Umm... Sounds mighty fun, don't you think? Keeping idiots busy has been one of my greatest joys in Magic ever since it was made possible (since like... always). There has been nothing more fun than seeing my opponent squirm, sigh, and cry all in the same 50-minute game we have been playing.

It's an incredible feeling when you are at an FNM and your opponent is staring at you with a board full of 9/9 Golgari Grave-Trolls, a 9/9 Svogthos, the Restless Tomb, and even a 6/6 Flying, Trample, Firebreathing Akroma, Angel of Fury and you just won't die. Ah.... until he draws his final cards and loses. Over 20 turns. And he lost even with his mighty army on the board.

You move on to the next round to a guy who has underestimated you since the first time he saw you. He saw your Teferi's Moat last game against those Golgari Grave-Trolls. He makes an insulting reference to it only to find himself pinned down countering the Moat over 5 times and then seeing the little bugger stick on the board causing his creatures to forget what attacking meant, only to draw his deck YET again.

This is a deck I love. A deck that has shown me a few victories and no matter what I love it. This here article is about this deck and its inspiration. But first, let me introduce myself.

Hello, there! I'm Christopher, but you may call me Lord_Sage_of_Ronevia, or better yet LSoR. I've been playing Magic for what seems an eternity. Yes, I've been playing since the beginning of Invasion Block only about 7 years ago. For the first 5 years I played Casual and then began to play competitive Magic in Pre-releases and FNM and yeah, that's it. I've been "training" to become a better player and therefore a better deckbuilder, and "Great Scott" I think my hard work is finally coming together!

You see, after extensive hours of torturing my boredom so he would stop boring me, I searched for decks that offered ideas to build around in the Standard Constructed environment, until I saw it. A piece of gold buried in a sea of rocks. The most wonderful mill deck I have ever seen. Its composition. The way it played. Its land count. Everything. It was perfect. It was the perfect oddity to build in Standard. It only had 19 lands, almost half the cards were 2-ofs, coupled with a few 3-ofs and 4-ofs. I loved it so much; I did some research and found out that the player who piloted the deck to a Top 8 finish in Extended Circa 1999 was a close friend of Brian David-Marshall, writer for magicthegathering.com.

The pilot's name was Eric Kesselman and this was his deck:

Look at it in all its glory! At first glance it's hard to see where the deck is exactly headed. I mean, when people saw the version of my deck at my Local Magic Store they had a hard time figuring out exactly what the deck did.

Hey, I don't blame them, both decks look like a pile of random cards mashed together (and players tend to dismiss decking as a side-effect of games gone awry). However, when you look at it closely, you start to see certain interactions you might have missed before. You notice Winter Orb and its interaction with Propaganda. Propaganda and Armageddon.

You see how Gerrard's Wisdom can be used to recover yourself from early beatdown damage or recover life lost from Sylvan Library. You notice Engineered Plague is just a metagame call and also a nice way to get rid of Jackal Pups, Mogg Fanatic, Ball Lightning and other pesky 1-toughness critters. You see how not only does Howling Mine provide extra cards to work with, it also helps in speeding up the clock in which the opponent’s deck is milled. Pursuit of Knowledge helps prevent you from decking yourself and when you need more answers you can sacrifice it and get them! Impulse to find needed cards fast (just like Telling Time).

But you know what's also interesting? It doesn’t use normal ways of milling. You know, like decking your opponent with an infinite Stroke of Genius. This deck doesn’t do that. Eric Kesselman's creation just stalls... and stalls... and stalls until you draw all your cards. And because it has two more cards than the normal 60-card decks, it ensures that your opponent will almost always deck himself first.

So, I was set. I had found both a weird deck I could turn into Standard and an idea not many people like, especially in tournaments. All that was left to do was find the suitable cards that would make this random pile of cards a winner!

After I spent almost a week studying all the cards in Standard, I got to work on the list. I started with Propaganda. Since there was no variant in Standard I opted for Teferi's Moat. Well, I guess I'll show you my list first and then explain the thought process behind each change.

Such a beauty. Moves like a butterfly and stings like a bee... or rather mills like a bee...

Anyways, I think you’ve noticed that unlike the original version, I have 63 cards and that's partly because I deeply believe the deck needs at least another land and I thought there were three Engineered Plagues in his version, which in mine those Plagues became Porphyry Nodes. Another obvious switch was the Condemns in for Swords to Plowshares.

I'll be honest; this is the last version of the deck. The version prior to this one didn't have Wrath of God and Peace of Mind, because I didn't have them at my disposal. However, thanks to a good friend of mine, I got a hold of these cards, and I'll tell you this... they have worked incredibly well in the deck. If you are not causing global destruction, you are gaining massive amounts of life discarding all those extra lands and Golgari Brownscales.

Something I'm sure you’ve asked yourself is, why are the Brownscales in there? The answer is simple. I was looking for ways to gain life without Control decks having a chance to counter (same goes for Peace of Mind, once in play you get uncounterable life gain). That's where the Brownscales come in. Ah, and they are very versatile. How? Well, they can attack if need be, they can be throwaway blockers that recur time and time again, they are Peace of Mind fodder, and they enable Gaea's Blessing's second ability trigger. That's right. If Gaea's Blessing goes directly to the graveyard from your deck, you get to shuffle your graveyard into your deck. This ensures that you will never deck yourself out, although it's more of a back-up plan it has always worked for me.

Furthermore, I added two more Howling Mines for a faster mill and as another way to get needed cards as fast as possible. Once Future Sight became legal, I also added Rites of Flourishing as a replacement of Sylvan Library, which is exactly like Howling Mine except with the added benefit of playing extra lands each turn. In addition to these card-drawing engines I added Vision Skeins into the mix, which are replacements for the Impulses that not only help in getting more cards, but also speed up the milling clock. Signets came in as mana-fixers, and there’s a fair exchange between the Mind Stones and the Mox Diamonds. Not as good, mind you, but fair.

After all these changes, I was still missing a card that would go into Standard in Winter Orb's place. Unfortunately, there are no cards that have the potential to create a lock all by themselves without going into the Pickles combo (or the Vesuvan Shapeshifter and Brine Elemental lock for those who don't know what Pickles is.).

Then, I thought, Dawn Charm. Nice card to have. Counters spells that target you, prevents combat damage, and regenerates a creature... ok, you won't use that last one, but the first two are good enough reasons. Despite this, I wasn't sure yet; until I saw this other deck in the magicthegathering.com forums. It was called TurboFog, a remake of another old deck named the same way. That deck stalled the game by gaining a boatload of life with Martyr of Sands and then preventing every bit of damage it could with Holy Days and Dawn Charms. That's when it dawned on me – it was perfect! So, I added that "Fog"-package into the deck!

Now, what about this freaky land-base?

I'll tell you this from the bottom of my heart. I have no god-forsaken duals. Which bothers me a bit, because it's harder for me to splash into other colors. Thus, I learned how to work with what I've got and it has proven its worth. At an initial glance, my mana-base is just a random pile of lands. However, it works great. I get most of what I want every game, and with this deck's high volume of card draw, you get all the lands you need fairly fast. Something I've enjoyed in most of my games is Scrying with New Benalia. It has helped so much it's not even funny. It gets even better when you have Rites of Flourishing; you can play Simic Growth Chamber, return New Benalia, and then play it again to Scry some more.

This article is going on way too long, though, so I might as well wrap it up with... some words of wisdom! Like, ummm, how to play the deck. First, I'd like to say that the deck has been really good to me. It has won virtually all of its games, and the ones I've lost were due to play mistakes on my part. So, I've lost only four games and won around fourteen games and one draw. Got third in one tournament, and around third or second in an FNM. Alas, I know this can improve, and if you have any suggestions pass by the message boards and post your thoughts! Thank you in advance. Now on to the deck advice!

Tips on playing the deck:

1. That 20 life you have? It is your best friend - Use your life as another resource. If you are at 15 life and have two Dawn Charm, one Holy Day and a Martyr of Sands in play, gaining life comes first. If all you have are the Dawn Charms and a Holy Day, take as much damage as you can afford before casting those spells. Now, be wary, this won't always work, because some decks have a way around your spells like Burn. Don't EVER let yourself get to Burn Range. Against Control, if you know they have counters in their hand, don't let yourself get too low on life, because when you desperately need to resolve a Holy Day they'll just counter it with a Cancel or something.

2. At times, beatdown is the way - This deck has seven creatures and in my version of the sideboard I also have Quagnoth. I played against a deck with a lot of creature removal, but once he saw how my deck played out, he sided-out his creature removal and I sided-in both my Quagnoth and started the beatdown. That's when I saw that my deck doesn't necessarily have to win by decking. Do take heed; going the beatdown route hugely depends on how your opponent changes cards between sideboard and deck. Yet, it never hurts to surprise your opponent.

3. Mulligan-ing - Mulligan-ing with this deck is tricky, because it highly relies on how well you know your deck's capabilities and what you have in hand. One of the games I won I kept a hand of one Rites of Flourishing, what I think was a Holy Day (can't remember) and 5 lands: a Forest, an Island, and three Plains. I decided to keep this hand because it had Rites of Flourishing, hoping for it not to get countered, so I would not only get extra cards, but I'd be able to play the rest of the lands in my hand as well. Since I was also playing against a control deck I figured I had more time to gather all the resources I needed. I forgot to mention that mulliganing also depends on your match-up. For example: If you see that your hand plays out quite slowly, and you know you are going against control, then it's a hand you can play with. Now, if you chose the same hand against a faster type of deck, like Aggro, you will have a real hard time.

4. Don't be afraid to Dredge - There are times where you can be so desperate that you will need to dredge in order to gain some life or gain a blocker. My advice here is to risk it. I won't lie to you, it has happened to me a few times, where I dredge and sadly end up losing a much-needed Martyr of Sands and a Wrath of God. In spite of this, you cannot expect it to happen all the time. Thus, I say risk it. Always remember to make it a "calculated" risk. Think about all the scenarios and what sequence of plays led you to such a position. When you are certain that it is better to dredge, then do so.

5. Be patient - This deck requires your patience and all the time in the world. Keep in mind that you will be decking your opponent. Trust me, despite all the card draw, it still takes a stunning 30 minutes to actually deck him out. I wish it was faster, but we really can't assume we are milling 40-card decks.

6. You play the Howling Mines whenever it's necessary - This is a question that will pop up a lot. Therefore, I will be more than happy to answer it now. Playing Howling Mine (or Rites of Flourishing) requires your attention to be directed to your opponent and his deck. Reason is, there are a lot of decks that rely on card advantage and there are others that no matter how many cards they draw, they just won't be able to get out of your creature-lock. The decks that benefit from card advantage are probably one of your biggest threats. Since this is the case, try not to play the Howling Mines early. Let them run out of Think Twice, Compulsive Research, and their other card draws. Let them Flashback that Think Twice. Once you are completely sure that you are safe to play the Mines, do so. Against Aggro it usually helps to get one on the board pretty early as you can draw those damage-prevention effects and your Teferi’s Moats faster. Against Combo? This is a good question. The most predominant combo decks in Standard are Project X and Dragonstorm, and neither cares if you play the Mines/Rites early. The only thing they care about is whether or not their combo takes effect, thus you should focus heavily on finding ways to disrupt their combos instead. On further tips against Aggro and Control match-ups, check out points 8 and 9. The last point has additional notes about Howling Mine and Rites of Flourishing.

7. Have fun! - This one pretty much says it all. Just enjoy your opponent’s squirming. Especially after he gets tired of his hand being full of creatures and then plays them all to get them off his chest and you go and drop that Wrath of God you have been holding since the beginning of the game. It's also fun to listen to people trying to figure out what the deck does. Fortunately, not everybody knows what exactly it does even when it's too late, as they sit there for 30 minutes waiting for a threat to come by. Only later do they realize what they are in for, usually when it's too late.

8. Against Aggro - Once you drop Teferi's Moat it's usually game over, and even if they have flyers in the deck they will still succumb to the Porphyry Nodes.

9. Against Control (or Extirpate) - Just go with the flow. They usually draw a lot on their own with Think Twice and such. Also, try to avoid giving them information as much as possible. Once you know they don't have Extirpate, just win. Now, if you know they have Extirpate, try to give them as little reason to use them as you can. Sadly, I really can't speak from experience since I've never been on the wrong end of an Extirpate. Lucky for me, eh, eh?

10. Don't be a slave to your deck's plan - This is how I lost one of my matches that stuck me in third place. The deck's main plan is to drop a few Howling Mines and play the rest of the game without dying. Whilst this will win most of the time, there are decks that highly benefit from your card-drawing engines and against them, do not, and I repeat, do NOT help them. First, stabilize your board position as much as you can, and when the time is right, drop the Howling Mine. And hey, you really don't have to even play it; it can still work as fodder for your Peace of Mind. Although this is rather counter-intuitive, it is nevertheless important to understand.

Well, this is all for now. Take the deck, give it a whirl and tell me about your experiences with it on the MDV forums! I'll be glad to read your posts! If you wish to adapt the deck for your casual needs, please do so and just have fun. Any suggestions you might have or personal additions you made to your deck, you can tell me how they worked out. I'm interested and I highly encourage reader participation. Hope you enjoyed this article and remember:

Stay Hot!

LSoR

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