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Counter target spell. Its controller puts the top two cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard.
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Perfection of Milling
Changed my mind - it isn't Mizzium Skin these fellows need, it's Hidden Strings . It's been mentioned here a few times, but I want to re-iterate its strong points... particularly compared to Cyclonic Rift , which I swapped it with:
When you cast HS, you can choose to untap the 1U you used to cast it, giving you back that mana to spend on something else during your turn... or during your opponent's turn. (Banking Psychic Strike or Dimir Charm for an opponent's play is a very important strategy in this deck, but early game with low mana that means you can't do anything during your own turn.)
You can tap enemy lands, which actually works as... removal protection. Either he won't have enough (or the right kind of) mana to cast the removal you know his deck runs, or he'll counter the HS, which just accomplishes the same thing: Taps his mana, and baits his counter.
You can tap whatever is in the way of a big Aberration swing, or a flyer in front of a Phantasm.
Ciphering it onto the Phantasm is really useful when the opponent has no flyers (in my playtesting, this has been a lot more common than I thought it would be), even if your Phant is still merely a 1/1.
You can also use it Cipher'ed for effective Vigilance.
Compared to CR, it will sometimes accomplish the same thing, but it's not quite as good at slowing tempo.
There is a reason HS is rated 4 on Gatherer. :)
As a footnote, I've been able to pull out the overload on Cyclonic Rift exactly once (though I've sure needed it more times than that...). By the time I can afford 6U, I'm either dead or the game is in a stalemate where it doesn't help.
Mad Whisperings
I considered Reap Intellect , and it could be very useful (I'm looking at YOU Lumberknot , Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord ), but I have the same difficulty with as with Essence Harvest , the rest of my sideboard, Call of the Nightwing or even more Whispering Madness , how to make room?
As for removing the Pilfered Plans , I need card draw to keep the Madness draw/discard high. Considering there's only 2 in the deck, I'll probably need them to draw Madness in the first place.
And, yes, if I run Call of the Nightwing , Undercity Informer is a must.
As for Psychic Strike , there aren't many control decks or decks running counter spells in my meta. My main Cipher target, Invisible Stalker has hexproof, and is only really vulnerable to forced sacrifice, board wipe or whole field burn. In my meta there is very little of these, most players only use targeted removal and the only board wipe I've come across is the can't-be-countered Supreme Verdict or ability based wipe using Acidic Slime , Mist Raven and Deadeye Navigator .
Suggestions for how to make room would be appreciated.
Mad Whisperings
I've found that running a cipher/mill deck like this leaves me with very few defenders and currently no decent removal.
You should consider Psychic Strike as a counter spell and mill instead of Pilfered Plans as you don't really need the card draw once the madness sets in.
Far / Away works nicely as removal given how much hexproof is in your meta although i think Devour Flesh would also work along with any other 1B removal.
Also if you're thinking of running call of the zubats, which would be great as chump blocks and even evasive cipher targets if your tormented souls or stalkers get burnt, running an Undercity Informer would be awesome as you can leave mana open and still find a use for it if you have enough zubats around to sac.
If you do get your hands on any, Reap Intellect can be a funny card, especially if you can get it to go off for 2 or 3 turns 3 or 4.
p.s. reference :P
Consuming Mill (Needs Help)
That's a pretty tough call, I did just realize how well it would work with Mindcrank too. I'd say maybe drop Psychic Strike to sideboard considering you really aren't doing much countering. Hard choice though.
Dont let the bed BUG bite!!
I'd run Spell Rupture instead of Psychic Strike , easier on the mana and it works really well with this type of deck.
Æsper Control
How is Crypt Incursion working out? That seems to be a lot of card dedicated to one strategy but I guess it could work when you kill or counter other creatures in other builds. That would probably be the only card I would completely question.
I would suggest Dissipate over Cancel and maybe Render Silent over Psychic Strike . Dissipate helps against Reanimator, Render Silent while hard to predict it has any value, it's nice to know they can't cast anything else. It especially works when they bait something small and can't follow up with a bomb. It's up to you as Psychic Strike is easy on the mana base to cast and the mill doesn't hurt too bad.
Mr.Mill
I like this build. It's very simple, most the cards have a low CMC, and it's loaded with powerful milling spells. I would definitely consider putting in some more one-drops since all you have is Jace's Phantasm and he won't be buffed on turn one. Maybe Gravecrawler since the Wights will help him out, although he won't be much for defense so maybe not the best option. Delver of Secrets Flip is always a killer card, even though you have a lot of creatures in here. I would prefer dropping a Delver early as opposed to a Phantasm since loosing a Delver isn't AS big a deal as losing the Phantasm. Other than that, your spells are pretty cheap so a good chance of multiple milling on each turn. The Psychic Strike s are great, but I would try to work in some more countering spells, at least in the sideboard. Any countering spell will do, but you only have 4 with Dimir Charm and Psychic Strike combined, the charm being a limited counter spell. In addition to that, you have no removal spells to kill anything that hits your opponent's board. There are a million Black removal/Blue bounce spells you could choose from so I won't list them here, just look around for some that fit your build. Also, I think you could be doing much better than Duskmantle Guildmage . His abilities really aren't that great and you could be playing more of your other creatures since they're better or even the counter/removal spells I mentioned. And then other than adding some of the dual lands, this is a solid build, so GG+1 from me.
Dimir B/U/G Mill
Looks like a nice deck. I would maybe take out the deathrite shamans as it doesnt seem that helpful, the abilities seem relevant but i think vampire nighthawk would do much better, I could be wrong though as I am debating this in my BUG mill deck. Certain changes i would make would be to take out the farseeks, reap intellect, mind grind and pilfered plans and put in Psychic Strike and Mind Sculpt as the strike helps protect you big creatures and help the board state with you and provides a bit of extra mill, mind sculpt helps consuming aberration get bigger and you need to mainboard those jaces man, they are KEY mill. Also have you ever considered Essence Harvest to be used on consuming aberration for a 1 shot? I have done it at FNM and it was a good feeling
