This deck is a spin off of madcatsowega's Orb Control (Mill/Control/Grave Combo) deck based on his advice for a "break the bank" deck build. For the main mechanic check out his page, it is thoroughly explained in detail with plenty of faq's answered, and is a lot of fun to read through ;).
My goal was to make out a hypothetical deck list with the best cards that money can buy if we all had the money to buy them, to mirror his more budget friendly list, because i am that curious.
In this deck I relinquish the traditional preventive facet of the sideboard for a multi win approach. The point of this is misdirection. Give your oponent something to hate on the first game, then subsequently change the mechanics to keep them confused as to what to target with disruption.
It may not be the most efficient strategy, but I heard someone calling this act "pulling the ol' switcheroo" once, and thats just too cool not to build on :D
The main creature here is Sharuum the Hegemon. It provides the post orb combo engine to work 4 diferent win situations: death by pinball wizard, death by pan-galactic gargle blaster, death by stairway to heaven, and death by lovecraftian madness.
DEATH BY PINBALL WIZARD:
This one is quite easy, just cheat Blasting Station into play with Sharuum the Hegemon using a flashbacked
Dread Return
, and cycle the Narcomoeba's through the Blasting Station thus wiping the opponent's board and life totals.
DEATH BY PAN-GALACTIC GARGLE BLASTER:
Pretty much the same as the above, only you pull up Altar of Dementia into play with Sharuum the Hegemon instead of Blasting Station, and cycle the Narcomoeba's again to mill your opponent's library to the four winds.
DEATH BY STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN:
Dig up
Phyrexian Altar
and google for Helix Pinnacle, preferably with Enlightened Tutor, and again cycle the Narcomoeba this time through
Phyrexian Altar
to pay for each step on your ladder to heaven. This is the combo that requires the most faith (which ironically fits the theme) because you don't win straight away, and sometimes that one turn is all your opponent needs to screw your plans over. on the other hand you now have a "manapoly",so disruption spells become free!
DEATH BY LOVECRAFTIAN MADNESS:
This is the tricky one. Cheat in
Phyrexian Altar
and Spawnsire of Ulamog to cheat all those nasty eldrazis that you have tucked away safely in your sideboard into play. That's not the tricky part. The tricky part is bringing them in in the order that best suits your interests. If you're going against weenies that have colour, try to adjust the order so that It That Betrays resolves before All Is Dust, effectively stealing all your opponents minions and with some luck a couple of permanents in the process like enchantments or better yet, planeswalkers. If its some nasty artifact based deck you are facing, get Artisan of Kozilek to resolve before All Is Dust, and target Painter's Servant to set a global colour. that way All Is Dust wipes the battlefield clean, and then the rest of your creatures come in so you are both left alone ugly buggers backing you up. You can order it so that a second Artisan of Kozilek brings back Spawnsire of Ulamog, allowing you to play Not of This World if ever needed to defend your cthulhus against unexpected spells. This is the most annoying combo win because it goes through so many steps all in one turn. But its also the funniest one :)
SIDE NOTE: Most win conditions can work independently of sharuum since the rely on artifacts that can be hardcast with relative ease. This being said, there are a few achilles heels to consider, namely the narcomoebas which you on no accounts want targeted by Memoricide and such, so keep at least one counterspell handy at all times. Phyrexian Revoker and Pithing Needle can be bounced with
Vision Charm
or Echoing Truth since you only need one turn to run the combo.
