"Baby you were my picket fence, I miss missing you now and then"
My take on a mill deck in modern. I started building around Phenax, God of Deception and I discovered some fun interactions with the self-untapping creatures from Shadowmoor block. Although I quite like the result, I still feel there's a lot to fix, and since I don't have that much of a knowledge of the format I may have missed some good cards, so any suggestion will be taken in high consideration! Now, onto the cards.
-Phenax, God of DeceptionAs I said, the building started from him and, well, he's pretty much self-explainatory. In choosing the creatures to back him up, rather than focusing on big toughness, I went with some guys able to tap several times in the same turn and possibly doing other cool things in the process.
-Knacksaw CliqueHere's the first one. With Phenax, God of Deception on the battlefield, these guys are able to tap, mill, untap, mill, tap, mill... Not to mention I'll be able to play the cards exiled while untapping most of the times thanks to Birds of Paradise and Sylvan Caryatid (or even thanks to lands I just stole).
-Kiora's FollowerHe's here to untap a poor guy unable to untap alone, like Phenax, God of Deception himself. He was an obvious choice over Deceiver Exarch because he can untap things every turn.
-Murkfiend LiegeThis guy does an impressive amount of things: he hugely boosts my devotion, he hugely boosts my creatures' toughness, he untaps them during the opponent's turn and he's a 4/4 for five mana (ok, the last one isn't that impressive. He stands above Thunderbolt though). With him on the table I gladly tap all I have to mill, then tap it again at the end of the opponent's turn. With him and Phenax, God of Deception, even if I have yet to start milling, it's usually over in a couple of turns.
-Birds of Paradise and Sylvan CaryatidA little ramp never killed nobody, also they help fixing mana.
-Ashiok, Nightmare WeaverHe's cheap and he's got an insane first ability; that +2 grants a good body and a high chance of stealing something good with the second ability, and I'm sure you don't need me to say exiling cards is much better than putting them into the graveyard.
-TraumatizeI felt like running one. Just one, to play as soon as possible. If I'm still alive in late game it means I have something much better on the battlefield, and I don't want a flood of Traumatize, which loses effectiveness each turn. Besides that, succesfully casting one in the early turns means milling more than twenty cards in one shot, which isn't bad at all.
-Dig Trhough TimeMy one and only drawing engine. The graveyard usually fills quite rapidly with instants and chumpblockers (sigh), so I'm able to cast it for 3/4 mana almost all the times.
-Hero's DownfallThe first thing that came to my mind when I started looking for something able to kill both creatures and planeswalkers. It does the job.
-Golgari Charm
+
Polymorphist's Jest
A funny mass removal combo. It gets rid of indestructible creatures and even creatures with protection, since Polymorphist's Jest targets the player, while among my creatures only Birds of Paradise dies to Golgari Charm. The two pieces also work good alone: Polymorphist's Jest played over a massive attack of the opponent makes my block really effective, and the same goes for Golgari Charm, which can also get rid of Courser of Kruphix et similia.
-NullifyThis deck sometimes really struggles in the first turns against creature decks, so here it is.
-Bojuka BogThe only land worth a comment. Of course, milling is no good if the opponent can cast whatever he wants from the graveyard.
Sideboard
Rather than a sideboard, it's a group of cards I didn't succeed in putting in the main deck. Negate, Disdainful Stroke and Drown in Sorrow are meant to help control the first turns, during which the deck usually struggles to keep the pace with aggro/midrange decks. Broken Ambitions can counter small spells in the first turns or big spells later in the game, and may also have the chance to mill. Erebos, God of the Dead is there to help me draw if I feel I need it. Liliana Vess can pull something useful out of the mill if I need blockers or simply another way to win. The tutor ability is also really appreciated if I struggle putting together the pieces of the mill engine. Wall of Frost helps against creature-heavy decks.
And that's all. Mill is a playstyle I really like and I quite enjoyed my time in building this deck. As previously said, I'm more than aware it needs a lot of fixing, and I will gladly take any advice. Thanks in advance!
