Reading nothing but bad feedback on Phenax, so lets make a lolsy mill deck which might actually be viable!
For those that haven't seen the spoiler, see here
I'll start off by saying that I have never played a mill deck. I've always tended to play early to mid-range aggro decks and never in U/B colors.
Standard mill decks haven't made much of an impact since rotation (when Nephalia Drownyard cycled). However, seeing Phenax spoiled and seeing the immediate negative reaction most people had brought out the Johnny in me.
Very much in the concept stage at the moment. Primary win con being to use walls/high toughness creatures along with Phenax to stall aggro and mill your opponent out. However, there are secondary win cons with Cloudfin Raptor (a potential 6/7 flyer) and an unblockable
Consuming Aberration
beating my opponents face.
Also had Duskmantle Guildmage spring to mind as another win con. By having 20 toughness worth of creatures, you can activate his first ability, tap all of your creatures with Phenax and one shot your opponent.
There's also the potential to make good use of the new 'Inspired' mechanic EG. Pain Seer. By tapping him at the end of your opponents turn, you mill as well as draw an additional card on your turn.
Maybeboard contains a list of "other" cards that I am considering putting in, depending on how the meta changes with Born of the Gods. Still working on sideboard cards.
Here is my current reasoning for the cards I have included in the mainboard
Creature
Cloudfin Raptor - Something that can be dropped turn 1, adds to devotion of both Thassa and Phenax, high toughness thanks to evolve + walls and can alternatively be used a beater. Can become a 6/7 flyer thanks to Wall of Frost and Phenax (assuming I have enough devotion)
Frostburn Weird
- 2 drop that adds to devotion and has a high toughness to slow aggro and mill a lot of cards with Phenax out.
Sigiled Starfish - Another 2 drop that adds devotion, has high toughness for milling and also gives me some scry advantage.
Hover Barrier
- A wall to help against flyers.
Nightveil Specter - Mainly used for devotion, but also used as a flying beater that adds to the mill/exile theme.
Wall of Frost
- 3 drop with very high toughness, adds 2 to devotion and deters early aggressive decks from attacking.
Phenax, God of Deception - The main reason for this deck list. At first glance he seems terrible because he is 5 mana, doesn't affect the board state when he comes out and needs a lot of devotion to become animated. However, with a deck revolving around him, the milling he provides can end games very quickly.
Thassa, God of the Sea - Making full use of the other devotion available, Thassa always gives me the advantage of scry every turn. She can also make my creatures unblockable if I need to pressure my opponents life total. Ideally Thassa will become animated and mill 5 cards per turn with Phenax out.
Consuming Aberration
- A 1-of alternate win con. With Phenax out, Consuming Aberration can easily mill a large portion of my opponent's deck. Alternatively, he can hit for a large amount of damage with Thassa making him unblockable.
Instant
Dissolve - Standard counter spell to stop the opponent ruining my plans. Also gives me more scry advantage. May consider using
Thassa's Rebuff
instead to make use of all the devotion I have or
Psychic Strike
to help speed up the mill.
Hero's Downfall - Deals with a few threats that my walls cannot handle for example
Desecration Demon
and Elspeth, Sun's Champion
Triton Tactics
- An interesting 1-drop in this deck that slows down aggro and allows me to tap creatures to mill twice in 1 turn.
Sorcery
Thoughtseize - Removes other threats that I can't deal with. Mainly thinking that this will be used to remove Supreme Verdict and Detention Sphere.
