Spirit Squadron 2.0
Approximate Total Cost:
The first thing I did here was focus on budget and obscure cards. I intentionally did not add Cyclonic Rift, Rhystic Study, Smothering Tithe, or fetches/shocks despite owning them, and I avoided Brago, King Eternal lest he take over the whole deck with his raw power. The gameplan is simple Millicent stuff - get on board to make Millie cheaper, keep harrying opponents with your army of fliers and tap-down disruption to their blocks, and punish a boardwipe with a continued horde of spirit reinforcements that just won't stop.
Happy that the deck is clocking in right now at $45, with Gift of Immortality as its most individually pricey card. For some other specific stuff I tried here:
1. A low curve: I am surprised that according to the "average Millicent deck" on EDHRecs runs 2 one-drops and 6 two-drops; my list has nearly doubled those numbers. I feel like Millicent is like a more fair Edgar Markov in terms of what you want to do with your deck. Cheap spirits are functionally ramp to Millicent and she also turns them all into Doomed Travelers, so I wanted a critical mass. I do acknowledge that I'm missing several much better one and two-drops, namely Mausoleum Wanderer, Metallic Mimic, and Topplegeist; this was definitely a "play what I own" thing and not a specific avoidance of those creatures who should all be here if you can afford them. I'm excited to test this newer, leaner build and see if, like Edgar, the right move is to go even deeper.
2. The Tallowisp package: Totally a joy% addition; this card is probably not good in modern magic, but it does bring me joy and fond memories of Kamigawa-Ravnica standard. A simple 1/3 to get on the board, this card has a ton of ways to trigger and six targets: removal (Darksteel Mutation, Control Magic, protection (Gift of Immortality), Voltron-y pumps (Steel of the Godhead and Spirit Mantle), and a "lol just win" card with Followed Footsteps.
3. "I Just Think They're Neat!": Timin, Youthful Geist and Rhoda, Geist Avenger are not good cards but I just like the flavor too much to cut 'em. Angelic Page is a horrifically bad card, but the OG Urza's Saga art by Rebecca Guay is the first magic card I ever saw and one of my favorite cards of all time, so in it goes. Waxmane Baku was Tallowisp's partner in crime for me way back when when I was rocking GW Spiritcraft Auras, and felt like it was also essential even though it isn't great. As I'm older, I've started embracing cards that just make me smile even though they're bad in EDH.
