Standard - WUR - Reforge (Mill)

Deck Rating (at time of initial publication):

 ★★★★

"A good counter to much of the current standard meta. Surprisingly powerful."

     Foreword: One of my major goals with this website will be to bring really a-typical decks into the light. This deck is a fairly extreme example of that idea. A lot of the cards in this deck are seeing no play--and for good reason! If you give this deck a shot, you'll be surprised at how well something that seems this janky can actually work.

      What This Deck Does

• Stalls the game. 
• Mills out the opponent.
• More in-depth: This deck aims to wipe the board over and over and cycle out your and your opponents hands. Every Reforge the Soul you play effectively mills your opponent 7 cards (and an additional 7 cards later when Psychic Spiral resolves). Late game, when you are able to cast Epic Experiment for a good bit (if it comes to that) then you can stack Devastation Tide followed by Reforge the Soul for a complete wipe, or Reforge the Soul followed by Psychic Spiral for extremely heavy amounts of mill.

     Features Worth Noting

• Although this is a mill deck, it wins very consistently.
• Far more interesting than your average mill deck.
• So much of the deck is cycled through that it retains some form of consistency, even with the horrid random factor that miracle cards bring to Magic.
• It actually wins via milling!
• Several one and two-ofs, which means games appear to be fairly different.
• Epic Experiment ultimately puts itself in the graveyard before any cards it casts can be on the stack--and you can stack your spells to make interesting combos and mill for huge amounts by putting Psychic Spiral at the very end.
• Also, Codex Shredder finally has a home. It can actually save you if you draw an important card far too early in the game.
• Against graveyard shenanigans decks you have the option of milling yourself over milling your opponent for effectively the same end result.

     Deck List

Artifact - 2 1 x Codex Shredder 1 x Sands of Delirium Instant - 8 2 x Azorius Charm 2 x Psychic Spiral 2 x Thought Scour 2 x Unsummon  Sorcery - 22 1 x Bonfire of the Damned 4 x Devastation Tide 2 x Entreat the Angels 2 x Epic Experiment 4 x Reforge the Soul 3 x Rolling Temblor 2 x Supreme Verdict 4 x Terminus

Land - 26 4 x Glacial Fortress 4 x Hallowed Fountain 4 x Island 3 x Mountain 3 x Plains 4 x Steam Vents 4 x Sulfur Falls Planeswalker - 2 2 x Jace, Architect of Thought

     What A Good Hand Might Look Like

• Lots of land. Few miracle cards.

     There's really no room for variation on this. Luckily, this hand is pretty simple to achieve with 26 lands. You want to have a land out that can produce white mana turn one, and a source that can produce red mana by turn two.

     Cards that draw you additional cards are also highly advantageous, but make sure you remember to use them wisely. For example: I may save my Thought Scour until I have 3 mana available and then use it on my opponent's turn. This allows me to hit a miracle card that can really change the game. It is still unfortunate to hit an Entreat the Angels this way, so if the game is progressing slowly enough you should wait an additional turn.

     Match Ups Worth Noting

     More testing is needed, but it appears like this deck works well against everything except for counterspells. This includes low aggro, mid range, and combo decks. This certainly includes reanimator decks and life gain decks.
     If burn becomes viable, this deck will not work.