Welcome, My Friends, to the Machine.

Here's a goofy and fun take on mill. Heads up: this description is long and wordy, but I feel it's necessary because this is my most original and technical deck to date. I wouldn't call this deck competitive, but it stands up well in my playgroup. The theme or gimmick here is to assemble a group of artifacts into what I affectionately call "The Mill Machine." This may not be the fastest mill strategy out there, but it's probably one of the most interactive.

The mill machine components consist of (but are not limited to) Unwinding Clock, Mesmeric Orb, Shimmer Myr, Grindclock, Vedalken Orrery, Otherworld Atlas, Temple Bell, Howling Mine, Paradox Engine, Keening Stone, and the various mana rocks and artifact lands. This is the dream set up so I usually have to make due with what pieces I can assemble, though I'm certainly not light on tutors. Why all the group draw you may wonder? Well the group draw is the mechanical part of the machine. But this is one of those machines that requires oil.

So the oil that helps turn this machine into a smooth running powerhouse includes Padeem, Consul of Innovation, Sphinx's Tutelage, Dreamborn Muse, Jace's Archivist, and Jace's Erasure.

So basically, I try to fill everyone's hand up and make them dump it, with lots of rinsing, washing, and repeating. I found this to be a form of mill that doesn't get me hated off the board AS fast. I think it's because my playgroup likes to at least hold their cards instead of just flipping them over into the yard. It makes them feel like they have more control I suppose. And honestly, I think the mad drawing makes for more fun and interesting games, too.

If I happen to have already milled an artifact I need or my opponents keep destroying artifacts, never fear, Silas Renn, Seeker Adept is here. He can retrieve them right out of the yard. He also adds a bunch of recursion to things like Jester's Cap, which is good for eating those cards that shuffle yards into libraries.

As good as Silas is at maintaining the mill machine, it never hurts to steal some gadgets from the competition with Geth, Lord of the Vault or Thada Adel, Acquisitor. They are also good for getting the mana rocks I need for Paradox Engine faster (more on that later).

Everyone knows that Phenax, God of Deception and Consuming Aberration were made for each other, but have you ever seen Phenax next to an Unwinding Clock with a Bonehoard on an artifact creature? Granted, I only have a few artifact creatures, but one is my commander so he's pretty accessible if I can get the other three parts of this combo together. Or, I can cast Saheeli's Artistry on my Consuming Aberration, or equip it with Silverskin Armor, or copy it with Phyrexian Metamorph and then get crazy with the Unwinding Clock/Phenax, God of Deception combo too.

Again, assuming I'm always unwinding my artifacts, Saheeli's Artistry, Silverskin Armor, and Phyrexian Metamorph work nice for an artifacty Jace's Archivist, which maximizes the milling power of the machine and all of its group draw engines. If I can get this combo together, I try to get the ult on Jace, Memory Adept and then go bananas; I haven't gotten to do it yet though.

On that note, this is also my Planeswalkeriest build. With as much hate as this deck draws, it's good to distract my opponents from me for a turn or two. Riddlekeeper also helps my walkers' defense to a minor degree. Other than the distraction factor, the Tezzeret's are probably my most useful Planeswalkers for obvious reasons. For other ways of trying to stay alive longer, I've also added some pillow fort and board control with Propaganda, War Tax, Dissipation Field, and Ward of Bones to make it even harder to kill me. I also grabbed a Platinum Angel to be a big D-bag.

Mechanized Production and Prototype Portal are good for making an army of Mesmeric Orbs and setting The Mill Machine to overdrive. I also enjoy building a large gun ship of Lux Cannons to destroy all the things my opponents might use to sabotage my clockwork machine.

And finally, the most insane combo I've found so far: run my Paradox Engine on four or more mana rocks, with at least two making colored mana, and have the superstar of the deck Jace's Archivist out, or an Otherworld Atlas or Temple Bell. It can be a lot to assemble, but, if I pull it off, I can pretty much play my whole deck out. It's very rude but holy crap is it fun. Paradox Engine also makes it possible to pop Grimoire of the Dead the same turn it hits the field.

Before anyone suggests Traumatize, I did have it in here for a very long time and it is a fantastic mill card and it does pair beautifully with Keening Stone; but, Traumatize is the one card that ensures everyone will kill me immediately if possible in my playgroup. I have used the Keening Stone + Traumatize combo to kill off many opponents but only a handful of those games did I come out on top in the end. I've made the deck more subtle and fun, at least I think so.

This deck is oodles of fun to play most times (for me of course). When it works how I've imagined and planned it to work, this deck will make people stop coming over to play for a few weeks. More often, I get killed off before I can get a combo going. My friends hate many of the cards in here and most have a horror story or two from this deck so I tend to get attacked the most. I enjoy the challenge of trying to scrap together something lethal on a time restraint though.

I also have a more budget friendly version of Silas with a few different strategies for victory, though it is very similar. Check it out Silas' Scrapyard

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Revision 38 See all

(3 years ago)

Date added 8 years
Last updated 3 years
Key combos
Legality

This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.

Rarity (main - side)

15 - 0 Mythic Rares

30 - 0 Rares

25 - 0 Uncommons

10 - 0 Commons

Cards 100
Avg. CMC 3.56
Tokens Copy Clone, Emblem Jace, Unraveler of Secrets, Phyrexian Germ 0/0 B
Folders EDH, Who Runs Milltown? You do, Master Blaster., sigarda, Mill ideas, EDH Decks, commander, Interesting, To Build Next, Commander Deck, Cool Decks
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