Very risky card to use, whenever a permanent you control becomes untapped you have to mill 1, its all 50/50 (better have alot of cards in ur deck), I need help on any strategies to help me with this card
Iryanmadayana
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(4 votes)
You can always have a Gaea's Blessing or two in your deck, you won't kill yourself with this card. It is, however, a nice combo piece. With something like Seeker of Skybreak, it will fuel your graveyard Cephalid Breakfast style to swing with a Lhurgoyf of some sort. The card is quite overlooked, but I like it very much.
xStrikerx
★★★★☆ (4.3/5.0)(3 votes)
This is a great card for any mill deck. They should run out of cards before you do. You can always have Feldon's Cane and Paradigm Shift and other cards to play stuff from your graveyard.
holgir
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
I agree with Iryanmadayana, Gaea's Blessing is the way to go here. At least two of those, so in case you draw both, you can shuffle one back into your library with the other.
Mesmeric Orb is so good. Cheap to cast and it doesn't require any further maintaining so you can concentrate on your defense.
Megrimage
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
the card is funny. I can picture that card fitting perfectly in my citadel of pain deck.
aliceburton
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Fun things to do with this card:
Necromancer's Covenant Haunting Echoes
NeverendingDream
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
I have an edh deck (bant colors, Angus McKenzie general) that centers around playing this and copying it (Sculpting Steel, Copy Artifact) to mill everyone out. The self-milling here is sweet too, since it fuels Loam shenanigans, pumps Knight of the Reliquary and turns Eternal Witness into Demonic Witness. ;)
SleetFox
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
This is quite loopable, and it, like Keening Stone, is one of the few mill cards that are effective win conditions in non-mill decks. It plays well in decks with unearth, since those cards play out of the graveyard, and the zombies don't untap, so you end up milling yourself slower than your opponent(s) that way.
Ameisenmeister
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Hey this seems to work well with Copperhoof Vorrac from the same set.
Kryptnyt
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(4 votes)
You know what? one of the hidden beauties of this card is, I think, the ability to gain priority during the untap step, before upkeep triggers occur.
This card is very seriously one of the most potent milling cards ever printed. Nothing else can make everyone shovel their libraries into their graveyards quite like this card can.
I play it in a mono-blue deck alongside Dreamborn Muse and various forms of control. I don't have anything to shuffle my graveyard back into my library. I merely play carefully.
scumbling1
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
"oh man, this card is extremely fun to play with Dingus Staff and Orb of Dreams haha."
Doesn't work. Creature cards going from the top of your library to your graveyard is not the same as creatures going to the graveyard from the battlefield. Dingus Staff won't be triggered. Get yourself a Bloodchief Ascension.
reapersaurus
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
I don't like how a little 2-CMC artifact can change, and overwhelm, the entire game so much.
Studoku
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
I play this in my EDH graveyard based deck. By far the best self mill outside of blue and better than a good deal of stuff in blue. Milling other people tends to be a drawback- a lot of people target me as soon as this hits the field.
I have 3 in my mill deck, balanced with 2 "Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre"
zk3
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Basalt Monolith. Is there any other way to mill your ENTIRE library by turn 3 outside vintage?
Superllama12
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This card is hilarious! My friend has it in his millstone deck, and games usually don't last long after that...about a third of the time, the millstone deck mills itself to death...but I think that this might work better in a graveyard feeder deck, rather than pure milling
Mr. Q. .... I've played this card before... And I've found blue control with a splash of white was the best way to play this card... Windborn Muse (not Dreamborn Muse) with other key artifacts like Sculpting Steel can make this deck mill your opponent completely the round the first orb comes out.... I even threw in 4x Darksteel Colossus just in case it was close... (the whole indestructible shuffle in rule...) 4.5/5.... Very tricky card to play, that's why the -.5 ... Really good tho...
GoodOldUncleIstvan
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Well I am personally in love with this card.
Ive come up with a few decks using this, and a friend of mine has a couple.
Gaia's Blessing is a MUST, at a minimum of two, if you're worried about decking at all. My favorite combo personally is with Haakon, Stromgald Scourge. my deck is black green, in conjunction with Alluren, and many two and three cost knights (IE: Black Knight, Phyrexian Crusader, and Stillmoon Cavalier). Bloodbond March is also a good combo for such a deck. though i personally only use it as a 1 of.
another WONDERFUL combo with mesmeric Orb is using Aphetto Alchemist and Future Sight. now toss in Snap and Rewind. Keep in mind you must be usin atleast one, but preferabbly two, Gaia's Blessing. narcomeba is great in here as well. You're allowed to permanently tap the alchemist to untap himself infinately. casting snap and rewind off the top of your deck indefinately, using the blessing to recycle your cards back into your deck, and the alchemist to keep milling yourself with the orb indefinately until the top card is what you want.
btw, this deck cost under $30 dollars to make last time i checked. enjoy :)
tyehimba
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Fastest way to mill a deck. but does is the effect cumulative when there are multiples in play? and what about Auras and Equipment- does a creature that untaps with an Aura or an Equipment attached count as two permanents untapping?
Yes, the effect happens for each Mesmeric Orb you have in play. Untapping Auras and Equipment will trigger the ability. HOWEVER, Aura's and Equipment do not technically tap when the creature they are attached to taps. Turning Auras and Equipment sideways when the creature they are attached to is tapped is actually a bad habit as discussed here: http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtgcom/daily/af177 (scroll down to part 7).
As for the card, I love it, I've added them to my wishlist and will be ordering 4 shortly.
aegisaglow
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@Kryptnyt: it doesn't actually work that way. It creates the triggers during the untap phase, but they won't go on the stack until the beginning of the upkeep. Only after all the triggers are put on the stack does anyone get priority.
I've built an IchoridSkaab Ruinator deck around this. It works pretty well actually. The idea is that you get fuel for yourself to get efficient creatures, while having a side-win-con of milling.
willofgod7
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
If I have multiple Orbs on the field does the milling multiply for each card going into the graveyard?
Averyck
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@zk3,
forest- mana dork forest- devoted druid forest- quillspike, this. Proceed to infinite tap devoted druid, mill infinite cards, then swing with an infinite quillspike. No real point to having mesmeric orb, but eh. you asked, i delivered :P
Comments (31)
It is, however, a nice combo piece. With something like Seeker of Skybreak, it will fuel your graveyard Cephalid Breakfast style to swing with a Lhurgoyf of some sort.
The card is quite overlooked, but I like it very much.
Mesmeric Orb is so good. Cheap to cast and it doesn't require any further maintaining so you can concentrate on your defense.
Necromancer's Covenant
Haunting Echoes
I play it in a mono-blue deck alongside Dreamborn Muse and various forms of control. I don't have anything to shuffle my graveyard back into my library. I merely play carefully.
Doesn't work. Creature cards going from the top of your library to your graveyard is not the same as creatures going to the graveyard from the battlefield. Dingus Staff won't be triggered. Get yourself a Bloodchief Ascension.
Also fun with Vulturous Zombie.
Ive come up with a few decks using this, and a friend of mine has a couple.
Gaia's Blessing is a MUST, at a minimum of two, if you're worried about decking at all.
My favorite combo personally is with Haakon, Stromgald Scourge. my deck is black green, in conjunction with Alluren, and many two and three cost knights (IE: Black Knight, Phyrexian Crusader, and Stillmoon Cavalier). Bloodbond March is also a good combo for such a deck. though i personally only use it as a 1 of.
another WONDERFUL combo with mesmeric Orb is using Aphetto Alchemist and Future Sight. now toss in Snap and Rewind. Keep in mind you must be usin atleast one, but preferabbly two, Gaia's Blessing. narcomeba is great in here as well. You're allowed to permanently tap the alchemist to untap himself infinately. casting snap and rewind off the top of your deck indefinately, using the blessing to recycle your cards back into your deck, and the alchemist to keep milling yourself with the orb indefinately until the top card is what you want.
btw, this deck cost under $30 dollars to make last time i checked. enjoy :)
Shuko + Cephalid Illusionist can do it turn 2.
@tyehimba
Yes, the effect happens for each Mesmeric Orb you have in play. Untapping Auras and Equipment will trigger the ability. HOWEVER, Aura's and Equipment do not technically tap when the creature they are attached to taps. Turning Auras and Equipment sideways when the creature they are attached to is tapped is actually a bad habit as discussed here: http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtgcom/daily/af177 (scroll down to part 7).
As for the card, I love it, I've added them to my wishlist and will be ordering 4 shortly.
Things got a bit silly very quickly. Most of my side of the board was bigger than Marit Lage.
forest- mana dork
forest- devoted druid
forest- quillspike, this. Proceed to infinite tap devoted druid, mill infinite cards, then swing with an infinite quillspike. No real point to having mesmeric orb, but eh. you asked, i delivered :P