CRAB BATTLE, AAAAUGH

[Diz]

Here we go, again. I decided a while back, "You know what would be cool? A Casual-60 mill deck."

There are a lot of powerful, low-cost mill spells. I packed it with them, as well as 4x Consuming Aberration and 4x Nemesis of Reason (because duh), and realized, "Oops, this deck isn't fast enough to not OUTRIGHT DIE TO CREATURES. What can I do to make it a little more resilient while sticking to my gameplan of mill?"

Enter the crabs.

CRAB BATTLE

DecklistCMCManaPricesChartsDraw 7

Creatures

4 Hedron Crab

4 Ruin Crab

1 Consuming Aberration

1 Nemesis of Reason

Sorceries

4 Tome Scour

4 Maddening Cacophony

4 Glimpse the Unthinkable

4 Breaking//Entering

4 Mind Funeral

4 Tasha's Hideous Laughter

4 Fractured Sanity

Lands

4 Restless Reef

4 Drowned Catacomb

4 Sunken Hollow

6 Island

4 Swamp

Approximate Total Cost:

I saw Tasha's Hideous Laughter spoiled, and I couldn't NOT include it. I mean, come on. It's perfect for the deck. So, I cut the 2 remaining Mind Sculpts and 2 Startled Awakes to make room for it, which makes the curve a little more pleasant. I don't often get to pull out the Nemesis or the Aberration, but when I do, they hit hard. Mind Funeral is an all-star - so I can't imagine how Tasha's Hideous Laughter is gonna hit when it arrives in the mail. Thanks for humoring my nonsense.

Edit: IT HITS HARD

Oh, and as for the name?



A classic.

[Magiqmaster]

Nice deck idea, I like it. Any thoughts on using Fractured Sanity?

[chetoos]

To synergize with the humble crab, may I suggest Terramorphic Expanse or Evolving Wilds

[Diz]

Nice deck idea, I like it. Any thoughts on using Fractured Sanity?

Huh. How did I not know this card existed? That said...not sure what I could replace with it. Maybe 2 copies to replace the 2 Startled Awake?

To synergize with the humble crab, may I suggest Terramorphic Expanse or Evolving Wilds

You may, but the crab is not the be-all-end-all for the deck - it is merely there to propel us forward and defend us against those who prefer lobster. I will likely not be making this change, but I appreciate the suggestion.

[Diz]

I have dropped 2 Started Awake for 2 Fractured Sanity. Should I remove 1 Aberration and 1 Nemesis to make it a playset?

[JovialJovian]

Not interested in Archive Trap? It will often go off for free against Fetch lands.

Do you have a contingency if the opponent has any anti-mill tech?

[Ulka]

Hey @Iso have you looked at some of Modern UB mill? They run Lurrus of the Dream-Den with the crabs over the bigger fattie millers.

I know Archive Trap is currently 40 a pop but they do synergize really well with Field of Ruin which in turn synergizes really well with the crabs.

I'd also consider Drown in the Loch as possible interaction for the deck.

[Diz]

Not interested in Archive Trap? It will often go off for free against Fetch lands.

Do you have a contingency if the opponent has any anti-mill tech?

Not interested in Archive Trap. I know exactly one person who plays fetchlands in their decks against my Casual stuff, and that's because he uses Legacy decks. The rest of my friends do not. I would never be able to cast it for free in my meta, and therefore, it'd be too much mana for too little return. My friends also don't really play any anti-mill tech, so it's not necessary for the deck.

Hey @Iso have you looked at some of Modern UB mill? They run Lurrus of the Dream-Den with the crabs over the bigger fattie millers.

I know Archive Trap is currently 40 a pop but they do synergize really well with Field of Ruin which in turn synergizes really well with the crabs.

I'd also consider Drown in the Loch as possible interaction for the deck.

Hmm...Lurrus does seem like a good fit, but it's just not what I want in the deck, because it doesn't mill, itself. That said, the Field of Ruin + Archive Trap combo does seem fun. Don't think I have room for it, though. Not really interested in interaction for the deck - just wanna mill them to death. :p But I appreciate the suggestions. Mostly I'm looking for feedback on whether I should drop 1 of each of the fatties (taking them down to 1 each ) for 2 Fractured Sanity.

[JovialJovian]

It sounds like you think it's less fun to play the Fractured Sanity than the fat creatures. If that's the case, then I suggest keeping them. You want the deck to be fun to play first and foremost, especially at a casual table. I've ruined many a fun deck by slowly optimizing and refining it, until I became bored with the "good" version of it and dismantled it.

[Diz]

It's more that I rarely get to see them hit the board when I do draw them, and this is going to make them even rarer to see. That said, I'm kind of warming up to the idea of making them sort of akin to "boss monsters" in the deck, so I pulled the trigger on the remaining Fractured Sanities and will be making the swap.

CRAB BATTLE!!! actually got to see play this past weekend at a small gathering. Was a 3-way battle, and I got both players down to fewer than 20 cards, but they realized I was too close to victory and ganged up on me. All-in-all, it was a solid performance.

[Diz]

Played some CRAB BATTLE!!! the other day. I pulled off 3 Fractured Sanity after getting some CRABS!!! out and some Landfall triggers, and my opponent ran out of cards. My next card would have been Tasha's Hideous Laughter, so, rough match for him, either way. The next round, I won off of CRABS!!! + 2 Glimpse the Unthinkable, and put out a Consuming Aberration for good measure to add insult to injury once he was milled out. CRAB BATTLE!!! continues to be one of my most oppressive Casual-60 decks. I'm not sure it's lost in 1-on-1 since adjusting my creature count, which I'm perfectly content with.

[Diz]

Got to play some CRAB BATTLE!!! on Sunday. It is still beautifully oppressive.

[Diz]

Does the deck want Cruel Somnophage // Can't Wake Up? If so, what do we drop for it?

[Diz]

I'm really anticipating the new Shark manland that mills coming out - it's gonna slot into this deck perfectly.

[Diz]

I think Cruel Somnophage only fits into the boss monster slots, and I don't want to take those out, so, it can stay out of the deck, I guess.

I've replaced the 4 Choked Estuary with 4 Restless Reef. Will report back with results.

[Diz]

Restless Reef is a little wonky, because the game is often over before the mana hits the board to animate it, and it's between animating it and casting more mill spells - however, having it as an occasional threat and a mana sink for the turns when I top a land is actually really nice to have. My only complaint is that it EtBs tapped - otherwise, it's a wonderful inclusion.

Managed to cast Nemesis of Reason in my last play session with it, but it got counterspelled, which makes my eyes wander to Cruel Somnophage // Can't Wake Up...but I'm still leaning no on that change. It's just not really the way the deck wins - the two boss monsters that currently exist in the deck both add to the mill win condition, whereas Somnophage does not - it only benefits from it.

[Boros_Blendo]

Haha, keep with this, and you'll turn this sucker into the bane of all players (all at once!) My friend has kept a mill deck now for something like ten years. He's slowly mod'd it from a 1v1 mill that he would stupidly use to try and mill me in a FFA, rarely worked. Now, with many of the same cards you're using, it can easily mill the entire group unless we kill him...fast. Super fun even when you get milled to death. I'll do some Gatherer research on some of the cards I know he's used for years...the crabs for sure are in there. There's one that starts as a 1/1 for 1 blue, but becomes a 5/5 once a person has a certain number of cards in their graveyard. Flies, too. So, comes out fast and hits for a bunch, pretty fast.

[Diz]

Haha, keep with this, and you'll turn this sucker into the bane of all players (all at once!) My friend has kept a mill deck now for something like ten years. He's slowly mod'd it from a 1v1 mill that he would stupidly use to try and mill me in a FFA, rarely worked. Now, with many of the same cards you're using, it can easily mill the entire group unless we kill him...fast. Super fun even when you get milled to death. I'll do some Gatherer research on some of the cards I know he's used for years...the crabs for sure are in there. There's one that starts as a 1/1 for 1 blue, but becomes a 5/5 once a person has a certain number of cards in their graveyard. Flies, too. So, comes out fast and hits for a bunch, pretty fast.

I'm pretty happy with where the deck currently is with regard to the existing card pool, with the only changes I'd make being changing the 1-of Consuming Aberration and Nemesis of Reason to 2x Cruel Somnophage // Can't Wake Up, but the Somnophage doesn't augment the mill strategy - and this deck always wants to win via mill, rather than by beating face, so, I probably won't make that change.