Classic Millstone Deck?

[el-remmen]

I want to build a classic Millstone deck - with its aim to win by decking your opponent.

Assuming one of the colors is to be blue (though I am willing to entertain having a single, dual or even tri-colored deck), how do you recommend I construct it.

For simplicity's sake assume no access to cards past Visions, because mostly that is true - thus, the title "classic" Millstone deck.

Thanks

 

[Runestar]

The millstone is typically more of a path to victory, rather than a deck archetype. Usually, you control the board or lock down the opponent, then use millstone to deck your opponent (or at least, hasten your opponent decking himself), rather than use it as a proactive form of offense.

There are many types of control decks you can use, such as counterpost, prison and steel curtain. Is there any way of narrowing down your choice of deck?

One possibility might to have a blue/white deck which uses blue for counters (counterspell/force of will/arcane denial) and manipulation (recall/tutors/boomerang), white for removal (swords to plowshares, wrath of god, disenchant/island sanctuary/abeyance) and life gain (gerrad's wisdom), artifacts to help the opponent deck himself (howling mine/millstone/library of leng/feldon's cane), and glacial chasm for even more creature control.

The basic idea is just to sit back, counter whatever your opponent throws your way, while waiting for him to deck himself.

 

[Aus_Snow]

Ah, what a shame you're not using stuff from, say, Odyssey?. . . like Traumatize. It's still the old style cardface, if you get the earliest version. Hilarity when paired with Haunting Echoes.

The only time I came up against a 'serious' millstone deck, IOW one that had any chance of winning, it was indeed in the form of a blue/white 'prison' deck. They lost, but had me worried for a bit.

Anyway, it's certainly a slow way to play. I'm sure you've thought of that, but wow, it can make a game drag on for a while.

 

[el-remmen]

Hey Aus, that Traumatize card looks awesome!

I am not against cards from Odyssey, I just don't own more than three or four by pure luck - I am actually looking for lots of Weatherlight and Odyssey cards on eBay.

Blue/White, huh? Okay, I'll try it out - too bad I don't have any Blue/White dual lands (what are those again?)

 

[Aus_Snow]

Tundra would be the one you're thinking of. I seem to remember that being around. . . the second most expensive dual, back when? After Underground Sea, that is.

I can see Blue/Black working, as well, given that Black can control the board nearly as well as White. I'm having difficulty separating the older from the (somewhat) more recent cards, in my mind anyway, this made worse by the break I had from it all. But if I think of any, I'll post 'em.

 

[Crothian]

I used to play a blue/white millstone deck way back when. Tundra is the dual land I think. I also used Jester's Caps. The ability to remove cards from their library of your choice is great. There are a few cards that hose the millstone deck and the Jester's cap lets you remove them.

I ran heavy denial and used moats for most monster defense. Sword to Plowshares helps get the fliers and other annoy things like Tims. Arcane Denails were nice since it gave them cards and got through their deck a little faster.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

(Apologies in advance- I'm going from memory, so I may be talking about cards you won't be able to use.)

Decking an opponent has many paths.

Besides Millstone, there are several other artifacts that essentially do the same thing or a variant upon it (I don't have my deck on hand, or I'd name them off). One mills a # of cards based on how much mana you pump into it, but if it mills a creature, it stops milling and puts the critter in play under your control. As mentioned above, Jester's Caps are potential deck-wreckers.

One classic combo I saw in tournaments was Braingeyser combo-ed with ways to boost mana- Mana Flare, usually. However, everyone has their faves- Urza Lands, Tolarian Academy, Elves + Priest of Titania + Gaia's Cradle (or whatever land it was), and so forth. Use Blue cards & Howling Mines to draw your Braingeyser, then tap for a billion mana and poof! No more deck!

Other cards that work well in this include some Black cards- Hypnotic Specter, you'll recall, makes your opponent discard from his hand- a real pain when your deck is getting milled besides. Black also has a host of other discard cards.

A less common approach, but one I've used, was a Red combo of Shocker + Fire Whip. Shocker is a 1/1 Red critter that makes you discard your hand and draw a new one if it damages you, and Fire Whip is a Red creature enchantment that lets you tap the creature to do 1 damage to any target. This means you both mill and cause discards at the same time- up to 8 cards in normal circumstances, more if your opponent is drawing extra cards for some reason.

 

[Runestar]

Though if you look at it, once you have the game locked down, you don't really need millstone to win you the game - you will win automatically with a single howling mine in game (or if you have more cards than your opponent). Millstone just speeds up the process.

Doesn't visions have this charm which lets you put the top 4 cards of your opponent's deck into his graveyard or something?

Tempest has grindstone, far superior to millstone. Try to get/use those if possible.

 

[WhatGravitas]

Brain Freeze. Coupled with Ornithopters, some bounce spells (which can also slow down your enemies), you can easily play about 4 spells in a turn, then play the Brain Freeze and mill for around 15 cards.

With some combos, you can potentially achieve instant kills, if you want to go for that. But in any case, Brain Freeze is fun!

Another nice critter is Ambassador Laquatus - convert mana into milling.

Jester's Cap is also good - you effectively mill for 3 cards - but more importantly, you can wreck their entire strategy by selecting the right cards.

As a defense against gettig milled, there is Gaea's Blessing - you may want to have it if your have symmetric effects, and you also want to know about it to develop counter strategies - like Jester's Cap!

(Obligatory note: If you want to go post-7th, new frame, you get Glimpse the Unthinkable and Drowner of Secrets)

Cheers, LT.

 

[Aus_Snow]

Agh, never mind. Read a (3) as a (tap) symbol. Why? I don't know. Tired, is probably it.