OK, so the deck categories are almost a lie. The deck may be semi-competitive, but in the wider meta of the new Pioneer format, I'm not too sure where mill lies. It's always not had a true home, and is usually a lot slower than other decks to be considered competitive. But, let's give it a shot!
In the MAINDECK:
First in the list of mill cards is
Mind Sculpt
the effect is very simple, the cost is relatively cheap and it mills your opponent for 7. Not much to say really, other than its only downside is it is cast at sorcery speed.
Sphinx's Tutelage
may just be the best mill card. It's a permanent as opposed to being a spell, so it has board presence, and being an enchantment may make it tricky to interact with. It triggers of card draw, which pairs well with
Treasure Cruise
and
Opt
, netting you three separate instances of milling goodness. (please don't ban Cruise). Tutelage itself also can activate it's own triggers, letting you loot, for the... low cost of 6. Oh well, at least it fuels delve.
Most of the mill package comes in the form of creatures, of which there is
Manic Scribe
,
Merfolk Secretkeeper
and
Wall of Lost Thoughts
. While they have slightly different abilities, they are all in essence quite similar to one another. They all mill for a certain amount, in this case between 3-4 cards, and they're all quite efficient blockers. 1/2 mana for 3/4 toughness on a creature isn't a bad rate, specifically since the deck is relatively low on creature removal in the maindeck.
Lastly,
Drown in the Loch
,
Thoughtseize
and
Fatal Push
are the only real ways of interaction with opponents' within the deck. Push is fairly self explanatory, and while
Drown in the Loch
can fulfill the same purpose, it's also there to protect your enchantments and is a way to let your mill spells resolve against a counterspell.
Thoughtseize
is just good. Not only does it put a card into the graveyard, but a T1 Thoughtseize can really hinder your opponent's lines of play in the early game.
Search for Azcanta
... digs. It's very easy to understand what this card does.
In the SIDEBOARD:
Two different copies of Ashiok are run. One generates value, netting you creatures from an opponent's deck, whereas the other... mills harder? and then exiles those cards. Did I mention that this was a mill list?
Crypt Incursion
is almost synonymous with mill decks, because an opponent sometimes will run some number of creatures. This gives the deck a way to stabilise in life total, should all the creatures die, or if the opponent was playing say, burn. It's a little on the slow side perhaps, and very reliant on the number of creatures present in the graveyard, but it's a good sideboard card nonetheless.
