Get tangled in the "Blue-Tape" of Bruvac the Grandiloquent's bureaucracy.
A counter and bounce heavy Mill archetype deck. I'm proud enough to say it's not for kitchen tables, and won't make you any friends at your local LGS. I'm humble enough to realize that, while getting there, it's not quite cEDH.

With a good opening hand and subsequent draws, this deck can combo off around turn 3-4. The numerous available tutors, and the tempo-control shell can bring an imperfect hand back to a wincon, turn 6-7.

If you have any suggestions, questions, or comments, leave one below!
Enjoy!

The easiest two way to win with this deck is to:

  1. Get out Bruvac and successfully resolve any library-halving effect:
    Bruvac the Grandiloquent + Maddening Cacophony
    Bruvac the Grandiloquent + Traumatize
    Bruvac the Grandiloquent + Cut Your Losses
    Bruvac the Grandiloquent + Terisian Mindbreaker or
    Bruvac the Grandiloquent + Fleet Swallower

  2. Bruvac the Grandiloquent + Sphinx's Tutelage - which can demolish a mono-colored deck on its own; as only two cards of the four milled need to be nonland to repeat the process. For multicolored or artifact-heavy decks, it's best to include Painter's Servant into this combination.

  3. Infinite combination of Grindstone + Painter's Servant ; which doesn't require Bruvac as the cards required are not type-specific.

  4. Painter's Servant + Sphinx's Tutelage , which can destroy a mono colored deck. and is greatly aided by Bruvac, as only 2 cards need to be nonland.

If your draw doesnt work out with any of these cards; that's bad luck. You can either take the Mulligan with fairly good odds of drawing at least half of a wincon, and topdeck or tutor the rest.
or
Choose to take the scenic route. The deck offers a static-mill framework, designed to turn routine, turn-based actions/phases into mill triggers.

Upkeep Mill
Mesmeric Orb- Mills the controller of every untapping permanent. This is global. Tutorable with Fabricate or Tribute Mage.

Manic Scribe- Hits all opponents for 3 cards initially. Then hits every opponent in turn.

Court of Cunning- Grants Monarch status. Mills each opponent 2; Mills 10 if you're the Monarch.

Draw Mill
Psychic Corrosion- Mills each opponent 2 cards, for each card you draw.

Sphinx's Tutelage- Mills 1 opponent 2 cards+, for each card you draw.

Both get pretty nasty with Rhystic Study out.

Land
Altar of the Brood- Mills each opponent, 1 card for each permanent you have ETB. Works well with Zellix, Sanity Flayer, and Undead Alchemist.

Ruin Crab- Landfall Mill, each opponent 3 cards. works well with

Oboro, Palace in the Clouds- Which can tap itself, return to your hand, and redrop for turn if you don't have one.

Casting Mill

Altar of the Brood- (See above)

Drowned Secrets- Mills all opponents 2 cards, for each blue spell you cast.

Memory Erosion- Mills one opponent 2 cards, whenever they cast a spell.

Combat Mill
Undead Alchemist- Mill an opponent's creature and get a Zombie goon. Furthermore, turns Zombie damage into mill. Synergizes with Mirage Mirror, and is a potential wincon with Altar of the Brood.

Mindcrank- Mills a card for each life your opponents lose. Amazing in multiplayer; letting your aggressive foes mill your enemies.

Riddlekeeper- Mills 2 cards for each creature that attacks you.

Propaganda- Used to keep attackers from eating your face before you get to win. This doesn't mill in itself, but does turn Mesmeric Orb into a considerable factor for the attacking player.

End Turn
Fraying Sanity- Unfortunately, only enchants 1 player. Doubles mill for the turn at the end step. Used for threatening aggro players and Ins/Sorc heavy decks, or just to take out that last pesky player with 80+ cards still in the library.

Copy Enchantment- Oh look, another one. Can also be used with any useful targetable enchantment. Don't limit yourself.

The Council of The Grandiloquent

At first glance, the static mill doesn't seem that impressive. One card here, two cards there.. even Bruvac will only double this small amount of mill; but, it does add up absurdly quick; so what if we simply make more Bruvacs (that aren't Legendary), that stack this ability?

Spark Double/Sakashima of a Thousand Faces- Another Bruvac, (Zellix, or Undead Alchemist.)

Nanogene Conversion- Make ALL the creatures Bruvac. And then drop a Land with Ruin Crab, or Altar of the Brood, and wipe the pod as your Mill potential becomes exponentially huge.

Example: 4 player pod; each player has just 3 creatures. (You must control Bruvac as you cast Conversion). Now, there are 12 Bruvacs in play; each opponent has 9 Bruvac's doubling any mill against them.

A single drop of a permanent (such as a land) with Altar of the Brood already in play; a single damage with Mindcrank out; or, dropping a Manic Scribe, will cause each opponent to mill 512 cards.. and you to have zero friends.

Please note: Each opponent has Bruvacs, so you will also be at threat for milling as well. This move is flashy and fun, but should only be used when an opponent will be least likely to make you mill as well; but also then force you to draw. Highly unlikely; just a note of discretionary advice.

Traumatize- Mills half of 1 Library, rounded down.

Cut Your Losses- Another Traumatize, but copyable with the sacrifice of a Petitioners or Trinket/Tribute Mage

Maddening Cacophony- Each opponent mills 8. Kicking this spell for turns it into another Traumatize, with the added benefit of rounding UP. (A math thing.)

Terisian Mindbreaker- (See also Fleet Swallower) When [this] attacks, defending player Mills half of their Library, rounded up. Mindbreaker's Unearth ability makes Mesmeric Orb a bit more palatable, when it's time for your own upkeep.

** Another auto-include is Archive Trap to mill 13 cards, and a potential free cast, since tutoring is a huge part of commander.

Defensively speaking, the deck can be a little weak against aggro and burn types, so the rest of the deck is run by a bit of hard-counter and bounce spells, token production, and combat damage mitigation.

Flusterstorm- Indeed.

Unsummon, Vapor Snag, Fading Hope, Boomerang, Cyclonic Rift- Return one or all the annoying things back to hand.

Counterspell - "No."

Flare of Denial- Hard counter for 3 or free with the sac of a Tribute/Trinket Mage.

Force of Negation- Three-cost hard counter, but can be free with the hand-exile of any blue card.

Pact of Negation- Protects your combo spells for the win.

Memory Erosion- Spells cost Library for your opponents.

Muddle the Mixture- An instant and sorcery counter that can also transmute any other 2 cost card in the deck. (Maddening Cacophony or Painter's Servant are my go-to's.)

Force of Will- Hard counter. Worth it.

Snapcaster Mage- Recurrence on a stick, with flash.

Silent Arbiter- Limits attacking and blocking creatures to one, per turn.

Propaganda- Pay for each attacker.

Riddlekeeper- Mill for attacking, anyway.

Fog Bank- Flying protection that sticks around.

Drift of Phantasms- Flying protection, with the added Transnute 3 ability.

Zellix, Sanity Flayer- Like Alchemist, Zellix pops out token Horrors for some chump blocking and, potential go-wide alt wincon. Also has its own built-in Mill ability.

Other cards I haven't mentioned yet, definitely deserve to be explained. Just some fun stuff to solidify the deck and promote game longevity.

Academy Ruins- Artifact recurrence land.

Halimar Depths- Land based kinda-scry.

Mystic Sanctuary- Spell recurrence land.

Mission Briefing- Bounce/counter/draw spell recursion.

Isochron Scepter- Spell availability for cheap spells

Boseiju, Who Shelters All- Makes your combo sorceries uncounterable.

Drownyard Temple- Land recursion from the graveyard. Nifty with Ruin Crab in play for some surprise mill shenanigans.

Draw Cards
Jace's Archivist- , : Everyone discards, and draws the number = most-discarded hand. This can be a heavy mill, especially with Psychic Corrosion or Sphinx's Tutelage in play.

Thought Scour- Draw 1, Mill 2

Visions of Beyond- Draw 1. Draw 3 if a graveyard has more than 20 cards.

Ponder- Look top 3, shuffle/draw

Preordain- Scry 2, Draw.

Rhystic Study- Draw for each spell your opponents cast unless they pay for each spell.

Lifegain
Profane Memento- Either by milling or dying, you'll be gaining life for all the creatures put into the graveyard. Handy for longevity and creature-heavy metas. Auto include for any mill deck.

Rocks and Reduction
Saprazzan Skerry- A little mana acceleration.

Sapphire Medallion- cost reduction for blue spells.

Sol Ring- Because moar mana!

Extraplanar Lens- Double up prodiction

Tutor Power
Trinket Mage- Tutor for Painter's Servant, Altar of the Brood, Profane Memento, or Sol Ring.

Tribute Mage- Tutor for Grindstone Mindcrank, or Mesmeric Orb.

Fabricate- Artifact search.

Mystical Tutor- Invaluable instant speed tutor for counter spells, bounce, combo pieces, or draw.

Mirage Mirror- Double up on useful enchantments, creatures, and artifacts.


Suggestions and comments welcomed, encouraged and appreciated!

If you like the deck, or add it to a folder, please the card below!

-TheSurgeon

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Casual

97% Competitive

Top Ranked
  • Achieved #1 position overall 4 years ago
Date added 4 years
Last updated 3 months
Key combos
Legality

This deck is Commander / EDH legal.

Rarity (main - side)

8 - 0 Mythic Rares

34 - 0 Rares

17 - 0 Uncommons

14 - 0 Commons

Cards 100
Avg. CMC 2.52
Tokens Horror, Monarch Emblem, Zombie 2/2 B
Folders Lists from others, EDH Decks, Mill, ^_^, Edh decks, Decks to Play, Commander Decks, A Very Cool EDH Folder, Decks I like, Commander
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