This is a mill deck me and some of my friends build and refined a long time ago. it was type2 legal during the onslaught-mirrodin blocks. it did ok and was a lot of fun to play but at the time a very popular deck was goblins + Patriarch's Bidding. and it seemed like everyone else had Troll Ascetic, which I could not do much once it came into play.
Goal: Update this deck to at least modern but I have not really played since the first Ravnica block due to budget constraints(poor college student). any suggestions are welcomed, there are so many new cards and mechanics since I last played.
Combos: the deck is primarily based around two parts, Mesmeric Orb, Brain Freeze, lots of untapping and stalling.
the first part was to get as many Howling Mine
+
Mesmeric Orb
into play as you can manage. Sculpting Steel for more orbs or mines or anything your opponent had that was useful(pretty much everything in Mirrodin was an artifact).
part two was playing lots of cheap spells(yours plus your opponents) followed by a Brain Freeze or two. Mana Leak was the only "cheap" counterspell at the time. all the other counterspells were 3-4 CMC which is way too expensive for this deck(**see below). Aether Spellbomb, Boomerang, Chain of Vapor, Echoing Truth bounced threats back to their hand so they had to tap more to cast it again. all of these could be imprinted on Isochron Scepter for repeated use.
**a very important note is that the deck is suicidal. you will mill yourself with Mesmeric Orb and have to plan for it which is why all the spells are so cheap. once you get 3+ Mesmeric Orbs out, every spell will cost you at least 6 cards from your library so keep an eye out for cards left in both your library and your opponents.
this is also why you want to cast Brain Freeze after 2+ spells so you can mill them for more then you are going to mill yourself. (FYI the Storm mechanic allows you to copy that spell for each spell played before it.)
the only exception to this rule was Wheel and Deal which has a CMC of 4, but it was useful "kill card" to finish off the opponent. it made them discard their hand (which can help get rid of threats that I had been bouncing back) and draw 7 cards. this is important because you do not lose the game for having no cards in your library. it is only when you have to draw a card from your library and you cannot is when you lose. so after they untap and mill a bunch of cards, on their upkeep or draw phase, they have to draw 7 cards from Wheel and Deal plus draw however many Howling Mine are out plus their normal draw for their turn.
Blinkmoth Nexus are there for chump blocking in the early game and for creatures I could not bounce like Troll Ascetic or lands that turned into creatures. only Boomerang could target the land/creatures. I also put in some extra lands due to the self milling which is why the deck is not 60 cards.
the maybe board has some cards to help reshuffle my graveyard back into my libraryElixir of Immortality, Quest for Ancient Secrets or make them tap more things Propaganda, Mana Web. Seal of Removal is straight up cheaper than Aeather Spellbomb with it's no activation cost but not an artifact Sculpting Steel can copy and not reprinted in modern format.
