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[u]Basic Idea[/u]This deck, and others of this series, is intended for first-time players. To achive this I wanted to keep the deck extra simple so that the new player can focus on getting to know the rules, tactics and understanding what's going on. The other decks of this series can be found under: http://www.mtgvault.com/muktol/beginner/Tough I'm generally no big fan of mill I wanted to try to make a U/B mill deck, suitable for beginners. Keywords/ Mechanics in this deck you'll have to explain:Mill win condition, Flying, Mill, Exile, Destroy, Counterspell, Enchantments[u]Cardpool and Budget[/u]Mass-strengthening-effects (+x/+x to all creatures) and cards with multiple effects are not allowed. Lands are limited to Common's and Uncommon's, no Rare's or Mythic's. Other cards are limited to Common's, Uncommon's and 1 Rare (max. 4 copies) per deck, no Mythic's.The overall budget should be between 15 to 20$. (Estimated mid value).[u]Upgradeability/ Room for improvements[/u]This deck is bound to two general strategies, named "Mill" and "Control", where you try to reduce your opponents library to zero while keeping him from playing anything that could harm you. As this is a general strategy, in opposite to concentrating on a certain keyword or tribe, it should be easy to improve the cards uses in this deck and to keep the deck up to date. New editions will often contain cards that can be fitted into this deck. [u]Tests[/u]This is one of the decks I'm using as benchmark, to test my other Beginner decks against, the result for each test are recorded in a google-document spreadsheet and added to the description of each of my pauper decks. If you're interested in details from the spreadsheet, feel free to ask.
"Mill" is a Magic deck archetype that seeks to defeat opponents by eliminating the cards in their libraries, rather than by reducing life totals to 0. It does this by "milling" cards (putting the top cards of a library into its owner’s graveyard). Then, when opponents attempt to draw a card from an empty library, that player loses the game. The archetype derives its name from the first card to feature this ability, [[Millstone]]. I'm not quite sure if the deck will work as intended but here's how it's supposed to:Stay alive and control your opponent using Doom Blade, Mana Leak and Unsummon as well as your creatures. Chronic Flooding should be used on valuable lands your opponent controls while your other mill-spells can be used to start the removal of your opponents library. Archaeomancer can help you as blocker but his real value is that he can return an instant or sorcery from your graveyard to your hand. Keening Stone will finish your opponent rather quickly when you already have removed some of his cards from his library.
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NOTE: Set by owner when deck was made.
At a time I did some heavy testing with chronic flooding, and it was simply to easy to play around.
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I simply didn't know what else to add. I thought about Millstone but as none of the other decks has any artifact removal (and there are no sideboards) I didn't want to add another card that only blue could engage with a counterspell. Also, as most of the decks are two-coloured with only 2(x4) duallands and Evolving Wilds, you can play around but you could loose an important mana-fixer. I was thinking about Balustrade Spy but it's a rather expensive (cmc) and not really reliable mill-card.
Sorry I don't think this is good. Maybe we can adjust it a little bit.For creatures, this guard gomazoa and archaeomancer feel kind of random to me. Why not play creature that fit the theme? Hedron crab, jace's phantasm, mana scribe or wight of presinct six?Also i think the big mill spells like mind funeral, traumatize or mind grind are missing.Mana leak is fine but there is also a mill counterspell called psychic strike out there.There is a new card called fraying sanity that should be very good in this deck. It's rare but i don't think it is expensive.So i'm sure you can do better while keeping it beginners friendly aswell as cheap.
He does state that it's for beginners :D
Nobody HAS to like any deck or think it's good. :)Sometimes you have an idea, and tough you don't know if it's good you build something with it and post it, maybe somebody just waited for this idea or has any good suggestions on his own. Beside that I'm not really happy about the current state deck either, I'm also not really sure if mill is a strategy first-timers should be confronted with. Archaeomancer fits for me as he allows a spell already played to be used again and also gives you a (small) defenender. I first considered using Augur of Bolas but in the end opted for the more expensive (cmc) Archaeomancer as you allready know the spell and it's effect while the Augur forces you to, more or less quickly) decide against some, perhaps unknown, spells. One of the reason I didn't add some of those cards is that they are rather expensive ($). I decided to go wit a 15$ budget for all the simple beginners decks (like this one) and with a 50$ budget for the more complex, but still beginners, decks. Hedron Crab and Mind Funeral are clearly out because of their price. Oh and Fraying Sanity costs 5,5$ per card so it's nearly double the costs of Hedron Crab ;)Also I tried to avoid cards that needed permanent attention like Hedron Crab, Manic Scribe or Wight of Precinct Six. For me a beginner is not supposed to be punished because he forgets something on his own field. Traumatize wasn't used because it's a rare card and I dislike it because I think it's not really effective...tough I could be wrong in this deck. I did consider using Mind Grind but in the end decided to go with Keening Stone...tough I'm also not entirely happy with this card as no other beginner deck has any artifact removal. Only blue can handle it with a counterspell. Jace's Phantasm could be an option instead of Guard Gomazoa.I did a 2/2 split between Mana Leak and Psychic Strike (The counterspell you mentioned)
I really like that idea you had, that’s why I'm wondering how a beginner friendly mill deck could look like. I guess that many people, who are starting Magic, actually like this unique strategy (myself included).So if we consider a "planeswalker deck" that can be bought at your LGS, as being designed for beginners and easy to learn, why don't we add Jace, Memory Adept to the deck?Cards that need constant attention are not bad for beginning players in the first place. Most of them are win options and are the soul of a deck. No one gets punished if you miss triggers, but rewarded if you pay attention. Those cards are fun to play and help to keep the deck interesting in a long term.So what do you think about this approach, including one planeswalker and two rares.http://www.mtgvault.com/splinter/decks/ub-beginners-mill-deck/It's at 19,50$ mid price, so if you have to cut Jace for budget reasons, i guess that’s fine as well.I am curious about what you think about this version.
I will tell you the whole story, perhaps then you will understand my caution, and fear's, better. After a real long time I finally found 2 people who where interested and wanted to try out Magica so on the next occasion that my playgroup got together I invited them to come by and give it a try. I prepared two decks that I tried to keep simple: Simic Evolve and Gruul Stompy. I did know that one of them often plays different computer games and has a fast grasp, he got the Simic deck. What I didn't know is that the second one has already played Yu-Gi...but only on the computer, she got the Gruul deck. The first (and only played) match started and all was fun and games until Simic threw out an Overrun, with roughly 5 creatures on the table. The Gruul player simply went into brainlock-mode because it was all to much for her, to much calculating, to many different cards, that when playing Yu-Gi the computer had done all those calculations, and so on. They said that they still where interested but I never saw them again, and that's roughly a year ago now. After that I did step back a few steps to look at the deck I designed and talk to some of my buddy's and the tenor I got was that the decks where just a little to complicated for first timers. So I decided to re-built them and keep my fingers off cards that used more than one effect (like do this AND that or flashback or such things), hit more than one creature (Overrun) or had rules/ keywords that where just a little to complicated to understand (Color protection). What I tried to achive where decks that all roughly had the same power, the same costs ($) and are not to hard to understand.Your deck looks fine and I will use 3 Mind Grind instead of Chronic Flooding and perhaps remove the last of it for 1 Crypt Incursion (or something else, a single one of this card is no use). Wight of Precinct Six is a card that can be a pain in the ass as you constantly have to check how many creatures are in your opponents graveyard or keep track of this somehow, personally I would favor Jace's Phantasm. As for the planeswalker I would probably use Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver. You'll loose carddraw but her "mill" effect is stronger and you can use your opponents creatures against him. If you're interested I have a second beginner's series (e.g. the above mentioned Simic (http://www.mtgvault.com/muktol/decks/ug-simic-beginners-deck/) and Gruul deck) with other building restrictions: 50$ budget, modern legal but no other restrictions. This would be a way better frame for a mill deck I think. Personally I don't consider the planeswalker decks WizKids delivers to be starter friendly. Nearly no card is in the deck 4 times which roughly doubles the number of cards you'll have to know and there's nearly no chance for a repeatable game feeling...Game 1 will/ can be totally different than Game 2 or 3. The advantage is that those cards are normally just from one Set so the number of different mechanics is at bay. If you buy 2 of one PW deck and throw them together you will likely end with something usable.
Okay i get it now.Jaces phantasm is better than wight but a little more expensive I've realized.Try to squeeze in 4 thought scour, its a decent mill and card draw spell that can find play in other decks later on.I agree on your thoughts about PW decks, I think you get way more value with a selfmade deck at the price of a PW deck.