Are mill decks viable?
Standard forum
Posted on March 8, 2013, 12:32 a.m. by My_ppl_eat_dogs
I've been trying to put together a good mill deck that I can bring to FNM soon. Just need to get the cards. I just want know your guys' thoughts on mill in general. So what do you guys think?
Heres the deck that I've been working on. feed-me-seymourhelp-needed
There's a lot of good mill cards in Standard right now, it's just that there's too much aggro for mill to win reliably... With a good sideboard and some smart choices in deck building, I'm sure you can pull off many wins though.
March 8, 2013 1:57 a.m.
The Doctor says... #4
Honestly, it depends COMPLETELY on your LGS's meta.
Is it aggro; control; midrange...?
March 8, 2013 2:58 a.m.
aeonstoremyliver says... #5
If mill was a secondary win-con, then maybe. I had an idea of stealing creatures with Havengul Lich. Use mana fixing ala Chromatic Lantern. I've been working on a Modern deck idea that utilizes the aforementioned:
March 8, 2013 3:30 a.m.
In most metas it's far too slow and gets crushed by aggro. A lot of control decks can just counter the spells and wipe the board of the few creatures you play. Mill is definitely on shaky ground. Having said that a lot of control decks put in Nephalia Drownyard as a win condition. Once they have the battlefield completely locked down and know you have nothing else to play they just slowly mill you to death. It's worth noting that these decks are like 95% control and 5% mill. I would still say that straight up mill is pretty vulnerable.
March 8, 2013 5:02 a.m.
KnightsBattlecry001 says... #7
Right now mill seems to be little slow right now with all the aggro decks running around. However, mill can be good depending on your local metagame.
March 8, 2013 8:37 a.m.
aeonstoremyliver says... #8
Mill is much stronger in Modern with cards like Archive Trap, Glimpse the Unthinkable, and Mind Funeral.
Have you thought of a self mill/Dredge/Reanimator type deck? Cards like Thought Scour, Grisly Salvage, Gravecrawler, Lotleth Troll, Skaab Ruinator, and Unburial Rites have a lot of synergy.
March 8, 2013 12:57 p.m.
My_ppl_eat_dogs says... #9
@aeonstoremyliver I only play standard. And reanimator looks good.
feed-me-semour-redux If aynone can give their thoughts on my revised mill deck that would be great!
March 8, 2013 1:04 p.m.
My_ppl_eat_dogs says... #10
Heres my Esper version of my deck if you guys want to take a look! the-espers
March 8, 2013 5:16 p.m.
bribrown81 says... #11
I have been doing some research to find a good Standard deck and stumbled upon this...http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/perfection-of-milling/. There is also an article accompanying it that you will see evaluating the deck. Strongest I have seen thus far and it is a budget deck unless you buy the Plainswalkers. Let me know what you guys think.
March 22, 2013 12:39 p.m.
My_ppl_eat_dogs says... #12
Been following the deck for awhile and quite honesty I dont see it winning alot. Aggro is so dominant in this format that Mill is just to slow.
March 22, 2013 12:41 p.m.
bribrown81 says... #13
You don't think with the adjustments that the writer of the article suggested will help negate some of that?
March 22, 2013 1:11 p.m.
Wizard of the Damned says... #14
If thy wants to play mill, Play control out of thine arse. In T2 play, Mill has not had much success but if you branch out into modern and legacy, thine chances of having a spellbook of viable mill tomes becomes much greater
March 22, 2013 1:12 p.m.
My_ppl_eat_dogs says... #15
@bribrown81 Nope. we're gonna have to see when Dragon's maze comes out. If you want to go mill, go Esper. Cards like Terminus,Supreme Verdict and Blind Obedience just destroys agro decks. Gives you enough time to cast that Mind Grind
March 22, 2013 1:37 p.m.
detentionsphere says... #16
The problem with dedicated mill right now is the prevalence of Psychic Spiral and Witchbane Orb as sideboard cards. Everybody's running them as a reaction to the Esper decks. But yeah, for mill, Esper is the way to go. Early spot removal (Devour Flesh, Ultimate Price, Azorius Charm), cheap card draw (Think Twice), sweepers (Supreme Verdict, Terminus, Planar Cleansing), and countermagic (Dissipate) can help you take over the game, from which point Sphinx's Revelation puts you out of burn range and fills our hand with answers, and Nephalia Drownyard slowly mills them to death
March 22, 2013 5:21 p.m.
Hey what do you guys think of my milling deck. Dimir milling deck
March 23, 2013 11:17 a.m.
Prob should explain the deck. This deck is based around a couple of combos.1. Once i get ten cards to the graveyard. my Jace's Phantasm becomes a 5/5 flyier for 1. to acheive this early I have 3x Mind Sculpt or Paranoid Delusions 2. i have 2x Undercity Informer with 2xMortus Strider . So lets say you attack. I block with mortus sack and you will have to mil to you find a land. rinse and repeat as long as you have the mana.3.I am running with 4xParanoid Delusions and 3xDimir Keyrune to cipher and have an unblockable. 3 mana to start the pain and 2 mana to coninure the milling4. Consuming Aberration and Wight of Precinct Six will get stronger as you mill. I have 1xRogue's Passage to allow direct hits as a second win condition.
Early game. 2xFog Bank , 3x Vampire Nighthawk and the 3xJace's Phantasm would be painful. Plus the 4 removals. 2x Grisly Spectacle 1x Ultimate Price 1x Victim of Night
1x Lazav, Dimir Mastermind Is there for any fun
CreepyCarbs says... #2
I too have been trying to make a viable mill deck. If you want to check mine out for some ideas, feel free! http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/bro-do-you-even-mill/
The only problem I see with mill is that it's slightly too slow for standard: which is comprised of mostly fast-paced aggro.
I'll take a look at your deck though!
March 8, 2013 1:18 a.m.