New to EDH and would love some feedback/help!
Commander Deck Help forum
Posted on May 1, 2019, 8:08 p.m. by MonkeySit
I have only recently started playing EDH and my playgroup has really taken to the format. One of my favourite play styles is to mill the opponent mostly because it's such a different way to play the game and I recently stumbled across a Phenax, God of Deception deck which utilised a couple of methods I already have in my own mill deck and it seemed appropriate to build upon that. I have very limited knowledge when it comes to EDH and would love it if you could please leave a comment with some feedback or help and please if at all possible, leave your suggestions with what cards you would replace to help me out because I struggle with making cuts.
Phenax Mill
Commander / EDH
6 COMMENTS | 35 VIEWS | IN 1 FOLDER
Thanks in advance!!
Hey, nice to hear somebody likes mill in EDH! Not to blatantly advertise my deck, but it's one of my four decks which I constantly update every time a new set comes out and whatever, so take a look at it if you want for some advice: "Library.exe has stopped working".
Start from this viewpoint: in EDH, to win, you'd have to mill from 100 (if you are 1 vs 1) to 300 (4 player match) cards to win. It's a huge lot, so your milling has to be reusable, versatile and impacting.
From my experience, since you don't run graveyard recursion for instants/sorceries and you don't run a spellslinger deck anyways, I'd suggest to cut cards like Archive Trap , Mind Funeral , Shared Trauma : these are one use, so either they're super good (take out an opponent kind of good) or they're inefficient.
Hedron Crab is useless in EDH, for real, don't spend that money, it's not worth it (even though it is in modern). Same goes for Jace's Phantasm / Lord of the Void / Oona, Queen of the Fae , which for different reasons don't provide enough for their mana investment. Yeah, 1 mana 5/5 flyer, and now? Mill 5?
Not to mention, you will never ever successfully cast Enter the Infinite : if you really just want to combo out, even a Diabolic Tutor would be a better choice. 12 mana is hardly achievable without mana ramp.
I've noticed a general lack of card draw and this is really dangerous. Consider tweaking this.
From what it seems, I'd say you trusted edhrec.com too much, and again I'd invite you to take a look at my deck above. I play in 4 players multiplayer matches and trust me, there are many other useful cards you didn't consider and many others which are not worth including. Take your time, and once you're ready, tell me and I'll come back to check your changes!
May 2, 2019 1:53 p.m.
Steelspike says... #4
Mill is pretty hard in EDH, since there's at least 40 more cards in libraries than normal and you usually have more than one opponent.
Also, most folks hate playing against mill, and then there's those folks who play "graveyard matters" decks like Meren, or Muldrotha that you end up helping.
I would honestly add red and run Nekusar, the Mindrazer as your commander. Almost the same concept, but it mills to your hand, then yard. Plus, you can run cards like Sire Of Insanity , Library of Leng , Black Vise , Skullcage , The Rack , Megrim and whatnot.
May 2, 2019 3:21 p.m.
Thank you so much for the feedback everyone! I really appreciate it.
ShutUpMokuba, I do agree that I need more mana ramp and I'll be putting those into my next update. You're right about tragic slip and I have already revised to remove that haha but thank you for confirming that for me :). Oh woops, I forgot about Rhystic Study! Thanks for reminding me!
Hey K1ngMars thanks for the amazingly extensive feedback and I love mill so if I can make it work, I'll give it a crack. Your deck is fantastic and has really brought to light where I may have gone wrong with a lot of cards. I will be revising it to change out typical mill cards to be a bit more creature-centric and focus on deterring being attacked as a secondary tactic (as a personal preference). On the note of the first lot of cards you suggested to take out as they have no recurring value - if it's any consolation, I am thinking of adding in Kozilek, Butcher of Truth as I have decided to include a lot of recycling hand cards which may remove a few of my own. What might be your thoughts on that? I also agree about the phantasm, lord of the void and Oona as the mana should be used elsewhere. THANKS! In regards to Enter the Infinite, it was honestly added as a little extra meme but you are right and it will only remain if I choose to throw in more tutors. Would you consider my recycle hand cards as draw? my plan would be to play out my hand and generate draw from the group with cards like Windfall or do I still not have enough including those? No, I actually haven't touched edhrec.com haha. I used knowledge from my own modern mill and researched multiplayer mill. Thank you SO MUCH for your feedback and I will certainly be in touch when I have made changes.
Steelspike I agree - it's not the most viable option but my playgroup is quite used to my modern mill deck and are very ok playing against it so I thought this may add some versatility to our EDH games. Keep them interesting you know? I appreciate your feedback but I personally will keep Phenax. However, a few of those other cards I actually really like especially Library of Leng . I will be revising the deck and would love to hear your thoughts when I am done.
You've all been so helpful and I look forward to hearing from you all in relation to the revisions I make :)
May 2, 2019 7:25 p.m.
Hi everyone.
The deck has since been updated if you feel like having a look at all. Thanks again so much for the feedback so far - it's been beyond helpful!
K1ngMars you said to let you know so this is me letting you know haha!
ShutUpMokuba says... #2
I would suggest more ramp artifacts like Dimir Amulet and a couple of more lands. I would also suggest more wrath effects cards like Damnation and its cheaper, but still great, alternatives like Life's Finale . I see that you put some bounce effects cards like Cyclonic Rift but for example Tragic Slip could be easily replaced by a mass removal. The two things i want to stress out are: 1) try not to miss land drop and try to ramp as fast as possible, 2) mass removals to get rid of all your opponents' threats.
For the rest i see you put in some tutor cards, some cards to protect your commander. I would also add some draw engine like Rhystic Study , Phyrexian Arena and similar cards just to be sure you draw enough cards.
May 2, 2019 1:08 p.m.