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Legality
| Format | Legality |
| 1v1 Commander | Legal |
| Archenemy | Legal |
| Arena | Legal |
| Block Constructed | Legal |
| Canadian Highlander | Legal |
| Casual | Legal |
| Commander / EDH | Legal |
| Commander: Rule 0 | Legal |
| Custom | Legal |
| Duel Commander | Legal |
| Gladiator | Legal |
| Highlander | Legal |
| Historic | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Leviathan | Legal |
| Limited | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Pioneer | Legal |
| Planechase | Legal |
| Quest Magic | Legal |
| Tiny Leaders | Legal |
| Vanguard | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
Minister of Inquiries
Creature — Vedalken Advisor
When Minister of Inquiries enters the battlefield, you get EE (two energy counters).
T, Pay E: Target player puts the top three cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard.
Balaam__ on Balaam__
2 years ago
lespaul977 I don’t mind offering advice, but I’m not exactly a tier 1 player myself. So I’d definitely recommend shopping the idea for this deck around and collecting as much perspective as you can on it before you invest any time or money in finalizing it.
This may sound excessive but I’d cut
Djinni Windseer (doesn’t contribute)
Eternal of Harsh Truths (doesn’t contribute)
Homarid Explorer (cmc too high, not enough value)
Laboratory Maniac (useless, you’re milling the opponent and not yourself)
Minister of Inquiries (it’s ok, but with no way to get more energy counters his value fades fast. Blinking him to get more energy counters is not efficient)
Screaming Swarm (cmc way too high, won’t see play often and mill decks rarely have more than a handful of creatures, none of which are used for attacking)
Soulknife Spy (doesn’t contribute)
Essence Flux (Blink is ineffective here)
Trepanation Blade (seems good but rarely is, not to mention you won’t be attacking)
Curiosity (doesn’t contribute, your other draw spells are much better)
Wizard Class (doesn’t contribute)
So that’s what I’d cut. Dream Twist and Visions of Beyond are great and synergize well, Unsummon is good but Vapor Snag is better; I’d replace that with it if possible. I’d fill the remainder of the slots with Crabs if it’s an option (see below), countermagic (Counterspell, Mana Leak, Spell Pierce etc) and if you are adding (again, see below) there are oodles of instants/sorceries to choose from. If not, try to accommodate as many mono direct mill spells as possible.
I guess we have to address some of the elephants in the room. If you’re intent on keeping this mono , then you’ll miss out on what the complimentary color brings to the Mill archetype: cards like Breaking / Entering and Glimpse the Unthinkable.
Which brings us to the next obstacle, budget. If you’re looking to keep the price down and/or only build from your current collection, that also complicates things. Cards like Archive Trap and Tasha's Hideous Laughter are Mill staples, but are also costly. There are alternatives, like Fractured Sanity and Maddening Cacophony which are both cheap and mono , so that can help fill the gaps.
Third, you’ll want to run the crabs. Hedron Crab is pricey, but Ruin Crab is doable. Ideally you’d run both, but one is ok. You’ll be capitalizing on every possible opportunity to mill like this; every land played mills, nearly all your spells should mill, etc.
Hope this helps, and again—I’m no expert. But I’ve built one mill deck (check my page if interested, I think it’s called Trouble at the old mill or something like that) and have another in the works so I’m somewhat familiar with how they play. Ask around, collect info and don’t be afraid to inspect the ones the pros play for some ideas.
NoopyNolife on
Petitioners pioneer
3 years ago
Im actually thinking of building something like this, do you think Minister of Inquiries will do good here?
Uthersfight on
Dredgeless Dredge
3 years ago
Have also been debating trying out Minister of Inquiries instead of Vertebrae. Even though it's slow due to summoning sickness, it's a better impersonation of shrikehorn. This would also mean cards like Emry might be able to be cut. I might do some play testing and post my results.
GoblinElectromancer on
Advisor EDH
3 years ago
Lol I love Persistent Petitioners! You probably have a lot too much land for a deck with only two drops. I would drop down to maybe 33 or 34. Maybe play the following cards: Dramatic Reversal,Counterspell,Thrumming Stone,Minister of Inquiries, and Jace, Ingenious Mind-Mage.
+1 Good Luck!
Tylord2894 on
4 years ago
Since you're shifting into more of a combo style of deck, I don't think Minister of Inquiries is doing what you need it to anymore. It's an ok blocker, but Dig Through Time will help you much more.
Snowmen1 on
Cauldron Reanimator
4 years ago
hey, thanks for the suggestions. Shriekhorn is definitely a faster mill spell than Minister of Inquiries, but I see a problem that it isn't a creature, which makes all of my mill spells less likely to make a turn 2 cauldron. I could see offsetting that by replacing Witch's Oven with another creature, but I think there's another way to build this deck.
The way I would look at the mill package for this deck is as a crabvine deck. It has no dredge cards because they don't further your strategy, and you cant utilize them for your game-plan if you just naturally draw them. Instead the deck wants cheap creatures that let you get out a vengevine ass early as turn 2. Similarly, we want a 1 mana mill spell that will also decrease the cost of a cauldron. having said that I'm looking at running Merfolk Secretkeeper because it fills a these slots better than both Shriekhorn and Minister of Inquiries in my opinion.
As for witch's oven, I would agree that it is probably too cute, but I think I would rather replace it with Gilded Goose, which is a creature, makes turn 2 emry possible, and it can help slow down the game.
I think that this deck is probably too awkward to build right, but there are a decent number of self mill options now, so it probably just comes down to testing to find the right one.
9-lives on
4 years ago
What's so great about Ipnu Rivulet? This is a combo deck now, not a traditional mill deck, so the mill option doesn't even matter anymore,and I don't want to pay 1 life each time I want a water mana. I'm even thinking of removing my Minister of Inquiries even though they're good millers and useful blockers and only cost 1 mana, maybe for more room for Agonizing Remorse or a better creature card to use. The most mill I need is for myself when I have "My death is your death" win condition. Tome Scour is my best bet for milling myself or my enemy. When I want to cast Vantress Gargoyle I only have to have 7 cards milled out of the enemy's deck, so it's no big problem to have a small amount of mill. I want to use something like Tome Scour or my Walls and my other millers to give me at least 10 graveyard cards so that I can cast Crypt Incursion and gain at least 30 life! That will give me plenty of time to win even if I don't have a drawing advantage of my combos. Should I use Hover Barrier??? I don't have anything against flying creatures if I were to face them besides my Vantress Gargoyle.
hungry000 on
Cauldron Reanimator
4 years ago
Shriekhorn is a better mill spell than Minister of Inquiries, as it can mill 4 by turn 2, mills the same amount, and discounts Emry. I also suggest playing 4 Stinkweed Imp instead of Witch's Oven; dredging 5 on turn 2 makes the possibility of a turn 2 Cauldron far more realistic.