Some months ago I posited a question in a different forum about casual, beginner mono-Blue decks. My first inclination had been to use Merfolk since they are iconic, have a wide range of abilities, and come with seemingly excellent support. Unfortunately, this just didn't pan out. Merfolk fell behind all of the other 'small' tribal beginner decks I'd built--Goblins, Elves, Zombies mainly--due to either being too slow or not having a fun/interesting strategy. I ended up switching it over to mono-Blue Thopters/artifacts and this works a lot better.
During the various conversations involved in trying to crack mono-Blue Merfolk, somebody brought up trying out mono-Blue Wizard mill. They had an awesome decklist I was really inspired by. While building other decks, I started casually pulling out cards to build something like it. This is what I've got so far.
Decklists:
Decklist
Approximate Total Cost:
Decklist Separated Loosely by Function
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My first draft is obviously a bit rough. Primarily, the goal here is to use Naban to double up on Sage's Row Denizen triggers as well as other useful Wizard abilities. Some of the deck is meant to support this goal while other cards are just other mill-related stuff. Infinite Reflection seems exceedingly good in this regard, but I've somewhat limited the number of copy effects.
Aether Vial is a weird choice I think, but my hope with it is that a lot of my creatures are low and similarly costed so it'll help me play multiple creatures in a turn. Cryptic Gateway was one card I left out due to low-ish land count, but might need to find a place.
I know Thassa's Oracle is in here. I'm not really looking to turn this into a self-mill deck to combo out, just a casual mill deck.
Finding Sage's Row Denizen is possibly the weakest portion of the strategy, which is why I have a bunch of other mill effects. I wouldn't mind hearing some advice in this regard.
Lands are really suspect right now. Lots of Islands, not a lot of utility. I'm just stretched on lands currently, so I'll be needing to look into more.
Some cards I left out
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Training Grounds - I didn't feel like I had enough abilities to make this good.
Meekstone - goes well with Trinket Mage and could help delay, but I couldn't think of a great fit.
Meishin, the Mind Cage - mainly costs too much mana with my low curve.
Talrand, Sky Summoner - I don't know that I have enough instants/sorceries.
Magus of the Mind - big CMC, unlikely to cast enough spells in a turn.
High Tide - I'm not sure why I don't have this card in.
Hedron Crab - could be that I should find space to make some kind of landfall trigger combo with this guy, but otherwise didn't feel like it fit.
Psychic Surgery - has always been a hit-or-miss card for me.
Undead Alchemist - not a Wizard and doesn't mill, so trying to set it up to do this seemed sub-optimal.
Painter's Servant - I'm certain I'm wrong for not including this; I also don't currently have a Grindstone.
Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger - big CMC too much big.
Dreamborn Muse - one of the last cuts I made, mainly on CMC. Help.
Galecaster Colossus - great with Wizards, but it doesn't exactly directly further my strategy.
Rite of Replication - I thought some of the other copy effects I have are better, although I'm beginning to doubt myself on Followed Footsteps.
Cryptic Gateway - this is probably better than Followed Footsteps. What have I done???
Meekstone - goes well with Trinket Mage and could help delay, but I couldn't think of a great fit.
Meishin, the Mind Cage - mainly costs too much mana with my low curve.
Talrand, Sky Summoner - I don't know that I have enough instants/sorceries.
Magus of the Mind - big CMC, unlikely to cast enough spells in a turn.
High Tide - I'm not sure why I don't have this card in.
Hedron Crab - could be that I should find space to make some kind of landfall trigger combo with this guy, but otherwise didn't feel like it fit.
Psychic Surgery - has always been a hit-or-miss card for me.
Undead Alchemist - not a Wizard and doesn't mill, so trying to set it up to do this seemed sub-optimal.
Painter's Servant - I'm certain I'm wrong for not including this; I also don't currently have a Grindstone.
Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger - big CMC too much big.
Dreamborn Muse - one of the last cuts I made, mainly on CMC. Help.
Galecaster Colossus - great with Wizards, but it doesn't exactly directly further my strategy.
Rite of Replication - I thought some of the other copy effects I have are better, although I'm beginning to doubt myself on Followed Footsteps.
Cryptic Gateway - this is probably better than Followed Footsteps. What have I done???