So with gatecrash around the corner, I really want to put together a Dimir mill deck as an alternative to running RDW all the time. I'm not super experienced in U/B or mill so I'd really like the communities suggestions on how to do this. What little experience I have with mill seems to show it takes several turns to get going and needs help surviving the early game. This is what I have so far. Yes, it's several cards over 60. No, I don't intend to keep it that way, I'd just like suggestions on what you guys would cut or add to it, using current GC spoilers and whats available in standard.
So I need to trim 9 cards, and I really don't even know if I'm heading in the right direction. I've also considered Cyclonic Rift and Gridlock in the deck to stall out a bit and possibly Jace's Phantasm . Another glaring issue I'm sure will be pointed out is the lack of Watery Graves. I'll acquire them when I can, but I'm not including them right now because my initial build won't have them. They will end up being included when I get some.
Any advice on directions to take this would be appreciated.
Mill is a worthless strategy and you're going to lose the majority of your games. The only good mill card you have in thisdeck is Jace, Memory Adept and it's only good because it's a 3-4 turn clock. Drownyard is only god in Bant because all of the other cards in the deck allow you to survive that long. What you should do is make UB control and then have a copy or two of Jace in the deck or board as a win condition. Wasting cards for crappy mill spells is like playing a burn spell that deals one damage.
Mill is a worthless strategy and you're going to lose the majority of your games. The only good mill card you have in thisdeck is Jace, Memory Adept and it's only good because it's a 3-4 turn clock. Drownyard is only god in Bant because all of the other cards in the deck allow you to survive that long. What you should do is make UB control and then have a copy or two of Jace in the deck or board as a win condition. Wasting cards for crappy mill spells is like playing a burn spell that deals one damage.
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If you keep saying that you won't listen to our advice, don't expect anyone to give you any more. Shadowchu has a point, though. Milling isn't the most reliable win tactic. I think that in order to win with a mill deck, you need 2 things:
2: Enough control to last long enough to mill them to death
You're fine on condition 1, but this deck could use more control. You're running black, so you have access to cards like Ultimate Price and Tragic Slip . Well, maybe not Tragic Slip .....In a deck like this, your kill power is limited. But you see my point, right?
If you keep saying that you won't listen to our advice, don't expect anyone to give you any more. Shadowchu has a point, though. Milling isn't the most reliable win tactic. I think that in order to win with a mill deck, you need 2 things:
I'm inclined to agree with the OP. To respond with "Mill is a worthless strategy...you should play UB control" is not advice or, if it is, it's borderline rude. To say something like "Milling isn't the most reliable tactic, but if you want to try it, you need this..." is much better.
There was a guy who played a mill deck at my FNM a couple of weeks ago. I never faced him and I don't know how he did overall, but listening to the background chatter I think he won at least some games.
Many of us play FNM not with the intent to place no. 1, but rather we're happy to come out 3-1, 3-2, or maybe even 2-2. We value the originality of our deck designs and the pride in having cooked up something ourselves more than we value the final outcome. When someone posts a deck here, the response should, in my opinion, be as constructive as possible. In most cases this means not telling someone how bad the design is, but giving advice on making it as good as it can be within the constraints of the deck design.
Every time someone has told me my deck won't work, I've come out with a winning record. Every single time. The final feedback I received on last week's deck was "I think you've gone a long way in the wrong direction." That was the deck I won my first FNM with.
If you keep saying that you won't listen to our advice, don't expect anyone to give you any more. Shadowchu has a point, though. Milling isn't the most reliable win tactic. I think that in order to win with a mill deck, you need 2 things:
2: Enough control to last long enough to mill them to death
You're fine on condition 1, but this deck could use more control. You're running black, so you have access to cards like Ultimate Price and Tragic Slip . Well, maybe not Tragic Slip .....In a deck like this, your kill power is limited. But you see my point, right?
Telling me to play a different deck entirely is not advice, or atleast it's not the advice I asked for when I made the thread.
As for lack of control, I agree. I've tried mainly using blue control instead of black, but I could try out ultimate price.
Sorry, I'm not going to sugar coat it. If something is bad, I'm going to say that it's bad. I'm not rearing a child here. I'm trying to explain what is good and what is bad in competitive magic.
Also, if you want to be a snowflake and have people tell you you're special for making a good deck go talk to your parents about it. If you want to be casual about your standard deck then go to casual. If you want advice on how to make this a tournament quality deck don't ask for opinions because you might not like what you're going to hear.
Winning an FNM doesn't make your deck good. You might like your snowflake and feel proud about it but that doesn't make it a tournament level deck. I've won FNMs with garbage before too because 4 rounds is high variance and you can win with trash. FNM for the most part have easier people to play against and more people who are playing on budget.
On top of all of this the fundamentals of this deck is flawed. To acheive a condition in which mill is an acceptable win condition you need to either control the board or have some kind of lock. This deck does none of that. Aggro decks are going to laugh as you play your creatures that won't save you or your spells that do nothing against them. Mill is a bad strategy because you're saying instead of playing against 20 life I'm going to play against 40 life and realistically not have any way to interact with their 20 life. These mill cards are fine for casual but not in a tournament setting. This is the Standard forum not the casual forum.
