Saruman of Many Colors

$0.83

Saruman triggers when you cast your second spell each turn. Each opponent mills two cards, and you exile an enchantment, instant or sorcery from an opponent's graveyard with mana value up to that spell's, then cast a copy for free. His ward asks opponents to discard an enchantment, instant or sorcery, which many creature decks can't pay. The deck runs cheap cantrips to reach the second spell each turn and bigger spells so the free copy can be something expensive.

In the recorded games, Saruman worked best as a reactive control deck that kept a full hand and used opponents' own spells against them. Consider into Void Rend was a typical turn, removing a threat and stealing a spell in the same move. Tasha's Hideous Laughter milled a huge chunk of each library at once and opened up several free casts. One list also ran Duskmantle Guildmage with Mindcrank as a mill combo finish. The deck is slow to start at six mana and relies on what opponents have put into their graveyards, so its strength varied from game to game.