Brain Drain 2.0 [ADVICE NEEDED]

Standard* Mill UB (Dimir)

Dralai

Creature (14)

• 2x Consuming Aberration
• 2x Crosstown Courier
• 4x Deathcult Rogue
• 2x Phenax, God of Deception
• 4x Siren of the Silent Song

Planeswalker (2)

• 2x Jace, Memory Adept

Land (24)

• 10x Island
• 6x Swamp
• 4x Temple of Deceit
• 4x Watery Grave

Enchantment (2)

• 2x Aqueous Form

Instant (4)

• 2x Hero's Downfall
• 2x Psychic Strike

Sorcery (14)

• 4x Breaking / Entering
• 2x Hidden Strings
• 2x Mind Grind
• 2x Paranoid Delusions
• 4x Tome Scour

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Sideboard

Enchantment (2)

• 2x Underworld Connections

Artifact (4)

• 2x Elixir of Immortality
• 2x Pithing Needle

Instant (7)

• 2x Crypt Incursion
• 3x Dimir Charm
• 2x Psychic Strike

Sorcery (2)

• 2x Pilfered Plans

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NOTE: I AM PRETTY NEW TO MAGIC. Please go easy on me with the critiques! I've been playing for several months, but only against friends casually... who I actually taught to play myself. This is my first attempt at building a "serious" deck. I would love any suggestions on how to better it... just don't make me feel like a dummy, please!

MY GOAL: To finally attend my first FNM. I've been too much of a chicken to attend so far, because I just don't know what to expect. So I'm not necessarily trying to build a pro deck-- I just want to do decent at FNM.

So this is a bit of a more creature-based spin-off of my previous mill deck:

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Brain Drain

Standard Dralai

SCORE: 6 | 23 COMMENTS | 2063 VIEWS | IN 2 FOLDERS

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I still really like that deck, but after adding Phenax, God of Deception, I realized that it was pretty difficult to get enough devotion on the board to make good use of him. That led me to swapping cards for some low-mana creatures, and swapping even more cards to actually make those creatures useful to the deck.

Key Utilities:

- Tome Scour and Breaking are so cheap, but so good for milling. Jace, Memory Adept serves the general "mill" purpose with the added bonus of letting me draw extra cards. Mind Grind can be a big mill bomb, and can be a great finishing move. Same with a Phenax, God of Deception and Consuming Aberration combo.

- Hero's Downfall provides some much-needed control against creatures and planeswalkers. Psychic Strike serves as a general counter, with the added ability of some milling.

- While I wanted to have some control & removal in this deck, I knew that it would be best not to over-do it, and instead stick to the plan of milling the opponent as quickly as possible. That being said, an extra 2x Hero's Downfalls are lurking in my sideboard for use against creature/planeswalker-heavy decks, and 3x Dimir Charms for extra counters, etc. If I find myself struggling to draw the right cards, or get them out of the graveyard, Pilfered Plans and Underworld Connections are there if needed. Crypt Incursion and Elixir of Immortality can be thrown in, if I'm struggling to stay in the game before I can mill out the opponent. And finally, Pithing Needle can protect me against some annoyances.

Attack!!:

- Spend 2 mana for a 2/1, then spend another 1 mana to attach Aqueous Form. Mills 2 cards and deals 2 damage per turn, quickly & easily. (Can also be used to chump block as needed.)

- Spend 3 mana for a 2/2 that can only be blocked by fellow Rogues, then another 2 mana to Cipher Paranoid Delusions to it. Mills 3 cards and deals 2 damage per turn. (Can also be used to chump block as needed.)

- Spend 3 mana for a 2/1 with Flying, then another 2 mana to Cipher Hidden Strings to another creature. Use Hidden Strings to tap & untap Siren of the Silent Song, forcing the opponent to discard a card and mill a card, even without sending Siren of the Silent Song into combat. (Can also be used to chump block as needed, especially fliers. Hidden Strings can also be used to tie down the opponent's creatures if necessary.)

- I assume that everyone knows who this bad boy is by now. Spend 5 mana to cast him mid- or late-game and create a massive creature. Whenever a spell is cast-- and my deck is pretty full of spells-- the opponent is milled until he reveals a land card. (Can also be used to block almost all creatures without repercussion, depending on how large it is. Spending an extra 1 mana to attach Aqueous Form would cause some massive combat damage to the opponent.)

- Another well-known mill machine. Spend 5 mana for a 4/7 that gives all of my creatures the ability to mill, including himself (if my devotion is high enough, of course). If a massive Consuming Aberration is already on the board, that can lead to some serious milling. (Can also be used to block most creatures without repercussion.)

Date added	10 years
Last updated	10 years
Legality	This deck is not Standard legal.
Rarity (main - side)	4 - 0 Mythic Rares 16 - 4 Rares 6 - 5 Uncommons 18 - 6 Commons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	3.33
Based on	Brain Drain Dralai STD