I assume many of you who read multiplayer articles do in the hopes of finding new ideas in deckbuilding... And I'm presenting a deck that I hope will spark a few ideas for you. The deck presented is my attempt at a Millstoning multiplayer deck.

But first, a few general comments about multiplayer.

Good multiplayer decks are really hard to build. I have found that if I create a truly dominating deck, I can only play it once in a while. Any dominating deck, once played too often in a group setting, can be easily killed by all the other players ganging up on you to stop your madness (please see the "Coalition is God" section of the Ferrett's article... it's so very true!). Now, the deck I'm about to show you has won me a good share of multiplayer games - but, because of the deck's almost annoying focus, it will be hated out of any local metagame if you play it too much.

First, I'll give the list of cards and then give an explanation of the deck in play. I have all the cards for the deck in paper, but not on Magic Online. I mention this because the real life aspect has limited my playtesting for multiplayer games with more than five people. That's all the people I have! It works great in the four- to five-people range, but with more players than that you're pretty much guaranteed to Mill yourself to death before you can win. But if you'd like to give it a shot in six-player, all the cards are available in MTGO.

Now, onto the deck.

Mesmeric Orb Featured by Sterling Cornaby on 2005-09-25 As written about in http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/article/10498.html Print this deck!
Maindeck: Artifacts 4 Mesmeric Orb 4 Sun Droplet 4 Thunderstaff 2 Wayfarer's Bauble Creatures 1 Dragon Mage Enchantments 3 Standstill	Instants 4 Fire / Ice 4 Radiate 3 Repulse 4 Words of Wisdom Sorceries 2 Reminisce 4 Serum Visions Basic Lands 6 Island 5 Mountain Lands 4 Cloudpost 4 Forbidden Orchard 4 Shivan Reef 3 Temple of the False God	Stats: Average mana: 1.51 Average creature mana cost: 7.00 Average creature power: 5.00 Average creature toughness: 5.00 Deck Composition: Basic Lands: 16.92% Instants: 23.08% Lands: 23.08% Artifacts: 21.54% Sorceries: 9.23% Enchantments: 4.62% Creatures: 1.54%
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(It's a sixty-five card deck - I must lack focus!)

You play this deck, which I've nicknamed "The Big Grind," in three stages:

Stage 1: The Early Game
"You don't have to make yourself invulnerable. You just have to make yourself inconvenient."
- The Ferrett

The basic idea is that you make yourself hard to kill through creature-based with the Thunderstaffs and Sun Droplets, turning them into a kind of passive creature removal. Wrath of God effects get all the players that have creature-based decks to focus on the Wrath of God player as a threat. But most players won't get nearly as mad if you drop the second Thunderstaff and their army of 2/2s become ineffective against you. The effect, however, is almost the same.

Also, being near-creatureless in multiplayer has the bonus that many spells become dead against you, encouraging people to send the love elsewhere.

This gets me to the second point of the early game, card drawing. Cards like Standstill and Words of Wisdom really help all players out. It "activates" them, because here's the truth: I want to get all the players to get as many permanents out as they dare. I feel that it actually saves my hated multiplayer card Sun Droplet, because someone ends up dropping a far worse artifact/enchantment that begs for a Naturalize. Ever played with the guy who plays Howling Mine on turn 2, gets everyone busy casting their cards, then he ends up kicking everyone's butt? If you haven't, I suggest you play multiplayer a bit more.

It's the same strategy: Get everyone focused on their win strategy by putting their deck in their hands, and losing track of you.

Stage 2: The Big Play.
This is the point where you get everyone's attention - you get as many Mesmeric Orbs into play as you can. There is a very effective play to do this: The best play is at the end-of-turn step before your turn, play Ice on a permanent, then Radiate the Fire / Ice to tap every permanent in play. If there are four players with an average of eight permanents per player (a conservative estimate), you draw thirty-two cards. (Note that Ice still targets permanents that are tapped.)

You should have at least two Mesmeric Orbs or more in hand by then, so play them on your turn. Over the next round, there should be a tide of cards flowing into the graveyard, because every one of their permanents - even enchantments - will be untapping at there upkeep. This can get up to forty or more cards with all four Mesmeric Orbs in play. Well not quite everyone - you have untapped your permanents before you play your Mesmeric Orbs.

This play is not that hard to set up, since you do have a lot of card drawing. Also, you do not necessarily have to tap every permanent in play for the deck to perform - but it is the best play, because it eliminates so many of your opponents' options.

Stage 3: Don't Deck Yourself
All the milling effects affect everyone - including you. And drawing thirty cards, only to be Millstoned out by your own Mesmeric Orbs is a tricky situation.

The cure? A well-timed Reminisce. When you pull the gigantic "draw everything" trick, only play the Mesmeric Orbs in you had, then keep the key spells (like Radiate, Fire/Ice, Repulse, and especially Reminisce). On your next turn, you should have a large number of cards in the graveyard to restock your library with.

By this stage, you are the target. Play it out right, and attacking with creatures is almost not an option at this point. Board development at this stage becomes impossible, because even a three-mana spell will potentially cost you six to twelve cards from your library at the next upkeep step. You will receive every Shatter and Naturalize that your group had to offer.

One nice thing, however, is that you are sitting with the best pickings of thirty or so cards - so if your position is minimized, you are set to do it again the next turn.

General Notes:
Radiate and Fire/Ice are key spells for the deck, so use them wisely... And keep in mind that Radiate can work on an opponent's instants as well. The Dragon Mage is mostly a cleanup guy, forcing the last few cards out of a deck (and if you add Wheel and Deal to the deck, it gives you a trick to get everyone to draw fourteen cards during combat).

Repulse makes a good Radiate target, and it saves you from the one creature that wrecks you. The lands are trying to do quite a few things for you. The Forbidden Orchard gives you the color mana you need, but also gives your opponents more permanents - which really helps up the permanents count for the player that seems to lack them, like Mono-Black Control decks. Remember, more permanents mean more milling!

Both Cloudpost and Temple of the False God are there to maximize the mana production for the amount of tapped permanents. After drawing thirty or more cards out of your deck, and then dropping a few Orbs, you do not want to have a lot of lands to untap. I have often been three or four cards away from decking myself, and these multi-mana lands sometimes give me the room I need to play that third Orb without the fear of decking myself at my next upkeep.

Many might classify this deck as a "one-trick pony" or a deck that have a very limited win condition. This deck will not work without the Mesmeric Orb - and if you get them removed from the game by something like a Splinter, you're skunked.

And it's true, when I first built the deck I thought that the deck was a one-trick pony. In playing it, I have found that it has just a bit more resilience then that. The deck can put every card from its graveyard back into the deck, and can draw thirty-plus cards just before your turn, which gives a surprising number of options and comeback potential.

One last note: If you know your opponents have decks with global removal spells like Akroma's Vengeance, Pernicious Deed, Oblivion Stone, be prepared: Put a Counterspell and/or Stifle in the deck with a stamp on them that says, "Save me for Joe's Reset card". Killer cards like that completely wreck "The Big Grind" - and for that matter, many other decks as well.

Here is a list of cards I have thought of that may or may not be included in this type of deck, depending on the group you play against.

• Wheel and Deal (This puts lots of new cards in the game, and can get the last few cards out of a deck)
• Boomerang (A good Radiate target that resets the game)
• Boseiju, Who Shelters All (For the decks packing Counterspell)
• Deep Analysis (Alternate card drawing)
• Dreamborn Muse (More milling, but on the back of a fragile 2/2 creature)
• Howling Mine (More milling/card drawing)
• Squelch, Stifle, Damping Matrix (Protection from Pernicious Deed and Oblivion stone, et cetera)
• Counterspell and its infinite variants (Protection from, well, almost everything)

I know that I have really enjoyed playing the deck, because every time I play someone who has never seen it before, they have to re-read every card once it gets going.

Especially when I Radiate my Ice.