I love mill. Its my fave archetype but this meta is not kind to it. I expect Aether Revolt to be the same. Too fast and too much vehicles to deal with. If only there is an instant board wipe...

Blessed Alliance would put the deck into Jeskai. I'm not completely opposed to it (also gives the deck access to Nahiri, who is great in these decks, as well as Declaration in Stone), but this change mainly adds more removal at the cost of a worse match-up vs. counterspell-based control. Maybe it's the best way to play Jeskai Mill; but I'm not gonna experiment a week before the new set drops.

Yeah, I figured Talent wouldn't be great; Aggro decks don't run too many answers to themselves and most of the time they're creatures.

2 x Pia Nalaar
3 x Thopter Engineer
3 x Chief of the Foundry
3 x Maverick Thopterist
2 x Pia and Kiran Nalaar
3 x Whirler Rogue

3 x Reverse Engineer
2 x Thopter Spy Network

4 x Bone Saw
3 x Servo Schematic

4 x Shock
4 x Metallic Rebuke

Thoughts?

Bone Saw isn't doing you any good, here. The thopters are all you need for Improvise. I'd rather run some 2-drops.

Agree on the omission of Bone Saw. If you want to run a cheap artifact I'd look at Renegade Map or Implement of Combustion.

I also agree in the notion that you want more plays for turn 2. Smuggler's Copter comes to mind, maybe even Ravenous Intruder (I'm not 100% sold on him, but he could be fine in this shell I think).

If you want a useful cheap Artifact, use the goggles because most of those creatures are artificers. That's what I did in my thoptercrats build. You can still tap equipments once they're equiped are there's no downside. Also puts them out of languish/yahenni's expertise range for free.

Reckless Fireweaver is so good with thopters, it is the 2 mana spell that they didn't have in origins season.

Thopters v2

2 x Pia Nalaar
3 x Thopter Engineer
3 x Chief of the Foundry
3 x Maverick Thopterist
2 x Pia and Kiran Nalaar
3 x Whirler Rogue

2 x Thopter Spy Network
3 x Reverse Engineer
2 x Whir of Invention

4 x Shock
4 x Disperse
4 x Twin Bolt


Thoughts this time?

What about the red and blue rare creatures that give an artifact tap:shock (red one) and tap:draw a card (blue one)?

I don't think Reverse Engineer and Whir of Invention are good enough, neither is Disperse or Twin Bolt.

That opens up 13 slots.. which I would make:
3x Harnessed Lightning
3x Unlicensed D
1x Padeem
1x Red Hulk
3x Telling Time (bc its a turn 2 play, unlike Reverse Engineer)
2x the new Rebuke counter spell

Smuggler's Copter?

Vile Aggregate?

..and this is why I don't want to brew before I can see all the cards in the editor.

I wonder if some old trash cards could be useful now.

Like Salivating Gremlins or something.

So, I figured this thread would be appropriate to post this. I destroyed "o Prisim o" with this UR Tutelage deck! I was playing against rather aggressive decks which I knew he would be playing and my deck still manages to hold up to Chandra, Flamecaller!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmG-ZucCvT8

3 x Lightning Axe
4 x Fiery Impulse
4 x Fiery Temper
3 x Unsubstantiate
2 x Brutal Expulsion

4 x Cathartic Reunion
4 x Take Inventory
3 x Telling Time

2 x Fevered Visions
2 x Oath of Jace

2 x Thing in the Ice
1 x Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
1 x Chandra, Torch of Defiance

3 x Sphinx's Tutelage


_Afterwards, I removed the Brutal Expulsion's and added in Talents.

Talent of the Telepath looks like a meta choice. What are you expecting to hit with it, or is it just another mill-effect? Isn't Brutal Expulsion still better to buy some time and exile stuff like Scrapheap Scrounger?

Your probably correct on that one!

I used to be attracted to prowess decks for their 1-shot potential. The problem is, you usually need some creatures on the board to get an opportunity. And when you stack the power on few creatures, a single removal could still ruin the fun. You'd need counterspells to protect the creatures, but you also need the right balance of creatures and pump spells, so you don't really have room for that.

Now you can play for the instakill without these downsides. You don't need a board, you simply need enough spells in the yard to make Enigma Drake huge. So you play counterburn and keep the board clear for 10+ turns, play your Enigma Drake and Expedite. Only instant removal or counterspells can deal with a hasted Drake and that's why there are 11 counterspells, including the cheap Dispels. As three copies of Enigma Drake are the only creatures, you have plenty of room for the control cards in order to survive into the lategame and keep your Drakes alive.

Sometimes I go for the single lethal attack, sometimes I do it in two swings - for example when I drew a second Drake anyway. The deck runs so many counterspells that you're almost guaranteed to get one of three Drakes through. Just don't play the drake until you can protect him. Waiting longer has the added benefit that he will grow bigger from turn to turn.

A single copy of Fling is there to provide lethal swings a little earlier and later on it can still protect the damage of a single swing in place of a counterspell. 21 lands seem to be enough with that much draw and cycling.

Creatures (3)
3x Enigma Drake

Planeswalkers (1)
1x Chandra, Flamecaller

Instants (29) / Sorceries (2) / Enchantments (2)
3 x Dispel
1 x Expedite
3 x Fiery Impulse
3 x Telling Time
3 x Censor
3 x Harnessed Lightning
1 x Fling
2 x Imprisoned in the Moon
2 x Scatter to the Winds
3 x Broken Concentration
2 x Collective Defiance
3 x Glimmer of Genius
4 x Hieroglyphic Illumination


Land (21)
7 x Island
6 x Mountain
2 x Wandering Fumarole
2 x Sulfur Falls
4 x Highland Lake
2 x Hanweir Battlements

Your mana can probably support Hanweir Battlements as another way to haste the Drake.

I thought about that card. I don't really need additional ways to haste the drake - I'm often halfway through my deck when I wanna cast him, so I usually have at least one Expedite by that time. However, it might be a good replacement for 2 Expedites.

I would be very careful about replacing lands, though. With 21 you sometimes end up with 2 lands in your opener and you need both colours and double blue asap. If I was to include them, I'd just go up to 23 lands and drop 2 Expedites. The downside is that the Battlements don't cantrip and won't put an instant in the yard. With lots of card draw I often end up with too many lands already, so Expedite is to be preferred in many situations.

It's still a close call and certainly a good option, if you feel 21 lands are not enough.

Another card I'm not quite sure about is Magma Spray. It's nice to have a permanent solution to some annoying creatures, but the difference between 2 and 3 damage is huge, so Fiery Impulse might just be better in general. You don't encounter recursion every game, but you're almost certainly gonna have a use for additional points of damage. Even in the worst case scenario it still buys time by killing the stuff early on, and you can make up for the card disadvantage with draw spells by the time they can profitably recast their creatures from the yard.

Oh and while we're at it, Kozilek's Return should probably be Chandra, Flamecaller as the sweeper of choice. Hits for 4 when needed. Can hit for 3 and survive. Can replace your hand and get spells in the yard. Can be an alternate wincon. It's all upside unless your opponent managed to stick 2-3 creatures by turn 3-5 that are below 3 toughness, which is quite unlikely - and it's even more unlikely to have the singleton right then and there.

Replacing the whole hand is so powerful that it might be a good idea to swap Exquisite Firecraft for Collective Defiance aswell. Slightly worse against Planeswalkers, but other than that all upside. My first version of this deck had Fateful Showdown for that effect, but it was a bit awkward at times with your combo pieces already in hand and a must answer threat on the board. Collective Defiance making that effect optional is way better in this deck.

I made all those changes for now, to get a better feel for it. Running both Battlements in place of Expedites.

This is my current version. I figured alchemists are the best companions for the Drake and should draw out the removal aswell as get in a few hits and thus lower the damage necessary from the Drake.
Haven't done much testing appart from goldfishing vs he AI which didn't put up much of a fight since it hardly runs removal. This version could go more counter heavy or more burn heavy to adapt to the meta.
Sphinx is an alternate win-con too, that you can pitch to a Cathartic early on or can draw at least 2 removal spells away from the Drake.


Izzet Burning Enigma

Creature(8)
4 x Thermo-Alchemist
3 x Enigma Drake
1 x Glyph Keeper

Instant(20)
2 x Dispel
4 x Galvanic Bombardment
1 x Lightning Axe
2 x Censor
1 x Pull From Tomorrow
2 x Harnessed Lightning
4 x Fiery Temper
4 x Hieroglyphic Illumination

Sorcery(8)
4 x Take Inventory
4 x Cathartic Reunion

Split(1)
1 x Insult

Enchantment(2)
2 x Fevered Visions

Land(21)
6 x Island
2 x Wandering Fumarole
6 x Mountain
2 x Sulfur Falls
1 x Highland Lake
2 x Hanweir Battlements
2 x Aether Hub

To view this deck go to: https://www.magicduelshelper.com/deckli ... 06e96a99a3

Created using Magic Duels Helper: http://www.magicduelshelper.com
Kozilek's Return was in my current list instead of Insult, but I'm gonna try it out, because on paper it looks nasty with the alchemists pinging away. May cut an alchemist and add kozilek's return again though...