Type 2 Blue/Black Ravnica milling + lock deck

[Fire of Filth]

I'm gonna make a blue/black deck, hopefully pretty soon. But mine, unlike talk from most folks, will be based on milling and control through milling. Here's my probable decklist:

Land (19)

4 Watery Grave
3 Underground River
3 Dimir Acquaduct
3 Swamp
3 Island
1 Shizo, Death's Storehouse
1 Minamo, School At Water's Edge
1 Duskmantle, House Of Shadow


Creature (19)

3 Dimir Guildmage
3 Moroii
3 Circu, Dimir Lobotomist
2 Lurking Informant
2 Szadek, Lord Of Secrets
2 Dimir Cutpurse
2 Stinkweed Imp
2 Nezumi Shortfang

Other (22)

3 Perplex
3 Consult The Necrosagens
3 Clutch Of The Undercity
3 Traumatize
2 Moonlit Bargain
2 Dimir Signet
2 Psychic Drain
2 Lightning Greaves
2 Tunnel Vision

Total: 60 Cards

What do you think? I feel it's solid enough, but it'll take a while to really get going sadly. Still, I have sufficient disruption until the deck does get going, so I should be ok. Lightning Greaves are there to protect my valuables (the Lord Of Secrets, Circu and Moroii mostly).

As usual, I pay heed to all feedback.

Cheers,

:r: of :b:

[Xujhan]

If I were to build the deck, I'd focus mostly on decking and remove agressive creatures like Moroii. Circu can be very powerful, and combining it with Tunnel Vision can get you any card of your choice under Circu's hold. I'd also run Jester's Cap, so you can get rid of threats, and get Tunnel Vision targets down to only one left in the deck. Combining with Reito Lantern could be usingful as well. And where's Glimpse the Unthinkable?

[Fire of Filth]

Xujhan, I really want to thank you for the tips. First off, I can't believe I forgot Glimse The Unthinkable. I'm repulsed. I've removed Moroii (though I'll still sideboard it if needed) and the Shortfangs, and I've replaced them with Glimpse The Untinkable and Induce Paranoia cards. I'm not sure about the Stinkweed Imps, but they can serve as constant removal thanks to their Dredge 5 ability (even if 5 cards is quite a bit). Moonlight Bargain can give me some good acceleration. Here's what the deck currently looks like:

Land (19)

4 Watery Grave
3 Underground River
3 Dimir Acquaduct
3 Swamp
3 Island
1 Shizo, Death's Storehouse
1 Minamo, School At Water's Edge
1 Duskmantle, House Of Shadow


Creature (13)

3 Circu, Dimir Lobotomist
2 Dimir Guildmage
2 Lurking Informant
2 Szadek, Lord Of Secrets
2 Dimir Cutpurse
2 Stinkweed Imp

Other (28)

4 Glimpse The Unthinkable
3 Consult The Necrosagens
3 Clutch Of The Undercity
3 Traumatize
2 Moonlight Bargain
2 Perplex
2 Induce Paranoia
2 Dimir Signet
2 Psychic Drain
2 Lightning Greaves
2 Tunnel Vision
1 Jester's Cap

Total: 60 Cards

Sideboard (15)

3 Moroii
3 Jester's Cap
2 Reito Lantern
2 Nezumi Shortfang
2 Dimir Doppelganger
2 Distress
1 Szadek, Lord Of Secrets

And the verdict is? What are your oppinions? What rules and what drools? Thanks to all who take their time to answer my inquiries.

Cheers,

:r: of :b:

[Xujhan]

Looking better already. I should point out that Lightning Greaves was Mirrodin, so if you intend this to be T2, that can't be in the deck. Given you can't use that, I'd also suggest dropping Szadek. He's slow, expensive, and screams "Shoot me!" every second he's in play. Not to say that's always a bad thing; it forces your opponent to have an answer, but I would rather have a few more answers in the deck. Since Glipse is your most powerful milling card, it might be worth adding Muddle the Mixture so you can Tansmute for it. Muddle can also act as a counter if you need it to.

Most of my experience with slow milling decks is this: they die to creatures. Your best answer therefore, is to take advantage of your second colour: black. I'd drop the low toughness creatures so you can include Hideous Laughter, and possibly lower your permanent count overall so you can use Plague Boiler. Even if you can't manipulate the counters, it blows up the world in three turns. If you add Transmute effects to the deck, it would be worth adding Top for consistency. Kamigawa Block tought us that the top is pure goodness with shuffle effects. I have a U/B milling decklist I built for you to try, but it's on a computer I don't have access to at the moment, so I'll put it up here first chance I get.

Out of curiosity, do you have MWS? I could use a playtesting partner and a second opinion for some wacky deck ideas.

[Fire of Filth]

I like the ideas, and yes Lightning Greaves ill be leaving the deck shortly. I will add 2 Plague Boilers instead. But I like Szadek, it's the only tough creature in the deck, and Black is the only color that can have an easy time against him. If I attack once, then Szadek is out of reach of just about every Burn spell there is. However, I like the Top and Muddle The Mixture suggestions, and I'll see how I can include them in the deck.

Thank you very much for your helpful feedback.

And of course I have MWS, when would you like a deck test? ;)

:r: of :b:

[Xujhan]

I can't be on a lot this week unfortunately. You can add me to AIM or MSN if you'd like, then grab me when I'm online. Otherwise, if you see a Xujhan on MWS, that's me.

Here's my U/B Dimir deck. Built solely on principle mind you, I've yet to shuffle it up.

U/B Dimir

3 Circu, Dimir Lobotomist

4 Glimpse the Unthinkable
4 Hideous Laughter
4 Mana Leak
3 Muddle the Mixture
3 Induce Paranoia
3 Cranial Extraction
3 Traumatize
3 Psychic Drain

4 Sensei's Davining Top
3 Plague Boiler

11 Island
8 Swamp
4 Watery Grave

I think the deck will still need a little more creature control. If so, Cruel Edict or Twisted Justice might make the deck. So would a forth Plague Boiler. One idea would be to drop Circu and let your opponent's creature kill look stupid. Then the deck would warrant Boomerang instead, to ward off random Ivory Masks.

[Fire of Filth]

I've been thinking about possible renovations myself. Cards I'd like to put in are:

1. Reito Lantern (2)

2. Plague Boiler (2)

3. Muddle The Mixture (2)

Cards that I'll probably end up taking out are:

1. Dimir Guildmage (2)

2. Moonlight Bargain (2)

3. Lightning Greaves (2)



I'm pretty sure the Reito Lantern/Tunnel Vision combo will work great, which is why I hope to include 3 of each. This would probably mean dropping 1 Clutch Of The Undercity and 1 Psychic Drain. But first i'll test it out like so.

Thanks,

:r: of :b:

[RastFox]

Where is Twincast? Dimir Signet. Im working on a similar deck myself, trying to get a type 2 good enough for tourny action together, thought having been sacked at my job that is less likely now.

[Fire of Filth]

Land (19)

4 Watery Grave
3 Underground River
3 Dimir Acquaduct
3 Swamp
3 Island
1 Shizo, Death's Storehouse
1 Minamo, School At Water's Edge
1 Duskmantle, House Of Shadow


Creature (10)

3 Circu, Dimir Lobotomist
3 Dimir Cutpurse
2 Hypnotic Spectre
2 Stinkweed Imp

Other (31)

4 Glimpse The Unthinkable
4 Twincast
3 Traumatize
3 Consult The Necrosages
2 Clutch Of The Undercity
2 Reito lantern
2 Perplex
2 Induce Paranoia
2 Dimir Signet
2 Muddle The Mixture
2 Plague Boiler
2 Tunnel Vision
1 Jester's Cap

Total: 60 Cards

This is my new decklist, featuring 4 Twincast, Hyppies, more Cutpurses and the suggestions that Xujhan made. Thanks for all your help!

All tips and feedback are welcome,

:r: of :b:

[aw519]

Your blue black deck looks awesome after revisions .. I am building a deck very simalar to it ... I am thinking of adding some 4 x terraformer and maybe 4 x nightmare .. terraformer lets me out everything as swamp for one turn and nightmares */* is equal to the numebr of swamps you control .. also since you are building a milling deck mortivore would be a great adition , since the graveyards are full and his */* is equal to the number of creature cards in all graveyards .. just a thought .. something i am throwing around ..

aaron - sarnia - canada

[Fire of Filth]

Mortivore, not a bad idea. I'll try it. But I'd say drop the Nightmare - Terraformer idea. It's not worth using up about 4-6 slots on a combo that probably won't win you the game. Plus, you need to keep your mana open to be able to play multiple milling spells or counters.

:r: of :b:

[aw519]

Thanks for the tip on nightmare and transformer .. i think i might side board 2 / 2 of but pull them from my official deck .. Thanks ...

Also thanks for the tip on jesters cap ... really cool card i had forgot about in a milling deck ... i take it you like it becuase it lets you go see what cards they have singles of .. and then you could use it with the reito lantern and tunnel vision to basically win the game ..

thanks again

aaron - sarnia - canada

[Fire of Filth]

Yes, that is so, but I have found out that the combo is too susceptible to disruption, and has a considerable fragility. So, I have (once again) changed the decklist.

Land (19)

6 Island
5 Swamp
4 Watery Grave
3 Underground River
1 Duskmantle, House Of Shadow

Creature (9)

3 Dimir Cutpurse
2 Circu, Dimir Lobotomist
2 Hypnotic Specter
2 Stinkweed Imp

Other (32)

4 Glimpse The Unthinkable
4 Twincast
4 Hideous Laughter
4 Boomerang
3 Consult The Necrosages
3 Sensei's Divining Top
2 Traumatize
2 Clutch Of The Undercity
2 Perplex
2 Induce Paranoia
2 Dimir Signet

Total: 60 Cards

With the addition of the Tops, the entire deck seemed to work better as a whole. Turn 4 Glimpse The Unthinkable and Twincast seems rather useful. though in my opinion, you should cast Traumatize before Glimpse + Twincast. I am very pleased with the way the deck has fared so far (though my biggest threat remains WW and random Ivory Mask decks...)

EDITS - I have maindecked 4 Boomerang ( which save my hide vs Ivory Mask) and 4 Hideous Laughter ( againts WWr etc, even though this means I'll lose my Hypnotic Specters and my Dimir Cutpurses...but it's better than losing...)

Any thoughts on the deck or the sideboard? Don't be shy to post. All help is greatly appreciated.