Since the June 30 ban announcement and scheduled rotation alongside the release of Edge of Eternities, a multitude of Standard strategies fell by the wayside. Multi-color ramp decks that relied on Leyline Binding and Zur, Eternal Schemer unsurprisingly disappeared. Meanwhile, Golgari self-Mill took a huge hit with the loss of Up the Beanstalk.
However, a new graveyard deck with a completely different spin has actually been putting up results recently in Magic Online Standard Leagues. Rather than being fully built around casting big creatures on a discount, this shell features a neat single card win condition that has yet to have a Constructed impact until now.
Self-Mill Strategy
The first step in ensuring that you’ll be able to execute your self-Mill gameplan is making sure you have ways to accelerate to your strongest cards. Llanowar Elves is a decent inclusion, but you’ll also find Insidious Fungus and Molt Tender in the decklist, too.
Molt Tender works overtime here, acting as a way to both fuel your graveyard and also produce mana to cast your big bombs. Insidious Fungus is mostly used as a mana accelerant but having the option to blow up graveyard hate pieces in games two and three is essential as well.
Making our way up the curve, in the two-mana slot, Town Greeter is the perfect enabler for this deck. It helps you hit your land drops while filling your graveyard in the process.
In doing so, you set up Icetill Explorer nicely. Icetill Explorer gives you a ton of mana to work with if its sticks around, all while Milling you every time a land enters under your control. If you’re fortunate enough to find Fabled Passage, you’ll start Milling yourself at super speed.
At five mana, Overlord of the Balemurk can do the same. If you have nothing better to do on two mana, casting it via its Impending cost is fine, but ramping into it puts the opponent on the backfoot right away. Milling four cards whenever it attacks is a lot, and you’ll generate value in the process.
Abusing Season of Loss
On their own, these creatures are unlikely to cross the finish line. You’ll certainly have games where the combination of Overlords and Esper Origins will get the job done after being left unanswered, but against decks with removal at the ready, you need a more robust way to win.
This is where Season of Loss enters the picture. In most decks, Season of Loss isn’t too appealing of a card. The fact that the first mode is symmetrical means that most creature decks won’t want it. Plus, the third ability does very little in the context of most archetypes.
That’s not the case here, though. The third mode is capable of winning the game singlehandedly or at least coming close. Alongside some chip damage here and there, Season of Loss is a beating.
Of course, you can always use Season of Loss earlier on as a mass removal spell when necessary. Sometimes, sacrificing a couple mana dorks of your own to the first ability and using the second ability to draw extra cards will be a strong option. The flexibility here makes it stronger than it looks.
Once you get your engine rolling, the final mode threatens to end the game. You have 28 creatures in your deck in total in the maindeck. As you continue to Mill yourself, eventually, you’ll have enough creatures in your graveyard to one-shot your opponent.
In the case where you don’t draw Season of Loss naturally, there’s a one-of copy of Sorceress’s Schemes that can rebuy it via Flashback. Conduit Pylons filters to red mana to facilitate this gameplan, and Icetill Explorer lets you put Conduit Pylons from your graveyard onto the battlefield to set things up.
Hate
While this deck is very cool and has unique play patterns, without a card advantage engine like Up the Beanstalk, it’s tougher to win via a backup plan of grinding through removal and beating the opponent down. You do have a couple copies of Hollow Marauder in the sideboard to bolster this avenue to victory, but this won’t always be easy.
Your reliance on Season of Loss only makes you more vulnerable to graveyard hate. You do have a lot of ways to answer cards like Rest in Peace, thanks to Insidious Fungus, Disruptive Stormbrood, and beyond. Even still, a well-timed Rest in Peace in the middle of the game after you’ve Milled a good chunk of your library will be a nuisance to play through.
Given the prevalence of Izzet Cauldron, Rest in Peace is a common sideboard card for Azorius control and Boros Mice. Your Azorius control matchup is especially rough, since the deck’s array of removal and Counterspells makes it hard for you to gain any traction.
On top of that, because you need a high density of creatures to maximize Season of Loss, you don’t play many removal spells to slow down mono-red, which is on the rise. Disruptive Stormbrood does double as removal. Nonetheless, you’ll need to have a fast start of your own to have the best shot of competing against a slew of hasty threats.
All things considered, this graveyard deck is more on the casual side of things in the current metagame. Perhaps if the format slows down following bans in November, Golgari self-Mill could gain some traction. For now, it’s a fun option for the MTG Arena ladder and smaller events, just don’t expect it to break out in a big way anytime soon.
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