I like the idea, but you're right - most decks are a bit fast for it. What I notice at first glance is that you have many cards at 1 which seem to be your version of a "best of all worlds" kind of compilation...unfortunately, this means that the deck doesn't have a consistent setup. On cheap (mana and $) cards like Doom Blade, why not run more? Only 1 Psychic Strike? You've also stated that your one major win con is Aberration's one time swing...I'm assuming in conjunction with Rogue's Passage? In that case, run 4 Rogue's Passage, and consider using ciphers and ublockables (Phantom Warrior, etc) to gain advantage and grind out. I'd suggest to take a less used Dimir mechanic - Black for removal, Blue for control, and both for game win. However, when using this mechanic, you have to keep each certain block cheap mana wise, so that you don't run into cards that you can't use. +1 for effort; it'll take shape soon.

Thanks! I was definitely thinking the same thing, but I didn't want to believe it. I just want to keep all of them in! What would you suggest taking in/adding in? It's going pretty well right now besides how "random" my strategy seems to be. Is cipher really the way to go? I don't want to get rid of any of my creatures but I do think my other spells need to be played around with.

I know cipher is used a lot with Invisible Stalker, but with how much creature destruction/control I seem to be seeing, I'm scared to rely on cipher as a strategy.

i used to use a lot of cipher cards in my mill deck. i ciphered mill cards, and "draw a card" cards. i got away from it because i ended up having to block with my ciphered creatures as i didn't have enough blocking in my mill. i added 2x Fog Bank (which you already have) and 2x Wall of Frost . the fog bank is good against flyers, and deathtouch whatnots, and the Wall of Frost makes attacking creatures sleepy so you have one less to deal with next time they attack. i've found that instead of trying to kill creatures with murders and such i had much greater success putting in a few more blockers, and switching out the murder cards for direct mill/draw cards(Visions of Beyond ). i also run one lonely Rise of the Dark Realms . play that and your army is at your command... well ,.. their army is at your command. lol.

Visions of Beyond not standard.

maxon commented on deck as well and brings up very good points. Wall of Frost is a very solid card and Rise of the Dark Realms a late game seal. You asked about Traumatize and I think it is a good card for mill (see my response to you on my post). Another thing I came across while working on my deck was how useful Tome Scour is. You are running 4 Jace's Phantasm s. The best turn 1 & 2 you could have is turn 1 blue mana and phantams. Turn two another blue source and 2x Tome Scour and swing for 5 in the air. Just a suggestion since you have 4 phantams.

Another option that I use is Duskmantle Guildmage because it can do damage off jace's 0 ability (10damage) and Consuming Aberration 's passive. Im not really sure how well that would work in your deck but just making you aware.

I really like your deck. Even though it is similar to my mill and kill deck, they are also very different.

+1 from me :P

Saltybones.. i keep seeing that Duskmantle Guildmage and its got me thinking i should pay more attention.. i hadn't thought of anything very useful for him until you mentioned activating his ability before jace's 0 ability. and if you had one more island and swamp, play Glimpse the Unthinkable .. i almost want to make a deck around that idea of hiding my real strategy behind the guise of mill.. it'll be like dimir in reds clothing. red can throw out Lava Axe for five damage, paying five mana.. but the sneaky dimir mage can use five mana to deal 10 damage. again, not standard stuff but too tricksy for me to pass up

Yeah it is very situational but nobody really expects it. lol

Wow, thanks for your input! It's greatly appreciated! I always forget about Wall of Frost and will definitely be throwing that in, especially when Fog Bank phases out here soon. I'll have to put that on my sideboard at the very least; not sure how many I actually own. xD

When I had Duskmantle Guildmage in my deck, I was never able to use his ability. :( Are you able to successfully use him? I always found myself using up all my mana on mills and counters, and waiting until I hit my 5 mana sweet spot. I've always liked the idea of Rise of the Dark Realms , how often are you able to play that card? I've been thinking of making a different deck that was straight mill and a lot of control, and using that card as a main win condition!

And thanks for your +1 Saltybones :DD

In my experience Duskmantle Guildmage just provides another win condition. It can combo well with cards that passively mill. You are not using Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker like my deck is and your deck is just a little different focus. I think it is great how it is. Rise of the Dark Realms as a 1 of in any mill deck always gives the chance of a late game bomb but its not something you want in your hand early. If I had one I would probably toss it in my deck. Your deck is pretty solid right now

For the name alone, +1. Cheers mate.

Just wanted to put my 2 cents in (love the name btw)

1: You seem to have few actual mill cards (2 Breaking 2 Pilfered Plans 2 Jace, Memory Adept ) although you do have some alternate put cards in graveyard like Doom Blade or Psychic Strike I would recommend getting some more pure mill cards (Traumatize is a really good card but I would never run more than 2)

2: You kill cards are very specific Doom Blade for non-black and Victim of Night on the same level. I like Far / Away but I would recommend Death's Approach or Grisly Spectacle instead of Victim of Night or Doom Blade . At the very least I would sideboard them for matches against a black vampire deck.

3: If you're looking for cards to drop to add things in I would suggest dropping Gift of Orzhova and possibly Vampire Nighthawk for either an M14 replacement or more mill cards. If you're looking for a flying alternative to Fog Bank (for rotation) Hover Barrier is pretty good. If you're not looking at flying then Wall of Frost is really good.

4: As for Duskmantle Guildmage and Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker are decent cards but they kinda require you to control the field (at least for Mirko) when if you control the field you'll attack with Consuming Aberration (BTW I suggest a 4th)

That's just my 2 cents. My deck Dimir cipher/mill focuses more on using ciphers to mill people to death but I've found a late game Consuming Aberration plus a couple Hands of Binding or Far / Away can let me win. (especially if I played Traumatize early on)

Wow, thank you for the advice! I'm definitely already thinking about rotation. I REALLY like Death's Approach but if I haven't been able to mill much and need to get rid of a creature quickly (for fast decks), there are no creatures in the graveyard. Of course, subbing mill cards in for cards that don't quite fit my deck (Gift of Orzhova ) then that would definitely help. I'm also thinking about Tome Scour for turn two 5/5 Jace's Phantasm turn two.

Also, thanks for the Fog Bank sub suggestions! I've even thought about turning it into a cipher mill (like yours) for post rotation.

Hi. I feel like I say this a lot in the mill category, but there needs to be more bounce cards. Also, with the creatures being a large as they should theoretically get, try sticking a couple of Mutilate in there. Also, I have just discovered Death's Approach in my common box. Either are great in mill decks. A solid mill deck really should require almost no creatures, at all.

malfeischylde recommended Mutilate .. i actually played my mill at FNM last week and got beat by a red aggro deck & that guy recommended Mutilate as a sideboard card against his deck, as 2 swamps would have killed all his creatures. lol. so if you wanna feel safer going to fnm its not a bad idea

I do currently have two Mutilate s sideboarded. Forgot to update. So you don't think I should run it mainboarded? Currently this deck is getting overwhelmed ridiculously quickly. I'm losing more times than I'm winning essentially, not sure how to fix that.

I'm at work currently, but later today when I get home I will do my best to give you a detailed guide to getting you back on track with winning!

THANK YOU!!!!!!!! :D

So, I just spent a 1/2 hour typing up a ton of stuff (on my phone as I'm away on a military course with no Internet) and I hit something that changed pages and bam! It was all gone :( very frustrating. I'll ask you this before I try again, do you want to be more mill, or more kill? Mill is tough right now as their are so many fast decks in standard right now. Also, Dimir mill is even tougher, because with Esper U/W/B you gain access to Supreme Verdict Sphinx's Revelation and Detention Sphere . Let me know your gameplan, and we'll go from there. I think mill OR kill is the way to do it, doing both just doesn't work properly! :) Oh ya, and before all of that, we need to up your land count to 24, and you must get your hands on some Watery Grave s.

I'm definitely more interested in doing mill kill. And yeah, it's probably time to invest in Watery Grave s. I've been putting it off for a while. Thanks for helping me!!

No prob, I'll hook you up with my suggestions for going more mill-based strategy soon!

Wait, kill right? xD This is starting to get confusing. I want to focus on the Aberration, so that would be more kill than mill, right? That's what I'm aiming for here. D: And failing apparently.

I hit this same wall a little while ago (I'm fairly new to Magic too, and my first deck was set up similarly). My recommendation is that you should look into ditching a lot of those creatures. Considering how fast a lot of other decks can play, there's a good chance that you'll be overwhelmed before you can get any of your major threats into play. Consider running counter spells such as Psychic Strike (which I see you have), Essence Scatter , Cancel , and Syncopate . I should note, however, that Syncopate will exile the countered card, rather than sending it to the graveyard. Also, assuming you remove Wight of Precinct Six , you may want to look into Crypt Incursion as a way to gain a bit of life right before you're killed, and, thus, extend the game.

I have actually just went Esper to try and deal with some of these problems. I'm like you, I like mill as a win-con, but it's tough to pull off right now. In my opinion, if you want to win using mill, you can't do it while running a lot of creatures. If you'd like, you can take a look at my deck Shut Your Mouth!--An Esper Deck, and maybe it can give you some ideas.

I put together a Dimir control/mill deck based on some ideas I got from searching tons of popular versions of this deck.

Check out my deck here, it's actually two separate decks. The Main Deck listing is what I'm working with now, the sideboard version I've proxied and been working on before I order the cards for it. Don't have it listed on tapped out yet unfortunately.

http://www.mtgvault.com/mesoziocera/decks/millcontrol-m14rtr-block/

It's coming up as a 404 :(

Hey again! So instead of just giving my suggestions to switch you to a more kill then mill, as I'm not so well versed in the mix of it (when I play mill it's followed by pure control and removal) so instead I found the best Dimir deck that to me looks like what you're aiming for. Hopefully it can give you some suggestions at least until rotation! Dimir Dementia