Mill decks are a popular alternative win condition in Magic: The Gathering. If you’ve ever wanted to grind your opponents out of cards and into despair, there are some great Commander deck options available to you.
Commander, the most popular Magic format, allows for some truly exceptional mill cards. We’re talking about the act of putting cards directly from your deck into your graveyard, rather than putting them into your library. It isn’t a reliable way to win the game, but it can pile on the pressure so much that opponents eventually give up.
There are plenty of mill commander options available in the world of Commander, and plenty of them are unique or powerful in their own ways. We’ve picked out a range of commanders that excel at building mill decks and have listed them in order of power level, from the most powerful to the least.
Kraken mill commander
Wrexial the Risen Deep is one of the best Commander options for mill decks. Sure, you could build a deck around making it a huge threat in combat, but where it really shines is by allowing you to cast spells from your opponents’ graveyards for free. This can be devastating if you manage to get multiple copies of powerful spells into graveyards, such as Cruel Ultimatum or Mind Twist.
If you want to mill your opponents directly, there are a few options. Circu, Dimir Lobotomist mills opponents whenever you cast a blue or black spell, and exiles cards from the top of their libraries accordingly. You can also use Consecrated Sphinx or The Eldest Reborn to mill five cards whenever you cast a spell, and then either bounce those cards to your hand or return them to your opponents.
Mimic commander
Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker is a reliable and effective Dimir mill commander. It can mill opponents by putting cards from their libraries into their graveyards upon dealing combat damage. It also copies any creature you have in your graveyard, which can be highly useful if you have a powerful Dimir creature with a powerful activated ability in your graveyard. Mirko can also copy opposing creatures, making it a versatile option for any mill deck.
Shapeshifter commander
Lazav, Dimir Mastermind is an excellent shapeshifter option for a mill deck. Thanks to Lazav’s ability to copy opponents’ creatures from their graveyards, you can copy powerful creatures from your opponents’ decks and use them to your own advantage. You could copy a big threat and block with it, or use a powerful ability on a smaller creature. This versatility makes Lazav a powerful force in mill decks.
Merfolk wizard
Araumi of the Dead Tide is a wizard that can exile cards from your graveyard to create temporary copies of creatures with encore. This will put the exiled cards back into your library, so you can repeat the process over and over again to build up a horde of creatures. Araumi also protects those creatures from removal, and can even steal opposing creatures that aren’t enchanted.
The Mimeoplasm can use its ability to exile creature cards from graveyards to enter the battlefield as a copy of one of those creatures, with additional +1/+1 counters. If you manage to get a grip on a powerful creature with a useful enter-the-battlefield ability, such as Goblin King, then this can be an excellent way to get multiple uses out of that ability.
Faerie rogue maker
Oona, Queen of the Fae can mill a card from your library for each mana you pay, and creates a faerie rogue token for each card milled. These tokens can be used for a variety of purposes, either chipping away at your opponents’ health, or as a sacrifice to create a bigger threat.
Zombie maker
Sidisi, Brood Tyrant mills its controller’s library to create zombie tokens whenever creatures are put into the graveyard. This allows you to build up a horde of zombies to either attack with, or sacrifice to create more powerful creatures. Sidisi can also use its ability to exile cards from graveyards to create zombie tokens whenever you cast a black spell.
Frog mill
Sidisi’s partner in crime, Grolnok, the Omnivore mills cards when a frog attacks. Whenever a frog with a counter on it attacks, you get to mill a card. The more counters on Grolnok, the Omnivore, the more powerful your attacks become, which is an excellent way to build up a big threat, while also keeping your opponents’ hands filled with unplayable cards.
Rogue maker
Anowon, the Ruin Thief allows you to mill cards when rogues deal combat damage. This can be devastating if you’re able to get multiple rogues attacking, or attacking with an Anowon in play. Anowon also provides bonuses to any other rogues that you have on the battlefield, making it a great card for building up a horde of rogue tokens that can attack for massive damage.
Damage mill
Syr Konrad, the Grim deals damage to opponents whenever a creature is put into any graveyard. This can be a great way to chip away at your opponents’ health, as well as forcing them to mill cards. Syr Konrad also becomes more powerful for each card that an opponent owns in exile, incentivising you to pile on the pressure until your opponents have no choice but to mill themselves.
Nightmare mill
Umbris, Fear Manifest mills opponents when nightmares or horrors enter the battlefield. As the nightmares and horrors grow in strength based on the number of cards opponents own in exile, you can use Umbris to create a big enough nightmare to finish off your opponents.
Nightmare mill
Ludevic, Necro-Alchemist is a unique commander that can create a nightmare effect, and can potentially take over the game. You can mill cards whenever you cast a spell, and then exile those cards to create an imp token. Ludevic also has an activated ability that can exile cards from graveyards, and then create zombie tokens equal to the converted mana cost of the exiled card.
