My thoughts:
List 1:
3 Surgicals main and 3 Extirpate in the side is probably a bit much, and you can probably make use of those sideboard slots more effectively. I'm split on Profane Memento - it's good in the same matches that Crypt Incursion is good, so not sure how I feel about having both. It might be an idea, as you've done in the other lists, to include some Dispels to make sure your Crypt Incursion gets through a Skullcrack for example. I like Leyline of Sanctity in Esper colours, stops a lots of spell based Burn, Lightning Storm, Valakut etc, but for the most part those are good matchups for us. It's also good against Jund and 8-rack like you mentioned, which would be bad matchups for us. Great Esper list in general, I've just personally found that Esper manabase is too painful when all you're splashing for is Path (but Path can definitely be worth splashing for and you get sideboard slots). Give you're in Esper, I think I'd want Stony Silence and Ghostly Prison in the board. Also, I think we disagree about Crabs when they're your only non-Snapcaster creatures, I think they're not worth it.
List 2:
Very close to my list, so I like it! Same thing with Extirpates in the board, a bit much, and same thing about the Crabs. 3 Ensnaring Bridge main, interesting. Makes me wonder about putting both of mine in the mainboard.
List 3:
Love it! Breaking//Entering for us isn't a dead card even if we have to cast it without Yahennis. Yahennis is a good sweeper anyway, let alone with the free spell attached. If that free spell is Breaking//Entering, we're in business. Fabulous idea that makes me want to test it out too. I like the unconditional kill of Damnation, but Yahenni's is always a huge tempo boost for us.
I noticed you run 3 Shelldock Isles in all of your lists. You haven't found any problems with the ETB tapped aspect of it? It's sometimes nice to have to get that last bit of gas/card advantage at the end of the game for the kill though. I only run 1 but might go to 2
One thing I noticed about your lists - you don't run any Inquisition of Kozilek. I think the card is outstanding, especially in combination with Surgical effects, so you can look at their hand with IoK and strip them with the Surgical. I run two but I love having them in opening hand on the play, I think it's one of the strongest plays you can make. Have you tried them and not liked them for some reason? I suggest slotting some in if you haven't!
Playing Mesmeric Orb, you really need to also run an Eldrazi Titan. Their face when you Orb your Eldrazi, and all those Snapcasters, Glimpses, and Fetches go back into your library.
Playing Mesmeric Orb, you really need to also run an Eldrazi Titan. Their face when you Orb your Eldrazi, and all those Snapcasters, Glimpses, and Fetches go back into your library.
Bad advice, you never want a dead draw like that. So what if my spells go back in, it just makes my library the same composition as it was before, there's no advantage to it, and perhaps even makes it worse. Your fetches go back in, your Snapcasters in hand have no targets anymore, any spells you've already snapped don't get shuffled back in so it further dilutes your good spells. If your library is in danger of getting milled before your opponent, you're doing something horribly wrong, given that you should also be hitting their library with your mill spells.
Back to Inquisition talk, I agree that it's a bad top-deck, and never a target for Snapcaster. It's entirely possible you use it and have no targets for them to discard, which sucks. But early game as a way to slow down either their creatures or their ramp, it is an awesome play - I like having two, it seems like a good amount.
I already had Breaking//Entering, but I put in an order for Yahenni's Expertise to try out that combo. I think it may require some practice to optimize lines of play, so unless it blows me away immediately, I'll likely leave it out of my list for the tournament in 2.5 weeks. I unfortunately won't get enough games in with it between now and then I don't think.
If you want more control, try Perpetual Timepiece rather than a titan. I detest the thought of milling my own win-cons away, Snap or no Snap.
By the time all your mill spells have been milled by your orbs, your opponent is already dead from the same Orb, and probably one of your mill spells. There is no reason for us to need to recur our own graveyard. If you're running a titan or that Timepiece in your deck, strong suggestion to take it out - it's hurting your odds of winning.
Your landbase looks good (I personally prefer Oboro to Shelldock, but your reasoning for the latter is valid), but I'd really like to see a basic Plains in there. You're dead against Blood Moon otherwise--a fringe case, admittedly, but between that the the ability to fetch pain-free untapped white mana, I've never regretted having a Plains around. With two Islands in the list, a straight basic-for-basic swap is possible. You could also add a 22nd land in the form of a Plains, for reasons I'll get into below.
- No Bridge and no Prison, because the list has virtually access to 12 removals (counting the 3 Snappies and Engineered).
I agree with your logic here: with an Orb/Caster setup, your spell counts are for all intents and purposes artificially inflated. For that reason, I think it's more feasible to run 1- or 2-ofs that it would otherwise be.
You seem dedicated to the 3/3 Extraction effect layout, which is very intriguing--please let us know how it plays out. Leaving those aside, Incursion stands out as something that could drop to two. You're using it the right way (early on targeting your yard, a few turns later targeting the enemy's), but between Snapcaster recursion and he potential to drawing multiples, there's only so much you can get out of the card...plus it's a dead draw in certain matchups.
This may be unpopular, but Visions could go down to 3 as well. My playtesting has lead me to believe that 4 Visions results in you using them as a cantrip with no other effects too often. It's wonderful that the card at least replaces itself, but cantripping for one mana is not where we want to be.
So there's room to shave away an Incursion, a Visions, and perhaps an Extraction if you so desire. Here's where adding the 22nd land becomes easy and serves as a straight improvement to your mana base. Alternatively or additionally, you could include a one-drop with potential for recursion: Damnation or Verdict, for instance. I'll also throw Lingering Souls up for consideration as a card that provides us Flashback utility after getting milled away by Orb.
Agree with Keith on the sideboard: Prison/Bridge and Stony Silence are highly recommended. the Leyline idea is solid; let us know how it plays out!
@SkyLagger
I don't side in Surgical vs Junk, Jund, Affinity and Blood Moon (in UB, vs Esper Blood Moon is dangerous) so I don't think meta justifies mainboarding it.
I deal with GBx and Affinity with removal. I don't think GBx are afraid of you extracting their Goyfs. They are like "you extracted my Goyf? I don't care, I have buffed Grim Flayer, Ooze, Kommand anyways and you slowed down yourself for 1 turn". Even the best case scenario of hitting a card in their hand can be worse than commonplace Breaking since you spent a card to mill 1-2 (2 is highest value since 1 card was in gy and 1 in hand) and their hand can be full of threats. And there are a lot of other ways things can go: you don't have a good target in gy, they played Goyf already, opp doesn't have Goyf in hand which are much more likely.
Regarding your lists:
I think the correct number for Crypt Incursion is 2. You want to draw a single Incursion and you want to cast it late. And there are many matchups where it doesn't do much.
7 mainboard removals is too many imo. You start a game with 3 lands, 1 mill and 3 removals, do you keep? Well since you placed these cards into your deck they are supposed to be good and you should keep. But then you lose the game. So this build generates bad starting hands. And there are matchups where you don't need removal at all.
I think lone Path is not a good reason to splash white, Fatal Push + Murderous Cut can substitute it.
I prefer 3-4 Shelldock Isles, mana sinks and reach are important.
I don't use Snapcaster Mage, champ blocker for 2 more mana is not what I want to do with this deck. If I ran Snap + Bridge I would use 23 lands.
Yahenni's Expertise/Breaking looks bad. We don't want a weak sweeper in every matchup, we don't need a creature from a gy. You cut Crab, one of our best cards to run it, that another negative aspect. Maybe it will end well but I doubt it.
@KeithsGenome
Jace is Jack of all trades, master of none, he loots, enables delirium, slows down opponent, mana sink.
Dismember is used because it kills more than Fatal Push and second Murderous Cut is soso. I feel like metagame shifted and Fatal Push has less good targets than month ago. Victim of Night can be straight uncastable, trust me I play monoB decks and also it misses a number of targets.
I use Mishra's Bauble and Sphinx Tutelage for delirium.
I would like to bring to your attention my thoughts on U/B/x Mill in Modern (more specifically, on what a Glimpse the Unthinkable-based deck focused on milling the opponent should look like). I'll put the link to my primer in my signature for ease. Thanks !
I'm confused. First, aren't we in that thread right now? Second, if that link is to your primer, but the quoted post was your first one ever on this site, where does that link actually go?
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I would like to bring to your attention my thoughts on U/B/x Mill in Modern (more specifically, on what a Glimpse the Unthinkable-based deck focused on milling the opponent should look like). I'll put the link to my primer in my signature for ease. Thanks !
I'm confused. First, aren't we in that thread right now? Second, if that link is to your primer, but the quoted post was your first one ever on this site, where does that link actually go?
I got it, he has a link in his signature
He suggests following list:
There are zero tournament results for a pure non interactive mill deck. I remember seeing an Ari Lax series on a similar deck.
I couldn't find his comments on Thoughtscour but for a 1 drop I think drawing a card is more valuable than milling 3 additional cards or it can replace Shriekhorn (whichever is worse between it and Tome Scour).
Ive read a half of the primer (yes its too big. why make extended removal review and then say they are bad?)
And I disagree on many points
Mind Funeral, from what calculations did you conclude that it mills 9 on average? That means 4 lands / 5 spells ratio in opp's deck which averages to 27 lands
The list has many 4-offs. That can be a sign of a novice deckbuilder.
Claims that g1 against Infect and Burn are unwinnable. This makes me think you didnt play these matchups enough. Infect has about 5 turns clock without its pump spells. There is a real chance you can neutralize them with 4 blockers and 4 fogs. Burn scoops to single resolved Crypt Incursion. Provided they are not familiar with your deck (we shouldnt assume that all games of magic are played on protour, right?), low skullcrack counts nowadays and aggressive use of Atarka's Command its not that hard. Fog is 'Gain four life' which is good also.
I dont understand fear of Hatebears either. They slow us down with Thalia, Arbiter and Thought-Knot but not much and they are slow on their own.
The justification of absence of removal seems strange to me. 'We dont have space for removal because we need space for mill' and 'removal in modern is bad'. Really? If you use Fog to nullify two creature attack, than Fatal Push is equal in life gain if you kill a creature and prevent its attacks for two turns. Subsequent turns make Fatal Push a bigger value.
You say that permanent based mill is bad but use Orb and Shriekhorn.
Surgical Extraction is win more card? I beleive for this build its an absolute must have sb card vs combo decks.
Excited about the current line of discussion going on. Glad we have different philosophies to bounce off of one another. I will humbly submit mine. First off, an individual card evaluation for some of the more contested choices:
Visions of Beyond is the core of the engine. It gives us reach and pushes us through the 20-40 cards milled section of the game (where before we're emptying our opening hand and after we're hopefully Shelldocking into the goal). Anyone who doesn't run the playset I feel is dramatically limiting their mid- to late-game potential.
Jace's Phantasm is a staple. Usually ends up being a big dumb blocker that just stuffs a lot of threats. Often times becomes the alt-kill con. A 4 turn clock in the air is no joke, and often times our opponents aren't too worried about their life totals. Yes, dies to removal. I get it. But I will gladly eat a removal spell on my fatty to keep my crab milling away.
Darkness is simply not appropriate in this meta. Fatal Push is still being digested and while that is happening is putting a blockade on a lot of aggro strategies. Fogs are basically bad Time Warps. Sure, during Eldrazi Winter I ran Darkness and it did a fair job. But not now.
Fatal Push is good. I still prefer Path to Exile as I am on the Esper train and the ability to activate Archive Trap is invaluable. Does ramping your opponent periodically suck? Sure does. But I think the benefits outweight the costs. If you're on Dimir, then by all means jam a playset of Pushes in there. But if you're already running 4 Paths then I think going for removal 5-8 is overkill. Muddies up the opening hands and reduces your potency for top-decking your way to victory.
Tome Scour is a no. Not enough punch for a card out of your hand. I'd rather say "land, go" first turn then try to run impotent mill like this and dilute your deck damage. And with Phantasm and Crab, you USUALLY have a strong T1 drop.
Thought Scour is also a no but for very different reasons. I tried this handsome devil out for a good month or so as a 4-of. Tried to run lower to the ground. Wasn't awful. The big problems were 1) it made opening hands involving them reeeeally difficult to evaluate and 2) in very fast matches the one extra mana spent really taxed your tempo. If we're only able to go 5 turns and we PERFECTLY curve out, that means we get 15 total mana all game long. Dropping one for mill 2 cards is rough. I am open towards being proven wrong on this one.
Breaking/Entering I am gonna group in with Tome Scour and say it doesn't have enough punch. Most notably, it doesn't turn on your phantasms. Stylistically, I can see this slotting into the all-in burn style of mill. But I am of the opinion that if you're going that route you'd be better off playing actual burn. Does the same thing more consistently and often times more quickly.
Surgical Extraction is ABSOLUTELY VITAL, but in the sideboard. I think maining it just does too little to aggressive or go-wide strategies which are the biggest consistent problems we face. Obviously this is one of the most ongoing debates on this thread, and I fully realize there is validity in wanting to main it. But the insta-wins it gives us are usually in matches we're already strong against (Ad Naus, Scapeshift, Tron, etc.) Along that line of logic, I think Extirpate is entirely unnecessary, as 4 extraction effects is plenty.
Ensnaring Bridge versus Ghostly Prison seems to be the other big debate. Strong arguments exist on both sides. I personally favor the prisons. Bridge stops them entirely IF you can empty your hand fast enough to turn it on. Prison slows them down and taxes them if you've got a Mesmeric Orb down and doesn't need any conditions met after you cast it. Bridge also non-bo's with Visions of Beyond and you already know I'm a big believer in Visions. Overall I think we can all agree that one of these options is definitely needed in the 75 and tends to do more good than harm if included in the 60.
Manic Scribe I just never liked. Too inconsistent, too high of a bar to turn him on, too easily whacked once online.
Mind Funeral I also don't like. I run two because you kinda have to run some. But the inconsistency drives me mad. I've hit for 24. I've hit for 5. You just never know. And yeaaaah, I guess you can count on Ghost Quarter to thin things out or try and set it up by extracting some lands, but overall I think that's not gonna up the consistency much. I think this is one aspect of the deck that I just have to accept.
Startled Awake is something I've had as a 2-of for a while. Now it's a 1-of. The four mana cost is rough, no arguments here. But it hits a consistent 13. I think I've bounced it out of the graveyard a total of twice in my life, so that effect isn't thrillingly useful. But it gives you another very juicy Shelldock Isle target and often by the end of the game you can hard cast it without too much issue. Jury is still out here, but I'm keeping the one in.
Trapmaker's Snare was in my original build, I took it out for many months and it just came back in. Now that I'm better with the deck, this card puts in WORK. Basically becomes Archive Trap numbers 5 and 6 in my deck. Also opens a couple fun sideboard options in Ravenous Trap for Dredge, Emmy and Snapcaster-heavy decks and Refraction Trap for literally anything running creatures and lightning bolts together (which there is a metric crapton of). It's a weird choice I know, but it's working for me.
Spellskite. Where the hell has he been this whole conversation? Everyone is whining about how burn and infect bash our faces in. Spellskite is MASSIVE in both of those matchups. Also helps against suicide zoo, kiln fiend combo and a lot of fringe jank. Solid blocker with an awesome ability we don't always have to pay life for (because blue) that is easy on the mana base. What's not to love?
Round 1 - Mono U Tron
Game 1 - Played this guy before. He just can't beat mill. His kill cons are few in number and not too impressive once dropped. I was able to get a good mill on him before he just shut down every move I made with counterspells. Like OMG this guy had counters for days. A single phantasm did the deed beatdown style.
-2 trap snare, -2 crypt inc, -2 prison, +3 disenchant, +3 surg extract
Game 2 - He kept a one lander and stayed there for entirely too long. Couldn't come back.
2-0, record 1-0
Round 2 - GR Tron
Game 1 - Yay more Tron! This guy is pretty serious. Game one he hits natural Tron turn 3. I end up having to hammer through 2 oblivion stones and 2 karns before top-decking a glimpse for the kill. You could tell he didn't believe I beat him.
-1 crypt inc, -2 prison, +3 surg extract
Game 2 - He did that thing where he just added his sideboard into his deck thinking that'd slow me down. Lo and behold, he mulligans away hand #1 (no land) and keeps hand #2 with a pair of Urza's Towers in it. Those are the only lands he saw all game. The salt was real. Quite fun for me.
2-0, record 2-0
Round 3 - Jeskai Flyers
Game 1 - This guy normally runs Ad Nauseum, so it disappointed me to see the change. Came at me with Judge's Familiars and Mausoleum Wanderer and that +1/+1 anthem for all flyers. Actually stuffed a lot of my mill which was annoying. I got the prison/orb combo on him, but he was able to pound me out before it closed the deal (his deck was in single digits though)
-1 startled awake, -1 trap snare, +2 prison
Game 2 - Got the prion/orb online turn three. He was stalled out. I start milling. Notice Nahiri, the Harbinger. Dammit, he sided in Emrakul. He made a mistake and accidentally shuffled his graveyard into his library, so I COULD have gotten a game win there and adjusted accordingly, but it was an honest mistake and it's my local shop and I see this dude a lot. I told him to show me Emmy, he did, I gave it to him regardless.
0-2, record 2-1
Round 4 - Abzan Toolbox
Game 1 - After quite the epic back and forth, he was able to assemble an infinite combo off the back of a Reveillark and the graveyard fodder I provided. Again, deck in the single-digits by the end.
-2 prison, -1 startled awake, +3 surg extract
Game 2 - Extracted the Viscera Seer and incursioned for 33. GG
Game 3 - I got a slooooow start. He was able to drop a couple beaters and just keep beating. Outran me.
1-2, record 2-2
Round 5 - Jank Temur Storm
Game 1 - Cool enough deck. Trying to stack a lot of overgrowth effects on a single land, use a bunch of twiddles and past in flames to a grapeshot victory. But we wreck these decks. So I wrecked him.
-2 prison, -4 path, -2 crypt inc, +3 disenchant, +3 surg extract, +2 ravenous trap
Game 2 - Got 3 crabs down pretty quick and never missed a land drop. Disenchanted his first attempt top ramp. Ravenous trapped his graveyard for good measure.
2-0, record 3-2
Please note that I never mentioned the fact that you did not have the skills to pilot a more controlsih deck: your whole article as well as the effort put in the deep analysis of every single card we could put in our 75 shows that you have a great understanding of how the deck works.
But I wonder if the fact that you heavily rely on pure numbers and statistics does not conditions what leads you to certain assertions. I am 100% convinced by your demonstrations, and with the exception of Shriekhorn, I played a list very similar to yours for a time, but had worse results than with my actual list. The fact is, I can't bring any in depth analysis like yours because it is simply not the way I think or I like to work, so my point won't convince you at all, and you can feel free to call me a mystic !
I will be pretty busy testing the 3 aforementioned lists, so I just can't volunteer for testing yours too. But if you are playing on MTGO (which I think you do, otherwise, I cannot see how you managed to test the deck that mush in a competitive field), it would be great if you could take your last results and give your odds against most popular decks.
I think everyone here would be happy to see Mil become a common Tier 3 or Tier 2 deck, so if one list proves to be good enough for it, it will be cheers and applauses !
SkyLagger, just gotta say I think your opinions are awesome, well articulated, and share some realism to them. Keep thinking and testing!
I also previously tried a "pure aggro mill" that goldfished very well, but didn't stack up in actual games. We ARE slower than most opponents, so we need to take the control angle, and that requires removal and disruption for us. I think your 3 decks are all very viable options (with the small critiques I offered above), and I would definitely be supportive of you taking over the original primer post in this thread with a combination of them. They outline the different options and approaches of mill in the current meta.
Round 1 - Mono U Tron
Game 1 - Played this guy before. He just can't beat mill. His kill cons are few in number and not too impressive once dropped. I was able to get a good mill on him before he just shut down every move I made with counterspells. Like OMG this guy had counters for days. A single phantasm did the deed beatdown style.
-2 trap snare, -2 crypt inc, -2 prison, +3 disenchant, +3 surg extract
Game 2 - He kept a one lander and stayed there for entirely too long. Couldn't come back.
2-0, record 1-0
Round 2 - GR Tron
Game 1 - Yay more Tron! This guy is pretty serious. Game one he hits natural Tron turn 3. I end up having to hammer through 2 oblivion stones and 2 karns before top-decking a glimpse for the kill. You could tell he didn't believe I beat him.
-1 crypt inc, -2 prison, +3 surg extract
Game 2 - He did that thing where he just added his sideboard into his deck thinking that'd slow me down. Lo and behold, he mulligans away hand #1 (no land) and keeps hand #2 with a pair of Urza's Towers in it. Those are the only lands he saw all game. The salt was real. Quite fun for me.
2-0, record 2-0
Round 3 - Jeskai Flyers
Game 1 - This guy normally runs Ad Nauseum, so it disappointed me to see the change. Came at me with Judge's Familiars and Mausoleum Wanderer and that +1/+1 anthem for all flyers. Actually stuffed a lot of my mill which was annoying. I got the prison/orb combo on him, but he was able to pound me out before it closed the deal (his deck was in single digits though)
-1 startled awake, -1 trap snare, +2 prison
Game 2 - Got the prion/orb online turn three. He was stalled out. I start milling. Notice Nahiri, the Harbinger. Dammit, he sided in Emrakul. He made a mistake and accidentally shuffled his graveyard into his library, so I COULD have gotten a game win there and adjusted accordingly, but it was an honest mistake and it's my local shop and I see this dude a lot. I told him to show me Emmy, he did, I gave it to him regardless.
0-2, record 2-1
Round 4 - Abzan Toolbox
Game 1 - After quite the epic back and forth, he was able to assemble an infinite combo off the back of a Reveillark and the graveyard fodder I provided. Again, deck in the single-digits by the end.
-2 prison, -1 startled awake, +3 surg extract
Game 2 - Extracted the Viscera Seer and incursioned for 33. GG
Game 3 - I got a slooooow start. He was able to drop a couple beaters and just keep beating. Outran me.
1-2, record 2-2
Round 5 - Jank Temur Storm
Game 1 - Cool enough deck. Trying to stack a lot of overgrowth effects on a single land, use a bunch of twiddles and past in flames to a grapeshot victory. But we wreck these decks. So I wrecked him.
-2 prison, -4 path, -2 crypt inc, +3 disenchant, +3 surg extract, +2 ravenous trap
Game 2 - Got 3 crabs down pretty quick and never missed a land drop. Disenchanted his first attempt top ramp. Ravenous trapped his graveyard for good measure.
2-0, record 3-2
Thanks for the writeup! Sounds like a decent mix of decks at your FNMs.
Regarding Surgical, just wanted to point out you sided them in 4/5 matches, but you still don't think they deserve a spot in the main?
Regarding Surgical, just wanted to point out you sided them in 4/5 matches, but you still don't think they deserve a spot in the main?
Absolutely. Just so happened I hit a combo-heavy mix this go around. I can tell you at that same tournament was an infect, two burns, a UR prowess, a value Abzan (comboless) and a Jund.
I stand by the fact that it draws dead against low to the ground creature strategies to be viable in the main. But again, just my opinion.
For sure, we've each got our preferences I like all your opinions on the cards in your post above!
I was debating going to Twincast in my list, but was thinking it would also be a bad top-deck. It got me thinking to use Breaking in that slot... I agree it's a little underpowered, but drawing into it late game instead of a Twincast with no spell to twin would definitely be preferable. I read Pesistratos' primer about being able to cast Entering off of Shelldock Isle as a possible synergy, then thought about it; if my opponent has less than 20 cards in his library, would I rather get a creature from their graveyard, or mill out 8 more cards? I think the answer would almost always be to mill, which makes that kind of a false synergy. He gives the example of instant-speed to grab Emrakul (in which case his trigger still goes) but you need to be lucky enough to have milled 40+ cards and not seen Emmy yet, also an unlikely scenario.
Greg, I've debated about Trapmaker's Snare myself, as it does allow a toolbox type addition to the deck. I'm in UB, but I debated it for Ravenous Trap and possibly even Whiplash Trap in the sideboard to help against flood decks. How have you found it in general for just grabbing the extra Archive Traps for example? Do you ever find it to be dead? I find that Archive Trap likely gets cast T1 or T2, or gets hardcast, and that Trapmaker's Snare would often be too expensive to grab that early. I run 3 Ghost Quarters but no Path to Exile; I can see the Snare gets better with Paths in the deck, but maybe 3 GQ would be sufficient.
Edited to add: I think your 1-of Startled Awake is a decent play. I end up hardcasting Archive Trap more often than I'd like to, so the same effect but 1 mana cheaper isn't bad. It's also good value; if I can mind Funeral for 13 I'm usually pretty happy, so paying 1 more mana to guarantee 13 is worth it in my opinion. Have you ever brought it back from the graveyard?
Played in a small eight-person tourney last night (the turnout was nearly halved, as a group coming in from out of town cancelled due to weather). I did us proud with this list:
Round 1: Faced a removal-heavy B/W deck with tokens and Planeswalkers. Unfortunately for my opponent, all of his boardwipes and spot removal had Crabs alone to target, and his other threats proved too slow and too easily removed by my own spot removal spells. Game 1 saw the Crab/Orb/Prison curve play out by T3, and Paths and Pushes kept me safe until a couple mill spells blew him out.
Sided in Lingering Souls x2, Needle, and a third Prison in place of Incursions and Extractions. We both had slower starts, but by T4 I had a pair of Orbs and Spirits down. A few turns and two Mill spells later, my Ghost Quarter on a Shambling Vent triggered the fetch into Archive Trap for the game. 2-0.
Round 2: Nahiri Control. My opponent drew into his Emrakul game one, and after some back and forth play I milled him out with 11 life remaining. Sided in Needle, Extirpate, and Incursion (simply as another out to Emmy) in place of Prisons and a Push. I should perhaps have sided in Lingering Souls as well in place of two more Pushes, just to chump Snapcaster beats if nothing else. Game 2 I kept a suboptimal hand with an Extraction, and on the opponent's second turn, his fetch triggered an Archive Trap. Emmy was milled, I played Extraction, he responded with Mana Leak. Couldn't recover.
Game 3 was insane. I mulliganed an otherwise perfect hand because it had no Extraction effects, then kept my 6 with an Extirpate. T1 he fetched, I greedily played Trap, and Emmy jumped out to reset the yard. Opponent played very passively thenceforth. On T3 my Glimpse milled out Emmy, and my Extirpate was ready, bypassing his handful of counterspells. Feels good, man. I seemed to be in with a chance despite losing out on 30 or so milled cards, but then my opponent dropped an Elixir of Immortality, which I never would have expected to see come out of the sideboard. I was able to weather his threats long enough to force the Elixir activation, and later milled it away, finally excising the last of the anti-mill tech, but in the end the resets were too strong, and he killed me with about half his deck remaining. 1-2.
Round 3: Affinity. Game one, turn one, his entire hand dropped, as did my jaw. Despite that, it wasn't too obscene without a Cranial Plating, but between Signal Pest, Vault Skirge, Arcbound Ravager, and a trio of Ornithopters, he had me lined up for the early kill. Fortunately, I had an amazing progression myself, with T1 Crab into T2 fetch and Glimpse, T3 fetch and Glimpse with a Push on his turn. Hit a massive Incursion on T4, forcing the scoop. Sided in 2x Fragmentize, 2x Stony Silence, Needle, and 1 each of Verdict and Souls in place of 4x Archive Trap, 2x Extraction, and a Breaking.
Game 2 he played an early Cranial Playing that I couldn't remove. With a Crab and Orb down, I was able to answer every equipping with a spot removal for 3 turns, but he was chipping away in the meantime, and eventually he had more creatures to equip than I had removals. One more turn of survival and I would have milled him--13 cards in his deck and I had a Glimpse in hand. Game 3 was similar, only I had a pair of Orbs and a heavier suite of spot removal. Kept him off the attack, and on T6 I played Glimpse into Funeral for the GG. 2-1.
Tied for second place, and was very happy with how the deck ran against one easy matchup and a lot of tough ones.
Might add more thoughts later, but for now that's all. Thanks for reading!
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My thoughts:
List 1:
3 Surgicals main and 3 Extirpate in the side is probably a bit much, and you can probably make use of those sideboard slots more effectively. I'm split on Profane Memento - it's good in the same matches that Crypt Incursion is good, so not sure how I feel about having both. It might be an idea, as you've done in the other lists, to include some Dispels to make sure your Crypt Incursion gets through a Skullcrack for example. I like Leyline of Sanctity in Esper colours, stops a lots of spell based Burn, Lightning Storm, Valakut etc, but for the most part those are good matchups for us. It's also good against Jund and 8-rack like you mentioned, which would be bad matchups for us. Great Esper list in general, I've just personally found that Esper manabase is too painful when all you're splashing for is Path (but Path can definitely be worth splashing for and you get sideboard slots). Give you're in Esper, I think I'd want Stony Silence and Ghostly Prison in the board. Also, I think we disagree about Crabs when they're your only non-Snapcaster creatures, I think they're not worth it.
List 2:
Very close to my list, so I like it! Same thing with Extirpates in the board, a bit much, and same thing about the Crabs. 3 Ensnaring Bridge main, interesting. Makes me wonder about putting both of mine in the mainboard.
List 3:
Love it! Breaking//Entering for us isn't a dead card even if we have to cast it without Yahennis. Yahennis is a good sweeper anyway, let alone with the free spell attached. If that free spell is Breaking//Entering, we're in business. Fabulous idea that makes me want to test it out too. I like the unconditional kill of Damnation, but Yahenni's is always a huge tempo boost for us.
I noticed you run 3 Shelldock Isles in all of your lists. You haven't found any problems with the ETB tapped aspect of it? It's sometimes nice to have to get that last bit of gas/card advantage at the end of the game for the kill though. I only run 1 but might go to 2
Bad advice, you never want a dead draw like that. So what if my spells go back in, it just makes my library the same composition as it was before, there's no advantage to it, and perhaps even makes it worse. Your fetches go back in, your Snapcasters in hand have no targets anymore, any spells you've already snapped don't get shuffled back in so it further dilutes your good spells. If your library is in danger of getting milled before your opponent, you're doing something horribly wrong, given that you should also be hitting their library with your mill spells.
Back to Inquisition talk, I agree that it's a bad top-deck, and never a target for Snapcaster. It's entirely possible you use it and have no targets for them to discard, which sucks. But early game as a way to slow down either their creatures or their ramp, it is an awesome play - I like having two, it seems like a good amount.
I already had Breaking//Entering, but I put in an order for Yahenni's Expertise to try out that combo. I think it may require some practice to optimize lines of play, so unless it blows me away immediately, I'll likely leave it out of my list for the tournament in 2.5 weeks. I unfortunately won't get enough games in with it between now and then I don't think.
By the time all your mill spells have been milled by your orbs, your opponent is already dead from the same Orb, and probably one of your mill spells. There is no reason for us to need to recur our own graveyard. If you're running a titan or that Timepiece in your deck, strong suggestion to take it out - it's hurting your odds of winning.
Your landbase looks good (I personally prefer Oboro to Shelldock, but your reasoning for the latter is valid), but I'd really like to see a basic Plains in there. You're dead against Blood Moon otherwise--a fringe case, admittedly, but between that the the ability to fetch pain-free untapped white mana, I've never regretted having a Plains around. With two Islands in the list, a straight basic-for-basic swap is possible. You could also add a 22nd land in the form of a Plains, for reasons I'll get into below.
I agree with your logic here: with an Orb/Caster setup, your spell counts are for all intents and purposes artificially inflated. For that reason, I think it's more feasible to run 1- or 2-ofs that it would otherwise be.
You seem dedicated to the 3/3 Extraction effect layout, which is very intriguing--please let us know how it plays out. Leaving those aside, Incursion stands out as something that could drop to two. You're using it the right way (early on targeting your yard, a few turns later targeting the enemy's), but between Snapcaster recursion and he potential to drawing multiples, there's only so much you can get out of the card...plus it's a dead draw in certain matchups.
This may be unpopular, but Visions could go down to 3 as well. My playtesting has lead me to believe that 4 Visions results in you using them as a cantrip with no other effects too often. It's wonderful that the card at least replaces itself, but cantripping for one mana is not where we want to be.
So there's room to shave away an Incursion, a Visions, and perhaps an Extraction if you so desire. Here's where adding the 22nd land becomes easy and serves as a straight improvement to your mana base. Alternatively or additionally, you could include a one-drop with potential for recursion: Damnation or Verdict, for instance. I'll also throw Lingering Souls up for consideration as a card that provides us Flashback utility after getting milled away by Orb.
Agree with Keith on the sideboard: Prison/Bridge and Stony Silence are highly recommended. the Leyline idea is solid; let us know how it plays out!
I don't side in Surgical vs Junk, Jund, Affinity and Blood Moon (in UB, vs Esper Blood Moon is dangerous) so I don't think meta justifies mainboarding it.
I deal with GBx and Affinity with removal. I don't think GBx are afraid of you extracting their Goyfs. They are like "you extracted my Goyf? I don't care, I have buffed Grim Flayer, Ooze, Kommand anyways and you slowed down yourself for 1 turn". Even the best case scenario of hitting a card in their hand can be worse than commonplace Breaking since you spent a card to mill 1-2 (2 is highest value since 1 card was in gy and 1 in hand) and their hand can be full of threats. And there are a lot of other ways things can go: you don't have a good target in gy, they played Goyf already, opp doesn't have Goyf in hand which are much more likely.
Regarding your lists:
I think the correct number for Crypt Incursion is 2. You want to draw a single Incursion and you want to cast it late. And there are many matchups where it doesn't do much.
7 mainboard removals is too many imo. You start a game with 3 lands, 1 mill and 3 removals, do you keep? Well since you placed these cards into your deck they are supposed to be good and you should keep. But then you lose the game. So this build generates bad starting hands. And there are matchups where you don't need removal at all.
I think lone Path is not a good reason to splash white, Fatal Push + Murderous Cut can substitute it.
I prefer 3-4 Shelldock Isles, mana sinks and reach are important.
I don't use Snapcaster Mage, champ blocker for 2 more mana is not what I want to do with this deck. If I ran Snap + Bridge I would use 23 lands.
Yahenni's Expertise/Breaking looks bad. We don't want a weak sweeper in every matchup, we don't need a creature from a gy. You cut Crab, one of our best cards to run it, that another negative aspect. Maybe it will end well but I doubt it.
@KeithsGenome
Jace is Jack of all trades, master of none, he loots, enables delirium, slows down opponent, mana sink.
Dismember is used because it kills more than Fatal Push and second Murderous Cut is soso. I feel like metagame shifted and Fatal Push has less good targets than month ago. Victim of Night can be straight uncastable, trust me I play monoB decks and also it misses a number of targets.
I use Mishra's Bauble and Sphinx Tutelage for delirium.
G Green Stompy
RG Shamans
UB Mill
UG Infect
WUBRG Slivers!
I'm confused. First, aren't we in that thread right now? Second, if that link is to your primer, but the quoted post was your first one ever on this site, where does that link actually go?
My 720 Peasant Cube
He suggests following list:
3x Flooded Strand
3x Marsh Flats
4x Polluted Delta
1x Darkslick Shores
4x Shelldock Isle
2x Island
2x Swamp
2x Watery Grave
Mill 28
4x Archive Trap
4x Breaking / Entering
4x Glimpse the Unthinkable
4x Mesmeric Orb
4x Hedron Crab
4x Shriekhorn
4x Tome Scour
4x Visions of Beyond
Defence 7
3x Crypt Incursion
4x Darkness
3x Darkblast
4x Fatal Push
4x Nihil Spellbomb
4x Set Adrift
Also I didnt find any results of testing or tournament finishes
G Green Stompy
RG Shamans
UB Mill
UG Infect
WUBRG Slivers!
I couldn't find his comments on Thoughtscour but for a 1 drop I think drawing a card is more valuable than milling 3 additional cards or it can replace Shriekhorn (whichever is worse between it and Tome Scour).
And I disagree on many points
Mind Funeral, from what calculations did you conclude that it mills 9 on average? That means 4 lands / 5 spells ratio in opp's deck which averages to 27 lands
The list has many 4-offs. That can be a sign of a novice deckbuilder.
Claims that g1 against Infect and Burn are unwinnable. This makes me think you didnt play these matchups enough. Infect has about 5 turns clock without its pump spells. There is a real chance you can neutralize them with 4 blockers and 4 fogs. Burn scoops to single resolved Crypt Incursion. Provided they are not familiar with your deck (we shouldnt assume that all games of magic are played on protour, right?), low skullcrack counts nowadays and aggressive use of Atarka's Command its not that hard. Fog is 'Gain four life' which is good also.
I dont understand fear of Hatebears either. They slow us down with Thalia, Arbiter and Thought-Knot but not much and they are slow on their own.
The justification of absence of removal seems strange to me. 'We dont have space for removal because we need space for mill' and 'removal in modern is bad'. Really? If you use Fog to nullify two creature attack, than Fatal Push is equal in life gain if you kill a creature and prevent its attacks for two turns. Subsequent turns make Fatal Push a bigger value.
You say that permanent based mill is bad but use Orb and Shriekhorn.
Surgical Extraction is win more card? I beleive for this build its an absolute must have sb card vs combo decks.
G Green Stompy
RG Shamans
UB Mill
UG Infect
WUBRG Slivers!
Visions of Beyond is the core of the engine. It gives us reach and pushes us through the 20-40 cards milled section of the game (where before we're emptying our opening hand and after we're hopefully Shelldocking into the goal). Anyone who doesn't run the playset I feel is dramatically limiting their mid- to late-game potential.
Jace's Phantasm is a staple. Usually ends up being a big dumb blocker that just stuffs a lot of threats. Often times becomes the alt-kill con. A 4 turn clock in the air is no joke, and often times our opponents aren't too worried about their life totals. Yes, dies to removal. I get it. But I will gladly eat a removal spell on my fatty to keep my crab milling away.
Darkness is simply not appropriate in this meta. Fatal Push is still being digested and while that is happening is putting a blockade on a lot of aggro strategies. Fogs are basically bad Time Warps. Sure, during Eldrazi Winter I ran Darkness and it did a fair job. But not now.
Fatal Push is good. I still prefer Path to Exile as I am on the Esper train and the ability to activate Archive Trap is invaluable. Does ramping your opponent periodically suck? Sure does. But I think the benefits outweight the costs. If you're on Dimir, then by all means jam a playset of Pushes in there. But if you're already running 4 Paths then I think going for removal 5-8 is overkill. Muddies up the opening hands and reduces your potency for top-decking your way to victory.
Tome Scour is a no. Not enough punch for a card out of your hand. I'd rather say "land, go" first turn then try to run impotent mill like this and dilute your deck damage. And with Phantasm and Crab, you USUALLY have a strong T1 drop.
Thought Scour is also a no but for very different reasons. I tried this handsome devil out for a good month or so as a 4-of. Tried to run lower to the ground. Wasn't awful. The big problems were 1) it made opening hands involving them reeeeally difficult to evaluate and 2) in very fast matches the one extra mana spent really taxed your tempo. If we're only able to go 5 turns and we PERFECTLY curve out, that means we get 15 total mana all game long. Dropping one for mill 2 cards is rough. I am open towards being proven wrong on this one.
Breaking/Entering I am gonna group in with Tome Scour and say it doesn't have enough punch. Most notably, it doesn't turn on your phantasms. Stylistically, I can see this slotting into the all-in burn style of mill. But I am of the opinion that if you're going that route you'd be better off playing actual burn. Does the same thing more consistently and often times more quickly.
Surgical Extraction is ABSOLUTELY VITAL, but in the sideboard. I think maining it just does too little to aggressive or go-wide strategies which are the biggest consistent problems we face. Obviously this is one of the most ongoing debates on this thread, and I fully realize there is validity in wanting to main it. But the insta-wins it gives us are usually in matches we're already strong against (Ad Naus, Scapeshift, Tron, etc.) Along that line of logic, I think Extirpate is entirely unnecessary, as 4 extraction effects is plenty.
Ensnaring Bridge versus Ghostly Prison seems to be the other big debate. Strong arguments exist on both sides. I personally favor the prisons. Bridge stops them entirely IF you can empty your hand fast enough to turn it on. Prison slows them down and taxes them if you've got a Mesmeric Orb down and doesn't need any conditions met after you cast it. Bridge also non-bo's with Visions of Beyond and you already know I'm a big believer in Visions. Overall I think we can all agree that one of these options is definitely needed in the 75 and tends to do more good than harm if included in the 60.
Manic Scribe I just never liked. Too inconsistent, too high of a bar to turn him on, too easily whacked once online.
Mind Funeral I also don't like. I run two because you kinda have to run some. But the inconsistency drives me mad. I've hit for 24. I've hit for 5. You just never know. And yeaaaah, I guess you can count on Ghost Quarter to thin things out or try and set it up by extracting some lands, but overall I think that's not gonna up the consistency much. I think this is one aspect of the deck that I just have to accept.
Startled Awake is something I've had as a 2-of for a while. Now it's a 1-of. The four mana cost is rough, no arguments here. But it hits a consistent 13. I think I've bounced it out of the graveyard a total of twice in my life, so that effect isn't thrillingly useful. But it gives you another very juicy Shelldock Isle target and often by the end of the game you can hard cast it without too much issue. Jury is still out here, but I'm keeping the one in.
Trapmaker's Snare was in my original build, I took it out for many months and it just came back in. Now that I'm better with the deck, this card puts in WORK. Basically becomes Archive Trap numbers 5 and 6 in my deck. Also opens a couple fun sideboard options in Ravenous Trap for Dredge, Emmy and Snapcaster-heavy decks and Refraction Trap for literally anything running creatures and lightning bolts together (which there is a metric crapton of). It's a weird choice I know, but it's working for me.
Spellskite. Where the hell has he been this whole conversation? Everyone is whining about how burn and infect bash our faces in. Spellskite is MASSIVE in both of those matchups. Also helps against suicide zoo, kiln fiend combo and a lot of fringe jank. Solid blocker with an awesome ability we don't always have to pay life for (because blue) that is easy on the mana base. What's not to love?
4 Jace's Phantasm
4 Path to Exile
4 Visions of Beyond
4 Glimpse the Unthinkable
4 Mesmeric Orb
2 Trapmaker's Snare
2 Crypt Incursion
2 Ghostly Prison
2 Mind Funeral
1 Startled Awake
4 Archive Trap
1 Darkslick Shores
4 Flooded Strand
2 Ghost Quarter
1 Glacial Fortress
1 Godless Shrine
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Island
1 Marsh Flats
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
1 Plains
4 Polluted Delta
2 Shelldock Isle
1 Swamp
2 Watery Grave
3 Spellskite
3 Surgical Extraction
3 Disenchant
2 Ghostly Prison
2 Ravenous Trap
2 Refraction Trap
Round 1 - Mono U Tron
Game 1 - Played this guy before. He just can't beat mill. His kill cons are few in number and not too impressive once dropped. I was able to get a good mill on him before he just shut down every move I made with counterspells. Like OMG this guy had counters for days. A single phantasm did the deed beatdown style.
-2 trap snare, -2 crypt inc, -2 prison, +3 disenchant, +3 surg extract
Game 2 - He kept a one lander and stayed there for entirely too long. Couldn't come back.
2-0, record 1-0
Round 2 - GR Tron
Game 1 - Yay more Tron! This guy is pretty serious. Game one he hits natural Tron turn 3. I end up having to hammer through 2 oblivion stones and 2 karns before top-decking a glimpse for the kill. You could tell he didn't believe I beat him.
-1 crypt inc, -2 prison, +3 surg extract
Game 2 - He did that thing where he just added his sideboard into his deck thinking that'd slow me down. Lo and behold, he mulligans away hand #1 (no land) and keeps hand #2 with a pair of Urza's Towers in it. Those are the only lands he saw all game. The salt was real. Quite fun for me.
2-0, record 2-0
Round 3 - Jeskai Flyers
Game 1 - This guy normally runs Ad Nauseum, so it disappointed me to see the change. Came at me with Judge's Familiars and Mausoleum Wanderer and that +1/+1 anthem for all flyers. Actually stuffed a lot of my mill which was annoying. I got the prison/orb combo on him, but he was able to pound me out before it closed the deal (his deck was in single digits though)
-1 startled awake, -1 trap snare, +2 prison
Game 2 - Got the prion/orb online turn three. He was stalled out. I start milling. Notice Nahiri, the Harbinger. Dammit, he sided in Emrakul. He made a mistake and accidentally shuffled his graveyard into his library, so I COULD have gotten a game win there and adjusted accordingly, but it was an honest mistake and it's my local shop and I see this dude a lot. I told him to show me Emmy, he did, I gave it to him regardless.
0-2, record 2-1
Round 4 - Abzan Toolbox
Game 1 - After quite the epic back and forth, he was able to assemble an infinite combo off the back of a Reveillark and the graveyard fodder I provided. Again, deck in the single-digits by the end.
-2 prison, -1 startled awake, +3 surg extract
Game 2 - Extracted the Viscera Seer and incursioned for 33. GG
Game 3 - I got a slooooow start. He was able to drop a couple beaters and just keep beating. Outran me.
1-2, record 2-2
Round 5 - Jank Temur Storm
Game 1 - Cool enough deck. Trying to stack a lot of overgrowth effects on a single land, use a bunch of twiddles and past in flames to a grapeshot victory. But we wreck these decks. So I wrecked him.
-2 prison, -4 path, -2 crypt inc, +3 disenchant, +3 surg extract, +2 ravenous trap
Game 2 - Got 3 crabs down pretty quick and never missed a land drop. Disenchanted his first attempt top ramp. Ravenous trapped his graveyard for good measure.
2-0, record 3-2
SkyLagger, just gotta say I think your opinions are awesome, well articulated, and share some realism to them. Keep thinking and testing!
I also previously tried a "pure aggro mill" that goldfished very well, but didn't stack up in actual games. We ARE slower than most opponents, so we need to take the control angle, and that requires removal and disruption for us. I think your 3 decks are all very viable options (with the small critiques I offered above), and I would definitely be supportive of you taking over the original primer post in this thread with a combination of them. They outline the different options and approaches of mill in the current meta.
Thanks for the writeup! Sounds like a decent mix of decks at your FNMs.
Regarding Surgical, just wanted to point out you sided them in 4/5 matches, but you still don't think they deserve a spot in the main?
Absolutely. Just so happened I hit a combo-heavy mix this go around. I can tell you at that same tournament was an infect, two burns, a UR prowess, a value Abzan (comboless) and a Jund.
I stand by the fact that it draws dead against low to the ground creature strategies to be viable in the main. But again, just my opinion.
I was debating going to Twincast in my list, but was thinking it would also be a bad top-deck. It got me thinking to use Breaking in that slot... I agree it's a little underpowered, but drawing into it late game instead of a Twincast with no spell to twin would definitely be preferable. I read Pesistratos' primer about being able to cast Entering off of Shelldock Isle as a possible synergy, then thought about it; if my opponent has less than 20 cards in his library, would I rather get a creature from their graveyard, or mill out 8 more cards? I think the answer would almost always be to mill, which makes that kind of a false synergy. He gives the example of instant-speed to grab Emrakul (in which case his trigger still goes) but you need to be lucky enough to have milled 40+ cards and not seen Emmy yet, also an unlikely scenario.
Greg, I've debated about Trapmaker's Snare myself, as it does allow a toolbox type addition to the deck. I'm in UB, but I debated it for Ravenous Trap and possibly even Whiplash Trap in the sideboard to help against flood decks. How have you found it in general for just grabbing the extra Archive Traps for example? Do you ever find it to be dead? I find that Archive Trap likely gets cast T1 or T2, or gets hardcast, and that Trapmaker's Snare would often be too expensive to grab that early. I run 3 Ghost Quarters but no Path to Exile; I can see the Snare gets better with Paths in the deck, but maybe 3 GQ would be sufficient.
Edited to add: I think your 1-of Startled Awake is a decent play. I end up hardcasting Archive Trap more often than I'd like to, so the same effect but 1 mana cheaper isn't bad. It's also good value; if I can mind Funeral for 13 I'm usually pretty happy, so paying 1 more mana to guarantee 13 is worth it in my opinion. Have you ever brought it back from the graveyard?
Played in a small eight-person tourney last night (the turnout was nearly halved, as a group coming in from out of town cancelled due to weather). I did us proud with this list:
2 Watery Grave
1 Godless Shrine
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
1 Island
1 Swamp
1 Plains
2 Darkslick Shores
1 Seachrome Coast
2 Ghost Quarter
1 River of Tears
4 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
4 Hedron Crab
Artifacts:
4 Mesmeric Orb
Enchantments:
2 Ghostly Prison
Instants:
2 Crypt Incursion
2 Surgical Extraction
4 Archive Trap
4 Path to Exile
4 Fatal Push
3 Visions of Beyond
Sorceries
2 Breaking//Entering
3 Mind Funeral
4 Glimpse the Unthinkable
1 Pithing Needle
1 Ghostly Prison
1 Extirpate
1 Spellskite
1 Crypt Incursion
2 Profane Memento
2 Fragmentize
2 Stony Silence
2 Supreme Verdict
2 Lingering Souls
Round 1: Faced a removal-heavy B/W deck with tokens and Planeswalkers. Unfortunately for my opponent, all of his boardwipes and spot removal had Crabs alone to target, and his other threats proved too slow and too easily removed by my own spot removal spells. Game 1 saw the Crab/Orb/Prison curve play out by T3, and Paths and Pushes kept me safe until a couple mill spells blew him out.
Sided in Lingering Souls x2, Needle, and a third Prison in place of Incursions and Extractions. We both had slower starts, but by T4 I had a pair of Orbs and Spirits down. A few turns and two Mill spells later, my Ghost Quarter on a Shambling Vent triggered the fetch into Archive Trap for the game. 2-0.
Round 2: Nahiri Control. My opponent drew into his Emrakul game one, and after some back and forth play I milled him out with 11 life remaining. Sided in Needle, Extirpate, and Incursion (simply as another out to Emmy) in place of Prisons and a Push. I should perhaps have sided in Lingering Souls as well in place of two more Pushes, just to chump Snapcaster beats if nothing else. Game 2 I kept a suboptimal hand with an Extraction, and on the opponent's second turn, his fetch triggered an Archive Trap. Emmy was milled, I played Extraction, he responded with Mana Leak. Couldn't recover.
Game 3 was insane. I mulliganed an otherwise perfect hand because it had no Extraction effects, then kept my 6 with an Extirpate. T1 he fetched, I greedily played Trap, and Emmy jumped out to reset the yard. Opponent played very passively thenceforth. On T3 my Glimpse milled out Emmy, and my Extirpate was ready, bypassing his handful of counterspells. Feels good, man. I seemed to be in with a chance despite losing out on 30 or so milled cards, but then my opponent dropped an Elixir of Immortality, which I never would have expected to see come out of the sideboard. I was able to weather his threats long enough to force the Elixir activation, and later milled it away, finally excising the last of the anti-mill tech, but in the end the resets were too strong, and he killed me with about half his deck remaining. 1-2.
Round 3: Affinity. Game one, turn one, his entire hand dropped, as did my jaw. Despite that, it wasn't too obscene without a Cranial Plating, but between Signal Pest, Vault Skirge, Arcbound Ravager, and a trio of Ornithopters, he had me lined up for the early kill. Fortunately, I had an amazing progression myself, with T1 Crab into T2 fetch and Glimpse, T3 fetch and Glimpse with a Push on his turn. Hit a massive Incursion on T4, forcing the scoop. Sided in 2x Fragmentize, 2x Stony Silence, Needle, and 1 each of Verdict and Souls in place of 4x Archive Trap, 2x Extraction, and a Breaking.
Game 2 he played an early Cranial Playing that I couldn't remove. With a Crab and Orb down, I was able to answer every equipping with a spot removal for 3 turns, but he was chipping away in the meantime, and eventually he had more creatures to equip than I had removals. One more turn of survival and I would have milled him--13 cards in his deck and I had a Glimpse in hand. Game 3 was similar, only I had a pair of Orbs and a heavier suite of spot removal. Kept him off the attack, and on T6 I played Glimpse into Funeral for the GG. 2-1.
Tied for second place, and was very happy with how the deck ran against one easy matchup and a lot of tough ones.
Might add more thoughts later, but for now that's all. Thanks for reading!