Glimpse the Unthinkable + Donate (not in the same deck:)

[Cognis]

Hi, I've been playing this updated version of magic and I love it. You're doing a really amazing job. I enjoy the challenges, even though some are really brutal and after some playing I was able to unlock some cards to make decks. I have two decks I would like some input in.

The first one is a BU mill deck with little control and a lot of speed since it consistently mills an opponent on turn 4 but I would like some info from you if you think it could be made better.

..... 4 Glimpse the unthinkable
.1984 2 Traumatize
.249 1 Time Walk
.250 1 Timetwister
.1 1 Ancestral Recall
.17 1 Black Lotus
.165 1 Mox Emerald
.166 1 Mox Jet
.167 1 Mox Pearl
.168 1 Mox Ruby
.169 1 Mox Sapphire
.1275 4 Damnation
.114 4 Howling Mine
.1521 4 Font of Mythos
.1424 1 Lotus Petal
.495 1 Feldon's Cane
.258 4 Underground Sea
.1487 4 Polluted Delta
.126 4 Island
.239 3 Swamp
.55 4 Dark Ritual
.654 2 Leyline of the Void
.1043 4 Hedron Crab
.457 1 Mox Diamond
.1954 4 Brain Freeze
..... 1 Tolarian Academy

The second one is Donate-Illusions combo deck which is pretty much based on Kai Budde's deck with some modification for missing cards. I like this deck but I think it could be better so if you have any suggestion they are greatly appreciated.

.634 4 Donate
.633 4 Illusions of Grandeur
.1 1 Ancestral Recall
.1396 1 Capsize
.165 1 Mox Emerald
.169 1 Mox Sapphire
.168 1 Mox Ruby
.167 1 Mox Pearl
.166 1 Mox Jet
.1718 1 Chrome Mox
.17 1 Black Lotus
.1424 1 Lotus Petal
.1084 4 Merchant Scroll
.1717 4 Force of Will
.1782 3 Fire // Ice
.48 4 Counterspell
.499 2 Brainstorm
.1905 4 Sleight of Hand
.312 1 Ponder
.266 4 Volcanic Island
.1981 4 Scalding Tarn
.317 1 Tolarian Academy
.126 7 Island
.249 1 Time Walk
.250 1 Timetwister
.1271 2 Twincast

If you like these decks you can download them from the topic that shares decks. I uploaded 14 decks and I hope you'll have fun playing with them.

[aww1979]

Well, for the first deck, you don't actually have Glimpse the Unthinkable in there :p In the earliest challenge mode, I used a deck a lot like that, except with Winter Orb and The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale to slow the opponent down. I found Glimpse is better most of the time than Traumatize because except for the first traumatize, they usually mill less than 10 cards, and Glimpse has a nicer casting cost. Another option I didn't have back then is Archive Trap, which is almost strictly better than Traumatize. I would remove the leylines and timetwister from this deck, too. Timetwister in a mill deck is bad, even with Leylines, which don't do that much for you here anyway. Archive Trap in particular is great against fetchland decks. (which in the gauntlet is almost every deck I've made since we got them) Even without that, it costs the same as traumatize and is an instant.

For the other deck, I actually did something almost the same, except mine is blue/black. (I thought I remembered basing mine on Kai Budde, too, but maybe I did it from scratch) This is what I came up with:

;trix
;
;#oldgames
;
;13/10/2009
;1
;4th Edition
;

.17 1 Black Lotus
.457 1 Mox Diamond
.165 1 Mox Emerald
.166 1 Mox Jet
.167 1 Mox Pearl
.168 1 Mox Ruby
.169 1 Mox Sapphire
.633 4 Illusions of Grandeur
.634 4 Donate
.55 4 Dark Ritual
.894 1 Mana Crypt
.720 4 Mana Drain
.157 1 Mana Vault
.1890 1 Demonic Consultation
.62 1 Demonic Tutor
.1717 4 Force of Will
.1705 1 Necropotence
.333 1 Vampiric Tutor
.331 1 Imperial Seal
.1846 4 Duress
.1 1 Ancestral Recall
.249 1 Time Walk
.250 1 Timetwister
.1704 1 Yawgmoth's Bargain
.1910 1 Yawgmoth's Will*
.310 1 Grim Monolith
.403 4 City of Brass
.317 1 Tolarian Academy
.258 4 Underground Sea
.1487 4 Polluted Delta
.1424 1 Lotus Petal
.499 1 Brainstorm
.1718 1 Chrome Mox

There might be a few more options now; I made that deck back in October. I will make a few comments about your deck, though, for suggestions:
-Merchant Scroll and Brainstorm are restricted, but keep one of each for sure, they definitely work here
-Mana Drain is strictly superior to Counterspell, especially given you can power out faster Illusions/Donates with them
-I'd cut the twincasts for something else
-I'd add Mana Vault, Sol Ring, and Mana Crypt to make the combo happen faster
-I didn't do it in my deck, since I had access to black tutors, but in monoblue like yours I'd use a Mystical Tutor (also restricted to one copy)
-Thirst for Knowledge and Fact or Fiction might work nicely here, too. Both are restricted, and I'm not sure why I didn't use them in my trix deck, unless I thought they were too slow, or they weren't coded as of October. Looking at my list, I'd cut my Grim Monolith for one of those two cards.
-I've seen some trix decks where they only used 3 donates, but I'd recommend NOT doing that, if you come across that idea online anywhere. I think keeping 4 of the combo piece is necessary here.

[Cognis]

Thanks for the advice, I have Glimpse the unthinkable in the deck i just didn't copy the first line of the deck with that card for some reason. I'll try out the changes and see how it works.

[Cognis]

I made some changes in the decks. Donate is now slightly faster with mana drain and sol ring/mana vault/mana crypt while Glimpse the Unthinkable works without any problems. It's only that Archive Trap is not doing it's best against most of the decks because they don't play fetch lands and dark ritual somehow feels out of place. Are there any B/U cards that would make an opponent shuffle his library that would go in this deck. Leyline of the void is here because it's a fun card and amazing if you have it in the opening hand, it's in there for fun and I don't think I'll take it out unless someone is able to code Haunting Echoes. Added windfall to the deck insted of Timetwister. Together with leyline I was able to leave an opponent without a card to draw, without a card in hand and with no graveyard. You're suggestions were good and I implemented them so the revised list is this.

.610 4 Glimpse the Unthinkable
.249 1 Time Walk
.1 1 Ancestral Recall
.17 1 Black Lotus
.165 1 Mox Emerald
.166 1 Mox Jet
.167 1 Mox Pearl
.168 1 Mox Ruby
.169 1 Mox Sapphire
.1275 4 Damnation
.114 4 Howling Mine
.1521 4 Font of Mythos
.258 4 Underground Sea
.1487 4 Polluted Delta
.126 4 Island
.239 3 Swamp
.55 4 Dark Ritual
.654 2 Leyline of the Void
.1043 4 Hedron Crab
.457 1 Mox Diamond
.1954 4 Brain Freeze
.317 1 Tolarian Academy
.1041 4 Archive Trap
.309 1 Windfall

and

.634 4 Donate
.633 4 Illusions of Grandeur
.1 1 Ancestral Recall
.1396 1 Capsize
.165 1 Mox Emerald
.169 1 Mox Sapphire
.168 1 Mox Ruby
.167 1 Mox Pearl
.166 1 Mox Jet
.1718 1 Chrome Mox
.17 1 Black Lotus
.1424 1 Lotus Petal
.1084 1 Merchant Scroll
.1717 4 Force of Will
.1782 3 Fire // Ice
.499 1 Brainstorm
.1905 4 Sleight of Hand
.312 1 Ponder
.266 4 Volcanic Island
.1981 4 Scalding Tarn
.317 1 Tolarian Academy
.126 7 Island
.249 1 Time Walk
.250 1 Timetwister
.230 1 Sol Ring
.894 1 Mana Crypt
.720 4 Mana Drain
.157 1 Mana Vault
.352 1 Mystical Tutor
.1923 1 Fact or Fiction
.441 1 Thirst for Knowledge

Further suggestions are welcome

[aww1979]

For the Glimpse deck, the only shufflers I saw in a quick look were Timetwister (which defeats the point of milling) and Bribery, which doesn't really fit the theme very well. He might be a bit slow for this deck, but Jace Beleren fits the theme, too. Brain Freeze also fits the theme. I also agree with the Windfall. (I thought it was already there or I'd have suggested it before :p) Sol Ring would be good, here, too.

For the Illusions deck, that's probably about how I'd play it if I were to do it monoblue. The only thing I can think of to try perhaps is Ancient Tomb or City of Traitors for a bit more speed, or maybe a Mox Diamond. I'm not sure if those will actually help much or not, though. Maybe Serum Powder, if you have it unlocked.

[sandman423]

Can someone explain to me how to play the DONATE Deck??

I am a little confused...

I like the milling idea but how do you play these decks?

What would be a great opening hand??

I am looking for decks to beat some challenges.

[aww1979]

The donating deck works by doing the following:

1) Play Illusions of Grandeur. You get 20 life.
2) Play Donate on Illusions of Grandeur.
3) Watch opponent scramble to pay Cumulative Upkeep: 2 until they can't and lose 20 life, since they are now the controller of Illusions of Grandeur.
4) Hope they can't gain any life before then or stop your combo in various other ways.

The best hand would be something like Donate, Illusions, a land or two, and a couple mana accelerators like Mana Crypt or Black Lotus. A force of will or something to protect it is good, too, though not as important against the AI as it would against a human.

I wouldn't try this deck for most of the challenges, though; it can't deal with any permanents in play very well.

[Cognis]

Donate is not really a deck that would work well in a challenge but it's great fun in casual.

Glimpse is an easy deck to play. Pretty much everything is a good hand if you have some mana to play spells. You can play Hedron Crab in combination with fetch lands, or if you have a lot of mana play a few spells with Brain Freeze and together with other cards you'll mill the opponent in no time. It's really not complicated, just play a few casual round first. It's not a deck that can be played in a lot of challenges but it can be pretty good if you have a fast opening hand, although an aggro deck dismantles it.