UW Millstone for T2 Nov.

[Killer Joe]

I have always wanted this deck to come back but during the days of Flashback and the likes there was no way decking your opponent was a good idea. I know Brain Freeze is a better way to go but I like Millstone. Here’s my version for November.

UW Millstone:

4 Boomerang
2 Bribery <------------------I took out 1 Island and a Jayemdae Tome
4 Concentrate
2 Decree of Justice <----- I changed this from D.o.Silence
2 Discombobulate
4 Mana Leak
3 Millstone
4 Renewed Faith
4 Rewind
3 Story Circle
4 Wrath of God

4 Coastal Tower
4 Flooded Strand
9 Island
7 Plains

SB:// <-----I completely changed the sideboard from agressive to color hosers and card advantage for the mirror.
3 Inspirations
2 Disrupting Scepter
2 Wrath of Marit Lage
2 Hibernation
2 Karma
2 Sanctimony

 

[Killer Joe]

I changed it a little. Any thoughts?

 

[Reverend Love]

Here's some tweaks I think might help the deck.

4 Boomerang
2 Bribery <------------------I took out 1 Island and a Jayemdae Tome < 2 Raven Guildmaster
4 Concentrate < 3 Compulsion 1 Concentrate
2 Decree of Justice <----- I changed this from D.o.Silence < 1 Story Circle 1 Millstone
2 Discombobulate < 2 Raven Guildmaster
4 Mana Leak
3 Millstone
4 Renewed Faith
4 Rewind
3 Story Circle
4 Wrath of God

4 Coastal Tower
4 Flooded Strand
9 Island
7 Plains

Justifications:

Bribery's Nice but the current metagame doesn't support it yet (this might change with Wizards nudging towards fatties though). The R.G. is pure pain....even if he just happens to slip by twice before being tagged out that's 20 cards that are *poof* gone.

Concentrate's biggest whack against it is it's sorcery speed. Stoning decks usually do all their junk on their opponent's discard phase. Compulsion does this albeit at a price..however it also let you discard that 4th consecutive land for something nifty say a Wrath?

Discombobulate is the ugly counterspell no one ever takes to the prom....I tried and suffered. It's got some cool stuff attached and plus it's a hard counter...however it's just too slow (as compared to rewind which is free thus playable I think). Out 2 Discombobulate in 2 R.G.

Decree is fat with a side of chunk. Since decking takes time add in that 4th Millstone and 4th Story Circle to maintain some long game strength and give a boost short term. Putting it this way which would you rather draw 1 to 4th turn...a Story Circle or Decree of Justice vs..oooh say goblins?

 

[theavocado5]

So far the only win condition I see is millstone. That's a problem.

 

[Istanbul]

Decree is also a win condition.

But remember, with an active Millstone, an opponent is only getting 1/3rd of his cards - the rest are going right to his graveyard. Milling is a perfectly valid win condition, and can even be the ONLY win condition if need be.

 

[Reverend Love]

Guildmaster is an alternate...he only needs to get in 2-3 times before the effect is staggering.

 

[Istanbul]

The problem is that, being a 1/1 with no evasion to speak of, he's not likely to get through more than once unless your opponent is badly hosed.

But that's not the point. I'd still file him under 'milling' as a win condition - it's an unusual *kind* of milling, but it's milling nonetheless. Whereas Decree is more likely to allow you to kill via life points.

 

[Reverend Love]

Combined with bounce and even say some old school evasion buff (Twanos Wand) and people start taking notice. Instead of milling how about a deck that just removes their cards..something like;

Scalpelexis x4
Raven Guild Master x 4
Lobotomize x 4

We could also combine this with a trick I've seen recently in my play group

Compulsion x4
Replenish x4
Decree of Silence x4
Filler Enchantments

Compulsion until you've got the removers.. bounce opponents creatures, then on your turn play remover and replenish in hopefully 1 or more Decree's of Silence.

It's a lot to do but I've seen it very skillfully done. Staring at 8 hard counters on the board while your opponent has an army (Opalesence) is tough.

 

[Killer Joe]

First, no replies. Now, a bunch!

Well, good suggestions all. But I do want to have a creature-less deck. And, I want it to have it be Type II legal when Mirrodin rotates-in standard play.

I took out the Bribery's and put back in a Jayemdae Tome and added one more Decree of Justice.

After play testing this for a week I found out that Early Mana Leaks and Cycled Renewed Faiths are really good for me in the early game. At four mana I have to sometimes get gutsy and pull off a Concentrate. If my opponent has played Creatures then I'm okay because I probably drew into a Wrath of God or another Renewed Faith. If they played a non-creature permanant then I've most likely drew into a Boomerang. But if they played a non-permanant combo of some sort, I'm dead in the water.

The 3 Story Circles really help and though green has Naturalize I most likely am holding counter magic by the time they draw it.

I am convinced that Mirrodin will not offer card advantage for blue and not produce counter magic that is cheap. They probably could reprint counterspell as 2UU with no added effect like Rewind or Discombobulate. Maybe 1UU, maybe.

Dear Wiz Co.,

Please give us blue mages something to be hopeful for in the way of cheap, but good counter magic.

Love, Me.

btw, can you add a really good card for drawing like Fact or Fiction? Or make Concentrate an Instant.


Killing via Millstone is an excellent way to go. However, if I DID add creatures, I would add Blinding Angels.

 

[train]

Dear Wiz Co.,

Please give us blue mages something to be hopeful for in the way of cheap, but good counter magic.

Love, Me.

btw, can you add a really good card for drawing like Fact or Fiction? Or make Concentrate an Instant.

Mister "Me" is it?,

Blue mages are the devil and will not be given any special consideration any longer... The all-powering color of Magic will cower beneath all the colors it previously dominated, and we're even going to remove flash counter, rewind and mana leak the next time around...

Deal with it - your marked for extinction!

WoTC.

 

[Killer Joe]

Seriously, I hope Mirrodin brings something in the way of cheap, or at least affordable, card drawing. I like black's Ambition's Cost only if it were Blue and you don't lose life .

Anyone remember Gabe Tsang's original UW Millstone deck list?

 

[Rooser]

Compulsion ain't T2 legal in november mr. Love.

And sorry, but WOTC has publicly stated that they will be hosing blue for a while.

Blinding Angels are actually a REALLY good idea, I'd say. Many of the fast creature decks won't have a way to block flyers. No really, I remember back in the heyday of Urza's/Masques T2, some decks would just have to concede to a Blinding Angel. Complicates might prove worthy of your attention too. Bribery would still be good sideboard card. Also, an additional kill condition would be a good idea. You know Stalking Stones is being reprinted in Mirrodin, so that might not be a bad idea. Or just two Serra Angels/Moti Djinns, though they don't stand up to death magic very well, and black creature control is moving back into the Dark Banishing/Terror style so ... I dunno. Exalted Angels work well with Wrath of God because it makes your opponent overdeploy to compensate, but again, she could die easy to a Dark Banishing or Terror. Heck, maybe just two Akromas. Yeah she costs a lot, but you're liable to hold out long enough to cast her for the win if you need her. She does haste, which is very nice agasint pacificism and WoG, (If you're opponent's playing it too).

Alternative Decking methods are Dreamborn Muse and Wheel and Deal, but they don't quite fit here, do they?

 

[Spiderman]

And sorry, but WOTC has publicly stated that they will be hosing blue for a while.

"hosing" is such a strong word... I believe they said they were "weakening" it, which since blue is pretty strong already doesn't mean that much. WOTC had an article on that a couple of weeks ago, how blue, despite it's "weakened state", made a primary showing in Worlds...

 

[train]

WOTC had an article on that a couple of weeks ago, how blue, despite it's "weakened state", made a primary showing in Worlds...

Exactly... when a color is that strong - to be weakened and still come out on top... there's something wrong...

Blue is not a color - it is satan!... painted a not red color!...

 

[Reverend Love]

Blue will always remain strong as long as it's the primary color turned to for card drawing. The only people bemoaning blue's nerfing are primarily the lazy players whom's playing "skill" relied leaning hard on countering.

 

[train]

I'll give Reverend some due credit - it is all about the card drawing as proven by the psychatog and wake decks for 2 years in a row...

Without the drawing - those decks would not have done so well...

However... if blue is mainly strong for the card drawing... does it really need "counter" magic?...

It shouldn't - because with every color you cna mix it with - there is an answer for something...

So... now that that's settled - let's just get rid of "counter" magic!!!...