The “Mill” ability allows you to force other players to cycle through their cards faster than what’s beneficial for them. In other words, you make them discard cards from their hands and even decks… over, and over. Read on below and discover the very best Mill cards in Magic the Gathering.
Archive Trap
When playing against a dedicated mill deck, the player’s deck and basic mill strategies don’t stand a chance if you’re packing a few copies of Archive Trap amongst your Magic cards.
This powerful Rare blue Instant sends 13 cards from an opponent’s deck straight to their graveyard.
Even better? If an opponent playing mill style has searched their deck this turn, you get to play Archive Trap for absolutely free.
The only real downside to this Instant Trap spell is that it has a relatively high casting cost of five mana. That said, for the massive card advantage that it offers, CMC 5 seems pretty fair.
Type: Blue Instant
CMC: 5
Rarity: Rare
Consuming Aberration
The Consuming Aberration is a special sort of Horror made for mill decks that have blue and black mana.
When this creature is on the board, the overall strategy of mill decks begins to make much more sense(aside from the obvious – watching your opponent’s putting cards into their graveyard every turn).
Add up the total number of cards in graveyards that came from an opponent’s deck, that is the power and toughness of this Horror creature.
Back up, re-read that last sentence, and let it sink in.
Each of your opponent’s decks has at least 60 cards. If you are milling, each of them is going to tons of extra cards. That means this guy could technically be one of the biggest creatures in Magic’s history.
Type: Blue and Red Creature
CMC: 5
Rarity: Rare
Wall of Lost Thoughts
The Wall of Lost Thoughts is an iconic blue card that’s perfectly ideal for any mono-blue mill deck or mill decks with multiple mana types.
Whenever it enters the battlefield, a target player must mill the top four cards of their deck straight into their graveyard.
Used with Ninjas, or Return Creature to Your Hand type abilities, this card is even better in mill decks.
Type: Blue Creature
CMC: 2
Rarity: Uncommon
Mind Sculpt
If you’re noticing the high number of blue cards on our list, have no fear, we’ve included other colors, but the fact remains that blue just happens to be the strongest color for building/playing a mill deck.
If you’re looking for a cheap card with an explosive effect, look no further than Mind Sculpt and its low CMC 2 casting cost.
This sorcery targets opponents and mills the top seven cards of their deck into their graveyard. No, imagine the damage you can do to an opponent’s library by playing this card a few turns in a row.
Who needs combat damage as a mill player? Just mill the opponent’s cards until they have an empty library. Granted, you’ll still need something to take down your opponent’s life total(unless you mill them completely, as a player with no cards automatically loses).
Type: Blue Sorcery
CMC: 2
Rarity: Common
Jace’s Erasure
Jace’s Erasure is a powerful blue Enchantment that gives you the ability to keep milling one card from your enemies each time you draw new cards from your mill deck.
One of the biggest advantages of this card is that it only costs two mana and it steadily besieges the other player’s library.
The blue Enchantment is of the most preferred milling card types because they are harder to destroy than creatures or even lands.
That said, it won’t fill the opponent’s graveyards and win the game by itself either. You’ll need other cards with milling abilities and a creature or two to block and attack with.
If you can work a spell that has similar landfall abilities into your deck, when a land enters the opponent must mill again.
Type: Blue Enchantment
CMC: 2
Rarity: Common
Glowspore Shaman
The second of many cards that are multicolored on our list of the best milling cards, the Glowspore Shaman is an Elf Shaman you definitely want on your side.
When she enters the battlefield, mill the top three cards of your deck into your graveyard. That said, you get to take a land card out of the graveyard and onto the top of your deck.
She’s not your average milling creature, as she actually mills you rather than an opponent’s deck. So, before you cast this card, you need to wait until you have some solid ideas on how to make the milling work to your advantage.
If you’re used to mill decks, you understand there are plenty of similar cards that seem like they hurt you, but when the next turn comes, and the other cards in your hand get to run their course, it all makes sense.
Type: Black and Green Creature
CMC: 2
Rarity: Uncommon
Tome Scour
There isn’t a better example of an iconic yet basic blue Sorcery card for milling in the entire MTG card kingdom than Tome Scour. It only costs one mana and it forces a target opponent’s library to mill five cards into its graveyard.
It isn’t Fraying Sanity, but your opponent will cringe when they see it. For costing one mana, there are few cards with such a strong milling ability(even out of blue cards).
Type: Blue Sorcery
CMC: 1
Rarity: Common
Gonti, Lord of Luxury
Ahhh, this next card is near and dear to many of us Black school MTG players. Gonti, Lord of Luxury comes into the game with 2 power and 3 toughness as well as Deathtouch.
His ETB ability? You get to look at an opponent’s top four cards and exile one of them face down. The rest of the cards go back into their deck, on the bottom, rather than graveyards.
As long as the card you exiled remains there, you may cast it as if it were any mana type… something every opponent resents.
This Aetherborn Rogue is great for milling, Commander, and other formats as well. It doesn’t matter how many creatures you have, for four mana, you need this guy if your deck is black.
Type: Black Legendary Creature
CMC: 4
Rarity: Rare
Ravenous Trap
Another solid black card to consider for your next mill-type deck is none other than Ravenous Trap, an Uncommon Instant Trap.
If a player lost three or more cards to milling this turn, you get to play Ravenous Trap for free. Yep, it’s one card you don’t want to overlook.
The beautiful part about this card, other than the low casting cost, is that it allows you to play exiled cards.
Type: Black Instant
CMC: 4
Rarity: Uncommon
Pyschic Drain
The next item up on our list of the best MTG cards for milling is Pyshich Drain, a blue and black Sorcery of Uncommon status.
The spell costs one mana, blue, and one mana, black, to get out onto the field. It is known for turning the tide of games.
When you cast this spell, a target player puts their deck’s top X cards into their graveyards, where X is the extra mana you paid.
The kicker? You also gain X life. This is exactly the sort of spell you want to cast midgame.
Type: Blue and Black Sorcery
CMC: X + 2
Rarity: Uncommon
Malfegor
Perhaps the number one creature for black and red decks with a focus on mills, Malfegor is a legendary creature Demon Dragon with Flying. He comes into the field with 6 attack and 6 defense and costs six mana to cast.
But, with greatness comes even greater sacrifice: when you play this big bad guy, you must discard your whole hand. When you do, each opponent is forced to sacrifice one of their creatures for each spell you discarded.
It may seem like a tall order, to get this Demon Dragon out onto the field, but when you do, watch him take instant control of the battlefield. If you happen to have buffs in your deck as well, opponents look out!
Type: Black and Red Legendary Creature
CMC: 6
Rarity: Mythic Rare
Talent of the Telepath
The next mill card on our list is another blue one, Talent of Telepath. This Rare Sorcery costs four mana to play and is worth every bit of it.
A target opponent is forced to mill their top seven cards. If they mill an Instant or Sorcery card in this manner, you may play it for free.
The card also has Spell Mastery: if there are at least two Instant or Sorcery cards in your graveyard, you get to cast two Instants or Sorcery cards instead of one!
Type: Blue Sorcery
CMC: 4
Rarity: Rare
Syphon Mind
An old-school black mill spell of common rarity, Syphon Mind forces opponents to discard a card out of their hands. You get to draw a card for each one discarded by opponents.
If you only pack one or two cards into your mill collection, make sure this is one of them. An excellent alternative to this spell is Fraying Sanity.
Type: Black Sorcery
CMC: 4
Rarity: Common
Mindwrack Demon
One of the few black creatures with Mythic Rare status that isn’t technically legendary is the Mindwrack Demon.
This persistent nightmare to your opponent hits the battlefield with 4 power, 5 toughness, Flying, and Trample. It is a prime example of the sort of black spells that strike fear even into the most experienced Wizards fans.
Again, power and greatness aren’t cheap: you must mill the top four cards of your library to cast this guy, in addition to four black mana.
Another disadvantage of this Demon is that if you don’t have at least 4 types of cards in your graveyard when your turn starts, you lose 4 life points.
Type: Black Creature
CMC: 4
Rarity: Mythic Rare
Sphinx’s Tutelage
Yet another blue mill card you don’t want to forget about when you’re constructing your neck deck is Sphinx’s Tutelage. This Uncommon Enchantment costs three mana and has an activated ability cost of CMC 6.
As long as the Enchantment is on the board, each time you draw cards, a target player mills two cards into their graveyards. If those two cards happen to share the same color, and aren’t lands, repeat the milling process.
The activated ability? Pay six mana and draw a card, and then discard one. For only needing one blue land, and two colorless land, to cast it, to draw this one early in games is of course a great advantage.
Type: Blue Enchantment
CMC: 3
Rarity: Uncommon
Oppression
Speaking of Enchantments, few black cards have a more impressive milling effect. Each time a player plays a spell, including yourself, that player must mill a spell from their hand to their graveyard.
Now, imagine this spell on the board from early on in the game… ouch! Not even Nightmare Weaver and Ruin Crab could hack their way out of this pickle.
Type: Black Enchantment
CMC: 3
Rarity: Rare
Monomania
As the name suggests, this mill card does best in black mono decks. It isn’t the most powerful, but in an all-black deck, where five mana is easy to come up with, the milling ability is well worth it.
When you cast this spell, target players choose one spell from their hand and discard the rest of their cards.
If this Sorcery doesn’t make the other players hate you, nothing will! The only issue with Monomania is if you don’t have solid black land in your deck.
Type: Black Sorcery
CMC: 5
Rarity: Rare
Ashoik, Dream Render
Ashoik, Dream render is a legendary Planeswalker of blue and black that comes into play with five loyalty counters. Oddly, it is one of the only Planeswalkers we’ve ever seen that’s not at least Rare, let alone Mythic. This guy is Uncommon!
As long as this legendary Planeswalker is on the table, spells and abilities controlled by other players can’t enable them to search their decks.
Ashiok’s ability is “pay -1 loyalty counters and mill the top four cards of a target players deck into their graveyard and then exile the graveyard.”
The main disadvantage is that it requires land of two colors to cast.
Type: Black and Blue Legendary Planeswalker
CMC: 3
Rarity: Uncommon
Angrath, the Flame-Chained
See that little red sign next to the word “Angrath” on the above image? That means this guy is a Mythic Rare Legendary Planeswalker, and one of the best black and red mill cards ever.
Strategy? Who needs one with this Planeswalker at their services? Just hide and wait.
He costs five mana and comes into play with 4 loyalty counters, with three abilities:
- Add +1 and each other player discards a card and then loses 2 life points.
- Pay -3 and gain control of a creature you don’t own until the end of the turn, untap it and give it haste as well. If the creature costs less than CMC 3, sacrifice it at the beginning of your next end step.
- Pay -8 loyalty counters and then each other player loses life equal to the total number of cards in their graveyards.
four loyalty counters
Type: Black and Red Legendary Planeswalker
CMC: 5
Rarity: Mythic Rare
Curse of the Bloody Tome
The Curse of the Bloody Tome is another popular blue spell for major mills. An Aura Curse, this Enchantment costs three mana and enchants an actual player rather than the battlefield or a creature.
At the start of said player’s upkeep, they have to put two cards from the top of their library to the top of their graveyard.
For mills, Curse of the Bloody Tome works like a charm. It’s a great example of how you can win a game without an attack with creatures.
Type: Blue Enchantment
CMC: 3
Rarity: Common