Help for my Izzet Mill
Deck Help forum
Posted on July 2, 2023, 2:07 p.m. by Cheesus2112
Hey folks,
Brand new to Tapped Out, so apologies if I'm not posting this correctly.
Mechanic of the deck is double casting big mill spells. Was wondering if there was anything I'm missing or any cards that are out of place/cards that would improve things.
I had a convo with my buddy about the fortell spells I have (Dual strike, saw it coming, demon bolt). I was thinking dual strike over teach by example, so I could fortell it early and the combo takes one less mana when I'm ready to play it. Demon bolt instead of lightning bolt for that extra 1pt of damage. And saw it coming instead of counterspell to keep my hand limit space free while I'm waiting to pull one of my combo cards.
Any advice is welcome!!
1x Brain Freeze (SLD) 1x Bruvac the Grandiloquent (JMP) 2x Demon Bolt (CLB) 2x Divide by Zero (STX) 4x Dual Strike (KHM) 2x Evolving Wilds (LTC) 2x Expressive Iteration (BRC) 4x Fading Hope (DBL) 2x Fractured Sanity (CLB) 1x Fraying Sanity (HOU) 3x Galvanic Iteration (DBL) 5x Island (WHO) 2x Maddening Cacophony (ZNR) 4x Maestros Theater (SNC) 4x Mountain (WHO) 2x Mystical Tutor (DMR) 4x Prismari Campus (CLB) 2x Riverglide Pathway (ZNR) 4x Ruin Crab (ZNR:295) 2x Saw it Coming (KHM) 1x Strangle (SNC) 4x Swiftwater Cliffs (MOM) 4x Tasha's Hideous Laughter (AFR)
wallisface says... #3
I assume its this deck here.
My initial thoughts is that this feels like jumping through a lot more hoops to get the same net outcome - instead of going to all the hassle of copying a mill spell, you could have just cast 2 mill spells.
Additional thoughts:
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mill decks, like burn, need to spend resources very carefully, as once theyre stuck topdecking things can go bad quickly. So cards like Mystical Tutor, which is just hand-disadvantage for you, seem really unideal.
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im not sure youre ever casting enough spells to make Brain Freeze worth it.
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25 lands feels like a lot, and is going to cause you a lot of issues. However, your deck is also fairly mana hungry, so im not sure what the solution is there. Probably try to cut down on the number of cards requiring you to be casting multiple things in a turn (im not sure why Expressive Iteration is in the deck)
July 2, 2023 4:10 p.m.
Cheesus2112 says... #4
wallisface Thanks so much for the feedback! Definitely some good things to consider here.
Here's some of the reasoning for the issues you pointed out to see where I was coming from. I'm still a wee babby when it comes to deck building, so I could be way off base here.
Mystical Tutor is there just to get a double casting or potent mill card into my hand more reliably than waiting for card draw. But can understand that it's a little slow. Are there any better cards to get that kind of value a little more efficiently?
The idea behind Brain Freeze was to play something like Fading Hope then a Dual Strike first, so the first casting gets me 9 cards, then the second gives me 12, for 21 cards in one turn (but not 100% if it stacks like that).
There's 25 lands, but 6 of them are fetch lands, so I'm really only rocking 19. The fetch lands are purely for my ruin crabs to get a bit of extra value. Plus each time I play a fetch land it takes another card out of my deck increasing my chances of grabbing one of the cards I need.
Expressive Iteration is there to give me a little card draw to get to my needed cards faster. I ran it in a version of this deck in Arena and it came in clutch a few times, usually letting me pull a land for my crabs and if nothing else getting me closer to my needed cards. Is there something else that could give me card draw?
Again, thanks for the advice! I really appreciate it!!
July 4, 2023 12:44 p.m.
wallisface says... #5
Cheesus2112 addressing your paragraphs in order:
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The problem with Mystical Tutor is that its not even replacing itself, its replacing the next card you draw - so your effectively paying 2 cards for 1. When mill decks typically require all the resources they can get, this trade puts you in a really bad position. Mill normally runs efficient card draw to refill its hand, like Visions of Beyond.
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Dual Strike copies a spell, and while the copy goes on the stack, it doesnt cast it, so you just mill 9, then 9 again (for 18 total). Even in this scenario, spending 3 cards to mill 18 is pretty low - it means each card is only contributing a mill of 6. Compare that to Fractured Sanity, which mills 14 cards by itself.
Just as an aside before I continue, the above points kindof illustrate that maybe youre not valuing hand resources as much as you should be. Every card ideally needs to be high-impact, and at the moment youre stringing together multiple cards to only get the power of one.
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Fetch lands are very powerful, but they dont lower your overall land count, or effect your future draw-odds in any meaningful way. For comparison my own mill deck (which is pretty top-tier) runs 22 lands, with 8 of those being fetchlands. 25 lands feels like a painfully high amount, where youre all-too likely to draw waay more than you need.
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Expressive Iteration is a very strong card, and may work im just not convinced of its application in Mill. Personally id prefer the before-mentioned Visions of Beyond, as it draws you 3 cards for half the mana.
July 4, 2023 3:43 p.m.
Cheesus2112 says... #6
Gotcha! I didn't realize Dual Strike didn't cast it again, so that makes sense. I'll take out Brain Freeze and replace it with another Fractured Sanity, cut out a few of the lands, and take a look at replacing Expressive Iteration.
Thanks for all the help!!
legendofa says... #2
Welcome to the club, Cheesus2112!
Up at the top menu, there's a folder icon. If you hit that, you should see the Create Deck option. Put this list in the Mainboard section, one card name per line, like
Pro shortcut: it also works as
Once you do that, pick a format, add some description (story, deck function, pot roast recipe), and make sure it's not set to private. This will help people look at the deck, review it, and offer advice.
July 2, 2023 2:25 p.m.