This deck has been a project ever since I started playing Magic about a year ago. You may be asking yourself "how can a mill deck be aggro?" That's a fair question, and my response would be that it isn't aggro in the traditional sense. It is very aggressively mill; I've gone through libraries in only 5 turns, and have won a fair amount of times on turn 4 with the Duskmantle Guildmage + Mindcrank
combo. Now I know you may be skeptical, because 5 turns can be a long time in Modern, but this deck has torn through everything from Grixis Control to Mono-Green Elves, and, so I've been told, is one of the absolutely most annoying decks to play against. Without further ado, here is Modern Aggro Mill.
The Cards
When I first saw Thing in the Ice
, it was as if the Magic gods had descended and given my deck the perfect card. A beefy two-drop defender that transforms into a 7/8 after casting 4 instant/sorcery spells? My mouth was watering, and I knew he had to be mine. Thing in the Ice
has been a phenomenal addition to this deck, and could definitely be considered the star of the show. He's a great alternate win condition if our milling doesn't work out quite as well as we wanted it to, and he can help save us from some damage in the early stages.
Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver : I was skeptical of adding Ashiok at first, but all in all it's been a great addition, especially if we're up against an opponent that has some larger creatures, because we can just grab them from exile if our loyalty is high enough. Ashiok also helps divert attention away from us, allowing us to mill our opponent even more while protecting our poor little life total.
Hedron Crab : Absolutely, without a doubt the star of this deck. One mana for a ridiculous landfall ability is unreal. It's gotten to the point where I don't start a game if I don't have a Crab in hand. Having multiple's of this guy out is just stupid, and it turns top-decked lands into something that is conducive to our strategy
Breaking / Entering, Tome Scour, Mind Sculpt, Mind Funeral : These are the heartbeat of this deck and what make it work so quickly. Mind Funeral has proven to be deadly against aggro decks with low land counts, and oftentimes we find ourselves casting multiple copies of either Breaking / Entering, Mind Sculpt, or Tome Scour, which only helps to get our Thing in the Ice
transformed even faster.
Duskmantle Guildmage + Mindcrank
: Perhaps my favorite win condition in the deck, and something that can be triggered with surprising frequency, especially if we find ourselves with a land in hand, and a Hedron Crab on the board.
Swans of Bryn Argoll : Swans finds itself at the top end of our mana curve, but it's proven a very useful card. It can block their biggest creature without dying, it can deal with flyers, and it can swoop in for the damage we need to trigger out Duskmantle Guildmage + Mindcrank
combo. True, it allows our opponent to draw cards, but oftentimes by the time Swans is our, they don't have much of a library to draw from.
Thanks for checking out the deck everyone! If you liked it, I appreciate comments and +1's!
