Hey Guys n Gals! welcome to the UB Aggressive Mill, or, Millgro, primer!
There has been a lot of discussion about this deck (http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=482241) since the release of Gatecrash, with the Dimir adding in some new powerful UB card's that take this deck from funsies at home, to actually being competitive
[I]But, why Aggressive Mill[/I], as opposed to a control based Mill deck?
In the past Mill was generally built on a control body. It was good vs Midrange decks, but lacked the staying power vs RDW, All-In Green and other fast aggressive decks. Adding in cards like Elixir of Immortality could completely ruin our game plan. By shifting the deck's aim from 'get their library to 0' to 'Get their life to 0' as the aim point, we can get around some of the past issues mill has had.
The Millgro deck focuses more on damage then on milling, but uses milling as a part of our creature ramp, and, as deck interference (the look on your opponents face when they mill through their best cards is priceless!). It can really mess with combo's in your oponents deck, whilst ramping your creatures at the same time.
This section is still under construction. Fixing formatting, putting cards in cmc order and improving comments on cards. All sections have card information still.
[I]Changes completed up to: Creature card section[/I]
Creatures
1cmc Jace's Phantasm - Not much needs to be said really. Once we hit 10 in the 'yard we're looking at a 5/5 flying for 1cmc. [i]This card is a staple in any deck[/i]
Deathrite Shaman - This is probably one of my favourite cards in the deck. An all around amazing card. He gives us land advantage; control over flashback cards and prime threat cards from Snapcaster Mage; and inhibits GY based decks, stopping those pesky golgari scavenge cards. All the while adding mana, 2 life to us, or -2life to opponent. All for 1cmc. Using him does take some tactics. You don't want to exile a land, dropping their GY to 9 so you can play a phantasm. Being mindful of how many cards are in their GY at all times is a must with a Deathrite on the board. [i]He does not require green to play him, but splashing green helps (see why later)[/i]
Delver of Secrets - not a bad one drop in some builds. He combo's well with things like Dimir Charm but in a full agro deck can be a liability. Not terrible though in your standard deck though as we general run a lot of Instants and Sorceries.
2cmc Invisible Stalker - Though only a 1/1 body, being hexproof and unblockable makes him one of the best shenanigans cards. When combined with Paranoid Delusions and Hands of Binding. He does slow down our offence, but in games that we cant pull a turn 5-6 win, he can be very useful for stalling the opponent. [i]more of a control card[/i]
Wight of Precinct Six - WoP6 can be very hit or miss. Agro decks with high creature count can make him scale really fast, and combo with Essence Harvest and Artful Dodge to get us a win. Against control decks he is a dead card. [i]meta dependant[/i]
Duskmantle Guildmage - There is a lot of debate about the usefulness of Duskmantle. Either he wins you the game, or he is a mana sink. Activating his second ability (opponent loses 1 life for every card they mill) can be brutal in combination with Jace, Memory Adept's +0 ability. Trigger it before casting a Mind Sculpt with Consuming Aberration in play and we see 5 cmc for 7+X mill and 7+X life loss. But he is easy removal bait. [i]Only recommended to use with jace, pull of the combo then SB him out for game 2[/i]
Augur of Bolas - A useful card if your draw lacked some good mill. 1/3 body, not a bad 2 drop option.
Snapcaster Mage - His ability to allow us to recast any of our cards from the graveyard can be beneficial. Though I see him as more of a control deck card as opposed to a aggressive deck card.
Mindshrieker – This card can be beneficial. Its a self ramping flyer that causes 1 mill. Problem I see with it is it's taking away 2 mana, slowing down our faster aggressive win. For the same cost you can mill 7, mill 3 and cipher the spell, have a 1/1 hexproof/unblockable, mill and draw, GY hate, double 5/5 flying. It's good, but I personally think that there are better options for our 2 drop slot that won't require constant upkee to be useful.
3cmc Vampire nighthawk – This card is brutal. It's a 3cmc flying, lifelink deathtoucher on a 2/3 body. Not only is it good as an aggressive card, it will also slow your opponent down, deathtouch manages to make a lot of people hesitate on the swing. Great staller to get our Phatasm's and Aberrations online. Also a great Cipher target card. [i]I see him as a staple card[/i]
Evil Twin - Does similar to Lazav, Dimir Mastermind, but, allows us to easily remove cards on the table, like those pesky Hellfire Kite, Thragtusk, Restoration Angel, Obzedat, Ghost Council (if you can catch it out of a blink phase) and other large threats. An added benefit is that it copies as it enters, allowing for trigger effects (like those of Restoration Angel and Thragtusk to take effect. In my eyes it's a better version of Lazav as it is a removal card, it can provide what we need from opponents cards, and, it's cheaper, it can also remove the ghost council if we can get a copy off. It [i]can[/i] also copy hexproof creatures It cant use its destroy on them though, but it [i]can[/i] legend rule a Geist of saint Traft
Nightveil Specter - Some people swear by this vs mirror. In my eyes he is a wasted spot. He is a 2/3 flyer for 3cmc, like Vampire nighthawk. He mills 1 that you can play. Useful. Not so useful in that he mills this card. He also doesn’t have lifelink or the scary deathtouch.
4cmc Undead Alchemist - This card can be very good. Much like Wight of Precinct Six he is amazing creature heavy decks. Vs control decks though he slows us down a lot. More of a Sb card; ut, if you play in a creature heavy meta, he is a main deck card all the way as he is a wincon without needing to combo him (adding inArtful Dodge with him just guarantees an army of zombies)
Desecration Demon - This guys is a boss. I was hesitant to play hi at first. but he is amazing. 4cmc 6/6 flyer OR constant Devour Flesh effect. he will also eat a lot of hate cards that would hurt our Consuming Aberration. [i]I highly recommend him[/i]. He adds a bit of control we could use, while still staying an agressive creature.
Lazav, Dimir Mastermind – A card much in debated! 4Cmc for a 3/3 hexproof body isn't to bad. It's a body that also allows us to copy creatures that go to graveyard. A useful ability. But I find Evil Twin more beneficial, as twin removes the threats and has the enter battlefield effect of the copied creature. [i]Twin vs Lazav is a matter of personal choice[/i]
Shimian Specter – A 2/2 flyer who allows for removal of an entire family of cards? Very useful. Unfortunately he is very slow for our deck. More of a control card. Though he is very useful vs control cards if you can drop on turn 3 with a Deathrite allowing us to remove their planeswalkers on turn 5. [i]Control decks or SB material in control heavy meta's[/i]
5cmc Havengul lich - A great card, if you play a control deck. While his ability is useful, the problem is he is very slow. At 5cmc we should be near striking distance. The big problem is he also takes up Aberrations turn 5 drop spot. Which, Aberration should always have priority over. [i]Great for control, not agro[/i]
Consuming Aberration – This guy. */* body, where * is our primary way of controlling the opponent; with the added bonus when we play spells they mill themselves more (refer to the Important rules and resolve orders to remember! Section below). Win con when combo'd with Artful Dodge and Essence Harvest. If you run Invisible Stalker with Paranoid Delusions this guys just keeps ramping.[/card] [i]fantastic win con, can be removal bait though[/i]
The Mill cards
1cmc Dream Twist - Mill 6 for 3cmc. A great mill card. . That way their turn 1 drop is based on not knowing what deck you are) then later in the game Flashed back for 2cmc. An excellent choice
Thought Scour – 1cmc for 2mill and draw a card? Excellent. Not only will it mill 2 AND give us back the card we played, giving card advantage. It is instant speed, can be dropped on turn 1 at the end of opponents first turn, allowing them to only know we have a U splash, not that we are a mill deck, possibly causing them to play the wrong one drop.
2cmc Mind Sculpt - 2cmc for 7 mill. Can't argue with that. Generally this is my favourite turn 2 drop.
Chronic Flooding - 2cmc and it messes with tri-colour decks amazingly well, also inhibits Cavern of Souls decks. [i]Very meta dependant[/i]
[i]Thanks to BishopOfDarkness for pointing this out[/i]
4cmc Whispering Madness - A very useful card. This allows you to play out your hand, and force the opponent to keep drawing through their deck, interrupting their game plan. Can also benefit your opponent and hinder you. 1 or 2 of at most. [i]Best used vs control/midrange
Best when played with: Invisible Stalker[/i]
Trepanation Blade - A useful card to go with our stalkers. It can yield great results, or terrible ones. Gives stalkers some added reach. Can be dropped turn 3, then a Stalker can be played turn 4 with this equipped. [i]Best played in a Control deck.
Best when played with: Invisible Stalker[/i]
(In 4cmc because if it is played on turn 3, it is turn 4 before you can equip it at the fastest. So takes a 4cmc slot)
5cmc Psychic Spiral - A useful card in mirror matches, and to gain card recursion vs control decks. This card can be brutal with Duskmantle Guildmage's 1 life per 1 mill. Biggest problem is its 5cmc. [i]Best played in a Control deck, a self mill deck, or a 1 of if you play in a slower meta[/i]
Best when played with: Duskmantle Guildmage, Self milling deck[/i]
Xcmc Mind Grind - A more expensive, mana hungry Mind Funeral. It has its benefits late game. Normally a 1 or 2 of at most. I don't know have the links to the math but the average mill per land on a grind affect, but it is something around 2.4 (22-24land decks). If this value is true, Mind Grind is very expensive for what it does. It can mill for big numbers though. [i]Would only use this in a control deck.
Best when played with: Crypt Ghast[/i]
Increasing Confusion - Not a great. If we pay U4 and U4 again we are only milling 12 cards though for 10 mana. Mind Sculpt + Dream Twist(flash backed as well) is 13 cards for 5cmc. [i]More of a control mill card
Best when played with: Crypt Ghast[/i]
Counter Spells
[i]Foreword on counter-spells: I find that these cards are SB material, MD I feel they are to slow for what we are wanting to do.[/i]
1cmc Dispel - Can be useful vs agro decks (mostly all in green, RDW and Golgari) and control.
Essence Scatter – Useful vs fast aggressive decks, sometimes. Can inhibit the cast of a turn 3 5/5 Phantasm though
Spell Rupture - A useful counter for us with Wights, Phantasm's or Aberrations activated. Not so useful when they aren't. Probably our best T3+ counter unless we have a bad draw
3cmc Psychic Strike - A Counterspell with a mill element. UB as opposed to UU is also much better for us. Better then dissipate for us, most of the time
Dissipate - Useful vs decks that want cards in their GY.
4cmc Rewind - A useful card, but leaving 4 mana open to cast it slows us down.
Scatter Arc – counter and draw. Sadly its 4cmc is a bit slow for us.
Xcmc Syncopate - Only really useful when running with Crypt Ghast. More of a control deck card
Card Draw
1cmc Curiosity – Not many millgro lists use this. But with Stalker on the field, and a ciphered delusions on him every swing is draw 1 for you, mill 3 for them. Can be bait for enchant hate though, this depends heavily on your meta.
[i]Best when played with: Invisible Stalker[/i]
Thought Scour - 1cmc for 2mill and draw a card? Excellent. Not only will it mill 2 AND give us back the card we played, giving card advantage. It is instant speed, can be dropped on turn 1 at the end of opponents first turn, allowing them to only know we have a U splash, not that we are a mill deck, possibly causing them to play the wrong one drop.
2cmc Think Twice - Tried and true. 2 draw for 5cmc seems a bit rich, but can help set up early game then be flashed back late game.
3cmc Forbidden Alchemy – More of a delver card really as we sac cards to get just 1, for 3cmc. Not really our thing.
Removal/Control
1cmc Tragic Slip - 1cmc for either a early game removal, or late game removal if something dies. Not a bad card for slowing down agro, but, if we don’t run target destroys its late-game usefulness drops out.
Death's approach - 1cmc. Amazing vs agro decks with lots of creatures. Not so good if we cant get the mill rolling.
Dead Weight - 1cmc. Good vs. mana dorks and agro decks. Can handle a lot of the 'lord' cards out there.
Rapid Hybridization – Can be useful removal, can also be used on our own guys if we declare a block we'll lose.
2cmc Devour Flesh - Great vs Control and midrange decks as they won't have many creatures in play, also 2cmc means we can cast it and have mana open to negate the incoming counter. Seen this destroy a control decks strategy by taking its only creatures on board.
Hands of Binding – Great for slowing down agro, great vs midrange control, great vs midrange. All round great card. Especially on those pesky stalkers of ours.
[i]Best when played with: Invisible Stalker[/i]
Victim of Night - 2cmc. Not bad, but if you hit a vamp, werewolf or zombie deck it's not so fantastic. Also requires BB.
Cyclonic rift – Useful for bouncing planeswalkers and pesky Rest in Peace. Late game board clearer when overloaded.
Ultimate Price - 2cmc. Kills something dead. Not bad, though a lot of GC cards are dual colour.
3cmc Murder - A more expensive doomblade. Not a bad card, but, 3cmc with BB is a bit rich.
4cmc Mutilate - Mass removal. We don't run many swamps though. Can be beneficial depending on land composition.
Sever the Bloodline – Useful for those pesky angels, or spam of specific creatures (hellriders ect.)
Elixir of Immortality - A very useful sidedeck card vs control and mirror match. it can recycle lost cards and give some health. [i]very beneficial depending on your meta[/i]
Duress – Great vs control and midrange decks, not so much vs creature decks.
Appetite for Brains - Removes our big threats, Thragtusk, Angels, planeswalkers, hellkites ect.
Mizzium Skin - +0/+1 and hexproof can be very useful for saving a Phantasm or Aberration from being killed, and overloading it on your kill swing prevents open mana being used to halt the kill. [i]Very beneficial card[/i]
Dying Wish - Useful in a meta that lacks enchant hate
[i]Thanks to fractis for pointing this out[/i]
Dimir Charm - 2cmc. Can stop a sorcery speed board wipe. Can kill an agro creature. Can mill 2 and let you know what's coming. Can set up Delver of SecretsNot a bad little card. [i]has it's uses but is a slower sort of card in my eyes. It is great, but our two drop slot has better priorities in my opinion[/i]
[i]Best when played with: Delver of Secrets, self mill decks. Control Decks.[/i]
Witchbane Orb - great SB card in control heavy meta's. Run with abupt decays, so if they Sphere it you can wreck the sphere
Dimir keyrune - This is a dirty dirty card. When activated its a 2/2 unblockable creature. What does this mean though? Activate it, cast paranoid delusions, attack. End of your turn its an artifact again and can't be target removed. Though it is slow and has an 'upkeep' cost. [i]I would use this in a control deck personally.[/i]
[i]Best when played with: Hands of Bindinng, Paranoid Delusions[/i]
Nephalia Drownyard - Mill's things, is very expensive mill though. [i]More of a control thing[/i]
Rogue's Passage - Expensive, though un-counterable unblockable creature effect, worth playing ina control heavy meta so they cant simply counter your Artful Dodge
Ghost Quarter - Wrecks dual lands. Can be good for slowing down dual/tri colour decks. Cavern of Souls hates this card.
[i]More of a control thing[/i]
Dimir Guildgate - For budget versions. If you run watery grave and Catacomb, you don't want these
And there we have it, the base card list for a UB aggressive mill deck. Please let me know if I have missed anything though!
Now from here we have some options to splash into another colour. This next section is on the colour splashes and how they may benefit us.
Green
[i]In my eyes green is our best splash colour. It offers us a lot of utility that both Blue and Black lack.
And helps us to deal with some of our biggest threats to our strategy Elixir of Immortality and Rest in Peace, of which Black and Blue struggle to deal with smoothly.
Remember Deathrite Shaman as well runs on green mana. The combination of Deathrite Shaman and Abrupt Decay Makes green more then worth a splash[/i]
Creatures 1cmc Dryad Militant - Useful vs Control decks if we don't run flashback cards, though slows the GY ramp of our side, and also inhibits our spells. [i]Has its uses[/i]
2cmc Quirion Dryad – Ramps quickly. Cipher-spells continually trigger her ramp. And, (don't quote me on this as it may be wrong)Paranoid Delusions is both blue and black, allowing for two +1/+1 counters. Also, every time a cipher card takes effect from dealing damage, it is a spell cast, so ramps Quirion more
2cmc Abrupt Decay – What an amazing card. It is useful vs every deck in the game. Handles Rest in Peace easily, controls agro. [i]This is a MUST have in your SB if you splash green (so good I even bolded and italicised it!)[/i]
Sheltering Word - Need to save that 20/20 aberration from removal? Need to gain some life back? Here it is, all for 2cmc
[i]Thanks to Sneaky_NEDM for pointing this out[/i]
Simic Charm - 2cmc, mass hexproof, can slow opponent down (bouncing a creature to their hand and preventing damage or +3/+3 a card for the win.
[i]Thanks to Sneaky_NEDM for pointing this out[/i]
Golgari Charm - Great vs agro, deals with Rest in Peace or can regenerate everything we swing with, and saves our creatures from board wipes.
Red Splash
Red Splash (Added 12/02/13)
[i]I personally feel red doesn't add much to a UB millgro deck that isn't already done by blue or black. The main reason of splashing is to handle GY hate cards. [/I]
Creatures 1cmc Blistercoil Weird - Can be a useful early beater with the amount of cheap milling we will be using
[i]thanks to bishopOfdarkness for pointing this out[/i]
2cmc Pyreheart Wolf – Lets things through
[i]thanks to bishopOfdarkness for pointing this out[/i]
Goblin Electromancer – Makes things cheaper, though most of our spells are 1cmc
[i]thanks to bishopOfdarkness for pointing this out[/i]
4cmc Olivia Voldaren – Good creature, pity its a 4cmc, which around then we have better options.
[i]thanks to bishopOfdarkness for pointing this out[/i]
Spells 1cmc Mugging – Good for letting things through and clearing cheap agro/dorks
[i]thanks to bishopOfdarkness for pointing this out[/i]
2cmc Curse of Stalked Prey – Ramps Nighthawks and Phantasm's. Though with Aberration, isn't really required
[i]thanks to bishopOfdarkness for pointing this out[/i]
Volcanic Strength – wrecks red
[i]thanks to bishopOfdarkness for pointing this out[/i]
Teleportal – Overload can win games if no aberration in play
[i]thanks to bishopOfdarkness for pointing this out[/i]
Izzet Charm – Counter, target kill or card draw, its ok.
[i]thanks to bishopOfdarkness for pointing this out[/i]
Madcap Skills – Makes Phantasms and Aberration a pain to deal with
[i]thanks to bishopOfdarkness for pointing this out[/i]
Dreadbore – Best removal in the game
[i]thanks to bishopOfdarkness for pointing this out[/i]
Nightbird's Clutches – Let's things through, flashback
[i]thanks to bishopOfdarkness for pointing this out[/i]
Dual Casting – Double the cast, double the fun
[i]thanks to bishopOfdarkness for pointing this out[/i]
Mizzium Mortars – good vs stalemate games, becomes a turn 6 board clearer
[i]thanks to bishopOfdarkness for pointing this out[/i]
4cmc Slaughter Games – Card hate
[i]thanks to bishopOfdarkness for pointing this out[/i]
Xcmc Bonfire of the Damned - A good cheap removal if pulled off as a miracle. Useful as a T3 drop as for R2 it will clear most agro decks creatures.
[i]thanks to bishopOfdarkness for pointing this out[/i]
Devil's Play – Removal card
[i]thanks to bishopOfdarkness for pointing this out[/i]
Planeswalkers Chandra, the Firebrand - -2Ability can cause a mill of 14 from Thought Scour, not bad for a U1 spell. She is slow though and doesn't have much else to add.
[i]thanks to bishopOfdarkness for pointing this out[/i]
From this we can see that there are several great additions to the UB Millgro deck that can help us along the way. What I would say about a 3rd splash is that it is only really advisable to do this based on your meta, primarily for some enchantment hate because of Rest in Peace, which counters our game plan.
Other options for this include setting our SB up to change to a deck that uses mill to remove their good cards, but based on creatures such as Griselbrand or Bloodline keeper as wincons.
Getting in the right mindset for a aggro mill deck (ie. what your cards look like, what they REALLY are)
VERY IMPORTANT SECTION
Ok guys, around page 10-13 we start talking about what our cards really are.
A lot of people will read/see the following card choices and see the cards for what they look like.
Here is an example Dream Twist
This looks like it mills 3 cards, then 3 more with flash back, which it does.
But what does it really do?
We have 7 cards in their GY and a 1/1 Phantasm on the field and a 3/3 WoP6
We declare a block against a 3/3 Hell Rider with the Phantasm and a 4/4 Champion of the Parish with WoP6
We lose right?
Nope!
We use Dream twist to put 3 more cards in their GY, taking Gy to 10. Phantasm is now 5/5. We hit 2 creatures. WoP6 is 5/5 now. We flash it back. Wight is now 7/7.
In a mill deck our millcard's arent looked at as we traditionally see mill cards.
For us they are more like Giant Growth. We use it to ramp, to pull combat tricks and get the win.
This is why I recomend we run 8 instant millcards (not invcluding the flash back ability)
While on this topic, Mutilate looks like a board wipe? It sure is. vs creature heavy decks RDW/Boros ect we can Mutilate for 3 (if we get the right draw of course), wiping all their creature. This then RAMPS our WoP6, Aberration and phantasm (if they don't yet have 10 in the GY)
So now we have ANOTHER ramp spell.
But we run creatures?
We do. It kills our Deathrite Shamans. All our other creatures are 5/5 or higher (be careful of WoP6 math before you mutilate so as not to kill yourself)
-Always start with a plan. Do you want to be fast, control the game, be agressive, or build up fast then hit sudenly?
-Pick core cards first
-Look at your meta, build around that
-playtest, playtest, playtest!!!
-Solitaring is a great way to see card draw averages.
-Watch your mana curve, agro decks want a low curve
-2-4 4cmc cards, 2-35cmc drops mostly 1-2's. You want to have damage online by turn 3. (Phantasms for us after a mill of 10)
For this I will make a deck that plays in a Control and Midrange heavy meta
To start with I make myself a list of my 'must be in the deck' cards.
Step 2
From this I start to format my deck and decide on numbers of each creature.
2x Consuming Aberration ← 2 because its 5cmc, we dont want to be flooded
4x Jace's Phantasm ← 4 of because it is amazing
4x Deathrite ← 4 of because we want one on turn 1, and more on board never hurt
3x Artful Dodge ← 3 of these allows for 6 unblocked attacks
3x Essence Harvest ← Only need to get one of these off.
4x Mind Sculpt ← Necessary Mill
20 of 60
Step 3
Now I have my 'core' I will look at where I play and assess what cards may be useful in this deck. Since I play vs a lot of control, I will need some counter spells, and, something to deal with O-Rings and R.I.P
Step 4
We look at the construction of our deck. We have 2 win cons. Aberration + Artful Dodge/Essence Harvest, Phantasm's + Artful Dodge/Essence Harvest. Both are creature based. We need some protection
3x Ranger's Guile ← Hexproof
32 Spells
Step 5 We are looking good vs Control now, so how about midrange?
2x Cyclonic Rift ← Bounces everything around the time they get it out
3x Hands of Binding ← locks down some cards
4x Invisible Stalker ← used to get the lockdown, hexproof
2x Devour Flesh ← Kills things
3x Appetite for brains ← Removes Things
46 Spells
Step 6
Now we need to add some more mill and some card advantage
4x Thought Scour
3x Dream Twist
2x Paranoid Delusions
55 Spells
Step 7
Now, we have 55 Cards out of 38. We need to slim this down. Let us re-asses. We are playing vs control, and a slower midrange deck. So lets slim our choices down
Lets remove
1x Appetite for brains – handy, but 2 will be fine
2x invisible Stalker – useful, but, slows our agro down
1x Essence Harvest – We will be facing counterspells, so lets slim this down. If artful dodge is countered, we can flash it back.
1x negate – Not so useful vs midrange
2x Spell pierce – Can Sb in vs control
2x Abrupt Decay – can pull it in if needed
3x Ranger's Guile - more of a Sb card
3x Hands of Binding -slow vs most decks, useless vs control
These can now be our SB as they are all beneficial still.
After solitaring this we have learned a few things.
1. The deck is not focused enough, and runs to slow.
2. Land issues
3. Didn’t mill fast enough
Let's fix this
let us remove
-2x Essence Harvest ← Easy to counter
-2x Paranoid Delusions ← bit slow
-2x Invisible Stalker ← bit slow
-2x Devour Flesh ← Not always useful
-1x Deathrite Shaman <-useful but we need the slots
let us add
+2 Nighthawks ← we know the benefits
+1 Artful Dodge ← ramps Dryad, gets scary lookin fast
+2 Land
+1 Dream twist ← more mill
+3 Quirion Dryad ← Ramps fast, looks scary, may eat a lot of control hate
After 20 solitares this deck can hit critical mass by turn 5-8 depending on luck of the draw.
Time to take it to FNM and see how we go!
[I]See below post for my personal deck and why I picked those cards[/I]
Good card choices vs Agro, Control and Midrange
Prime card options vs Agro:
Some of our best card's for handling Agro include Aetherize, Hands of Binding, Vampire Nighthawk, Cyclonic Rift. Aetherize bounces them on their “kill” turn. Resetting them and letting us ramp. Hands of Binding slows everything down. Nighthawk is a big scary 2/3 flying lifelink deathtouch creature who has higher defence then most agro cards, lifelink repairs damage, and deathtouch many people find scary, and Cyclonic Rift can bounce everything.
Midrange isn't to bad for us, by the time they get their big guns online our speed should have them down and out. Any mill card + our standard tactic of big Consuming Aberration with Artful Dodge and Essence Harvest see's us winning here
Important rules and resolve orders to remember!
Cipher cards and Consuming Aberration: Cipher reads “...deals combat damage to a player, its controller [I]may cast a copy of the encoded card[/I] without paying its mana cost." Aberration reads [I]Whenever you cast a spell[/I], each opponent ...”. The way this resolves is the Cipher spell cast is triggered, goes onto the stack. Aberrations ability then kicks in, going onto the stack. The stack then resolves downwards, so Aberration mill's then Paranoid Delusions mills. Essence harvest and Consuming Aberration: Aberration reads [I]Whenever you cast a spell[/I], each opponent ...”. So when you cast Essence Harvest it goes onto the stack, Aberrations ability then kicks in, going onto the stack. The stack then resolves downwards, so Aberration mill's, which then causes Aberration to gain +X/+X (X being how much it's ability milled for) then Essence Harvest triggers, dealing damage based on Aberrations new power/toughness.
Deck Results
My personal results: so far I am 13 wins 3 losses. 3 FNM Victories 1 Fourth place
Tournaments: To come later...
And there we have it. The Aggressive mill, or, millgro deck!
This Primer is still a WiP so look forward for future changes!
Thank you to
bishopOfdarkness
fractis
Sneaky_NEDM
toddulent
So after looking at the cards available, my local meta, and what I like the feel of. This is my list so far after 12 FNM's and a bunch of solitare, and playtest games
This deck is built around my local meta and may not be as effective vs your local meta
Why I chose what I did after looking at everything available Consuming Aberration : 3 of. Self Explanitory. Lot's of people say run 2. I tried this and I didn't see him pop up by turn 5 in some play-testing. Switched to 3 of him and I saw him every time by turn 5. This also means if 1-2 get removed we have another ace upt he sleeve. Artful DodgeEssence Harvest : 3 of each. Self explanatory. Simply because we don't need that many. 3 guarantee's we see them come into play by turn 5. I like running both as if you get Essence Harvest countered you can Artful dodge. You can use Dodge earlier with WoP6, Phantasm or (if you need life) Nighthawk and rebound it onto Aberration. Mind Sculpt : 4 of. 7 mill for 2cmc. Our primary mill card Jace's Phantasm : 4 of. 5/5Flyer for 1cmc. It can be 5/5 by turn 3 easily. If planned well can have him swinging on turn 3 for 5 damage. Not worth dropping it in it's 1/1 form. Deathrite Shaman : 4 of. This card is amazing; pure and simple. We can use it to remove Scavenge creatures, Dredge cards annoying zombie who play from GY AND deal 2 damage to opponent. We can also remove key spells vs decks with Snapcaster Mage and to remove flashback spells AND gain 2 life (helps vs agro who runs creature pump like All-in green), but, best of all, we can remove lands to ramp our mill/creatures faster, which can result in Turn 3-Turn 4 Aberrations. Wight of Precinct Six : 3 ofWhile not always great vs some decks (I'm looking at you control) it can be an all star in it's own right vs agro decks and high creature count decks. Another target for artful dodge and essence harvest. If they remove aberrations, you have a back up plan. I only run 3 because he is more of a plan 'b' and isn't 100% useful in anysituation unlike Hawks, phantasm's and Deathrites. Good SB choice for our negates vs control. Dream Twist : 3 of. 6 mill for 3 seems not very good compared to Mind Sculpt at first glance. But it is instant speed, so, 1cmc for it's first mill. Combo'd with Mind Sculpt we can have 9 in the GY on turn 2's end (1 land exiled to cast the second card). If our aggressive assault gets slowed we can flash it back for another 3 later on. Being instant speed. We can hold land open vs control, and if we don't negate we can Dream twist. Thought Scour : 4 of. 2 Mill and 1 Draw. 1cmc. Can't complain. A big advantage is instant speed. We can hold land open vs control, and if we don't negate we can Thought Scour. Paranoid Delusions : 2 of. Back up mill card if we don't draw something else. Useful for games that last past 5-6 turns. Triggers Aberration every time it's used to mill 3. (Remember: Cipher says “you may cast the spell for free, aberration says “when ever you cast a spell”, so swing, damage, mill 3, mill until you find land. Potent in longer games). 2 of simply because it doesn't mill enough early game to speed the kill, but comes into play if we get a bit bogged down. Work's on any creature in our deck well. Sheltering Word: 3 of.Our Aberrations can be easy bait for a removal spell. By adding in this we can use it in two ways. To stabalise our health vs Agro decks, and to protect our big WoP6/Aberrations from removal WHILST also gaining life on it. AEtherize : 2 of. Can be a beneficial MD card vs anything but control. I've found there are times I wished I had one and didn't. I haven't missed what ever card I replaced it with. 2 of for this fact, useful to have but not always wanted. Watery GraveDrowned Catacomb : 4 of. Dual lands. Breeding PoolOvergrown Tomb : 3 of each. Only use 6 as we don't need green as often as we do the other colours, but this gives us enough to use Sheltering Word and Deathrite Shaman's third option if we wish to. 3 of each because we have about equal black to blue ratio.
Sideboard Card Choices Aetherize : 1 of. For Agro, 3 is enough o see it come into line when needed. Appetite for Brains : 3 of. For those midrange and control decks. Get's rid of Restoration Angel, Thragtusk, Thundermaw hellkite and any other big threat that can hinder us later in the game. Also, bye bye planeswalkers! Death's Approach : 3 of. With our mill this is a potent removal vs agro and especially tempo/midrange decks, and anything but low creature control Devour Flesh : 2 of. More removal. Abrupt Decay : 3 of. Rest in peace, Elixir of immortality. Timed right can scrap Elixirs, and handle's R.I.P., is a great SB vs. many many decks. Also handles Detention Sphere, Oblivion Ring and alot of other nasty cards (here's looking at you reckoner) Negate : 3 of. Control Decks.
Future changes: Devour Flesh → Desecration Demon
Incase our mill gets interupted it is always nice ot have a big chunky 6/6 flyer, who can be removal or a threat. Also at 4cmc he may eat some of the hate that our Aberrations will get.
I hope this helps you to Understand why I picked what I did and how the above mess of cards can come down to a streamlined, very fast aggressive deck that uses mill to not only interrupt card play, but to also ramp our creatures.
ok so ive been actively using this deck & must say that stalkers make this less competitive too slow & takes away a turn we could be casting mind sculpt...& deathrite r a must in MB regardless of green...CA is a 2 of & delver doesnt run well unless u stock for it & most times ppl dont in millgro...u forgot Essence in ur utility spoiler & i definatly recomend u move the deathrite to main creature list from splash list...also utility should have mizzium skin
I Find Paranoid Stalkers to be very beneficial if we don't get the right draw for stalling a game.
Can't believe i forgot to mention a keycard. That's what I get for writing a primer at 3am
Personally I have been having good luck with delver. Though I have had people report back that they haven't been doing so well with him. problem Is for the slot there isn't much that wont have another card over write priority. Possibly could swap for hands of binding if the game gets a bit more grindy (to slow agro down ect.) until we hit an Aberration.
I Also run 3 Aberrations because in playtesting I had games where I had everything set up perfectly for a turn 4 aberration (once a turn 3) only to not draw him because only running 2 copies. With 3 I find he is almost always there when needed.
Curse of Death's hold is to slow for a Millgro deck, it's why I didn't include it. That + Aetherize tough wrecks agro decks that don't get a T3 kill.
I Originally Ran 2x jace, 2x Dustmantle and 4x Wight. but i found wight's to only be effective vs agro. Though they could replace the Stalkers in my deck to give another Essence Harvest target.
I do like stalkers for setting a tempo if the early rush gets beat down. Kind of a back up plan as nothing else can take their spot that I feel 100% happy with (Again, WoP6 can be great depending on the meta).
I Found nephalia to be to slow/mana intensive to be beneficial. Though I am considering some ghost quarters to deal with dual lands for boros/gruul agro decks early on.
Changes I may playtest
-3 Stalkers
+3 WoP6
-2Hands of Binding
+2Aetherize
Torn between MD Aetherize and MD Hands of Binding. T4 Aetherize can mess up a agro deck's plan pretty fast. But leaving the mana opens means we may not get our T4 Aberration into play.
yes it is slow but its still a good SB consideration cuz it wrecks Assemble the legion decks & control decks running spirit tokens not to mention goblin decks squeal at it as well
yea i guess...what do ya think about Bane Alley Broker i could see it working but i also see it failing so hard...yes its more combo than aggro but i can see it as bait as well as CA just exile cards that effect us the least if we loose em & they may target it instead of a phantasm or deathrite
She is great for control.
When we have 3 mana open we should be dropping Nighthawk, mind Sculpt+Thought scour (or dream twist) and turn 4'ing into a Aberration though. She would be great in a UBr control mill deck though.
I am just short the Deathrite Shamans to have this deck for tomorrow. I can't find any locally even for trade or to borrow. Any suggestions for replacements until next week?
This really depends on your meta game. For me the shaman is such a key card as its land ramp, it's flashback/spell removal, and it wrecks GY dredge decks.
If you want card advantage whilst having some impact on their GY then Cremate Will help
If you face lots of agro decks another Aetherize will help MD
If you face control then MD Negate
general card's you can increase not knowing the meta Thought Scour - 1cmc, mill and card advantage. doesnt HAVE to be played, but is useful to hold onto if needed Artful Dodge helps get things through Wight of precinct Six Hands vs any but control Death's Approach useful vs most but control.
I would personally just go with 3 Negate and 1[/card]Thought Scour[/card]. SB 3 Cremate.
This really depends on your meta game. For me the shaman is such a key card as its land ramp, it's flashback/spell removal, and it wrecks GY dredge decks.
If you want card advantage whilst having some impact on their GY then Cremate Will help
If you face lots of agro decks another Aetherize will help MD
If you face control then MD Negate
general card's you can increase not knowing the meta Thought Scour - 1cmc, mill and card advantage. doesnt HAVE to be played, but is useful to hold onto if needed Artful Dodge helps get things through Wight of precinct Six Hands vs any but control Death's Approach useful vs most but control.
That is actually very helpful. My local metagame is still developing, so not really sure either. From what I saw last week, the SB should be fine. I might put 2 Glaring Spotlight for hexproof, but that may not even be necessary.
In case I didn't tell you, I don't care about your opinion I just want your facts. And not the facts that make you seem smart. I want the ones that are actual facts.
he is good but not as a MB...too much control & aggro so the creatures that would be best benifited in our position would be in midrange or tempo which is all meta depentant
I Think it is a great control deck card, but, it's a bit slow for us as we don't care if they have creatures down, artful dodge and essence harvest get around that
Hey Guys n Gals! welcome to the UB Aggressive Mill, or, Millgro, primer!
There has been a lot of discussion about this deck (http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=482241) since the release of Gatecrash, with the Dimir adding in some new powerful UB card's that take this deck from funsies at home, to actually being competitive
[I]But, why Aggressive Mill[/I], as opposed to a control based Mill deck?
In the past Mill was generally built on a control body. It was good vs Midrange decks, but lacked the staying power vs RDW, All-In Green and other fast aggressive decks. Adding in cards like Elixir of Immortality could completely ruin our game plan. By shifting the deck's aim from 'get their library to 0' to 'Get their life to 0' as the aim point, we can get around some of the past issues mill has had.
The Millgro deck focuses more on damage then on milling, but uses milling as a part of our creature ramp, and, as deck interference (the look on your opponents face when they mill through their best cards is priceless!). It can really mess with combo's in your oponents deck, whilst ramping your creatures at the same time.
What are the[I] key cards[/I] that make this deck work?
Any card that mill's coupled with Jace's Phantasm, Consuming Aberration,Essence Harvest and/or Artful Dodge make up our core.
These Cards all have great synergy. Anything that mills an opponent helps us ramp. The fact we are ramping into Consuming Aberration which, coupled with an Essence Harvest or Artful Dodge can win us the game. But Essence Harvest and Artful Dodge don't just get played with Consuming Aberration, you can Artful Dodge Jace's Phantasm early game, and flash it back onto Consuming Aberration late game for the win. We can, in some decks, with the right draw have Phantasm's as 5/5 Flyers who can SWING on turn 3. We can even have 2 out at this point.
What cards can we use in this deck?
This section is still under construction. Fixing formatting, putting cards in cmc order and improving comments on cards. All sections have card information still.
[I]Changes completed up to: Creature card section[/I]
Creatures
1cmc
Jace's Phantasm - Not much needs to be said really. Once we hit 10 in the 'yard we're looking at a 5/5 flying for 1cmc. [i]This card is a staple in any deck[/i]
Deathrite Shaman - This is probably one of my favourite cards in the deck. An all around amazing card. He gives us land advantage; control over flashback cards and prime threat cards from Snapcaster Mage; and inhibits GY based decks, stopping those pesky golgari scavenge cards. All the while adding mana, 2 life to us, or -2life to opponent. All for 1cmc. Using him does take some tactics. You don't want to exile a land, dropping their GY to 9 so you can play a phantasm. Being mindful of how many cards are in their GY at all times is a must with a Deathrite on the board. [i]He does not require green to play him, but splashing green helps (see why later)[/i]
Delver of Secrets - not a bad one drop in some builds. He combo's well with things like Dimir Charm but in a full agro deck can be a liability. Not terrible though in your standard deck though as we general run a lot of Instants and Sorceries.
2cmc
Invisible Stalker - Though only a 1/1 body, being hexproof and unblockable makes him one of the best shenanigans cards. When combined with Paranoid Delusions and Hands of Binding. He does slow down our offence, but in games that we cant pull a turn 5-6 win, he can be very useful for stalling the opponent. [i]more of a control card[/i]
Wight of Precinct Six - WoP6 can be very hit or miss. Agro decks with high creature count can make him scale really fast, and combo with Essence Harvest and Artful Dodge to get us a win. Against control decks he is a dead card. [i]meta dependant[/i]
Duskmantle Guildmage - There is a lot of debate about the usefulness of Duskmantle. Either he wins you the game, or he is a mana sink. Activating his second ability (opponent loses 1 life for every card they mill) can be brutal in combination with Jace, Memory Adept's +0 ability. Trigger it before casting a Mind Sculpt with Consuming Aberration in play and we see 5 cmc for 7+X mill and 7+X life loss. But he is easy removal bait. [i]Only recommended to use with jace, pull of the combo then SB him out for game 2[/i]
Augur of Bolas - A useful card if your draw lacked some good mill. 1/3 body, not a bad 2 drop option.
Snapcaster Mage - His ability to allow us to recast any of our cards from the graveyard can be beneficial. Though I see him as more of a control deck card as opposed to a aggressive deck card.
Mindshrieker – This card can be beneficial. Its a self ramping flyer that causes 1 mill. Problem I see with it is it's taking away 2 mana, slowing down our faster aggressive win. For the same cost you can mill 7, mill 3 and cipher the spell, have a 1/1 hexproof/unblockable, mill and draw, GY hate, double 5/5 flying. It's good, but I personally think that there are better options for our 2 drop slot that won't require constant upkee to be useful.
3cmc
Vampire nighthawk – This card is brutal. It's a 3cmc flying, lifelink deathtoucher on a 2/3 body. Not only is it good as an aggressive card, it will also slow your opponent down, deathtouch manages to make a lot of people hesitate on the swing. Great staller to get our Phatasm's and Aberrations online. Also a great Cipher target card. [i]I see him as a staple card[/i]
Evil Twin - Does similar to Lazav, Dimir Mastermind, but, allows us to easily remove cards on the table, like those pesky Hellfire Kite, Thragtusk, Restoration Angel, Obzedat, Ghost Council (if you can catch it out of a blink phase) and other large threats. An added benefit is that it copies as it enters, allowing for trigger effects (like those of Restoration Angel and Thragtusk to take effect. In my eyes it's a better version of Lazav as it is a removal card, it can provide what we need from opponents cards, and, it's cheaper, it can also remove the ghost council if we can get a copy off. It [i]can[/i] also copy hexproof creatures It cant use its destroy on them though, but it [i]can[/i] legend rule a Geist of saint Traft
Nightveil Specter - Some people swear by this vs mirror. In my eyes he is a wasted spot. He is a 2/3 flyer for 3cmc, like Vampire nighthawk. He mills 1 that you can play. Useful. Not so useful in that he mills this card. He also doesn’t have lifelink or the scary deathtouch.
4cmc
Undead Alchemist - This card can be very good. Much like Wight of Precinct Six he is amazing creature heavy decks. Vs control decks though he slows us down a lot. More of a Sb card; ut, if you play in a creature heavy meta, he is a main deck card all the way as he is a wincon without needing to combo him (adding inArtful Dodge with him just guarantees an army of zombies)
Desecration Demon - This guys is a boss. I was hesitant to play hi at first. but he is amazing. 4cmc 6/6 flyer OR constant Devour Flesh effect. he will also eat a lot of hate cards that would hurt our Consuming Aberration. [i]I highly recommend him[/i]. He adds a bit of control we could use, while still staying an agressive creature.
Lazav, Dimir Mastermind – A card much in debated! 4Cmc for a 3/3 hexproof body isn't to bad. It's a body that also allows us to copy creatures that go to graveyard. A useful ability. But I find Evil Twin more beneficial, as twin removes the threats and has the enter battlefield effect of the copied creature. [i]Twin vs Lazav is a matter of personal choice[/i]
Shimian Specter – A 2/2 flyer who allows for removal of an entire family of cards? Very useful. Unfortunately he is very slow for our deck. More of a control card. Though he is very useful vs control cards if you can drop on turn 3 with a Deathrite allowing us to remove their planeswalkers on turn 5. [i]Control decks or SB material in control heavy meta's[/i]
5cmc
Havengul lich - A great card, if you play a control deck. While his ability is useful, the problem is he is very slow. At 5cmc we should be near striking distance. The big problem is he also takes up Aberrations turn 5 drop spot. Which, Aberration should always have priority over. [i]Great for control, not agro[/i]
Consuming Aberration – This guy. */* body, where * is our primary way of controlling the opponent; with the added bonus when we play spells they mill themselves more (refer to the Important rules and resolve orders to remember! Section below). Win con when combo'd with Artful Dodge and Essence Harvest. If you run Invisible Stalker with Paranoid Delusions this guys just keeps ramping.[/card] [i]fantastic win con, can be removal bait though[/i]
The Mill cards
1cmc
Dream Twist - Mill 6 for 3cmc. A great mill card. . That way their turn 1 drop is based on not knowing what deck you are) then later in the game Flashed back for 2cmc. An excellent choice
Thought Scour – 1cmc for 2mill and draw a card? Excellent. Not only will it mill 2 AND give us back the card we played, giving card advantage. It is instant speed, can be dropped on turn 1 at the end of opponents first turn, allowing them to only know we have a U splash, not that we are a mill deck, possibly causing them to play the wrong one drop.
2cmc
Mind Sculpt - 2cmc for 7 mill. Can't argue with that. Generally this is my favourite turn 2 drop.
Paranoid Delusions - 2cmc for 3 mill and cipher. Amazing utility card allowing for a large amount of mill, especially if you run Stalkers, phantasms and Nighthawks.
[i]Best when played with: Invisible Stalker, Jace's Phantasm, Consuming Aberration[/i]
Chronic Flooding - 2cmc and it messes with tri-colour decks amazingly well, also inhibits Cavern of Souls decks. [i]Very meta dependant[/i]
[i]Thanks to BishopOfDarkness for pointing this out[/i]
4cmc
Whispering Madness - A very useful card. This allows you to play out your hand, and force the opponent to keep drawing through their deck, interrupting their game plan. Can also benefit your opponent and hinder you. 1 or 2 of at most. [i]Best used vs control/midrange
Best when played with: Invisible Stalker[/i]
Trepanation Blade - A useful card to go with our stalkers. It can yield great results, or terrible ones. Gives stalkers some added reach. Can be dropped turn 3, then a Stalker can be played turn 4 with this equipped. [i]Best played in a Control deck.
Best when played with: Invisible Stalker[/i]
(In 4cmc because if it is played on turn 3, it is turn 4 before you can equip it at the fastest. So takes a 4cmc slot)
5cmc
Psychic Spiral - A useful card in mirror matches, and to gain card recursion vs control decks. This card can be brutal with Duskmantle Guildmage's 1 life per 1 mill. Biggest problem is its 5cmc. [i]Best played in a Control deck, a self mill deck, or a 1 of if you play in a slower meta[/i]
Best when played with: Duskmantle Guildmage, Self milling deck[/i]
Xcmc
Mind Grind - A more expensive, mana hungry Mind Funeral. It has its benefits late game. Normally a 1 or 2 of at most. I don't know have the links to the math but the average mill per land on a grind affect, but it is something around 2.4 (22-24land decks). If this value is true, Mind Grind is very expensive for what it does. It can mill for big numbers though. [i]Would only use this in a control deck.
Best when played with: Crypt Ghast[/i]
Increasing Confusion - Not a great. If we pay U4 and U4 again we are only milling 12 cards though for 10 mana. Mind Sculpt + Dream Twist(flash backed as well) is 13 cards for 5cmc. [i]More of a control mill card
Best when played with: Crypt Ghast[/i]
Counter Spells
[i]Foreword on counter-spells: I find that these cards are SB material, MD I feel they are to slow for what we are wanting to do.[/i]
1cmc
Dispel - Can be useful vs agro decks (mostly all in green, RDW and Golgari) and control.
2cmc
Negate - A must have vs control decks
Essence Scatter – Useful vs fast aggressive decks, sometimes. Can inhibit the cast of a turn 3 5/5 Phantasm though
Spell Rupture - A useful counter for us with Wights, Phantasm's or Aberrations activated. Not so useful when they aren't. Probably our best T3+ counter unless we have a bad draw
3cmc
Psychic Strike - A Counterspell with a mill element. UB as opposed to UU is also much better for us. Better then dissipate for us, most of the time
Dissipate - Useful vs decks that want cards in their GY.
4cmc
Rewind - A useful card, but leaving 4 mana open to cast it slows us down.
Scatter Arc – counter and draw. Sadly its 4cmc is a bit slow for us.
Xcmc
Syncopate - Only really useful when running with Crypt Ghast. More of a control deck card
Card Draw
1cmc
Curiosity – Not many millgro lists use this. But with Stalker on the field, and a ciphered delusions on him every swing is draw 1 for you, mill 3 for them. Can be bait for enchant hate though, this depends heavily on your meta.
[i]Best when played with: Invisible Stalker[/i]
Thought Scour - 1cmc for 2mill and draw a card? Excellent. Not only will it mill 2 AND give us back the card we played, giving card advantage. It is instant speed, can be dropped on turn 1 at the end of opponents first turn, allowing them to only know we have a U splash, not that we are a mill deck, possibly causing them to play the wrong one drop.
2cmc
Think Twice - Tried and true. 2 draw for 5cmc seems a bit rich, but can help set up early game then be flashed back late game.
Sign in blood – 2cmc for 2 cards. Not to bad.
[i]Best when played with: Vampire Nighthawk[/i]
3cmc
Forbidden Alchemy – More of a delver card really as we sac cards to get just 1, for 3cmc. Not really our thing.
Removal/Control
1cmc
Tragic Slip - 1cmc for either a early game removal, or late game removal if something dies. Not a bad card for slowing down agro, but, if we don’t run target destroys its late-game usefulness drops out.
Human Fraility - fantastic in a human heavy meta
Death's approach - 1cmc. Amazing vs agro decks with lots of creatures. Not so good if we cant get the mill rolling.
Dead Weight - 1cmc. Good vs. mana dorks and agro decks. Can handle a lot of the 'lord' cards out there.
Rapid Hybridization – Can be useful removal, can also be used on our own guys if we declare a block we'll lose.
2cmc
Devour Flesh - Great vs Control and midrange decks as they won't have many creatures in play, also 2cmc means we can cast it and have mana open to negate the incoming counter. Seen this destroy a control decks strategy by taking its only creatures on board.
Hands of Binding – Great for slowing down agro, great vs midrange control, great vs midrange. All round great card. Especially on those pesky stalkers of ours.
[i]Best when played with: Invisible Stalker[/i]
Victim of Night - 2cmc. Not bad, but if you hit a vamp, werewolf or zombie deck it's not so fantastic. Also requires BB.
Cyclonic rift – Useful for bouncing planeswalkers and pesky Rest in Peace. Late game board clearer when overloaded.
Ultimate Price - 2cmc. Kills something dead. Not bad, though a lot of GC cards are dual colour.
3cmc
Murder - A more expensive doomblade. Not a bad card, but, 3cmc with BB is a bit rich.
4cmc
Mutilate - Mass removal. We don't run many swamps though. Can be beneficial depending on land composition.
Sever the Bloodline – Useful for those pesky angels, or spam of specific creatures (hellriders ect.)
Aetherize – Great vs Agro
Sleep - Forces them to tap all, basically giving us two free swings. Almost an overloaded Artful Dodge
[i]Thanks toddulent for bringing this up[/i]
Xcmc
Killing Wave - Very useful vs agro/creature decks. Nighthawks can counter our life loss.
Utility cards
1cmc
Artful Dodge - want that 15/15 aberration to mill a few cards then get through uncontested? This is your guy. Nothing more to say. VERY useful card.
[i]Best when played with: Consuming Aberration, Wight of precinct Six, Jace's Phantasm [/i]
Elixir of Immortality - A very useful sidedeck card vs control and mirror match. it can recycle lost cards and give some health. [i]very beneficial depending on your meta[/i]
Duress – Great vs control and midrange decks, not so much vs creature decks.
Appetite for Brains - Removes our big threats, Thragtusk, Angels, planeswalkers, hellkites ect.
Mizzium Skin - +0/+1 and hexproof can be very useful for saving a Phantasm or Aberration from being killed, and overloading it on your kill swing prevents open mana being used to halt the kill. [i]Very beneficial card[/i]
2cmc
Spectral Flight - Can give something reach that doesn't have it.
[i]Best when played with: Consuming Aberration, Wight of precinct Six, Undead Alchemist [/i]
Dying Wish - Useful in a meta that lacks enchant hate
[i]Thanks to fractis for pointing this out[/i]
Dimir Charm - 2cmc. Can stop a sorcery speed board wipe. Can kill an agro creature. Can mill 2 and let you know what's coming. Can set up Delver of SecretsNot a bad little card. [i]has it's uses but is a slower sort of card in my eyes. It is great, but our two drop slot has better priorities in my opinion[/i]
[i]Best when played with: Delver of Secrets, self mill decks. Control Decks.[/i]
4cmc
Essence harvest - The bee's knees of the deck. Can't recommend enough.
[i]Best when played with: Consuming Aberration, Wight of precinct Six, Jace's Phantasm [/i]
Witchbane Orb - great SB card in control heavy meta's. Run with abupt decays, so if they Sphere it you can wreck the sphere
Dimir keyrune - This is a dirty dirty card. When activated its a 2/2 unblockable creature. What does this mean though? Activate it, cast paranoid delusions, attack. End of your turn its an artifact again and can't be target removed. Though it is slow and has an 'upkeep' cost. [i]I would use this in a control deck personally.[/i]
[i]Best when played with: Hands of Bindinng, Paranoid Delusions[/i]
Planeswalkers
Jace, Memory Adept - Self explanatory. Can be fun shenanigans with Duskmantle Guildmage. He is very slow. [i]More of a control card[/i]
[i]Best when played with: Duskmantle Guildmage, control decks[/i]
Liliana of the Dark Realms - Lets us find land, remove creatures and ramp lands. Useful in decks with lots of X casting costs. [i]More of a control based planeswalker though[i]
[i]Best when played with: Mind Grind, Increasing Confusion, Syncopate[/i]
Liliana of the Veil – Cycles cards, causes sacrificing, wrecks permanents. Not a bad choice. Though she is very control/self mill in her style of play
Land
Island
Swamp
Watery Grave
Drowned Catacomb
Nephalia Drownyard - Mill's things, is very expensive mill though. [i]More of a control thing[/i]
Rogue's Passage - Expensive, though un-counterable unblockable creature effect, worth playing ina control heavy meta so they cant simply counter your Artful Dodge
Ghost Quarter - Wrecks dual lands. Can be good for slowing down dual/tri colour decks. Cavern of Souls hates this card.
[i]More of a control thing[/i]
Dimir Guildgate - For budget versions. If you run watery grave and Catacomb, you don't want these
And there we have it, the base card list for a UB aggressive mill deck. Please let me know if I have missed anything though!
Now from here we have some options to splash into another colour. This next section is on the colour splashes and how they may benefit us.
Green
[i]In my eyes green is our best splash colour. It offers us a lot of utility that both Blue and Black lack.
And helps us to deal with some of our biggest threats to our strategy Elixir of Immortality and Rest in Peace, of which Black and Blue struggle to deal with smoothly.
Remember Deathrite Shaman as well runs on green mana. The combination of Deathrite Shaman and Abrupt Decay Makes green more then worth a splash[/i]
Creatures
1cmc
Dryad Militant - Useful vs Control decks if we don't run flashback cards, though slows the GY ramp of our side, and also inhibits our spells. [i]Has its uses[/i]
2cmc
Quirion Dryad – Ramps quickly. Cipher-spells continually trigger her ramp. And, (don't quote me on this as it may be wrong) Paranoid Delusions is both blue and black, allowing for two +1/+1 counters. Also, every time a cipher card takes effect from dealing damage, it is a spell cast, so ramps Quirion more
Spells
1cmc
Ranger's Guile – Instant cast hexproof
2cmc
Abrupt Decay – What an amazing card. It is useful vs every deck in the game. Handles Rest in Peace easily, controls agro. [i]This is a MUST have in your SB if you splash green (so good I even bolded and italicised it!)[/i]
Sheltering Word - Need to save that 20/20 aberration from removal? Need to gain some life back? Here it is, all for 2cmc
[i]Thanks to Sneaky_NEDM for pointing this out[/i]
Simic Charm - 2cmc, mass hexproof, can slow opponent down (bouncing a creature to their hand and preventing damage or +3/+3 a card for the win.
[i]Thanks to Sneaky_NEDM for pointing this out[/i]
Golgari Charm - Great vs agro, deals with Rest in Peace or can regenerate everything we swing with, and saves our creatures from board wipes.
Naturalize – Deals with Rest in peace
3cmc
Natural End - 3cmc Rest in Peace remover. Gains some life to boot!
Planesewalker
Vraska the Unseen – 5cmc is a bit high. But, turn 7 you can have 3 of the assassins.
Turn 8 you can Artful Dodge the tokens.Wait...what!?!
[i]Best when played with: Artfuldodge, Rogue's Passage[/i]
Land
Breeding Pool
Overgrown Tomb
Woodland Cemetery
Hinterland harbor
White
[i]I find white can be a useful colour, more so if you are planning on playing control. But added here for those opposed to green.[i]
Creatures
2cmc
Keening Apparition - Handles Rest in Peace nuff' said.
3cmc
Geist of Saint Traft - What more is there to say. Agro card, agro deck.
[i]Best when played with: Spectral Flight[/i]
Spells
2cmc
Cursebreak - Handles Rest in peace nuff' said.
Azorius Charm - Main thing is slowing down their attack/card draw by bouncing attackers
Urgent Exorcism - Handles Rest in peace nuff' said.
Ray of Revelation - Handles Rest in peace nuff' said.
Azorius Charm - Lifelink, Card advantage or creature bounce.
Feeling of Dread - Control with cheap flashback
Planeswalkers
Sorin, Lord of Innistrad - Chump generator, creature ramp, control.
[i]Solid card, more of a control thing though.[/i]
Land
Glacial Fortress
Hallowed Fountain
Godless Shrine
Isolated Chapel
Vault of the Archangel – Good mana spend ability
Red Splash
Red Splash (Added 12/02/13)
[i]I personally feel red doesn't add much to a UB millgro deck that isn't already done by blue or black. The main reason of splashing is to handle GY hate cards. [/I]
Creatures
1cmc
Blistercoil Weird - Can be a useful early beater with the amount of cheap milling we will be using
[i]thanks to bishopOfdarkness for pointing this out[/i]
2cmc
Pyreheart Wolf – Lets things through
[i]thanks to bishopOfdarkness for pointing this out[/i]
Goblin Electromancer – Makes things cheaper, though most of our spells are 1cmc
[i]thanks to bishopOfdarkness for pointing this out[/i]
4cmc
Olivia Voldaren – Good creature, pity its a 4cmc, which around then we have better options.
[i]thanks to bishopOfdarkness for pointing this out[/i]
Spells
1cmc
Mugging – Good for letting things through and clearing cheap agro/dorks
[i]thanks to bishopOfdarkness for pointing this out[/i]
2cmc
Curse of Stalked Prey – Ramps Nighthawks and Phantasm's. Though with Aberration, isn't really required
[i]thanks to bishopOfdarkness for pointing this out[/i]
Volcanic Strength – wrecks red
[i]thanks to bishopOfdarkness for pointing this out[/i]
Teleportal – Overload can win games if no aberration in play
[i]thanks to bishopOfdarkness for pointing this out[/i]
Izzet Charm – Counter, target kill or card draw, its ok.
[i]thanks to bishopOfdarkness for pointing this out[/i]
Madcap Skills – Makes Phantasms and Aberration a pain to deal with
[i]thanks to bishopOfdarkness for pointing this out[/i]
Dreadbore – Best removal in the game
[i]thanks to bishopOfdarkness for pointing this out[/i]
Nightbird's Clutches – Let's things through, flashback
[i]thanks to bishopOfdarkness for pointing this out[/i]
Dual Casting – Double the cast, double the fun
[i]thanks to bishopOfdarkness for pointing this out[/i]
Mizzium Mortars – good vs stalemate games, becomes a turn 6 board clearer
[i]thanks to bishopOfdarkness for pointing this out[/i]
4cmc
Slaughter Games – Card hate
[i]thanks to bishopOfdarkness for pointing this out[/i]
Xcmc
Bonfire of the Damned - A good cheap removal if pulled off as a miracle. Useful as a T3 drop as for R2 it will clear most agro decks creatures.
[i]thanks to bishopOfdarkness for pointing this out[/i]
Devil's Play – Removal card
[i]thanks to bishopOfdarkness for pointing this out[/i]
Planeswalkers
Chandra, the Firebrand - -2Ability can cause a mill of 14 from Thought Scour, not bad for a U1 spell. She is slow though and doesn't have much else to add.
[i]thanks to bishopOfdarkness for pointing this out[/i]
From this we can see that there are several great additions to the UB Millgro deck that can help us along the way. What I would say about a 3rd splash is that it is only really advisable to do this based on your meta, primarily for some enchantment hate because of Rest in Peace, which counters our game plan.
Other options for this include setting our SB up to change to a deck that uses mill to remove their good cards, but based on creatures such as Griselbrand or Bloodline keeper as wincons.
Getting in the right mindset for a aggro mill deck (ie. what your cards look like, what they REALLY are)
VERY IMPORTANT SECTION
Ok guys, around page 10-13 we start talking about what our cards really are.
A lot of people will read/see the following card choices and see the cards for what they look like.
Here is an example
Dream Twist
This looks like it mills 3 cards, then 3 more with flash back, which it does.
But what does it really do?
We have 7 cards in their GY and a 1/1 Phantasm on the field and a 3/3 WoP6
We declare a block against a 3/3 Hell Rider with the Phantasm and a 4/4 Champion of the Parish with WoP6
We lose right?
Nope!
We use Dream twist to put 3 more cards in their GY, taking Gy to 10. Phantasm is now 5/5. We hit 2 creatures. WoP6 is 5/5 now. We flash it back. Wight is now 7/7.
In a mill deck our millcard's arent looked at as we traditionally see mill cards.
For us they are more like Giant Growth. We use it to ramp, to pull combat tricks and get the win.
This is why I recomend we run 8 instant millcards (not invcluding the flash back ability)
While on this topic, Mutilate looks like a board wipe? It sure is. vs creature heavy decks RDW/Boros ect we can Mutilate for 3 (if we get the right draw of course), wiping all their creature. This then RAMPS our WoP6, Aberration and phantasm (if they don't yet have 10 in the GY)
So now we have ANOTHER ramp spell.
But we run creatures?
We do. It kills our Deathrite Shamans. All our other creatures are 5/5 or higher (be careful of WoP6 math before you mutilate so as not to kill yourself)
So keep this in mind guys
Dream Twist = Giant Growth
Thought Scour = mutagenic Growth
Mutilate = +X/+x where X is creatures you kill with it (for 2 of our creatures)
Tips and advice on deck building
-Always start with a plan. Do you want to be fast, control the game, be agressive, or build up fast then hit sudenly?
-Pick core cards first
-Look at your meta, build around that
-playtest, playtest, playtest!!!
-Solitaring is a great way to see card draw averages.
-Watch your mana curve, agro decks want a low curve
-2-4 4cmc cards, 2-35cmc drops mostly 1-2's. You want to have damage online by turn 3. (Phantasms for us after a mill of 10)
For this I will make a deck that plays in a Control and Midrange heavy meta
To start with I make myself a list of my 'must be in the deck' cards.
Step 1
Mind Sculpt, Consuming Aberration, Jace's Phantasm, Artful Dodge, Essence Harvest Deathrite Shaman, Watery Grave, Drowned Catacomb
Step 2
From this I start to format my deck and decide on numbers of each creature.
2x Consuming Aberration ← 2 because its 5cmc, we dont want to be flooded
4x Jace's Phantasm ← 4 of because it is amazing
4x Deathrite ← 4 of because we want one on turn 1, and more on board never hurt
3x Artful Dodge ← 3 of these allows for 6 unblocked attacks
3x Essence Harvest ← Only need to get one of these off.
4x Mind Sculpt ← Necessary Mill
20 of 60
Step 3
Now I have my 'core' I will look at where I play and assess what cards may be useful in this deck. Since I play vs a lot of control, I will need some counter spells, and, something to deal with O-Rings and R.I.P
3x Negate ← Counter's anything but creatures
2x Spell pierce ← counter's their counters
4x Abrupt Decay ← kills O-Ring, R.I.P cheap creatures
29 Spells Total
Step 4
We look at the construction of our deck. We have 2 win cons. Aberration + Artful Dodge/Essence Harvest, Phantasm's + Artful Dodge/Essence Harvest. Both are creature based. We need some protection
3x Ranger's Guile ← Hexproof
32 Spells
Step 5 We are looking good vs Control now, so how about midrange?
2x Cyclonic Rift ← Bounces everything around the time they get it out
3x Hands of Binding ← locks down some cards
4x Invisible Stalker ← used to get the lockdown, hexproof
2x Devour Flesh ← Kills things
3x Appetite for brains ← Removes Things
46 Spells
Step 6
Now we need to add some more mill and some card advantage
4x Thought Scour
3x Dream Twist
2x Paranoid Delusions
55 Spells
Step 7
Now, we have 55 Cards out of 38. We need to slim this down. Let us re-asses. We are playing vs control, and a slower midrange deck. So lets slim our choices down
Lets remove
1x Appetite for brains – handy, but 2 will be fine
2x invisible Stalker – useful, but, slows our agro down
1x Essence Harvest – We will be facing counterspells, so lets slim this down. If artful dodge is countered, we can flash it back.
1x negate – Not so useful vs midrange
2x Spell pierce – Can Sb in vs control
2x Abrupt Decay – can pull it in if needed
3x Ranger's Guile - more of a Sb card
3x Hands of Binding -slow vs most decks, useless vs control
These can now be our SB as they are all beneficial still.
So our deck is now
Creature (12)
2x Consuming Aberration
4x Deathrite Shaman
2x Invisible Stalker
4x Jace's Phantasm
Sorcery (13)
2x Appetite for Brains
3x Artful Dodge
2x Essence Harvest
4x Mind Sculpt
2x Paranoid Delusions
2x Abrupt Decay
2x Cyclonic Rift
2x Devour Flesh
3x Dream Twist
2x Negate
4x Thought Scour
Land (20)
2x Breeding Pool
4x Drowned Catacomb
3x Island
3x Overgrown Tomb
4x Swamp
4x Watery Grave
Now! Let's solitare the deck see how it flows.
After solitaring this we have learned a few things.
1. The deck is not focused enough, and runs to slow.
2. Land issues
3. Didn’t mill fast enough
Let's fix this
let us remove
-2x Essence Harvest ← Easy to counter
-2x Paranoid Delusions ← bit slow
-2x Invisible Stalker ← bit slow
-2x Devour Flesh ← Not always useful
-1x Deathrite Shaman <-useful but we need the slots
let us add
+2 Nighthawks ← we know the benefits
+1 Artful Dodge ← ramps Dryad, gets scary lookin fast
+2 Land
+1 Dream twist ← more mill
+3 Quirion Dryad ← Ramps fast, looks scary, may eat a lot of control hate
2x Consuming Aberration
3x Deathrite Shaman
4x Jace's Phantasm
2x Vampire Nighthawk
3x Quirion Dryad
Sorcery (10)
2x Appetite for Brains
4x Artful Dodge
4x Mind Sculpt
2x Abrupt Decay
2x Cyclonic Rift
4x Dream Twist
2x Negate
4x Thought Scour
Land (22)
2x Breeding Pool
4x Drowned Catacomb
4x Island
3x Overgrown Tomb
5x Swamp
4x Watery Grave
After 20 solitares this deck can hit critical mass by turn 5-8 depending on luck of the draw.
Time to take it to FNM and see how we go!
[I]See below post for my personal deck and why I picked those cards[/I]
Good card choices vs Agro, Control and Midrange
Prime card options vs Agro:
Prime card options vs Control:
Prime card options vs Midrange:
Important rules and resolve orders to remember!
Essence harvest and Consuming Aberration: Aberration reads [I]Whenever you cast a spell[/I], each opponent ...”. So when you cast Essence Harvest it goes onto the stack, Aberrations ability then kicks in, going onto the stack. The stack then resolves downwards, so Aberration mill's, which then causes Aberration to gain +X/+X (X being how much it's ability milled for) then Essence Harvest triggers, dealing damage based on Aberrations new power/toughness.
Deck Results
Tournaments: To come later...
And there we have it. The Aggressive mill, or, millgro deck!
This Primer is still a WiP so look forward for future changes!
Thank you to
bishopOfdarkness
fractis
Sneaky_NEDM
toddulent
WU$50 Budget UW heroicUW
Modern
WR Boros Burn RW
Commander/EDH
(WiP) RNorin the TrollR
This deck is built around my local meta and may not be as effective vs your local meta
3x Consuming Aberration
4x Deathrite Shaman
4x Jace's Phantasm
3x Wight of Precinct Six
Instant (13)
2x AEtherize
4x Dream Twist
3x Sheltering Word
4x Thought Scour
Sorcery (12)
3x Artful Dodge
3x Essence Harvest
4x Mind Sculpt
2x Paranoid Delusions
3x Breeding Pool
4x Drowned Catacomb
3x Island
3x Overgrown Tomb
4x Swamp
4x Watery Grave
3x Abrupt Decay
1x AEtherize
3x Appetite for Brains
3x Death's Approach
2x Devour Flesh
3x Negate
With this deck I have a few win conditions
Consuming Aberration + Artful Dodge
Consuming Aberration + Essence harvest
Jace's phantasm + Artful Dodge (If needed)
Jace's phantasm + Essence harvest
Wight of Precinct Six Artful Dodge (If needed)
Wight of Precinct Six + Essence harvest
With Cards that help our win-con's
Deathrite Shaman
Mind Sculpt
Thought Scour
Dream Twist
Paranoid Delusions
Why I chose what I did after looking at everything available
Consuming Aberration : 3 of. Self Explanitory. Lot's of people say run 2. I tried this and I didn't see him pop up by turn 5 in some play-testing. Switched to 3 of him and I saw him every time by turn 5. This also means if 1-2 get removed we have another ace upt he sleeve.
Artful Dodge Essence Harvest : 3 of each. Self explanatory. Simply because we don't need that many. 3 guarantee's we see them come into play by turn 5. I like running both as if you get Essence Harvest countered you can Artful dodge. You can use Dodge earlier with WoP6, Phantasm or (if you need life) Nighthawk and rebound it onto Aberration.
Mind Sculpt : 4 of. 7 mill for 2cmc. Our primary mill card
Jace's Phantasm : 4 of. 5/5Flyer for 1cmc. It can be 5/5 by turn 3 easily. If planned well can have him swinging on turn 3 for 5 damage. Not worth dropping it in it's 1/1 form.
Deathrite Shaman : 4 of. This card is amazing; pure and simple. We can use it to remove Scavenge creatures, Dredge cards annoying zombie who play from GY AND deal 2 damage to opponent. We can also remove key spells vs decks with Snapcaster Mage and to remove flashback spells AND gain 2 life (helps vs agro who runs creature pump like All-in green), but, best of all, we can remove lands to ramp our mill/creatures faster, which can result in Turn 3-Turn 4 Aberrations.
Wight of Precinct Six : 3 ofWhile not always great vs some decks (I'm looking at you control) it can be an all star in it's own right vs agro decks and high creature count decks. Another target for artful dodge and essence harvest. If they remove aberrations, you have a back up plan. I only run 3 because he is more of a plan 'b' and isn't 100% useful in anysituation unlike Hawks, phantasm's and Deathrites. Good SB choice for our negates vs control.
Dream Twist : 3 of. 6 mill for 3 seems not very good compared to Mind Sculpt at first glance. But it is instant speed, so, 1cmc for it's first mill. Combo'd with Mind Sculpt we can have 9 in the GY on turn 2's end (1 land exiled to cast the second card). If our aggressive assault gets slowed we can flash it back for another 3 later on. Being instant speed. We can hold land open vs control, and if we don't negate we can Dream twist.
Thought Scour : 4 of. 2 Mill and 1 Draw. 1cmc. Can't complain. A big advantage is instant speed. We can hold land open vs control, and if we don't negate we can Thought Scour.
Paranoid Delusions : 2 of. Back up mill card if we don't draw something else. Useful for games that last past 5-6 turns. Triggers Aberration every time it's used to mill 3. (Remember: Cipher says “you may cast the spell for free, aberration says “when ever you cast a spell”, so swing, damage, mill 3, mill until you find land. Potent in longer games). 2 of simply because it doesn't mill enough early game to speed the kill, but comes into play if we get a bit bogged down. Work's on any creature in our deck well.
Sheltering Word: 3 of.Our Aberrations can be easy bait for a removal spell. By adding in this we can use it in two ways. To stabalise our health vs Agro decks, and to protect our big WoP6/Aberrations from removal WHILST also gaining life on it.
AEtherize : 2 of. Can be a beneficial MD card vs anything but control. I've found there are times I wished I had one and didn't. I haven't missed what ever card I replaced it with. 2 of for this fact, useful to have but not always wanted.
Watery Grave Drowned Catacomb : 4 of. Dual lands.
Breeding Pool Overgrown Tomb : 3 of each. Only use 6 as we don't need green as often as we do the other colours, but this gives us enough to use Sheltering Word and Deathrite Shaman's third option if we wish to. 3 of each because we have about equal black to blue ratio.
Sideboard Card Choices
Aetherize : 1 of. For Agro, 3 is enough o see it come into line when needed.
Appetite for Brains : 3 of. For those midrange and control decks. Get's rid of Restoration Angel, Thragtusk, Thundermaw hellkite and any other big threat that can hinder us later in the game. Also, bye bye planeswalkers!
Death's Approach : 3 of. With our mill this is a potent removal vs agro and especially tempo/midrange decks, and anything but low creature control
Devour Flesh : 2 of. More removal.
Abrupt Decay : 3 of. Rest in peace, Elixir of immortality. Timed right can scrap Elixirs, and handle's R.I.P., is a great SB vs. many many decks. Also handles Detention Sphere, Oblivion Ring and alot of other nasty cards (here's looking at you reckoner)
Negate : 3 of. Control Decks.
Future changes:
Devour Flesh → Desecration Demon
Incase our mill gets interupted it is always nice ot have a big chunky 6/6 flyer, who can be removal or a threat. Also at 4cmc he may eat some of the hate that our Aberrations will get.
I hope this helps you to Understand why I picked what I did and how the above mess of cards can come down to a streamlined, very fast aggressive deck that uses mill to not only interrupt card play, but to also ramp our creatures.
May the Mill be with you.
WU$50 Budget UW heroicUW
Modern
WR Boros Burn RW
Commander/EDH
(WiP) RNorin the TrollR
Can't believe i forgot to mention a keycard. That's what I get for writing a primer at 3am
Personally I have been having good luck with delver. Though I have had people report back that they haven't been doing so well with him. problem Is for the slot there isn't much that wont have another card over write priority. Possibly could swap for hands of binding if the game gets a bit more grindy (to slow agro down ect.) until we hit an Aberration.
I Also run 3 Aberrations because in playtesting I had games where I had everything set up perfectly for a turn 4 aberration (once a turn 3) only to not draw him because only running 2 copies. With 3 I find he is almost always there when needed.
WU$50 Budget UW heroicUW
Modern
WR Boros Burn RW
Commander/EDH
(WiP) RNorin the TrollR
4 Watery Grave
4 Drowned Catacomb
7 Island
5 Swamp
2 Nephalia Drownyard
4 Wight of Precinct Six
4 Jace's Phantasm
3 Deathrite Shaman
2 Duskmantle Guildmage
2 Consuming Aberration
3 Mind Sculpt
3 Dream Twist
4 Paranoid Delusions
4 Dimir Charm
4 Hands of Binding
3 Essence Harvest
2 Jace, Memory Adept
thats my list plz add to deck lists if u want & u should also find a spot for Curse of death's hold
jace 4.0 can be used cuz all his abilities help in 1 way or another
I Originally Ran 2x jace, 2x Dustmantle and 4x Wight. but i found wight's to only be effective vs agro. Though they could replace the Stalkers in my deck to give another Essence Harvest target.
I do like stalkers for setting a tempo if the early rush gets beat down. Kind of a back up plan as nothing else can take their spot that I feel 100% happy with (Again, WoP6 can be great depending on the meta).
I Found nephalia to be to slow/mana intensive to be beneficial. Though I am considering some ghost quarters to deal with dual lands for boros/gruul agro decks early on.
Changes I may playtest
-3 Stalkers
+3 WoP6
-2Hands of Binding
+2Aetherize
Torn between MD Aetherize and MD Hands of Binding. T4 Aetherize can mess up a agro deck's plan pretty fast. But leaving the mana opens means we may not get our T4 Aberration into play.
WU$50 Budget UW heroicUW
Modern
WR Boros Burn RW
Commander/EDH
(WiP) RNorin the TrollR
WU$50 Budget UW heroicUW
Modern
WR Boros Burn RW
Commander/EDH
(WiP) RNorin the TrollR
When we have 3 mana open we should be dropping Nighthawk, mind Sculpt+Thought scour (or dream twist) and turn 4'ing into a Aberration though. She would be great in a UBr control mill deck though.
WU$50 Budget UW heroicUW
Modern
WR Boros Burn RW
Commander/EDH
(WiP) RNorin the TrollR
How do you play against those decks? Hope you draw Jace's Phantasm early and provide enough disruption to have him end it quickly?
cage ruins the synergy with deathrite though
WU$50 Budget UW heroicUW
Modern
WR Boros Burn RW
Commander/EDH
(WiP) RNorin the TrollR
I am just short the Deathrite Shamans to have this deck for tomorrow. I can't find any locally even for trade or to borrow. Any suggestions for replacements until next week?
If you want card advantage whilst having some impact on their GY then Cremate Will help
If you face lots of agro decks another Aetherize will help MD
If you face control then MD Negate
general card's you can increase not knowing the meta
Thought Scour - 1cmc, mill and card advantage. doesnt HAVE to be played, but is useful to hold onto if needed
Artful Dodge helps get things through
Wight of precinct Six Hands vs any but control
Death's Approach useful vs most but control.
I would personally just go with 3 Negate and 1[/card]Thought Scour[/card]. SB 3 Cremate.
hard not knowing what your meta is though
WU$50 Budget UW heroicUW
Modern
WR Boros Burn RW
Commander/EDH
(WiP) RNorin the TrollR
No it doesn't. It's not Ground Seal. It doesn't prevent you from targetting cards in graveyards.
That is actually very helpful. My local metagame is still developing, so not really sure either. From what I saw last week, the SB should be fine. I might put 2 Glaring Spotlight for hexproof, but that may not even be necessary.
I was thinking about that. I actually have them, so it might just be jammed in until next week.
a great card against aggro or B/G decks is Beckon Apparition
Cockatrice username: Blackcat77
he is good but not as a MB...too much control & aggro so the creatures that would be best benifited in our position would be in midrange or tempo which is all meta depentant
WU$50 Budget UW heroicUW
Modern
WR Boros Burn RW
Commander/EDH
(WiP) RNorin the TrollR
-2 Invisible Stalker
-2 Paranoid delusions
-3 Trepanation blade
-1 Jace
+3 Dream Twist
+3 Aetherize
+2 Nighthawks
This will get your mill online faster, give you the option to mass bounce creatures turn 4, add some stallers/way to get life back.
For Sb I would go
1x Invisible Stalker
3x Negate
3x hands of Binding
3x Cremate
2x Killing Wave
3x Mizzium Skin
This way you can side in some better mid range cards if needed, and SB in removal if its required as well
WU$50 Budget UW heroicUW
Modern
WR Boros Burn RW
Commander/EDH
(WiP) RNorin the TrollR
WU$50 Budget UW heroicUW
Modern
WR Boros Burn RW
Commander/EDH
(WiP) RNorin the TrollR