Hello happy folks! Today let's grab another recently released Commander from the MTG Jumpstart set. This is the fun and milling loving and mono-Blue friend to all, Neerdiv, Devious Diver! Here they are:
This has two abilities. First, if you tap her, you can mill someone the power, minimum two. Then when you can cast or activate things from your graveyard, you'll draw and toss a +1/+1 counter here and note there are no once per turns restriction there. Love her loads! I am building her to mill you early to draw grow her and then your foe's late to kill all. She'll be both. I'll also need tons of spells to play from that graveyard. You could build her with dorks with unearth in Blue or colorless, but we'll be running just most spells so I can run some Spellslinger support.
Mana, Ramp, Rocks, Lands
Let's start with synergetic mana makers. Since our Commander costs three, we cannot accelerate her on turn two barring a lucky Sol Ring. The three-drop uncommon will tap for any color of mana and then you can tap an untapped legendary dork to make mana, so you can tap her to self-mill. The one-drop uncommon will tap with nothing for one mana if you tap anything, love it here, and I am also tossing in equipment Paradise Mantle to equip her for that tapping for mana as well.
Buried Treasure will tap and sac for mana, sure, do it and then you can spend five and exile this from your graveyard and discover 5, triggering Neerdiv. Throne of Eldraine costs five, chooses Blue, taps for four of it for mono-Blue spells and then taps with three Blue to draw two. Love this loads in mono-color decks, ditto War Room which I also added.
Now let's turn to lands! The Temple is the first nonbasic I added, it taps for colorless and then can be returned from your graveyard to play tapped for three mana. The mono-Blue legendary land arrives untapped, taps for that color, and then taps with a Blue to untap your legendary, like Neerdiv for another tapping of her. It's pretty pricey on the secondary market, sorry, but it's pretty good at its job here.
Let's turn to a pair of Commander Classic uncommons, that do not ETB tapped either. Rogue's Passage turns our Commander into an unblockable threat, and then you can start smashing. I also tossed in Artful Dodge to flashback for two turns. You can win while tapping her! Reliquary Tower will stop you from discarding, and since we are drawing so many cards from card draw, I didn't want to be forced to discard, so I tossed in it as well as the Thought Vessel and Decanter of Endless Water. Some might prefer it given you are casting from your graveyard loads too, but I prefer casting them twice if you draw them, once normally and once in flashback.
The Clue artifact land enters tapped, taps for colorless, taps an untapped dork and it to make that mana, and then sacs. The other two that tap similarly are here too. The rare land also taps for colorless and taps with two mana to toss two counters on a non-Human you control, that ETBed like, say, Neerdiv! Then the common taps for colorless too, and taps for putting a counter on your Commander if it just arrived this turn too, these will grow her loads to attack, or mill strong when using her mill.
Fun Milling and Graveyard Stuff
Now let's turn to fun mill, and graveyard recursion, and we'll start with both with this pair! The sorcery that costs three uncommon will have each player mill five, you too. Then you can flash it back with eight. The rare from that set X spell one to start will have one target could be you, to mill X cards and then flashback for the same cost and double mill this time.
Sorcery milling fun is next. The kicker two-cost four to kick will have each opponent mill eight base, or half if kicked. The three-cost harder to do will have each foe mill fourteen, and cycles for two to mill them for four instead.
Now let's turn to recursion dorks. The four-drop flashing Sphinx of Forgotten Lore can do fun EOT or combat tricks to kill 2/2 flyers, and then when it swings, one spell in your graveyard gets flashback. The three-drop 2/3 Rogue Slickshot Lockpicker from Outlaws has an ETB ability to cast an instant or sorcery from your graveyard this turn with its cost. I also tossed in Snapcaster Mage here for that flashback this turn too to trigger Neerdiv.
Synergies and Winning Conditions
Now let's turn to synergies and other backup win-cons besides the milling. The enchantment costs five for a cast trigger to make an X/X artifact Construct equal to its mana value. Then you can exile this to return all of them to your hand, with a cost of five mana, but then only if you control at least six artifacts. The legendary costs four for a 2/2 Merfolk and that makes 2/2 flyers this time for your spell casts. Then the three-drop legendary one with a bigger butt will make you a 1/1 Horror each time anyone mills dorks. You can also tap this with one mana to have someone mill three.
Now let's turn to mill enhancers. Bruvac the Grandiloquent is a 1/4 blockable body that doubles your mill count on foes. Nice! The Mindskinner has a nasty 10/1 unblockable size, and it turns all damage you deal from any source to milling all foes instead. There are times someone may be running mill defense like a thing in their library that shuffles back when it's milled, so could need to kill normally with combat damage. Get ready for that potential, and then just bounce this instead.
Drowned Secrets costs two and turns your Blue casts in milling the top twp of one player of your choice, you to set up or a foe. Then you can replay lands from your graveyard that you have milled with the classic artifact Crucible of Worlds. Self-Reflection costs six, makes a Clone token, and flashes back for four. The four-cost instant Reenact the Crime exiles something that was put into a graveyard this turn by anyone, and then you cast it for free. You cannot exile lands, but you can exile stuff from your foes that you milled.
Now let's turn to the question...do I toss in alternate self-milling win cons like Thassa's Oracle or Jace, and the guy above. I choose just to do the answerable guy, since everyone can counter, bounce or kill him instantly if I drop him and then put card draw on the stack but not Jace and such. The enchantment costs three and then turns your cards drawn into milling your foes of two each one.
I liked pumping up Neerdiv into a powerhouse of wonder, enter the Equipment. It costs two, equip your legendry stuff for three, and then pumps them equal to your land count...nasty here! The two-drop 2/2 Mount with 3 to saddle has a combat damage trigger to give your spell flashback this turn, with a zero cost if it was saddled. From tapping Neerdiv for the mill to giving it a free casting to trigger her again in one card seems amazing here.
Answers
Now let's turn to answers, since we're in Blue, that's with counters! I prefer either cheap counters like Counterspell or mechanically flavorful ones like Refute or Sinister Sabotage. Each costs three! One draws you a card and then discards it too for recursion later. The latter adds surveilling 1 into its resolution instead to set up your next draw or also head to the graveyard.
Now let's turn to removal! I tossed in this one cast instant to destroy a dork and make them a free 3/3 to replace it. I also tossed in Rapid Hybridization. Then the flashbacking sorcery for two normally and four with flashback is next! You can make all of the dorks one player controls into 1/1s this turn, but unlike Humility they keep their abilities.
Silent Departure will bounce a dork and then flashback with five to bounce another. Want to stop attacks? How about bouncing them en masse with Aetherize? Yup! I also tossed in modal spell land bounce anything Sink into Stupor.
Card Draw
Now let's turn to card draw with this trio. The enchantment costs three for trigger to draw when you cast a spell from your graveyard. Then the four-drop 2/2 magecraft will draw a card. The five-cost Beast next is 3/3 with persist to come back once. Then you can draw whenever anyone casts from that 'yard, not just you, and then when it arrives or your other stuff does too draw a card, like for dorks and such.
Jace, Vryn's Prodigy has an 0/2 body but you can tap it and draw, discard. If you have enough cards in your graveyard you'll flip and then get the 5 loyalty Jace, Telepath Unbound. His +1 will drop another's power, and then -3 to cast one instant or sorcery from your graveyard this turn, but you still need that mana.
The four-cost instant will dig equal to the mana spent and then draw two. It has flashback for seven mana. The common three-cost instant will draw and then you can cast it over and over again with discarding a land, and then you can drop that land with Crucible of Worlds above.
There we go!!! Ready for my decklist?
Mono-Blue Milling | Commander | Abe Sargent
- Commander (1)
- 1 Neerdiv, Devious Diver
- Creatures (13)
- 1 Archmage Archivist
- 1 Archmage's Newt
- 1 Bruvac the Grandiloquent
- 1 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
- 1 Laboratory Maniac
- 1 River Kelpie
- 1 Slickshot Lockpicker
- 1 Snapcaster Mage
- 1 Sphinx of Forgotten Lore
- 1 Talrand, Sky Summoner
- 1 The Mindskinner
- 1 Zellix, Sanity Flayer
- 1 Whispering Wizard
- Instants (17)
- 1 Aetherize
- 1 Counterspell
- 1 Cryptic Command
- 1 Dissipate
- 1 Dream Twist
- 1 Fervent Denial
- 1 Memory Deluge
- 1 Oona's Grace
- 1 Pongify
- 1 Rapid Hybridization
- 1 Reenact the Crime
- 1 Refute
- 1 Resculpt
- 1 Silundi Vision // Silundi Isle
- 1 Sink into Stupor // Soporific Springs
- 1 Sinister Sabotage
- 1 Think Twice
- Sorceries (14)
- 1 Artful Dodge
- 1 Chill of Foreboding
- 1 Deep Analysis
- 1 Fractured Sanity
- 1 Increasing Confusion
- 1 Inspiration from Beyond
- 1 Maddening Cacophony
- 1 Mass Diminish
- 1 Otterball Antics
- 1 Scour all Possibilities
- 1 Sea Gate Restoration // Sea Gate, Reborn
- 1 Self-Reflection
- 1 Silent Departure
- 1 Tasha's Hideous Laughter
- Enchantments (5)
- 1 Drowning Secrets
- 1 Metallurgic Summoning
- 1 Psychic Corrosion
- 1 Secrets of the Dead
- 1 Shark Typhoon
- Artifacts (14)
- 1 Blackblade Reforged
- 1 Buried Treasure
- 1 Crucible of Worlds
- 1 Decanter of Endless Water
- 1 Paradise Mantle
- 1 Patriar's Seal
- 1 Relic of Legends
- 1 Sapphire Medallion
- 1 Sky Diamond
- 1 Sol Ring
- 1 Springleaf Drum
- 1 Swiftfoot Boots
- 1 Throne of Eldraine
- 1 Thought Vessel
- Lands (36)
- 1 Academy Ruins
- 1 Demolition Field
- 1 Drannith Ruins
- 1 Drownyard Temple
- 1 Forge of Heroes
- 1 Hall of Oracles
- 1 Holdout Settlement
- 1 Karn's Bastion
- 1 Maze of Ith
- 1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
- 1 Mystic Sanctuary
- 1 Myriad Landscape
- 1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
- 1 Reliquary Tower
- 1 Rogue's Passages
- 1 Scene of the Crime
- 1 Survivors' Encampment
- 1 Tyrite Sanctum
- 1 War Room
- 17 Island
There we go! I hope you enjoyed this! My brew has three modal spell // lands and then 36 other lands. You may find your hand land clogged, you could add cycling lands or artifact ways to drop them. I skipped many obvious Commander Staples here that would keep you safe until decking like Cyclonic Rift and Fierce Guardianship. But I did toss in Maze of Ith. You could add them too, and I added Academy Ruins to bring back milled or destroyed artifacts. Let me know your thoughts below!