(The Mindskinner | Goñi Montes)

Here's a story about a little guy

That little guy is The Mindskinner, and they're not very blue. Welcome to another deck tech! My name's Nick, and this is my take on one of the most exciting commanders from Duskmourn: House of Horror. What does do in Magic? Most notably, draw cards and counter spells. Another thing that the color is known for is a recently keyworded mechanic; mill.

Not only is mill an alternate win condition in the game, but outside of an opponent having something like Laboratory Maniac, it might be the #1 annoyance to opposing players at a table. Anger can often come to the surface when another player mills cards from your deck or exiles your graveyard. In Commander, with the increase in deck size and opponents, mill tends to be used to fill your graveyard rather than your opponents'. But at the low cost of and a stat line of 10/1,

What you should do

I will not sugarcoat it; this is not the "ideal" way to build this deck. The most effective way to build the deck is to lean heavily into the Voltron strategy. Cast The Mindskinner, slam any Equipment that pumps the power: Blackblade Reforged, Mjölnir, Storm Hammer, Hammer of Nazahn or Colossus Hammer, and turn sideways. A form of evasion, like Rogue's Passage, helps out, too. If you could guess, this is not what I did.

What I did

I instead decided to put my faith in a man named Tim and pingers. Tim is the nickname for Prodigal Sorcerer, and pinger is the term applied to all cards with the same or similar effect as Tim. The most important part of the card The Mindskinner isn't what the card says in the textbox, but what it doesn't say. And what it does not say is the word combat. This means that any form of damage that you can do will allow you to mill your opponents. One damage at a time is very slow, especially when you are staring down 276 cards on average that need to hit the graveyard at the start of a game. So we go all in.

Tim

Sixteen. I am running sixteen different pingers in this deck. The few that I am omitting tend to be very "single-use" like Psionic Sliver. There are subtle differences between each pinger.

Timing restrictions, staying tapped, and being locked in on only one opponent means that even with all 16, we are not flying through libraries. But Tim has some tricks up their sleeves.

Timmy

For every deck that runs an abundance of creatures with a symbol, haste is the name of the game. One of the best cards in the deck is Thousand-Year Elixir. Allowing your Tims to tap immediately and, as a bonus with mana lying around, you can use one again. What if your opponent(s) happen to all of a sudden have hexproof? You're going to steal every creature they leave behind.

These two cards allow us to stop filling the graveyard or picking off x/1 creatures and add other creatures to our noble cause. While those creatures might not be named Tim, it does not mean that we cannot show them the joys of being blue. Worst case, they say, as a blocker to keep us alive because mill = mad.

Mill = Mad

Once you commit to the mill plan, nay the lifestyle, you will cause an abundance of anger directed your way. So it would help if you found a way to stay alive. I said earlier that is good at countering spells. It just so happens that a few are counter cards and mill as a bonus.

Blue also tends to be annoying. And since we can access colorless cards, we can also snag a few more annoying pieces. Propaganda is one of the most played cards in the format for a reason, but your opponents can always have mana. That's where the following cards come in.

Crawlspace and Silent Arbiter limit the number of creatures that can harm us, and Misleading Signpost is one of my favorite new ways to mess up the combat step. Even our mana base can get in on the action. Maze of Ith and Labyrinth of Skophos can take one pesky creature throw it away. Finally, there are some other ways to assist in our mill strategy.

Mindcrank will trigger off more things than most players realize until it hits the battlefield. Psychic Corrosion has an effect featured on a few other enchantments, but those other ones force you to pick one individual player. Fractured Sanity is a good chunk at 14 cards per opponent but has the added benefit of Cycling with a smaller mill added on.

You Remind Me of My Friend Tim

Tim is a conditional guy. He only does one damage; he has to hit a creature or player. Tim might be a bit picky. We run some other picky cards in this deck.

Are these cards conditional? Yes. Are these cards good? Debateable. Are they going to get a reaction from the table? Absolutely. And those are just some of the permanent effects.

Other than Psionic Blast having some of the best art in the game, it and the cards above will catch people off guard and might allow you to get a critical mill at a crucial moment.

How Do We "Really" Win?

Low power, slow strategy, disrupted by a slight breeze. All downsides to the deck. This deck can thrive when players underestimate the overall strategy and the ability to catch a table off guard with a game-winning combo. We return to a well-known and fairly groan-inducing combo to do so.

Down To Your Last Pathetic Card

This deck can be fun, but it also can be the deck at the table that spins some wheels and does nothing. Either way, I would love to see one in a Commander pod I'm part of, since it will be full of weird cards, strange effects, and good times. I like my decks to be stronger, and if I were building a personal version of The Mindskinner, I would lean towards the Voltron strategy with plenty of protection for my commander.

I would jam every Fierce Guardianship, Slip Out the Back, and Fleet Swallower type card I could get my hands on. But if I wanted to be in a silly, goofy mood, I would grab this deck without a second thought.

Whatever path you decide with this deck, or if you choose to go in a direction I never thought of, you can surely find help by checking out all the other fantastic content at EDHREC and Commander's Herald.

You can find my article series talking about what would happen if every Planeswalker was legal as your commander under Myth Realized. Thank you for reading and checking out the decklist below!

Decklist

Read more:

Start Me Up! - 3 (More) Duskmourn Commanders

Brew For Your Buck - Arabella, Arabudget

Nicholas Lucchesi

Player and lover of all Magic the Gathering formats. Forged in the fires of Oath of the Gatewatch expeditions. Always down to jam games with anyone and everyone. When not playing Magic I am doing something else equally, if not more nerdy.