“Couples See Man Sized Bird…”

Commander / EDH Aggro BUG (Sultai) Horror Mill Reanimator Theft

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Lands (31)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Barkchannel Pathway  ^Flip
• 1x Breeding Pool
• 1x City of Brass
• 1x Clearwater Pathway  ^Flip
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Darkbore Pathway  ^Flip
• 1x Drowned Catacomb
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 1x Hinterland Harbor
• 4x Island
• 1x Llanowar Wastes
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Morphic Pool
• 1x Overgrown Tomb
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Reflecting Pool
• 1x Rejuvenating Springs
• 2x Swamp
• 1x Underground River
• 1x Undergrowth Stadium
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Waterlogged Grove
• 1x Watery Grave
• 1x Woodland Cemetery
• 1x Yavimaya Coast

Ramp (7)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Birds of Paradise
• 1x Carpet of Flowers
• 1x Delighted Halfling
• 1x Farseek
• 1x Fellwar Stone
• 1x Sol Ring

Tutors (3)

• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Vampiric Tutor
• 1x Worldly Tutor

Mill (19)

• 1x Altar of Dementia
• 1x Altar of the Brood
• 1x Captain N'ghathrod
• 1x Consuming Aberration
• 1x Court of Cunning
• 1x Cut Your Losses
• 1x Duskmantle Guildmage
• 1x Fleet Swallower
• 1x Fractured Sanity
• 1x Fraying Sanity
• 1x Maddening Cacophony
• 1x Memory Erosion
• 1x Mindcrank
• 1x Nemesis of Reason
• 1x Psychic Corrosion
• 1x Terisian Mindbreaker
• 1x Traumatize
• 1x Umbris, Fear Manifest
• 1x Zellix, Sanity Flayer

Reanimator/Recursion (10)

• 1x Animate Dead
• 1x Breach the Multiverse
• 1x Conduit of Worlds
• 1x Diluvian Primordial
• 1x Flotsam / Jetsam
• 1x From the Catacombs
• 1x Reanimate
• 1x Rise of the Dark Realms
• 1x Sepulchral Primordial
• 1x Virtue of Persistence

Direct Damage (4)

• 1x Bloodchief Ascension
• 1x Brainstealer Dragon
• 1x Guiltfeeder
• 1x Syr Konrad, the Grim

Evasion (1)

• 1x Sun Quan, Lord of Wu

Protection (1)

• 1x Lightning Greaves

Commander (1)

Interaction/Removal/Board Wipes (10)

• 1x Assassin's Trophy
• 1x Beast Within
• 1x Boseiju, Who Endures
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Drown in the Loch
• 1x Fierce Guardianship
• 1x Nature's Claim
• 1x Negate
• 1x Swan Song
• 1x Toxic Deluge

+1/+1 Counters (7)

• 1x Hardened Scales
• 1x Kami of Whispered Hopes
• 1x Ozolith, the Shattered Spire
• 1x Scurry Oak
• 1x Simic Ascendancy
• 1x Thrummingbird
• 1x Winding Constrictor

Card Advantage (5)

• 1x Bred for the Hunt
• 1x Danny Pink
• 1x Reconnaissance Mission
• 1x Return of the Wildspeaker
• 1x Rhystic Study

Just Beat It (1)

• 1x The Haunt of Hightower

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Maybeboard

Other (5)

• 1x Diluvian Primordial
• 1x Grim Tutor
• 1x Maskwood Nexus
• 1x Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker
• 1x Psionic Ritual

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SUGGESTIONS WELCOME

A “slender, muscular man" about seven feet tall with white wings, its face invisible due to the hypnotic effect of its eyes.

A large black creature whose eyes "glowed red.”

A creature standing in a field, its eyes glowing "like bicycle reflectors.”

The Mothman is a humanoid cryptid reportedly seen in the Point Pleasant area from November 15, 1966, to December 15, 1967. And in this deck, it’s taken up milling.

The Concept

What is this deck?

This is not your ordinary mill deck. Rather than relying solely on library depletion, we use mill to pump powerful creatures and entomb juicy targets for reanimation spells. We can win through various infinite combos, combat damage, and of course plain old mill.

Why MothyBoy?

As soon as I saw The Wise Mothman, I thought of how fun it could be to mix mill and combat damage, in the vein of The Haunt of Hightower. As I used to have another Sultai mill deck, many of those cards could be easily repurposed for this (hypothetical) deck.

As to the Mothman, he flies, mills, pumps, and helps ensure our ultimate victory, cryptid-style. What more could you want?

Also, I don’t know much about Fallout, but who doesn’t love Mothman?

Why not…

As Commander

Captain N'ghathrod: Sultai has all sorts of creature and ramp syngeries that Dimir lacks. Though he does seem like fun…

Phenax, God of Deception: Another fun commander, though not quite as exciting as the Mothman.

In the 99

Propaganda: Unlike many mill decks, we have creatures of our own to block with.

Leyline of the Void: I enjoy theft via reanimation.

Glimpse the Unthinkable: Singe-target mill spells are too inefficient outside of Traumatize.

Card Choices

+1/+1 Counters

Hardened Scales: Doubles our +1/+1 counter placement. For one mana. Enough said.

Kami of Whispered Hopes: As per the previous, with the added bonus of ramping us to an insane degree.

Ozolith, the Shattered Spire: More redundancy for the previous two effects.

Scurry Oak: One of the MVPs of the deck; produces tokens to pump and doubles as a combo piece with our commander and one of either Altar of the Brood or Altar of Dementia.

Simic Ascendancy: Another wincon that reaches 20 counters shockingly quickly.

Thrummingbird: Proliferates +1/+1 and Rad counters, and doubles as a horror for Captain N'ghathrod.

Winding Constrictor: Like the first three, but it also doubles Rad counters from our commander.

Card Advantage

Bred for the Hunt: Cards (almost) whenever ours creatures hit, which happens more frequently than in an average mill deck.

Danny Pink: Up to one card PER CREATURE per turn, and also hands out counters to the little guys.

Reconnaissance Mission: As per BftH, but more reliable.

Return of the Wildspeaker: Draws cards or pumps our entire board.

Rhystic Study: Do YOU pay the {1}?

Direct Damage

Bloodchief Ascension: Damage with every milled; also combos with Mindcrank.

Brainstealer Dragon: A creature for us to reanimate that also “draws” us cards and takes huge chunks of life with reanimation.

Guiltfeeder: Once again, takes HUGE chunks of life, this time whenever it connects.

Syr Konrad, the Grim: More damage, and lots of it. Also, it’s a mana sink.

Evasion

Sun Quan, Lord of Wu: Makes our whole board unblockable 99.9999% of the time.

Interaction

Assassin's Trophy: Removes anything on the board for two mana.

Beast Within: As per the previous card, but with a smaller downside.

Boseiju, Who Endures: An untapped land that doubles as removal for high-priority artifacts and enchantments. Sign me up.

Cyclonic Rift: A one-sided board wipe that even comes with a single-target option.

Drown in the Loch: Removal and a counterspell one one card.

Fierce Guardianship: A free counterspell. What’s not to love?

Nature's Claim: For one mana and lifegain than we can circumvent through a mill or combo win, removing our opponent’s Smothering Tithe always feels good.

Negate: Counters anything but creatures, and for {U} less than a standard Counterspell.

Swan Song: One mana counterspell? Sign me up!

Toxic Deluge: A powerful boardwipe that gets around indestructible, and for one mana less than most wrath effects.

Just Beaters

The Haunt of Hightower: This card is so much fun. Just a huge, flappy bat man with a FANTASTIC scarf.

Lands

Ancient Tomb: Ramp on a land; the life loss is also more manageable for us than in squishier mill decks.

Mill

Altar of Dementia: Combos with Scurry Oak and our commander; with our commander’s pump ability it’s also a good way to mill away those final cards if a combat victory is difficult.

Altar of the Brood: Replaces Scurry Oak in the combo above, and also mills with every permanent entering the battlefield (including tokens).

Captain N'ghathrod: One of the MVPs of the deck; with the good captain and our commander, our handful of Horrors will grow every time they hit an opponent. He also steals artifacts and creatures straight from the grave, which is always fun.

Consuming Aberration: A massive beater that mills each of your opponents (potentially for a lot) every time you cast a spell.

Court of Cunning: Unlike many mill decks, we’ll be able to consistently hold on to that Monarch title; for three mana, the ceiling of 30 cards per turn of mill, plus a card on your end step, is fairly easy to achieve.

Cut Your Losses: Six mana is a little pricy for a Traumatize, but it’s worth it with because of the Casualty ability, which turns it into a two-player-Traumatize or a single-player-75%-mill, both useful options depending on the game state.

Duskmantle Guildmage: Fatal combo with Mindcrank, Traumatize, etc.

Fleet Swallower: The NomNom Fish. Traumatize on a stick, and a kill with Bruvac the Grandiloquent, Fraying Sanity, and others.

Fractured Sanity: Consistent multi-person mill.

Fraying Sanity: Lethal with any “mill half” effect, and good outside of that combo as well.

Maddening Cacophony: Like Cut Your Losses, only so, so much better. Combos with mill doublers, damage on mill cards, etc.

Memory Erosion: Consistent multi-person mill.

Mindcrank: The absolute uncuttable card in this list. It combos with the “damage on mill” cards, and is just great overall in our more aggressive shell.

Nemesis of Reason: A sort of mini-NomNom Fish. Also a horror, which has some innate synergy.

Psychic Corrosion: Say it with me now: CONSISTENT. MULTI-PERSON. MILL.

Terisian Mindbreaker: As per NomNom Fish, but a robot that can resurrect itself it gets milled or dies.

Traumatize: It only targets one player, but four mana is great for this effect.

Umbris, Fear Manifest: Not the best for this deck, but we do have a few horrors, so…

Zellix, Sanity Flayer: Little baby horrors to block with, use as sacrifice fodder, pump with The Wise Mothman…

Protection

Swiftfoot Boots: It’s to have a hasty, protected Mothman.

Reanimator

Animate Dead: You know it, you love it.

Breach the Multiverse: Four reanimation spells on a global “mill ten”.

Conduit of Worlds: Some recursion to help us take advantage of the Mothman’s mill.

Flotsam / Jetsam: Very similar to Breach the Multiverse, but for any spell and for four less mana; Flotsam is also sometimes useful.

From the Catacombs: Two reanimating spells in one, plus it’s usable if it gets milled by Rad counters.

Reanimate: A classic. Reanimation for one mana and some life.

Rise of the Dark Realms: A huge, fun wincon spell.

Sepulchral Primordial: Up to three free spells on a reanimatable body.

The Master, Transcendent: Repeatable reanimation, plus some light mill.

Virtue of Persistence: Reasonably priced removal AND a once-per-turn reanimation if we can get it to stick.

Tutors

All fairly straightforward, useful for finding answers, combo pieces, etc.

Do you believe?

Top Ranked	Achieved #9 position overall 4 months ago Achieved #6 position in Commander / EDH 4 months ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH Aggro 4 months ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH BUG (Sultai) 5 months ago
Date added	6 months
Last updated	2 weeks
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	11 - 0 Mythic Rares 60 - 0 Rares 18 - 0 Uncommons 5 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.41
Tokens	Beast 3/3 G, Bird 2/2 U, Clue, Dungeon: Undercity, Horror, Radiation, Skeleton 4/1 B, Squirrel 1/1 G, The Initiative, The Monarch, Treasure
Folders	Fun EDH Decks, Decks to try