@Musidorus Thanks for the comment!
- I agree with you on the budget thing. I consider budget to be less than $30. I had that budget tag on there before I added the Jaces. I have removed it now.
- I considered another unblockable creature like Invisible Stalker , but because I want this deck to be very aggressive (I want to be finishing duels with life depletion as often as I do with mill) I went with the Deathcult Rogue , as it is more damage than the stalker, and still more or less unblockable. I have noticed a lot of people using Whispering Madness , however, I don't like that card very much, which is why I chose to leave it out.
- I chose to have only a few counters (again, because I want the deck to be aggressive), though I will definitely add control to my sideboard. I removed the control tag I had on there as well, as this deck has little control in the mainboard.
May 17, 2013 12:15 a.m.
CrovaxTheCursed says... #3
Pretty damn good for something just thrown together. Are you aware of Breaking / Entering ? You could replace Mind Sculpt with the Breaking portion just as an added card milled. The black mana shouldn't be a problem for you and if you ever wanted to, you could mill yourself with Breaking. To me, Duskmantle Guildmage is very weak. I see you have it listed as a "combo" with Jace, so if that's a win-con for you then that's cool. But if you're having trouble with aggro, you may want to add some creature removal since you have none other than Dimir Charm which is very very selective. Essence Scatter is a good start in the sideboard, but you need something that destroys once they hit the battlefield, cause you can't counter/mill EVERYTHING without them getting something by on you. Try using Grisly Spectacle . I was skeptical of this card at first, but it really does do wonders for a mill deck. Human Frailty in the sideboard will rock your opponent since a lot of aggro deck creatures happen to be human. Another to definitely put in the sideboard is Ultimate Price , although with the way Standard is right now, it may be hard to find a target for that. But it will work perfectly on a Thragtusk or a pesky angel or something like that. Murder is really popular right now, personally I don't like the casting cost with BB, but then again Grisly Spectacle has that too... A lot of people are using Victim of Night but I feel like it's too selective cause it can't target Huntmaster of the Fells Flip or Stromkirk Noble which are very popular agro cards, or any zombies that may be running over you. Killing Wave can be useful against early aggro, but there are probably better options. Even a Rapid Hybridization could help, but I wouldn't recommend that one for your build lol. Unless you plan on playing Invisible Stalker , I would replace Paranoid Delusions with Dissipate or more of some of your other spells. Card draw is good for sure. So, to cut my rambling short, this deck only lacks creature removal and possibly some more countering, depending on your meta.
May 22, 2013 1:43 p.m.
Thanks for the feedback!
I am awake of Breaking , I just don't have any copies of it yet. I am planning on dropping Mind Sculpt in favor of it. I also agree that the Guildmage is weak, and through playtesting I found that the Guildmage/Jace combo does not occur often enough to justify running three copies. so I'm going to drop the Guildmage to two copies, and add another Thought Scour or Breaking . In regards to creature removal, I do have Cyclonic Rift , Unsummon , and Ultimate Price in my sideboard, and I may move one or two of those into my mainboard. I considered both Grisly Spectacle and Murder , but after playtesting I deemed them both to have too high a CMC, and the BB doesn't help either. With Paranoid Delusions , I found that the Jace's Phantasm is nearly just as good for ciphering as an Invisible Stalker would be. Though because Jace's Phantasm is the only reliable cipher target I have, I will probably drop the Delusions copies I run to three.
May 22, 2013 2:47 p.m.
CrovaxTheCursed says... #6
Ah, didn't see the Ultimate Price in your SB there. Cyclonic Rift and Unsummon are good for temporary clearing, but you wanna make sure if a creature is bothering you that he doesn't have a chance to come back cause you can't get the bounce spells back. But for some reason it's a little difficult to find a reliable blue and/or black creature removal card right now. You wouldn't think it would be very difficult, but I guess that easiness went to the Rakdos and Golgari guilds instead of Dimir. (Dreadbore and Putrefy come to mind)
Musidorus says... #1
Hey Roque,
A couple things jump out at me.
You tagged this as "budget," but neither Jace, Memory Adept nor Drowned Catacomb aren't included in that calculation, which between the two of themwould raise the cost by about $45. For some, I'm sure a deck under $100 counts as "budget," but not for most.
There are lots of options at the 5-drop spot: Jace, Memory Adept , Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker , and Consuming Aberration . Because there's synergy between Paranoid Delusions and unblockable creatures, maybe you could sub out some of those biggies for an Invisible Stalker , and/or a few Artful Dodge . Another synergy may come from Whispering Madness .
How much control/counter do you want to run? I see Dimir Charm and Psychic Strike . What about cards like Dispel , Dissipate , Essence Scatter , and Negate ? I'd say they should warrant at least Sideboard consideration. Cyclonic Rift can slow down aggro, as can Murder , Ultimate Price , and Victim of Night , even Rapid Hybridization . Hidden Strings can also work wonders. You've gotta have enough time to get the mill a-grindin'. Breaking / Entering also deserves a spot in a UB mill deck. Once you've got the cards in their graveyard, Crypt Incursion can help immensely, and stop Reanimator.
But, I'm always a fan of UB, and I miss Undermine with a passion. Good luck.
May 16, 2013 7:11 p.m.