dknight27

I love a good mill build. Is this going for casual modern budget?

Here's some things to consider:

[[Psychic Corrosion]] is a better version of Curse of the Bloody Tome, but it's more expensive.

Fog Bank is delightful at blocking but dies to essentially every removal, will be a guaranteed target, and there are more advantageous versions of it if you really want the blocker. [[Go-Shintai of Lost Wisdom]] is immune from some removal, is a good blocker, and turns unused mana into mill. [[Hard Evidence]] hits the field turn 1 (very useful), and lets you get the +1 later when you need it or instantly if it's topdecked.

With 16 lands and no fetches, the crab won't be of much use compared to other builds. I'm also an advocate for upping the land count as well. Even with 26 one-drops, 16 lands is asking for mulligans, and if this build is on the play with a mulligan, it's in trouble.

Jace's Phantasm is a great damage clock, but you don't need one and a 4/4 blocker is nice but again, there are better versions of it outside situational matchups.

Index is nice but is a -1 in tempo, and you should probably run [[Preordain]] or [[Consider]] over it, and should 100% run [[Visions of Beyond]] instead of Index.

Psychic Spiral interferes with Archaeomancer. If you can afford it, running [[Snapcaster Mage]] over Archaeomancer would be for the best. But if not, I'd cut one or the other and enhance the theme. Realistically, I'd cut Psychic Spiral so you could run [[Mystic Sanctuary]].

[[Surgical Extraction]] is basically a targeted Tome Scour, and should be considered even if you don't want to splash black.

[[Fractured Sanity]] is a win/win in a mill deck. If you topdeck it or have it in the opening hand, it comes with advantage and combos with lots of things in the build.


Just some ideas. I'd really recommend upping the lands to at least 18, cause you're looking at having to mulligan a land-dead hand about one in five shuffles, which is far too often. Upping it to 18 lands cuts that down to around 8%, so close to 12% better odds.

Just some thoughts.

Some cards to consider:

[[Thought Scour]]
[[Visions of Beyond]]
[Oboro, Palace in the Clouds]]
[[Jace, the Perfected Mind]]
[[Ipnu Rivulet]]
[[Mystic Sanctuary]]

Maybe think about [[Burglar Rat]]? I'm not familiar with this format whatsoever, but it seems like it would fit. Even material that helps the 7 sac outlets and is a cheap target for your blade.

Seems like [[Consider]] would be basically perfect for this build. Gets you to your combo faster, throws stuff in the grave, pulls the curve down, never a dead draw.

[[Virtue of Persistence]] would be a fun black splash, as it acts as removal that combos perfectly with the necro mechanic and even throws itself into the grave for you.

[[Kiora Bests the Sea God]] is also worth considering, as it trips both your necro spells and still gives you a pretty good wincon with backup fun effects.

Just some thoughts.

I can't see Delver fitting in here with only 23 flip targets. There's an approximate 40% chance that it will miss at least twice. The high critter count fits poorly with Murktide as well. Maybe run [[Disrupt]], [[Flusterstorm]], [[Miscast]], or maybe even [[Veil of Summer]].

Just some thoughts. The Questing Druid splash is very interesting. I'm a tremendous advocate for the potential of adventure cards, and the instant +2 that can work with brainstorm is simply out of this world fun.

Some things to consider (ha):

[[Change the Equation]] mainboarded is hate against Pick Your Poison that works on its own.

[[Rip Apart]] over Wear and Tear gives a little more versatility for only a touch less speed.

Once copy of [[Meticulous Archive]] or [[Thundering Falls]] gives you the turn 1 fetch/surveil bump during opponent's endphase if you don't need the mana, which is pretty effective and not a complete dead drop. Maybe run a copy over one of the shock lands.


Just a few thoughts, I applaud your effort to play a deck that's not cookie cutter bullshit.

That's extremely sad. I guess I'll have to start playing Pauper; I've never looked into it. Last time I played Legacy was under the Snoko regime, which I actually enjoyed. At least you can use [[Brainstorm]] in pauper, which means I have no idea what the format is capable of.

For the existing meta in modern, you're probably right. Modern is an incestuous oligarchy that doesn't innovate and just punishes not playing one of its top meta sludge decks, which I hate. I'm just trying to identify potential, and I'm a big fan of using it as a clock booster in my reactive control builds (which are no longer in fashion). That being said, it's a 'slow-ish' answer to [[Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer]], [[Dauthi Voidwalker]], [[Orcish Bowmasters]], [[Grief]], Dragon's Rage Channeler, [[Brazen Borrower]], and all the Hammertime critters.

Also, it majorly bums me out that the site is dead, and now also throws adds around like crazy.

Seems like running [[Flagstones of Trokair]] in a splash white version of this idea would really help if it connected with Boom/Bust. And Cleansing Wildfire would be a +2 with Trokair as a target. I'm probably going to have to steal this build and do some tinkering.

[[Skullclamp]]
[[Grim Haruspex]]
[[Bloodghast]]
[[Goblin Bombardment]]

Some cards to think about

Are you going for budget casual here?

I can see that, rainimator goes hand in hand with the delightful discard of the food mechanic. My concern with that would be that 2-3 targets without any way to throw targets in the grave from the deck makes for an unreliable combo

I'm assuming this is semi-budget casual, correct?

Some cards to consider:

[[Jori en, Ruin Diver]]
[[Ponder]]
[[Gitaxian Probe]]
[[Arcum's Astrolabe]]

The biggest thing to get out of the way is that this deck needs some focus. You've got the 'in the grave' theme, the four Mimics that get boosted by casting any spell in this build, and then some stuff that doesn't do anything in particular beyond be both green and black and some random thing. So, decide what you're trying to do, then you can start filling in the deck based on that idea.

I suspect you're just going for a 'green + black = good' thing, which isn't a bad idea, but would need lots of refining if that's the goal. Instead, maybe focus on the 'stuff in the grave' build instead? I'm here to help if you're at all interested. Not trying to throw shade, just helping a newer player work through the stuff that happens to all of us.

Are you going for casual modern here?

I'm always a fan of trying to work in one-drop cycle lands into builds like this, they synergize with everything. Wrenn and Six love them to death, Confidant gets them for free. Ragavan likes more mana rather than less, as does Questing Druid. Not sure where to fit them in though

Turn 2 [[Chalice of the Void]] seems like a GG in here.

The build as is has three major problems that I'm seeing: too much of a good thing, too slow, no spell diversity.

The theme/idea here is solid. I very much love the adventure cards, and have wanted to build a deck including Hearthflame Duelist for a while. It's my opinion that it's well worth the three-drop three damage to store material you can cast the next turn that's a conditional beatstick and gives your bolts lifelink. But you're not running four, you're running eight, which is kind of what I'm getting at here. Isochron perpetuates, so does Meletis Charlatan. Snap and the Sword do the same thing as well. Fifteen instants that burn and no other interaction whatsoever. All this deck does it hurl fire slowly, it's an inefficient burn deck.

As for speed, you've got a curve problem. Only four one-drops, activated abilities that eat mana like they're deep fried and cheap. Meletis, for example, needs to be fielded, wait a turn, then at a minimum eats four mana (bolts), but in reality eats five mana (every other burn spell) to do anything. Thus, it's a dead card till you field five lands, it's slow, and does nothing on its own. Thus, you're going to be casting one spell per turn for a while, then two at maximum till you hit seven lands.

I applaud the idea of repeated burn that also keeps you alive long enough to keep burning, but I think it would go much better with some spell diversity to lower the curve, move through the deck, and let you respond to things that aren't small critters. Isochron and snap both absolutely love [[Consider]], [[Counterspell]], [[Izzet Charm]], and [[Fire // Ice]], all of which work extremely well on their own anyway. Having a Counterpsell on isochron is a GG 90% of the time on its own, as you're doubling up on material compared to opponent unless they draw an out against artifacts and burn a card that you counter in the same turn.

In general, I'd consider throwing in [[Prismatic Ending]] for general removal, even though you can't Scepter it. Maybe also [[Miscast]], either maindecked or sided.

[[Muddle the Mixture]] is always a consideration for Isochron builds, as it is the best of both worlds. If you need to fetch a Scepter, its turns into a three-drop fetch sorcery. If you don't/can't afford it/have a Scepter, it's not a bad counter on its own and realistically isn't bad on a Scepter either. It's not as ideal as a Counterspell or burn card, but saying no to almost all removal and interaction on a stick isn't too bad.

I'm a huge fan of [[Bonecrusher Giant // Stomp]] in here (and in general). All the advantages you want, an extra win condition, guaranteed burn damage, combos with everything you've got. It even has stored tempo.

So basically what I'm getting at is cut the Charlatans, Grand Masters, Swords, and about half the burn and add in support that does other stuff but still lets you pull off what you're trying to pull off.

Just suggestions, not trying to sling hate.

I kinda like [[Plow Under]] more than Slime. Same cost, no 2/2 deathtouch, but a significant drop in tempo and effectively going -2 on top, which limits opponent to only cards in hand for 2 turns while you keep plowing ahead.

I realize this deck is 8 years old, but just for funzies, I think [[Heartflame Duelist]] would be a fun/good fit. I'm slowly coming to the conclusion that the adventure cards need to be reexamined for viability, cause some of them are quite attractive.