Phenax Dredge Combo

Commander / EDH* Combo Dredge Mill UB (Dimir) Zombie

theburnishedhart

Land (39)

• 1x Academy Ruins
• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Buried Ruin
• 1x Cephalid Coliseum
• 1x Choked Estuary
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Creeping Tar Pit
• 1x Dakmor Salvage
• 1x Dimir Aqueduct
• 1x Dimir Guildgate
• 1x Dismal Backwater
• 1x Drowned Catacomb
• 1x Drownyard Temple
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 1x Halimar Depths
• 6x Island
• 1x Mortuary Mire
• 1x Petrified Field
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Reflecting Pool
• 1x River of Tears
• 1x Sequestered Stash
• 1x Shelldock Isle
• 1x Sunken Hollow
• 6x Swamp
• 1x Tainted Isle
• 1x Temple of the False God
• 1x Unholy Grotto
• 1x Watery Grave

Enchantment (3)

• 1x Animate Dead
• 1x Intruder Alarm
• 1x Tombstone Stairwell

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Liliana, the Last Hope

Creature (24)

• 1x Archaeomancer
• 1x Body Double
• 1x Burnished Hart
• 1x Coffin Queen
• 1x Consuming Aberration
• 1x Corpse Connoisseur
• 1x Deranged Assistant
• 1x Dimir Doppelganger
• 1x Disciple of Deceit
• 1x Duskmantle Guildmage
• 1x Eater of the Dead
• 1x Golgari Thug
• 1x Grimgrin, Corpse-Born
• 1x Kederekt Leviathan
• 1x Laboratory Maniac
• 1x Millikin
• 1x Mirror-Mad Phantasm
• 1x Mnemonic Wall
• 1x Necrotic Ooze
• 1x Possessed Skaab
• 1x Sewer Nemesis
• 1x Soul of Innistrad
• 1x Stinkweed Imp
• 1x Undead Alchemist

Instant (11)

• 1x Cackling Counterpart
• 1x Cyclonic RiftGC
• 1x Dig Through Time
• 1x Entomb
• 1x Evacuation
• 1x Forbidden Alchemy
• 1x Hero's Downfall
• 1x Murderous Cut
• 1x Mystical Teachings
• 1x Swan Song
• 1x Think Twice

Commander (1)

Artifact (14)

• 1x Altar of Dementia
• 1x Basalt Monolith
• 1x Bonehoard
• 1x Crucible of Worlds
• 1x Dimir Signet
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Mesmeric Orb
• 1x Mind Stone
• 1x Mindcrank
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Talisman of Dominance
• 1x Thousand-Year Elixir
• 1x Vedalken Orrery
• 1x Whip of Erebos

Sorcery (7)

• 1x Army of the Damned
• 1x Deep Analysis
• 1x Dread Return
• 1x Increasing Ambition
• 1x Morgue Theft
• 1x Sever the Bloodline
• 1x Whispering Madness

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I've scoured the Internet for a Phenax Self-Mill deck, and nothing I've found has ever been more focused on playing combos out from the graveyard than this brew (though marsteralex's Phenax Dredge is probably the closest). Inspired by the lovely people over at CommanderTheory, this deck's conception first began soon after they published this article. The person who submitted the decklist to CommanderTheory in that article (which I aforementioned in my initial parenthetical) didn't really take the advice to heart, seeing that his decklist has been left unaltered since his submission, so I decided to make one in his stead, so I present to you my Phenax Dredge Combo deck!

I've been playing this deck for more than a year now, and it has been one of the most fun yet challenging decks to pilot. While milling out opponents is completely viable and often Plan A, the real fun starts when you mill yourself and your graveyard becomes your second hand.

Here are the combos to mill your opponents (or yourself):

• Eater of the Dead + Phenax, God of Deception : The one-card combo with the Commander, just so long as your opponents have creatures in their graveyards.
• Grimgrin, Corpse-Born + Phenax, God of Deception + Undead Alchemist : Sacrifice the Zombies made to Grimgrin to untap him, and then mill some more to make more Zombies. Just hope your opponents keep milling creatures. Necrotic Ooze can take Grimgrin's place is he's already in the 'yard.
• Intruder Alarm + Phenax, God of Deception + Undead Alchemist : Not as consistent as the previous combo with Grimgrin, but with a little support from other creatures, the same thing should happen. Throw in Thousand-Year Elixir here so the Zombies can help mill, too!
• Phenax, God of Deception + Tombstone Stairwell : Another one-card combo with Phenax, but this one requires creatures in your graveyard first. Remember to block the Zombies you give your opponents with your Zombies before you tap them to mill. Throw in Intruder Alarm to go nuts.
• Army of the Damned + Phenax, God of Deception + Intruder Alarm + Thousand-Year Elixir : The same idea as the previous combo, but this one will allow for 13 untap triggers, for a whopping total of 338 cards milled from your opponents!
• Altar of Dementia + Tombstone Stairwell : The Tombspawn tokens get "buried" at end of turn, so don't waste them!
• Phenax, God of Deception + Sewer Nemesis : Make your own Keening Stone for cheap!
• Duskmantle Guildmage + Mindcrank : A single loss of life or a single card put into the graveyard is all it takes.

Here are the combos to mill just yourself (for Laboratory Maniac reasons):

• Basalt Monolith + Mesmeric Orb : The old Four Horsemen trick to put your whole deck in your 'yard.
• Dimir Doppelganger + Mirror-Mad Phantasm : Working also with Body Double , Cackling Counterpart, and Necrotic Ooze, this combo requires Mirror-Mad Phantasm to be in your graveyard first. Take any Clone and copy the Phantasm, and activate its ability. The Clone will shuffle into your deck, but since there's no card left in the deck named Mirror-Mad Phantasm , your whole deck hits the 'yard. Simple as that.

Here are the combos just to be rude:

• Archaeomancer + Evacuation : Working also with Mnemonic Wall and Possessed Skaab, this lock is used to repeatedly bounce the board, because there will come times where this will be necessary. It'll buy time to assemble your combos.
• Creeping Tar Pit + Whispering Madness : Sure, you can decode Whispering Madness onto any creature, by why not one that avoids sorcery-speed removal AND is unblockable?!
• Mystical Teachings + Notion Thief : It's not exactly a combo per se, but it's worth pointing out just for the look on your opponent's face when they see you go searching for Notion Thief just to spite them.

The rest of the deck is full of spells that can play out of the graveyard, from Flashback spells to Unearth creatures. Throw in some Delve spells to make use of all that fodder you're chucking into your 'yard, and some cards that recur other cards from the graveyard (you gotta grab your Laboratory Maniac before it's gone for good!), fill in the rest of the gaps with some ramp, fatties, and control, and you're good to go!

With so many angles of mill and so many different combos, this deck hasn't gotten boring quite yet. One thing's for sure: you have to really know how to pilot this deck, or you will get lost in the sequencing. The deck tends to be very mana-intensive, so choose your plays wisely! Any suggestions are appreciated!

I wrote more on this deck here at The Burnished Hart.

Date added	9 years
Last updated	7 years
Key combos	Archaeomancer + Evacuation Duskmantle Guildmage + Mindcrank Basalt Monolith + Mesmeric Orb Eater of the Dead + Phenax, God of Deception Intruder Alarm + Phenax, God of Deception + Undead Alchemist Altar of Dementia + Tombstone Stairwell Phenax, God of Deception + Sewer Nemesis Grimgrin, Corpse-Born + Phenax, God of Deception + Undead Alchemist Phenax, God of Deception + Tombstone Stairwell Army of the Damned + Phenax, God of Deception Intruder Alarm + Thousand-Year Elixir Dimir Doppelganger + Mirror-Mad Phantasm Creeping Tar Pit + Whispering Madness Mystical Teachings + Notion Thief
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	7 - 0 Mythic Rares 35 - 0 Rares 31 - 0 Uncommons 15 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.54
Tokens	Bird 2/2 U, Copy Clone, Emblem Liliana, the Last Hope, Phyrexian Germ 0/0 B, Zombie 2/2 B, Zombie 2/2 B w/ Haste
Folders	Edh