Mirko Vosk, Deck Drinker

Commander / EDH Casual Combo Infinite Combo Mill UB (Dimir)

dalton345

Land (34)

• 1x Blighted Cataract
• 1x Choked Estuary
• 1x Dimir Aqueduct
• 1x Dimir Guildgate
• 1x Dismal Backwater
• 1x Encroaching Wastes
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 1x Ghost Quarter
• 11x Island
• 1x Mage-Ring Network
• 1x Mortuary Mire
• 1x Myriad Landscape
• 1x Opal Palace
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Rogue's Passage
• 7x Swamp
• 1x Terramorphic Expanse
• 1x Vivid Creek

Evasion (7)

• 1x Aqueous Form
• 1x Archetype of Imagination
• 1x Invisibility
• 1x Mask of Riddles
• 1x Prowler's Helm
• 1x Skyblinder Staff
• 1x Whispersilk Cloak

Ramp (6)

• 1x Basalt Monolith
• 1x Everflowing Chalice
• 1x Hedron Archive
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Surveyor's Scope
• 1x Sword of the Animist

Tutor (2)

• 1x Diabolic Revelation
• 1x Diabolic Tutor

Mill (13)

• 1x Consuming Aberration
• 1x Fireshrieker
• 1x Jace, Memory Adept
• 1x Keening Stone
• 1x Mind Funeral
• 1x Mind Grind
• 1x Mindcrank
• 1x Startled Awake  ^Flip
• 1x Strionic Resonator
• 1x Traumatize
• 1x Trepanation Blade
• 1x Tunnel Vision
• 1x Undead Alchemist

Card Draw (7)

• 1x Arcanis the Omnipotent
• 1x Dictate of Kruphix
• 1x Shadowmage Infiltrator
• 1x Sigiled Starfish
• 1x Sire of Stagnation
• 1x Teferi, Temporal Archmage
• 1x Treasure Cruise

Counterspell (6)

• 1x Hinder
• 1x Psychic Strike
• 1x Rewind
• 1x Silumgar's Command
• 1x Spell Crumple
• 1x Swan Song

Deterrant (5)

• 1x Fathom Feeder
• 1x Jace, Architect of Thought
• 1x Talrand, Sky Summoner
• 1x Tidehollow Strix
• 1x Vortex Elemental

Commander (1)

Synergy (8)

• 1x Bloodchief Ascension
• 1x Dimir Doppelganger
• 1x Duskmantle Guildmage
• 1x Grimoire of the Dead
• 1x Jace's Phantasm
• 1x Sadistic Sacrament
• 1x Vendilion Clique
• 1x Wight of Precinct Six

Removal (7)

• 1x Aetherspouts
• 1x Avatar of Woe
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Grasp of Darkness
• 1x Murderous Cut
• 1x Pongify
• 1x Reality Shift

Survival (4)

• 1x Elgaud Shieldmate
• 1x Ring of Evos Isle
• 1x Silent Arbiter
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots

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Maybeboard

Other (23)

• 1x Blinding Powder
• 1x Dark Ritual
• 1x Dissipation Field
• 1x Dreamborn Muse
• 1x General's Kabuto
• 1x Geth, Lord of the Vault
• 1x Grappling Hook
• 1x Halimar Depths
• 1x Helm of Obedience
• 1x Leyline of the Void
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Meletis Charlatan
• 1x Nemesis of Reason
• 1x Nighthowler
• 1x Paranoid Delusions
• 1x Phenax, God of Deception
• 1x Ponder
• 1x Praetor's Grasp
• 1x Riddlekeeper
• 1x Sword of Body and Mind
• 1x Telemin Performance
• 1x Twincast
• 1x Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger

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Mirko Vosk, Deck Drinker

Introduction

Please note that this deck is still quite heavily under construction, be a part of the building process and offer me suggestions, they're greatly appreciated!

The goal of this Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker deck is to mill my opponents to death, while deterring them from attacking me and not making myself a target of too much hate. This deck is played almost exclusively within my playgroup, which is a small and very casual group of my close friends (who I introduced to the game; yes I'm a pusher of cardboard crack). In the Local Meta section below is a brief description of the types of decks this one will see play against.

Although there are some mill cards to support Mirko Vosk within the deck, I want him to remain the focus of the deck. Somewhat along idea of being a Mirko Vosk voltron, though maybe not so dependent on him as a true voltron. Please note that although I do not have a set budget for this deck, it will never be a multi-thousand dollar deck. This first incarnation has been built exclusively with cards-on-hand, so any cards that are expensive (here's looking at you, Vendilion Clique) in it are cards that I was lucky enough to already have. That being said, any suggestions for individual cards that are less than $20 or so will be seriously considered, as long as I get good bang for my buck!

Construction Theory Show

In order to mill reliably with Mirko Vosk, his attacks actually need to hit, so cards that grant evasion were an obvious choice. I also want to be able to get moving quickly so I have included quite a bit of artifact-based ramp, and with all that mana it would be easy to empty my hand so I have tried to balance it out with a good amount of card draw.

My local meta tends to have a large amount of removal, and when something comes out that people are annoyed by, it can be hard to keep it in play. So an important aspect of this deck must be to keep Mirko Vosk alive. To this end I included some cards for hexproof, and the idea is that the counterspells in the deck will almost always be used to Mirko's benefit.

There are also a couple players in my local meta that tend to play very aggressively, with either big creatures of lots of creatures. In order to keep myself alive long enough to actually mill I have tried to round out the deck with some removal and also some small deathtouchers (plus Vortex Elemental) to deter attacks by single large creatures.

I ended up with a lot more artifacts in the deck than I anticipated, so I'm considering whether maybe this is a subtheme that I could pursue. Any thoughts of whether this is a good idea, and if so how to pursue this, would be a great help to me.

Strengths and Weaknesses Show

Strengths

Under Construction

Weaknesses

Under Construction

Trade-offs

Under Construction

Strategy Show

The deck tries to mill the opponent. An optimal game plan involves getting some ramp out early, getting Mirko out early with both some survivability and something to make him unblockable, then milling for 4 lands at least every turn.

I do not want to be too aggressive with the deck, attacking every turn with Mirko is the goal, but I don't really want to scare other players into making a target out of me by whipping out huge or lots of creatures and swinging big, unless it is a game-ending combo. The goal is play defensively, milling steadily while deterring other players from focusing on me, so that I can assemble combo pieces, a board presence, or what have you.

I haven't played the deck many times yet, but for mulligans I try to aim for ~4 lands, a low-drop creature (preferably a deathtoucher or Vortex Elemental to deter attacks), artifact-based ramp, and a survival card for Mirko.

Combos and Synergies Show

Combos

-Spell Crumple + Tunnel Vision
-Hinder + Tunnel Vision
-Tunnel Vision + Vendilion Clique
-Duskmantle Guildmage + Mindcrank
-Bloodchief Ascension + Mindcrank

Synergies

Under Construction

For most combos and synergies the deck can function without them, but they speed up the milling of opponents greatly, which means you're more likely to mill them to death before they kill Mirko or smash your face with a giant creature.

Most combos are assembled over time as the board presence of the deck increases, however there a couple tutors to help speed things up. dark-revelation can be used to fetch some 2 card wincons mentioned above.

Because this deck's combos are vulnerable to removal, I rely on counterspells to keep things on the board. This may not be the best strategy...

Card Choices Show

Card Categories
With this deck there are basically 2 ways to win a game: a win by consistently milling each turn with Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker - ideally sped up with synergy cards like Fireshrieker and/or Strionic Resonator, or a win by comboing off something like Bloodchief Ascension + Duskmantle Guildmage .

The things needed to achieve the first win, and the card categories supporting them are:
1. Keep Mirko Vosk (and myself) alive long enough.
- Removal for any spot threats.
- Counterspells for obvious reasons.
- Survival to prevent any Mirko Vosk hate.
- Deterrants to keep players from thinking it might be a good idea to hit me with big creatures.
2. Gets hit through: Evasion.
3. Get cards out that speed up Mirko's mill.

Card Draw, Tutors, and Ramp help in numerous, and obvious, ways. Synergies and Mill are exactly what they sound like.

Card Discussion
Warning: This section is long. Only read the whole thing if you're reaaaally interested. Half the reason I wrote so much detail is it let me really test my thought process on each card, and going and really writing it down has made it more obvious what the weak points are than when it was just in my head.

Removal

-Grasp of Darkness and Reality Shift:
One of the biggest threats in my meta in terms of big-beater creatures is Zurgo Helmsmasher, for that reason I decided to include some removal that gets past the indestructible.

-Avatar of Woe:
A 6/5, Fear, tap destroy, that will nearly always be cast for ? Yes, please.

- AEtherspouts :
Almost fits more in Survival, high mana cost compared to my other removals but when playing against token decks this and Cyclonic Rift are obvious fetches with the tutors.

-Pongify, Murderous Cut, and Cyclonic Rift:
Not much to say.

Counterspell

-Silumgar's Command:
Jack of all trades. Counterspell, removal, bounce, a versatile card.

-Psychic Strike:
Mediocre card, but it fits the mill theme and costs 3 mana. Milling 2 cards doesn't really count for much, so this could probably be replaced by either a cheaper or more versatile counterspell.

-Swan Song:
Counters immediate removal threats to Mirko Vosk for , I like cheap counters.

-Spell Crumple and Hinder:
Combo off with Tunnel Vision.

-Rewind:
Not much to say.

Survival

-Silent Arbiter:
Makes sure Mirko doesn't get chump blocked to death, in case I haven't got anything else out to help him hit.

-Swiftfoot Boots, Ring of Evos Isle, and Elgaud Shieldmate:
Generic hexproof givers. Ring of Evos Isle gets the job done, but I don't like needing to keep open just in case.

Deterrant

-Jace, Architect of Thought:
Mostly going to be +1'd to keep opponents from getting too aggressive.

-Fathom Feeder and Tidehollow Strix:
A couple of deathtouchers to keep big creatures pointed at other players.

-Vortex Elemental:
Similar to a deathtoucher in a lot of ways, but can be used to get rid of nasty indestructible brutes.

-Talrand, Sky Summoner:
I'm not too sure about the inclusion of this card. I haven't pulled him in a game yet. I would like to think that he will create enough chump blockers to keep me alive through some aggro, but it remains to be seen.

Evasion

-Prowler's Helm:
Is set to get replaced by Whispersilk Cloak when it arrives.

-Skyblinder Staff and Archetype of Imagination:
Relies on my opponent's not having any reach creatures out (pretty reliable for me).

-Mask of Riddles and Whispersilk Cloak:
I'd say these are the real all-stars of the evasion cards in this deck. Evasion plus Survival or Card Draw is a nice bonus, and fear has been very reliable for me in my playgroup.

-Aqueous Form and Invisibility :
Not much to say.

Card Draw

-Teferi, Temporal Archmage:
Great card, mostly used for +1 but his -1 can be used for big drops which is great.

-Dictate of Kruphix:
Not too sure about this one. I like the recurring card draw, but I don't like giving cards to my opponents when I'm not relying on that as a way to mill them.

-Shadowmage Infiltrator:
Speaking of too expensive, but Sphinx of Magosi at least provides a (pretty dang big) body to go with the cost. Shadowmage infiltrator has been a reliable source of card draw every time I've had him out. I like recurring card draw in case you couldn't tell.

-Sire of Stagnation:
Big mana drop, but has a body to go with it and should give plenty of card draw for the cost. I am worried that this guy might attract too much attention my way, as my playgroup tends to dislike being punished for playing lands. Also crosses over into Mill slightly.

-Arcanis the Omnipotent:
Arcanis the card draw king.

-Treasure Cruise:
(Possibly) One mana for 3 cards, I'll take it.

-Sigiled Starfish:
Cheap drop, has a body to block and lets me filter through my deck, doesn't sound too bad to me.

Tutor

-Diabolic Tutor and Diabolic Revelation:
Pretty expensive tutors, I like that Diabolic Revelation lets me tutor up a 2 card wincon but 7 mana to do it is a lot. These are good candidates for improvement, I think.

Ramp

-Surveyor's Scope:
I have a feeling this card will end up under-performing as it relies on me to be behind to be any good. Definite candidate for replacement.

-Sword of the Animist:
Has proven quite a few times to be a great ramp card, and it thins out the deck too which is great.

-Basalt Monolith, Sol Ring, Hedron Archive, and Everflowing Chalice:
Pretty typical artifact ramp cards that I already had on hand. I tried to pick ones that I think are reasonably efficient (and the auto-include Sol Ring). These could probably be replaced by better and more expensive ramp cards, but in my casual playgroup no one really runs expensive ramp cards so it would be overkill.

Synergy

-Duskmantle Guildmage and Bloodchief Ascension:
Wincon combo pieces with Mindcrank.

-Vendilion Clique:
Combo piece with Tunnel Vision.

-Dimir Doppelganger:
Fits to the needs of the moment and removes key pieces from opponents' graveyards. Sweet.

-Jace's Phantasm and Wight of Precinct Six:
Cheap creatures that get big off mill.

-Sadistic Sacrament:
Utterly mean card if played late game with the kicker. For extra fun, pay the kicker then go and remove 15 lands from a players deck. They'll love you and Mirko will mill for even more. Great way to make friends.

-Grimoire of the Dead:
Fun (likely) wincon if it makes it without removal. Should probably keep a counterspell or 2 in the hand to make sure it survives.

Mill

-Jace, Memory Adept:
0, 'nuff said.

-Undead Alchemist:
Keeps creatures out of opponents' graveyards, gives me chumps, and helps mill too.

-Trepanation Blade:
Mirko milling for 5 lands instead and getting extra commander damage out of it is pretty sweet.

-Strionic Resonator and Fireshrieker:
Mirko milling for 8 lands (or 12 together) is even better.

-Mind Grind and Mind Funeral:
Mirko #2 and #3.

-Tunnel Vision and Mindcrank:
Combo pieces.

-Traumatize:
Always hilarious.

-Keening Stone:
Great with Traumatize or any of the rest of the mill cards really.

-Startled Awake:Haven't had a chance to use this card yet. I like that it is repeatable, but for its cost it might not prove to be worth it when I have repeatable milling in the form of Mirko.

-Consuming Aberration:
Another source of continual mill, and after an early Traumatize, your 40/40 (or more) Consuming Aberration definitely also counts as a Deterrant.

Ways to Improve
One thing this deck lacks that other mill decks often include is a significant amount of graveyard hate. There are some spells in here that let me remove choice cards from an opponent's graveyard (Dimir Doppelganger), but the deck does not include them as a major feature, and I only really have them for their other benefits.

This is because my local meta does not really play any recursion, but for a player constructing this deck in a different meta, they may find that they need to include more of these type of cards.

My Local Meta Show

Borborygmos Enraged aggro/burn
Grand Arbiter Augustin IV prison
Iroas, God of Victory token spam
Ezuri, Claw of Progress elf tribal aggro
Rubinia Soulsinger creature steal
Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim lifegain/removal
Teferi, Temporal Archmage mill
Zurgo Helmsmasher voltron
Prossh, Skyraider of Kher, mostly prebuilt
Mizzix of the Izmagnus, prebuilt
Kalemne, Disciple of Iroas, prebuilt

Change Log Show

Pending Changes

These are cards that I have received suggestions for or thought of myself and are on their way to being included in the deck. Suggestions on cards that I could cut in order to make room for these would be great!
- Empty right now

Change History

*September 11th, 2016

Removed

-Stitcher Geralf
-Sphinx of Magosi
-Oona, Queen of the Fae
-Haunted Cloak
-Crypt Incursion
-Dire Undercurrents

Added

-Consuming Aberration
-Sire of Stagnation
-Sadistic Sacrament
-Arcanis the Omnipotent
-Whispersilk Cloak
-Keening Stone

September 3rd, 2016

Removed

-Fate Unraveler
-Rite of Replication
-Sepulchral Primordial
-Counterlash
- Dismiss
-Psychic Intrusion

Added

-Strionic Resonator
-Spell Crumple
-Hinder
-Tunnel Vision
-Jace, Memory Adept
-Bloodchief Ascension

Any and all suggestions are welcome, I'd really appreciate some help!

Date added	7 years
Last updated	6 years
Exclude colors	WRG
Key combos	Duskmantle Guildmage + Mindcrank Spell Crumple + Tunnel Vision Hinder + Tunnel Vision Bloodchief Ascension + Mindcrank Tunnel Vision + Vendilion Clique Bloodchief Ascension + Duskmantle Guildmage
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	7 - 0 Mythic Rares 27 - 0 Rares 36 - 0 Uncommons 11 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.26
Tokens	Ape 3/3 G, Bird 2/2 U, Drake 2/2 U, Emblem Teferi, Temporal Archmage, Manifest 2/2 C, Zombie 2/2 B