I was looking through the casual play section of Wizards' MTG forums and I came across one of my old favorite types of decks.
Mill!
A mill deck basically has one purpose: to get the opponent's library down to zero, therefore making the poor guy lose just because he can't draw any cards.
So here's what I came up with, for legacy ruled play:
Lands
5x Swamp
4x Drowned Catacomb or Underground Sea (if affordable...)
Creatures
Enchantments
Sorceries & Instants
4x Undermine
Artifacts
3x Mindcrank
3x Whispersilk Cloak
2x Grindstone
So basically, we have two routes to take. The main path—which should be the fastest track if you can Brainstorm your way to the right cards—involves getting out Painter's Servant and Grindstone. With Painter's Servant, you choose a color once it comes into play. If you have Grindstone out, you activate its ability and your opponent basically loses his entire library via Grindstone's repeated effect.
Now, if that scenario eludes you, you can also take the Mindcrank and Bloodchief Ascension path. The deck's counter spells—Countersquall and Undermine—are quick ways for your opponent to lose life, adding the necessary counters to Bloodchief Ascension. Once that's taken care of, Mindcrank and Bloodchief Ascension—plus any single effect that causes one card to go into your opponent's graveyard—that's it. The two cards will continuously trigger each other, thus your opponent loses his entire library in one go.
Now, if both scenarios fail to become reality, then you'll have to go the slow and painful path... which isn't an official route, by the way. Nonetheless, this can now be any combination of combining Raven Guild Master and Whispersilk Cloak—which causes the creature to become unblockable and untargetable—easily going through your opponent's creature defenses and zapping him for 10 cards at a time. The same can be applied to Nemesis of Reason. Throw in a few Glimpse the Unthinkable and stormed Brain Freezes, perhaps the slow part of "slow and painful" won't be a problem.
One last note, though. Pray to God your opponent doesn't have a very deck-specific nuisance like Laboratory Maniac out on the field. If he or she does, looks like a sideboard will have to be made. Probably something like... PAINFUL DEATH can work. Though in all honestly, a card like Doom Blade should be in the main deck... hmm. Probably should swap out a couple of Glimpses, or something.
Well, thinking about all this just made me want to recreate a mill deck. It's been years since I've even thought about the concept... hey, maybe I will make this list into a reality.
2x Grindstone
So basically, we have two routes to take. The main path—which should be the fastest track if you can Brainstorm your way to the right cards—involves getting out Painter's Servant and Grindstone. With Painter's Servant, you choose a color once it comes into play. If you have Grindstone out, you activate its ability and your opponent basically loses his entire library via Grindstone's repeated effect.
Now, if that scenario eludes you, you can also take the Mindcrank and Bloodchief Ascension path. The deck's counter spells—Countersquall and Undermine—are quick ways for your opponent to lose life, adding the necessary counters to Bloodchief Ascension. Once that's taken care of, Mindcrank and Bloodchief Ascension—plus any single effect that causes one card to go into your opponent's graveyard—that's it. The two cards will continuously trigger each other, thus your opponent loses his entire library in one go.
Now, if both scenarios fail to become reality, then you'll have to go the slow and painful path... which isn't an official route, by the way. Nonetheless, this can now be any combination of combining Raven Guild Master and Whispersilk Cloak—which causes the creature to become unblockable and untargetable—easily going through your opponent's creature defenses and zapping him for 10 cards at a time. The same can be applied to Nemesis of Reason. Throw in a few Glimpse the Unthinkable and stormed Brain Freezes, perhaps the slow part of "slow and painful" won't be a problem.
One last note, though. Pray to God your opponent doesn't have a very deck-specific nuisance like Laboratory Maniac out on the field. If he or she does, looks like a sideboard will have to be made. Probably something like... PAINFUL DEATH can work. Though in all honestly, a card like Doom Blade should be in the main deck... hmm. Probably should swap out a couple of Glimpses, or something.
Well, thinking about all this just made me want to recreate a mill deck. It's been years since I've even thought about the concept... hey, maybe I will make this list into a reality.
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