Thinking my opponent will have something like 53 cards in his library after drawing his first hand, Scour, Sculpt and Glimpse let me the possibility to mill up to 88 cards, and that is without counting the devastating effect of Hunting echoes (last day, my opponent had only land to draw and two cards in hand by turn 5).
Duress (of course i would prefer thoughseize) and surgical extraction work perfectly togheter. If you have the chance to get them in your starting hand, it is a powerfull start.
At first, i had archive trap coupled with path to exile and ghost quarter in the main deck, but the trick worked one time or two, forget it after that. It is still pretty good as a side. Hedron crab really isn't that good, I was really disapointed each time i drew one, it never changed the course of a game...
Thinking that scour, sculpt and glimpse are enough, i just need to ensure i can get them, play them and survive.
I saw you had Ravenous trap, dont you think it doesn't go too well with Haunting echoes. If you exile the graveyard, Haunting echoes won't be of any help...
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I'm french canadian, english is not my mother tongue, please forgive any mistakes.
BRW
''Know thy self, know thy enemy. A thousand battles, a thousand victories.''
Here's my take on Modern Mill. This is my first ever Modern deck so it is probably pretty bad, but I always loved the mill concept. I figure using Puzzle Box in conjunction with Jace's Erasure can keep the speed of mill going, especially when multiples of each are out. My rudimentary play testing has about 30-40 cards drawn/milled by turn 6 if the cards come out right, and I'm sure after true testing I can get better numbers. Even if it isn't even close to a top tier deck I'd like to think this will be a fun way to play that isn't part of the standard Meta.
Some years ago I played a mill deck in T2. It was incredible consistent. For that it had 4 Archive Trap and 4 Trapmaker's Snare, besides the 4 Hedron Crab. Snare is good, do not underestimate it. It's like having 8 Archive Traps and almost always hitting 2 Traps at 2nd turn. It is also useful to get Ravenous Trap, post sideboard, against Elixirs and Emrakuls or similar triggers. I would build something like this (note, not tested).
Mill can't be as fast as damage unless in a special case such as Grindstone + Painter's Servant.
Even with the lucky double cast of a Archive Trap by turn two and a Hedron Crab that made use of a fetch land you have only milled 32/50 (assuming they fetched a land and have draw for the 2nd time this game) and opponent can put lethal damage on the board with Affinity (which you would get no use out of Archive Trap since they run no fetches and Storm would be ready to burst with their graveyard so full.
The ideal situation for this deck to win before their opponents is that they have only three lands left in their deck and you get off a Mind Funeral turn four or three.
I want it to work. Seriously I really want mill to be viable but you need to have some means of controlling to board to win with mill unless you can flat out out race someone in damage.
I'm not posting this to be a downer. I am working on a mill deck myself for the next set but you need to realize that you have to either win instantly or have a way to stall out their damage.
From what I can gather I may have something that works but I keep seeing these sorts of threads come up and it makes me sad that people seem to not be realizing what I did a few years ago. I just want you to know I have been where you are standing and I have wanted this sort of deck to work but, you need to take a step back and think.
1) Can I out race him in mill vs. damage?
2) Can I stop my opponents from winning if they can combo before I can?
3) What do I do to beat decks that can ignore my mill? Do I have a back up plan?
#3 is really important to think about as even if it's a 1/1 unblockable or 2/1 it has a chance to get through and do some damage.
I hope this post is helpful and you might reflect on some of these thoughts. Take what you can and try and reorganize your thoughts and try the decks you build out. See if you can mill them to death before turn four. If not see if you can do something to stall them and win some other way.
The things i'm pretty sure:
Side:
Archive Trap 4
Thinking my opponent will have something like 53 cards in his library after drawing his first hand, Scour, Sculpt and Glimpse let me the possibility to mill up to 88 cards, and that is without counting the devastating effect of Hunting echoes (last day, my opponent had only land to draw and two cards in hand by turn 5).
Duress (of course i would prefer thoughseize) and surgical extraction work perfectly togheter. If you have the chance to get them in your starting hand, it is a powerfull start.
At first, i had archive trap coupled with path to exile and ghost quarter in the main deck, but the trick worked one time or two, forget it after that. It is still pretty good as a side.
Hedron crab really isn't that good, I was really disapointed each time i drew one, it never changed the course of a game...
Thinking that scour, sculpt and glimpse are enough, i just need to ensure i can get them, play them and survive.
Here is what i'm thinking:
Side:
?
?
?
Not High enough casting cost to play Broken ambitions.
Things that could work:
Infernal tutor (but i think Snapcaster do something like it, adding meat on the bord)
Black suns's zenith
Wrath of god...
here is the manabse:
I'd like things like polluted delta, but like Thought seize, expansive and I dont have any.
Creatures - 8
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Hedron Crab
Planeswalkers - 2
2x Jace Beleren
Instants / Sorceries - 26
3x Increasing Confusion
4x Mind Sculpt
4x Thought Scour
4x Tome Scour
3x Visions of Beyond
4x Archive Trap
4x Twincast
4x Jace's Erasure
Artifacts - 2
2x Isochron Scepter
Lands - 18
14x Island
4x Scalding Tarn
Edited the deck after testing the heck out of it today
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Marsh Flats
4 Watery Grave
4 Drowned Catacombs
2 Nepahlia Drownyard
4 Island
4 Archive Trap
4 Trapmaker's Snare
4 Glimpse the Unthinkable
4 Sanity Grinding
2 Haunting Echoes
3 Twincast
4 Broken Ambitions
2 Cryptic Command
2 Jace, Memory Adept
Thought of the Month:
I gave up from trying to require the 'i' on my name: SolesticIo
It's an updated version of Brawl into an epic, new game.
Even with the lucky double cast of a Archive Trap by turn two and a Hedron Crab that made use of a fetch land you have only milled 32/50 (assuming they fetched a land and have draw for the 2nd time this game) and opponent can put lethal damage on the board with Affinity (which you would get no use out of Archive Trap since they run no fetches and Storm would be ready to burst with their graveyard so full.
The ideal situation for this deck to win before their opponents is that they have only three lands left in their deck and you get off a Mind Funeral turn four or three.
I want it to work. Seriously I really want mill to be viable but you need to have some means of controlling to board to win with mill unless you can flat out out race someone in damage.
I'm not posting this to be a downer. I am working on a mill deck myself for the next set but you need to realize that you have to either win instantly or have a way to stall out their damage.
From what I can gather I may have something that works but I keep seeing these sorts of threads come up and it makes me sad that people seem to not be realizing what I did a few years ago. I just want you to know I have been where you are standing and I have wanted this sort of deck to work but, you need to take a step back and think.
1) Can I out race him in mill vs. damage?
2) Can I stop my opponents from winning if they can combo before I can?
3) What do I do to beat decks that can ignore my mill? Do I have a back up plan?
#3 is really important to think about as even if it's a 1/1 unblockable or 2/1 it has a chance to get through and do some damage.
I hope this post is helpful and you might reflect on some of these thoughts. Take what you can and try and reorganize your thoughts and try the decks you build out. See if you can mill them to death before turn four. If not see if you can do something to stall them and win some other way.
2x Damnation
4x Glimpse the Unthinkable
2x Haunting Echoes
1x Inquisition of Kozilek
2x Mind Funeral
4x Tome Scour
4x Archive Trap
1x Cyclonic Rift
4x Vapor Snag
4x Visions of Beyond
Land (22)
3x Darkslick Shores
4x Drowned Catacomb
4x Ghost Quarter
3x Island
4x Swamp
4x Watery Grave
1x Keening Stone
2x Tormod's Crypt
Creature (7)
4x Jace's Phantasm
3x Silent Arbiter
Modern : Huh?
EDH : UBGW Thrasios / Tymna Combo UBGW // GRW Mayael Big Stuff GRW // GU Edric Timewalkers GU