Mind Grind
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Legality

Format Legality
1v1 Commander Legal
Block Constructed Legal
Canadian Highlander Legal
Commander / EDH Legal
Commander: Rule 0 Legal
Duel Commander Legal
Highlander Legal
Legacy Legal
Leviathan Legal
Limited Legal
Modern Legal
Oathbreaker Legal
Pioneer Legal
Tiny Leaders Legal
Vintage Legal
Casual Legal
Custom Legal
Quest Magic Legal

Mind Grind

Sorcery

Each opponent reveals cards from the top of his or her library until he or she reveals X land cards, then puts all cards revealed in this way into his or her graveyard. X can't be 0.

FormOverFunction on What I Learned About This …

3 months ago

I don’t remember seeing that card, but what jumps out at me is the value it would provide in a mill deck that utilized the Mind Grind mechanic; the fewer the lands in their library the more effective it is. This has made me sort of interested in making a WUB mill deck with this focus, though it probably doesn’t have as much theme in it as I would normally prefer. Could be neat, though. I think there’s a fair amount of white cards that compensate for their benefit by letting their target tutor a land... is there a techno music fan who wants to make a WUB-WUB-WUB deck that I can live vicariously through? ;p

Jack32226 on Rot and Ruin (Muldrotha EDH)

3 months ago

Thanks for commenting, Lord_of_Cardboard!

This deck would do exceptionally well against a Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger deck. This is for the same reason that cards like Jace's Archivist do so well in the deck: if you have have Muldrotha on the battlefield, any cards you discard might as well still be in your hand cause you can simply replay them from your graveyard. If anything, an opposing Kroxa player is almost helping you by disrupting your other opponents' hands.

As for a budget version of the deck, here's some advice on budget options and replacements. Just note that this is advice specific to my Muldrotha deck, i.e., advice for the big mana and big X-spell strategy. If you'd rather play a more typical creature-based, swing-to-kill type deck, there may be better Muldrotha lists to look at.

The mana base makes up a large portion of the deck's budget, and I would leave that mostly up to your own discretion. Just keep in mind that fetch lands like Evolving Wilds and slow fetches like Bad River are good for being replayed every turn with Muldrotha. Also, for a budget version of the deck, it's important to run more basics than I do since you'll probably need to fetch more with your ramp. Cycle lands like Lonely Sandbar, Tranquil Thicket, and Barren Moor are fantastic, especially with Life from the Loam. Some other good options:

Which brings me to another point: if I had to pick one somewhat expensive card that's worth putting in a budget Muldrotha deck, it's this one. It's a one-card value engine, giving you card draw, mill, and lands. And depending on what utility lands you choose to run, it can do a whole lot more. And if you're worried about Kroxa in your meta, Life from the Loam is a great counter to it, allowing you to fill your hand with lands to discard.

Now to address key cards for the deck's "big mana" strategy. Important cards for generating a lot of mana include Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, Cabal Coffers, Dryad of the Ilysian Grove, Crypt Ghast, and Nyxbloom Ancient. You could just replace these cards with normal ramp; casting X-spells for X=10 is still good and easy to accomplish without these cards. If that's unsatisfying for you, you could consider options like Zendikar Resurgent and Mana Reflection. Unfortunately there aren't many great cheap options for producing a lot of mana. This is an important part of the deck though, so it's up to you if it's worth spending some extra money on it.

To avoid this comment being any more lengthy than it already is, here's an extensive list of some budget alternatives for the deck. The great thing about Muldrotha is that being able to replay removal makes a lot of sub-par removal actually pretty good, so it's pretty budget friendly.

Win-Conditions: What's in the deck isn't too expensive, but here's some cheaper options.

Removal:

Draw / Mill:

Tutors:

Ramp:

Control and other good stuff:

If you have any other questions about budget options, let me know. I'm always happy to help!

theGentlemanSeal on Devoted to two Gods

5 months ago

Great deck!

Helm of the Ghastlord would be a great addition to beef up all your blue/black creatures. Also, Oona's Gatewarden is an easy fit in here. Some more dimir fundamentals would be Baleful Strix, Cemetery Puca, Dimir Guildmage, or Dimir Guildmage.

In terms of finisher cards, you could add: Gyruda, Doom of Depths, Wrexial, the Risen Deep, Dragonlord Silumgar, Silumgar, the Drifting Death, Ghastlord of Fugue, Blizzard Specter, Dire Undercurrents,

A version of the deck will a mill wincon could also make use of Ashiok, Dream Render, Phenax, God of Deception, Lurking Informant, Nemesis of Reason, Psychic Drain, Mind Grind, Nightveil Specter, and the many more mill focused cards from across blue and black.

A deck that leans more into flash could use Slitherwisp.

Overall, I quite like and want to see it down the line!

wallisface on

6 months ago

Some thoughts:

  • Try getting down to 60 cards. Every card above 60 in a modern deck, weakens it by making its hands and draws weaker and less-consistent.

  • 20 lands is waaay too low, considering your dependence on 3-mana cards, and the fact you're running 4-and-5 mana cards also. I would suggest raising this to 23-24 lands.

  • Running no 1-drop cards feels like a big mistake. Not having anything to do turn 1 is going to hurt you a lot, and put you behind in the game from the start (particularly, if you're going second). You're currently running over 30 3-drops which is faaar too many, I would suggest halving that count to get more 1-mana cards and even-out your curve.

  • Mill cards like Mind Grind and Psychic Strike don't feel good here, as you're never likely to ever be able to actually mill your opponent out of cards (Mill only works as an all-in strategy). I would suggest ditching them.

  • I would also suggest ditching Siren of the Silent Song, Zareth San, the Trickster, and Mirror Image. With Siren of the Silent Song, by turn 5 (the earliest it'll be able to untap) most decks have played every card from their hand anyway, so it's not going to do anything. With Zareth San, the Trickster, you have no rogues to accelerate it or sneak-it-out, so it becomes too slow and easy to deal with. With Mirror Image, I don't see you needing additional copies of anything, and it's probably better-off being an extra control-card or draw-card.

  • I would suggest upgrading your control cards with stuff like Counterspell. You should also seek to replace Murder as it's baaad - good replacements would be Fatal Push and/or Infernal Grasp.

  • I would also recommend Unearth over Minion's Return

Balaam__ on Alchemy Balcony

11 months ago

Thanks for the suggestions, Grubbernaut. I definitely see Blue Sun's Zenith as an improvement; I’ll be exchanging that for Mind Grind . And your input on improving the mana base is very sound as well. Adjustments will be made there too.

And while I’m sure your advice regarding the Transmute card(s) is also valid, to build around that keyword was the intentional goal of this deck. It won’t win any tournaments, but I think it’s neat to have a functional, half decent deck built around a keyword ability that doesn’t see much play these days. Thank you again for all the input!

Grubbernaut on Alchemy Balcony

11 months ago

Perplex is one of those cards that's always worse than you want it to be; they'll only ever discard their hand if it's preferable for them to do so. I know it has the transmute option, but it might be worth ditching it or playing other dig spells - things like Opt , Sleight of Hand , Behold the Multiverse , etc. Drift of Phantasms and Dimir Infiltrator suffer from a similar downside, in that the front side really doesn't do much. Archmage's Charm is a really solid, flexible option I would recommend, and even the usual suspects of Snapcaster Mage , Cryptic Command , etc

I also think Blue Sun's Zenith is a better wincon than Mind Grind , since there may be situations where you need to use it to dig for value, and Grind doesn't offer that flexibility. If you stick with transmute spells, BSZ is also a 3 drop.

Finally, I think 4x basic swamp in a deck with so much in the way of UU is a high risk; fetches, checklands, or even Clearwater Pathway  Flip offer some more insurance against manascrew.

Cheers!

Caerwyn on

1 year ago

Dimir Aqueduct is a bad card and does not belong in any decks. Even on a budget there are vastly better two-colored lands. Same goes with Fetid Pools and every other enters-tapped land. Realistically, you want your mana base to mostly be fetch lands to trigger your crabs.

Which, on that note, you should be running a full contingent of 8 crabs.

Add 4x Archive Trap to punish opponent fetches and 2-3x Field of Ruin to force players to search their library so you can fire off Traps.

Mind Grind is a waste of mana. You are better off using those two slots for another Glimpse the Unthinkable and Fractured Sanity .

Grindclock is another bad card--it takes way too long. Think of Mill like a burn deck where you want to "burn" your opponent's life total as quicky as possible.

You will want something that can bounce permanents in your sideboard--mill is in a lot of trouble if a Leyline of Sanctity effect hits the field. Another option is running more fetches, throwing a few Overgrown Tomb s into the mix, and running a couple copies of Assassin's Trophy to take out those pesky cards that you cannot otherwise deal with.

Ensnaring Bridge is another decent sideboard option.

libraryjoy on Nose to the Grindstone, Boi! Budget Mill EDH

1 year ago

Nemesis of Reason got dropped because of its price and how it targets a single person. But it could definitely go in the upgrades board if you wanted it. It just looked like the kind of thing that would put a big fat target on your head. I kept Soaring Thought-Thief because it triggers the mill by itself. If IT attacks, then the mill to everyone. But it could definitely be dropped for any other card. I would say Sphinx's Tutelage is definitely a highly efficient card. Mind Grind could be insane in Commander, and I would choose that over Traumatize. My other top picks would be Vela the Night-Clad , Sphinx Mindbreaker , Startled Awake  Flip, and Ashiok, Sculptor of Fears .

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