The Sphinx’s Tutelage deck that Michael Majors took down Grand Prix San Diego with last August failed to live up to the hype it generated after that event, despite the fact that the Magic community seems to have an unnatural affection for mill strategies. All the Magic hipsters get way too excited when they can embrace nonconformity and win by a method other than attacking.
But maybe Michael just wasn’t trying hard enough and putting too much of the burden on Tutelage itself. One player can’t carry a team. Well, unless that player is LeBron James*. But Sphinx’s Tutelage is no LeBron James.
*Yes, this is shameless pandering to Cedric Phillips. You have to strike quickly, before the euphoria of winning fades.
Where’s our Scottie Pippen? Our Kyrie Irving? Our Kobe Bryant? (I’m sure someone will yell at me for that last one.)
Turns out there are some very powerful mill spells available in Standard right now in Startled Awake and Talent of the Telepath. Until now, these cards have mainly served the purpose of generating unnecessary squabbling about their strength in Limited, which may have caused them to be overlooked in Constructed. Taking seven to thirteen cards in a clip is powerful, and both offer intriguing other abilities, with Startled Awake coming back for more and Talent of the Telepath giving you the opportunity to find a removal or card draw spell.
The deck also gets to play some of the best interaction in Standard in Declaration in Stone (go ahead, crack that Clue, it’s just one more card I don’t have to mill) and Reflector Mage. Ojutai’s Command does a little bit of everything, and it’s all relevant with the addition of Manic Scribe as a creature to recur.
The Planeswalkers pull everything together by offering some card advantage, a distraction for your opponents to attack, and some impressive milling power. Chandra, Flamecaller’s zero ability goes nuts with Sphinx’s Tutelage, and Narset Transcendent copies your Talent the Telepath or Startled Awake for double your pleasure, double the fun. (I watched more of those commercials than I’m proud to admit.)
With access to all of the Jeskai clan, you can tune the deck to be more prepared for aggressive or control decks depending on your metagame by playing with the relative number of removal and counterspells, so you shouldn’t have to worry about any nightmare matchups. Radiant Flames is an incredible tool against Humans, and Chandra, Flamecaller can handle the second wave and then allow you to turn the corner, with the zero either milling them out in a hurry or finding the necessary mill spells to close the game.
You also get to exploit the people who have slowed their G/W Tokens lists for the mirror, although you’re still vulnerable to a fast Gideon, Ally of Zendikar. I’d look to instant-speed removal like Stasis Snare that plays well with your counters.
Whatever you do, be sure to give Talent of the Telepath and Startled Awake a nice nod in Sphinx’s Tutelage induction speech into the Mill Card Hall of Fame.
Creatures (7)
Planeswalkers (4)
Lands (24)
Spells (25)
