Have you thought about Fascination as a good finisher? The rules about milling someone to death state that the player looses the game when an effect would cause them to draw a card when they have no library. So basically you can cause them to die on your turn, which is nice.

@wolfging I've seen several decks play that. Only thing is I'm thinking of putting in some Dark Petition's, which work perfectly with my Dark Deal. I'll think about it!

I really like the splash for green, but fruit of the first tree seems klunky when your creature's max base toughness that they can naturally have is 2. If you are going into green, then I would use it to find more ways to gain life and/ or keep you from dying, but then that becomes more of the turbo fog route. Still though, i think if you work hard enough you can make it work. Good luck :)

@SirEpic: Great suggestion. I initially though of playing with Guardians of Meletis, and now I have a great excuse to play it in my deck! Got rid of Mantle of Webs in favor of Guardian and another Thopter Spy Network to make sure I can block flying.

Alhammarret's Archive + Fruit of the First Tree + Guardians of Meletis could be deadly if Guardians died. Throwing in some black destroy target creature would allow me to sack it myself. Still toying around with that idea.

@spicy_gato12 that's a great idea, and it seems like it could work pretty well. Also, since you're already in black and blue, and you are a mill strategy, maybe Phenax would work well? And then maybe Wall of Frost? But that might be klunky as well. I will continue pondering new ideas for this, and I hope you will too because it seems really fun.

@SirEpic Love both of those cards, but they aren't standard legal in post rotation, and that's what I'm trying to do with this deck. I'll definitely consider those when I modernize this deck.

Replace Guardians of Meletis for Dragon's Eye Savants.

@Wiktul Super good suggestion! Same cost and I get to look at my opponents hand. Duh!

You have to think about some removal, at least in sideboard. You have nothing to get rid of unwanted creatures that will hit you early. Dark Deal won't be a deal here. If you like to focus on discarding instead of straight removal, maybe add some Despise. Cards like Displacement Wave, Bile Blight, Virulent Plague, Drown in Sorrow or even Blightcaster mage seems like a must with your colors and inability to defend properly. Single wall or thopter token turn 5 won't save you, it won't grant you any good that could make running Thopter Spy Network x4 effective either. I know something about playing mill-deck in present meta and trust me, it can work only as a plan b) when you can't do nothing more than slowing your opponent down. And to do that, you don't have enough tools I'm afriad.

Have a look at the deck I mentioned - I mill no offense It's not an advertisment, only example of builduing decent fortress around yourself, that could stop all those f*cking goblins, ascendancy, ramped dragons, warriors and other crap ment only to be cheap and fast. Focusing only on this single trigger granted by Sphinx's Tutelage won't do you any good. You don't have enough responces to defend it from UB Control's counters, you don't have enough tools to even get it if it's not in your opening hand, like Anticipate or Taigam's Scheming. Even with perfect hand I'm afraid you won't be quick enough. Your mill starts turn 4. How much can you mill out till turn 8? 20 cards? 30? Half job done at best, twice dropped dead at sure in the meantime. Top modern mill decks can mill opponent out turn 5-7 and even that is usually not enough.

My advice so far - keep this strategy as a plan b) or replace 100% synergy with it with things that can turn yours opponent's game into a nightmare of waiting, tempo, bouncing, discarding and all spoiling that can grant you time you need to survive and killing them with small, precise hits ;)

UPVOTE! dig it. I would still look for a replacement for Cancel

You definitely need something like Languish in here. Seems way too easy to just kill the few of your creatures and then run you over long before you mill the opponent.

Dissolve is strictly better than Cancel I would honestly drop it all for Negate as mainboard Dromoka's Command really hurt. I like Sultai Charm as potential spot removal. Fascination is really good. I have a Sultai Enchantment Mill deck as well and Chasm Skulkers are such a great card for it. Infinite Obliteration is a great sideboard card for the deck. While yes, it removes targets to continue the mill train, it removes big threats and makes it easier for you as that takes a big load off of your chest. Eidolon of Blossoms is a must have in the deck because being able to play two of them and then a Sphinx's Tutelage an some other fun stuff to draw a bunch of cards really speeds up the process.

Thanks to all for your suggestions, @Wiktul, @I_Love_Tacos, @zamsonov, @army88strong!

I've added more control and changed up some of my creatures to make sure that Thopter Spy Network can trigger.

Let me know what you think! I'm sure I need to make some changes, but I'm hoping that this version of my deck will allow me to slow my opponent down until I can get mill going.

I would consider dropping green out of this deck. I think with some counterspells and kill spells like Ultimate Price you would get way more value out of them. i playtested it against a devotion deck i have and Sphinx's Tutelage definitely did some work!

I found myself always discarding the green cards and wishing that i had more low mana drops to remove pesky creatures or to not worry about spells like Dromoka's Command or Back to Nature that get rid of what you need.

Solid deck though

Loving Ultimate Price, @Gabtuls! Will try to fit in either a) 2 or 3 destroy target creature for those bigger than 4/4 and/or b) some additional control.

Interesting that you had that reaction about the green. When I playtest the deck, I always find myself wanting to play green but not having the mana. I might consider getting rid of Fruit of the First Tree, but Herald of the Pantheon really helps with my enchantment speed and is worth it. And if I'm going to survive for long enough, I'm going to need life gain. At least a bit, which is what Fruit gives me. I'll definitely think about it! I started this deck as a pure Dimir but added the splash of green because of speed and life gain.

I can see you returned to Guardians of Meletis instead of Dragon's Eye Savants. May I ask why? :)

@Wiktul I much prefer your suggestion, but if my thopters are going to work, I need to ensure I have artifacts on the field. I think I'm going to -- somehow -- add either Despise or Ultimate Price for additional destroy. Probably Despise.

If you really wanted to keep the green i would recommend Kruphix's Insight as it should allow you to make sure that you get the enchantments that you need.

@Gabtuls- I really like the idea of having Kruphix's Insight in the deck. I would also find room for Eidolon of Blossoms as it is the core draw engine a deck like this. If you have two out, you can play Sphinx's Tutelage, draw 2, triggers, mill 2 twice. Play another Tutelage, draw two, now mill 2, two times, twice. It is so much fun.

Chasm Skulker could get huge here.

@Gabtuls, army88strong, gnizz00: All great suggestions! But I'm making this deck for post rotation standard. I'll definitely look for legal cards that will work, though!

in comment #4 pls dont 2 for 1 yourself, Even if you get to draw 12, unless you then win its not worth

It seems like a lot of the control decks are using Clash of Wills instead of Negate. It's not as good late game, but it's 2 drop counterspell any time an opponent taps out to play something.

Why no Day's Undoing??

@raefgall If it isn't in my main, it'll definitely be in my side. I'll play around with it.

@jthebeloved I wish Day's Undoing worked with Sphinx's Tutelage, but it doesn't. It ends the turn and clears the stack. Dark Deal is my best alternate. I'll always have a full hand, or at least close to a full hand.