Mindmoil Madness

Commander / EDH* UR (Izzet)

BigSlime

Land (35)

• 1x Cascade Bluffs
• 1x Castle Vantress
• 1x Command Beacon
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Fiery Islet
• 1x Forgotten Cave
• 1x Inventors' Fair
• 13x Island
• 1x Izzet Guildgate
• 1x Lonely Sandbar
• 1x Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
• 1x Minamo, School at Water's Edge
• 4x Mountain
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Shinka, the Bloodsoaked Keep
• 1x Spirebluff Canal
• 1x Steam Vents
• 1x Sulfur Falls
• 1x Temple of Epiphany
• 1x Temple of the False God

Instant (12)

• 1x Arcane Denial
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Deflecting Swat
• 1x Demon Bolt
• 1x Depart the Realm
• 1x Fierce Guardianship
• 1x Flame of Anor
• 1x Force of Will
• 1x Saw it Coming
• 1x Tolarian Winds
• 1x Unwind
• 1x Valakut Awakening  ^Flip

Planeswalker (2)

• 1x Jace, Wielder of Mysteries
• 1x Teferi, Temporal Pilgrim

Creature (19)

• 1x Body of Knowledge
• 1x Chasm Skulker
• 1x Forgotten Creation
• 1x Harmonic Prodigy
• 1x Jace's Archivist
• 1x Kami of the Crescent Moon
• 1x Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
• 1x Laboratory Maniac
• 1x Magus of the Wheel
• 1x Memnite
• 1x Niv-Mizzet, Parun
• 1x Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind
• 1x Obstinate Familiar
• 1x Ormos, Archive Keeper
• 1x Psychosis Crawler
• 1x The Locust God
• 1x Thundering Djinn
• 1x Toothy, Imaginary Friend
• 1x Whirlpool Warrior

Enchantment (12)

• 1x Clout of the Dominus
• 1x Dictate of Kruphix
• 1x Dream Halls
• 1x Leyline of Anticipation
• 1x Mindmoil
• 1x Ominous Seas
• 1x Possibility Storm
• 1x Psychic Corrosion
• 1x Rhystic Study
• 1x Sphinx's Tutelage
• 1x Teferi's Ageless Insight
• 1x Wizard Class

Commander (1)

Artifact (14)

• 1x Alhammarret's Archive
• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Gustha's Scepter
• 1x Howling Mine
• 1x Jeweled Lotus
• 1x Lotus Petal
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Neurok Stealthsuit
• 1x Scroll Rack
• 1x Spellbook
• 1x Talisman of Creativity
• 1x Teferi's Puzzle Box
• 1x Vedalken Orrery
• 1x Welding Jar

Sorcery (7)

• 1x Chandra's Ignition
• 1x Deep Analysis
• 1x Gitaxian Probe
• 1x Preordain
• 1x Ravenform
• 1x Sea Gate Restoration  ^Flip
• 1x Windfall

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Maybeboard

Creature (3)

• 1x Glint-Horn Buccaneer
• 1x The Locust God
• 1x Toralf, God of Fury  ^Flip

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Mordenkainen

Instant (1)

• 1x Fateful Showdown

Enchantment (1)

• 1x Sphinx's Tutelage

Sorcery (1)

• 1x Timetwister

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Embrace the Madness

Mindmoil fetches us a random hand every time we cast a spell. Cast cards and cycle through the deck. Fix hands, and stack up massive card draws for big points.

The general strategy here is to build up big hands with a hefty mana-base in the early game, then cast Mindmoil or our commander, Arjun, the Shifting Flame, to get the engine chugging. The more of our library we can dig through, the better.

A quick sidenote: I have edited the deck with this engine-oriented design-theme in mind, and so I've often cut "combos," such as the Curiosity, Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind combo, which were featured in earlier iterations (and in many similar decks that command Arjun). I felt that for a deck that's based on gambling, searching for specific combo pieces was a bit antithetical to the intended play-style, and so the main strategy here is for the player to get the deck's engine chugging.

Play this deck if you love to gamble and want a deck where you can often see the entire library in the course of a game.

UTILITIES

CARD DRAW: Howling Mine, Dictate of Kruphix, Font of Mythos, Kami of the Crescent Moon, Rhystic Study,Consecrated Sphinx, and Stroke of Genius: Two artifacts, enchantments, and creatures each, plus an instant. These cards exist primarily to help us stack our hand to make way for bigger and bigger Mindmoil cycles, and are an indispensable tool for our early game. Most of the draw here is symmetrical around the table, which helps keep the heat off of us as most players won't object to extra cards, but it's our deck that'll gain the most value—a big hand is essential to our success.

ZERO-COST CYCLERS: Mana Crypt, Lotus Petal, Spellbook, Gitaxian Probe, Mox Opal, and Gustha's Scepter: Once our hand is stacked up, and with Mindmoil active, cast any of these cards to cycle our hand away for free. Keep digging!

FORETELL: Depart the Realm, Demon Bolt, Ravenform, Saw it Coming, and Crush the Weak: Avoid cycling away much needed responses! Pay two mana and set these cards aside for later use.

RESERVE STASH: Scroll Rack, and Gustha's Scepter: Save cards from being bottomed by placing cards atop your library with Rack, or exiling them under Scepter.

FLASH SPEED: Leyline of Anticipation, and Vedalken Orrery: Incredibly useful in this deck as it allows us to get around Mindmoil triggers if we need to cast more than one card from the same hand. Keep in mind however that every cast stacks more cycling triggers on top of each other, so we can find ourselves pilling through the deck rapidly as a result. This can often be an advantage to us, so plan accordingly.

GRAVEYARD RECURSION: Kozilek, Butcher of Truth: Kozilek ensures we'll never deck ourselves by wheeling away too many hands; whenever he ends up in the graveyard, we shuffle it all back into the library.

WIN-CONS

Mindmoil OR Arjun, the Shifting Flame + Alhammarret's Archive OR Teferi's Ageless Insight + Jace, Wielder of Mysteries OR Laboratory Maniac: Ageless Insight and the Archive double our draw, and with Mindmoil on the board, every cast doubles our hand size. Cast zero-mana cards to Mindmoil for free. In only a few casts, your library will be empty and you'll have the win. Be warned, Archive and Mindmoil are a dangerous combo, and you could end up just decking yourself if you're unprepared or if an opponent interferes—be ready to bounce the Archive by foretelling Depart the Realm just in case. There are many other pairings we can come up with to maximize our draws, even if Mindmoil is not available to us. Teferi's Puzzle Box or Forgotten Creation can keep us doubling our hand each upkeep, and any of our wheels can double us on the spot.

Niv-Mizzet, Parun OR Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind + Body of Knowledge OR Fateful Showdown OR Sea Gate Restoration   OR Tolarian Winds OR Winds of Change OR Windfall OR Jace's Archivist OR Whirlpool Rider OR Whirlpool Warrior OR Forgotten Creation: Niv-Mizzet can do a lot of work in this deck, and that's why there's two of them. Niv-Mizzets net us damage triggers with every draw. The more we cycle, the more damage we can do. Body of Knowledge nets us draw triggers whenever damaged, so we can target Body with one Niv-Mizzet and deal damage for as many cards as we can draw with the other. With a big enough hand, activating Forgotten Creation in our upkeep, tapping Jace's Archivist, or casting Tolarian Winds, Windfall, Winds of Change, Whirlpool Rider, Warrior, Sea Gate Restoration, or Fateful Showdown becomes a win as we deal Niv damage triggers for each card we draw (of these, Fateful Showdown is the most deadly, as we'll deal raw damage for each card in hand, and then deal it all over again when we draw).

Chasm Skulker OR Ormos, Archive Keeper OR Body of Knowledge OR Psychosis Crawler + Chandra's Ignition: Chasm Skulker and Ormos each get bigger with draw, whereas Body of Knowledge and Crawler grow with our hand size. When any one of them is sufficiently heavy, target with Ignition to wipe the board or end the game.

Dream Halls + Teferi's Ageless Insight OR Alhammarret's Archive + Mindmoil OR Arjun, the Shifting Flame: Discard cards with Halls, and get free draw doubling until the library is depleted.

Glint-Horn Buccaneer + Jace's Archivist OR Forgotten Creation OR Magus of the Wheel OR Tolarian Winds OR Wheel of Fortune OR Windfall OR Fateful Showdown: Discard damage. Stack a big hand and pitch it.

DRAW TRIGGER WINS: Pair any of these cards with a card draw effect for maximum value. These work reliably with Mindmoil or Arjun, the Shifting Flame, but there are a number of other cards that net us draw, such as Teferi's Puzzle Box, or any of our wheels:

Psychosis Crawler: Cycle through the library for raw life loss to opponents. Note that many of the draw spells we mentioned in the Niv-Mizzet section also pair formidably with Crawler. The added benefits here is that lifeloss is equal among opponents around the table, and Crawler gets steadily bigger with our hand size, and can quite quickly become a threatening beast.

Ominous Seas: Every eighth draw gets you an 8/8 Kraken. Keep drawing to build a formidable token board.

Chasm Skulker: Draw to beef up Skulker. Let him die to gain an army of squid tokens.

The Locust God: Draw for locust tokens. Swarm your opponents.

Thundering Djinn: Deals damage equal to your card draw directly to any target. Cycle big draws for massive swings.

Ormos, Archive Keeper: With an empty library, cycling a hand will pump Ormos rapidly.

Psychic Corrosion: Mill opponents two cards for every draw. Cycle through big hands to demolish decks, then cast a wheel or use Mikokoro, Center of the Sea to end the game outright.

Niv-Mizzet, Parun OR Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind: Either one is a huge threat to opponents and their creatures and planeswalkers when we start cycling.

CHANGELOG

05/12/21

(+) Kozilek, Butcher of Truth, Ominous Seas, Consecrated Sphinx, Venser, Shaper Savant, Thundering Djinn

(-) Book Devourer, Diviner Spirit, Coastal Piracy, Magus of the Jar, Master the Way

05/18/21

(+) Jace, Wielder of Mysteries, Mana Crypt, Clout of the Dominus, Dictate of Kruphix

(-) Firemind's Research, Darksteel Ingot, Ruby Medallion, Sapphire Medallion

05/20/21

(+) Saw it Coming, Demon Bolt, Dual Strike, Ravenform

(-) Dragon Mage, Psychic Corrosion, Narset, Parter of Veils, Boomerang

06/01/21

(+) Castle Vantress, Chandra's Ignition

(-) Nezahal, Primal Tide, Halimar Depths

06/07/21

(+) Lotus Petal, Stroke of Genius, Spellbook

(-) Izzet Cluestone, Curiosity Crafter, Whirlpool Drake

07/12/21

(+) Teferi's Ageless Insight, Psychic Corrosion, Vedalken Orrery

(-) Hullbreacher, Brainstorm, Counterspell

07/23/21

(+) Shinka, the Bloodsoaked Keep, Ormos, Archive Keeper, Gitaxian Probe

(-) Khorvath's Fury, Tormod's Crypt, Mountain

08/16/21

(+) Chandra's Ignition, Gustha's Scepter

(-) Spiraling Embers, Molten Psyche

09/03/21

(+) Birgi, God of Storytelling  

(-) Dual Strike

09/29/21

(+) Mordenkainen, Crush the Weak, Neurok Stealthsuit

(-) Underworld Breach, Birgi, God of Storytelling  , Stroke of Genius

10/01/21

(+) x2 Island

(-) Spinerock Knoll, Shelldock Isle

10/02/21

(+) Midnight Clock, Dream Halls, Glint-Horn Buccaneer, Wizard Class, Sphinx's Tutelage

(-) Psychic Corrosion, Crush the Weak, Commander's Sphere, Spellbook, Consecrated Sphinx

11/26/21

(+) Toralf, God of Fury  , Kindle the Carnage

(-) Midnight Clock, Expansion / Explosion

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A budget version of this deck can be found here.

Date added	2 years
Last updated	7 months
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	10 - 0 Mythic Rares 44 - 0 Rares 15 - 0 Uncommons 16 - 0 Commons
Cards	102
Avg. CMC	3.16
Tokens	Bird 1/1 U, Insect 1/1 UR, Kraken 8/8 U, Spirit 2/2 U, Squid 1/1 U