(This is my first time making a thread like this, so please excuse the simplicity.
Also, feel free to recommend any changes, sideboard cards, etc.
I'll update this thread if anyone shows any interest.)
Why Mill?
Mill is a nifty alternate win condition for those times when you want to try something a little less conventional. I built my first mill deck when I discovered Sanity Grinding, and felt the desire to deck an opponent in one go by Twincasting a Sanity Grinding with a deck full of blue Spirit Avatars from the Shadowmoor block. After including a small Wizard subtheme with Sigil Tracers, Wistful Selkies, and Cathartic Adepts, I found that I was able to deck an opponent on turn five fairly frequently. It was a great feeling, and seeing my opponent's look of dread after slamming a Twincast on top of a Sanity Grinding never got old.
So when I started playing Pauper, I promised myself that I would construct a mill deck that could win with the same level of consistency and speed.
Unfortunately, we don't have access to Sanity Grinding or Twincast, which means we have to take a slightly different approach. Rather than windmill slamming one large mill spell, we'll have to resort to casting multiple smaller mill spells.
Card Choices and Considerations
Tome Scour: One mana, five cards. Pretty straightforward, and definitely worth including.
Memory Sluice: This card is amazing when conspired, and still not too shabby when it's not. However, it should be noted that a majority of our creatures can tap to mill the opponent by themselves, so conspiring this often only ends up milling 2-3 more cards than it would have, as opposed to 4.
Vision Charm: Another decent mill spell, but its other two modes definitely shouldn't be overlooked. After all, phasing out the opponent's Myr Enforcer during a lethal swing or turning all of the Storm player's Mountains into Plains during their upkeep might just buy you the turn you needed to finish off their library.
Also, it is important to note that "Locus" can be chosen as a land type, meaning you can turn all of your opponent's Cloudposts into basic lands for a turn.
Dream Twist: A new inclusion from Innistrad, Dream Twist doesn't mill as efficiently as many of the other spells in the deck, but it can be flashed back later on in the game when your hand is small and you have nothing else to spend your mana on. It can mill a total of six cards for one slot, which Tome Scour can't boast, and it can be played at instant speed, which is noteworthy if you plan to take a more control-oriented route with this deck.
Shriekhorn: I'm on the fence about this one. It mills a total of six cards for a single mana, which is more than Tome Scour, but it does so over the course of three turns. This deck needs to mill the opponent as fast as possible, so Shriekhorn is most effective when played within the first two turns. Any later than that, and you're losing value.
Jace's Erasure: This is another one I'm on the fence about. On one hand, it provides long-term value and is pretty nice with cantrips and Brainstorm, but it's pretty underwhelming otherwise. Since we plan to win as late as turn 5 or 6, that means Jace's Erasure will generally only mill the opponent 3 or 4 cards on its own (or 7-8, depending on the number of cantrips/Brainstorms you play), and that's if you play it on turn 2. For two mana, I'd rather cast two mill spells/creatures.
Cathartic Adept: It costs one mana, it mills a card every turn, it chump-blocks in a pinch, and it can be used to conspire Memory Sluice. There's no way I'm not running this guy.
Screeching Sliver: This guy is basically Cathartic Adept 5-8. Everything I said about the Adept also applies to this dude.
I was originally planning to run Merrow Witsniper over this card, because I had forgotten that Screeching Sliver existed. Once I noticed this guy in Gatherer, Witsniper was cut without a second thought.
Drowner Initiate: Much like the flashback on Dream Twist, this guy's ability should only be used later on in the game when you're running low on resources and have nothing better to do with your mana. Early on in the game, I'd rather pay UU to mill 8-10 cards than 1U to mill 6-7 cards. However, the long-term value that this guy provides beyond turn 3 definitely warrants his inclusion, as well as his ability to chump-block or conspire Memory Sluice.
Options for Control
Brainstorm: It gives us more options than we could ever ask for, it can find more mill spells when we're struggling, it can dig past lands to keep us going... It's just wonderful.
Preordain: Much like Brainstorm, it can dig into our library and set up our following turn(s). Unlike Brainstorm, it can also get rid of any chaff that we may find.
Ponder: While this card is definitely worth mentioning, I'm not running it in my list simply because I'm running other cards that take precedence over it. It's still really good, though.
There's another snazzy little common from Worldwake that literally turns your opponent's library upside-down. I think it's about time to put her in the spotlight.
Halimar Excavator: When played in the right deck, this card can make short work of the opponent, and in multiples they're utterly terrifying.
Amoeboid Changeling: It might not be as cheap as Mothdust Changeling, but it does give you the option to turn your few non-Allies into, well, Allies. Given the small number of blue Allies at common, we'll take all the help we can get.
Screeching Sliver: Screeching Sliver returns, only this time he has the added bonus of turning all of our Changelings into Cathartic Adepts.
Brainstorm/Preordain/Ponder: I'll be running all three of these, but this time around they serve an additional function: digging for our Excavator! (Har har, get it? Digging? Excavator? Ah, never mind.)
Excavator is essential for this deck to function properly, so we need to maximize our chances of getting as many as we can, and as quickly as possible.
Memory Sluice: We're running more creatures this time around, so our chances of conspiring it are even greater!
Snap/Snapback/Unsummon/Peel from Reality/Æther Tradewinds: If you're looking to maximize Halimar Excavator's effectiveness, then bouncing your own creatures might not go amiss. Snap is obviously preferable, but Snapback is also an option. Unsummon is cheap and fits the bill well, while Peel from Reality and Æther Tradewinds serve a dual purpose of bouncing your own creature and dealing with your opponent's threats.
The problem with defining this format by what is "fun" is that everyone seems to define fun as what they don't lose to. If you keep losing to easily answered cards, that means you should improve your deck. If you don't want to improve your deck, then you should come to peace with the idea that you are going to lose because you chose to not interact with better strategies.
So, after receiving plenty of constructive criticism from you friendly forum-goers (consisting of a whole eight words), I built and tested both decks against some of the more popular decks in Pauper.
I was able to fare moderately well against monocolored control decks, such as Mono-Black Discard or Mono-Blue Fae. A well-timed Vision Charm can basically function as a Silence, and I generally play more spells than they can deal with. Post-sideboard, I have to play very cautiously with my counterspells or else I risk dying before I can mill them out.
Cloudpost is a little harder. Once it gets going, I can do very little to stop it. My record against Cloudpost is about 60-40; it's not unwinnable, but it can be tough.
Against Empty the Warrens Storm and Grixis Storm, you should always leave up mana for counterspells. You'll rarely win game 1, but games 2 and 3 are much better with the proper sideboarding.
Esper Storm is also rather easy, provided that you go for their library early in the game and take measures to ensure that you can continue to mill them consistently, even after they combo. It takes a while for them to actually win after they bounce our board, and our plethora of 1-mana spells means that we still have a game plan once our board is gone. After sideboarding, it's very important to mulligan aggressively to hit a Boomerang, as bouncing their Ravnica land will just wreck their day.
Unfortunately, the deck just folds to aggro. Goblins, White Weenie, Affinity... All of them just body this deck. I'm currently looking into solutions.
As for potential changes, Shriekhorn has been underwhelming so far. I'm probably going to replace it with either Ponder or some maindeck control.
The problem with defining this format by what is "fun" is that everyone seems to define fun as what they don't lose to. If you keep losing to easily answered cards, that means you should improve your deck. If you don't want to improve your deck, then you should come to peace with the idea that you are going to lose because you chose to not interact with better strategies.
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
(This is my first time making a thread like this, so please excuse the simplicity.
Also, feel free to recommend any changes, sideboard cards, etc.
I'll update this thread if anyone shows any interest.)
Why Mill?
Mill is a nifty alternate win condition for those times when you want to try something a little less conventional. I built my first mill deck when I discovered Sanity Grinding, and felt the desire to deck an opponent in one go by Twincasting a Sanity Grinding with a deck full of blue Spirit Avatars from the Shadowmoor block. After including a small Wizard subtheme with Sigil Tracers, Wistful Selkies, and Cathartic Adepts, I found that I was able to deck an opponent on turn five fairly frequently. It was a great feeling, and seeing my opponent's look of dread after slamming a Twincast on top of a Sanity Grinding never got old.
So when I started playing Pauper, I promised myself that I would construct a mill deck that could win with the same level of consistency and speed.
Unfortunately, we don't have access to Sanity Grinding or Twincast, which means we have to take a slightly different approach. Rather than windmill slamming one large mill spell, we'll have to resort to casting multiple smaller mill spells.
Card Choices and Considerations
Tome Scour: One mana, five cards. Pretty straightforward, and definitely worth including.
Memory Sluice: This card is amazing when conspired, and still not too shabby when it's not. However, it should be noted that a majority of our creatures can tap to mill the opponent by themselves, so conspiring this often only ends up milling 2-3 more cards than it would have, as opposed to 4.
Vision Charm: Another decent mill spell, but its other two modes definitely shouldn't be overlooked. After all, phasing out the opponent's Myr Enforcer during a lethal swing or turning all of the Storm player's Mountains into Plains during their upkeep might just buy you the turn you needed to finish off their library.
Also, it is important to note that "Locus" can be chosen as a land type, meaning you can turn all of your opponent's Cloudposts into basic lands for a turn.
Dream Twist: A new inclusion from Innistrad, Dream Twist doesn't mill as efficiently as many of the other spells in the deck, but it can be flashed back later on in the game when your hand is small and you have nothing else to spend your mana on. It can mill a total of six cards for one slot, which Tome Scour can't boast, and it can be played at instant speed, which is noteworthy if you plan to take a more control-oriented route with this deck.
Shriekhorn: I'm on the fence about this one. It mills a total of six cards for a single mana, which is more than Tome Scour, but it does so over the course of three turns. This deck needs to mill the opponent as fast as possible, so Shriekhorn is most effective when played within the first two turns. Any later than that, and you're losing value.
Jace's Erasure: This is another one I'm on the fence about. On one hand, it provides long-term value and is pretty nice with cantrips and Brainstorm, but it's pretty underwhelming otherwise. Since we plan to win as late as turn 5 or 6, that means Jace's Erasure will generally only mill the opponent 3 or 4 cards on its own (or 7-8, depending on the number of cantrips/Brainstorms you play), and that's if you play it on turn 2. For two mana, I'd rather cast two mill spells/creatures.
Cathartic Adept: It costs one mana, it mills a card every turn, it chump-blocks in a pinch, and it can be used to conspire Memory Sluice. There's no way I'm not running this guy.
Screeching Sliver: This guy is basically Cathartic Adept 5-8. Everything I said about the Adept also applies to this dude.
I was originally planning to run Merrow Witsniper over this card, because I had forgotten that Screeching Sliver existed. Once I noticed this guy in Gatherer, Witsniper was cut without a second thought.
Drowner Initiate: Much like the flashback on Dream Twist, this guy's ability should only be used later on in the game when you're running low on resources and have nothing better to do with your mana. Early on in the game, I'd rather pay UU to mill 8-10 cards than 1U to mill 6-7 cards. However, the long-term value that this guy provides beyond turn 3 definitely warrants his inclusion, as well as his ability to chump-block or conspire Memory Sluice.
Options for Control
Brainstorm: It gives us more options than we could ever ask for, it can find more mill spells when we're struggling, it can dig past lands to keep us going... It's just wonderful.
Preordain: Much like Brainstorm, it can dig into our library and set up our following turn(s). Unlike Brainstorm, it can also get rid of any chaff that we may find.
Ponder: While this card is definitely worth mentioning, I'm not running it in my list simply because I'm running other cards that take precedence over it. It's still really good, though.
Counterspell: It's Counterspell. 'Nuff said.
Hindering Touch: One of our best (and only) answers to Storm.
Decklist
4 Tome Scour
4 Memory Sluice
4 Preordain
4 Dream Twist
4 Vision Charm
4 Brainstorm
4 Cathartic Adept
4 Screeching Sliver
4 Drowner Initiate
4 Shriekhorn
Land: 20
20 Island
But Wait, There's More!
There's another snazzy little common from Worldwake that literally turns your opponent's library upside-down. I think it's about time to put her in the spotlight.
Halimar Excavator: When played in the right deck, this card can make short work of the opponent, and in multiples they're utterly terrifying.
Mothdust Changeling: It's a one-drop Ally!
Amoeboid Changeling: It might not be as cheap as Mothdust Changeling, but it does give you the option to turn your few non-Allies into, well, Allies. Given the small number of blue Allies at common, we'll take all the help we can get.
Screeching Sliver: Screeching Sliver returns, only this time he has the added bonus of turning all of our Changelings into Cathartic Adepts.
Drowner Initiate: Yup, this guy's still good.
Brainstorm/Preordain/Ponder: I'll be running all three of these, but this time around they serve an additional function: digging for our Excavator! (Har har, get it? Digging? Excavator? Ah, never mind.)
Excavator is essential for this deck to function properly, so we need to maximize our chances of getting as many as we can, and as quickly as possible.
Memory Sluice: We're running more creatures this time around, so our chances of conspiring it are even greater!
Snap/Snapback/Unsummon/Peel from Reality/Æther Tradewinds: If you're looking to maximize Halimar Excavator's effectiveness, then bouncing your own creatures might not go amiss. Snap is obviously preferable, but Snapback is also an option. Unsummon is cheap and fits the bill well, while Peel from Reality and Æther Tradewinds serve a dual purpose of bouncing your own creature and dealing with your opponent's threats.
Another Decklist
4 Halimar Excavator
4 Mothdust Changeling
4 Amoeboid Changeling
4 Screeching Sliver
4 Drowner Initiate
4 Brainstorm
4 Snap
Sorcery: 12
4 Ponder
4 Preordain
4 Memory Sluice
20 Island
I tried out this sideboard:
3 Boomerang
4 Hydroblast
4 Spell Pierce
I was able to fare moderately well against monocolored control decks, such as Mono-Black Discard or Mono-Blue Fae. A well-timed Vision Charm can basically function as a Silence, and I generally play more spells than they can deal with. Post-sideboard, I have to play very cautiously with my counterspells or else I risk dying before I can mill them out.
Cloudpost is a little harder. Once it gets going, I can do very little to stop it. My record against Cloudpost is about 60-40; it's not unwinnable, but it can be tough.
Against Empty the Warrens Storm and Grixis Storm, you should always leave up mana for counterspells. You'll rarely win game 1, but games 2 and 3 are much better with the proper sideboarding.
Esper Storm is also rather easy, provided that you go for their library early in the game and take measures to ensure that you can continue to mill them consistently, even after they combo. It takes a while for them to actually win after they bounce our board, and our plethora of 1-mana spells means that we still have a game plan once our board is gone. After sideboarding, it's very important to mulligan aggressively to hit a Boomerang, as bouncing their Ravnica land will just wreck their day.
Unfortunately, the deck just folds to aggro. Goblins, White Weenie, Affinity... All of them just body this deck. I'm currently looking into solutions.
As for potential changes, Shriekhorn has been underwhelming so far. I'm probably going to replace it with either Ponder or some maindeck control.