A Guide to Self-Mill in Commander
Come and learn about mill! Well, self-mill. Rarely do we have an in-game keyword as an article title so for those who aren’t familiar: milling is the act of taking cards from the top of a library and putting it in the graveyard, and it’s called mill due to the card Millstone. Players had unofficially called it mill for several years after that card came out. The term finally got officially keyworded in Core Set 21. Self-mill means you’re targeting yourself and your own library, so it’s cards from your library going to your graveyard.
Pick Your Colors
The main color identities that self-mill in Commander will be a two- or three-color combination of blue, black and green. Blue will bring the ability to draw enough cards to keep going and return annoying permanents to your opponent’s hands, black brings with it graveyard tutors and the ability to return permanents from your graveyard to the battlefield and green gives us removal pieces to deal with some common graveyard hate effects, plus some of the heaviest hitters in the format that are worth reanimating. That’s not to say you can’t make a Boros self-mill deck — I see you, Osgir players — but the card pool in Sultai will probably rebuild better and outpace other colors trying to self-mill.
Expand Your Horizon
You’re not just on the lookout for cards with the mill keyword, even though our format has access to hundreds of them. There are plenty of ways to ensure a sizable graveyard in Magic. Cycling, dredge, loot, surveil, or simply drawing that many cards you’ll have to discard down to 7 in your end step. All of these will have their own purpose, and some can be stronger than others depending on what you’re looking for, so don’t take the self-mill term too literally. Whichever means you find to put cards into your graveyard will get you there.
While ‘Mill X’ cards like Wall of Lost Thoughts will churn through four cards for two mana, which isn’t a terrible mana to mill ratio, without top deck knowledge there’s no way of knowing what exactly you’re putting in your graveyard. Other effects like surveil on Doom Whisperer or loot — not yet keyworded, but I hope it will one day — like on Frantic Search may take your preference since now you decide on what you keep and you’re more in control in exactly what goes to the graveyard.
Several good self-mill cards simply don’t have mill-related keywords at all like Hermit Druid or Underrealm Lich. Even a card like Greater Good can be turned into a self-mill piece so long you have enough creatures to sacrifice and cards to discard, though it might not have been on your radar in regards to self-milling before. If you’re wanting to take longer turns and do more math in your game you should absolutely have those last two cards on the battlefield at the same time ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°).
Learn to be creative with your search syntaxes when using search engines like Scryfall or Moxfield and don’t limit your lines of thought to just keywords and named mechanics. Find the synergy that works in your deck and don’t hesitate to consult your peers. Commander is a social format after all.
Find Your End Goal
Self-milling puts cards into your graveyard, but to what end? Are you looking to completely deck yourself out? Do you want to fill the graveyard and use it as a second hand due to several keywords and mechanics you can cast from the graveyard? Are you looking to cheat on casting costs by reanimating high mana value bombs? Emptying out your library should be turned into a benefit for you, and you have several options.
Normally decking out would lose you the game — 121.4. A player who attempts to draw a card from a library with no cards in it loses the game the next time a player would receive priority. This is a state-based action — but with blue cards like Laboratory Maniac, Thassa’s Oracle or Jace, Wielder of Mysteries, you can turn drawing from an empty library into a game win.
Black will excel at cheating creatures from the graveyard directly into play with cards like Animate Dead, Necromancy, or Reanimate. This is an efficient way of circumventing mana costs and getting high mana value creatures onto the battlefield for way cheaper. Why pay 8 mana for Razaketh, the Foulblooded when you could pay 2 mana instead?
Green has plenty of options to put cards from your graveyard back into your hand such as Bala Ged Recovery, Eternal Witness, or Regrowth. Just because someone wheeled doesn’t mean the cards you discarded should be lost forever, or more than likely you have cards you’d like to recast more than once per game. You’ve heard of Avenger of Zendikar, but what about second Avenger of Zendikar! If a card is worth putting in your 99, it’s probably worth casting it more than once right?
Be in Control
A visibly strong graveyard will be considered a dangerous graveyard by people who are paying attention, just like a full battlefield would. Going too fast leads to getting blown out. If you dump half your library into your graveyard early on, your opponents could intervene with something like Bojuka Bog, Scavenger Grounds, or Soul-Guide Lantern. Learn to recognize when your graveyard is ‘full enough’. If your triggers aren’t mandatory, there’s no need to add another 10 cards to your graveyard if people are aware of how strong it is already.
Slot enough ways to respond to graveyard hate. Cards with effects like Elixir of Immortality or Perpetual Timepiece should likely take up a few slots in your deck. You should also consider double use cards such as Endurance, which could either hose one of your opponent’s self-mill plans or safeguard your own graveyard in a pinch. Always assume people are playing graveyard hate and learn what does and doesn’t work in your deck to circumvent it. Chief made a graveyard hate top 10 article last year if you want to read up on what type of cards you can expect to be up against.
I know this sounds obvious, but learn how your cards and mechanics work. Magic is a complex game. Drannith Magistrate and Soulless Jailer can be very threatening, but they won’t actually stop a card such as Amphin Mutineer. You’re not casting a spell but activating an ability, Amphin Mutineer is not entering from the graveyard so neither of these cards will stop you. Don’t be hesitant to ask a if you’re unsure. Shoutout to the MTG Judges Chat Discord for their availability and time.
If you notice graveyard deterrents being played, try and work out a plan on how to play around it and still be relevant at the table. Yes, Rest in Peace is strong, but you leaned into the strengths of your colors and remembered to run Boseiju, Who Endures and Haywire Mite — run more interaction, right? — so you can deal with it. You’re being hindered right now, but you’re not completely out of the game. Learning how to come out on top when the rest of the table considers you a fish out of water will make you a better player in the long run.
Embrace Your Playstyle
While there’s an overlap between cards you’d want in decks with Lazav, the Multifarious, Octavia, Living Thesis or Sidisi, Brood Tyrant at the helm, each of them will be distinctly different enough to not have too many shared cards. While you could run Reanimate in all three, I doubt Lazav cares about Cosmic Epiphany as much as Octavia does, while a card like Dread Return is probably easier to cast in Sidisi. Find the synergy with your commander and figure out what will and won’t work.
Don’t forget that it is dangerous to bank on the idea your commander will ‘be there, and be available’ — this is true for any Commander deck — due to cards like Oubliette or control-stealing effects. While your deck building will vary depending on who you put at the helm, your commander choice should not mean your deck does not function without it. Your commander might decide on the common thread of your deck, but it should not be its pinnacle.
Read the Room
Not every card is as strong and you should be aware that the most played cards usually also receive more recognition or hate or at least ‘Yeah that’s a problem’ responses from the table. Mesmeric Orb isn’t Out of the Tombs isn’t Cephalid Vandal. If you have a playgroup you regularly sit down with, you’ll know best what to and what not to run in your deck. Find a nice balance that carries through your entire deck. There’s no reason to play a Hermit Druid with one basic land in your deck if your best reanimation targets are Amugaba, Delraich, or Craw Giant. If you’ve never seen those cards, welcome to my childhood.
Utilize Your Land Slots
Too often do we see decks where it’s very clear the end process of deck creation was ‘and add 30 basics and I’m done’. Lands make up a sizable portion of your deck, and they’re a great way of adding more utility to your deck. With a full graveyard, Crypt of Agadeem can be a strong mana source. Mystic Sanctuary brings back your best instant or sorcery while Volrath’s Stronghold can safeguard your key reanimation piece from graveyard removal. I’m still hoping we eventually get a dual lands cycle like the temples from Theros that don’t scry but surveil instead.
Exxaxl: I wish I had a more recent self-mill deck tech article to than my Araumi deck tech for Low power from 2023. Chief, add it to our ‘Ideas for 2024’ list before we forget.
Chief: I just made a deck that uses the graveyard recently, but it’s not a self-mill deck. We can probably come up with something cool this year since I’m sure there will be a ridiculous amount of new commanders and cards in 2024.
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