Lazav, Milling-Voltron Mastermind
This is my Lazav, Dimir Mastermind EDH deck that I have put together. I'm always looking on advice on how to tweak the deck though, so please let me know what you think.
I did put a lot of thought into this, taking inspiration from a lot of places so I'll explain some of my choices and exclusions, as well as the direction of the deck.
Strategy
The general strategy of the deck is not to actually win via mill. Although it is a possibility, it is not our goal. Most single target mill spells have not been included because in multiplayer, which this is designed for, it can draw hate and not be as effective as multi-target effects.
The main way that this deck wins is through Lazav dealing out commander damage. Hexproof makes him very resilient, and with the help of mill we can find a beefy creature for him to turn into and deal even more damage. Suiting him up with equipment helps this even more.
The other way this deck can win, besides mill, is just general creature power. Many creatures and other spells take advantage of the graveyard, being ale to reanimate things and smack people with the. With mill thrown in the deck to help Lazav find a nice creature t turn into, reanimation can be helpful in getting even more.
Card Choices/Mentions
Voltron Gear
Sword of Body and Mind and Sword of Light and Shadow are the two swords I have included in the deck. While Sword of Body and Mind is by far the best for this deck, it and other swords serve an almost equally important function; evasion.
Lazav may have great protection in the form of hexproof, but he is most vulnerable if you swing with him to attack (which if you plan on winning via general damage, you will be doing a lot) Both swords (and others not included, but that could be added) give protection to two colors, which is a great way of giving Lazav pseudo unblock-ability if your opponent only has those colors.
Whispersilk Cloak and Rogue's Passage also help with the whole evasion thing and make Lazav a much scarier attacker.
Finally, Darksteel Plate gives Lazav even more protection and worry free attacking, while Nighthowler when bestowed beefs up Lazav... a lot, especially after a few mill spells have kicked in.
Creatures
Wrexial, the Risen Deep is a contender for alternative general. The deck would do very well with him swapped into the general position instead of Lazav, but the deck was mostly made with Lazav in mind.
Consuming Aberration and Wight of Precinct Six are both creatures that become more powerful the more cards in graveyards, which will get pretty out of control.
Phenax, God of Deception gives all creatures great milling potential. If you keep most of your creatures untapped to help defend, you can use his ability right before your turn to have almost no downside to milling with them.
Undead Alchemist is a great card even without a lot of other zombies that take advantage of his first milling ability. We're going to do a lot of milling and getting free zombies out of it is great. His effect may hurt cards that rely on creatures being in the graveyard, but it won't hurt Lazav (since based on triggers and stacks and things I won't get into here, just like Eldrazi he can still turn into the creature even if its exiled when it hits a graveyard)
Mill Sources
So we want to mill not only to win, but to create opportunities for Lazav. Most of the time you'll want to wait till Lazav is on the table before milling.
Mesmeric Orb and Mindcrank are some of the most useful and powerful mll cards in the deck. Because they both stay on the table and affect all opponents slowly it helps to not draw immediate panic from people. Couple that with Copy Artifact and Phyrexian Metamorph (who is useful in other ways as well) and you can really eat away at opponents' (and your) decks.
Mind Grind is another powerful mill card that is great because it hits all opponents, drawing less hate and getting more efficient the more people you are playing with. Memory Erosion is another slow milling effect that stays on the table and affects all opponents. There are many creatures as well, listed above, that contribute to the milling effects.
Graveyard Hate
Graveyard hate is an interesting thing to manage in this deck. On one hand we will be filling up graveyards either because we are trying to turn Lazav into a powerful creature or beefing up other creatures like Wight of Precinct Six and Consuming Aberration.
However it can be dangerous when playing against some decks to fill their graveyard. Tormod's Crypt and Nihil Spellbomb and Bojuka Bog are here to exile graveyards of opponents who like to take advantage of them. While this is counterproductive to some strategies in the deck, like the creatures that rely on them, it doesn't affect Lazav himself if he's already turned into something, or if we've already reanimated something.
Graveyard Shenanigans
So we are filling people's graveyards with things, we might as well use them. We've already gone over some cards that are buffed up by their presence, but there is more we can do. Animate Dead, Beacon of Unrest, Reanimate, Memory Plunder all like to grab things from the graveyard to be used. Crypt Incursion is another graveyard hate card, but its primary purpose is two-fold so I'm putting it here. It can get rid of creatures that may cause problems when they are in the graveyard, but it also can get us a lot of health back. The deck can be slow sometimes so having a life gain source can help out.
Transmute
There are several cards included that have the ability to transmute. Most of these cards are effective on their own, but the ones that are not can be used to tutor for the powerful milling cards that are two CMC like Mesmeric Orb and Mindcrank
