but I see you run that. What about Trepanation Blade?
Why should I play Wrexial?
- Reasons to play UB mill
- Reasons not to play UB mill
- Alternative Strategies and Commanders
- A Not-So-Brief History
- The Decklist
- If any commander works, why Wrexial?
- Individual Card Choices
- The Instructions Manual
- Strategy
- Piloting
- Kozilek & Ulamog
- Feeding a Graveyard Deck]
- Aggro
- Combo
- Giving Into the Madness
- Advanced Piloting
- Dealing with an Unfavorable Meta
- Deck Tech and Synergies
- Alternative Card Options (Post #2)
- Money Sucks
- Building On A Budget
- Cards That Didn't Pull Thier Weight
- Changelog
Reasons to Play UB Mill
Alternative Strategies and Commanders in Dimir
I enjoy writing about things I like, so sometimes I get a bit lengthy in my writings so I've condensed it a few spoiler tags.
My Introduction to EDH
The Deck Today
2 Crosstown Courier
2 Fathom Feeder
2 Merfolk Mesmerist
2 Shriekgiest
2 Snapcaster Mage
3 Jace's Archivist
3 Raven Guild Master
4 Clever Impersonator
4 Dreamborn Muse
4 Phyrexian Metamorph
4 Undead Alchemist
5 Consuming Aberration
5 Dralnu, Lich Lord
5 Phenax, God of Deception
5 Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker
5 Nemesis of Reason
6 Extractor Demon
6 Oona, Queen of the Fae
6 Sire of Stagnation
6 Wrexial, the Risen Deep
7 Szadek, Lord of Secrets
Sorceries
2 Demonic Tutor
3 Dark Deal
3 Praetor's Grasp
3 Sadistic Sacrament
3 Windfall
3 Yawgmoth's Will
4 Damnation
4 Whelming Wave
4 Whispering Madness
5 Beacon of Unrest
5 Telemin Performance
6 Life's Finale
6 Tunnel Vision
1 Brainstorm
1 Visions of Beyond
2 Brain Freeze
2 Cyclonic Rift
2 Trickbind
3 Soul Manipulation
3 Wipe Away
5 Psychic Spiral
5 Silumgar's Command
Enchantments
2 Animate Dead
2 Chronic Flooding
2 Jace's Erasure
3 Memory Erosion
3 Sphinx's Tutelage
Artifacts
0 Tormod's Crypt
1 Altar of the Brood
1 Codex Shredder
1 Expedition Map
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Sol Ring
2 Altar of Dementia
2 Anvil of Bogarden
2 Lightning Greaves
2 Mesmeric Orb
2 Mindcrank
3 Coalition Relic
3 Sword of Body and Mind
6 Keening Stone
Planeswalkers
3 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
5 Jace, Memory Adept
0 Island x4
0 Swamp x5
0 Academy Ruins
0 Cabal Coffers
0 Cephalid Coliseum
0 Command Tower
0 Creeping Tar Pit
0 Deserted Temple
0 Dimir Aqueduct
0 Drowned Catacomb
0 Exotic Orchard
0 Faerie Conclave
0 Hall of the Bandit Lord
0 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
0 Nephalia Drownyard
0 Petrified Field
0 Polluted Delta
0 Strip Mine
0 Sunken Ruins
0 Tectonic Edge
0 Temple of Deceit
0 Thespian's Stage
0 Tolaria West
0 Underground River
0 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
0 Volrath's Stronghold
0 Watery Grave
The Mill Package
1 Altar of the Brood
2 Altar of Dementia
2 Brain Freeze
2 Chronic Flooding
2 Crosstown Courier
2 Jace's Erasure
2 Mesmeric Orb
2 Merfolk Mesmerist
2 Mindcrank
2 Shriekgiest
3 Memory Erosion
3 Sphinx's Tutelage
3 Sword of Body and Mind
4 Dreamborn Muse
5 Consuming Abberation
5 Jace, Memory Adept
5 Phenax, God of Deception
5 Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker
5 Nemesis of Reason
5 Psychic Spiral
5 Telemin Performance
6 Extractor Demon
6 Tunnel Vision
7 Szadek, Lord of Secrets
Psuedo Mill
2 Anvil of Bogarden
2 Fathom Feeder
3 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
3 Dark Deal
3 Jace's Archivist
3 Praetor's Grasp
3 Raven Guild Master
3 Sadistic Sacrament
3 Windfall
4 Whispering Madness
6 Keening Stone
6 Life's Finale
6 Sire of Stagnation
6 Oona, Queen of the Fae
1 Expedition Map
2 Demonic Tutor
Making Mill Worth It
1 Codex Shredder
1 Visions of Beyond
2 Animate Dead
2 Snapcaster Mage
3 Yawgmoth's Will
4 Undead Alchemist
5 Beacon of Unrest
5 Dralnu, Lich Lord
The Mana Rocks
1 Sol Ring
3 Coalition Relic
Control Package
0 Tormod's Crypt
1 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Cyclonic Rift
2 Trickbind
3 Soul Manipulation
3 Wipe Away
4 Damnation
4 Whelming Wave
5 Silumgar's Command
The Unfair Advantages
1 Brainstorm
2 Lightning Greaves
4 Clever Impersonator
4 Phyrexian Metamorph
Land
0 Island x4
0 Swamp x5
0 Academy Ruins
0 Cabal Coffers
0 Cephalid Coliseum
0 Command Tower
0 Creeping Tar Pit
0 Deserted Temple
0 Dimir Aqueduct
0 Drowned Catacomb
0 Exotic Orchard
0 Faerie Conclave
0 Hall of the Bandit Lord
0 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
0 Nephalia Drownyard
0 Petrified Field
0 Polluted Delta
0 Strip Mine
0 Sunken Ruins
0 Tectonic Edge
0 Temple of Deceit
0 Thespian's Stage
0 Tolaria West
0 Underground River
0 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
0 Volrath's Stronghold
0 Watery Grave
If any commander works, why Wrexial?
Cards in Depth
Mill Package in Depth
-Altar of Dementia
It's primary function would be to just sac things as they're on thier way to the graveyard, but it gets pretty tricky with Undead Alchemist. You can potentially keep sacing zombies to mill to make more zombies for quite a power turn.
-Altar of the Brood
It's really easy to get the ball rolling with this in your opening hand. Triggering off even lands and tokens, this can be a real powerhouse with Undead Alchemist or Oona, Queen of the Fae
-Brain Freeze
This card is your finisher to a Yawgmoth's Will or a heavy punish to a player having a big turn. With only 3 spells cast in one turn, this surpasses Glimpse the Unthinkable (3 times 3 storm plus 3 for the actual card) for an even easier mana cost, with the potential for so much more.
-Chronic Flooding
This card I wasn't too sure about at first, but three cards a turn does get hefty and I've found that most people will just choose to not use the land, making it just as good as a Sinkhole, which is just as fine. Getting this on an important land, such as a bounceland or filterland forces them to mill for just using mana, which is better than one would expect.
-Consuming Aberration
At first, I thought this card said "when Consuming Aberration does combat damage to a player".. and I thought to myself "If I swing with that thing in EDH, there's a significant chance they're going to die, not mill." and was turned off. Re-reading it, I realized its ****ing amazing, and took out Brain Freeze for it. Brain Freeze had a nice synergy with Yawgmoth's Will, blasting half of my graveyard out with lots of mana then finishing someone off with a brainfreeze for 27 or something, but the Aberration gets the job done quicker for only a bit more mana, I just have to play him first rather than last, and its multitarget. Strictly an upgrade, and it was the sexy prerelease foil.
-Crosstown Courier
This little guy may not appear much, but it's a 2/1 for two that has a Mindcrank built in, well at least for combat damage. I don't have many ways to pump him but he holds Sword of Body and Mind like a champion and offers early blocks if he cant swing in.
-Dreamborn Muse
Take back everything about the Mesmeric Orb, this is the most hated card in the deck. The entire table tries to kill it pretty much, but even after 1 upkeep it's done its job of baiting removal and milling 4-10 cards.
-Extractor Demon
A good flying 5/5 body for 6 that also makes players think twice about murdering creatures all willy nilly. It also has unearth which can be used to spike a Damnation or opposing players Wrexial'd board wipe for a hefty amount of mill.
-Jace, Memory Adept
I like Glimpse the Unthinkable, but as prestated it's too weak. However, Jace makes himself easily the king of mill by making it abusable and reusable. I like being political with him and saying I'll let players draw 20 cards once he goes off. Sometimes I keep my word, others I don't; That being said, the -7 can actually be used to kill players who's libraries are getting a bit too thin.
-Jace's Erasure
Although it may not seem like much, it adds 1CPT for mill and works beautifully with any Windfall effect or draw engine you may come across. Left unchecked, it can become a real problem.
-Keening Stone
Pretty self explanatory. It's expensive, but it will kill someone in a matter of just a few turns even from just a few cards in the graveyard.
-Memory Erosion
This card punishes others getting ahead and puts a drawback on ramp, counters, and other simple effects that are normally a 1 for 1 basis. This in an opening hand can cause a lot of havoc if left unchecked for too long.
-Mesmeric Orb
THIS DRAWS SO MUCH HATE, but it is one of my most powerful millers. Untapping lands is pretty common in EDH, and most likely be chunking at least 10% of someone's library an upkeep. The payoff is too good to ignore and I don't mind dumping my cards in my own grave because I'm generally more prepared for that than others.
-Merfolk Mesmerist
While she may not seem to do much, just a few turns out and he can do some serious damage. Being an early drop to be on the defensive is also a very welcome inclusion.
-Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker
A decently priced 2/4 flyer with Mind Funeral on hit. Repeatable, powerful. Exactly what we need.
-Nemesis of Reason
Wrexial's Little Sister. Even without connecting, 10 cards are gone. Good stats for its cost too.
-Phenax, God of Deception
Our god, and I couldn't be happier. Just he and Wrexial out puts him at 5 of 7 devotion, easy to turn on at that point. Once online, just between him and Wrexial that is 15CPT off the tops of libraries. Left unchecked, that can end a game quickly. Phenax goes nuts also if there is Undead Alchemist and Lightning Greaves out, making each zombie able to tap to mill and potentially make more zombies. Oh, and if there is an Alter of Dementia or Altar of the Brood out? Oh man. Don't get me started.
-Psychic Spiral
This is your killshot. Between Dreamborn Muse and Mesmeric Orb at some point you've gotten a good amount of cards in your graveyard, and this can be used to not only reset that but also dump it all on someone else. However, BE CAREFUL of it getting stolen!
-Shriekgeist
A cheap 1/1 flyer for blocking or hits for two cards on hit. It's nothing fancy, but it can get mill going very early.
-Sphinx's Tutelage
Jace's Erasure was already decent, but this doubles that effect and potentially even more. Combined with any Windfall effect or any draw engine really, and this will really churn away. The second ability is expensive at 5U, but it's instant speed and works with itself, making it a nice manadump.
-Sword of Body and Mind
+2/+2, evasion, glimpse the unthinkable on hit, and get a chump blocker. Seems efficient right?
-Szadek, Lord of Secrets
Though pricy, this man gets it done. Even from a full 92 card library (if somehow you pull off a turn 1 via planechase or something), it takes only 5 hits to sufficiently murder someone's library. In addition, with Phenax, God of Deception and Altar of Dementia, you can add insult to injury once more.
-Telemin Performance
This card normally isn't to useful for the creature it actually gets, but it makes a body and will absolutely demolish a deck that doesn't run very many creatures. It's particularly nice against decks that run rampant with fatties, like my very own Sedris, the Traitor King deck, becasue you're normally guaranteed to even the playing field or at least get a solid blocker.
-Tunnel Vision
Hinder, Spell Crumple and Condemn are staples in EDH, so it's funny when you can get to Vision someone's whole deck, but thats not why it's here. What do I look like a combo player? No, it's here because it hits a LOT of cards, and it's almost scary. Normally, the best way I know of to use this is ask a player if they would like to tutor something, if they reply yes, ask them what they would tutor for. Grant them their wish! Tunnel Vision puts the card on top of their library and since they get the card they want, the heat normally won't come sparking your way from that player because you just chunked their library. I've been in situations where I've done it to myself as a tutor because I really needed something as well. It has a lot of things it can do, and it mills a lot of cards.
Pseudo Mill in Depth
-Anvil of Bogarden
This falls in with the Windfalls in that it doesn't mill, but it does get cards ultimately from the deck to the grave. It's parallel, forcing you to do it as well, but in exchange you no longer have a maximum hand size and you get card selection all the same. It's surprising how much a difference losing one more card a turn from your library can matter.
-Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
Exile technically isn't mill, but whatever. He exiles 3 cards a turn and sometimes gets something sweet. If he gets to 10, damn right I'm going to pop him. Identity Crisis on all opponents seems good.
-Dark Deal
See Windfall. This card hand cycles nicely, deals the finishing blow, helps with both Academy Ruins and Volrath's Stronghold, it's an obvious inclusion with it's printing.
Fathom Feeder
This little guy turned out to be a powerhouse. The deathtouch makes him a great blocker as well as a nigh-unblockable swinger. The devoid ensures he can always block pro-color creatures, namely those with swords; The ingest is just nice pseudo mill that adds up, and the activated ability is welcome card draw, even if it is a 3UB dump, which has the added bonus of psuedo milling even more. Quite the house.
-Jace's Archivist
Windfall on a stick. This guy is just as much of a house as Dreamborn Muse at filling yards; Great political tool also.
-Life's Finale
In a weird way, it does mill. Pulling three cards out makes it like a Buried Alive for your opponents. Generally speaking, that's not helpful because I don't have very many cards to nor do I want to reanimate opponents creatures anymore (usually, anyways), but I can dump Eldrazi Titans or other problem creatures in and then Tormod's Crypt or Nihil Spellbomb it with the trigger on the stack, making it more than *just* a board wipe. Quite the tech if I do say so myself.
-Oona, Queen of the Fae
I said it before, this is probably the better commander if you're trying to actually win every time. 6 mana for a 5/5 Flyer isn't bad on its own. add a X(B/U) EXILE MILL TOKEN MAKER ability, and I have one ridiculous card. She is often usable the turn I pull her out also.
-Praetor's Grasp
My favorite Praetor's Grasp target? Praetors Grasp. But normally, its used to Grab Kozzy or Ulamog. Those guys are giant middle fingers in the face of mill. It's best application is to tuck away combo pieces, but if someone's commander is tucked, you can make it gone forever. Talk about mean though.
-Raven Guild Master
Only pseudo for exiling. This guy may be small but packs a wallop. 10 cards on contact is nuts. With Sword of Body and Mind he hits for normally at least 1/4th of their remaining library.
-Sadistic Sacrament
3 mana rip 3 things or 10 for 15. give the middle finger to Mr. Combo and be a bit proactive. Also somewhat combos with Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker, and you can rip up all their lands.
-Sire of Stagnation
Giving your opponents a landfall ability that hurts them and helps you is great. It's a powerhouse draw card and has a great body for Phenax, God of Deception, and strangely enough, even devoid it still gives devotion for said god.
-Whispering Madness
See Windfall above. The Cipher is a nice added bonus.
-Windfall
Wonderful Groans across the table if played turn 3. I burn through my hand quickly, this refills it and sorta mills cards in the process. Ran alongside Whispering Madness for double the fun!
Tutor Package in Depth
-Expedition Map
3 mana, in partial payments, to tutor out any land. Normally what is tutored for early is urborg anyways, its an easy inclusion.
-Demonic Tutor
It's considered the best colored card in EDH for a reason.
-Vampiric Tutor
It fetches a handful of answers or powerful cards, lands, you name it. 2 life is negligable, snapcasts easy and Dralnu loves it. Easily one of the best tutors in the game. #2 in my book, only behind Demonic Tutor.
Making Mill Worth It in Depth.
Animate Dead
This card needs no introduction. It's 2 mana to get a dude from any graveyard. Very affordable, and I don't give any care about the irrelevant -1/-0.
-Beacon of Unrest
Strictly better than Rise from the Grave unless you REALLY want it to be a black zombie or REALLY have trouble with double black. Hits all graves, sees both creatures and artifacts, and shuffles back into deck. Just all around good!
-Codex Shredder
While it aids the mill package as well, lets face it, the regrowth ability is where it's at. Academy Ruins compatible, gets back powerlands and other things. Added bonus of actually milling (which in this deck is actually relevant for once), stops topdeck tutors, Liliana Vess, Sensei's Divining Top, Future Sight, and other things. It does so much for so little!
-Dralnu, Lich Lord
Fun as an alternate commander, but for the love of god, I refuse to play him against a red player. Taking annihilator damage hurts a LOT. That aside, he craps card advantage everywhere so why wouldn't I run him?
-Snapcaster Mage
2 mana flashback tax is cheap as it is, add a 2/1 and you have a legacy staple. Being able to access your grave in a pinch is amazing. Even just flashing back Demonic Tutor is a powerful play. I can't wait to snap a Yawgmoth's Will to end up the game.
-Undead Alchemist
WHY NOT make mill have a side effect? Not only does he prevent milled Eldrazi from doing their business, he gives me zombies which mill more, which ultimately forces a board wipe, which will likely help me more than others, since I'm light on creatures. Way too good. Even if he's spot removed, unless it's right away, I'm left with a bunch of zombies to do real damage with, which is fine with me.
-Visions of Beyond
Hm. I wasn't informed that Ancestral Recall was reprinted. Under most circumstances, I think this card would be good even in a non-mill EDH deck because games tend to run long and graveyards fill decently over time. After 10 turns it's not uncommon to see someone with a >20 yard, and U for 3 cards is incredible. Even if it's not functioning to full potential, its 1cmc INSTANT cantrip that will get you through your deck a bit faster. I found a nice foiled one and I'm happy with its inclusion
-Yawgmoth's Will
I lied, there is one true combo in this deck. It's called 'Yawgmoth's Win'. This card by itself is a combo. This is the 3rd highest rated card on Gatherer for a reason. For something of power-9 power its only 20$. Scoop it up, it is the best card ever printed, period.
Mana Rocks in Depth
-Coalition Relic
Easily one of the best mana rocks in the game. Few rocks are worth paying more than 2 but this is one of those rocks.
VIP of the mana rocks(not that it had much competition). Rushing coffer-urborg is normally how we do things, this makes it all the more busted. If you managed to take a Voltaic Key or something off beacon, things get just silly. This is a primary target for Phyrexian Metamorph also. with 15 mana and 2 cubes, you end with 42 mana. starting with 15, Yawgmoth's Will to 12, 2 to drop cube from grave, 3 to activate, go to 14, metamorph with phyrexian mana to 11, double to 16, not only did I profit 1 mana but now I have 2 cubes!.
-Sol Ring
Duh.
Control Package in Depth
-Cyclonic Rift
The synergy of this card with Windfall and Whispering Madness is ridiculously powerful, and potentially gamewinning. Even on it's own, it's a great tempo card offering spot removal (well, stall since it's bounce but whatevs.) for 2 mana, or a one sided board bounce for 7. It's just overall good!
-Damnation
Duh. Wrath of god is good, and even better in black. Kill everything!
-Nihil Spellbomb
One of the best gravehates you can get really. Its cheap and cantrips itself, what more can you want?. It also helps the Eldrazi issue, blow up their grave with the trigger on the stack. As long as the bomb is out, there is no need to fear for milling.
-Soul Manipulation
I'm forever torn between using this and Perplex, but overall this card has two modes that are both very relevant at instant speed. Doing both just adds insult to injury and can really turn a tide against an otherwise huge problem.
-Tormod's Crypt
It's free, save for card disadvantage, and does everything the spellbomb does only it's Tolaria Westable and doesn't cantrip. Redundancy is your friend.
-Silumgar's Command
The moment I saw this card I recognized it's greatness for this format. It solves virtually any problem and has a very beneficial side effect to boot. These modes will ALWAYS be relevant, and at the worst case scenario, do one then bounce a land.
-Trickbind
This can stop Eldrazi reshuffle triggers, ETBs, fetchlands, powerful tap abilities, cycling decrees, and more. You'll always find something to use this on.
-Wipe Away
Continuing on a small subtheme of bounce+windfall, this is one of the best, even able to hit lands. The split second mechanic has it basically uncounterable and will even remove a pesky Elixir of Immortality without fear of them being able to crack it.
-Whelming Wave
Tailor made tech for Wrexial. By side effect, Nemesis of Reason also sticks around. This can be used to simply slow down opponents, clear the way for Wrexial against an opponent he can't walk on, or use in conjunction with a Windfall effect for a board wipe that sets off next to no triggers. It's like our blue Damnation+1!
The Unfair Advantages in Depth
-Brainstorm
This will smooth out a bad or awkward hand or help tuck cards back on top of the library before a Windfall effect. Pretty cool trick on an already decent card.
-Clever Impersonator
It is what you want it to be, plain and simple. Make more dudes or make more mill engines. The possibilities are endless.
-Lightning Greaves
I find myself wary to play Wrexial without haste, same goes for almost all of my legends with tap abilities. Problem solved, and some protection to boot. See what I did there?
-Phyrexian Metamorph
Mesmeric orb is my favorite target, but its also legend removal and so much more.
Lands
Considering their abundance, we're not going to hit every single one, just the major ones.
-Academy Ruins
Gets back artifacts, has great synergy with Expedition Map if I'm sitting on lots of mana. What's not to love? If I mill out, it offers a glimmer of hope also.
-Ancient Tomb
Originally, I was using Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx in its slot. Oddly enough, this deck is so evenly split between black and blue as far as permanency that getting 4 devotion to profit on either side was proving very difficult. I put Ancient Tomb in it's slot and am happier as it consistently makes one more mana than nykthos made, for a little stab. It can lead to some pretty powerful plays early, like T2 Windfall. It's comparable to Sol Ring, but it takes up a land slot.
-Cabal Coffers
This is my version of mana ramp. I rush this with Urborg to get ahead as fast as possible. My fun is doubled with a Vesuva
-Creeping Tar Pit
This man land is responsible for ending many an EDH game. Although it can be expensive to bring out, when you're low on gas and have an empty board, getting 3 damage in can be a big deal. Provides emergency blocks if need be, and can hold a sword (temporarily) if need be. It ETBs tapped, but for getting that kind of value AND tapping for both colors, it's an autoinclude.
-Deserted Temple
Abuses coffers, and others in a silly extreme. It comes in untapped, so it's fantastic. I'm not a combo player, but if I ever put a Death Wish in, Rings of Brighthearth will be included for infinite mana off these 3 cards.
-Exotic Orchard
a dollar dual land. U and B are common EDH colors, so I always get at least one of the two.Comes in untapped, cant complain.
-Hall of the Bandit Lord
I like setting up for a hastey wrexial,and with Urborg it doesn't hurt to use otherwise.
-Minamo, School at Water's Edge
It comes in untapped, makes colored mana, untaps Wrexial and friends, can be used politically, and abuses Dralnu. What's not to love?
-Petrified Field
Aside from YawgWin, this is my only option for retrieving precious lands from my graveyard. Comes in untapped, and doesn't cost mana to activate. What's not to love in a deck that willingly dumps it's own cards into it's graveyard?
-Strip Mine
Simply the best Land destruction land there is. My group has some money lands like Gaea's Cradle in it, and bouncelands are pretty common so being able to stunt people from getting out of control is good. I also enjoy stripping someone else's strip mine-esque lands to force them to use it before I drop Urborg or Coffers.
-Thespian's Stage
It's disappointing to drop a Vesuva with nothing great to copy. This doesn't have such disappointment.
-Tolaria West
Tutors for Urborg/Coffers, and takes a land slot. whats not to love.
-Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Most important land in deck. Fixes colors, makes Wrexial unblockable,and pumps coffers. All of my love.
-Vesuva
Found myself a FTV foil of it. Copies a land, more specifically Coffers. Whats not to love?
-Volrath's Stronghold
I like Academy Ruins, and this is that for creatures. One of the best utility lands available to UB. Like Academy Ruins, it can prevent myself from milling out also, though it's a last ditch effort.
Piloting
Kozilek & Ulamog
So how do we deal with it? Knowing who has them, first off. I have a consistent playgroup, and know which decks have them, and which don't. Those that do, I lay off and committed mill like Tunnel Vision until the problem is solved. The best answer to them is simply have Tormod's Crypt or Nihil Spellbomb on board. They offer safety nets to anything froggy, but especially eldrazi.
Sadistic Sacrament, kicked or not, is the preferred Eldrazi shredder. I first pick of the 3 or 15 should be Ulamog or Kozilek, or both if they had them, then focus on cards that will be a problem or will end the game. examples include Mikaeus, the Unhallowed/Triskelion, Mind Over Matter, Phyrexian Altar and many more. Just knowing my opponents deck and taking my time looking through their deck makes is worth the effort.
Praetor's Grasp can also pluck an Eldrazi, and if conditions are right I can even use it, I just have to be aware once it dies your efforts on their graveyard are obliterated. I normally use it to grab Demonic Tutor, Sol Ring (still nice at 2BB), or a combo piece of theirs to prevent them from going off.
Other ways to deal with it include:
Tunnel Vision will force it onto their topdeck, and deny them of a useful topdeck next turn if they don't have the mana for it. It is safer in their hand than it is in their deck, unless they have some way to discard it. Giving them a possible opportunity to use an eldrazi titan is less than favorable, especially in the event of a Ulamog blowing something up, but at least we have a few ways to exile him.
Oona, Queen of the Fae
Exiling does not hit graveyards, however being the trolls they are you cant turn them into faeries, still safe mill.
Undead Alchemist
I have no fear of milling if he's out. Any creatures milled turn into zombies and exile themselves. The trigger will go off, but its worth it since I now have a mill-army with no eldrazi to stop me.
Feeding a Grave Deck
[SPOILER]
It works equally as well on heavy control decks. Knowing how many creatures, and how many (relevant) spells each opponent is running will help chose who you should mill the most.
Oona, Queen of the Fae
Once again, exile mill is almost always safe.
Beacon of Unrest, Animate Dead.
Grouped together for all doing similar but different things. Take their things from them plain and simple. They all do it a bit different, and some can be used to recur your own things, but they're all powerful
Bojuka Bog
Why would I use Tormod's Crypt if I can use a land?
If your group has copious amounts of grave shenanagins but you're still crazy enough to try non combo mill make sure you have a Bojuka Bog. That aside, my go-to's would be Nihil Spellbomb, and Tormod's Crypt. Spellbomb is cheap and replaces itself, so even as a 1B bog+draw a card, its still good being used immediately. Withered Wretch is slightly more efficient ability wise, but it's cast is more color demanding. The graverobber is still great surgical grave hate with the potential to become a repeatable, abusable Rise From the Grave on a stick.
Aggro
Combo
UBRSedris, the Necromancer KingUBR
Dealing With an Unfavorable Meta
Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker + Sadistic Sacrament
For whatever reason, I'm normally the second to last person standing at the table when I'm playing Wrexial. This is a finishing combo for late game, shred their lands and deck them with grind. It's less mana intensive to use Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker or Consuming Aberration, but the ability to control Consuming Abberation makes it all the more valuable. You can Sad Sac and just count thier lands if you can. This normally only happens in a YawgWin situation.
Windfall + Cyclonic Rift
One sided Oblivion Stone? Don't mind if I do. Flushes all permanents opponents control into their graveyards while you keep yours. If that's not value I'm not sure what is. AND you get to windfall. Whispering Madness works as well of course. If you ever draw into Cyclonic with Memory Jar it's a no brainer to do it.
Mesmeric Orb + Phyrexian Metamorph or Clever Impersonator
If an orb sticks, the game ends rather quickly. If two orbs stick, everyone gets scared to tap permanents. Three? May as well be a browbeat version of Stasis This is really fun to see chunks of a library go into a graveyard in swoops, and it makes for a quick game. I normally find that in an orb-race situation I'm first to go though. It's just fun to do!
Nemesis of Reason + Wrexial, the Risen Deep
There's a reason Nemesis of Raisins is called Wrexial's little sister. On top of similar flavor, body type, and colors, they work SO good together! Swinging both means you mill 10 before Wrexial's trigger, giving you even more options. That's some kinship right there.
Expedition Map + Academy Ruins
Fishing out Urborg+Coffers early with this is powerful, but it can be used as a bootleg any-land Journeyer's Kite, though the loss of topdeck will catch up to you eventually if you don't have an arena or something. Keeping 2 land hand with map and ruins is doable though. T1 land map, T2 land crack map, T3 land ruins map.
Phenax, God of Deception + Undead Alchemist + Lightning Greaves
Probably the rudest combo in the deck, and can potentially mill a creature heavy deck out on the spot as well as get an army of mill zombies. Add Altar of the Brood or Altar of Dementia for an extra kick.
Phenax, God of Deception + Minamo, School at Water's Edge + A creature
Preferably Szadek, Wrexial, or Consuming Abberation. This can get you an extra untap for a lot of cards on the cheap.
Money Sucks.
Mana Crypt
I wish I had gotten one when they were only 80. They've climbed to about 150 and the judge foil about 200. Ouch.
Murderous Cut
This will replace Rapid Hybridization, but it's damn hard to find.
Pedantic Learning
I'm not sure if I'll continue to use it, but I want to playtest it.
Recall
Impossible to find.
Building On A Budget
Where to start.
It's always awkward collecting what you assume to be the essentials for building a new deck. Here's a short list of what I recommend to get started up for as cheap as possible. Though it may seem like a lot, prioritize that in bold and use what you have currently, then work your way up.
You'll notice this left a lot of the control, goodstuff, mana rocks, and land open. This is what can easily be warped around and keep the deck fairly true to what it is. Experiment around with what you have and what you like. No one list is going to be the best, so I encourage you to branch away from the skeleton I've provided. Tell me what has and hasn't worked for you!
What's Worth Getting First
Assuming you have a dispensable income, you likely can afford to spring for a 7 or 10$ card here or there. Here's my top 7 cards worth springing for first:
Avoiding these should keep the cost of the deck under 300ish dollars
What to Avoid Until You're Ready to Invest.
And lastly
Cards That Didn't Pull Thier Weight
Multi
Baleful Strix
This card does an absurd amount of things for two mana. However, it's off flavor and I have better options for it's slot.
Circu, Dimir Lobotomist
Adorable for standard/legacy, but in EDH it hardly does more than mill a top card from the game per spell you cast, maybe two. It was cute to mill a sol ring and lock everyone else out of one, but it is nothing incredible. Was cut in favor of Nemesis of Reason
Dimir Doppelganger
He's good, but mana intensive. In a more creature heavy, battlecruiser-esque meta, he'd be better.
Lim-Dûl's Vault
First and foremost, I hate autocarding it, so this'll be hopefully the last time i'll have to. Secondly, it's an amazing card, but when slots are limited, other tutors are better. I did like that it stacked my deck in addition to finding what I needed, but in situations with Mesmeric Orb, unless I have a way to draw the rest, I know what I'm going to be losing, and that's sometimes dissapointed. If they just go in and I don't know it's going to happen, it's not as heartbreaking.
Mind Funeral
Like Mind grind, it hits a lot of cards. Unlike mind grind, it only hit's one person, so I can't really use it. The only single-target dedicated mill card that has made the cut is Tunnel Vision.
Mindleech Mass
Dumb fun to use, but 8mana was proving to be a bit out of curve so it was removed. Has a permanent slot in my Sedris deck however!
Perplex
Great flavor, interesting effect, and transmute to boot. I eventually got to the point where the counter was becoming less relevant and my tutor targets depleted from it's once abundant stature. Interesting, but not idea.
Phenax, God of Deception
He really needs to be built around to shine his brightest. I tried him, and it just wasn't cutting it.
Soul Manipulation
Essence Scatter+Disentomb. A decent two-for-one, but I came to reason that my light-creature deck didn't benfit from it as often as it should, and its a dissapointing counter early game.
Black
Bloodchief Ascension
Makes all the sense in the world why I'd run it right? Well I did for a very long time but in my meta its now a dead draw. They'll let it sit on the table until it's at 2 counters, but once it even threatens to go to 3 it'll be destroyed. It's slow, it's easily broadcast when it's going to happen unless I pull some sly moves, and if I need all that setup to make a card work, it's not worth keeping in the deck.
Black Sun's Zenith
I used this when tokens ran rampant in my playgroup, and we had a steady Ghave, Guru of the Spores. It shuffles back in and the -x/-x is permenant. Solid, but this deck doesn't need that many board wipes due to Wrexial making them easy. It is very solid and should be ran if boards tend to get out of control often.
Decree of Pain
Strait up too expensive to do what I want with it.
Diabolic Tutor
There are better, but this is still solid. I used it for a long time but my budget has trancended the need for it.
Exsanguinate/Psychic Drain
The former card sees a LOT of play in EDH. Even with 5BB you're gaining upwards of 15 life. Still, killing isn't the goal, its milling, so Mind Grind was favored. If you have problems living to late game, Psychic Drain, or Exsanguinate is the better choice.
Extractor Demon
A beatstick that in certain situations will shut down infinite combos if they involve sac, will mill a lot of cards in the event of a board wipe, and has unearth. It's decent, but too situational for the consistency needed.
Kagemaro, First to Suffer
If you're a bit more draw heavy, give him a whirl, he's awesome. I just found that in my version I normally am not sitting on more than a couple cards, so his active isn't big enough to kill the table when I need it to be.
Insidious Dreams
An abusable card with windfalls and jars everywhere, but quite simply, falls flat in a non-combo deck. It often draws more hate than it's worth.
Leyline of the Void
This is probably going to come up more than once, but I've tried running it and the result was incredibly dissapointing. Dropped late game it was solid, but early it ruins the whole strategy. Many of your cards are dead without graveyards to abuse, and all it does is draw hate across the table. It even shuts down the one semi-combo in the deck (Bloodchief Ascension and Mindcrank). It is a great card, but very unsynergistic with the deck, and as a result was taken out.
Liliana Vess
Strait up, she's too slow. I've never seen her ult go off either.
Lord of the Voild
Eats libraries for breakfast and gets dudes. What's not to love? the 7CMC. In a deck that turns into a punching bag the curve can't afford it.
Sepulchral Primordial
Should be a shoe-in right? Not quite. Realise, with this primordial in specific, he's literally the only reanimation target if you're not digging from you own. Clone effects get out of hand, flickers, it's just a headache and you're going to regret playing it in the end.
Shadowborn Demon
In a more creature heavy deck, he'd be awesome but his condition is a bit hard to do. At 5CMC for my list, Kagemaro was better.
Shred Memory
2CMC tutor or grave hate was decent, but its primary intention was to respond to Kozilek or Ulamogs grave trigger, meaning it sat in my hand doing nothing, and I didn't want to use it to tutor because I wouldnt have it when I needed it, so it was dropped in favor of Long-Term Plans
Sorin Markov
Too mean. Even though I primarily use him for his +2 and -7, just having a -3 scares everyone. Sad too, I've had a foil one sitting in my binder for a while.
Artifacts
Altar of Dementia
2CMC drop that gaurentees if anything dies on your side, mill is happening. It went nice with Kagemaro, First to Suffer and Mortivore when they were used in the deck, but after they were cut it is deemed no longer efficient enough to run.
Fireshrieker
I still want to find room for this in the deck. Wrexial-ing twice is sexy as hell, or even moreso with Szadek, Lord of Secrets. It's nuts in the right scenario, but right now I haven't enough to take full advantage of it. Maybe when Gatecrash hits?
Helm of Obedience
The removal of Leyline of the Void revealed this as a combopiece, despite me trying to convince myself otherwise. it is too expensive for what it does, and won't take a Kozzy or Ulamog, so it was cut, and sold.
Keening Stone
Single target, it's simply not powerful enough. Phenax, God of Deception + Consuming Aberration can fill the void if you feel it's too clunky, but even then it being a 2 card killer instead of 1 takes a bit of the bad taste out of my mouth as well.
Mindcrank
Without Bloodchief Ascension it really doesn't do much. I'd rather mill someone out than kill them and have cards flip. I don't want a reason to attack like this...
Nevinyrral's Disk
I'm still not sure how to pronounce that. Nev-in-yuh-rals? No idea. That aside, comes in tapped so O-stone would be better in my opinion. I just don't need it.
Oblivion Stone
I love O-stone, but i Reserve it for decks that can't deal with artifacts or more importantly enchantments first. What? I'm running UB so I can't deal with them either? Please, talk to my homie Wrexial.
Solemn Simulacrum
Some people love him so much he's in every deck. I just don't see it necessary for this deck. If I were to run ramp, it'd probably artifact ramp over him. I run no ways to abuse him either.
Trepanation Blade
Very hit or miss. Could give +1/0, could give +8/0. Its solid but there isn't enough creatures to abuse it with, and gives no evasion like Sword of Body and Mind. Its a nice pick, but not nice enough.
Blue
Acquire
Normally pretty dissapointed with it. Grabbing Sol Ring is cool and all, but paying 5 to get a sol ring? I know it's still good but cmon now. If there were some real power artifacts, then we'd talk.
Body Double
I love him, but 5CMC is iffy on the curve. I'd rather just take someone's things for less and not risk the chance of them getting it before I do.
Boomerang
Still one of my favorite cards ever. Bouncing lands turn 2, ESPECIALLY if its a bounce land is worth it to me, but this is primarily a black deck so turn to UU was a bit of a stretch. I later discovered Recoil and was content with a turn 3.
Brainstorm
I'm pretty sure Lim-Dûl's Vault is better. I don't really need that much topdeck control when everything I draw is quality in the first place.
Evacuation
Every blue deck just about should run it, and with my creature light build its perfect, but I've told you many times how I feel about running a ton of board clears in this deck. Still, it may find it's way back in.
Fatestitcher
Abuse the **** out of a Necrotic Ooze, Archanis, Dimir Aqueduct, Doubling Cube, and more? Hell yes. Unearth!? **** yea! Fits theme of deck? NOOOPE.
Intuition
It's an amazing card, but unless you're benefiting from the other two cards actually being in the grave, you're just doing work-arounds to make a blue tutor work. We have black, so we've no need for games.
Jace's Archivist
Windfall on a stick. I WANT him in the deck, but don't know what to cut. Help.
Long-Term Plans
An awesome 3CMC tutor, but kinda wonky. It's awkward to use with Mesmeric Orb and Dreamborn Muse but still works. I might find room for it again one day.
Minds Aglow
Like Trade Secrets, people are greedy and like drawing cards. Not only can it be used to make the whole table, including yourself draw a lot of cards at little to no expense of your own, you can fake people into tapping out, even blue players!. Still, for the same reasons as Howling Mine and Font of the Mythos, it gives your opponents too much draw advantage, and was cut, just like Trade secrets
Mystical Tutor
Too restrictive when Instants and sorceries are normally the last-tutored-for card types. In addition to being awkward with Mesmeric Orb and friends, it's just better to stick to just the Vamp tutor.
Pact of Negation
another issue of not knowing what to cut. It'd be the only counterspell in deck but well worth running.
Spell Crumple + Hinder
Hinder in this deck I believe is strictly better, since you can place it on top if you wish, then mill it off. Both were removed due to the obvious combo with Tunnel Vision, and it's not fun to remove someone's commander from the game for a long time. Spin Into Myth is bad enough.
Rewind
A staple counter, but 4CMC for a counter is ugly to me, I try and stay as close to 2 or below as I can. Normally after I counter once my leftover mana is moot, so its unneccesary.
Riddlekeeper
Propaganda-mill is decent, and he is a 3CMC blocker, but its nothing fantastic unless a stormherd is on field.
Rite of Replication
Too expensive and too easy to disrupt. With no Boseiju or counter support, it's too risky.
Spelltwine
I used it before to cast my own spells more than others, often either my grave or opponents lacked something and I only wanted one spell, so it was cut to save my mana curve. Yawgmoth's Will gets the job done plenty. I do miss some of the shenanagins I could pull off with it though, but Blatant Thievery replaced it, which is undoubtedly better. I may find room for it again in the future.
Time Stop
This card is retardedly fun as the user, complete ass as the recipient. I may put it back in, as it does stop eldrazi triggers, but I'm not sure. it draws hate from one person for the rest of the game normally, but the sillyness that follows is always worth it. If I can find a cut for it, then it's going back in.
Time Stretch
Busted as hell. Generally this card alone shuold win you the game. As great as it is, it doesn't promote a fun enviornment, and was removed as a result.
Traumatize
A STAPLE they yell at me. you HAVE to run it they tell me. Stop. Now. This card DOES hit a ton of cards, but thats ALL it does for 5 mana. Your big play is flipping half of an opponents library over, MAYBE. But you've got like 4 libraries to crush, it's not going to get you there, and if it does you RFG'd one player who is now bored. Talk about anti-fun. Mill cards NEED to hit all opponents or do something rediculous like Tunnel Vision or Telemin Performance.
UBRSedris, the Necromancer KingUBR
11/29/2915
This is the largest update I'll be doing for quite a while. I've reworked a lot of what the deck is supposed to do and overall tried to up the creature count, permanency, and consistency of milling. I have taken out a handful of staples that I'm sure will bring controversy, but I think overall Wrexial has been stronger than ever.
Removed Cards
-Mind Grind
Although this card is excellent for finishing up games, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth the same as Exsanguinate does. Feel free to run it, but I don't personally like it.
-Body Double
Slightly too bulky on the curve, and more often I want my own things instead of others, so Clever Impersonator was just better.
-Dark Confidant
It would be nice to still have, but it doesn't help me mill at all and it's just a lump of money that I could redistribute elsewhere. I really want to hammer in mill consistency and this was one of the first to make the cut.
-Phantasmal Image
Although a two mana clone is always nice, consistency is the key. And opening with a hand of four clones and nothing to clone isn't helping to mill. I'm sad to see it go but it's for the greater good.
-Necrotic Ooze
Forever on the fence, forever unsure about it.
-Geth, Lord of the Vault
Too many times Geth has sat in my hand and not been able to be of too much use. Too many times I've cast him and then really had just better things to do. Unlike Oona, Queen of the Fae, his ability requires specific mana and targets to do his job, and then more times than not anything I take really isn't helping so the mana would have been better used elsewhere. It's been fun Geth but your time has come.
-6 Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni
This is great at taking other people things, but I'm really trying to home in on milling people as a wincon, not as an avenue to beat the curve. Sorry Inky!
-Curse of the Swine
Pigify will be missed as well, but normally it doesn't help the field too much. 2/2s are still just as much a problem. If this were an instant, it would make the cut undoubtedly but until then I'm going to favor catch-all bounce cards.
-Toxic Deluge
A great card and a great boardwipe, but hurts quite a bit. I've decided to use Whelming Wave instead, as it gaurentees Wrexial, the Risen Deep and Nemesis of Reason to stay, and there is a good chance I can cast a few smaller creatures back out before Windfalling the rest away before my opponents can use it.
-Consuming Vapors
A great card but again I'm trying to move to more mill, and what control I do have I want to be at instant speed to increase the reactivity of the deck.
-Bribery
The same issue I had with Geth. Rarely is this helping me mill, making it just another goodstuff card that isn't helping the cause. I will miss it being a Naturalize by grabbing Acidic Slime though.
-Vamipiric Tutor
Often I can't use it as a true instant because I may mill the top card of my library on my upkeep, making this only work if I'm paying the mana that turn, then stunting my draw and losing two life. Now that may not seem too bad, but I sat down and looked at it and I really won't need that many tutors with a higher consistency of mill cards and draw, so this is getting the axe along with Mystical Tutor.
-Mystical Tutor
See Vampiric Tutor Above
-Rapid Hybridization
I've toyed around with this and Murderous Cut but ultimately I'm never happy with it. The real problems lie with indestructible creatures or creatures with shroud/hexproof and this aid's neither. In addition, the 3/3 is often worse for them to have than whatever they already had.
-Shadow of Doubt
I've really been trying to find more ways to hate on ramp and I had tried this card out for it but it's not enough. It may see play later in the future but for now it's going to rest.
-Shred Memory
Even with it's transmute being stronger than ever, I find that it's still awkward in that I'm never sure to use it as a tutor or to try and hold it if I need it. Ultimately, it was cut in favor of just more mill.
-Fact or Fiction
Once an obvious inclusion has been made obsolete in that I'm not using my own graveyard quite as heavily as before.
-Memory Plunder
Originally there for redundency on my commander's ability, it is awkward to cast still and often doesn't help the current situation. It's primary use was to get a Naturalize effect or a board wipe, but often i can get wrexial out with haste and solve the problem that way. I may eventually remove Silumgar's Command in favor of this, but not today.
-Copy Artifact
Still good at a 2CMC Sculpting Steel even if it does make a wonky enchantment-artifact, but I want to have more diversity in the types of mill rather than just cloning the one powerhouse over and over. I still have Clever Impersonator and Phyrexian Metamorph, so I still can should the need arise.
-Phyrexian Arena
Although a staple, there are better less painful ways to get card draw. With the inclusions of Fathom Feeder, Sire of Stagnation, Brainstorm and others, I don't see the need for this kind of card any longer.
-Doubling Cube
Although it served as one of my only ways to achieve big mana, it's slow, clunky, and has no place in the much faster version of the deck I have now. I'm going for consistency rather than explosiveness, and this card is about as explosive as you're going to get.
-Crucible of Worlds
Another staple getting the boot. Don't get me wrong, it's an excellent card, but there aren't a whole lot of situations it works in unless I'm already winning. The only three cards that really make myself mill is Mesmeric Orb, Dreamborn Muse, and Anvil of Bogarden, so the usefulness of the crucible is limited as it is. I still have Petrified Field in a pinch, and I may consider Grim Discovery if I find I need more recursion.
-Sword of Body and Mind
This may return one day, but overall it just wasn't doing enough to justify it's spot. Often the most it did was serve as a lightning rod for removal, as most staples do.
-Crumbling Sanctuary
This was removed a while ago, predating most of these changes, for the express reason that I often got myself killed because a lot more of my mill was parallel across the board. Now, that isn't as much the case and I'm waiting to see to what extent I get the advantage before putting this back in. We may see it return in the near future, stay tuned!
-Gilded Lotus
A great rock but nothing more. I've found that having more consistency and land dropping ever turn has helped more than getting ahead. There is a lot of hate on artifacts in my meta as well, so I'd perfer not to rely on artifacts for mana.
Additions
+Psychic Spiral
The much ignored killshot. I've been stringent for a long time to not run any "Failsafes" for flavor reasons, but if there was one way to save my graveyard this is is. Late game, this wraps it up and knocks out remaining players and cements your position on the board. Just be careful of it getting stolen!
+Clever Impersonator
This was pretty much a strict upgrade to Body Double and still achieved the usefulness of it and Copy Artifact combined. An obvious incluion.
+Merfolk Mesmerist
Initially I had thought about using the 4 drop version of this from the innistrad block, but hten I found this and it is perfect. It's a cheap blocking body at two mana and has a cheap and repeatable ability to do at instant speed. I often find myself with just one or two man left over, so it was an easy inclusion.
+Brain Freeze
My roommate convinced me to put this in and I've been loving it since. It punishes a player for a big explosive turn or just wraps up a Yawgmoth's Will beautifully.
+Telemin Performance
This card normally isn't to useful for the creature it actually gets, but it makes a body and will absolutely demolish a deck that doesn't run very many creatures. It's particularly nice against decks that run rampant with fatties, like my very own Sedris, the Traitor King deck, becasue you're normally guaranteed to even the playing field or at least get a solid blocker.
+Wipe Away
Continuing on a small subtheme of bounce+windfall, this is one of the best, even able to hit lands. The split second mechanic has it basically uncounterable and will even remove a pesky Elixir of Immortalitywithout fear of them being able to crack it.
+Altar of the Brood
Really I should have been runing this since release. I don't have any wacky combos with it, but Undead Alchemist and Oona, Queen of the Fae both tear it up with this.
+Memory Erosion
I had this card in the deck in the past, but never realized just how powerful that effect is. If another player is getting ahead, this hard punishes them for it. Even moreover, it adds drawbacks to cheap simple effects such as ramping that otherwise go unchecked. Quite a powerhouse and I'm glad to have it back
+Chronic Flooding
This card I wasn't too sure about at first, but three cards a turn does get hefty and I've found that most people will just choose to not use the land, making it just as good as a Sinkhole, which is just as fine. Getting this on an important land, such as a bounceland or filterland forces them to mill for just using mana, which is better than one would expect.
+Sphinx's Tutelage
This card is bonkers. Jace's Erasure was already decent but this doubles that and more. Combined with any Windfall effect you can easily chunk someones library for fifteen cards or upwards.
+Sire of Stagnation
Hurts them, helps you, punishes ramp, and has a good body for Phenax, while interestingly still giving devotion.
+Life's Finale
In a weird way, it does mill. Pulling three cards out makes it like a Buried Alive for your opponents. Generally speaking, that's not helpful because I don't have very many cards to nor do I want to reanimate opponents creatures anymore (usually, anyways), but I can dump Eldrazi Titans or other problem creatures in and then Tormod's Crypt or Nihil Spellbomb it with the trigger on the stack, making it more than *just* a board wipe. Quite the tech if I do say so myself.
+Anvil of Bogarden
This falls in with the Windfalls in that it doesn't mill, but it does get cards ultimately from the deck to the grave. It's parallel, forcing you to do it as well, but in exchange you no longer have a maximum hand size and you get card selection all the same. It's surprising how much a difference losing one more card a turn from your library can matter. Consistency is the goal here, and CPT (Cards per turn) matters!
+Crosstown Courier
This little guy may not appear much, but it's a 2/1 for two that has a Mindcrank built in, well at least for combat damage. I don't have many ways to pump him but he holds Sword of Body and Mind like a champion and offers early blocks if he cant swing in.
+Keening Stone
I need to stop whatever it is I'm smokin because this card should never leave this deck. Apologies for my temporary insanities.
+Altar of Dementia
I had toyed with this in the past but ultimately didn't have the creature concentration to make it worth it. Now that I have more creatures and a bit higher power curve, it is once again welcomed. It is a bummer that it says Power rather than Toughness, but it's still good to have in the event creatures are going to the grave anyways.
+Jace's Erasure
It's back, and better than ever with more card draw and windfalls. Getting this out with Sphinx's Tutelage at the same time can really lay the hate down on one individual or spread the love to the whole table.
+Whelming Wave
A card I've wanted to include for quite a long time. Tailor made for Wrexial himself, and by side effect Nemesis of Reason sticks around too. With as many Windfall effects as I have, this can easily be made permanent if need be, but will always open the path for Wrexial against a non U non B player.
+Fathom Feeder
This little guy turned out to be a powerhouse. The deathtouch makes him a great blocker as well as a nigh-unblockable swinger. The devoid ensures he can always block pro-color creatures, namely those with swords; The ingest is just nice pseudo mill that adds up, and the activated ability is welcome card draw, even if it is a 3UB dump, which has the added bonus of psuedo milling even more. Quite the house.
+Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker
A decently priced 2/4 flyer with Mind Funeral on hit. Repeatable, powerful. Exactly what we need.This really should have been in since it's release in Gatecrash.
+Soul Manipulation
I'm forever torn between using this and Perplex, but overall this card has two modes that are both very relevant at instant speed. Doing both just adds insult to injury and can really turn a tide against an otherwise huge problem.
+Shriekgiest
2 mana, 1/1, flies, mills cards. It's aggresive and offers one more flyer to the deck which is much needed. Often I just get pummeled in by fliers, but this will block at least one, even late game.
+Brainstorm
I'm not a huge fan of brainstorm as a whole, but in this deck it gets work done. It can be used to smooth out an awkward hand or more importantly hide two cards back on top of my libary in the event of a Windfall effect.
+Phenax, God of Deception
With more creatures and permanents comes our god back. I never realized just how easily he turns online, needing only two devotion plus himself and Wrexial. Once online, just between Phenax and Wrexial that is 15CPT, something that if left unanswered will quickly finish a game up.
+Szadek, Lord of Secrets
Though pricy, this man gets it done. Even from a full 92 card library (if somehow you pull off a turn 1 via planechase or something), it takes only 5 hits to sufficiently murder someone's library. In addition, with Phenax, God of Deception and Altar of Dementia, you can add insult to injury once more.
UBRSedris, the Necromancer KingUBR
+Echo Mage
+Sygg, River Cutthroat
-Midshrieker
-Memory Erosion
UBRSedris, the Necromancer KingUBR
There's also the new Windfall : Whispering Madness, which should work quite well on Wrexial.
Retired EDH - Tibor and Lumia | [PR]Nemata |Ramirez dePietro | [C]Edric | Riku | Jenara | Lazav | Heliod | Daxos | Roon | Kozilek
Whispering Madness Will definitely be going into the deck, not as replacement to windfall but as a secondary one. I'm not sure how many times i'd actual cipher it, but even on its own it is worth running. It screws people's hands up bad and using it hellbent is sweet. It is awesome to draw like 20 cards off of Decree of Pain then force everyone to draw that many.
I do find myself nearly making myself mill out though, but. I like this risk because the bigger my graveyard gets the stronger my deck works. Yawgmoth's Will with a lot of lands and coffers, along with a doubling cube or two (with metamorph) makes for spewing your whole graveyard on the field great.
UBRSedris, the Necromancer KingUBR
Sylized Changelog, removed Gatecrash Acknowlegement as cards from Gatecrash have been added. Added (foil) tag to cards in my deck that are foil, as foiling out the deck is a side project of mine.
Card Changes
RemovedBrain Freeze for Consuming Aberration
Strictly an upgrade in my eyes. A body, more powerful mill for my spells, I just cant use it during other people's turns but it is most often me who gets the storm count really high with Yawgmoth's Will anyways. Very powerful, and a very big creature.
Removed Trade Secrets for Whispering Madness
While it may not mill out as much of an opponents library, or net quite as much draw advantage, it is more disruptive and interactive, and doesn't let a person simply draw out their deck and combo next turn. Though I don't forsee the Cipher being used much unless I flash it back with Yawgmoth's Will or Dralnu, Lich Lord (At which point you may as well put it on a dude, its on its way to exile anyways), but it has its uses if i'm in a position to do so. Cipher doesn't target, so I can even put it on a shrouded target. Seems nice.
Removed Talisman of Dominance For Dimir Keyrune
A great synergy with Cipher, even if I only have 1 in the deck at the moment. the ability to make a dude for blocking or attacking is too good to pass over, and there is a ton of flavor on it, so how could I not run it! I'm also no longer hurting myself, not that I ever minded.
Removed Echo Mage for Duskmantle Guildmage
The Echo Mage, despite how good it looks on paper takes 7 mana to start copying spells, or a ghastly 11 mana to start tripling spells. The deck produces a lot of mana, don't get me wrong but thats too much. The guildmage allows me to turn mill into damage, or manadump for 2 cards if I've nothing better to do. It's synergy to kill one player with Mind Crank is also worth it. Abilities aside, a 2/2 for 2cmc alone is solid.
Removed Vile Consumption for Grisly Spectacle
Vile Consumption is one of my favorite enchantments in the game, but is hardly synergistic to the theme of the deck, and normally if it is really worth keeping they will pay the 1 life and I've achieved nothing. I've enough answers to token that this simply isn't cutting the cheese. Grisly spectacle is decently (not great, but decently) priced 2-for-1 effect of killing just about anything, and milling on average 5 cards, which is SOMETHING. With Sygg being removed also (below), it is definately no longer worth running.
Removed [/CARD]Negate[/CARD] for Dinrova Horror
I'm almost never happy drawing counterspells, because with Doubling Cube I almost always tap out on my turn unless I've got something nice. My counterspells are more of an effort to protection, rather than disruption. I have answers to most things after they hit the board. Dinrova Horror is such an answer, with a body on it to boot. It's a bit expensive, but when you compare it to Recoil, 3CMC for a dude on top of it isn't bad at all. I wish it had flying, but you can only ask for so much.
Removed [/CARD]Psychic Drain[/CARD] for Shared Trauma
This update added 2 Creatures, which means more blocking at least, so I'm not as concerned about the gaining of life, and for the most part it was underwhelming anyways. My mana into an X spell with Shared Trauma goes a lot farther as it hits every player, even if it is including myself. This and Bloodchief Ascension or my new Duskmantle Guildmage could easily kill the table on that synergy alone!.
Removed Countersquall for Animate Dead
Again, this deck is not designed to be a control deck, and almost all of its control aspects is a desperate attempt to keep living long enough to deck someone out, which takes time. Aggro and combo is rampant in my playgroup. Countersquall doesn't hit creatures, and even if it did one creature wont save me, and combo I have Sadistic Sacrament and cards like Windfall to disrupt those. I added Shared Trauma and two more creatures to the deck than before, meaning I'm going to be milling myself slightly more than before (Mesmeric Orb is normally the biggest culprit, followed by [/CARD]Dreamborn Muse[/CARD].), so I can justify a bit more recursion as to where before I couldn't. Animate Dead is still likely the second best recursion spell behind Reanimate, which is already auto-included as I'm playing black. Makes for more efficient Yawgmoth's Will blowouts, and provides creatures to beat or block with. Whats not to love? I will keep Dissapate in the deck, leaving at least one way to interact with big bombs like Rite of Replication or [/CARD]Exsanguinate[/CARD], but three seemed to be trying a bit too hard.
Removed Sygg, River Cutthroat for Blatent Thievery
Jesus bananas. Sygg, you're a good man at 2CMC but clear the hell aside for Blatent thievery. The name, flavor, and power behind this card is just astonishing. I thought it said take target creature at first but no, its mother****ing PERMANENT. So, take 2 good things and 2 mana rocks or bouncelands? the mana producers that you can take alone make it worth running this card. 7CMC is a bit of an investment, but the payoff is certainly worth it. and it is not an enchantment like Volition Reigns or cards similar to it, so there is zero fragility to this. The only way it could be better is if it didn't target, at which point it'd be broken as **** and too expensive to justify owning.
Life loss hasn't been quite as big of an issue, and I've come to the conclusion if I focus an Aggro player down the amount of disruption insued is normally enough to shut them down or at least turn them elsewhere. Less controling, more milling power.
UBRSedris, the Necromancer KingUBR
More gatecrash things! I also took the liberty of changing the entire post to first person from third person, because it made no sense for it to seem like someone else was playing my deck! Restylized it a bit more also. 23% Foiled now!
[B]Card Changes[/B]:
[B]Removed Secluded Glen for Vesuva
I honestly am not sure why I had secluded glen in the first place, when Oona was the only faerie in the first place. Vesuva copies Cabal coffers, which is fantastic, or some other great land in play. Comes in tapped but you can only ask for so much.
[B]Removed Grisly Spectacle for Death's Approach.
Snagged a foil of it at my FNM draft. CMC wise and usefulness wise it's all around better, and is shiny. Even if it won't kill the creature it will weaken it. 4 mana for removal is honestly too much for EDH, and more times than not I had wished it was cheaper.
[B]Removed Szadek, Lord of Secrets for Diluvian Primordial[/B]
Sadly, it was only a matter of time before Szadek was replaced. The fact I have to hit players with him to get him going and the initial cost is so much for so little, it is often disappointing to draw him. Diluvian Primordial I doubt will ever receive be dissapointing to topdeck, and after it's done its duty will be a 5/5 blocker or beater. I'm sure this will contribute to blowout Yawgmoth's Will turns heavily. I told you YawgWin was its own combo XD.
[B]Removed Dissipate for Necropotence
Yeah, it was only a matter of time before I broke down and got one. This is still one of the most busted cards in magic, and if we're not doing combo, we're going to use the best cards in the game to our advantage. Dissipate was my only counterspell, which is hardly worth running if its the only one. 90% of the time I don't have it when I need it, and when I do I never need it. Memory Plunder still acts as a counter in most situations, and I don't often need to worry about someone comboing out considering how proactive the deck is. I have the FTV:Exiled copy of Necropotence also, which aids in my foiling of the deck also.
UBRSedris, the Necromancer KingUBR
At the moment, I'm wondering if you've used Ambassador Laquatus in the past, or what your opinion of him is? He seems like a nice butt early on with a reasonably useful ability, but I worry he might be too slow.
Thanks for taking the time to read it! I've always seen mill as a viable strategy in EDH, but gatecrash blew the coffin lid off. I suspect soon we'll see a lot more mill decks that run similar to this one, but probably splash a few combos. Handling Eldrazi is a real pain though.
Like Oona, he has a powerful effect but only if you have an incredible amount of mana or infinite. If you're using some combos, he's a decent addition but for my deck I'm trying to steer away from combo, and he makes it a bit easy. I was wary to include Oona, but she is far too powerful to just ignore. If you're wanting early mill power and a blocker, Dreamborn Muse or even Jace's Archivist Will get the job done faster.
If you want a similar effect for cheap, Mindshrieker is a 2ManaMill1 1/1 flyer for 2CMC which gets bigger temporarily the more you mill, and it's instant speed. Not quite as efficient, but due to it being able to chunk faces pretty early on, or provide a flying body to block with (combat tricks if you pump it) is very nice for what it costs. I opted against it for Baleful Strix, but Mindshrieker better fits the theme, and is MUCH more budget (Strix is like 16$ or something dumb. I got 2 in my Planechase ninjas deck).
I need to get a Lazav for my deck...
UBRSedris, the Necromancer KingUBR
Lazav seems like a house, and he provides yet another answer to the Eldrazi problem. Sure, they're back in the library, but now you have one first...
My play of the day:
next turn I drew 3 and Whispering Madnessed, then played two other spells milling each opponent until they hit 3 lands, and RFG'd someone with a 30/30+ Aberration. I was focused the next turn and died, but jesus it was fun xD.
I've a lot of things to change in the deck with a few more gatecrash things. The Baleful Strix is still very on the fence for me. I have a feeling it'll come out for Duskmantle Seer once I attain one.
UBRSedris, the Necromancer KingUBR
More Gatecrash updates, I've been putting most of my $ efforts into getting my UB Aggro/Mill standard deck to be at least presentable but I traded a few things away from other decks to try and get ahead, and pulling an Aurelia's Fury helped my cause.
Card Changes
Removed Baleful Strix for Lazav, Dimir Mastermind
The bird is good, there is no question, but again it was unfitting in the overall theme of the deck. Lazav is a shoe in, and he's only a little more expensive. The bird I can use for trade fodder or a different deck. It seems like a logical change.
Removed Shared Trauma for Mind Grind
I'm partial to Shared Trauma because it mills myself also, which often helps, but in terms of sheer power Mind Grind cannot be ignored. It is incredibly powerful and getting even just 25 mana is probably enough to end the game, which with coffers or doubling cube isn't hard at all. Very powerful.
Removed Avatar of Woe for Sepulchral Primordial
This is just obvious. Avatar often gets killed before I can use it, and the Primordial is a 4+ for 1 spell, which if removed only allows for more abuse. Ridiculous potential and power in EDH.
Removed Dimir Keyrune for Talisman of Dominance
Turn 1 land-sol ring-talisman made me smile too much and I began to miss it. 2 mana to get 1 ahead is better than 3 for 1. I don't run enough cipher to make the key worth it, and overall I think it offers more power to the deck. I can also use the key in my standard deck, which is nice.
Overall, in the past two changes, my mana curve on average has jumped up a bit. So far this hasn't proven to be a problem, but I do recognize it. I'll assess the situation in future games and act accordingly. I may need to drop a few late game bombs to try and get my mana back in order, but I feel that the bombs I drop are game changing enough that it is worth it even if that is the only spell I play for the turn.
Cards I'm considering cutting are:
Jace, Memory Adept
(draws focus quickly and there are better card advantage or mill spells I could be using)
Lord of the Void
(as much as I love him, unless he was cast with Hall of the Bandit Lord or I have Lightning Greaves at the ready, there is a pretty good chance of spot removal or a board wipe before it swings around again. Good, but I could probably do better)
Dinrova Horror
(I adore him, but at 6CMC there are better things I could be using. Whatever it is, I want for it to be able to remove just about anything, as he is consistently a problem solver for me. Fireshrieker is also considered, as it allows for 2x triggers on any on hit effects. I'll think about it)
I'd like to see a bit more draw power go into the deck, like Fact or Fiction or one of my favorites, Moonlight Bargain. Both of these give me options between what to put in my hand or what to put in my grave, which both have great advantages. I don't foresee myself taking advantage of the instant speed on it much, but burning through my hand is becoming more and more of a natural occurrence with all the mana I generate.
UBRSedris, the Necromancer KingUBR
So, I enjoyed what you did here, as I've built a Lazav mill/reanimator-type deck recenly, but I came to post to ask you if have tested Withered Wretch at all? The mana sink seems great within the game plans you've laid out already. I wouldn't be surprised to see why you might have excluded it from your list, though- Wretch is pretty terrible early game, unless you're facing a reanimator player, but I find getting a few activations out of him is pretty clutch, especially in environments where players are recurring more than just creatures onto the battlefield-- like enchantments using Replenish/Open the Vaults, artifacts using Goblin Welder, and spells using Archaeomancer/Mnemonic Wall/Izzet Chronarch/Mystic Retrieval, etc. My meta contains a decent amount of decks that do so on occasion (or even on the regular), so I find relying on gy-hate that focuses on creatures in the gy, like Undead Alchemist and Dimir Doppelganger, doesn't do enough- they need to supplemented with something else. I'm not sure if Relic isn't just much better at the job. I get overwhelmed a bit when I have too many decisions with Wretch out- Relic just says bye to everyone's gy, with the added detriment to all your gy-based trickery (your general, recursion and spellcasting from other players' graveyards).
One other thing, how worth it is Doubling Cube in a two-color deck? I used to play it a ton in mono-black EDH decks years ago, but I found it less than stellar when I attempted to play it in 2-3 color decks awhile ago. I run less tutors than you (just Demonic, Vampiric, Liliana Vess) in my Lazav EDH deck, and generally play in a color-balanced playgroup, so I'm never short of enough games against white / green decks with artifact removal where it'd last long if I'm making 40+ mana every turn with it.
I recently discovered that adding a Thespian's Stage made Cabal Coffers (although Geth never living and a lack of a hand made the excess black mana irrelevent for the few turns I had both of those out) even more ridiculous in my Lazav deck. I suggest you look into it- I noticed you hadn't tested it out since Gatecrash came out.
Neheb
Marath
Yidris
Sharuum
Yidris
It's in his list. Look under the "The Mill Package" section.
I mean, discard is just as, if not more effective for Wrexial and all of your other reanimate goodstuffs.
Also, is Havengul Lich no good in your meta?
He always worked wonders in my old Wrexial deck.
I do really like your list, though...it almost makes me want to rebuild Wrexial.
He's just...so fun, and plays differently every game.
Woops
My mistake, must have missed it ^^.
Neheb
Marath
Yidris
Sharuum
Yidris
I think you need something like Chromatic Lantern, Darksteel Ingot, Vessel of Unrest to play stuff out of your color.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY8h2vp5Xis
That doesn't work. When you play EDH, you can never produce and use mana outside of your general's color identity.
Withered Wrech was tested, but in my meta I don't have a need for that much grave hate, and if I did I'd favor Nezumi Graverobber over it for the kicker if I manage to get it to flip. With the amount of tutors I have, Bojuka Bog is enough to shut down the player in question, but even then because of my synergy with a Grave Deck normally they'll target me last as I am generally helping them out. The deck consistently taps out on its turn, and begs for a Leyline of Anticipation or a Vedalken Orrey, but there simply isn't the slots in question, which leads me right into your next point.
Doubling Cube is a VIP in black decks that abuse Cabal Coffers once you have 7 mana, you actually have 8, at 8 you have 10, and so on. It only incrementally gets better from there. Its only a 2 drop so you don't always have to use it, though I normally will. This in combonation with Coffers and Yawgmoth's Will normally means endgame. It is terrible early, but Again, I always tutor out Urborg+Coffers to ramp as fast as possible, given my lack of ramp on my own. I also have a decent amount of X Cards to dump mana into, like Sands of Delirium and Mind Grind. There is enough card advantage producing items in the deck to make it worth it. Thesbian's Stage is in the deck now, but I haven't updated the decklist it seems.
It's in there, bottom of "Mill Package". It wouldn't be a mill deck without it
I've experimented with Discard, but what became of it was a Nath of the Gilt Leaf deck, which is tons more effective because the green let me ramp into it (discard is expensive but powerful.). As good as discard is, it's not effective mana wise unless its global (Delirium Skeins is a prime example). Because of this, only Recoil and River's Grasp are used for discard, simply because they are both bananas at what they do. So in point, although Discard is good, there is more than enough to deal with things on the board at a given time. Plus, setting up little synergies is good but too much effort.
Havengul Lich IS good, but not for my meta. Blue is oddly enough our rarest color, so it's already cut in half. The activated ability thing is nice, but Necrotic Ooze does it better. Yawgmoth's Will is plenty for a blowout turn with a ton of mana. He's better saved for Zombie Decks with Rooftop Storm and Conspiracy, or really low CMC decks.
And I'm glad my list inspired you. It's really fun and because of all the tutors and reliance on using opposing decks as it's engine, it is very fun. I tried to keep it non combo to keep the fun at a maximum, because I hate when players just drop two cards and end the game. This deck excells at stoping them with cards like Sad Sac, so it puts it on a even playing field very quickly. It's really fun!
The only card in UB that lets me play cards outside of my colors is Mycosynth Lattice and more times than not, that hurts a hell of a lot more than it helps. My meta has both a Arcum Dagsson and Karn, Silver Golem so that is definately not a bright Idea. This is why all of my "steal" cards say "without paying it's mana cost", to avoid this issue. It's for this same reason Nightveil Specter never hit the list.
So again, I appreciate all of your feedback. I am considering adding a bit more draw power into the deck. In circumstances where I'm not hitting any of my tutors being able to try and dig for one is invaluable, and might hit what I was looking for also. Any suggestions there?
UBRSedris, the Necromancer KingUBR
Been busy and ridiculously low on cash the past few weeks, but I managed to make a few changes, including getting a Thesbian's Stage.
[B]Card Changes:[/B][SPOILER]
[B]Removed Dimir Doppelganger for Rapid Hybridization[/B]
This change was painful to make, but more times than not I find myself utterly disgusted by Dimir Doppelganger. Not because it's bad, but more because it takes so much initial mana to do in one turn, and it doesn't trigger ETB effects, which is huge. Rapid Hybridization is [B]1CMC Destroy target creature. It can't be regenerated[/B]. That alone is bananas. The 3/3 dude they get is moot. It can also trigger Tragic Slip under ideal conditions. So many uses for one card, and I even got a nice foil of it.
[B]Removed Ghost Quarter for Thesbian's Stage
Realistically I should have removed Bad River, as there isn't that many targets for it anyways. I need Strip Mine or something better if I'm to include it. Ghost Quarter was simply saddening to me, and this fixed the problem there.
[B]Added Tribute to Hunger to the list.[/B]
It was left out accidentally.
[B]Removed Talisman of Dominance for Fact or Fiction
FoF should need no introduction, but why take out the mana ramp? One of my friends recommended it, and explained that "Draw is like Blue's ramp. Just as Discard and tutor is black's ramp." This struck home to me. FoF is one of the best blue cards in magic, so it immediately went in. I've been pleased with the results. With my group, its almost always a 5-0 split, giving me 5 cards for 4 mana at instant speed with no drawback. Even if they do it properly, I'm still winning, its a grave deck.
[/SPOILER]
Still looking to get one more draw card in the deck. Promise of Power is nice but hurts and there are plenty of blue cards to get the job done. Recurring Insight and Deep Analysis are two I'm looking at very hard due to one being just really good and triggers twice, and the other has flashback which is invaluable in itself. A really cheap flashback at that.
UBRSedris, the Necromancer KingUBR
Removed Dinrova Horror for Visions of Beyond
This was largely an effort to both lower the mana curve of the deck which was getting a LITTLE high with the recent inclusion of the primordials, but I'd like my landbase to stay at 24, where it is now if at all possible. This addition both helps to hit land drops early in tight spots and dig through my library late game. It is cheap but powerful draw, and no deck can say no to that.
Also added a few (foil tags). I broke down and got a foil cabal coffers for only 12$, then gave the non foil as a hand-me-down to my mono B deck.
I'm seriously reaching a standstill with this deck. It's a complicated problem that I almost feel I've solved completely to the point of no improvement without dropping large amounts of money. (Underground Sea and a few other fetch lands could make minor improvements, but I feel they are negligable as I never have mana issues.) This cant be true though, as no deck is perfect at what it does. Still very open to suggestions!
UBRSedris, the Necromancer KingUBR
GWUBAtraxa, Praetor's Voice PrimerGWUB
GWURoon Bant Blink WhateverGWU
BRGLord Windgrace LandsBRG