I'd agree with the horde if you could get him out sooner. As he is, he will be too late to really help Mindshrieker and he doesn't interact with Quicksilver Amulet . Pretty much the ONLY creature you could play off the top of your deck is the shrieker, and you already have a 7/7 trampler on the field. That also means you have to have an active Amulet. So in my opinion, he is just as good as any other 7/7 trampler for this deck.

Balefire, on the other hand, doesn't seem like a bad choice. If you could get him to stick to the field, he'll probably secure your victory.

A buddy of mine was talking to me about this deck yesterday, and he was thinking about ways he could improve the deck. One of his most interesting suggestions was Grasp of Phantoms , which is not only a card you can hardcast, but a quick bit of removal that you can combo with Mindshrieker .

Grasp of Phantoms a sideboard card at best, however. A sideboard card against Solar Flare, which can run this deck into the ground.

Even though this deck isn't for tournaments, if you WERE to use it in a tournament, you'd want to make sure to have answers for that deck. It's really popular, but not necessarily winning a lot of games.

If you can get past Solar Flare and the Token decks, you're golden. ;)

Also, we both like Skaab Ruinator . Maybe take out Djinn of Wishes for him? I never seemed to use it. Though it could be good with card:Garruk's Horde.

I actually tried a version of this deck with running Unburial Rites and it seems to work pretty effectively. You can mill it for a 5 damage bonus and still play it from the graveyard to bring in the beasts you dropped earlier. Just another way to get some good creatures out there rather than just the amulet, which is awful if you accidently mill it. I do understand it is annoying to cut islands though. Just a thought.

@OmegaSerris, card:Garruk's Horde intended purpose is only to give vision to the player that already has Mindshrieker on the board, so that you aren't burning mana to mill useless cards like another Mindshrieker or Land. It doesn't do much for this otherwise, and the deck so top-heavy anyway, the probability you'd need it is slim. I'm just a fan of icing, and that's all he would be on this fat cake.

I understood the premise. But like I said in my last comment, it would come out too late to assist the Mindshrieker side of the deck.

Say you have one in your hand, the soonest it would see play is turn 5 (4 if you Chancellor of the Tangle your Quicksilver out turn 1 by some act of God). My experience with this deck is that if the Shrieker sticks, he wins pretty reliably by turn 5. That is provided you aren't diverting mana to Quicksilver. I think any later than that, Shrieker probably won't be around to benefit from his effect. Then, switching to the Quicksilver side of the deck, he does little more than become a 7/7 unless you have another Shrieker or maybe Djinn of Wishes top deck.

Don't get me wrong, it is a nice idea. I just don't think it is feasible to pull off. Still, try it out yourself. Maybe I'm wrong, but this is just my opinion based on how I've been playing this deck.

Ok, I finally got all my cards. Here is what I got (plus sideboard) to take to FNM. This is how you Mindshrieker!

Play tested against a friend with a couple different decks. You really have to sideboard for fast aggro but I can see the original version working versus control if you can move fast enough.

Wow, you know how to build a fun deck!

I was a single play from taking first place at FNM tonight. I'm so pissed I didn't see it until I was too late. I got the game-by-game on my page if you're interested.

This is how you Mindshrieker!

I've built a deck revolving around Mindshrieker ...and i find that Trepanation Blade and Noxious Revival work very well together with the Mindshrieker . you attack and the blade goes off...then you noxious revival the highest CC card that you just milled to the top of his library and use the bird's ability. it works...and the best part is...you don't even have to splash green mana.

nice deck though. good luck.

Trepanation Blade would be really effective in another deck. If it could target your own library, it could be useful in a TishuM! deck that uses more cantrips, and less focused on the Mindshriker and/or Quicksilver formula.

Since it doesn't, it's more useful for a pseudo-mill deck that happens to include Mindshrieker. I'd actually like to try a deck that tries a similar strategy like that...

Trepanation Blade works well in theory with Mindshrieker . In practice, it is one of the worst plays you could make. At best, you are playing Mindshrieker turn 2, playing the sword turn 3, equipping turn 4 (all of this assumes you have the land too), and then attack. With the average buff you get from Mindshrieker 's ability being +7/+7, skipping one turn of it (turn 3) is a colossal waste of a turn and probably will bring about a game loss. That play gives your opponent 4 turns to kill a 1/1. This deck is about speed and surprise, not lengthy aggro combos involving swords. And using Noxious Revival on an opponent's deck makes me want to cry. Who has higher deck costs with fewer mana than this? Seriously? It is neigh impossible to find a viable deck with higher average mana cost and fewer land.

Yeah, until we see new cards for Standard (Dark Ascension), I don't think this deck can get any better at doing what it does. Honestly, I can't even imagine a card wizards would design that would make this any more stable.

+1

I built a similar deck, but instead of relying on big creatures in my deck, I focused a bit more on control and milling the opponent instead of myself. I feel that this gives more consistency to the deck and makes it much harder to counter, but I am still working on and tweaking/testing it. You can see it here: Mind Games

Thanks!

how about throwing in a Blightsteel Colossus ? Just for the fun of a turn 5 one hit K.O?

Have you considered Ghoultree? Probably if you put that many creature cards into the graveyard you're winning anyway, but you might be able to hard cast it with a green splash.

Sorry, Ghoultree. Looks like a fun deck.