Phenax, God of Deception has always been a fan favorite card in my playgroup. I've recently got into EDH, and decided that I wanted to make a deck centered around capitalizing on his unique ability. Here's what I came up with, sticking to a sub-$150 budget.
WOMBO COMBO ALERT:
This deck aims to win games by milling out our opponents. What better way to accomplish that than by milling our opponents out in one turn? (well, that's a little misleading; one turn for each opponent, rather) Introducing Duskmantle Guildmage + Mindcrank
. As long as you have these two cards in play together, you're pretty much guaranteed to win. Here's how the combo works: you either activate both of Duskmantle Guildmage's abilities, or activate the first one and mill your desired opponent with another card. That opponent will lose life, which triggers Mindcrank to mill them, which triggers Duskmantle Guildmage to make them lose 1 life, which... ad infinitum. Every turn, you can mill an entire opponent's library on the spot. Yay!
We don't depend on this combo to win every time; it's more of a backup plan that we can happen to run into to steal games quick. However, we do have a couple ways to piece the combo together, namely Disciple of Deceit and Muddle the Mixture.
FUN SHENANIGANS:
Tree of Perdition: Why yes, I do enjoy tapping a single creature to mill someone for 40-or-so.
Freed from the Real/Pemmin's Aura: By using these cards' "untap enchanted creature" abilities, we can have some pretty going-off turns. In the late game, when we're empty-handed with five to six untapped sources available, prepare for craziness to ensue.
Paradox Engine/Dramatic Reversal/Thousand-Year Elixir: These cards allow you to have extremely powerful swings with your creatures (by swings, I mean at your opponents' libraries, not their faces). Once you have a solid board of 20+ toughness, these cards instantly double your milling output, and Paradox Engine does it repeatedly. Thousand-Year Elixir does require a mana investment for each creature you want to untap, but once you have an established board this doesn't really matter.
Lazav, Dimir Mastermind: Okay, this guy is just super cheeky. As you'll be milling quite a few cards throughout the game, chances are you'll be putting some powerful creatures into the graveyard. What better way to make use of those creatures than to get an effective copy of them for yourself? Better yet, unlike Body Double, Lazav can copy a creature every time it's put into a graveyard, meaning that you'll always have access to the best dead creature at the table. Hexproof also makes sure that this mastermind won't be going away easily.
BEST CARDS IN THE DECK:
Consuming Aberration: I mean, good lord. I probably don't have to explain anything here, but... he becomes ginormous for Phenax, God of Deception and grinds our opponents whenever we cast a spell. Bananas.
Nemesis of Reason: This guy does it all. When we don't want to attack with it, we can use Phenax to mill someone for 7. When it is safe to attack, we get a free Glimpse the Unthinkable. I'd love to run that card, by the way, but it's almost $30.
Endbringer: Depending on how big the game is (I'm gonna assume it's a four-player game), this one creature can mill for 20 per turn cycle. That in of itself is crazy, but we can also use his other abilities if we have the right mana to do so. An all-around beast that's not to be underestimated.
Riddlekeeper
: Not only does this little guy support our pillowfort plan, but he also supports our mill strategy at the same time, all while having a sizable body for Phenax. What's not to love?
Guiltfeeder: In a pinch, this guy can quickly close out a game. If someone's threatening to combo off next turn or has a really intimidating board, you can sneak this creature in to wipe them out. Guiltfeeder generally comes in handy when your mill plan just isn't fast enough, like against an aggro or voltron opponent for example.
Well, I kinda whipped up this description quickly, so if I missed anything important sorry. If you have any advice on how to improve this deck, it'd be gladly appreciated. Thanks for taking a look, and upvote if you like!
(Also, this deck plays f---ing
Slagwurm Armor
, and if that's not reason enough to upvote, I don't know what is.)
