3/3/2020 - Update
This deck is simply too consistent and too good to play. Unless the meta is warped around stopping it, the deck will just pound out consistent T6-T7 wins. As a result, I am retiring the deck. It lives on in Tapped Out Lore, but I am no longer bringing it to any LGS. It is the greatest and most optimized original creation I ever devised.
Many have asked if Mill can work in EDH, and the simple answer is yes. Mill works very well, probably better in Commander than any other format. The trick is that you need infinite mill combos to mill 100 cards. This deck contains 6 of them, which I will outline below with situations and comments. There are 15 different "tutor" effects to rapidly find the combo pieces you are looking for.
Combo 1:
Fraying Sanity
, AND EITHER
Fleet Swallower
OR
Traumatize
This is a simple and straightforward combo. Cast Fraying Sanity and then cast Traumatize and a target player loses the game on their next draw step. This can be T5 if you hit land drops/mana rocks. The drawback is the single use of the spell, but there are 2 ways to recur spells
Mystic Sanctuary
and
Scribe of the Mindful
so this can be more than a single shot.
Fleet Swallower
is Traumatize in creature form, but you need to successfully attack for the trigger to go off, which is hard to do in a pod. Also, there is no room for
Lightning Greaves
or
Swiftfoot Boots
in this build. If there are no answers for Fraying Sanity, it helps out all of your other blanket mill spells as well.
Combo 2:
Mindcrank
AND
Duskmantle Guildmage
, AND
Ghoulcaller's Bell
This is a stealth way to win in a playgroup that is not familiar with the combo. It requires some setup, so it can be difficult to resolve, but you need Mindcrank, Ghoulcaller's Bell and Duskmantle Guildmage to all be on the field. Here is how the combo works: activate Duskmantle's ability, and tap Ghoulcaller's bell so each player mills 1 card. When this happens, each player takes 1 damage, which triggers Mindcrank to mill a card, which triggers Duskmantle to cause damage. If this chain of events happens, you infinitely mill the entire table and win. I have done this on Turn 5 in a pod, and it is a meme.
Combo 3:
Halimar Excavator
AND
Rite of Replication
This is a way to cause a single player to mill 180 cards and is a 2 card combo. The only challenge is the mana requirement to Kick Rite of Replication, 9 mana! For that reason, it is a slow or late game combo. It is often unexpected and it takes explaining too. Halimar Excavator has the "Ally" creature type and there are no other Allies in the deck. Rite of Replication copies the Excavator 5x times. Most people get confused and think this means you only mill 30 cards, because you copied Halimar Excavator 5x and there are only 6, but because all creatures enter the battlefield at the same time and "see" each other as Allies, the net effect is to mill 6×5x6 cards or 180! You instantly ruin another player's day or they counter one of your spells and make you feel salty.
Combo 4:
Altar of Dementia
OR
Phenax, God of Deception
AND
Consuming Aberration
OR
Wight of Precinct Six
Wight of Precinct 6 and Consuming Aberration are your only chances to win in combat in the deck. There have been games when I swing in to an undefended player for lethal. These creatures get HUGE in Commander games, often with powers of 100 or more. So the best thing to do if you cannot attack profitably is to sacrifice them on Altar of Dementia for lethal milling or tap them with Phenax's ability to mill an opponent. These are sneaky win condition and can be done in response to board wiping too!
Combo 5:
Painter's Servant
AND
Grindstone
Grindstone can come out T1, Painter's Servant on T2. You can activate Grindstone and kill a target player on T3 with mill. Because of Painter, every card in target players deck now shares the same color, even the lands. So they grind the entire deck. This is the swiftest combo in the deck. Usually, it takes longer than T3, because you have to tutor up the combo pieces. If they have no answers, the game is over QUICKLY. In a pod, this WILL get you beat up on by the other players, as there is a mountain of salt to lose to this, so do not do this to someone who tilts easily.
Combo 6:
Deadeye Navigator
AND
Cloud of Faeries
AND
Altar of the Brood
This is another combo mill for the entire pod that is less than straightforward. It works by first soulbinding Deadeye Navigator with Cloud of Faeries. This means that Cloud of Faeries can Infinitely Exile and return to the battlefield because each time you untap two lands and can pay the cost to do this over and over again. With Altar of the Brood out, your opponents infinitely mill and you win the game!
Notes:
-
The deck is capable of T3 wins in 1 vs. 1 Commander and T5 wins in a group, consistently.
-
People really hate being milled, be advised that playing this deck makes you Public Enemy #1.
-
In many games, you will not cast your Commander at all. Phenax is part of one of the combos, but does little else.
-
The deck does not have draw spells, it relies upon tutors to assemble the combos.
-
This IS NOT a budget deck. Tutors are expensive, rare and some are on reserved list. Use of Proxy might be your best best early on. It took 3 years for me to acquire the original cards required.
-
The lands are Snow mainly for Coldsteel Heart, board wipe
Dead of Winter
and Iceberg Cancrix. The deck can have original basics if necessary as none of these cards are essential to the combos.
-
This deck is VERY weak against aggro creatures, you rely on cards like
No Mercy
,
Cyclonic Rift
and
Propaganda
to stay alive in long games.
-
There are no tokens in this deck (yay!), it fits comfortable double sleeved into most deck boxes.
-
Here is the full list of "Tutor" effects: 1.
Cruel Tutor
2.
Diabolic Revelation
3.
Rhystic Tutor
4.
Razaketh's Rite
5.
Inventors' Fair
6.
Diabolic Tutor
7.
Vampiric Tutor
8.
Scheming Symmetry
9.
Mystical Tutor
10.
Wishclaw Talisman
11.
Rune-Scarred Demon
12.
Beseech the Queen
13.
Dark Petition
14.
Grim Tutor
15.
Demonic Tutor
-
This deck is not a comprehensive list of all the mill combos possible in Commander, but I find that this collection functions well enough to weave into any game and secure a victory.
