Combos Browse all Suggest
Legality
| Format | Legality |
| 1v1 Commander | Legal |
| Archenemy | Legal |
| Arena | Legal |
| Block Constructed | Legal |
| Canadian Highlander | Legal |
| Casual | Legal |
| Commander / EDH | Legal |
| Commander: Rule 0 | Legal |
| Custom | Legal |
| Duel Commander | Legal |
| Freeform | Legal |
| Gladiator | Legal |
| Highlander | Legal |
| Historic | Legal |
| Historic Brawl | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Leviathan | Legal |
| Limited | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Modern Beyond Horizons | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Pauper | Legal |
| Pauper Duel Commander | Legal |
| Pauper EDH | Legal |
| Pioneer | Legal |
| Planar Constructed | Legal |
| Planechase | Legal |
| Quest Magic | Legal |
| Vanguard | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
Mindwrack Harpy
Enchantment Creature — Harpy
Flying
At the beginning of combat on your turn, each player mills three cards. (To mill a card, put the top card of your library into your graveyard.)
RufusTheGrufus on
Anikthea's Enchanting Recycling Plant [Primer]
9 months ago
Hey, Idoneity, fair enough and grain of salt taken; I'm just happy for the engagement and thought exercise(s)!
I think you and I have fairly similar deckbuilding philosophies; and for that reason I think I'd agree that Fertile Ground is definitely not optimal, it is sweet Anikthea tech though. And I think we’d both also agree that it's also not just stand alone card value, but also deck synergy that factors into deckbuilding choices; especially for EDH.
Between Ajani's Chosen and Archon of Sun's Grace, I'd definitely agree that the archon is stronger. But, it seems like I value these cards much higher than you for this specific deck/build. Oftentimes I see Ajani's Chosen and Archon of Sun's Grace almost like backup/adjacent commanders to Anikthea. They're additional token generators that reward me for playing into the themes of the build, and offer an avenue to close out games either after my graveyard is wiped and/or before I get good targets in my graveyard for Anikthea's ability. They can and will get out of hand without Anikthea needing to be played, and can force opponents to need removal before I even utilize my commander; which can then be followed up by falling right back into the main gameplan with Anikthea. Sure, by themselves and without the context of the decklist, they aren't going to be doing much; but when they offer additional value for a majority of the plays being made with this list, I think they become a lot stronger of effects/includes.
I have similar opinions regarding Mirkwood Bats, Grim Guardian, and Bastion of Remembrance. Outside of pure game-ending combo packages, and B4+ decklists, I typically consider cards that I categorize as ‘Finishers’ as the cards that will win the game if you have already gotten your gameplan going. They're not cards that are supposed to end the game just by themselves, in my opinion, but more-so win the game once I’m already doing a lot, by capitalizing off of my deckbuilding choices. To that end, I would argue that adding the drain/ping effects like Mirkwood Bats and Grim Guardian are actually raising the power cap, relative to a more alpha strike-based gameplan, especially since they ping when my enchantment tokens ETB; which is why I started to transition them into the list. Unfortunately Bastion of Remembrance is probably the weakest option since it triggers off creatures dying. But the fact that it's an enchantment, that also provides a token body on the side, has kept it in the list up till now. Ideally I'd have a much bigger suite of on-theme ETB drain effects; I'm just waiting for them to be printed! I'm trying to maximize the value I can get from the tokens produced by Anikthea ASAP; especially since exiling your own enchantments to make token copies is a fragile strategy. The pinger effects guarantee some sort of payoff that's headed towards winning the game without having to worry about attacks.
Palantir of Orthanc... I know I should cut it for something more on-theme, I do love this card though lol… If I were to cut it, I'd want to replace it with another piece of card advantage; this deck can be really resource hungry. Similar thoughts for Mindwrack Harpy: I'd want to replace it with a different piece of on-theme card advantage if anything. I actually really like Mindwrack Harpy and sure, relative to something like Rhystic Study or Esper Sentinel it's lower power; but it also puts in consistent work, especially in B3. I particularly like it because it typically offers card advantage during the same turn that it's played, and in my local meta having creatures with flying to block has been invaluable. I'm also a bit biased because I very rarely have had to worry about Mindwrack Harpy giving my playgroup card advantage as well, because up until recently I've primarily been the only one capitalizing off of my graveyard; and there is a good number of decks in my playgroup that care about topdeck manipulation so milling everyone has been almost all upside for me (we will see what the future holds since graveyard synergies are starting to become more common in my meta). In my experience Mindwrack Harpy has also gotten a disproportionate amount of removal thrown at it in my playgroup, so it also acts as a lightning rod to draw removal away from key pieces.
I think I'm going to hold off on adding Familiar Ground to the formal decklist right this second, but I am going to swap it in for Flowering of the White Tree and do a bunch of playtesting in the meantime! Thank you again for taking the time and energy to check out the decklist and offer your insight, I appreciate it!
Idoneity on
Anikthea's Enchanting Recycling Plant [Primer]
9 months ago
RufusTheGrufus — Commander being a subjective format, we naturally approach the game differently. As such, you have inclusions I wouldn't prioritize, and likely vise versa if I were to construct this thing. It's always tedious to suggest cuts, but I can offer suggestions with that in mind.
My general philosophy in commander deck-building is that every card must do something individually significant without relying on other pieces, including the commander, to be relevant.
Following that line of thought, Ajani's Chosen is a rather small body that can swarm the board, but four mana is a lot to invest in something that doesn't want to attack or block. Archon of Sun's Grace is a far stronger stat line, but is excluded through personal preference.
Funnily enough, pretty much everything in the "Finishers" category is outside my playstyle as well. Particuluarly Bastion of Remembrance, Mirkwood Bats, and Grim Guardian seem to need a lot to get going. However, I know you want the deck to have a power cap.
The anthems are interesting, however plain unblockability to end the game might just be better. I'd only include it because I think the card is neat; it's probably not optimal either way.
For some other stray shots: Mindwrack Harpy is a little low power and Palantir of Orthanc isn't an enchantment, but you seem to like that one a fair amount. Definitely play what you like.
I don't know of this helps. Either way, I implore you to take these with grains of salt.
RufusTheGrufus on
Anikthea's Enchanting Recycling Plant [Primer]
1 year ago
"That's just my 2cents, would love your thoughts.”
Oh boy, well I definitely have some thoughts!
“Creeping Ren - Yeah, it's definitely not as good as replenish. I suppose it depends on the amount of interaction/wipes in the meta and if you have enough card draw to bypass the grindy attrition.”
Yeah definitely, and on second thought it may be more appropriate to compare it to Phyrexian Reclamation. I'll probably have to playtest with Creeping Renaissance swapped in over it; I'm not sure yet which will be more cost intensive in the long run, and being able to hit different card types with Creeping Renaissance is really nice. I'm a bit hesitant though because it would dilute the enchantment count further and Phyrexian Reclamation is relevant way earlier in the game.
“Archon of Sun's Grace - It's nice, it makes tokens. For 4 mana, is there something better?”
Oh man, Archon of Sun's Grace is so much more than just a creature that makes tokens for four mana! Just In looking at it's stats, it's a ¾ with flying and lifelink, for four mana; which is an amazing cost rate. This list is pretty vulnerable to faster decks and/or decks with a lot of flying, so both the lifelink and the flying help keep me around till the mid/late game. On that same note, the tokens produced do the same exact thing. Because Archon of Sun's Grace triggers off of enchantments entering the battlefield, it's surprisingly easy to organically generate a game-winning number of tokens (either through combat damage or ping effects).
“Mindwrack Harpy - 4 mana, mill cards. I feel that there are other cards that can mill. I get it's an enchantment creature, I just wonder how impactful it is.”
Maybe it's just my playgroup in particular, but having flying creatures in a deck feels incredibly impactful on it's own. Like you've pointed out, it's an enchantment, so it will trigger the significant number of cards that care about enchantments that are built into this list. Additionally, it doesn't just mill yourself and provide you with more card selection for Anikthea's ability, it also mills each opponent. With just one Mindwrack Harpy, your opponents will likely be irritated and disrupted, but with a plethora of Mindwrack Harpy copies (which this deck is capable of doing!) you're also threatening to take players out of the game. It definitely has downsides in that it can assist other players who are also playing with their graveyard; but the fact that it happens on your turn helps balance that out a bit.
If I were to cut Mindwrack Harpy I'd want to slot in a similarly efficient, enchantment-based piece of card advantage. Flickering Ward could be interesting since it also doubles dips and acts as protection, but the card advantage efficiency is nowhere close unfortunately.
“I feel like in EDH, you are going to have a lot of stuff in your GY regardless."
Sometimes you will, sometimes you won't! There's so much variance just within a single deck, let alone across 4, that I wouldn't say it's guaranteed. And even then, I would rather be reliant on my own methods of getting cards into my graveyard, during my turn, rather than waiting for my opponents to interact with me in some way. For decks that rely on using their graveyard it's really important to be able to control when cards are put into the yard, rather than just passively waiting for your graveyard to fill, since graveyard hate is plentiful and easily accessible.
“Mirkwood Bats - As a finisher, do you need the redundancy? It cost a lot and without the setup doesn't seem too impactful.”
Mirkwood Bats I don't feel as passionate about but man, you really don't want me to have any flyers lol! The setup for this card is literally baked into the deck’s packages; and you wouldn't play any wincon cards before you're set up anyways (e.g., casting Craterhoof Behemoth with no other creatures)! Mirkwood Bats wasn't originally on my radar but eventually got added to this list back when I was more heavily playtesting it.
Because this list allows for a ton of tokens to be produced, oftentimes my turns would get obnoxiously long without being able to close out the game. Mirkwood Bats allows me to capitalize on tokens the second they're produced, as well as when I sacrifice them (which is way more rare, but definitely comes up).
In terms of redundancy I'm actually worried I may not have enough of these effects, but I also don't want to convert the list fully to an aristocrat build. I would not say that having four ping effects is redundant in a 100 card deck and, while I have various tutors to help mitigate that; I haven't found myself with an excess of pingers when playing this list (so far at least!).
Kcin on
Anikthea, Hand of Erebos is Graverobbing
3 years ago
king-saproling on
The OPM of Hightower
5 years ago
Cool deck. You might like these: Ill-Gotten Gains , Mesmeric Orb , Shared Trauma , Dread Summons , Eye Collector , Mindwrack Harpy , Vicious Rumors , Syphon Mind , Geth's Grimoire , Memory Jar , Fleshbag Marauder , Demon's Disciple , Merciless Executioner , Mire in Misery , Awaken the Erstwhile , Cabal Conditioning
ConsumingKiribo on
Mindwrack harpy's wrath
5 years ago
This definitely looks like a Dimir Mill deck. First off, since you're focused around Mindwrack Harpy , I'm going to recommend Ruin Crab or Hedron Crab . I'm going to keep recommending this because they're staples in mill for a reason.
It looks like you're going for a beat-stick with Relic Golem . I'd say replace it with Jace's Phantasm which is instead a 1 mana beat-stick that gets you a 5/5. However, most mill decks opt out of using a beat-stick since they're trying to deck out their opponent.
Fruit of Tizerus is a bit wasteful to put in this deck. Glimpse the Unthinkable for a more aggressive deck or Maddening Cacophony if you're going for a slower, yet more controlling, and less aggressive mill deck.
Finally, Drown in the Loch can be a good card in this deck. It's basically a Doom Blade and Counterspell glued together. What makes it even better is that Counterspell isn't even legal for modern.
Overall: This lacks focus... kind of. The edits are certainly an improvement, though there are some questionable card choices. This looks like a decent standard deck save for the sideboard. If you're planning on using this deck in modern, for higher-level play groups you want your average CMC to be around 2 or 3, especially in an aggressive deck.
Since this is a mill deck, I'd recommend going for a much more controlling approach vs an aggressive approach, since you have the advantage of your opponent's graveyard. Magic is a game of resources, probability, and the stack. Your opponent's graveyard is a resource. USE IT.
In the end, it's certainly a decent deck for a new player. Despite questionable card choices, it looks decent.
ConsumingKiribo on
Mindwrack harpy's wrath
5 years ago
inker6405 Great! Well, I have a couple of suggestions if you want a mill deck:
Mindwrack Harpy isn't the best. Reducing it to 2 or 3 copies is a bit better as you want it later in the game but you'll still be happy getting it when you need it. Instead, Ruin Crab or Hedron Crab is a much better idea as you can trigger it multiple times through fetchlands, such as Bad River, Evolving Wilds, Fabled Passage, or Polluted Delta if you got the money.
Glimpse the Unthinkable. 10 cards for 2 mana is a great deal. You can't get that kind of value anywhere else.
Maddening Cacophony adds flexibility. Add Fraying Sanity to increase effectiveness, though if games are going a bit faster than you think, Traumatize.
Next, some cards that fit your description found on gatherer. For a full comprehensive list, here's a large link: gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Search/Default.aspx?action=advanced&text=|[%22mill%20one%20or%20more%20cards%22]|[%22card%20is%20put%20into%20an%20opponent%27s%20graveyard%20from%20anywhere%22] But here are my (budget) recommendations:
Duskmantle Guildmage is good in a mill deck as it helps your opponent lose life more and more easily as an alternate win condition.
Profane Memento is worth sideboarding if you absolutely eat it in the 4rth turn because your opponent was playing burn.
Finally, the best non-budget recommendation that pulls everything together would be a great addition to the deck (the deck is 15 bucks, you can relatively keep this deck at like 30, 40 bucks by adding 1 or 2 of this card)
Bloodchief Ascension. This can be your win con. This deck isn't getting anywhere however unless you'll drop 80 bucks on this card. But the number of cards that are unblockable pull this card together, this entire deck together, yeah you'll stall for 2 or 3 turns, and the deck will only work if this is your first card, but if you are going to break the restrictions and make your budget go wack, this is the card that pulls everything together. All you have to do is drop Swimmer in Nightmares and a Sol Ring since you have no Ashiok, and Sol Ring is restricted in every format it isn't banned in.
Sorry, but you're going to have to drop the Sol Ring.
Next, some useless cards in the deck are:
Boot Nipper, it doesn't do anything except being defensive. You aren't going to need it. You have Murder if the opponent has a really big and intimidating creature well, you can just kill it.
Departed Deckhand, Farbog Revenant it does nothing in this deck. You're attacking your opponent's deck, not their life, so focusing on that contributes nothing and wastes resources for precious deck space for better cards.
Filigree Familiar. Honestly, Divination is better. ANYTHING is better. Visions of Beyond is also a suggestion for mill decks.
Kjeldoran Dead. This does nothing. You'll pass someone's attacks anyway because the average game plays out for 6.5 turns. You'll have enough time to play out your strategy. No one is getting out Emrakul, the Promised End. In fact, not many will actually win by getting out some really big creature. Some will create a value engine, others will spam tokens, or just put pressure on you, in which they've already won once they got their win-con out. A chump blocker isn't going to do anything in this format, but it can do something in commander. This isn't commander.
Lurking Deadeye. How are you going to deal damage in the first place? 2 murders are more mana efficient.
Wall of Frost. A better option for this is Wall of Lost Thoughts.
Swimmer in Nightmares, you need an Ashiok Planeswalker. You have more than enough space for Ashiok, Dream Render as some decks focus on resurrecting the dead. However, this might conflict with what you're going for, but it's a recommendation. (Cling to Dust can do it as well if you come across Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath, which hasn't eaten a ban in ANY eternal formats. Not even in Brawl).
tl;dr Again, a lot of cards in here either do nothing or almost do nothing, and without Bloodchief Ascension this deck isn't going to be good. It's a mill deck, but a mill deck isn't good without mill cards. And when only a sixth of the deck is mill cards, that isn't good.
If you're ever confused about deck building, Here's a tip: 25 lands, 20 synergistic (cards that count towards winning) cards, 15 cards that let you do things, draw more cards, destroy inconvenient creatures, or counter Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath. Or Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre, and/or the rest of the Eldrazi titans that haven't eaten a ban.
And also ditch one of your Sol Rings, again they are restricted in vintage and banned in every format that isn't commander.
inker6405 on
Mindwrack harpy's wrath
5 years ago
TLDR at bottom
Consumingkeribo sorry it took so long was looking for cards that you suggested and taking in what you said. this deck was based on the cards in the Theros: Beyond Death Ashiok, Sculptor of Fears plansewalker deck so my main goal in this deck is to make them lose thru mill hence why it's named after Mindwrack Harpy and to change that strategy would mean I would have to scrap the whole deck so even though you don't recommend it that's the win condition I'm going for
I like your idea of Sadistic Sacrament or Unmoored Ego but I don't think that cards like Curiosity or Rogue's Gloves will help with the mill strategy unless I put in more cards that allow me to "bring back the dead"
In the end thanks for the recommendations and advice I'm thankful that even thou I'm new you were willing to help and if you have anymore you like to share I'm always here.
TLDR
deck focus/win condition: mill
liked ideas:Sadistic Sacrament, Unmoored Ego
thanks for the recommendations and advice and if you have anymore you like to share I'm always checking in