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4 months ago ::
Jan 26, 2013 - 11:42AM
#1
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As the title states, I want to build a deck that is casual but deals with swarms of enemies. I would be playing this deck in a free for with 5 or 6 opponents. The decks I generally see contain some form of mass production. Essence of the Wild  builds are commen. Cathars' Crusade  inside a soldier or weenie deck is common as well. Oh yeh Luminarch Ascension  is pretty common as well. Rite of Replication  with Precursor Golem  is another strong comboe that I see often. So I want a deck that deals with multiple of creatures. I ran across Leyline of Singularity  and I thought that this card is exactly what I am looking for. Something that covers most every situation except the random big beater deck. Tokens seem to be taking over magic and I want a deck that can deal with all kinds of mass production. This is what I have come up with so far. I know it seems a little scatter-brained but that is why I am here. I need input on what to take out, what to put in, or should I head in a different direction all together. I remind you that this is casual but that don't mean non-competitive. I want something fun and obscur and I think so far this fits that mode. Thanks in advance for your suggestions. I will work on a budgetized mana base later, right now I am just trying to determine my direction. 4 x Shapesharer  3 x Body Double  2 x Empress Galina  1 x Braids, Conjurer Adept  1 x Keiga, the Tide Star  1 x Kami of the Crescent Moon  1 x Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur  1 x Reki, the History of Kamigawa  1 x Iwamori of the Open Fist  1 x Jolrael, Empress of Beasts  1 x Kamahl, Fist of Krosa  1 x Thrun, the Last Troll  4 x Leyline of Singularity 4 x Negate  4 x Time of Need  3 x Crawlspace  3 x Scatter Arc  1 x Elbrus, The Blinding Blade // Withengar Unbound 
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4 months ago ::
Jan 26, 2013 - 2:32PM
#2
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Date Joined:
Aug 27, 2009
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With leyline of singularity  , the hunted  creatures practically pay for themselves. There are decks built around these cards to overwhelm a single opponent very quickly, though I'm not sure how it would play out in multiplayer. Hatching plans  x4 is pretty good draw. Serum powder  can make mulligans easier if you don't have the leyline in your opening hand. But I'm sure that additional draw will make up for it. I think a quick gatherer search for better counterspells would do you some good. Also look at artifact and enchantment removal in green.
HOW TO AUTOCARD! When posting in a text box, type [c ]Plains[/c] to make your post show Plains  . Are you making a casual mill deck? Please read.
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Control is the key of a mill deck. You should free up your mana as much as possible so that you can respond to whatever your opponent is doing. Having some way to remove threats, both real and percieved, is necessary to survival. Real threats are those that are already on the field, and are something a simple unsummon  or doom blade  can remove. Percieved threats are those that aren't on the field, something a simple duress  or counterspell  can deal with. Controlling the board will allow your mill deck to continuously perform, if you use permanent style mill, that is.
One-Shot Mill spells are something you should avoid. You can toss tome scour  s at your opponent until your hand runs out, but that isn't going to be enough to mill them to death. With 1-shot mill spells, like tome scour , you have to treat them like burn spells. Therefore, the only "good" 1-shot mill spells are sanity grinding  (in the right deck) and mind funeral  . Try to find more permanent styles of milling, like memory erosion  , hedron crab  , and curse of the bloody tome  , so that you don't have to waste your mana each turn doing something that those permanents can do with a single mana/turn investment. Keeping your mana open allows you to respond with control elements.
Traumatize  Rant. Traumatize is a terrible card for a multitude of reasons. First, it costs 5 to cast, which is a large investment for a mill deck. Milling half a library sounds neat, but if you do the math, it really isn't that much. An average 60 card deck starts with drawing 7 cards. Then, barring any draw spells on their end, or ramp on yours, 5 turns will go by, where they draw 5 more cards, leaving 48 in the deck. Unless they had a deck with more than 60 cards, or you ramped it out, the most you'll ever mill with a single Traumatize on turn 5 is 24 cards. That's not too shabby, but hang on, there's more! If they drew any additional cards or if they were milled before turn 5, that number will be much lower. In addition, any more Traumatize's you draw will only mill less and less as the game goes on...which is the point of a mill deck. My whole point on Traumatize is the it is NOT worth the 5 mana investment, not even with haunting echoes  . You can mill more than 24 before turn 5...which you can then cast the echoes.
If you look at a mill deck like a burn deck, you'll notice that it takes longer to win with mill than with burn. For example, lightning bolt  costs 1 and does 3 out of the 20 damage needed to win (barring any lifegain or damage prevention). For mill, that same investment of 1 would have to mill 9 cards out of an average 60 card deck to be the equivilent of lightning bolt . The problem is that there is no mill card that can do that...except hedron crab , over a period of time. The initial investment of 1 will pay off in 3 more land drops to make the crab equal to a bolt. However, the crab nets you more mill beyond those 3 land drops, making it better as the game draws on. Other cards, like curse of the bloody tome , are excellent ways of milling an opponent because the initial investment of   is all you have to pay in order to put your opponent on a clock. All you have to do is stay alive, which is the true goal of a mill strategy.
There are other ideas for mill decks that are specific to certain types of strategies. Combo mill decks can mill an entire player's library out from under them. Secondary mill strategies are usually tied to another strategy, like drowner of secrets  in a merfolk deck, or halimar excavator  in an ally deck. Milling can be done in certain decks that are able to ramp out enough mana to make use of the higher costing mill spells, like using 16 x post  to pay for X on sands of delirium  or for ambassador laquatus  . Multiplayer mill decks are even tougher to build, but can be done. Being a slower environment[/c], it is easier to ramp in multiplayer, allowing for big X spells, like mind grind  , to be useful. Consuming aberration  is another star player. The more straightforward strategy is to use mesmeric orb  and dreamborn muse  while being the only deck at the table that can deal with it  . There are always new strategies coming out with each new set, so check gatherer for any new mill cards that you find to be the most fun for you!
Now you can say that you haven't fallen into the trap that most new players fall into when they build their first mill deck!
 : Order, Law, Faith.
 : Knowledge, Artifice, Control.
 : Corruption, Death, Self-Interest.
 : Freedom, Destruction, Victory.
 : Nature, Growth, Life.
 : Progressive, but too controlling.
 : Focused, but short sighted.
 : Skilled, but hypocritical.
 : Unified, but without a sense of self.
 : Cunning, but devious.
 : Inquisitive, but incautious.
 : Rational, but impulsive.
 : Powerful, but spiteful.
 : Instinctive, but selfish.
 : Fearless, but reckless.
Name:  Keino
 =100 Class: 
 x 236 Diety: 
 125/200
Weapon: Staff of Fire ( =2x dmg/ =4+3 dmg)
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4 months ago ::
Jan 26, 2013 - 6:22PM
#3
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I think the counterspells are some of the best. I am not worried about creatures for the most part so negate  is fantastic. I agree with artifact and enchantment removal. I should probably drop Crawlspace for that. I like hatching plans  but like you said only with four of them in the deck. I don't know what 4 cards I could drop to squeeze them in but I will work on it. Thanks
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4 months ago ::
Jan 28, 2013 - 5:18AM
#4
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Date Joined:
Jan 28, 2011
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You want to play Calming Verse  to deal with your opponent's enchantments. If your truly worried about a swarm of tokens, play something like Propaganda  or Web of Inertia  . That would keep them at bay for awhile. Honestly i think the easiest way to deal with them besides the leyline you have would be mass removal. Spells like Mutilate  or Pyroclasm  .
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4 months ago ::
Jan 28, 2013 - 11:27PM
#5
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Date Joined:
Oct 10, 2007
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I honestly think that besides Crawlspace / Propaganda effects, the best token defense here is an Evacuation  -style spell. I'm yet to give Cyclonic Rift  a go, but its versatility strikes me as making it a useful addition. Between the countermagic you have onboard and the glorious Galina / Leyline combo, I don't think I'd be worrying about too much additional artifact/enchantment removal.
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4 months ago ::
Feb 01, 2013 - 2:53AM
#6
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Date Joined:
Jul 17, 2003
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Between the countermagic you have onboard and the glorious Galina / Leyline combo, I don't think I'd be worrying about too much additional artifact/enchantment removal.
Emphasis mine - that IS glorious!
As it is MP, what about Reins of Power  to use those tokens against a third person? Bounce is likely more effective, though.
Cheers!
A shout out to Gaming Grounds in Kent, Ohio and Gamers N Geeks in Mobile, Alabama.
www.zombiehunters.org for all your preparation needs.
http://shtfschool.com/ - why prepping is useful, from one who has been there.
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4 months ago ::
Feb 01, 2013 - 8:53AM
#7
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Date Joined:
Dec 23, 2005
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I think CadaverousBl00m is on the right track: Propaganda and/or Crawlspace help keep tokens down. Then Echoing Truth  to ruin the token players' day and it works great against Essence of the Wild . As for the deck, some of your 1-ofs seem odd: Braids- should probably go Kami- is just a vulnerable Howling Mine  Reki- just seems too cute, I would just play some draw Preordain  , Compulsive Research  , Tidings  Jin-Gitaxis is a billion mana, though awesome, but I would rather play something smaller and castable Iwamori- if your group plays few legends then go for it, otherwise find something else. I think you may need some more land animate effects if you want to go that route, Natural Affinity  or Rude Awakening  can help you get there with the lands.
Face it, you're pretty much here as a meat shield.
If you are at York College and need a play group, PM me. We mostly do MP and casual.
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4 months ago ::
Feb 02, 2013 - 6:56AM
#8
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Date Joined:
Dec 24, 2010
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No one mentioned AEther Snap  and Echoing Truth yet. Above all: besides including a way to deal with tokens, don't forget about your own gameplan.
To autocard: [c]Killer Whale[/c] » Killer Whale  "What if the answer was a gateless gate, buried deep within us all the time?"
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4 months ago ::
Feb 11, 2013 - 8:32PM
#9
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Date Joined:
Apr 16, 2007
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3 months ago ::
Feb 15, 2013 - 5:37PM
#10
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