I know I promised in my last article that I was going to do a draft guide for the R/W Boros archetype in Ravnica Limited this week, but I simply didn’t get to draft the deck enough yet to know all of the inner workings. While doing my usual weekly barrage of drafts though, I did come upon another archetype that has turned out to be much better than I’d ever expected from just looking at the spoiler. That archetype is the Dimir Guild’s Mill deck.
If you remember back to triple Champions, one of the best archetypes in draft ended up being the Dampen Thought deck. This time around though, there are far more cards that deal with milling your opponent, and its because of this that I think the Dimir deck may turn out to be much better than the Dampen deck ever was. No longer do you have to hope a Dampen Thought is opened for the archetype to be possible as there are a ton of cards ranging from common to rare that can be used to mill out your opponent.
A Sample Deck
I guess the best place to start is to give you guys a taste of what I’m talking about through a sample decklist.
Lurking Informant
Dimir Guildmage
Lore Broker
Dimir Infiltrator
Terraformer
2 Drift of Phantasms
Dimir House Guard
Vedalken Entrancer
Keening Banshee
Moroii
Tidewater Minion
Glimpse the Unthinkable
Last Gasp
Selesnya Signet
Convolute
Consult the Necrosages
Clutch of the Undercity
Faith’s Fetters
3 Induce Paranoia
Stasis Cell
Duskmantle, House of Shadow
Plains
9 Island
6 Swamp
Clearly this isn’t a “standard” list since I ended up splashing Faith’s Fetters, but it’s still a strong deck and exemplifies the basic structure of the archetype.
The first thing that I should mention is that one of the reasons this deck is so good is that Induce Paranoia is a common and usually only someone drafting this archetype will want it in their deck. Another reason of course is that not only is Vedalken Entrancer also present in the common slot, but he is also in competition with Dimir House Guard and Snapping Drake in the four-slot and anyone else drafting U/B will probably take one of the aggressive evasion creatures, leaving you, the mill drafter to a late pick Entrancer. So in essence, just as with the janky Arcane spells that used to populate the Dampen decks, you will be able to pick up powerful milling spells in the late picks of the draft since everyone else will be taking other things over them or simply will not want them.
As for the deck above, it did help me learn a few things about the archetype. The first thing I noticed is that while I normally like the Dimir Guildmage in a more standard U/B deck, he is actually quite poor in the mill deck when you have plenty of things to keep your mana open for like Induce Paranoia. The last thing you want to be doing with your main phase is tapping four mana for a marginal at best effect. That being said, he’s still fine in the late game and can be used to make the opponent draw cards if the need arises so he’s still playable in the deck, just not as desirable as usual.
You may be asking yourself at what point in a draft you should decide to enter this archetype? Should you force it? Should you keep your eye out and go into it if it seems open? I think the answer is that it really depends on who you’re drafting with. If you’re in a draft where you don’t think anyone is actively trying to draft the deck, then you should actually go in trying to force it. In the draft above, I opened a very busty first pack featuring Dimir House Guard, Viashino Fangtail, Golgari Rotwurm, and Conclave Equenaut. What did I take from this first pick, first pack situation? I opted for the Glimpse the Unthinkable that was waiting in the back of the pack with the mindset that I would pass all of the good cards to everyone else and just quietly slip into the mill deck. It’s also easy to get away from this pick if it becomes obvious that someone in front of me is also trying to draft the deck, and since it’s first pack, it’s the best time to pick up the Glimpse because I get the most amount of time possible to set up my deck. Knowing that I’m going into the archetype this early is such a bonus because I can now take Entrancer over Dimir House Guard with the utmost confidence and also take the other cards that I know I will need instead of dabbling around.
Most decks have a huge amount of trouble dealing with a properly built mill deck, and the deck tends to be much more consistent than you’d think thanks to the built in U/B mechanic Transmute. Now you can easily search up that Glimpse the Unthinkable with a Dimir Infiltrator, or search for Entrancer on turn 3 by transmuting Dimir House Guard or Clutch of the Undercity.
One of the picks that I found myself questioning after this draft was when I took Moroii over Vedalken Entrancer after first picking the Glimpse the Unthinkable in pack one of the draft. In the end I still think this pick was right because if I ship Moroii then the guy downstream would have certainly got into U/B and taken some Induce Paranoias away from me in pack two to play in his own deck. Moroii isn’t even very good in the archetype above, but it is an alternate win condition and a good blocker, so taking it and solidifying myself as the U/B drafter ended up being a good move on my part.
Important Cards
Now that I’ve gone over the basic reasons why this archetype is a strong choice in the new format, let’s take a look at the cards individually and their benefits in the archetype.
Lore Broker
If ever there was tech to give you regarding Ravnica Limited, this guy in the mill deck is about as good as it gets. The best part about this card is that it looks absolutely awful on paper, and therefore can be picked up as late as 12th by a savvy drafter. I drafted a deck on Magic Online Beta that had three copies of this guy and as soon as I got multiples out it was essentially game over. Casting this guy on turn two and then sitting back with countermagic and Duskmantle, House of Shadow for the rest of the game is nigh unbeatable by most of the decks you’ll face in the format.
You may argue that letting your opponent loot is a really bad thing when you’re trying to stabilize and mill them out, but you’re just going to have to trust me and try this one out for yourself because I know you won’t be disappointed. If given the option of having this guy or Merfolk Looter in one of my mill decks, I would rather have this guy!
I wouldn’t pick this guy early because I would be very surprised if it didn’t make the lap back around.
Lurking Informant
I like to have one of these in my deck, and don’t horribly mind running two. In essence you can give yourself time in the mid-late game by leaving lands on top of your opponents deck and allowing your mill plan to fully develop, and the fact that you can use him on yourself to find something you need is a nice bonus.
The depressing thing about this guy is that he really is kind of slow since he costs two mana to activate. Some games he will rarely go online, while others he will be great in combination with keeping mana untapped to counter important spells. A very necessary evil.
Drift of Phantasms
I never thought I’d find myself calling a Wall amazing, but this guy is simply a must for Blue in Ravnica. This guy can stop pretty much everything your opponent will throw at you, and he gives you plenty of time to set up and get to work on the opponent’s deck. If nothing else, you can Transmute him away when he’s not going to help for something else.
I’d pick this guy very highly, and over everything common but perhaps the first or second Vedalken Entrancer. Induce Paranoia will probably table if it’s early enough in the pack, and I like to have at least two of these walls if possible to give me a good defense in the early turns of the game.
Vedalken Entrancer
Millstone on a stick. I should hope I don’t have to explain why this guy is good in the archetype. I would advise taking this guy over Induce Paranoia and Drift of Phantasms most of the time, but I usually also wouldn’t want more than 2-3 copies total. The other thing you have to keep in mind here is that you have Tidewater Minions which can serve as multiple copies of the Entrancer by untapping it for a second use, so it may also be correct to take Induce Paranoia over a second Entrancer if you have a Tidewater Minion or have seen a few going around such that you’ll get one late.
The first Entrancer is very important to the deck, but by no means is the archetype completely reliant on this card like some people seem to think.
Induce Paranoia
Again, this one is kind of a no brainer.
It’s important to note that this card is extremely good and equally important to the archetype. I’m not sure you can have too many of these either, since once you set up your defense all you want to do the rest of the game is sit back on Duskmantle or Lore Broker and counter anything relevant or anything that will mill at least four or more cards. It quickly becomes a downward spiral for your opponent if you have board parity and are sitting back on multiple copies of Paranoia.
You’ll get these late since it’s unlikely anyone else will want them, but you should also be picking them relatively highly.
Duskmantle, House of Shadow
Yes, it’s uncommon and therefore not guaranteed to be in every draft. Despite that, there is usually at least one copy of this land and if you are the mill drafter you should make sure that you are the one that gets it. This isn’t usually very hard, but this card is extremely good in the deck and is much faster at finishing the job than it looks. When you have someone under constant pressure from this and either Lore Broker or Lurking Informant, with a Paranoia picking up the rear, it’s easy to see how fast someone will get decked.
Convolute
Solid counterspell here, but by no means a necessity. I’d much rather be casting Drift of Phantasms on turn 3 than keeping mana up for this card but this can also help when you don’t want to waste Induce Paranoia to counter a relevant spell that has a low casting cost. You want to try and hit the bigger spells with the Paranoia to speed up the decking process so the Convolute can be useful for smaller things or just keeping parity in the early game if you have no turn three play.
Compulsive Research and Consult the Necrosages
Both of these draw spells are fine inclusions in the deck, but Compulsive Research is far and away the better of the two. It’s easier on mana, digs deeper, and also can make the opponent draw three cards instead of two. Be sure to keep in mind that both of these can be used on the opponent so that if you get involved in a tight race between damage and decking, either of these may be able to deliver the final blow to the opponent’s library.
Dimir Infiltrator
This little guy is awesome. Not only is he a good blocker at 1/3 for two mana, but you can use him to transmute for Last Gasp, Clinging Darkness, or if you’re lucky enough, Glimpse the Unthinkable. A great addition to the mill archetype and actually any U/B deck you manage to draft.
Psychic Drain
Here is another powerhouse uncommon for the archetype which you should plan on picking very high if you are in the deck. The beautiful thing here is that this card gains you life while milling out the opponent to help keep you alive until the job is done.
An excellent card for the archetype in all ways.
Some Other Notes on the Archetype
Removal is usually a good idea in this archetype, but be sure you give proper priority to the mill cards as if you take removal over them too often you’ll end up being a janky U/B deck that doesn’t know if it wants to attack someone or mill them out. I’d pick Last Gasp quite highly because it is amazing, but be more inclined to take Entrancer or Drift of Phantasms over Disembowel or Brainspoil in the early picks of the draft. The nice thing is that there is plenty of Black removal to go around so that you should at least pick up a Clinging Darkness or two and you don’t exactly need a ton of removal to make the deck tick.
An interesting combo that can be incorporated into this deck is that of Junktroller plus Tunnel Vision should you happen to stumble upon this otherwise junk rare in a draft. Junktroller is a fine creature with a useful ability in his own right, but when you use him to put a card on the bottom of your opponent’s deck and then cast Tunnel Vision your opponent will suddenly be left with one card in library. This combo compliments of Ben Peebles by the way.
I’d try to use a more standard mana base with most of the mill decks, though I don’t mind running a Signet or two and possibly one tap land. Try not to go overboard as basic lands are probably just better here since you’ll usually be running Duskmantle, House of Shadow and will want to run 17 total lands. One or two Signets is fine, especially if you’re splashing like I was in the above Faith’s Fetters decklist, but you have Drift of Phantasms and Convolute on turn 3 so getting to four mana is not always necessary.
Finally, the archetype boasts a couple bomb rares should you open them, in the form of Circu, Dimir Lobotomist and Szadek, Lord of Secrets.
Give this archetype a try and I think you’ll agree that it is quite potent in the new format.
Nick Eisel
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Soooooo on MODO