Anubis Monori

Definitely. Flicker Ranger out and in, gain life with any soul sisters you have in play and search your library for two more.

Both Ajani's Pridemate and Archangel of Thune abilities trigger " just once from each life-gaining event, whether it’s 1 life from Soulmender or 5 life from Elixir of Immortality". So, putting in Rhox Faithmender will not give you an additional event, it just increases the amount of life you gain in that event. It's not really going to help you get +1/+1 counters on creatures aside from its lifelink ability.

That being said, I think Faithmender is a good card for the deck, not replacing Felidar but in addition to. But that's just my opinion.

On an unrelated note, I like a lot of the other changes you've made to the deck. The only thing I don't think helping is Urborg. With only Divinity of Pride and Lingering Souls' flashback as your black mana spells, I don't see it as needed. 4 Isolated Chapels are more than enough.

(The quote is from Archangel's Gatherer rulings text.)

Cool deck. White doesn't have much in the way of bounce, but it does have flicker. Have you considered cards like Cloudshift, Flickerwisp, Turn to Mist, Saltskitter, Otherworldly Journey?

I like it. How about a few more 1 mana cards to make it even faster? Tormented Hero and Blooksoaked Champion would fit right in, though the latter is a bit more expensive. Defiant Strike has draw, and Oppressive Rays slows down your opponent's defense.

Awesome deck. Happy birthday!

It seems like Cradle of Vitality could be used on any creature with Lifelink to turn it into a powerhouse. I do agree, Goldenglow Moth is a great candidate.

It's too bad red gets all the good haste... that's the only thing that this aggro deck is missing. Have you thought about Frontline Medic, even for the sideboard? He's pretty versatile.

I like this idea! It's a lot cheaper than Plague Wind, that's for sure.

At the moment, no. This is the one I was looking at, but I think it's squared away. For now, at least.

I doubt you could do that.

Anyway, are there any decks you'd like me to take a look at?

Thank you. Anything you'd want to change?

I hate to ask this, but do you mind looking at a deck for me? It's an old one that I'm revisiting; I'm trying to speed it up and after looking at this I was hoping you would have some advice. Ideally, I'd love to be able to get it done by turn 4 or 5 like you seem to.

http://www.mtgvault.com/anubis-monori/decks/phage-the-unusual/

J: I checked out that bounce deck. Great minds indeed.

Bouncing lands. For $15. This deck is evil, and I love it.

I haven't read all the comments, but I don't know what else I can say that hasn't already been said.

Fair enough. Some people like bounce and some don't. I've found in the games that I play control it's an effective way of forcing an opponent to use up his or her mana by replaying spells.

Distress is a great discard, if I should go that route. Mindcrank is in the deck because this deck has more creatures in it than other mill decks by comparison (not all of course, but some that I've seen on the site), which is surprising because 12 doesn't seem like a lot to me. It also gives me something to do with Jace's Phantasm and Nihilith and similar creatures: this deck does not care about life totals, it's only concern is your opponent's library.

I like Ghost Quarter and the idea of a combo with Mind Funeral. I will see if I can work it in somewhere.

Funny you mention it, I originally had both Induce Paranoia and Psychic Strike in the deck. I thought Paranoia was too expensive to be effective for this particular deck, so I cut it and put the focus on Strike.

Sorry! I guess I misunderstood you. ^^;
Like I said, I'm happy with my rares. I tried to include cards that are powerful but not so necessary that the deck can't function without them, because like you said, I only have one in the deck. That's why I rejected cards like Oona, Queen of the Fae.

I have done some playtesting. I played against four of my other decks (me against myself), and the details are in a comment above, but in a nutshell, it won three out of the four games. I actually want to do some more once all of this is figured out. The counterspells were useful in a couple of the games I played, but 4 may be more than necessary. I will take another look.

If you have any suggestions for cards, I would love to hear what they are. Even if they are rare or uncommon, they might lead me to something else that I can use. I am thinking about replacing some of the cards in the deck. For example, I was considering swapping out Grisly Spectacle for something like Echoing Truth. It doesn't mill (I can't find any bounce spells that mill), but it does potentially remove more threats, even if it's only long enough for me to throw out the final game-ending Mind Sculpt. How do you feel about bounce spells in general?

Finally, speaking of uncommons, I was looking at my sideboard and thinking about Extract from Darkness. Stealing creatures is satisfying, but doesn't really help this deck since the creatures I need are in here. I was looking at Dimir Machinations and Wight of Precinct Six, but what uncommons do you like?

Sorry it took me so long to reply.

First of all, thank you so much for looking at my deck! This is my first time making a mill deck and I really appreciate the feedback.

Secondly, I don't blame you for not reading all of the comments here. I can get rather longwinded if I let myself go, and I kinda did earlier. I'll try to keep this response at a reasonable length.

One thing I've noticed as well is that speed is very important. The only real aggro deck I have is my $6 deck, so I could try a little more playtesting and see how that goes. We'll see. Speaking of playtesting, while I was first testing out the deck I noticed something you cleverly pointed out: Psychic Spiral is only useful in a handful of scenarios, and is better served on my sideboard than my main deck. I made that change, and a few others to bring in smaller CMC cards, including Jace's Phantasm (I don't know how I missed that my first time around).

While I do love me some Glimpse the Unthinkable, I'm happy with my rares. I know Nihilith is not the first card people think of when the word mill comes to mind, but the Timmy in me loves playing a 4/4 with fear and haste for 4 mana and the Johnny in me loves milling 12-15% of my opponent's deck while doing it. And it works in other decks besides mill. It's such a fun card!

I realize now that it's 4:00 am where I live, so this may not be my best writing, but I will do my best under the circumstances.

"Conversation is based upon respect for your audience. If you want your audience to listen, first show your respect for them. Treat them as equals."

I like this a lot. It is something I try to do every day, and you put it simply but artfully, Hokey Pokey. I cannot say I pay as much attention to blog posts (though I think that will change), but in every day conversation, I'm always taking the time to carefully articulate what I want to express, because people remember not only your words, but your tone and your attitude. You cannot say, "While I respect your position, I believe..." unless you truly do feel that respect, because people will be able to see right through you.

I've also been told frequently that I'm a quiet person. Not only because I take my time responding, but because I don't talk. And I will tell people, if I don't have anything to say, I don't speak. Empty words don't add to a conversation; I again wholeheartedly agree with you there.

Your note of adding humor reminds me of my father. He is without a doubt the most charming person I know. No matter who he is talking to, no matter what the situation is, he can make that person laugh. He always seems to know just what to say to lift their spirits. It's an enviable quality, if I may say so. I asked him about it once, and he said that when faced with a conflict, he always found the easiest resolution (for him, I would add) was to dispel it with humor. There is no point in two people arguing incessantly and getting nothing accomplished.

I also like what you put as guidelines for when people disagree. If more people did that in general, I feel there would be a lot more conversations and far fewer "trolls".

Your beast of a comment is very useful, at least to me, and I would hope that people do notice this and take it to heart. I suppose the only question I have is, is this blogger's manifesto still under construction? Do you need any help with it? I would be happy to assist any way that I can.

Wow. Look at what you miss when you work on the weekends. I will try to respond to things in the same order that was originally posted.

First and most importantly, thank you for looking at my deck, Knight of the Hokey Pokey. Have I ever mentioned what an awesome card that is? If not, there it is. I am also a fan of Bronze Calendar. But I digress.

Now then, I would like to put it on record that if you take the time to write not just one, but two thoughtful, eloquent, and logical comments on one of my decks, I will NEVER be offended.

With the exception of Icy Hot, the mana curve on most of my decks is mid/high. I don't put my focus on the early game unless it's adding a few cheap blockers or disruptive spells. This deck is no exception. It isn't about winning by turn 4, it is about milling constantly, relentlessly, until your opponent cries or punches you in the face. Or both. That is one reason I was hesitant to focus on Hedron Crab at first; I can only add one more according to the rules and that doesn't help my chances of getting two in my opening hand by much (although I'm sure someone, somewhere has done the math and can produce the percentages). I also like the cards in the deck, and I (usually) build my decks with a variety of cards rather than running 4 copies of the 8 or 9 "best" cards. It works with me and against me.

Now that you have an idea of how I build a deck, generally speaking, you can take the entire last paragraph and throw it out the window. I liked the examples you use. Speed will make this deck more deadly, and when I built it I could not have imagined getting 33 cards milled by turn 3. Now, Hedron Crab is uncommon, and most of the higher costing cards like Dreadwaters, Grisly Spectacle, and Returned Centaur are all common. I did find a spot in place of one Duskmantle, whose ability requires more mana for less cards. Memory Sluice is a great card in this deck because so few creatures need to attack unless Mindcrank is out, which is why it was originally included in the sideboard. I traded it out for Dreadwaters because I realized it's going to be very late in the game before Dreadwaters is as effective. Evolving Wilds does have good synergy with even one Hedron Crab, and most of the lands in the deck are basic anyway, so I included that as well.

I included Nemesis of Reason because the focus of this deck is not getting your opponent from 20 life to 0. It's getting him or her from 60 cards to 0. With Nemesis and Mindshrank in play, I don't see it as "it will only hit for 3". I see my opponent having two choices: block this creature and lose 10 cards, or let it hit you and lose 13. I liked those numbers. Then I took a look at Consuming Aberration. I must have missed it the first time around because I didn't recognize it on Vault and I don't have a copy (yet). It is a powerful card, and I agree that it would be a stronger creature than Nemesis. In it goes.

Please don't misunderstand anything that I've said here. I'm not trying to hopelessly defend any of my decisions, nor am I saying that I know better. On the contrary; this is the first mill deck I've ever built and I need criticisms like yours. What I am doing is explaining why I chose the cards I did. Your suggestions are very much appreciated and I am making most of the changes you have indicated. If I am not imposing, I would love for you to take a look at my "Phage the Unusual" deck. It is also a deck that after playtesting I feel could use a little bit of Carbos. At your leisure, of course.

As a side note, I also overlooked Hedron Crab's usefulness in a deck like this. I always thought it would be more practical in a green deck that had lots of mana ramp, but obviously I was wrong.

Since this has come to be far longer than I anticipated, I will continue in another reply.