Mindcrank

Artifact

Whenever an opponent loses life, that player puts that many cards from the top of his or her library into his or her graveyard. (Damage dealt by sources without infect causes loss of life.)

Discussion (47)

zapyourtumor on Mill for the thrill

4 weeks ago

Couldn't have put it better myself. Normally I would advocate a combination of two, but there really isn't any way to do this here. If you attempt to do combo and have mill as a backup plan, Duskmantle Guildmage is basically a dead card without Mindcrank .

Also, why do you have Tormod's Crypt mainboard and 3 Leyline of the Void s in the sb when they screw up your Jace's Phantasm ? I'd keep the grave hate in the sb and side out the phantasms then. Also you might want some discard/hand control like Inquisition of Kozilek and Thoughtseize if you go in a more control direction.

shadow63 on Fun Commander

1 month ago

Anowon, the Ruin Thief is really fun. You fill up the deck with cheap unblockable creatures and draw cards. Some removal to get rid if key threats. Mindcrank and Bruvac the Grandiloquent can do silly things

libraryjoy on A small library in Phoenix ceases to exist

1 month ago

Ok, I'll build 2 takes on it - one for like $30-40 and one for like $60-100. Some cards might be more expensive because they're worth it ( Mindcrank ). Some might be cheaper to balance it out. I just keep an eye on the total and decide which cards are worth the extra $$. I think Mirko is a good commander. I'll probably put Szadek in the 99, but he can be switched in as commander if you get bored of Mirko. Most decks I build have 2-3 possible commanders in them unless they do something super unique.

Caerwyn on Nekusar - Hurtin' Wheel Bad

1 month ago

The best way to keep from dying so quickly is to kill everyone else faster. To that end, consider:

• More wheel spells such as Dark Deal , Molten Psyche , Reforge the Soul , and Wheel of Fortune (budget permitting).
• Glistening Oil to provide another source of Infect (you'll kill them with wheels before the negative effect takes your Nekusar off the field).
• Dangerous combos that synergize with your deck strategy. Bloodchief Ascension is easy to activate with your commander and combos with Mindcrank to produce infinite mill. Curiosity is dangerous when placed on Nekusar, and can create a loop when placed on Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind (who also combos well with your commander).

Second way to keep from losing: Better control.

• You are in Blue and should be running more counterspells.
• You should have more spot removal that can destroy problematic cards.
• Helm of the Ghastlord combos with Nekusar and a wheel to lock opponents out of the game (they can only play instants before the Ghastlord triggers resolve and cause them to discard every card they ever draw).
• Sigil of Sleep on Nekusar turns each wheel into a mini-Cyclonic Rift.

Add more ramp artifacts so you can get online quicker and fire off multiple wheels per turn.

Add Library of Leng - it allows you to use wheels to engineer a better hand by sending to graveyard what you do not need and keeping what you do.

Finally, you should reduce your average CMC substantially. A lot of your high-costed cards do not have particularly useful synergies to your deck--they might be decent cards in a vacuum, but they really are not great with your particular strategy. Plague Wind , Tidespout Tyrant , all of your 5-mana spells, all of your seven-mana spells, Rise from the Tides , and Roil Elemental are all things you can cut to make room for more synergistic options.

SeditiousCanary on Phenax Mill

2 months ago

list text here Dimir Guildmage to combo with Mindcrank .

Bruvac the Grandiloquent to double milling effects.

Maddening Cacophony for the kicked cost to mill half a library.

TheoryCrafter on Gavi, The Mill Warden

2 months ago

Have you considered any combination of Maddening Cacophony , Ruin Crab and Jace's Archivist ? Both MC and RC can get around permanents that give your opponents hexproof and JA has an activated ability that works like windfall.

Also, I'd suggest considering Teferi's Ageless Insight . This enchantment combined with JA essentially increases the number of cards in your hand each time you activate the ability, increasing the size of your hand each turn if you have no maximum hand size.

With Drake Haven's activated ability and Gavi's static ability, may I suggest Altar of the Brood to add some extra mill for the deck?

Tibalt's Trickery and Book Burning do permit some red mill.

With all the cards in your deck offering damage, I'd recommend adding Mindcrank .

Happy Hunting!

BeesGetDegrees on Pillow Fort Mill

2 months ago

Removals • Bioessence Hydra - Expensive for the cost and really only can pop if you’re out with a ton of planeswalkers. - Doesn’t truly allow to combo off or put yourself further in a win position • Vryn Wingmare - Just ok. Could levy into stronger creatures. • Martial Coup - An ok board wipe but there’s better ones out there. • Altar of Dementia - Not valid as sacrifice doesn't proc with totem armor • Really Good spread of Lands. Quick pace and some very solid duals that keep up your pace • Dovin Baan - Does not help advance your enchantment Mill objective. • Dovin, Hand of Control - Not great in commander as you have to activate it on your turn • Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner - You’re not hitting with large creatures. Mill is your objective with a subtheme of enchanted/totem creatures • Finest Hour - You’re milling, not attacking. You already should be having fliers anyway.

Suggestions: • Common theme that the deck needs to be built from a behind position. You have an easy commander to keep some BRUTAL pieces alive and well.

• Many of your creatures do not utilize tapping effects (which should be your goal with the commander).

• Will need some life gain enchantments to stay in the game

• No easily combo pieces or blink pieces - Dramatic Reversal - Mindcrank

• Creatures that tap for mana and have totem armor. Easy ramp - Karametra's Acolyte

• Creatures to help Mill or slow down the game - Fleet Swallower - Dreamborn Muse - Silent Arbiter

• More instant or sorcery spells that actually can mill an opponent - Maddening Cacophony

• Creatures that can grow unhindered with totem armor - Scute Mob - Sun Titan - Bishop of Rebirth - Danitha Capashen, Paragon

• Completely missing ramp/ability to draw specific lands - Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Can always enchant him for free unlimited lands - Cultivate

• Exile graveyard Pieces or different lands - Halimar Depths - Bojuka Bog - Myriad Landscape

• Better enchantments that are not expensive - Mirrormade - Memory Erosion - Patient Rebuilding

• Absolutely need some mana rocks

ShaDoWz_6677 on Looming Shadows {Tergrid Brutal Build}

2 months ago

So, I read a bit in your primer. Chains of Mephistopheles is worded weird. BUT, how chains works with Anvil is weird.

That first card they draw (Anvil Card) they discard a card first, then draw. Then they draw there card for turn, which will not trigger Chains of Mephistopheles. It's 1 discard difference, but it's pretty huge for board state interaction.

I would recommend Mindcrank for this deck if your running Bloodchief Ascension . It's not the cEDH Tergrid, but if your opponents are discarding already, why not? Necropotence seems good here since you can get around your own Anvil trigger, and your own Chains triggers since you aren't drawing the cards. This impacts the board state on an entirely different level if YOU aren't being effected by Chains either.

Underworld Dreams seems pretty solid as well and I'm surprised your not running it too since your opponents are losing life off of each card they draw (Triggering your Bloodchief)