nickbooth

Channelfireball and Starcitygames are the two biggest mtg websites, and they sell cards online. The best course of action is to ask your local game store owner, theyll be well-versed in where to buy as its what they do, and most will be willing to track down/set aside a card for you if youre having trouble finding it.

Just to repeat Derago, if you have any questions just put them out there, we'll try to answer to the best of our ability.

If you can get your hands on them, those jaces are incredible in a deck like this. The confessions really should go, and tbh the captains are not essentially as your only other zombie is the wight.

If youre putting in Jace, i would definitely ditch a removal spell for another guildmage. Activate the guildmages first ability twice, use jace's 0 ability once, GG.

Hey man, welcome to magic! Here's a few tips on the game concerning this deck:

1) This deck is not discard. Discard is very specific function in the game: to put a card from a player's HAND into the graveyard. Discard is a keyword function in Magic, and examples of this can be seen in cards like Mind Rot and Purge the Profane.

2) The term you want is mill. Milling is the common name for placing cards from a player's LIBRARY into the graveyard. The name originates from the first "milling" card, Millstone. It hasn't been keyworded yet, so you wont see the term on cards. However, cards such as Mind Sculpt and Paranoid Delusions are milling cards, designed to reduce your opponent's library down to zero to take advantage of Magic's built-in secondary win condition: trying to draw from an empty library causes you to lose.

3) I don't know how competitively you play or plan to play, but i would seriously consider ditching the Brush with Death. It's not a great card with an expensive buyback cost for a meh effect, and its causing your deck to be illegal in many competitive forms. In short, only the last few sets of cards are legal in standard and Brush with Death was printed a long time ago.

4) Coerced Confession is an absolutely horrible card. 5 mana to mill 4 is pitiful (compare it to mind sculpt: 2 mana for 7 cards), and the card draw is incredibly variable and likely to net you nothing. Thats the best way to estimate a cards value, to compare it to cards with a similar effect at similar rarity. I would ditch them for more mind sculpts, it is a common and shouldnt be too hard to get your hands on.

That's all i really have for you! i hope i haven't sounded patronizing in this comment, im just trying to help. This looks like a very solid casual deck, and if this is your first deck i applaud you, i have seen a lot worse among experienced players in my playgroup.

Paranoid Delusions. THE cipher mill card. Put it in. 3/4 of. Ditch the despises (no longer standard) and the Aetherizes for 4 Delusions.

Wow, pretty lucky indeed.

Anyways, in the deck, yeah the muchopig is right the Bracers only affect activated abilities, not triggered. CA's is triggered.

If you want to keep the bracers, i suggest either Duskmantle Guildmage or Undercity Informer or both. They have activated abilities that hurt when doubled.

This is my Dimir Mill deck: http://www.mtgvault.com/nickbooth/decks/dimir-machinations/. Take a look for ideas and i would appreciate suggestions.

Cipher is an amazing mechanic yet i feel it got hosed in Gatecrash. The spells are just too expensive. Paranoid Delusions and Hands of Binding are the best simply because they are the cheapest. I hope they print some epic Ciphers in Dragon's Maze.

WILD DEFIANCE

LIvewire lash has the same effect but is more expensive and only effects a single creature.

a reanimater is a card like unburial rites (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=227087) that take a creature card from your graveyard and put it in play. Angel of Serenity is popular as a reanimation target nowadays, but because you do not have Unburial rites the angel's extreme cost isnt worth her effect.

For another early game creature, augur of bolas might be better than fog bank, he is the same cost, has 1 power so can kill things, plus has an ETB trigger you can spam (maybe)

I didn't think about detention sphere, it is an upgrade. But I'm wary of that U in the cost, I don't want it to sit and not cast when I need it.

As for the Join The Ranks, the main point of it is 2 lay activations AT INSTANT SPEED. With the evangel, that basically makes it a counter spell, with the cleric it's at least 5 life gain, with the ranger it's 2 more bodies. In a vacuum, yes it sucks massively, but it combos exceptionally with the other cards. It is expensive tho, which is why there's only 2.

As for the Raptor, I dunno, you might be right, the only reason he's here is for flying, I've been pecked to death more than once and that singleton can either save me from that or peck the opponent to death.

I'm Feeling This!

but seriously, i would seriously ditch the angels of serenity, with only 21 lands and no reanimater, youre gonna be hard pressed to cast them. I would rather have another cloudshift or restoration angel, or possibly a singleton Deadeye navigator for fun.

Talrand, Sky Summoner?

Teleportal. I have 10 million goblins that oops now you cant stop.

Guttersnipe. He ends games. Period. Plus he's a goblin.

Talrand, Sky Summoner. Not as good as Krenko but can still get you a game-ending army.

Other than that, looks solid. The elixir looks superfluous, but i guess it depends on how much milling youre expecting to face.

Transguild Promenade however looks worrying. It may seem like a good mana fixer, but this deck likes having mana and TP becomes a dead draw midgame when you would rather see a usable land or a burn spell. id rather use Evolving wilds, it doesnt require that 1 mana investment for what is ultimately pretty much the same effect.

I have to agree with cng that Azor's Elocutors would do well here. Don't scoff, they would. Unless they have a token swarm, you will have enough fog/defenders to stop damage for 5 turns to set him off.

I think mill is a very good way to go, but dont over do it. At its core this is a turbofog deck, with heavy mill due to Sands and Doorkeeper. But those two, Jace and Though Scour are probably enough to keep you going. 7 other sub-par mill cards are a little much. I would have a few more fog effects (moonmist, terrifying presence, druids deliverance), like 3 of one of those, then 2 mind sculpt (it is a decent mill), 1 incresing confusing (i would rather mana dump into sands), and 1 elocutors (you dont want it to always show up, but when you do, it works). Exact numbers can be up to you.

Tbh those are really specfic changes, otherwise this is a highly promising deck, very well done.

Cancel isnt a good counter spell. Agreed, an unconditional hard counter is useful, but its expensive for its purpose. Negate is a better option. Youve got enough burn to take out creatures.

TROLL

Well, if you want a huge troll deck and really annoy your friends run 60 Chancellor of the Dross

Youre guaranteed 7 in your opening hand, you reveal them, your opponents lose 7 times 3 (21) life, you win the game before the game even starts.

Of course, they wont let you play with them anymore, but its fun to do the first time you play with people.

Galvanoth would be cool, but i would hardly ever cast the spell cuz i want to time everything

Im trying to avoid non-Modern cards (im a newer player, i have a weird prejudice against them) but the empress looks like a huge troll in commander :L

Bazaar trader would be cool, but im not building a deck around that, dominus is just there for stalling until i can get Niv out. I have tibalts huge final, but thats it

Thanks! i hadnt included the Scepter cuz i thought its price would be through the roof but as it isnt i took out the sword for it. Thanks, it will make a great Fabricate target with a Flusterstorm in hand.

Tbh it isnt wholly mine, i based it off of an article online, but a morphed it a bunch to include cards i own/cards i thought should be in here.

How do you plan to cast The Plague Queen with no access to black mana.

And you want some sort of tutor to the Firemind, you cant win without him. Your entire deck is built around finding him. Gifts ungiven comes to mind, but youd have to include 3 Fireminds to guarentee you get one

Curse of stalked prey. Volt Charge. I would splash white for a Gavony's Township to buff everyone at once, even the creatures you have to buff the ones you really care about.

Personally, Rakish Heir is sub-par to Vampire Nocturnus. But, with more red than black thats probably a bad idea.

Vampire Nighthawk HAS to be in here. He is a powerhouse on his own, but is practically invincible when paired with the Captain (first striking deathtouch? yes please)

Finally, i would choose better removal spells. Doom blade is amazing but is usually sub-par to Go for the Throat (more black decks than artifact decks running around) but DB does hit Inkmoth nexus. However, i would dump the shocks for Tragic Slip, which can deal with the nexuses and practically anything else when triggered. When DB/GftT phase out, i like the looks of Victim of Night, but the cost might be too heavy for you. Hopefully Ravinica brings a great 2-drop removal spell.

DEEP ANALYSIS. The original favorite flavor text.